Supreme Court orders conditional certification of marijuana measure

LITTLE ROCK — It appears the initiative to legalize recreational marijuana will be on the Arkansas ballot after all.

What remains to be seen is whether votes cast on the measure will matter.

On Thursday, the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered the secretary of state to certify a marijuana legalization initiative for the Nov. 8 election on a conditional basis. The language of the initiative had been called into question by the State Board of Election Commissioners, who had rejected the popular name and ballot title for the proposed constitutional amendment.

Votes on the initiative still may not be counted pending a court ruling on the initiative’s ballot language.

Responsible Growth Arkansas had asked the court to reverse the election commissioners’ decision.

The group had submitted more than enough signatures to qualify, but the proposal also needed the approval of the board to appear on the ballot.

“We thank the court for its order to conditionally certify our ballot initiative for the November election pending an expedited review. Despite the objections of the attorney general, the court agreed that the rights of the nearly 200,000 Arkansans who signed the petition to place this initiative on the ballot must be preserved during its review,” stated Steve Lancaster, counsel for Responsible Growth Arkansas.

Board members had criticized the measure, saying it “did not fully describe the proposal’s impact.”

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Fugitive from Operation Central Sweep found dead in Nebraska

SEARCY — The last remaining fugitive on the U.S. Marshal’s list from the Searcy-White County drug and gang bust in March called Operation Central Sweep, was reportedly found dead in the Omaha, Nebraska area around 8:00 a.m. Tuesday. Operation Central Sweep started in April of 2020 “to combat the growing violent crimes associated with gang-related activity traced to the ‘Gangster Disciples,’ a drug-distribution organization operating in the Searcy area. said Assistant United States Attorney Allison Bragg.

The Omaha World-Herald reported that Roderick Roberson, 44, of Searcy,the 33rd person linked to the sweep and Ronnell Grixby, 32, of Omaha were found dead in a house near 60th and Fort Streets. According to the newspaper’s report, police said “there were indications the men had been using drugs.”

Autopsies were being performed on the two men, the newspaper reported, citing information from Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine. “Officials believe the evidence points to drug use,” the report said.

The Omaha World-Herald also reported that a man

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who lives in the house where the men were found told police he found Roberson and his cousin, Grixby “unresponsive in the basement” after he retuned from an overnight trip to a casino.

The newspaper noted that Grixby was “a standout football and basketball player at Omaha Central High School and the brother of two former Nebraska football players.

Jeremy Hammons, public affairs officer for the U.S.

Marshal’s Office in Little Rock, told The Daily Citizen on Friday afternoon, that he was waiting for Roberson’s death certificate before closing out the case The Searcy Municipal Airport was used as a staging area for the sweep in March. Law enforcement authorities started rounding suspects up early in the

morning. The afternoon of the sweep, a news conference was held at the Searcy Police Department.

Jonathan Ross, acting U.S.

Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, stood with representatives from several state, local and federal law enforcement concerning the indictments returned by a federal grand jury in Little Rock on March 5. Todd said the sweep “was successful and it was safe. The defendants re charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamines, charged with possessing firearms connected to those methamphetamine offenses and, of course, charged with actual distribution of methamphetamine.”

The maximum penalty for the drug charges is not less than 10 year in prison and up to life imprisonment and a $10 million dollar fine.

The maximum penalty for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime is not less than five years in prison and up to life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. the maximum penalty for being a felon or an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm is 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Twenty of those those indicted were from Searcy and six others were from White County.

Searcy Police Chief Steve Hernandez at the news conference said “I knew coming in (to his job as chief) that we had some issues with crime. One of those issues being gang activity and the other being the sales of methamphetamines.” Hernandez is also the commander of the Central Arkansas Drug Task Force, “which was kind of the heart” of Operation Central Sweep.

“We want this to be a lesson to anybody that may be considering gang activity in our area or the dale of narcotics in our area that we are taking this very seriously.” He also said “and if you are considering coming into our town to do this type of criminal activity, you may be on our next list for our next sweep, Central Sweep 2 or whatever we decide to call it at that time.”

White County Sheriff Phillip Miller, who was on hand for the news conference, said Operation Central Sweep “represents months and months, an untold number of man hours of the dedicated men and women that work in our communities every day to rid our community of these crimes of methamphetamines,

firearms were seized from those indicted, prior to the day of the sweep.

She mentioned that there had been about seven shootings in Searcy leading up to the year the operation was started and that Searcy leadership said the shootings were not what there are about and stepped up, taking steps to address the violent crimes.