So who makes a federal case out of a $280 ticket?
That would be Wayne LaRue, who appeared in U.S. District Court on Dec. 6 to fight a citation he received from the Army Corps of Engineers for destruction of public property at his lakefront home on Greers Ferry Lake in Van Buren County.
If LaRue, president of the metal fabrication company Tru-Fab Co. Metal Products of North Little Rock, loses the case — in which he was accused of widening a footpath in excess of Corps rules — it would be grounds for him to lose his boat dock permit at the property, resulting in the value of the home falling by tens of thousands of dollars or more, said his attorney, Pat James of James House Swann & Downing of Little Rock.
James also has a meeting scheduled for today with Col. Eric Noe, district engineer and commander of the Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock District about the permit.
In the Eastern District of Arkansas, it’s unusual for these types of cases to go to trial.
The Western District of Arkansas typically has more cases involving the Central Violations Bureau, which includes cases from the Corps, for minor offenses committed on federal property.
James was in the middle of cross-examining Park Ranger Mary Simmons, who issued the citation, when he asked her about a redacted document he received from the Corps in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Simmons said she was unfamiliar with the document, and James asked that the unredacted paper be produced, which he said was required under the federal rules of criminal procedure.
The three attorneys representing the U.S. government — two special U.S. attorneys and an U.S. assistant attorney — didn’t have the filing handy. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Geiselhart said if they had known James wanted the filing, he could have asked for it before the trial and it would have been provided.
“We have nothing to hide,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Givens said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe continued the trial until later this month or in January while the document is being produced.
On the witness stand, Simmons said the Corps has cited LaRue for multiple violations during the last almost 30 years. LaRue bought the 2,378-SF home for $180,000 in 1994.
Simmons testified that on June 17, she was patrolling the area and noticed his footpath from the dock to his property wasn’t properly maintained. It’s supposed to be 6 feet wide, but in some cases it was 30 feet, she said.
“This is the fifth time Mr. LaRue has been notified about his foot path exceeding the six-foot maximum width,” Simmons wrote in the citation.
James argued that when LaRue received the probable cause statement the citation was for cutting an elm tree. But later the offense was changed to mowed grass.
The Corps and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas declined to comment on the case because it was pending.
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