Wildlife official drunk, ranting, report states

After shot fired outside, mother says she got kids on floor

— With an erratic, drunken gunman clad in camouflage outside her rural Lonoke County home Tuesday night, Jessica Adamson said she was terrified.

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Then she heard a gunshot.

“I was scared, I thought he was going to shoot my husband,” Adamson said. “[When I heard the shot], I got the kids on the floor.”

The shot was fired into the ground, and no one was hurt, according to Lonoke County sheriff’s deputies.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Vice Chairman Richard Watkins, 54, was arrested minutes later by deputies assisted by Arkansas State Police troopers outside Adamson’s home just south of Arkansas 31 and U.S. 70. He was charged with misdemeanor public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

According to deputies’ reports, when officers reached the scene, Watkins was “waving his arms” to greet them.

Watkins’ eyes were bloodshot, he was unsteady on his feet, and he was “very intoxicated,” according to Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley.

Adamson, 29, was home about 6:30 p.m. when she got a call from her husband, Brian Adamson, who had just pulled into their driveway. He told her “there was a man walking around outside with a gun and to lock the doors and keep the kids away from the windows,” according to deputies’ reports.

According to Jessica Adamson, Watkins had parked his sport utility vehicle in the lot of an adjacent auction business, and was knocking and pounding on the windows of her husband’s truck, which was parked in their yard.

Reports said Watkins “banged on the door asking where his kids and truck was,” and then he fired a shot into the ground.

“I thought [Lonoke] was a quiet town until this happened,” Jessica Adamson said.

Staley said Watkins was cooperative with the officers, who found a Glock .40-caliber handgun on the hood of a truck, with one round in the chamber and six in the magazine.

In a search of Watkins’ SUV, which had Arkansas Game and Fish Commissioner tags, deputies found “several bottles of alcoholic beverages,” as well as several firearms, according to reports.

Staley said he “believed” that the weapons were hunting weapons, but he was unable to say whether Watkins had been or was planning on hunting.

“I don’t know about why he was there,” Staley said. “He said he was going to meet up with some friends.”

According to a fellow commissioner, Watkins had planned to go hunting.

In a brief interview Wednesday, Emon Mahoney of El Dorado, another member of the Game and Fish Commission, said Watkins never made it to the duck club Tuesday.

“He didn’t show up for the duck hunt,” Mahoney said by telephone before cutting short the interview and referring the reporter to Watkins’ attorney, Ron Hope of Little Rock, because “this is a pending criminal matter.”

Hope didn’t return telephone calls made Wednesday to his office.

“This is a very serious matter,” the commission’s official statement said. “There is a legal process involved and before making any further statements, we will wait to see how this situation unfolds.”

Gov. Mike Beebe, who appointed Watkins to his seven year term in 2007, had similar feelings about the arrest.

“From what I know, it’s pretty serious for a Game and Fish commissioner, specifically because of the allegations that I have heard,” Beebe said. “But it is still America so you withhold your final judgment until the process runs. But the allegations are pretty serious for a Game and Fish commissioner particularly.”

According to Arkansas Code 25-16-804, the governor can remove a member of a state board or commission on the basis of abuse of authority, dereliction of duty or for “conduct constituting a criminal offense involving moral turpitude.”

Because the hunt involved more than one commissioner, the commission staff issued a news release to meet the mandates of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, which requires advance notice whenever two or more members of a commission or other governing body get together.

The news release didn’t identify the commissioners on the hunt, but commission spokesman Keith Stephens said they were Watkins and Mahoney. They planned to go duck hunting Tuesday and Wednesday near Brasfield on the Cache River in Prairie County.

Stephens said Watkins and Mahoney were on a private duck hunt. They typically go to the duck club the night before hunting the next morning, he said.

The news release also provided notice that two or more commissioners were attending a Wednesday luncheon for state legislators and sponsored by the commission, the Arkansas Legislative Caucus and the Arkansas Wildlife Officers Association.

Five of the seven commissioners attended the luncheon, Stephens said. Watkins and Ron Pierce of Mountain Home didn’t attend the function, he said.

Attempts to reach Watkins on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

When asked why Watkins didn’t also face a weapons charge, Staley said that since he didn’t have the weapon when officers arrived, they didn’t have cause for any weapons charges.

“It wasn’t, he wasn’t putting anyone in danger, in our opinion,” Staley said. “He wasn’t being disorderly with [the gun].”

Watkins was booked in at the county jail but later was released into the custody of his attorney, Staley said. His initial court date is set for March 5 in Lonoke County District Court.

“We treat everyone the same around here. If you do wrong, you do wrong,” Staley said. “If you cooperate with us, then call your dad or attorney, we’ll give you a court date and release you ... it’s a misdemeanor.”

The weapon that the deputy found at the scene was not Watkins’ commission-issued Glock 22, a full-size .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol that the commission’s law enforcement officers were carrying at the time of Watkins’ appointment, Stephens said.

Instead, officers found a Glock 27, often called the “Baby Glock;” it’s a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol marketed to be carried as a concealed weapon because of its small size.

According to Arkansas State Police records, Watkins has a conceal-and-carry weapons permit.

The commission’s practice of issuing handguns to its members dates to the 1980s, Stephens said. Law-enforcement personnel show the commissioners how to operate the handguns, but the commission doesn’t require that they receive extensive training, he said. Commission law-enforcement officers now carry .45-caliber models.

The commission allows its members to keep their handguns once their terms expire as a gift for their service, Stephens said. The handgun is worth about $450, he said.

Watkins, a Little Rock native and graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, is the owner and president of Watkins Co., a printing and distribution company in Little Rock. He also is an active volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America.

Information for this article was provided by Michael Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/24/2013

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