The Mena weekly star., 1918-05-30
TRIAL TOOK PLACE AS QUICKLY AS LEGAL FORMS WOULD
 PERMIT.
TALK ON SYSTEMATIC
 TICK ERADICATION
Iudge Lake Declared That Citizens Banding Themselves Together to Resist Were Subject to Pun
 ment for Conspiracy.

A special term of Circuit court was
 convened last Thursday by Judge J. S. Lake for the purpose of inyestigat- ing the case against the Daffron brothers charged with the killing of A. D. Boatner on Saturday, April 28, in the community on the county line west of Grannis.
 The following persons who had heretofore been summoned were em- panelled as special grand jurors to in- vestigate the case: E. ". Hamby, W. E. Holt, J. W. Middleton, G. R. Hale, N. NJ. Thomas, J. c. Allen, J. F. Lewis, w. H. Stevens, D. Barton, T. w. Anderson, J A. Mackey, John Bogle, T. A. Carter and L. A. Law renee, John Thompson and J. ". Gun ningham were selected from the by islanders to take the place of c. M. Edwards and G. w Whisenhunt who had not yet responded to the sum mons. The court directed that the prisoners be brought into open court and after they waived their challenge to any of the jurors, the jurors were sworn and J. c. Allen was selected as foreman.
 The court in instructing the jury stated that the special term was called to investigate certain cases only and hefice the jury would be restricted in it's investigations to those special cases, one of these being the charge against the Daffron brothers. Along this line the court instructed in the law relating to murder and man slaughter in the several degrees.
 On Tick Eradication.
 While the opposition to systematic tick eradication was not strictly a matter of investigation for this jury Judge Lake devoted considerable att tention to the subject stating that it had come to his notice that in some sections of the county there was con- siderable opposition, and that he had been informed that in one commu- nity people had banded themselves together and agreed not to observe the rules and regulations that have been promulgated for carrying on syste- natic eradication. He pointed out that the state and federal government are cooperating in the work of tick eradi- cation, and that while the legislature had not specifically enacted the rules and regulations, the matter had been delegated to board, and it was as incumbent upon every citizen to ob- serve these rules and regulations as tho they had been passed by the leg stature The penalties fixed for fail ure to conform to the regulations, he pointed out, were as certain as tho fixed by the legislature. Going fur ther the court suggested that those people who had banded themselves to- gether with the purpose not to ob- serve the rules and regulations were laying themselves liable to punish ment for conspiracy as well as to the punishment for failure to comply with the dipping regulations, adding that the punishment for conspiracy was more severe than the punishment for failure to observe the rules for dip pmg Going still further, Judge Lake stated that an erroneous impression had gene cut that this matter IS not 1 governed by law, and again he sug- rested that the rules of the Board having in charge the work in tte Northwest Arkansas Tick Eradication district were as binding as the injunc- ton, Thou Shalt Not Kill" To the { argument that farmers were too busy producing food to comply with the dlpping regulations, Judge Lake re- piled that compliance with dipping regulations was more binding that the fulfilling of the obligation to pro- duce food and feed, the latter being q moral obligation while the former was a law. Granting that the requirement. to dip all cattle once every two weeks, was a burden in these busy times, Judge Lake pointed out that if there IS strict compliance with the rules tlek eradication will be accomplished " next December, and the farmers and stockmen will be relieved for all time of the burden and the ravages of the tick. Closing his remarks on ttis supJect, Judge Lake stated, tl.at II punishment is not inflicted for failure to comply with the rules and regula lions, then at the regular term ot court he will instruct the grand jury 70 investigate thoroly all violations along this line, and if indictments are returned he will charge the petit in- ms trying the eases as strongly as ilie law will permit to return verdicts 'f eonviction.
 Still another matter touched upon
 fr.-s.