Newsflash reported on May 30, 1998 (see below) that Sam Walton’s daughter, Alice, now 49, had been found guilty of driving while impaired, failure to wear a seatbelt, and failure to maintain control of her car. She also refused to take a blood alcohol test. The “second richest woman in the world” (her mom is first) slammed her SUV into a telephone box and broke her nose in the accident. She reportedly told police: “You know who I am, don’t you? You know my last name?” Alice Walton chose to fight her charges in court, and hired a lawyer to defend herself. Walton was eventually found guilty, and fined $350, plus $300 in court costs, and 24 hours of public service — which was the plea deal city attorneys offered her in the first place. According to a news account in the Charlotte Observor, Alice Walton has moved her legal residence to Texas, “which would enable her to shield her $11 billion in net worth from Arkansas state income tax”. Which just goes to show that something good can come out of the bad. Just ask Alice.
According to Bob Ortega, in his new book In Sam We Trust, Alice Walton has had an unpleasant history with cars. In 1983, during a family holiday in Mexico, Alice rented a jeep and “somehow, she lost control on a curve and plunged into a ravine, shattering one leg.” Again in 1989, “speeding down the highway in her 1987 Porsche on her way from the farm to work, Alice Walton slammed into a woman trying to cross the road, killing her instantly. Oleta Hardin was killed, a 50 year old mother of two . Although Walton had been ticketed twice in the previous year, and had been speeding when she hit Hardin, local police decided not to file any charges against Alice.
