IGNATIUS

Van Buren, AR

Arkansas Chief Faces Misconduct Allegations

I began to hear of, and “know” the subject about 6 or 7 years ago, when we both had children going to Van Buren High School. He was involved with the PTA in some capacity and also seemed to umpire baseball games in the area. Sitting in the stands at some of the games and watching his behavior, I thought at times his “body language” appeared from a distance to be confrontational toward the various coaches. I later read that he got into a very disputed argument with a coach and filed a Terroristic Threatening charge against the coach. I felt this was quite amusing because it was a little less than a year later that his wife charged him with the same offense. From reading some of his many actions, the vast MINORITY of which I am sure, eventually are EVER printed in the local papers, the subject party seems to make very poor judgment decisions at times regarding the safety of children. A couple of years ago he was "fired" for a year from his school bus driving job in Van Buren for leaving a child on his bus by apparently not closely checking the complete interior of the bus when he parked it at his home that morning following his run. His check failed to discover a sleeping elementary school student on one of the bus seats. The child was eventually discovered wandering around in the Sullivants residency yard. This event would never have seen the light of day if the school had not called the parents and informed them that their elementary school child did not arrive at for classes that morning. While on (fired? What else can you say) the subject was working with the Van Buren High School PTA for the Senior after graduation event, held at Bowling World in South Fort Smith May 18 2007. The school busses were scheduled to leave the high school grounds between 11:30pm and 12:00am. At that time it was found that there was an electrical problem with bus #39, and that it had NO LIGHTS at all. No headlights, no tail lights, no flashers, NOTHING. The SANE decision would have been to take a loaded bus with the driver riding along, travel the approximately 5 miles to the bus garage (directly on the way to Bowling World) and get a replacement vehicle. Jimmy Sullivant said "NO…..WE WILL PUT THE BLIND BUS BETWEEN TWO FUNCTIONING BUSSES AND DRIVE THE STUDENTS THE 15 MILE TRIP ON THE INTERSTATE TO THE EVENT ON THE NONFUNCTIONAL BUS WITH NO HEADLIGHTS." It was very important to not miss a frame of bowling rather than consider the safety and lives of the students. It must be pointed out Jimmy was not an employee of the Van Buren School District at this time and had no authority to make such a decision regarding the life safety of 70 to 80 children. It should also be pointed out that no supervisor of the Van Buren Transportation Department was contacted or involved regarding making a decision on this event. The idea and concluding decision was Jimmys alone. The driver of bus #39 followed his decision to the letter and we all rolled off on time. Take your personal vehicle, which is much easier to control than a bus loaded with screaming rowdy high school students, and try to negotiate the curve from I-40 East to I-540 South at midnight with NO HEADLIGHTS. To me this decision had the opportunity to have about 70 counts of manslaughter attached to it with several defendants named. I can't imagine what fire fighting class the subject learned this type of reasoning and behavior decision making in time of "crisis" . I hope he does not convey this logic methodology to his trainees who he continues to teach while he is on leave of absence.  (May 7, 2009 | post #3)

Van Buren, AR

Arkansas Chief Faces Misconduct Allegations

The only thing that gets Van Buren residents up in arms is high school football. It has been, and always will be the high point of their ethereal realm.  (Apr 16, 2009 | post #2)