Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Court Overturns Trucker's Charges

REBECCA S. COOPER

Finas Nations was found not guilty in Nevada County Circuit Court Monday, February 22, of charges from a driving incident last year.

Nations had been charged with passing a stopped school bus and reckless driving, and he was found guilty of both charges in Municipal Court in December of 1998 by Judge Gene Hale.

Charles 'Chuck' Honey, Nations' attorney, said after Nations was found not guilty in the circuit trial, "Nations' brakes had failed, and you can't foresee emergencies."

Honey, when questioned, said Nations was hauling logs to International Paper Company in Gurdon at the time of the incident.

Truck drivers are required to inspect their vehicle before entering and after driving every shift, according to the Arkansas Highway Police (AHP). According to the AHP, a driver is responsible for the condition of the vehicle.

Linda Barlow, mother of the student who was "narrowly missed" by the truck, was incensed over the jury's decision. She accused Nations of having prior convictions in municipal court that should have convicted him. "But he (Nations) said he didn't have any priors when he came to Circuit Court." she alleged.

She alleged Nations had previous speeding tickets, to which his attorney responded, "What trucker doesn't have speeding tickets?"

School superintendent Ron Wright, who was in the court room at the trial, said, "...this was not a new problem. The school and local law enforcement officers had attempted to stop the (alleged) passings in previous years."

The driver of the bus route has 21 years experience as a bus driver and said the problem increases every year.

Mary Smith said her bus is passed while stopped with red lights flashing approximately eight to 10 times yearly. Smith said it seems much more coincidental that during the months the trial was pending on the arrested driver that no trucks passed the bus while stopped.

Smith informed Wright that two days after the jury returned the not guilty verdict an unloaded log truck passed a stopped bus which had its lights flashing.

"The most illegal passing occurs between the Highway 53 junction with Highway 24 and Bluff City," Wright said. "The parents living along this route, the schools and local law enforcement agencies are working to see additional safety measures are taken to control truck traffic before a child is killed on this six-mile stretch of Highway 24."

Prosecuting attorney Randall Wright was amazed that Nations was found not guilty after failing to explain how he was able to travel on to Gurdon after the incident with failing brakes.

Wright said during Nations' interview with Nevada County Sheriff investigator Wayne Kisselburg, Nations never mentioned failed brakes, or why he failed to report the incident to authorities himself.

Nations reportedly has repaired the brakes.