Lowell Is Back in the Saddle

Benton County Circuit Judge John Scott today ruled in favor of the City of Lowell in its lawsuit against Ray Dotson and Ozark Mountain Carriages, ordering Dotson to return the stagecoach and denying his claim for $28,248 in storage fees for the time he was using the city's stagecoach in his private business.

No one raised the issue of why in the world a city would pay $26,500 for a stagecoach that was not part of its mass transit system. Judge Scott's decision was grounded on the argument that municipalities cannot appropriate public funds for private use. This will be bad news to the exclusive Boardwalk Property Owners Association that has been demanding that the City of Fayetteville spend public funds to dredge their private lake and make it nicer for them to use.