In his first public comments, Dr. Arnold Smith makes no mention of the murder-for-hire scheme of which he is accused.
Instead, the Greenwood oncologist, in a handwritten eight-page letter to the Commonwealth, is preoccupied with what he sees as the loss of historic architecture in Greenwood in recent years — including the Leflore County livestock barns, Perry’s Pawn Shop and the Railway Inn.
“Now I have been asking myself why I feel the loss of these structures was a ‘sacrilege,’ a loss of identity and an insult to tradition that struck at the core of the shrinking Greenwood. The town has been so complacent about this sacrilege, it appears my sense of offense is not shared,” he wrote. “‘Loss of old building with no strong economic use.’ Trash the past. Viva Walmart.”
An odd topic for sure, but as Smith admits in the letter, he’s got an abundance of free time right now to explore ideas.
Smith mailed the letter, dated June 20, to Commonwealth Editor and Publisher Tim Kalich from inside the Leflore County Jail. The 70-year-old is being held without bond awaiting the action of a grand jury.
He’s charged with conspiring to kill Greenwood attorney Lee Abraham and with the death of one of the assassins Smith allegedly hired, Keaira Byrd. Investigators have said Byrd offered to sell Abraham evidence that Smith was trying to have Abraham killed, but that Byrd’s actual intent was Abraham’s murder. Abraham arranged for state attorney general’s agents to be present at his exchange with Byrd at Abraham’s office across from the Leflore County Courthouse on April 28; Byrd arrived carrying an automatic weapon and wearing a ski mask and died in a shootout with three agents. Three of Smith’s alleged co-conspirators have also been charged.
Abraham was not injured, although one of the attorney general’s agents was grazed in the leg by a bullet during the shootout.
Smith wrote in his letter to the Commonwealth that he has been using his “spare time” to read a book called, “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.” He said author Jonathan Haidt seeks to determine what factors lead to a cohesive, successful community and determines that one of the foundations is a respect for common goals that are valuable to the group.
Smith decries the destruction of the county’s livestock barns on Carrollton Avenue, which he petitioned the Leflore County Board of Supervisors in 2010 to preserve. The supervisors did award him a contract to salvage the wood and the metal roofing when the barns were torn down.
Smith laments the demolition of two other Greenwood structures — Perry’s Pawn Shop and the Railway Inn — after they sustained heavy damage in separate fires.
He also takes offense at the street lamps placed on Howard Street as part of a revitalization effort of Greenwood’s downtown shopping district. Smith said their speckled appearance doesn’t fit with the time period, preferring the dark green used by other cities such as Oxford and Memphis.
“Is this a problem? It is to me,” Smith wrote. “It’s the destruction of historical Greenwood.”
He praises the late state Rep. May Whittington for her successful effort to save Keesler Bridge, a turn bridge on the Yazoo River. Whittington led the preservation effort during her tenure as director of Main Street Greenwood, a downtown revitalization organization;
Smith wrote that at least the architecture of Grand Boulevard — where Smith’s home is located — is preserved.
But the imprisoned physician closes his essay by lamenting the general lack of appreciation for the city’s historic buildings:
“The respect for architecture in Tupelo, Oxford, Memphis, Nashville or Denver, Colorado, does not seem to be the moral glue for a cohesive Greenwood. Maybe there are termites in the infrastructure.”
• Contact Charlie Smith at 581-7235 or csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
