Free Republic

PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Authorities say an Arkansas thief tried to pay for a meal using a credit card that had been stolen from the waitress herself days earlier. Police spokesman Lt. David De Foor said in a news release that officers arrested 21-year-old Shamon West on Tuesday at Shannon’s Restaurant in Pine Bluff. He said that, “having no desire to pay for the fellow’s meal,” waitress Flora Lunsford called to report that the man had tried paying for his meal with her stolen credit card. De Foor says officers found other items on West that had been in Lunsford’s...

The message on the phone was there waiting for me after a long day and longer week at work. The news was sad but not unexpected. Like the death of a dear aunt who had been putting up a good fight for years. The time to let her go in peace had finally arrived. The only surprising thing about the call was that it should have taken so long in coming. When it did, it came in a voice familiar from my days -- and years -- writing editorials for the Pine Bluff Commercial here in Arkansas. The voice was...

It's not every day that the New York Times blog devoted to photography -- it's called Lens -- runs a piece about Pine Bluff, Ark. (pop. 47,000). But it did just the other day when Evelyn Nieves' blog post featured the work of William Widmer, a photographer out of New Orleans who was driving through Pine Bluff on his way back home from an assignment in Kansas City, and was stopped cold by what he saw. The town had captivated him. The photographer would wind up spending the rest of the day in Pine Bluff walking its streets, snapping...

PINE BLUFF, AR - A Pine Bluff man has been left with multiple injuries after police say several suspects in an SUV attacked him on June 30. According to the report, 26-year-old Andrew Lawson was forced into a vehicle and then taken to a Pine Bluff hair salon. It was there, surveillance video shows a fight went from the vehicle to the parking lot. Police say Lawson was shot, beaten, and nearly run over. Lawson said, "I was surprised that it happened." "I'm amazed that I survived, and I'm amazed that someone could do that to another person." Lawson doesn't...

Second amendment supporters march in Pine Bluff A couple of dozen second amendment supporters marched with openly carried firearms in Pine Bluff Arkansas on Saturday.  The march was in support of Act 746, the legislation that reformed Arkansas law, removing language that made it illegal to carry arms without permission from the government.  The change in the law specifies that it is only illegal to carry arms if the purpose is to use them for illegal activity.   This is the same standard that has been in Vermont  law for the last hundred years.  Vermont is the only state that...

(CNN) -- A man who police said was 107 years old was killed in a confrontation with SWAT officers Saturday night. Police were called to a home in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where suspect Monroe Isadore was. "When they arrived, they were able to determine that an aggravated assault had occurred against two people at the residence," Lt. David E. Price, a Pine Bluff police spokesman, said in a statement.

PINE BLUFF (KATV) - A stand-off on Saturday left one man dead. S.W.A.T. Officers shot and killed the suspect after a standoff at a Pine Bluff home. Lt. David Price told channel 7 that when officers arrived at the home they learned that an aggravated assault had occurred against two people. The suspect, Monroe Isadore, who authorities say is 107-year-old old, pointed a weapon at them. Authorities asked the two victims to leave the home and walked up to the bedroom door where Isadore was supposed to be. When officers identified themselves to the suspect he shot at them through...

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Pine Bluff Arsenal, ArkansasThe Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA) is a United States Army installation located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. PBA is one of the six Army installations in the United States which stores chemical weapons. PBA supplies specialized production, storage, maintenance and distribution of readiness products, and delivers technical services to the Armed Forces and Homeland Security. PBA also designs, manufactures and refurbishes smoke, riot control, and incendiary munitions, as well as chemical/biological defense operations items. It serves as a technology center for illuminating and infrared munitions and is also the...

<p>Resident reports 14-year-old with gun kicked in door, opened fire, and homowner shot back.</p> <p>PINE BLUFF — A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed Thursday night by a man who told police the teenager broke into his home and started shooting.</p>

WHITE HALL, Ark. (AP) -- The nation's second-largest chemical weapons depot beefed up security Wednesday after three people entered a restricted zone. A security guard patrolling near storage igloos at the Pine Bluff Arsenal saw three people just before midnight Tuesday who were not authorized to be in the area, said Cheryl Avery, a spokeswoman for the 13,000-acre Army complex. The three had not been found by Wednesday afternoon. It wasn't known if the breach involved outsiders or arsenal workers straying beyond their security clearance. "We do know that the weapons are safely stored and accounted for," Avery said. She...

3 bodies found in burning car; police baffled STEPHEN DEERE AND AMY SCHLESING JEFFERSON -- Members of a rural Jefferson County hunting club discovered a triple homicide that left three bodies burned beyond recognition and Jefferson County investigators baffled. Police have no suspects in the Friday night slaying of three people they found bound and shot in a burning Ford alongside Mail Route Road in northwest Jefferson County. The bodies have been taken to the state Crime Laboratory for autopsy and identification, said Capt. Ken Slocum Jr. of the Jefferson County sheriff's office. The car was moved from the site...