By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Schools opened their doors in Forrest City this morning, with some work still needing to be done to accommodate dislocated eighth and ninth grade students.
In the meantime, the Forrest City Schools apparently aren't in a bind for qualified teachers -- at least not yet.
Pat Flanagin, speaking for the district, said there is a problem with soft ground had caused a delay in getting one of the temporary buildings on the Forrest City High School campus assembled.
Ninth graders were to attend school in that classroom, while eighth graders were to attend school in a similar setup at Old Stewart School. The old junior high building is being demolished so a new building can be constructed.
"The critical areas were the relocation of the junior high students," said Flanagin. "I'd say we're at 90 percent of where we should be right now and working on the other 10 percent."
Students who were to meet in the still-unassembled temporary building are meeting in the high school lecture hall and on the second floor of the high school library, "where they do have lighting and air conditioning," said Flanagin.
"That temporary setting will work, although obviously we need to have the lecture hall and library back to their regular functions," he continued. "But for the first day of school, it's better than being under a shade tree."
He said in spite of the inconveniences, most teachers and students seem to be taking things in stride.
On the matter of the shortage of teacher applicants, Flanagin said Forrest City is doing better than some other districts.
"We've been very fortunate in that we're pretty much fully staffed with certified personnel and have been able to fill all our positions," he said.
He said that while local teachers' salaries may not compare well to those in surrounding states such as Texas, Tennessee and even Mississippi, the salaries are competitive within the state, which he said is one reason Forrest City has not had the problems some other districts have had.
"We also have not been a growing district," he continued. "We're not having to create a lot of new positions, whereas districts in northwest Arkansas are experiencing a lot of growth. I know of one district that grew by 600 students in one year, and another that grew by 900 students. So they, by necessity, are having to get new people."
Teachers in some specialties are at a premium.
"Your critical shortages usually occur in foreign language, math, science and special ed, and sometimes in early childhood education," he said. "But again, we've been fortunate here. Next year may be another story.
"You'd like to have many qualified applicants anytime you have an opening. But the applicant pool is getting smaller and it's something we're concerned about. Statewide and, in fact, nationwide, were concerned with how to attract more people into education as a profession."
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A pair of early morning fires Sunday destroyed seven buildings in Hughes and required the Hughes Volunteer Fire Department to ask for assistance, according to Hughes Fire Chief Danny Beggs.
Beggs said the fires, set within 15 minutes of each other, were on Love Street and Church Streets about 1 a.m.
"We got the first call around 1 o'clock, and the second call came in a little after it. We had to call in the Horseshoe Lake Fire Department, and they helped us with the second one," said Beggs.
According to a report from the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department, the fires were started in a pair of vacant buildings. The first fire was in a duplex at the intersection of Love Street and Maiden Lane, and the second was in a building on North Cowan Street.
Deputies reported he duplex was gutted by the fire and then spread to a house located west of the building and a house south of the building. Both homes were total losses. The second fire had much the same effect as the first. The building on North Cowan was destroyed, and the fire spread to two more vacant buildings to the north of it while also igniting a mobile home to the south of the building.
St. Francis County investigators were on the scene of the fires this morning sifting through the debris for evidence and were not available for comment. According to the report, the fires have been ruled arson.
A Forrest City man has been arrested on three felony counts for alleged rape, breaking or entering and terroristic threatening.
According to the police report, on Friday, Aug. 17, Cornelius Burns, 26, of 1932 Williams Street, went to the home of a woman in Widener, kicked in her front door and took the telephone from her hand when she tried to call the police.
He then allegedly raped the woman and told her he would kill her if she told the police. He also allegedly beat the woman in the face. Two children were also in the house but were afraid to come out of their rooms, according to the report.
Burns was arrested Saturday, Aug. 18, on warrants.
In other police action, a Memphis man was arrested on several charges after being stopped for speeding on Sunday, Aug. 19.
According to the Arkansas State Police report, Broderick Brewer, 31, of Memphis, was pulled over on Interstate 40 at the 248 mile marker for going 90 miles per hour in a 70 mile per hour zone. The officer reportedly smelled marijuana smoke and attempted to arrest Brewer, at which time Brewer allegedly resisted.
Brewer was arrested for speeding, possession of marijuana (second offense) second-degree battery, aggravated assault, resisting arrest and obstructing government operations.
A fallen tree limb kept some Forrest Citians in the southern part of town in the dark this morning according to Mike Davis, customer service manager with Entergy.
According to Davis, a tree limb on Old Madison Road in Forrest City fell on the circuit causing the outage.
"One of our circuits was locked out this morning because of a tree branch and we had to reroute the circuit to get everything back up. We've got people on the scene and there was some delay because we had Burns was arrested Saturday, Aug. 18, on warrants.
In other police action, a Memphis man was arrested on several charges after being stopped for speeding on Sunday, Aug. 19.
According to the Arkansas State Police report, Broderick Brewer, 31, of Memphis, was pulled over on Interstate 40 at the 248 mile marker for going 90 miles per hour in a 70 mile per hour zone. The officer reportedly smelled marijuana smoke and attempted to arrest Brewer, at which time Brewer allegedly resisted.
Brewer was arrested for speeding, possession of marijuana (second offense) second-degree battery, aggravated assault, resisting arrest and obstructing government operations.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Elected officials from St. Francis County gathered a variety of information for future use during the annual Association of Arkansas County's meeting held recently in Hot Springs.
St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco said he attended the meeting along with justices of the peace Donald Cagle, Sam Armstrong and Evans Seawood, as well as County Treasurer Ann Harbin and Circuit Clerk Bette Green.
"We met in several meetings, jointly and in meetings with officials from each office. We were able to pick up some things that are going to be useful," Cisco said.
According to Cagle, the meeting, which was his first, provided him with further insight into the new laws and regulations governing county governments. "It was a good convention and an eye opener for me. I was able to learn quite a bit from sitting in on the meetings, and hopefully we'll all be able to bring back some information that will help St. Francis County," Cagle said.
The biggest issue facing counties, according to both Cagle and Cisco, is money. Both noted budget problems being suffered by counties across the state. Cisco said county's will continue to take a hit from lower tax revenues and lower payments from the state, according to information presented at the convention.
"Our current budget situation isn't something that's going to be changing at the end of this year. It's a problem that we'll be facing next year and possibly the year after because the revenue just isn't there. We were told of ways that we could move funds from place to place to possibly help the general account but those will be small measures and they won't eliminate the problem," said Cisco.
According to Cagle, money that's currently being held under the sheriff's jurisdiction and Green's jurisdiction may be able to give the general account a boost.
"There's money that has previously been earmarked for specific things in the sheriff's office and in Ms. Green's office that we found out we may be able to get access too. We won't be able to touch the entire amount, but some of the funds may be able to help county general and that would be a positive," said Cagle.
When asked if possible reduction in staff were on the horizon, Cisco said that although it would be a very hard decision, some staff reduction may be necessary to help reduce the county's budget.
Changes in the state's child support enforcement were also discussed, according to Green.
"We had extensive meetings during the session, and some of those meetings dealt specifically in the child support problems. Someone from the state came in and spent an entire session with us, and after we were finished with the session she took another hour just to talk with some of us who still had questions. It was very helpful," Green said.
A removable greenhouse for a private business will soon be constructed on city-owned property.
Wheatley Mayor Larry Nash told city council members last week that his wife, Judy, owner of Judy's Antiques, would like to build the movable greenhouse in the breezeway located between city hall and her business.
Nash said the antique shop would pay for the greenhouse, but asked council members if they objected to the facility's construction.
Councilmen said they had no objections to the project.
In other business, Councilman Arvern Burnett asked the mayor if more speed zone signs could be placed on the north side of Main Street. The mayor said city officials had discussed the subject several years ago, but he would again look into the matter.
Burnett said he had witnessed vehicles traveling at a high rate of speed on the street and that children often play in the area.
Two school boards and a city council are scheduled to meet tonight.
The Forrest City School Board will meet at 5:30 in the administration building.
Board members will hear an update on the junior high building project along with additional building concerns.
Under new business, the board will continue discussing facilities with a request for paving the high school parking lot, portable classroom bids and a change order for Mustang Arena.
The Palestine-Wheatley School Board will meet at 6:30 at the cafetorium on the high school campus in Palestine. Board members will discuss personnel and bids for bread and milk.
The Madison City Council will meet in special session at 7 tonight to discuss an audit from 1999.
On Tuesday, the Forrest City Water Commission will meet at 10 a.m. at the water department.
The St. Francis County Museum Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the museum.
The Forrest City City Council will meet at city hall. The council is expected to discuss the status of a multipurpose facility in the city.
Two ordinances will also be read a second time each.