By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A hearing to determine the case of a 15-year old Forrest City youth charged as an adult for allegedly setting the St. Francis County Courthouse on fire in March has been continued until a judge determines if the case should be transferred to juvenile court.
First Judicial District Circuit Court Judge L.T. Simes III heard testimony Thursday morning from witnesses representing the prosecution.
The hearing was held to determine if Immanuel Bonner-Bey's case should be heard in circuit court or juvenile court.
According to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chris Morledge the teen is currently being held in the St. Francis County Jail as both a juvenile and an adult.
On March 20, Bonner-Bey allegedly started the fire in the Circuit Court jury room on the second floor of the courthouse. On June 25, following an earlier hearing, First Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Harvey Yates ordered Bonner-Bey transferred to juvenile court on the original charge of Class Y felony arson.
According to Ray Waters, attorney for Bonner-Bey, at that point it was his opinion that the case was a juvenile matter to be handled in juvenile court.
"Our position is that when the case was transferred to juvenile court then that's where we would be trying the case," said Waters.
During opening statements in court Wednesday, Waters briefly made mention of amended charges against Bonner-Bey which added 34 counts of aggravated assault to his original charge of arson.
"I've never seen the amended information in Circuit Court and I didn't know that it existed until the last few days when Mr. Morledge made mention of it. I'm of the opinion that it is way too late to be filing amended information after Judge Yates has said that this case shall be transferred to juvenile court. As far as I'm concerned, the Circuit Court case was over," Waters said. "Your honor, there has been no new conduct alleged. It's the same incident, and what they're trying to do is come up with something that would subject this 15-year-old to being treated as an adult."
According to Morledge, the additional counts were the product of further investigations by authorities.
"When the original arson charge was filed, (Arkansas State Police Troop D) investigator Dale Arnold was able to identify arson pretty quickly. The other charges had to wait until we had more information on the damages to the courthouse so that we could determine if there was a likelihood that bodily harm or death could have occurred due to the fire," Morledge said. "Once we had figures on the damages, we were able to determine that aggravated assault had occurred and that's when we filed the amended charges."
According to Morledge, Simes ordered both the defense and the prosecution to file briefs with his office so that he could issue his order in writing.
"Judge Simes ordered both the prosecution and the defense to submit a brief explaining our stance either for trying him as an adult or for trying him as a juvenile. The judge is required to submit his order in writing, and he will do so after receiving our briefs," said Morledge.
Briefs must be submitted by Aug. 24, at 1 p.m. according to Morledge.
Simes closed Wednesday's hearing to the press saying, "If after this issue has been briefed and researched, and the law says that the matter was dead, once it was transferred from circuit court and the press remains we will have a problem. I'm going to make sure that we don't have a problem by ordering this hearing closed."
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Changes in the student backpack policy at two campuses in the Forrest City School District will affect students here, but other area districts are going to stick with their current policies until something forces change.
At the July meeting of the Forrest City School Board, members agreed to institute a policy allowing only clear backpacks for Lincoln Middle School and Forrest City Junior High School students. According to FCSD Assistant Superintendent Dr. Alice Barnes, the move to the clear backpack was one with regard to student and teacher safety.
"We wanted to make sure that we were able to provide the safest environment for our students and our faculty, and we felt that the best way of doing that was to move to the clear backpacks. The easier it is for a teacher or faculty member to monitor what a student may have in his or her possession, the fewer problems we have to face. If we make it more difficult for students to conceal weapons or paraphernalia then we can eliminate many of the problems before they ever happen," said Barnes.
Students in the elementary and high school will not be affected by the changes in policy, according to Barnes.
According to Palestine-Wheatley Superintendent Jimmy Allen, his district has not yet seen the need for the changes, but that does not mean changes will not happen in the future.
"Right now, we haven't really had a need to change our policy on backpacks. We haven't had any incidents with students that would cause us to make any changes, and we hope that things remain that way," Allen said. "That's not to say that we're turning a blind eye to the issue because we do understand that things happen, but we just haven't had problems so we haven't made changes. There may come a time, though, when it won't be our choice to make the change."
Students in the Hughes School District should not expect any changes regarding backpacks in their district. According to HSD Superintendent Dr. Randy Crowder, the district does not currently have a policy regarding backpacks.
"We've never had anything in our policy about backpacks. If we think that material on the backpack may be inappropriate or doesn't fit within our dress codes then we act, but because we haven't had any incidents, we haven't seen the need to institute any policy. That, of course, might change if we ever did have an incident," said Crowder.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The sale of bonds for building a new Forrest City Junior High School was approved by the state Board of Education this week.
"The next steps to getting the money in hand are somewhat dictated by the call date of Feb. 1 for the 1994 issue being refinanced," said Pat Flanagin, financial director for the school district. The refinancing is part of the overall move, along with a millage increase approved by voters, to finance the construction.
Flanagin said the closing of the bond sale must be within 90 days of Feb. 1.
"Great news is that our projections were based on a 5.5 percent interest rate for 25-year bonds," said Flanagin. "Due to falling rates, the 25-year bonds are now going at 4.99 percent and will possibly get down to around 4.8 percent for our sale. Thus, the chances of having to cut some of the planned facility are more remote now, assuming we get reasonable bids for construction costs."
Flanagin said plans call for having a representative from Stephens, Inc. at the September meeting of the Forrest City School Board, to present the necessary resolutions for bond sale approval.
In a related matter, Flanagin said all the portable buildings which have been leased by the district are on site. Repairs to things like broken windows are underway.
"Entergy is ready to provide power as soon as assembly is completed," he said. "Plumbing is ready for completion within the week. Therefore, everything should be completed by Monday -- except some last minute movement of furniture may still be in progress. The district-owned portables are operational now.
Eighth grade students will be attending school on the campus of Old Stewart school this fall. Ninth grade students will be at the high school. This will allow demolition of the old junior high building to start earlier.
Flanagin also said an agreement has been reached with Rivendell for the alternative school. Rivendell will provide the facility.
By CRYSTAL HOLLIS
T-H Staff Writer
Police officers being certified by one department, only to leave a short time later for a job elsewhere have caught the attention of Hughes city councilmen.
Like many other cities, Hughes officials are faced with a growing problem of paying for a police officer to attend the state's police academy, when many times those officers leave not long after being certified for jobs in other police departments.
Councilmen discussed the problem at this week's city council meeting. City Attorney Jerry Roberts told the group he would research ways in which the city might be reimbursed for the training by the cities which hire the officers.
Council members said they could think of at least 10 officers who in the past few years were sent to the academy, paid full salary while in training, and left within a month after completing their certification.
There is a state law which allows towns to seek full or partial reimbursement from a hiring town if the officer is hired within 18 months after being certified. The law also requires the hiring town to reimburse the former employer not just the training fee, but also for full or partial salaries the officer received while attending training, as well as expenses, food, lodging or other costs incurred by the previous employing town.
Reimbursement is prorated on how long an officer stayed with the former city after attending the training academy. In the case of Hughes, the city would be allowed full reimbursement when the officers left within two months after completion of training.
If a hiring town does not comply with the reimbursement procedure, the law allows the Treasurer of the State of Arkansas to withhold the amount of the reimbursement from the hiring city's municipal tax check.
In other business, the council passed motions to enact a $25 return check fee for insufficient funds on bad checks written to the city. Roberts said the city needs to turn all returned checks over to the prosecutor's hot check office has soon as they come back from the bank.
However, the Hughes Police Department will continue to not accept checks for fines.
Council members also passed a motion to change the city's group health coverage provider. The council went with insurance representative Linda Lindsey who proposed Pacific Life Health Insurance and will pay $4,457 each month for the policy.
Council members also signed and passed the town's current millage tax rate of 1.8 percent. The document has to be signed every year and sent to the St. Francis County Courthouse.
A Little Rock man was killed when the car in which he was riding was rearended while slowing for an Interstate 40 construction zone near Wheatley.
State police identified the dead man as Chad Edward Anderson, 30. He was a passenger in a car driven by Tiffany Woodard, 29, of Little Rock. Woodard was reportedly injured in the accident. She was treated and released at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City.
A police report said a pickup truck driven by Terry White, 32, of Sherwood collided with Woodard's car, which hit a pickup truck driven by Merle Holby, 36, of King of Prussia, Pa.
The accident occurred about 3:35 p.m. Wednesday in the westbound lanes of I-40.
Area firefighters will be raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association through the "Fill the Boot" campaign on Friday, Aug. 17, from 2 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Aug. 18, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the McDonald's Parking lot on North Washington.
Caldwell fireman Kevin Renigar, coordinator of the event, said the campaign has raised over $5,100 this summer.
Renigar said more fundraising efforts will be taking place in the area until the Labor Day weekend when all of the money raised will be presented to the MDA.