MYSTERY ABC EMPLOYEE SNAPS PHOTO AND CLAIMS REWARD

 

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT HAMLET'S ETHICS VIOLATION HELD UP NEXT TO HIS DESK

In September we posted a story that offered a $500 reward to an ABC employee that would send us a photo of the article that appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet's Ethics Violation being placed on his desk or door.

Some crafty employees sent us a picture!

They told us to send the $500 to the Boyce Hamlet Defense Fund. 

Their message also stated that Hamlet keeps prune juice in the refrigerator next to his desk.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUESTS RESULT IN UNEXPECTED INFORMATION.

 

JAKE BLEED - DFA COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Thanks to the incompetence of Jake Bleed, the Director of Communications for the Department of Finance & Administration, many ABC employees and vendors (including the individuals used in illegal sting operations) had their Social Security numbers, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, and home or mailing addresses provided to us in response to a Freedom of Information request.

This was surprising, in that this information is not subject to release under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

Bleed is also a fairly recent law school graduate and should know better.

We complied a list of the prohibited information and sent it to DFA and to ABC Enforcement agents.  

THE FILE WE SENT TO THE ABC AGENTS DID NOT HAVE THE PINK STRIPS

Several agents contacted us and told us that Bleed nor anyone at DFA or ABC advised them that their information had been released. 

Bleed also provided copies of un-redacted forms (agreements, W-2's, payroll, etc) that listed names, SSN's and mailing addresses.

This is the actual list of names and vendor numbers Bleed provided to us.

This is not the first time Bleed has goofed up.

Last year he provided us with the names of individuals that the ABC uses in their illegal sting operations.

  

 Is the Department of Finance & Administration going to provide credit monitoring services to the individuals that had their personally identifiable information released or an apology?

Probably not.

We will have some of the un-redacated reports from their illegal sting operations in upcoming stories.  Stay tuned.

HUMP DAY HUMOR

ABC NOT CONSISTANT IN THE WAY IT DEALS WITH BOOTLEGGERS

The ABC will go after a Hispanic or black bootlegger and raid their homes and confiscate alcoholic beverages and charge them with a criminal offense, but they let white bootleggers slide.

We base this on a complaint made to us and after careful research of documents reluctantly provided to us by the ABC in response to Freedom of Information requests.

We reported on an operation by the Russellville Police Department that tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet tried take full credit for the operation. 

TAINTED ABC ENFORCEMENT DIRECTOR BOYCE HAMLET SHOWING SIGNS OF STRESS FROM WORK PRESSURES

The man whose home was raided,  Alisido Mendez, was arrested and charged for selling alcoholic beverages in a dry county. They seized a truck load of booze.

BOOZE SEIZED FROM MENDEZ'S HOME IN RUSSELLVILLE

 
Then in Alexander, the ABC raided the home of Angela Badgett-Straw.  She has a business, Angel's Sugar Shack.

ANGELA BADGETT-STRAW

These alleged bootleggers came to the attention of the ABC by individuals emailing complaints to the ABC.   And they were shut down. At least for a while.

Apparently Angela is back in business.

Heck they even went after an old black man in his late 70's in an old poor folks residence for trying to help his less fortunate friends get their drink on.

But the ABC seems to not go after alleged bootleggers that are white. 

Case in point...

A newly ordained elder (fully connected minister) at Salem United Methodist Church in Conway, Todd Vick, sent an email to the ABC complaining about Will Davis, after he trolled him on Facebook on a group page , Beer Geeks of Arkansas.

UMC BISHOP GARY MUELLER & TODD VICK (ON RIGHT)

 

 

 
It appears that Reverend Vick never heard the old saying, "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." 

We say that because the United Methodist Church has a long-standing stance against the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

  In fact, in their Book of Discipline, they make it pretty darn clear that UMC clergy would be advised to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages.

According to Rev. Vick's Facebook page, he doesn't take his vows too seriously.

Yes dear friends, Rev. Vick is a drinker and vow breaker.

 

REV. TODD VICK LIKES THE HOGS & TURBODOGS

Anyway, the ABC assigned the investigation of Rev. Vick's complaint to Agent Rob Bacile.

Bacile investigated and decided that Davis selling his homebrew was no big deal. No search warrant, no raid, no confiscation of his homebrew and equipment, and no we did such a good job email to his boss and the governor's office by tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet.

And of course Davis is white.

WILL DAVIS AFTER A TONGUE LASHING FROM AGENT BACILE

  
It wasn't enough for Rev. Vick to point out that what Davis was doing was illegal, he didn't offer him guidance or show him forgiveness for his transgressions... he tattled on him to the ABC and offered to do anything to get Davis in trouble.

Was Rev. Vick upset that he could not taste Davis' brew?  Does Rev. Vick brew beer in the church parsonage or in the church itself??? This are questions that Rev. Vick refused to answer.

Clearly the ABC did not want to gear up and raid Davis' residence, nor confiscate his homebrewed beer, or charge him with a crime. Why? Because he is white.   

Tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet needs to be removed and a new qualified, honest and trustworthy individual needs to replace him.

 

 

MORE EVIDENCE THAT ABC IS HARASSING PIC-PAC LIQUOR IN LITTLE ROCK

In a previous post we elaborated on how tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet was trying to manufacture a case against Pic-Pac Liquor on 12th Street.

A recently obtained document shows that Hamlet has a hard-on for this permit holder and is ordering his agents to go by the outlet twice a day and look for trash and loiters.

 

As pointed out in our previous post, Little Rock police say loitering is a problem near 12th Street and Peyton and make the usual excuses about them being too busy dealing with violent crime and not having enough officers.  However, they do have time to send officers to out of town funerals and ceremonies.

"There's a lot of businesses in that area that attract a lot of people," said Officer Richard Hilgeman. Hilgeman says that the department is stretched thin right now, and violent crimes take priority.

“When we have a loitering problem we try to hit that area as much as we can, however loitering is not a higher priority call.”

How is the ABC going to determine that the trash in that strip mall was placed there by the owner or employees of Pic-Pac?  Or that individuals standing in the parking lot are not waiting for the bus?

In fact, the photo of the strip mall in this post show a lot of trash in the parking lot, most of it in front of the K-W Food Mart, with almost none in front of Pic-Pac.

In response to a Freedom of information request we made to the ABC for valid complaints about Pic-Pac for the last two years, the ABC could only provide one document for a violation, and it was from an entrapment operation on May 6, 2016 where the ABC violated A.C.A. § 3-3-203 by using minors to try and purchase alcoholic beverages.  

One violation in the last two years certainly makes this a dangerous outlet.   

If the ABC wants to find an outlet being a bad neighbor, they need to stake out the 1836 Club and watch who staggers out; gets behind the wheel; and races off west on Cantrell.

HUMP DAY HUMOR

ABC EMPLOYEE RECEIVES REPRIMAND FOR A MESSY DESK

ABC employee Milinda Brown recently received a written reprimand for having a
messy desk.

We previously posted about tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet allowing  Brown have time off for personal business with pay which highlighted his hypocrisy.

Hamlet made a proclamation about the ABC needing to "be more efficient and better stewards of the tax payer dollar,"  just before finagling a $8.0000 raise for himself.  

What's funny about the documentation of the verbal reprimand are the numerous grammatical errors by Special Agent Reed and the fact there the ABC and DFA could not provide any documentation to show that the ABC or DFA had any policy  or procedures about an employee keeping their work area clean.

In fact, "keeping their work area clean" in a vague statement.  Without having a definition of what a "clean" work area is makes that a subjective statement.

Reed's grammatically incorrect notice documents her arbitrary and capricious actions towards Brown (more to come this week on Reed's poor writing skills and her use of state resources for her own personal gain). It also goes to prove claims that under Hamlet, the ABC Enforcement section has become a hostile work environment.

Perhaps Brown did something to get on tainted ABC Enforcement Boyce Hamlet's shit list.

 

What is even more disturbing is the fact that Jake Bleed, the DFA Communications Director, released the document about Brown to us.  Personnel documents like this are not supposed to be released unless they are related to termination of employment.

Bleed also has provided us with documents that listed the Social Security numbers and other personal information regarding ABC employees and vendors.

ABC employees will be receiving an email from us this week with the information sent to us and we will be asking them if they received a notice from Bleed that their personal information was released.

 

MAJOR ISSUES WITH "COOPERATING MINORS" AND CITATIONS ISSUED FOR SALE OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES TO "MINORS" BY THE ABC EXPOSED

In response to recent posts about illegal ABC sting operations, a reader sent us an email about an experience a family member had with the ABC and one of their "cooperating minors", Carson Broussard.

The ABC  encourages and "hires" them to break the law in order to fill their coffers with fines.

CARSON BROUSSARD - NOW TOO OLD TO ILLEGALLY  ASSIST THE ABC VIOLATE THE LAW

Actually, Broussard was not a minor as he was over the age of 18 years in 2014 when the incident referenced in the reader's email took place.

 We know Broussard's age from arrest records in 2013:

and from voting record data:

Arkansas law makes no provision for underage individuals to assist any law enforcement agency in alcoholic beverage sale entrapment operations.

This fact was confirmed in a Congressional Report.

Not only did the ABC break the law by encouraging underage individuals to try and purchase alcoholic beverages, the ABC did not follow their own internal procedures regarding "uncover minors".

Most all of the males used by the ABC had some sort of facial hair as the photos that Jake Bleed with DFA provided to us clearly show (upcoming posts will go further into this).  Many of these individuals were over 19 when the ABC paid, errr (cough), reimbursed them for breaking the law.

As this selfie that Broussard posted on Facebook back in 2013 clearly shows, he has had facial hair for quite some time.

Just recently the problem of these "cooperating minors" giving false information (a/k/a lying) about their age when asked by a server, resulted in a battle of wits between ABC Administration and ABC Enforcement.  As expected, ABC Administration Director Bud Roberts prevailed over tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet. 

BATTLE OF DIRECTORS AT THE ARKANSAS ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL AGENCY

Apparently Roberts did not believe the old adage, 'Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience', when he took on Hamlet, who is not known for his intelligence, judgement, honesty and credibility.

Roberts found that ABC Enforcement was instructing "cooperating minors" to lie about their age if asked.

Roberts threw out an ABC Enforcement citation for that very reason.

 

The individual that the ABC fined in the On the Boarder matter was only 19 years old and it seems ridiculous an underage individual can take an order for or deliver alcoholic beverages when the Arkansas law clearly states that it is illegal for an individual under 21 years of age to have in their possession any intoxicating liquor, wine or beer.

Just like the use of underage individuals in alcoholic beverage compliance operations, there is no exception in the law for underage individuals to be able to sell or serve alcoholic beverages. 

That poor individual was working to pay college tuition and the $240.00 fine was a financial burden.  

Oh yeah, that individual now has a criminal record that is a direct result of a law enforcement agency breaking the law. Fortunately, it is only a misdemeanor offense. But still...

That individual was so badly traumatized that they quit and will never work in that capacity (server) again.  The individual is planning on attending law school and hopefully will be in a position in a few years to assist individuals that are wrongly charged by the ABC breaking the law by using minors in illegal operations.

Here are the ABC documents regarding this particular illegal entrapment operation:

Pay particular attention with the offense the poor server was charged, "Unknowingly furnishing alcohol to a MINOR."

This is the actual statute:

Again, pay particular to the plain language of the statute, it uses the term "minor", not underage individual or individual under 21 years of age.

Arkansas law clearly defines minor (scroll up) and once you are 18, you are not a minor, you have reached the ago of majority. In other words, anyone 18 and over is legally considered an adult.

Clearly, an attorney or anyone with any ability whatsoever, could easily take on such a  charge as this and have it thrown out or it could be easily overturned on appeal.

The ABC has a responsibility to the citizens of Arkansas to take the lead in getting Ark. Code Ann. § 3-3-206 changed to have an exemption to use "cooperating individuals" in their compliance operations and to have Ark. Code Ann. § 3-3-201 amended to replace the term "minor"  with "individual under 21 years of age".