By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A Marianna girl returning home from a March of Dimes fundraiser Saturday morning at Village Creek was critically injured in an accident on Highway 284.
Arkansas State Police Troop D Sr. Corporal Howard Smith said Rachel Harlow, 11, was one of several children injured in an accident about 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Highway 284's intersection with County Road 442.
Harlow, along with Courtney Meredith, 9, Katie Long, 12, and Rita Meredith, 35, all of Palestine, were passengers in a 1990 Oldsmobile driven by Troy Meredith, 39. The Meredith vehicle was traveling south on Highway 284 when it was broadsided by a 1989 Chevrolet pickup driven by Shane Wayne Bly, 18, of Forrest City.
Smith said Bly was traveling west on SFC 442 when his brakes failed causing him to run a stop sign and strike the Meredith vehicle. Passengers in neither vehicle were wearing seat belts.
Harlow was airlifted from the wreck scene to the Med in Memphis, and later transferred to Le Bonheur where she is in critical condition, Smith said. Bly, Long, Courtney, Rita and Troy Meredith were taken by ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City. Troy Meredith was airlifted from the hospital to the Med, and Long was transferred by ambulance to the Med. Courtney Meredith was transferred by ambulance to Le Bonheur. Rita Meredith and Bly were treated and released at BMH-FC.
Bly is charged with failure to yield right of way. Smith said other charges may be pending in the accident.
A Marianna man was killed in an accident just after midnight Sunday on Turner Road.
ASP Corporal Kelvin Stewart said Danny Freeman, 32, Marianna, was traveling west on Turner Road about 12:20 a.m. at a high rate of speed in his 1997 GMC pickup when he lost control of the truck. Stewart said the vehicle traveled off the roadway several hundred feet before crossing the road again and overturning on the opposite roadside.
Freeman was ejected from the vehicle. He was transported by ambulance to BMH-FC where he was pronounced dead.
Two Michigan residents were seriously injured in a wreck involving a tractor Sunday morning on Interstate 40 near Wheatley.
Smith reported Robert W. Petts, 73, and his wife, Donelda Jean Petts, 74, Battle Creek, Mich., were traveling east on I-40 when they rearended a John Deere 6410 tractor pulling a Bush Hog and being driven by Carolyn Gaskins, 45, Bald Knob.
Smith said Gaskins was in the area to work with a contracted crew to mow the medians along Interstate 40. Apparently, according to Smith, the truck Gaskins was driving broke down near Brinkley so she took the tractor off the trailer and was driving it to Widener.
The accident occurred near the 224 mile marker east of Wheatley when the Petts' 1994 Oldsmobile station wagon, pulling a trailer, ran into the rear of the tractor causing their vehicle to overturn. According to Smith, the Petts were in the process of moving and had all of their possessions on the trailer.
The Petts were pinned inside their upside down car and had to be cut out of their vehicle with the Jaws of Life.
Two medical helicopters were called to the scene to transport the Petts to the Med. Mrs. Petts is listed in critical condition today, and Mr. Petts is listed in serious condition, according to Smith.
I-40 was blocked for a few hours due to the accident and rescue efforts.
Gaskins is charged with careless and prohibited driving. Smith stressed that tractors are not allowed on the interstate. "Tractors can cross the interstate, but they can't just be driven in the traffic lane."
A man and his son escaped unhurt Saturday night from an accident in Colt involving their moped and a vehicle.
Stewart reported Randy Deavers, 35, Colt, was driving a Yamaha moped with his son Luke, 7, as a passenger when he reportedly pulled into the path of a 1989 Dodge Spirit driven by Thomas Crawford, 61, Wynne.
Stewart said Deavers is charged with driving while intoxicated, failure to yield and violation of the moped passenger law.
There were no injuries reported in the accident.
A Heth woman was hospitalized overnight at a West Memphis hospital after flipping her vehicle near Hughes.
Stewart said a 1986 Toyota Corolla driven by Annie Lee Brown, 49, Heth, overturned about 7:25 p.m. Saturday on Highway 149, about two miles north of Hughes.
Brown is charged with driving while intoxicated and careless driving.
A four-year-old girl was treated and released at BMH-FC Saturday afternoon after being struck by a car near her home.
The Forrest City Police Department reported Jakesha Dancy, 4, 303 Rolfe St., Forrest City, was playing outside her home when she was struck by a car driven by David Davis, 45, 1620 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr., Forrest City.
Davis told police the child ran in front of his car while he was traveling west on Franklin Street.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Statewide tuition increases in both four-year and two-year colleges are being called inescapable by some, but no decision has been made at the local college, at least not yet.
Dr. Coy Grace, president of East Arkansas Community College, said tuition will be a subject of discussion at tonight's board meeting, but said no recommendation would be made.
"We are currently looking at a survey that was done, on what other two-year institutions are charging for tuition and fees, and what they project they will do in the next biennium," said Grace.
"We're comparing our tuition to those and also to the state recommended level."
Grace said a formal recommendation would be made at the May meeting.
According to figures from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, EACC received $4,818,626 for fiscal 2000-2001 and will receive $5,894,048 for FY 2002. That is an increase of just $75,422, or 1.3 percent.
The funding crunch in Arkansas is part of a general belt-tightening that is going on nationwide, according to Lu Hardin, director of the state Department of Higher Education. He was quoted in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as saying some states have fared worse.
"In Arkansas, although the increase to higher education funding was modest, we had a very good (legislative) session, relative to other Southern States. South Carolina and Alabama ended up with drastic double-digit cuts in their higher education budgets," Hardin said.
In four-year schools, it was reported that the University of Arkansas board of trustees will vote this week on proposed tuition increases.
At Arkansas State University, there will be a change in the way tuition is charged. There has been a cap on tuition for full-time students at 12 credit hours, but tuition will now be charged for each hour taken. This will substantially increase tuition for students taking more than 12 hours.
Officials at different schools were quoted as saying that given the small increase in state funding, tuition increases are necessary. They cited such things as the need to have competitive salaries for instructors and increased utility costs.
Officials with Entergy will be working full force in Forrest City and Wynne this week in an effort to speed up improvements in service reliability.
According to a press release from Entergy, close to 50 Entergy linemen, plus support personnel from across the state, will be working this week to upgrade service in the surrounding area.
"We're shooting for significant reduction in the number of outages our customers experience. For one week, we're trading our normal steady attack for an all-out blitzkrieg. It'll look like a combat zone with all of the bucket trucks converged on one area. It really is a war of sorts, a war on electrical equipment failures," said P.J. Martinez, with Entergy.
According to the press release, Entergy is sending nearly one third of all its Arkansas linemen to eastern Arkansas this week which will augment the linemen and servicemen that normally work the Forrest City and Wynne areas.
The teams will include planners, logistics supporters, managers from other network areas, engineering assistants, safety supervisors, operations coordinators, materials specialists, transportation specialists, tree trimmers, relay specialists, customer service managers and others.
According to the press release, the teams will work 10-hour days Monday through Thursday working to ensure that electrical circuits are made as reliable as they can be. Specific tasks will include upgrading lightning protection, making structural improvements, installing fuses and switches in key areas, improving insulation and improving voltage regulation.
"Our reliability numbers right now are pretty good overall, but there are still some problem circuits. Those are the circuits we're going to work on and we expect our performance in those areas to go from average to excellent," said Mike Davis, Customer Service Manager in Forrest City for Entergy.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Forrest City High School officials say efforts to find the person responsible for a fire in an upstairs men's room at the school have produced several leads.
According to a report from the Forrest City Police Department, interim principal Abigail Robinson reported the fire to the police department Thursday after school officials extinguished the fire.
"The first student who entered the bathroom immediately reported it and we were able to contain it. The person that did this (fire) put some paper in the roof which was then set fire to. We were able to keep the damage to only a few of the bathroom tiles and the soot that is on the walls," said Robinson.
The Forrest City School District is currently offering a $100 reward for information leading to the arrest of the individual who caused the fire. Robinson said that so far response has been good.
"We're continuing with the investigation. We've had a good response from our students, and we're working several leads in the case," said Robinson, adding, "We're happy with the way that our students have responded and we're happy that this was caught before we received any major damage. This could have been a very bad situation but it was caught in time and we were able to avoid any injuries."
According to Forrest City Police Department Criminal Investigation Division Lt. Dwight Duch, the department is currently following up on some of the leads provided by the school district.
"We're still processing all of the information from the crime scene, and the information that we're being given by students and the schools. At this time we're still just working on the case and sifting through all of the things that are available to us," Duch said.
Individuals with information concerning the arson may contact Duch at 633-3434.
The father of a child who was hospitalized with severe injuries last Thursday was arrested Friday afternoon and charged with first-degree battery.
According to a report from the Forrest City Police Department, Perry Garry Jr., 22, was arrested in connection with injuries to four-month-old Perry Dequarris Garry.
The child was transported by ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City and then to Le Bonheur children's hospital in Memphis after the father reported that the baby had stopped breathing. The child was found to be breathing when paramedics arrived and the child was rushed to the hospital.
The child supposedly had gone limp and quit breathing after being given Tylenol to bring down a fever. However, questions were raised at the hospital, after nurses found the infant suffering from head trauma.
According to police, the parents originally told doctors that the child had fallen off a couch last week.
The East Arkansas Community College Board of Trustees will meet tonight, Monday, April 13, at 7 p.m. in the conference room.
Some of the topics on the agenda are the 2001-2002 academic
calendar and holiday schedule, recommendations for employment,
and a final enrollment report for the spring semester.
Food Pantry serves 266
The St. Francis County Food Pantry served 266 families in March, according to a report from Lula Clay.
This included 316 adults and 173 children, for 7,670 individual meals. Also there were 67 people served meals on site, and 535 who were homebound.
In addition, the Pantry also served 883 Easter dinners in April.