Trayvon Case in Arkansas?

Under Florida law, a person who is attacked in any place where he or she has a right to be “has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force”. Shoot first, ask questions later. Stand your ground also has forms in other states. According to Legal Community Against Violence, 25 states — including every Southern state except Arkansas — have laws that generally allow the use of deadly force outside the home. Seven other states have laws allowing deadly force in specific locations away from home. Arkansas law allows a person to use deadly force in self-defense without the duty to retreat only in the person’s home or on the curtilage, defined as the land immediately surrounding the home. Away from the home and curtilage, a person in Arkansas “may not use deadly physical force in self defense if he or she knows that he or she can avoid the necessity of using deadly physical force with complete safety.” The protection for people who use deadly force on the curtilage was added by the Arkansas Legislature in 2007. Before then, the law permitted the use of deadly force in self defense only in the home.

Adult Students and Teachers Hanky Panky

An Arkansas Supreme Court ruling stated state and local laws cannot forbid sex between teachers and adult students is creating controversy. Twenty-three states have forbidden sexual contact between teachers and students, even if they are more than 18 years old. The notion is most obviously an abuse of authority position. Keep in mind too, the obvious disparity between teachers who are men vs. women (and their opposite 'partner'). The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled the U.S. Constitution grants consenting adults privacy rights that cannot be regulated by laws or rules. The case involved a 38-year-old history and psychology teacher named David Paschal who admitted having a five-month sexual relationship with an 18-year-old female student. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The state Supreme Court overturned the conviction. “Regardless of how we feel about Paschal’s conduct, which could correctly be referred to as reprehensible, we cannot abandon our duty to uphold the rule of law when a case presents distasteful facts,” wrote Arkansas Chief Justice Jim Hannah. Now, i do'nt think this opens the door to a deluge of teacher/student relations in high school. The vast majority of teachers I know have loads more sense.

Arkansas Primary

A deadline of 30 days before an election to apply to register to vote; registrants have until Monday, April 23, to register.

Township Constable Fail

I thought you were going to do nothing?! http://www.nlrtimes.com/articles/2011/12/02/maumelle_monitor/local_news/nev004.txt

What's the Point?! Arkansas Distracted Driving Law

What's the point of a law if you never use it and if it doesn't have any clout? In a true fashion of 'we don't want to take away all of your rights because we're afraid, and we're trying to prevent dangerous activity', in other words hypocrisy, Arkansas has enacted distracted driving laws.

But they don't really apply to any particular situation. You can now get a ticket if you're using a cell phone but ONLY when driving near a school when children are present. (So a school on Saturday at 1AM is OK?) You also can't use your phone to talk or text when driving through highway work zones.

But this is a secondary offence meaning you can't be pulled over and cited just for talking on the phone! What' sthe point of the law if it never applies?!

Either don't have one, or just ban texting while driving outright. Lame. (Probably an attempt to get everyone used to a law and then BAM bring in the full blown version).

Turkey Drop Fail

Sigh

http://forcechange.com/6330/put-an-end-to-arkansas-turkey-drop/

No Greens Please

I missed the decision made early in August for the hopeful Green Party of Ark.

Here's the appeal decision, there will be no change, the Green Party must register 3% of popular vote or forever reest in peace (or find another name). Such is the law.

Decision: http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/11/08/103106P.pdf

A candidate in Arkansas has two main ways to get her name on the ballot as a party’s candidate: She could run as the nominee of a state-certified political party, or she could declare herself part of a new political party and file a petition of 10,000 registered Arkansas voters’ signatures collected within a 90-day period.

There's a catch to being a new political party: a new party that fails to obtain 3 percent of the total vote cast in a gubernatorial or presidential election ceases to be a party.

From http://blogs.findlaw.com/eighth_circuit/2011/08/arkansas-green-party-ballot-appeal-rejected.html