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| MILTON LUEKEN |
Milton Raymond Lueken is 71 years old (DOB: 3/6/44) and has been
an attorney for various state agencies in Arkansas since he passed the bar on
August 18, 1969 (Attorney General’s Office [1969-73]; Office of Child Support
Enforcement [1973-92] and Alcoholic Beverage Control [1992-present].
Lueken is a Little
Rock native and attended Catholic High School (Class of 1962) and then the
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (Class of 1966) and obtained a juris
doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law (Class of 1969).
One of the cases Lueken was assigned to in his brief time at
the AG’s office was the one that dealt with conditions at Arkansas Prisons that was the basis for the movie Brubaker.
Lueken has been employed as a staff attorney by the ABC for
over 20 years. Lueken is a plain speaker
who is not afraid to say exactly what is on his mind. Last year he stated that
claims made about purposed changes in legislation concerning the sale of
alcoholic beverages by Arkansas citizens were “bullshit”.
Lueken likes to spout off information about Arkansas liquor laws to the press...
Lueken's mother. Louise Lueken, was somewhat of a local celebrity. She was the longtime spokesman for Coleman Dairy and was featured in their advertisements.
Lueken's life has had its ups and downs. One of his son's, Geoffrey, was arrested in 2003 for manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and maintaining a drug premises. Geoffrey was sentenced to 120 months' imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction. Geoffrey appealed his conviction in 2004 to no avail.
This son's arrest led to problems with Milton's old employer, the office of Child Support Enforcement (remember Milton worked there for about 20 years).
The son got behind in support payments due to his incarceration and was able to catch up in 2006. But then he got behind again in 2010 to the tune of $11,000.00. Arkansas Code § 5-26-401 provides criminal penalties for
amount of that size.
Was this son given special consideration due to his father's association with the OCSE and his continued employment with it's sister agency the ABC (both are under the Department of Finance & Administration)?
The son has been able to turn his life around and in 2012 he received a scholarship while attending classes at UALR and is now engaged to be married.
Lueken's wife died back in 2004. But not too long after, Lueken found a new love, Joy Hardage, who's in in the funeral business and shacked up with her in her home.
By living with his girlfriend, Lueken was able to rent out the old marital home and with rental income contribute to political campaigns of Democratic candidates. Maybe that was how he avoided being fired for the "bullshit" remark."
Unfortunately it appears that addiction runs in Lueken's family as his grandson (who is Geoffrery's son) and namesake ran afoul of the law whilst attending college at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 2013 and 2014.
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| JOHN MILTON LUEKEN |
The grandson was charged (CWC-13-6395 State v John Milton Lueken) with Careless and Prohibited Driving in November 15, 2013. On December 2, 2013, he pleaded guilty was fined and was placed on unsupervised probation for six months.
Young Milton was also arrested on November 16, 2013 (yep, the day after the careless driving incident above) and was charged (CWC-14-2751 State v John Milton Lueken) with (1) Underage Driving under the Influence (DUI); (2) Battery 3rd Degree; (3) Possession of Drug Paraphernalia; and (4) Possession of a Controlled Substance Schedule VI. For some reason the warrant for his arrest in this matter was not issued until July 21, 2014 and it was not served until October 1, 2014. In February 2015 the hearing for this case was continued. The hearing was rescheduled and then continued again until August 4, 2015.
Did grandpa Milton exert any influence on the court or the Conway city attorney to get the second arrest pushed under the rug and delayed until the next year to lessen the impact of the judicial system on his namesake from the November 15th incident?
But that is not the end of young Milton's troubles. On September 14, 2014 he was again arrested and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance Schedule I,II Excluding Meth Cocaine (23CR-14-874 State v John Milton Lueken). He was arrested for this on October 1, 2014 (yep, same time as for the other case). After some legal wrangling a very strange thing happened... the court entered an order of diversion. Basically, the court at the urging of the prosecuting attorney wiped the case out if young Milton can stay out of trouble until December 28, 2015.
Did grandpa Milton call in favors for young Milton? Or did a new associate at work, Boyce Hamlet, use some influence with his old boss, Cody Hiland? If you recall an earlier post about Boyce, just before he landed the job at ABC he worked for Hiland.
It is way past time for Gov. Hutchinson and DFA Director Larry Walther to clean house at the ABC. How much longer are the citizens of Arkansas going to tolerate the governor appointing these unqualified, sketchy characters to a position in state government?
