Say it ain't so, Joe. And it's not even close to Halloween.
I'm talking about the arrest of Joe Stroud the other day. He's accused of placing the carcasses of at least 16 animals on the grave of his former neighbor in Pea Ridge.
The official charge against the 78-year-old man doesn't sound to me like that big a deal: defacing objects of public respect. If convicted, he likely will shell over a relatively minor fine and walk away.
But (and this is a really big but) he can't ever walk away from the humiliating headlines he created. The story is now part of his permanent legacy.
It began about two months back when, after noticing various dead animals on the family headstone of Fred Allen McKinney for about two months, the family was given permission by the cemetery to set up surveillance cameras aimed at Fred's headstone.
"At first, they thought it was just a coincidence and thought maybe the animals were consuming the fake floral and dying. When they began finding more dead animals, they realized it wasn't just a coincidence; someone was placing the dead animals there purposefully," the police report stated.
The family had removed 16 dead animals. One of the carcasses was draped over the stone and stained it, officials said. A replacement headstone costs a hefty $2,529.
Video reportedly showed that someone disguised with a woman's jacket, sunglasses and wig placed a dead animal on the headstone, then walked back to the a gray Dodge Journey, according to news accounts.
A McKinney family member was driving by and followed a Journey that was leaving the graveyard. The driver was the now accused Stroud, who shared a property boundary with McKinney. The family member said there had been a lawsuit between the two.
Stroud denies he's the person in the video.
GodNods
I've lately asked readers to share deeply personal experiences they attribute to divine intervention in their lives. I call them GodNods. Here are a couple that arrived last week. You have one to email me, valued reader?
Quinton Smith wrote: "Mike--I was drinking too much and it was negatively impacting my life. It came to me in a vivid dream. I was a passenger in the back seat of my own vehicle traveling in reverse at a high speed. I maneuvered myself into the front seat, stopped the car and put it in drive and went forward.
"The next morning I awakened with a firm resolve to quit drinking. I believe this was a message from God telling me to regain control of my life. I attended my first AA meeting that day. It was March 29, 2005. I am still sober. It is a God thing."
Next, reader Anita Fuller wrote to say: "In my younger adult years, I prayed and prayed for my father, who was diagnosed as manic depressive--in the early years when there was little or no treatment or medication, and what treatment there was now seems barbaric. I would 'turn him over to the Lord' in my prayers, but would not completely let him go.
"I'm a retired RN. Finally, one Friday afternoon, as I was driving home from a nursing assignment through the beautiful hills of northeast Arkansas, I prayed for Daddy once more. But this time, I finally let him go--I said 'God, I cannot do this anymore, he is yours.'
"Early the following morning, I received a telephone call that my dad had dropped dead as he was standing in the bathroom, shaving. No suffering, no pain.
"I felt led to let you know so that others might know (and in case you might want to know more: I find pennies, sometimes dimes, everywhere I go--but mostly in parking lots)."
Gratuitious 'GDs'
Perhaps like you in the time of covid-19, we've spent time lately binge-watching series on the streaming channels, which has included "Yellowstone," a compelling modern-day western set in Montana on the nation's largest contiguous cattle ranch.
The acting and storyline are first-rate. My only criticism is the same I've previously expressed for most films and TV series nowadays: The majority seem to relish the idea of needlessly slipping in "GD" references several times into each episode or film.
In three seasons of "Yellowstone" (about 30 episodes), I've counted roughly 100 instances of gratuitously taking the Lord's name in vain. While I'm a long way from being some judgmental prude, I also have sensibilities to discern when such exaggerated spewings aren't remotely justified. As of yet in "Yellowstone," I haven't seen even one that added a smidgen to content.
The pattern of such in-one's-face indoctrination in many films offered for the public, certainly to include impressionable youth, seems apparent. Various series and films today are routinely going out of their way to needlessly demean and diminish the Christian religion by casually defaming that which created everything we know, including the mystery of human consciousness.
Start keeping track. See if ol' Mike's lyin'.
Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly like you want them to treat you.
--–––––v–––––--
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.