Former superintendent admits to shoplifting but denies resisting arrest

Friday, January 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

VIAN, Okla. (AP) -- School board members could decide at a meeting Monday who will succeed Superintendent Terry Wayne Powell, who resigned his position after being charged with robbery in Arkansas. Powell was freed on $5,000 bail following his arraignment Thursday in Fort Smith municipal court. He pleaded innocent to a felony charge of robbery.

Powell, 53, said on Dec. 30, he was "outside with something" after leaving a JC Penney store upset because of a disagreement over his credit-card bill. "Obviously, I'm not a very good shoplifter, am I?" Powell said. "I couldn't charge anything, and they had this big sale. To be honest, I'm wrong." Powell said he would plead guilty if Sebastian County prosecutors offered him a reduced charge of misdemeanor shoplifting. The present charge includes an allegation he battled with security guards who tried to detain him in the parking lot. "This is all so blown out," Powell said. "Good Lord, I've already blown my career. What more do you want out of me?"

Powell said the security guards who detained him in the dark parking lot did not indicate who they were at first, so he was not sure what they wanted. The former superintendent also said recent rotator-cuff surgery to his left shoulder made it impossible for him to put his arms behind his back as law officers wanted.

Meanwhile, the Vian school board is trying to find a new superintendent. Powell was hired in the last school year after serving 10 years at Oilton. "I don't think I will be able to get back into schools," Powell said. "I can lay Formica and do cabinet work."