By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Monday, May 7, is the last day to register to vote in the special school millage election, to be held June 5, according to County Clerk Elizabeth Smith.
Voters in the Forrest City School District will be asked to approve a 2.5 millage increase. If passed, the millage will fund a new Junior High School. The price tag for the 103,000 square foot facility is put at $7.5 million.
Early voting will begin May 21 and will continue during regular office hours at the County Clerk's office. There may also be some weekend early voting, according to Smith.
"I don't know for sure, but I feel there we will be voting the Saturday before the election, which will be June 5," she said. The facility would be built at the site of the present high school. The northern wing and the cafeteria on the southern wing, both of which are newer than the central portion, will be saved.
The new construction would be a one-story facility, with a new 850-seat auditorium. The new building would also have music facilities so students would not have to walk to the high school for band and choir. The entire central section of the current junior high would be demolished. In addition to the new millage, a current 9.6 mills would be refinanced and extended for 25 years. Those 9.6 mills were scheduled to end in 2008.
It is estimated that if the proposed millage passes, it will add $25 to the tax bill of a house valued at $50,000. However, at a recent school board meeting, it was said that the tax on a $50,000 home would actually be zero since the passage of Amendment 70, which exempts the first $300 in property taxes on a primary resident.
The difficulty of identifying and helping people who cannot read is a year-around job for the St. Francis County Literacy Council, but it is especially so during April, which is Literacy Month in Arkansas.
"People who cannot read are hard to identify," said Mary Ella Riley, literacy coordinator for St. Francis County. "They are men and women, rich and poor, employed and unemployed, and the are very effective at hiding what they feel is a shameful secret. There are more than 4,000 people doing just that in St. Francis County today."
According to Riley, federal statistics from "The State of Literacy in America" show that about 41 percent of Forrest City's residents function at a Level 1 literacy rate -- just above a second grade reading level -- which is considered functionally illiterate.
"Something we take for granted becomes very special, when a former non-reader can now pick out a card to send to a friend, or read a story to a pre-school child or grandchild," said Riley. "These are small feats for some but major hurtles for others."
The Literacy Council works daily with adults in the literacy classroom, located in the Alternative Learning Center of the Forrest City School District. Council volunteers also work one-on-one with students at East Arkansas Community College. In fact, tutors and their students meet throughout the community. From July 1999 to June 2000, the Literacy Council provided more than 8,000 hours of instruction locally.
Another function of the Literacy Council is to teach non-English speaking people to speak English. Tutors also help students study for a driver's test, assist them in getting heir citizenship, and learn to function in an English-speaking environment.
"Help us continue to make a difference and help us celebrate Literacy Month by doing something for your city and county," said Riley. She asked that anyone who knows of someone who could use the services of the Literacy Council, or anyone who would like to become a tutor or make a tax-deductible donation, to contact the council at 633-4480, extension 251.
Forrest Street will be closed for two days next week.
A portion of Forrest Street between Cook and Dillard streets will be closed Tuesday morning, May 1, and remain closed through Wednesday, May 2, according to Mark Swan with Goodwin and Swan Construction.
The company will be cutting the street in order to tie new water lines into the existing water system, according to Swan.
The Forrest City Police Department was investigating a possible shooting this morning at a home on the corner of Buford and Gorman streets.
According to officials with the FCPD, an argument may have led to the early morning altercation that sent Omar Guyton of Forrest City to the hospital.
Police officers reported Guyton dove out of a rear bedroom window and fled to a nearby residence where he called the police after five men allegedly exited their vehicle and began shooting at his home. It had not been determined at press time if his injuries were the result of being cut as he left his residence or if he had suffered a gunshot wound.
Officials with the FCPD's Criminal Investigation Division were still investigating the incident at press time.