I was a part of the news media, first as News Director at KAMO, then a news reporter and anchor at news/talk KURM. News people normally report on politics, but keep their distance from it. I had no aspirations to get involved in city government, nor government at any other level.
Some time before 1991, the Bentonville City Attorney discovered an old law from the early 1900's that was enacted to allow a bankrupt suburb of Little Rock to be taken over by the City of Little Rock. It required a certain number of signatures on a petition from the city to be absorbed to be presented to the City Council of the city of which it would become a part. That Council could then call separate elections in each city.
In 1991 the Bentonville Planning Commission requested an engineer from a local engineering firm to come to a meeting to look over infrastructure needs in future areas to be annexed into their city. When he arrived, he discovered there were blank petitions on the table for the future take-over of both Centerton and Cave Springs, and for numerous elections to take over portions of land controlled by the Bella Vista Property Owners Association. Bella Vista heard about it, and threatened to cut off Bentonville water and go to their own deep wells which they had just drilled. The Bentonville City Council eventually passed a resolution stating that they would never take over any land controlled by the Bella Vista Property Owners Association. However, the two other areas, Cave Springs and Centerton were unaware that they were up for grabs by the larger city.
Nothing more happened until 1994, when Bentonville broke an agreement with Centerton and annexed across a previously established line that was to have been the demarcation between the two cities. There was a great deal of bad press with accusations from both sides. It was during this time that the petitions were passed in Centerton, with 115 people signing. They were then taken to the Bentonville City Council which was told these were the signatures of registered voters in Centerton that wanted Centerton to become a part of Bentonville. But the people who signed the petitions were dismayed by the claim. They said they were told that the petitions were asking for better relations between the two cities. They said they would never have signed if they had known Bentonville was trying to take over Centerton. That was proven when only 4 people in Centerton voted in 1995 to be taken over by Bentonville. That began a "reign of terror" by the larger city on Centerton. Some 26 separate assaults over the next 12 years have been documented. It started with Bentonville cancelling all agreements with Centerton. Fortunately the nearby City of Rogers stepped up and provided some of those services, and at a lesser charge. It was during this time that my wife and I began attending all of the City Council meetings. I covered them for the radio, but also this was our city, and we were personally interested in what was going on.
In 1998, three Bentonville leaders recruited a new Centerton resident to run for mayor. They met with him for breakfast anywhere from three to five mornings a week at a Bentonville restaurant. They crafted and advised him on his campaign. Once he was elected, they used him to attempt to totally disrupt the city. Actually, Centerton would have been brought to its knees except for the fact that there were some dedicated City Council members who took time to come in and take care of city business in their spare time and keep the city going. The mayor was arrested twice in Rogers and once in Centerton, and resigned from office as a part of a plea bargain agreement. I suppose, because Pat and I had been attending the City Council meetings, they felt I knew what was going on, and they appointed me to fill the year and a half remaining in the mayor's term. I was then elected without a challenger, and re-elected again. I became mayor of Centerton in 2001, and resigned in November of 2007. In that time the city grew from 2,146 to more than 7,600. All of the controversy that had punctuated the politics of the city disappeared, and with wonderful department heads the city was running like a well-oiled machine.
It was on the Monday evening of Thanksgiving week 2007, I was out walking our poodle just before supper and my cell phone rang. It was a reporter from the Benton County Daily Record. She asked if I knew anyone named "Don LaRose." At the sound of that name, I knew it was all over. The next day several reporters came to my office, and then came out to our home that evening. I told them the entire story, including the fact that I did not believe and had never claimed to have been abducted by satanists. But the next morning when the story came out it stated "Former pastor claims to have been abducted by satanists." When I tried to correct them, they wrote that I had changed my story. So, discovering that they could not be trusted, at that point I simply refused to talk to them any more. Each time they wrote about Centerton they would include a statement saying that I had "resigned after admitting to living a double life." I never admitted to any such thing. As a matter of fact I did not live a double life at any time during the 26 years I had been in Northwest Arkansas. They repeated the old lies of me leaving with thousands of dollars,buying carry-on luggage and more; stories that were proved to be false in 1976.
Actually, my discovery proved to be a blessing. I enjoyed being mayor. But back in May of 2007 when Pat was nearly called home to Heaven, that ended her participation with me. We previously had spent a lot of time together. She accompanied me to various meetings, dinners, etc. But now she was pretty much home bound and we saw very little of each other. I would leave at 7:00 in the morning, maybe come home for lunch, and most times came home for supper. But then there were evening meetings three or four nights a week that could last till 10:00 or later. The job that I had enjoyed so much had become a chore. I even talked to our City Attorney about the possibility of resigning early before my term would be over at the end of 2010. Also, it has given me much more time to fulfill one of my passions: writing. I have now published one book Finding Jesus in the Old Testament: the Jewish Scriptures (Outskirts Press); with two more books nearly ready, Essays on the Creation/Evolution Controversy and Essays on our REAL American History; with a fourth, Studies in Matthew: Jesus was a Recognized Orthodox Jewish Rabbi in the infancy stages. It also has given me much more opportunity to get out and minister God's Word at banquets, churches and other functions.
I would not have had to resign. I did so for the good of the city. Knowing the turmoil the city was in when I became mayor, I felt that if I should stay on the city would be operating under a cloud for the remainder of my term. The City Council, to a person, stated that they supported me. I was asked prior to the special meeting on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, not to resign. According to my attorney, I did not break any laws. I also want it known, contrary to some news media reports that I did not steal any identity, or Social Security number.
My discovery has also resulted in my being reunited with some of my family members. I have been reunited with my father who is 97 and my mother who 92 at the time of this writing, an aunt and uncle, my oldest daughter and her family, my sister and her family, a grandson and his family and others. Praise God!
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