Odd News of Arkansas

[mcheiss]

Does anyone ever notice that any national news about Arkansas is something extremly odd, weird, or a plain backwards image?

Here's an article about a man arrested for smuggling mussels.

AP

PARAGOULD- A man from the Missouri Bootheel is arrested in Arkansas for allegedly smuggling of hundreds of pounds of mussels across the state line.

The name of the man from Senath was not disclosed pending completion of the investigation. He posted bond and was released.

State wildlife officers recovered at least 600 pounds of shells. Authorities also impounded the man's truck and one-thousand dollars cash they believe he received from selling the mussels.

Mussel shells are used to make watch faces and for other purposes. Certain types of mussels are a popular food in some countries. In Arkansas it is illegal to sell mussels without a permit.

If convicted, the maximum penalty is a $5,000.00 fine and lifetime revocation of hunting and fishing privileges in the state.

[dimebag1980]

There was an article I posted recently that I found in the Texarkana Gazette... from your area. I can't remember what it was, but it wasn't "normal" crime news. Whenever our crime news in Shreveport is odd or funny, it's still bad. Like in today's news there's an article about a guy who robbed a Shreveport convenience store last night... the clerk recognized him because he didn't conceal his face - and he was a regular customer. This is very similar to one of my high school friends, about 1 or 2 years after high school he did the same thing. A smart kid from a wealthy family, but his dad cut off his funds and he couldn't keep a job. So what does he do? He gets a gun (from God knows where) and robs a convenience store he was a regular at. Idiots.

You guys aren't the only ones with odd news, but yours is definitely a different kind of "odd."

[mcheiss]

^

I think you're talking about the one where the guy was run over in his driveway and was extremly intoxicatd.

[Mith242]

Does anyone ever notice that any national news about Arkansas is something extremly odd, weird, or a plain backwards image?

I don't know if it's really as bad as it seems. I think we just notice it more because of our perspective. I think many other people feel the same way about their areas as well. Maybe we're just more self conscience about it because of our image in the past.

[mcheiss]

I don't know if it's really as bad as it seems. I think we just notice it more because of our perspective. I think many other people feel the same way about their areas as well. Maybe we're just more self conscience about it because of our image in the past.

Come on Mith.

In last Thursday's USA Today, the state news about Arkansas was a Cow giving birth to Triplets for the fourth time.

[Mith242]

I saw a story about people in South Carolina shooting doves, the symbol of peace, on 9/11. The news jumps on these wacky stories. I don't think it's just an Arkansas thing though. But I think we notice it more if it is from Arkansas because we're from here.

[mcheiss]

^

That was for a state republican candidate for secretary of Education. Really horrible, IMO.

[dimebag1980]

^

I think you're talking about the one where the guy was run over in his driveway and was extremly intoxicatd.

That's the one...

I don't know how I ever forgot about that...

[mcheiss]

Here's another.

DE QUEEN, Ark. - The guitar-shaped bulge in Morgan Conatser's clothing tipped off a music store owner that there might be a crime in progress. Clifton Lovell, owner of Guitars and Cadillacs on U.S. Highway 71 in De Queen, was talking with a customer last week when he saw Conatser, 29, walking out of the store.

"I saw him walking out to his pickup truck and the bulges in his leather jacket. I said, 'Hey what have you got there,'" Clifton Lovell said.

He said Conatser, 29, replied, "Nothing."

Lovell pointed toward the unnatural shapes in Conatser's jacket and pants and said, "You've got something."

Conatser then removed a solid body electric guitar from his pants leg and from underneath his jacket.

"The neck of the guitar was almost down to his knee and the back of the guitar was almost up to his neck. It wasn't hard to spot. There was no way he could sit down or get into the pickup," Lovell said.

[dimebag1980]

^ Man, that's hilarious!

[Rardy]

just heard about that one on NPR!

[mcheiss]

Okay this one is a bit odd, seeing as how UFO stories aren't really portrayed in the media very much. I'm suprised that 5 news picked up this story.

UFO in Van Buren?