"Bill Clinton's gubernatorial administration assumed a role in the Ives and Henry case shortly after Dr. Malak's marijuana-induced accidental death ruling. Dr. Malak, an Egyptian-born physician appointed medical examiner during Mr. Clinton's first term, already had been buffeted by a number of controversial cases. With public pressure growing over botched tests and faulty handling of evidence in the train deaths affair, Gov. Clinton called in two out-of-state pathologists to review the work of the medical examiner and the state crime lab, where the autopsies had been conducted.
But when the Saline County grand jury probing the case attempted to subpoena the outside pathologists, Gov. Clinton balked. Betsy Wright, his chief of staff, submitted an affidavit saying she did not "know when the two pathologists will return to Little Rock" and that their contract with the state was to "make a job performance evaluation, not to provide a second opinion on specific cases." The grand jury responded by issuing a subpoena to Ms. Wright herself on May 25, 1988, and the next day issued its initial ruling of "probable homicide" in need of further investigation.
Two months later, Gov. Clinton revived a long dormant state Medical Examiner Commission to handle the Malak controversy. The panel was headed up by the director of the Arkansas Department of Health, Joycelyn Elders. In January 1989, the Medical Examiner Commission ruled on the Malak case. There was "insufficient evidence at this time for dismissal" of Dr. Malak, Dr. Elders announced. Nine months later, Gov. Clinton introduced a bill to make the state more competitive in hiring forensic pathologists--by giving Dr. Malak a $32,000 pay raise; the state Legislature later cut the raise by half. Ms. Wright says the salary was raised in anticipation of removing Dr. Malak and attracting a new medical examiner. Dr. Malak was eased out of his job and given a position as a Health Department consultant to Dr. Elders a month before Gov. Clinton announced his presidential run."
SOME ADDITONAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE TRAIN DEATHS:
1. With regard to Dr. Malak, in 1992 the Los Angeles times also documented that he falsified the "cause" of death 20 times.
2. Raymond Albright - Murdered 1992 - Actual cause of death was murder. Albright was shot 5 times in chest and Malak ruled the cause of death "suicide".
3. James Dewey Milam - Murdered - Milam had information on the deaths of Ives and Henry. Malak's initial ruling was an ULCER. Milam was decapitated. Malak concluded that the family pet had eaten the entire head and regurgitated the head later on. Unfortunately for Malak, the entire head was later found intact in a trash bin just a couple blocks away from the initial area where the body was found. Malak made up the entire story.
4. Keith Coney - Murder and cover-up May 1988 - Keith had initially been with Kevin Ives and Don Henry the night of the train death. He told relatives that "law enforcement" officials were responsible for murdering Kevin and Don. 2 days later he was killed while riding his Motorcycle at very high speed being chased by a vehicle. According to some officers, his throat had been slashed by his attackers. Ruled a traffic accident. No autopsy done.
5. Keith McKaskle - Murdered Nov. 1988 - Keith was allegedly at tracks that night with Kevin and Don. He turned over the information he knew to Richard Garrett, Deputy Prosecutor. He immediately told everything he knew to his family and also told his family that he had told the "wrong" people what he knew when he told Garrett the information. He was so convinced that he was going to be murdered he arranged his funeral, told family and friends good-bye. Within days he was stabbed 113 times. The night of local elections in 1988, Keith laid 2 cents on the Wagonwheel tavern bar and said if Jim Steed wins this sheriff election tonight my life's not worth 2 cents.He was right.
6. Gregory Collins - Murdered Jan. 1989 - Greg had information on the Ives and Henry murders. He was scheduled to appear at the grand jury and had been subpoened. He had been shot in the face with a shotgun. It was ruled a suicide. No autopsy was performed.
7. Boonie Bearden - Murdered under mysterious circumstances March 1989 - He was a friend of both Greg Collins and Keith Coney. He "vanished" without a trace. It was rumored he knew exactly what had happened at the tracks. An anonymous caller said he knew where he had been murdered. The police found a piece of a shirt, nothing more. His body has never been recovered.
8. Jeff Rhodes - Murdered April 1989 - He told his family he knew too much about the murders of Kevin, Don and McKaskle's murders. His body was found in a trash dump. He had severe gunshot blasts to the head, his hands and feet had been partially sawn off, he was possibly tortured and then burned.
9. Richard Winters - Murdered in July 1989 - Winters was a possible suspect in the deaths of Ives and Henry. He was cooperating and was to be a witness for Don and Kevin within the Grand Jury. He was gunned down in cold blood via a shotgun blast to his face in a robbery which has been proven to be a set-up.
9. Jordan Ketelsen - Murdered June 1990 - Jordan was believed to be connected to the murder of Mckaskle. He was shot at point blank range in the head via a shotgun in his pickup truck. There was no police investigation. No autopsy was performed as the body was cremated quickly.
10. Mike Samples - Murdered June 1995 - Mike was another grand jury witness for Don and Kevin. He was reported as knowing a great deal about the deaths of Ives and Henry. Sources say he had been involved with picking up drugs that were dropped out of planes at the Mena drop sites. He was shot to death in the head and was not found for some time.
11. John Hillyer - Murdered - NBC cameraman and investigator who brought much of the initial Mena findings to the publics attention. It cost him his life.
"If I could be the 'condom queen' and get every young person who is engaged in sex to use a condom, I would wear a crown on my head with a condom on it. I would!"
Joyceln Elders
"Our country talked about masturbation more than in December of 1994 than they ever have in the history of the country.."
Joyceln Elders
"Most of the people that die with heart disease and cancer are our elderly population, and, you know, we'll all probably die with something sooner or later, and we've been investing in heart disease and cancer and I feel that we should continue, I'm not down playin' that. But what I am saying is that we are losing the people that's going to pay my Social Security, and that bothers me."
Joyceln Elders
"The Medicaid system must have been developed by a white male slave owner. It pays for you to be pregnant and have a baby, but it won't pay for much family planning."
Joyceln Elders
"We need safer guns and safer bullets."
Joyceln Elders
"Abortion has an important and positive public-health effect"
Joyceln Elders
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