Today at the Clinton School of Public Service, former Middlebury College President John McCardell spoke about his latest endeavor “Choose Responsibility” which, according to its mission, “is to promote general public awareness of the dangers of excessive and reckless alcohol consumption by young adults through a program of research, publication, education, and related activities seeking to engage young people, their parents, and public officials in serious deliberation on the role of alcohol in American culture.”

One of the many proposals is to do away with the direct tie between federal appropriations for  highway funds and Legal Age 21, in essence giving the states the freedom to decide whether the lower the drinking age to 18.

McCardell proposes extensive education, certification and provisional licensing which would give 18-20 year olds the ability to purchase, possess and consume alcoholic beverages.

Sturgis Hall was packed with more than 70 attendees.  The crowd reaction was very positive.

“Hendrix College President J. Timothy Cloyd will create a committee to consider the return of intercollegiate football at the college, a sport that has been absent from Hendrix since the 1960 football season.

Hendrix is presently one of three schools in its athletic conference – the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference – to not have a football team. If implemented, Hendrix would join nine other football-playing schools in the conference and become the only NCAA Division III football program in Arkansas.

The committee, consisting of approximately 15 people, will be headed by Chuck Chappell, a professor of English at Hendrix since 1969 and a 1964 graduate of Hendrix College. Composed of alumni, students, faculty and staff, the committee will conduct an extensive study to determine the financial feasibility, along with student and alumni interest in the program. The process is expected to take a year, and the college’s Board of Trustees would ultimately have to approve the implementation,” according to a news release from Director of Media Relations Mark Scott.

Mike Huckabee’s son, David, was arrested at the Little Rock National Airport about 5:30 a.m. this morning for having a handgun in carry-on luggage while preparing to board a plane. The gun was found during routine security screening.

“It was a mistake,” said police Lt. Terry Hastings. “It happens all the time. He just forgot he had it.” He said airport security said such forgetfulness occurs three or four times a year at the airport.

Huckabee was arrested and taken for a short period to a North Little Rock holding facility. He then appeared before District Judge Lee Munson and pleaded guilty to having a gun in a prohibited place. He was sentenced to a year in jail, suspended, and one year of supervised probation. He was ordered to perform 10 days of community service (this can be “bought” for $100) and assessed $605 855 in fine and costs. After the court appearance, he went through processing at the County Jail and was released.

Hastings said Huckabee has a concealed weapon permit and was carrying a Glock .40-caliber loaded with eight rounds.

Police confiscated the gun. A court spokesman said Huckabee could petition for return of the gun after the 30-day appeal period on the conviction had expired, reports the Arkansas Times.

John David Terry of Mt. Ida, Arkansas has filed a lawsuit against U of A Systems President B. Alan Sugg and U of A Chancellor John White alleging that both men breached their contact to Terry, by virtue of his status as an Arkansas taxpayer, in their handling of the series of e-mails sent to former Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain by Teresa Prewett, a long time friend of Houston Nutt and his brother, Arkansas running backs coach Danny Nutt.

The 41-page complaint, filed in Washington county, is the latest in a series of public debacles for the U of A athletic department.

Mustain, inceidentally, has transfered to USC, where he’ll join former teammate Damian Williams, who also left Arkansas earlier this year to join the Trojans.

Today, a subpoena was issued for Houston Nutt’s hard drive. An attorney for the plaintiff said he “wants to examine any e-mail correspondence between Nutt and Prewett, as well as any e-mail from their computers regarding the Mustain situation,” reports the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Matt Hayes of The Sporting News writes, “It’s time for Houston Nutt to go. Right now — before the long, hot days of summer and before the steaming stench of a soap opera further damages the Arkansas football program. As much as it pains me to say this, as much as I loathe whiny players and meddling little league moms and reactionary responses, Nutt must take a buyout and walk away for the good of the program. Too much damage has been done already.”

Arkansas Democrat Gazette Sports Editor Wally Hall notes, “If an independent investigation had been conducted as it should have, the drama of the past five months might have never happened.”

The issue now is what does the UA Board of Trustees do. With the President and the Chancellor of the flagship Univerity as named defendants, it seems that the Board is going to have to intervene in a siutation they never intended to touch: the future of Houston Nutt.

The plaintiff, while clearly peeved at Chancellor White for not taking this e-mail thing more seriously, really wants Nutt out of the picture. Although, he doesn’t seem to mind if Chancellor White followed him.

The e-mail trail, as exposed by Arkansas Times Lifestyle Editor Jim Harris, leads to Prewett, Houston Nutt’s wife Diana and brother Danny.  As a result, there is some appearance that Nutt knew about it all along, and certainly well before Chancellor White called him about it on January 5th, almost 1 month after the original e-mail was sent by Prewett.

What’s the solution? Nutt attorney Byron Freeland thinks the lawsuit will be dismissed quickly.  Certainly, Terry’s legal arguments are thin and there’s a wealth of public policy arguments against allowing a lawsuit of this kind to continue.

That said, this is Arkansas state court, where plaintiff’s are, more often than not, given a chance to conduct some discovery into their claims.  If that is allowed here, it’s the most damaging because Terry’s lawyers will get a chance to depose Nutt, brother Danny, White, Prewett, and just about anyone else they can connect to this matter.

From the U of A’s perspective, that can never be allowed to happen because eventually, excerpts of those depositions will be attached to pleadings and they’ll become part of the public record.

One thing is for sure, if a Motion of Dismiss is denied, the U of A’s got a real problem on its hands.  Many would argue it already does.

Yesterday, Political Lunch, an online news program discussing the 2008 Presidential campaigns, picked up news of Jason Brady’s departure from the Huckabee campaign, which was first reported on this blog.

Check it out.

TIME magazine has a story this week about Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and its response to the continued rise of Barack Obama.  The article notes,

“What startled Clinton’s team was not just Obama’s totals or his success at drumming up contributions over the Internet but also how much he is collecting from the big donors who have fueled Clinton enterprises for the past decade and a half. “It was a real wake-up call,” says a Clinton strategist. ”

“Clinton’s advisers privately acknowledge that she is retooling her strategy on four fronts: intensifying her fund raising, emphasizing her experience and policy depth (she’s counting on the upcoming debates to put those on display), pondering when and how to go on the offensive against Obama and dusting off the “two for the price of one” theme of her husband’s 1992 campaign.”

“Clinton’s challenges go well beyond money, though. She also has what Obama’s handlers are calling an “enthusiasm gap.” The New York State Senator still leads in most polls, but the latest Gallup survey found that 52% of respondents have an unfavorable view of her. Her favorable rating has dropped 13 percentage points since February, to 45%, and has been below 50% in each of the past three Gallup surveys. By comparison, Obama and former Senator John Edwards, her two strongest rivals, registered 52% favorable ratings, and — more significantly — their unfavorables were at about 30%.”

Al Gore was in New York to kick off the Tribeca Film Festival.  Along the way, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg  was asked about Gore and he said this:

“People talk about Al Gore being a presidential candidate a lot more serious than they joke about me. This guy could be a presidential candidate. He certainly has experience. I’ve always been in favor of the public having more choice. I hope Al Gore enters the
race; I think it would be good for the country.”

Tonight.  You can watch the 90-minute debate on MSNBC at 6:00 CST.    The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg is maintaining a running blog throughout the day.

“The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to impose tighter restrictions on the hundreds of lawyers who represent detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the request has become a central issue in a new legal battle over the administration’s detention policies.
Saying that visits by civilian lawyers and attorney-client mail have caused “intractable problems and threats to security at Guantánamo,” a Justice Department filing proposes new limits on the lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases that would replace more expansive rules that have governed them since they began visiting Guantánamo detainees in large numbers in 2004,” reports The New York Times.

Thanks to a dedicated reader for passing along . . .

Longtime University of Arkansas lobbyist Joyce Wroten of Perryville was honored at a retirement reception Wednesday night at the UofA system office in Little Rock. Hundreds of UofA officials, the Attorney General, UCA President Lu Hardin, legislators, former legislators, lobbyists and friends showed up to salute her.  UA President Alan Sugg, UAMS Chancellor Dodd Wilson and Longtime legislator Jodie Mahony were among the speakers.

While retiring from her day to day work, she remains active chairing the board of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute (part of the UA System) on Petit Jean Mountain. (which by the way has been remodeled and is one of the best retreat locations in the state).

Joyce has played key roles in the expansion at UAMS, the establishment of the Clinton School and in the operational and capital funding for all the campuses. She is an ardent supporter of the Old State House and was given the Old State House’s first “Speaker of the House” award last night for her service.

You may have seen the Letter to the Editor published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette a few days ago by Connie Meskimen of Hot Springs. I received a pdf of the letter from a friend in Chicago and another in Vermont. In his letter, Mr. Meskimen alleges that the bill by Congress to move Daylight Saving Time to one month earlier was the cause for global warming, or at least warmer temperatures in March in Arkansas.

Here’s a link to the letter.

At first, I thought this was a joke. Maybe it is.

“Michael Douglas will star in “Tragic Indifference,” a courtroom thriller based on a landmark liability case against Ford; 2929 Prods. will finance the film and produce with Douglas’ Furthur Films.Douglas will play the attorney who took Ford to court on behalf of a single mother from Texas who was paralyzed and nearly died after an accident. The trial exposed the automaker’s indifference to flaws in its SUVs, reports Variety.

The attorney is Arkansan Tab Turner and he is mentioned in the Variety article.

I received the following e-mail at 2:57 am from an undisclosed gmail account:

“Jason Brady has gone AWOL from the Huckabee Campaign. He hasn’t showed up for work in the last week, calls to him by the campaign have not been returned, and all his personal effects are gone from his office. The campaign beleives that he has taken a job somewhere else . He left with a number of fundraising lists, which has put the campaign into a frenzy.”

I placed a call to the Huckabee headquarters this morning and asked to speak with Mr. Brady. The polite receptionist informed me that he was “no longer with the campaign and has moved on to greener pastures.”

Several weeks ago, I broke the news that longtime Huckabee chief of staff Brenda Turner “left” the campaign.  The Huckabee camp disputes that she was fired and stated that the left for personal reasons and would re-join the campaign at a later date.

I also mentioned that my sources told me that another longtime Huckabee aide Jason Brady (who managed Huckabee’s DC office) was no longer with the campaign.  The campaign denied it and said that he was still on the payroll.

“Boris N. Yeltsin, the burly provincial politician who became a Soviet-era reformer and later a towering figure of his time as the first freely elected leader of Russia, presiding over the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the demise of the Communist Party, died yesterday in Moscow. He was 76.  His death, at a hospital, came at 3:45 p.m., the Kremlin said, making the announcement without ceremony, a reflection of the contradictory legacy of Mr. Yeltsin’s presidency in the view of many Russians, including his successor, the current leader, President Vladimir V. Putin,” reports The New York Times.