By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A new subdivision is being planned for the Beck Spur area.
Paul Gunn, a local engineer representing a Chicago-based company interested in building the subdivision, asked members of the Forrest City Water Commission this week to extend the city's sewer services to the proposed development area located just west of the Beck Spur intersection on Highway 70.
Gunn said the proposed subdivision could include up to 84 housing units along with acreage provided for possible business locations.
Water Department Manager Jim Beazley said Gunn would have to discuss the project with the Forrest City City Council and the planning commission before the water commission could make a decision on extending city services.
The city recently agreed to extend sewer services to three subdivisions located in the Patillo Road area just west of Forrest City. A special election is set for Nov. 6 to annex that land into the city limits.
"This is something that we knew we would be facing with other subdivisions seeking sewer after we granted the other subdivisions sewer access. This is a matter, in my opinion, that should go before the council, and we really need them to give us a policy that we could follow in instances such as this," said Beazley.
"Any projects such as this should have to meet all of the city's standards as far as roads, curbsides and everything, including sewer, just in case somewhere down the road that area is annexed into the city. If we were to put sewer in out there it would have to be to the city's standards," he added.
Gunn added, "I've already spoken with the company and told them that they would have to meet Forrest City's standards because of those reasons, and so far everything has been working fine."
Commissioners referred Gunn to the other city entities and instructed him to bring the matter back to them after he had received approval from the council and planning group.
In other business, commissioners agreed to open bidding on a structure to house water department equipment.
According to Beazley, the water department is in need of a 50-by-100-foot structure to store equipment.
"Our equipment has been taking a beating out in the heat and this isn't something that has just come up. The time is here that we need a facility that we can keep our machinery out of the elements. What we're looking for would have a concrete base and equipment could be stored safer from the weather," said Beazley.
"The cost will be a little higher because one end of the building is going to be closed and heated so that we can store things there that don't withstand colder temperatures as well, but the entire facility would be lighted," he said.
The group also agreed to allow Garver Engineers of Little Rock to begin putting together specifications on the painting of a water tower on Kittle Road.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A virus has arrived big time in Forrest City, and it has nothing to do with the flu.
It can disguise itself as someone you know and then send your most private information to almost everyone you know. It's a computer virus.
"That's what the worm virus does," said Shelia Lieblong of the Forrest City Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is a local victim.
"It'll be sent to you from somebody you know. And if you open the file that has the worm virus, it will automatically go down your contacts and send e-mail's to them. And if (one of those people) opens it, it will send e-mail's to all their contacts. And that is how hundreds of thousands of people have gotten this."
That in itself can be a nuisance. The real problem comes from the virus' ability to send files from a computer's hard drive to everyone on that computer's contact list.
It happened to at least one business this morning.
"If anybody's gotten an e-mail from us, don't open it," said Buddy Billingsley of Capital Financial Group.
"If you open an e-mail address and it's sent from someone you know, it's hard to detect," he said. "It accesses your e-mail address book to your hard drive files and these are sent out. It randomly selects what files it will send. You could have confidential information going out."
He said there are telltale signs that a particular e-mail might not be on the up and up, but if it appears to be someone from whom a potential victim is used to getting e-mail, the victim might automatically open it without scrutinizing it.
"There are certain warnings," said Billingsley. "It might say, 'Please advise me,' or, 'What do you think about this,' or, 'Have you seen this?'"
Billingsley said his business stopped contact as quickly as the virus was discovered.
"We discovered it about 9:30 this morning, and we had everything unplugged within an hour," he said. "But we do know that someone in Jonesboro called us and had received an e-mail, and their virus protector showed up.
"We've called everyone that we routinely e-mail and told them not to open any e-mail from us until further notice."
Billingsley said it would be a good idea for people to have their virus protector updated on a regular basis.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A rolling pickup truck with no driver caught the attention of a Harvest Foods employee on Wednesday, and when he saw there actually was a "driver" that shouldn't have been there, he ended up being a hero.
As confirmed by a store spokesman and a witness, Joyce Winters, Antonio Ware's quick thinking may well have saved the life of a little girl.
Ware works as a maintenance man for Harvest Foods, and was in the parking lot collecting some shopping carts.
"I saw the truck rolling backwards," Ware said. "And I saw the little girl through the window."
He said the little girl appeared to be 2 or 3 years old.
The little girl was not in a baby carrier.
"She was just sitting behind the wheel like she was driving," Ware said, "but I knew she was too young to be driving."
He said the child appeared to be afraid.
Apparently, the child had somehow managed to put the pickup truck into gear, allowing it to begin rolling.
At first, Ware wasn't completely sure of what he was seeing. But, "I looked real good and saw it was just a little girl."
The truck was about to roll out into traffic on Washington, according to the witness.
Ward chased down the pickup and got in through the passenger-side window, then managed to get the vehicle stopped before it rolled out into the street.
The mother of the infant came out of the store and drove off quickly, so the identify of the baby is not known. Winters contacted the paper about the incident.
A public meeting on the proposed expansion of the Forrest City Municipal Airport will be held tonight at the Forrest City City Hall.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m.