national
Battalion/Page 8
January 20, 1982
Town gets federal thumping
for operating ‘kangaroo court’
United Press International
BAUXITE, Ark. — You may
have driven through a town like
this once, some dusty dot on the
map, and heard that siren be
hind you. It was what one lawyer
calls an American tradition —
the speed trap.
Bauxite, a one-time boom-
town that fell on hard times, is
described by Mayor Brenda
Cockrell as “433 people and not
even a mile across” and is about
20 miles southwest of Little Rock
in central Arkansas.
For five years it supported
itself partly on traffic fines —
lots of them.
Last year a local teenager,
Eddie Jones, was ticketed for
going 36 mph in a 25 mph zone.
“A heinous crime,” joked his
attorney George Ellis.
Ellis filed suit in federal court
in September 1980 on behalf of
Jones and his father, Harold,
saying the town’s “kangaroo
court” was created only to gen
erate revenue.
On Friday, U.S. District
Judge George Howard Jr.
signed a federal court consent
decree closing the town’s Muni
cipal Court and abolishing its
police department. Ellis said it
“ended an American tradition.”
“We shut down a speed trap,
and I think our efforts were suc
cessful,” he said. The suit said
the court, which began opera
tions in 1976, was not legally
established and the town’s police
officers were not properly certi
fied. Aluminum Company of
America operated the area’s
bauxite mines during World
War II and owned the town
“lock, stock and barrel,” Ellis
said. The original town never
was incorporated.
City Attorney Paul Lancaster,
who worked with Ellis to settle
the federal court case, agrees the
speed-trap allegation probably
was true.
“But I don’t think they set it
upjust to get out and make some
money,” Lancaster. “They
wanted a police department and
needed money to pay for it. But
really, they got a little overambi-
tious.”
Actually, the town already
had done away with its court and
police department — lasf year.
Lancaster said he accepted
the job last year on the condition
that city officials abolish the
court. Early in 1981, the town
agreed to close the court and de
pend on the Saline County sher
iff for law and order.
“We won’t have a court ever
again,” said Mayor Cockrell,
Porn policy
soften in
Pasadena
who took office in January 1981
and led the movement to abolish
the court.
The consent decree did not
assess any damages against the
town, and Bauxite did not admit
to any of the allegations. It will,
however, have to pay court costs
of about $6,700 and attorney
fees of about $3,000 under the
settlement.
Also, the city will have to re
fund any fines.
Lancaster and the mayor both
said they do not expect the re
funds to bankrupt the city.
“We have low finances and it
all depends on how many people
will come forward,” said the
mayor. “Some people deserved
it. It will depend on the people’s
conscience.”
Hughes question in a state
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Nearly
six years after the death of bil
lionaire recluse Howard
Hughes, two states remain at
square one in the Supreme
Court in their fight to tax his
riches.
Texas and California claim
Hughes as a resident, which
would give them the right to
tax his enormous estate. The
outcome could mean millions
of dollars for the victorious
state’s treasury.
But up to now, there has
been no resolution about who
has the authority to make the
crucial finding of which state
was Hughes’ official home
when he died on April 5,
1976, at 70.
Attorneys Monday turned
over that question to the Sup
reme Court, which is expected
to hand down a decision by
July-
During more than an hour
of arguments before the high
court, an attorney for Califor
nia urged the justices to de
cide Hughes’ residency.
But Texas lawyer Rick Har
rison warned that would be a
“factual nightmare” involving
a complete investigation of
Hughes’ life and travels, and
said state courts should act on
the issue first. The Supreme
Court usually handles cases
only after the record of facts
has been established by a low
er court.
“Let the states alone,” Har
rison said. “Let them settle
their matters
state courts.”
A state jury already has
dared Texas as Hughes’i
cial residence. ■ United p ress
PITTSBURG
counted a sixth-
state’s value range (b ^confession and
estate’s projection llocker-
Wildly varying estimate
the estate’s
the estate's projection
$166.8 million to a Calif®
inheritance tax refere
appraisal of $1.1 billion.I
Internal Revenue Services ieved to be the
it is worth $465 million.
locker-room
found her not £
the boys last sur
Kathleen H
Pennsylvania h
frith rape, sobb<
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United Press International
PASADENA — Police have
adopted a hands-off policy to
ward the X-rated Red Bluff
Drive-In pending outcome of a
suit by the theater challenging
two raids in September.
Lawyer Leonard M. Roth,
who represents the theater and
four employees charged with
commercial obscenity, has asked
U.S. District Judge Woodrow
Seals in Houston for an injunc
tion against accused unconstitu
tional police raids.
Seals, expected to hear the
case in February or March, last
week refused the theater’s re
quest for a temporary injunction
after the city said it was suspend
ing monitoring of films and
raids.
“Once the action is filed, ev
erything has been in a holding
pattern,” acting Police Chief
David Mullican said.
Roth criticized the police
force: “The city’s methods went
substantially beyond what was
required and legal. We are seek
ing to keep them from raiding
the theater in an unconstitution
al, harassing manner.”
Roth charged police improp
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workers and patrons leaving the
theater after a raid. He ques
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ing the theater after a raid.
But Mullican said police did
nothing disallowed by state law.
“As far as I am concerned,
they acted correctly,” Mullican
said.
In 1970, U.S. District Judge
John Singleton voided a city
ordinance banning nude movies
and ordered Pasadena police to
cease frequent raids and driver’s
license checks at the theater.
The theater remained virtual
ly unhampered until 1979,
when a new state law tightened
obscenity standards.
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