Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Okolona a stuck record; queries still not answered

A broken record with the same annoying phrase repeated over and over again.

This is what the people of Okolona say they are hearing each time a town meeting is held.

Okolona Mayor Joy McElhannon is becoming well known for her statement, "Do you have another question?"

In fact she has answered almost all questions asked to the council with this response for the past several months. However, McEllhannon said the phrase more than 15 times at last Wednesday night's town meeting.

Citizens have even made shirts reading "The Okolona Howdy". The shirts have two smiling monkeys giving the so called "Okolona Howdy" the mayor herself made famous after giving several townspeople an obscene gesture. Underneath the two monkeys is the phrase, "Do you have another question?"

The meeting Wednesday April 3, was opened with the mayor informing the town of the time change and reminded everyone that next month's meeting would be at 7 p.m. instead of 6 p.m.

Minutes were approved and then the mayor told the council Benny Pollins had once again asked to address the council.

However, Pollins wasted his breath as the mayor had no answers and continued to doodle on her notepad as Pollins spoke.

Pollins asked several questions with the most important being, "When are you going to fix my property?" The mayor again had no answer to this question.

This did not discourage Pollins as he went down the list one by one of about nine people who had been told they would have their property fixed after the town's water and sewer system crossed their property during the time of installation, or would be paid in order to repair their property.

After naming off every citizen the town still owed money to, Pollins asked the mayor if she knew how much money was in the fund that was supposed to pay for the property damage done during the installation of the system.

As has become the norm, the mayor asked for another question without bothering to answer the one at hand.

Pollins then showed the mayor a statement from the Clark County Clerk's office showing only $500 left in the fund to pay all 19 people. Pollins asked the mayor if she would like to see the statement and for once she actually answered with "NO!"

Pollins said, "That's fine. I still want to know, do you know what happened to all the money that is supposed to be in this fund?" He got the usual answer/question from the mayor.

The $500 left in the fund is not nearly enough to cover what is owed to the townspeople.

According to the court order from 1998, Richard Smith is owed $84, Benny and Mattie Pollins $293, C.W. Killingsworth $262, A.J. and Cleo Jones $177, Ben Hale $69, Elisha Gill $262, Mary Buchanan $80, Timothy and Sonya Balch $518 and Cora Bailey and Salona Paine $176. This adds up to $1,681 owed to Okolona residents.

To the best of anyone's knowledge, none of the money has been paid to those owed, however, if anyone has been paid no one would know because the mayor refused to answer these questions also.

At one point out of aggravation, Pollins asked the mayor, "When are you going to resign?" The mayor asked for another question, to no one's surprise.

Pollins also asked the mayor and the council as to why they didn't buy gas from Orsburn's Store.

Again, no answer was given.

A Clark County Deputy Sheriff was present at Wednesday night's meeting. As Pollins prepared to sit down, he turned and told the deputy he appreciated him being there and he hoped the officer had an idea as to what goes on in Okolona.

Throughout the meeting the officer shook his head with disbelief at some of the statements made.

James Paul had also asked to address the council. He told everyone he had a few questions for the council.

Paul told the council he knew all government entities in the state of Arkansas were mandated to operate on a balanced budget, which is determined by the actual income of the town. Therefore, he was wondering if any of the council members had seen a budget. The room was silent and then Paul asked council member Sue Mouldrew if she had seen a budget. Mouldrew said she had not seen a budget to the best of her knowledge.

Pual said, "So the town is being run illegally."

In the past it had been realized several checks were being held for several months before being deposited by the town of Okolona.

At that time the Mayor said it would not happen again.

However, Paul said it has happened again and he has proof some checks were held up to three months.

He also made the point that a man had received a shut-off notice on his water bill for the amount of $34.50. This is a small amount compared to the amount of Kim (Okolona recorder/treasurer) and Chris (Okolona city councilman) McKay's water bill that exceeds $750.

Paul then asked the council, "Are we having a computer problem or a personnel problem? If it is a computer problem, then let's fix it. If it is a personnel problem then let's fire it."

Paul also said turnback checks had been sitting at the city hall not gaining interest because they weren't deposited.

Paul also reminded the council of the mayor's statement in February during the town meeting where she said the town did not have enough money to fix any of the streets and they could barely keep the street lights turned on. Paul wanted to know if that was the case, how come these checks were sitting idle for six months at a time.

Paul then asked Chris McKay if he knew why the checks were sitting there and if the water and sewer had been presented with a budget for the year. McKay answered no.

Paul then asked Katherine "Cooter" McCauley if she knew. McCauley said, "I don't have to answer that" in a snide sounding voice. Paul said, "No, of course you don't, it might be incriminating. "

Paul also had gotten some of the Okolona Volunteer Fire Department's returned checks with receipts attached. Paul shared some of the information with the crowd.

The first check he read off exceeded $100 and was written to Wal-Mart. Several others for fabric, scissors and thread made to Wal-Mart and Hancock's Fabric were also included.

Paul also asked council member Mouldrew if she had ever been invited by the fire department to eat at the Hamburger Barn in Arkadelphia. Mouldrew replied laughingly, "No sir I don't recall that."

Paul said, "Me either, but there is a check here to the Hamburger Barn out of the fire department's account.

Paul then asked if the council knew where the fire department was buying its fuel.

"Is the fire department buying gas from over there at the store (Orsburn's store) or are they buying at Gurdon and hauling it back in tanks and cans?" No one had an answer.

Paul pointed out to the council the store was there tax base and if they weren't supporting it then what were they doing.

Paul then informed the council of a letter he had received in the mail that was postmarked Little Rock and inside stated that maybe Paul was the problem in Okolona and insinuated he had been involved in a citizen's militia when he lived in another state. The letter asked if maybe the FBI, CIA and DEA would be interested in this information.

Paul said, "Most of you know my son-in-law works for the State Department, therefore I have been checked out by the FBI, CIA and DEA three different times. Maybe the FBI should be notified to come and look at the town of Okolona's records."

The letter Paul was referring to was matched with handwriting found on old Okolona Fire Department receipts and was reportedly matched to that of Miles "Moots" McCauley.

Paul received a round of applause from the audience as he sat down and the meeting was adjourned.

After the meeting everyone gathered on the porch of the community building discussing the meetings events. McElhannon apparently had a problem with this as she slammed the door shut barely missing two Okolona citizens.

McElhannon smirked and walked to the other side of the room.