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Business Briefs for Aug. 23, 2004

3 min read

• The National Center for Rural Law Enforcement at Little Rock, part of the University of Arkansas’ Criminal Justice Institute, has been awarded a two-year $3.3 million grant from the Homeland Security Department to train rural law enforcement officers to recognize cyberterrorism, preserve the physical evidence as they would any crime scene and notify the appropriate federal agency.

• Chris Elliott has been named North Carolina president for Bank of the Ozarks of Little Rock. Elliott is joining Bank of the Ozarks’ Charlotte loan production office, which opened in 2001. The company expects to file an application to form a thrift subsidiary through which it plans to open full-service banking offices in the future.

• U.S. District Judge Stephen Reasoner, who served 16 years as a federal judge in the Eastern District of Arkansas, died Aug. 14 at Baptist Medical Center. He was 60. He had a heart transplant May 17 and never fully recovered. Appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, he began serving as a federal judge in 1988.

• Charlotte Banks Brown of Little Rock has been named director of development for the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She has served on the Center on Aging’s advisory board for three years, most recently as co-chair of its endowment campaign.

• Jeff Bell of Heber Springs has been named vice president and general manager of Crye-Leike Property Management of central Arkansas to lead the real estate company’s expansion into property management services in the state. The Little Rock office serves Faulkner, Pulaski, Saline, Garland and Lonoke counties.

• Ralph Nader, an independent presidential candidate, has gathered enough signatures to be on the November ballot in Arkansas. His supporters in the state call their party “The Better Life.” The Arkansas secretary of state also has certified ballot slots for the Green Party and the Constitutional Party.

• Bank of Little Rock Mortgage has opened a new office in North Little Rock at 5601 JFK Blvd. in the Springvale building. Jeff Baggett is the branch manager.

• Oscar Stilley, a Fort Smith lawyer, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to have Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe approve a ballot measure that would overturn the state sales tax increase passed by the Legislature last year. The tax increase was designed to raise $380 million for court-mandated education improvements. Beebe rejected Stilley’s proposed ballot title, saying it was ambiguous. He also said Stilley missed the deadline for referring a measure to the ballot.

• Kerrville Painting Co., a Texas company, two of its employees and a former Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department inspector have pleaded guilty to felony criminal charges of conspiracy and illegal disposal of hazardous waste in the Black River in northeast Arkansas. Pleading guilty were company president Nick Muskie, also known as Nickolas Mousakis, and Cecil Zimmerman, a supervisor. Kevin Foster, a former highway department inspector, pleaded guilty to accepting bribe payments from the company so that illegal activities could continue.

• Two Arkansas companies, Acxiom Corp. and ABF Freight System Inc., have been recognized in the Top 100 Agile Companies in CIO magazine’s 2004 CIO 100 Awards. The annual award program recognizes organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology. The “Agile 100” recognizes executives and organizations that respond quickly to changing business environments. The awards will be presented at The Broadmoor Hotel and Resort in Colorado Springs, Colo. on Aug. 24.

• Carlos Garcia de Alba, consul general of Mexico, said his country plans to open a consulate in Little Rock to serve Arkansas’ growing Hispanic population. It could also be a boost for trade between Arkansas companies and Mexico.

• Southwestern Energy Co., the former Fayetteville company now based in Houston, is testing a new shale gas play on the Arkansas side of the Arkoma Basin. The company is drilling test wells targeting the Fayetteville Shale, an unconventional gas reservoir, ranging in depths from 1,500 to 6,500 feet. The company has increased its acreage position in the area from 343,351 net undeveloped acres last December to approximately 455,000 net undeveloped acres now.

• Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield is offering two major medical health insurance plans — HSA Blue PPO and HSA Blue PPO Plus — that take advantage of the tax savings associated with a Health Savings Account. With an HSA, policyholders can “self-fund” out-of-pocket expenses such as deductibles, coinsurance and unreimbursed medical bills with tax-free money.

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