By Record Staff
newsroom@troyrecord.com
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ALBANY — A 59-year-old retired pharmacist from Ruby was indicted by a federal grand jury for spreading mercury around the cafeteria at Albany Medical Center Hospital.

According to U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian, Martin Kimber was upset with the hospital for having to pay for an undisclosed treatment he received on Dec. 10 and Dec. 23, 2010. He wrote the hospital to complain about the billing on Jan. 24, 2011; the hospital responded about a month later explaining why the bills were appropriate and “discussed the outcome associated with the defendant having provided inaccurate information about his injury.”

The indictment alleges that Kimber spread mercury throughout the cafeteria including in and around food served to customers and on and around heating elements used in preparing the food on three dates in 2011 – March 28, April 11, and June 23 – and again on March 2 of this year. On each occasion, an emergency chemical response team at Albany Med responded to the contamination and removed it from the premises.

Kimber’s activities on March 2 were captured on the hospital’s surveillance cameras. Cameras also recorded at least one patron ingesting the mercury along with his food. That person was treated in the hospital’s emergency room.

When investigators searched Kimber’s Ulster County home, they not only found two containers of mercury and 21 guns, but “literature reflecting sympathy for domestic terrorism” as well, including the “Turner Diaries” which states on the cover that “This book contains racist propaganda” and “The FBI said it was the blueprint for the Okalahoma City bombing.” They also found a Nazi swastika on the wall in Kimber’s home.

Kimber faces two counts of chemical weapons possession, each of which contains a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of $250,000.

He also faces a charge of tampering with a consumer product which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and a fine of $250,000.

Civic leader, pharmacist Bob Lyon dead at 83

By Bill Lawson/Staff Writer
Monday, September 19, 2011 8:12 PM CDT

Samuel Robert “Bob” Lyon was a fixture in North Little Rock politics and medicine for half a century. He had a deep and abiding faith in God and in his fellow man. His friends said he not only practiced that faith on Sundays but every day of his life.

He died Aug. 31 at age 83.

One man said you didn’t have to look far to find examples of Lyon putting his faith in action through his school involvement and his role in building housing for the needy.

During the Little Rock desegregation crisis, North Little Rock also endured tumultuous times, as evidenced by clippings from The Times showing angry mobs standing outside North Little Rock High School as it welcomed black students for the first time. But the city didn’t have the turmoil of its larger neighbor to the south. One man credited Lyon with helping to ease the transition.

Rather than fueling the racial flames of the time, Lyon, Joe E. Scott, Fred Storm, Mrs. T. A. Davis and others formed the North Little Rock Committee for Education. Lyon was elected vice president of the group and was quoted in The Times as saying the group was formed “to keep the North Little Rock public schools open and to bring about the orderly transition in integration that the federal courts had ordered.”

It was a progressive attitude for the time and one of reason, kind spirit and observance of the letter of the law that one friend said described Lyon’s life — not just during the difficult times of integration — but his whole life.

In 1971 Lyon ran for the North Little Rock school board and served 14 years, ending as president from 1979 to 1983.

He founded Lyon Pharmacy on MacArthur Drive in 1958 and later added stores in Maumelle and Oak Grove. He retired in 1999.

A frequent instructor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy, when Lyon graduated in its very first class, there wasn’t a doctor of pharmacy degree. While teaching at UAMS, Lyon went back to school and earned his doctorate of pharmacy.

His pharmacy was more than a place to get prescriptions filled, one former patient said. He said it was also a place to visit friends, chat with Bob and learn valuable life lessons from such an outstanding man.

Lyon’s store’s motto was written on the label of every bottle he dispensed, “We do not sell we serve.”

Bob wasn’t just a nine-to-five pharmacist. He kept his store open longer, filling prescriptions for young couples who had a sick child. He also would meet customers at the store all hours of the night to dispense much-needed medicine long before the all-night pharmacy.

Another long-time customer said whenever her children ended up in the emergency room, she’d call Bob, who not only provided the medicine but told her not to worry about the bill.

“There’s no telling how much medicine that man gave away,” she said.

For years, Bob and his wife Carole taught a young couples Sunday school class at nearby Levy Baptist Church, where he also served as a deacon. He taught from the Bible, one former class member said, “But he also taught from the heart and his personal experiences about life, getting along with your spouse and taking advantage of the opportunities in life that came your way.”

Lyon practiced what he preached. He and his wife Carole, a registered nurse, were married 57 years.

Carolyn Wright of North Little Rock said as a member of Lyon’s Sunday school class, “He and Carole taught us many of life’s lessons as we began as a couple 46 years ago. Going to the drug store was like going to our family to visit. You might have been sick when you went in the store, but felt better when you came out.”

Another couple in the class was the late J. D. Ashley and his widow, Charlotte, who said “Bob was always a Christian gentleman. Certainly my life is better for having known him.”

Retired North Little Rock fire Chief Bill Rhoads called him “a great man, a Christian and wonderful, caring and loving person. It was a privilege to be called his friend.”

Malcom Miles, a former UAMS student of Lyon who now practices in San Antonio, said, “Bob Lyon taught me how to be a ‘real’ pharmacist. I will always remember the great times I had working there.”

A former customer spoke of Bob’s kindness to him as he struggled to get started. “He sold me and Mary diapers, medicine and milk on credit when we were very young and poor with two kids. That’s hard to come by in a drug store today. God rest his soul.”

Lyon served more than 35 years on the North Little Rock Housing Authority board of commissioners before retiring in 2000 as chairman.

During his heyday, it would have been difficult to find a man more active. Bob was president of the Rotary Club and after moving to Lakewood, moved to Park Hill Baptist Church, where he also was a longtime deacon and Sunday school leader.

Like the greatest men of his day, when Lyon saw abuse, he tried to change it. Disillusioned with North Little Rock city government during former Mayor Casey Laman’s tenure, Lyon led an unsuccessful attempt to change the form of government to a city administrator style, similar to Little Rock, that failed by just a few hundred votes, according to stories in The Times.

The Navy veteran moved to Arkansas from Missouri in the late 1940s to attend pharmacy school at the School of the Ozarks in Clarksville. The pharmacy school was relocated to the UAMS campus in Little Rock while Lyon was attending classes. He was a member of the first UAMS College of Pharmacy graduating class in 1952.

He and wife Carole, a registered nurse, were married in 1954 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock. Lyon is survived by his wife; son Marc and wife Jean of Nashville, Tenn.; daughter Robin Lyon Woodruff and husband Keith of Little Rock; and five grandchildren — Rachael, Robert, Hannah, Mary Grace and Tanner.

Services for Lyon were Sept. 3 at Park Hill Baptist Church, with the Rev. Cary Heard and the Rev. Ken Shaddox presiding.