The boy's family gathered Tuesday morning inside the Craighead County Courthouse hoping for a small celebration before the boy walked into court. Around town, talk was turned to the hearing downtown, then to Monday night's storm and whose lights were still out. Reporters not accustomed to Arkansas storms talked of cowering on the floor of their hotel rooms when the lights blinked out. Benny Baker, the outspoken minister of the Bono Church of Christ, said outside the courthouse that he had been praying that the long-awaited hearing would go quickly. He said his prayers were answered when the hearing lasted only a day.
Today is like a storm.
We had a storm go through last night. We had another go through today. When you have something of this magnitude, no one thing will take care of it. There is nothing easy about it. Local residents had said before the hearing that it was going to be a flash point of anger for those involved.