CONWAY -- A status hearing on an order preventing Damascus police from patrolling two highways was continued Monday until next month.
Ruling in Faulkner County Circuit Court, Judge Chris Carnahan set the hearing for Aug. 13. Attorneys on both sides agreed to the delay.
The small town of about 380 residents is trying to persuade the court to overturn the order, first issued in May 2017. The order expires at the end of this year.
Cody Hiland, then the prosecuting attorney for Faulkner, Van Buren and Searcy counties, handed down the order after concluding that Damascus had been operating an illegal speed trap. The current prosecutor, Luke Ferguson, has stood by Hiland's decision and refused to lift the sanctions. The city has repeatedly denied the allegation.
Under the order, Damascus is not allowed to cite drivers on U.S. 65 or Arkansas 124, both of which run through the town.
The Arkansas State Police and the sheriff's offices in Faulkner and Van Buren counties now handle traffic patrols there.
Damascus lies along U.S. 65 between Conway and Branson.
State Desk on 07/11/2018