Monticello Live

Stanley Lucas, a former convenience store owner, and supporter of legalizing the sale of alcohol in the Wilmar area, pled guilty to the chard of “election canvasser making a false statement” in last years wet/dry township election, during a hearing in Drew County Circuit Court this week.

3 other chages in the case were dropped, as a part of the plea bargain.  The charge is listed as a “class A misdemeanor”.

The prosecutor’s office recommended a sentence of up 1 year in the county jail (suspended), $1,000 restitution for election costs, plus court costs and fees.

Judge Sam Pope accepted this as Lucas’ sentence, but added a $1 fine on top of that, to make the charges a part of Lucas’ permanent record.

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Posted October 29, 2008

Election Fraud Charges Filed Against Wilmar Convenience Store Owner

Stanley Lucas, identified by S & S Quick Stop of WIlmar as their owner, was charged in Drew County Circuit Court Tuesday with 4 counts of election fraud, stemming from the “questionable” petitions that were circulated in the attempt to get the sale on alcoholic beverages on the ballot for Saline Township, which includes Wilmar, Greenhill, and Barkada communities.

The specific charges include 3 counts of “election canvasser fraud”, where the charges include the phrase “did knowingly make a false statement on a petition verification form”  The 3 separate charges reflect three different dates: August 4, August 6, and August 18, 2008.

The charge of “election petition fraud” uses the phrase “did sign a name other than his own to a local option petition” and references a document from August 4, 2008.

The charges were filed by 10th Judicial District Prosecutor Thomas Deen, who, when interviewed by MonticelloLive. said, “Upon completion of the investigation, I felt that these were the appropriate charges”

Each charges is listed as a “class A” misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in the county jail and/or a fine of $1,000.  The case has been assigned a first appearance date of January 12, 2009.

A total of 40 petition pages, complete with signed, sworn affidavits, were received by the County Clerk.

Out of those 40 petitions,
27 were sworn to by Stanley Lucas,
9 were sworn to by Thomas Shorter, and
4 were sworn to by Curley Jackson

Background information on this article may be found in the earlier articles below, which were posted on MonticelloLive.com

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The story below posted on October 20, 2008

Prosecutor Questioning Signatures on Alcohol Petition–Election Fraud?

Thursday night, at a Concerned Citizens of Saline Township public meeting, 10th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Deen confirmed that there is an investigation taking place, that should have most of it’s questions answered by Monday afternoon, regarding the possibility of election fraud and allegations of improper signature collection on the petitions supporting the upcoming attempt to get liquor sales voted in for Wilmar, as well as Greenhill and Barkada communities.

Questions surround whether each signature on each petition was signed by the person whose name is signed, and also, was each signature signed in the presence of the person who affirmed at the bottom of the petition, that they personally saw each signature put there,  There have been rumors of petitions “being passed around”, or “left at a store” for the clerk to get people to sign.

Click on the photo to see the required statement from the person confirming the legality of each page of the petition.

Deen told the group that if the issue is voted into place, that it will stand, even if there is proof of wrongdoing during the petition process.  Records have been subpoenaed from the County Clerk’s office, which led to a subpoena being issued for an unidentified individual to appear for questioning by Deen. The prosecutor then added, “if this does go to court, it won’t happen until after the election,” and “it’s too late to do anything about the petition.”

If charges are filed in the case, election fraud of this nature only carries a short sentence in the county jail, and/or a fine of up to $1,000.

Drew County Clerk, Lyna Gulledge, spoke and then answered questions from the crowd.  Gulledge responded to one of the questions about how she handled the situation about questionable signature that were pointed out to her, Gulledge responded that she had contacted the appropriate legal counsel, and had been told that she “was not a hand-writing expert.”  So she couldn’t pursue the matter further, through her office.

Other interesting comments from the public forum included:

Registered voters in the district increased form 860 to 964, since June 15, 2008.  There have also been 24 requests for absentee ballots from the district.

The Monticello Sports Complex is within the boundaries where legal liquor sales could take place.

Although the area’s Quorum Court member, Kenneth Trotter was not able to attend the meeting due to necessary work trip to Little Rock, Sheriff Mark Gober told the crowd that Trotter had sent word by Gober that Trotter,”supports you, and will vote against this.”

Wilmar Mayor Curley Jackson, who was invited to attend, was not present at the meeting, and no one there was told to deliver any comment on Jackson’s behalf, other than “he’s out of town.”

County Judge Damon Lampkin commented, “the only people that will benefit, are the ones who are selling it.”  He later added, “We don’t need that kind of tax revenue,” and how many people “will spend their last money on a 30 pack.”

Sheriff Gober’scomments agreed, “the revenue isn’t worth the consequences.”

Details on the allegation of election fraud will be posted on MonticelloLive.com as they become available.

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The story  below posted on October 17, 2008.

Wet / Dry Community Meeting Draws Crowd of Around 70

Thursday nights community meeting, held at GreenhillBaptist Church, filled the church’s fellowship hall with nearly 70 citizens concerned about the issue of the sale of alcohol in Saline Township

Rev. Dennis Dodson served as moderator of the event, which included a personal reflection time by former school administrator, Travis Stephenson and Steve Brantley, representing MADD.

County Clerk Lyna Gulledge also spoke about how the petition made it’s way through the filing requirements, and how it was below the required number of signatures when it was turned in previously, but due to the law, was allowed 10 additional days to gain the required number of petition signers.

Drew County Sheriff Mark Gober was present and discussed the sheriff’s department current coverage of the county, and how adding the potential sale of alcohol into the county would affect law enforcement. Eddie Barnes also spoke about the need for increased law enforcement, especially is this measure gets the votes to pass.

County Judge Damon Lampkin spoke about multiple aspects of how the availability of alcohol would bring about changes county wide.Â

Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Deen explained the legalities of signature collection for petitions, and vaguely covered how election fraud cases are handled, if there is proof of wrongdoing.

MonticelloLive.com will post more information about topics covered in the public forum over the weekend.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 4:50 am and is filed under Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.