The Monticellonian., 1916-11-23
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MONTICELLO, ARKANSAS.

Gentlemen: In confirmation of my statement made to you in open counci meeting of November 4th, 19l6; hand you herewith my resignation as Mayor of the city of Monticello tc take effect immediately.
 l gave you my reasons for this ac- tion at the meeting referred to, but III order that proper record may be made l beg leaveass submit the same in writing, with the request that the same be spread upon the records ot this meeting.
 During the Fair week last month I took the position that Monticello was the host to all Fair visitors and that we should treat them as guests. With this thought ln view, and with the knowledge that Monticello had been severely criticised in the past because of over jealous officers arresting and convictlng visitors . our city, and with the purpose of correcting as far as possible this feeling and thus gaining for Monticello a good name among our neighboring towns and communi- ties; and with the hope of making our Far a greater success; l felt that as much leniency as possible in the en- forcement of the law should be indul- ged Tn by all the officers of the City: and that arrests should not be made except in cases where It was absolute ly necessary for the preservation of the public peace and safety of the cit izens of Monticello and the visitors to our town l went further and took the position that even in cases where arrests had been made that we should still extend all the clemeney to our guests as possible under the circum- stances; and that if no real good would be accomplished by fining the party offending further than the in creasing of the City's coffers and the cost of the officers; then in this case to not fine the party but let him go Oil condition that he give the officers no more trouble and the people no more annoyance; believing as I did that 1t would be far better to have these peo- pie going away feeling that Monti- cello had been more than fair and just to them than to have even the maxi mum fine assessed in each case. l took this position believing that I Council and the police officers of the City as well as great majority of the people of Monticello.
 During the Fair there were two cases brought before me; one deputy sheriff of an adjoining County charged with public intoxication and carrying pistol. While 1t Is probably true that the gentleman was drunk the officer who made the arrest stated that he was not disturbing anyone nor giving any person any trouble whatever For that reason l continued the case indefinitely and let him go on his own recognizance. As to the pistol case; the sheriff of his county was present and testified that he was deputy sheriff; and while he was perhaps gull ty of carrying a pistol in q technical sense of the offense; yet l felt that if one of our officers went into an ad- joining County or even an adjoining town earring pistol (which would be a violation of the law) that the Citi- zens of Monticello would resent 1t If he were arrested and convicted of car rying pistol. For this reason l also continued this case indefinitely The other case was a citizen of one of the rural districts of Drew County charged with public intoxiea ton. On the night he was arrested several of Monticello's own citizens were drunk and disorder ly and no arrests were made in these cases (just why, the police officers know better than l dol. The officer who made the arrest in this case told me before the trial that while he felt that 1t WAS necessary to make the ar rest to avoid undue disturbance and annoyance yet that he hoped l would see my way clear to turn him loose without being fined. Had l assessed a fine in this case people in the country would have said and probably with some right that it was only the coun- try people who are being fined and