Circuit Court race turns ugly with anonymous Web site

The election season for circuit court judges in Sebastian County has normally been mild, polite and almost reverent in tone.

Well, welcome to yet another race during this crazy election cycle that’s anything but normal.

Annie Powell Hendricks and Joseph Self are on the ballot for Circuit Court, Div. 2 — a division that handles civil family law. It’s an important bench in that one of it’s responsibilities is the adjudication of matters that are, ideally, in the best interests of children. Both candidates have practiced law in the area for many years and are respected and well-known attorneys.

The usual calm of this non-partisan judicial race was interrupted Thursday (May 5) with the launch of www.novotejoe.com — a Web site seeking to embarrass Self.

Two documents point to what may be considered poor judgment by Self. The first document is a Sebastian County Sheriff’s Department report date April 5, 2008, in which Self grabbed an 11-year-old girl by the back of the hair and neck after the girl and a friend rang Self’s doorbell to his Greenwood home and ran off. The girls admitted to the prank, according to the report filed by Deputy Randy White.

“Mr. Self stated that he was not trying to hurt the girls in anyway (sic) and explained to the girls that he did not want them ringing his doorbell and running off,” White noted in the report.

The second document on the Web site is a reprint of a Feb. 11, 2010, Times Record online story about Self sending a mass e-mail in the Sebastian County Prosecutor’s Office that included a joke about a man touching a woman’s breasts. Self is the chief deputy prosecuting attorney serving under Prosecuting Attorney Dan Shue.

After a staff member complained about the e-mail, Self issued an apology directly to the person offended and to the entire staff, according to the Times Record article.

Hendricks said she was alerted to the anti-Self Web site Thursday, saying an anonymous male caller left a voice message about the Web site. She doesn’t know who is behind it. Neither does anyone at Williams-Crawford & Associates, the public relations company handling her campaign. Hendricks and Fred Williams aren’t sure they want to go digging into the matter.

“My position would be to try to keep this campaign clean, but I don’t have control over that (who gets involved in the campaign),” Hendricks told The City Wire. “I’m not sure who it is, but I don’t feel like going in there and getting mud on my face (trying to find out).”

Hendricks admitted to knowing about the Sheriff’s Department report. She said a copy of the report was sent to her early in the campaign. She has mixed emotions about the document being made public.

“Do I think people should know about it? To be honest with you, probably so, yes. … This (race) is about who has the best judgment,” Hendricks explained. “But do I want to be the one who does it? I don’t think so.”

Self responded with this statement about the incident with the doorbell ringers:
“As to the incident report that the police officers are required to complete when called out for any reason, it is an accurate account of the events of the evening. We were being pranked by children ringing the doorbell and running off. My wife was not feeling well, so I chased down the kids after it happened again. I did not know who the children were at first; they had run to the side of the house next door and were in some shadows. As I approached them, I did grasp the arm of one and put my hand behind the head of another so they would not run off again, perhaps hurting themselves in the poor light. Once I recognized them as kids I knew, I simply asked them not to do it any more. I didn’t think their conduct warranted tattling to their mothers–they were kids being kids. I would never hurt a child, and this matter went no further than what you see in the report.”

Self also provided The City Wire with the joke that offended a person in the Prosecuting Attorney’s office. Of the joke, Self noted: “I saw it when it was making the rounds last year, and thought it taught a valuable lesson on just how far pride can cause someone to lower themselves. Someone in the office took offense to the detailed description of what the woman put herself through in search of a compliment. I did not mean to offend anyone, and when I learned that someone was not comfortable with the tale, I apologized in the same manner the story was sent.”

The joke sent by Self:
A woman decides to have a facelift for her 50th birthday. She spends $15,000 and feels pretty good about the results. On her way home, she stops at a newsstand to buy a newspaper. Before leaving, she says to the clerk, “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but how old do you think I am?”
“About 32,” is the reply.
“Nope! I’m exactly 50,” the woman says happily.

A little while later she goes into McDonald’s and asks the counter girl the very same question.
The girl replies, “I’d guess about 29.”
The woman replies with a big smile, “Nope, I’m 50.”
Now she’s feeling really good about herself. She stops in a drug store on her way down the street. She goes up to the counter to get some mints and asks the clerk this burning question.
The clerk responds, “Oh, I’d say 30.”
Again she proudly responds, “I’m 50, but thank you!”

While waiting for the bus to go home, she asks an old man waiting next to her the same question. He replies, “Lady, I’m 78 and my eyesight is going. Although, when I was young there was a sure-fire way to tell how old a woman was. It sounds very forward, but it requires you to let me put my hands under your bra. Then, and only then can I tell you EXACTLY how old you are.”

They wait in silence on the empty street until her curiosity gets the best of her. She finally blurts out, “Oh, why not, go ahead.”

He slips both of his hands under her blouse and begins to feel around very slowly and carefully. He bounces and weighs each breast and he gently pinches each nipple. He pushes her breasts together and rubs them against each other. After a couple of minutes of this, she says, “Okay, okay. How old am I?”
He completes one last squeeze of her breasts, removes his hands, and says, “Madam, you are 50.”

Stunned and amazed, the woman says, “That was incredible, how could you tell?”
The old man says, “Promise you won’t get mad?”
“I promise I won’t,” she says.
“I was behind you at McDonalds.”