Page:Leslie Miller, Inc. v. State.pdf/2

286 Appeal from Pulaski Circuit Court, First Division; ''Wm. J. Kirby,'' Judge; affirmed.

Sherrill, Gentry & Bonner, for appellant.

Tom Gentry, Attorney General, Thorp Thomas, Assistant Attorney General, and Mehaffy, Smith & Williams, for appellee.

Warren E. Gurger, Asst. U.S. Attorney General, and Osro Cobb, U.S. District Attorney, Amici Curiae.

LEE SEAMSTER, Chief Justice. In each of these cases, the appellants were found guilty in Pulaski Circuit Court on each of two counts of an information filed by the Prosecuting Attorney of Pulaski County, Arkansas, on behalf of the State of Arkansas. The separate informations charged appellants with violating the provisions of Act 124 of 1939, as amended (Ark. Stats. 1947, §§ 71-701 to 71-721) in that each of the appellants, without authority from the Contractors Licensing Board, (1) submitted a bid to the United States for the construction of certain facilities at a cost in excess of $20,000 on property owned, or leased, by the United States in Arkansas and (2) thereafter executed a contract to do said construction and entered into the performance of the contract. In each case, appellants were assessed a fine in the sum of $100 on each of the two counts of the information.

The contract with appellant, Engineering Construction Corporation, is for construction of an Air National Guard installation in Sebastian County, Arkansas, on property leased from the City of Fort Smith for that purpose. The other appellants, Ramsey and Leftwich, Tecon Corporation and Leslie Miller, Inc., have contracts for construction of facilities at the Air Force Base in Pulaski County, Arkansas. All of the above contracts greatly exceed the statutory minimum of $20,000. It is agreed that the lands on which the facilities are being constructed were purchased or leased, by the United States with the consent of the State of Arkansas but that the United States Government has not accepted