The Forrest City School District has received an E-Rate grant of $131,349.60 to help connect students to the Information Superhighway.
The announcement was made this morning by the office of U.S. Rep. Marion Berry.
The E-Rate program provides discounts of between 20 and 90 percent to schools and libraries -- depending on their resources and needs -- for the cost of education technology. The discounts cover the cost of telecommunications, Internet access, and internal connections needed to bring information directly into classrooms.
Nationwide, the program will provide $1.9 billion in discounts to tens of thousands of schools, with the costs of the discounts being covered by the Universal Service Fund.
"This is a tremendous opportunity for Forrest City," Berry said. "With our nation's growing dependence on computers, we must be sure that no student is left behind in the Information Age. Six out of 10 jobs in the next millennium will rely on high-technology skills. This E-Rate grant will help us prepare our children for the competitive global economy of the next century and give them the tools they need to learn. Many schools in the 1st Congressional District already have benefited from the E-Rate program and we must continue to give our schools access to vital technology."
This was the second announcement this week of a sizeable grant to the school district having to do with computers and the Internet. On Tuesday it was announced that the Federal Utilities Service Agency was awarding a grant of $250,000 to the school district, most of which will be used for distance learning at Caldwell Elementary and the Junior High. The money will also go toward toward labs with "Filtered" Internet access at the Junior High, Middle School, Caldwell and Madison.
With the Labor Day weekend fast approaching, area law enforcement is preparing to crack down on speeding, seat belts and drinking and driving.
According to Forrest City Chief of Police Clarence McNeary, FCPD officers will be participating this weekend in a five-state effort titled "Operation Talon 3: Crash Crackdown." Officers from the states of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico will be working to enforce speeding, seat belt laws, drinking and driving and aggressive driving.
"We'll be working with over 74,000 law enforcement agents in this program, and we'll all be working to try to make sure that everyone has a safe holiday weekend. The program is sponsored by the National Highway Safety Association and locally we'll be working vigorously in conjunction with state and county law enforcement on drinking and driving and seat belts, especially children in seat belts," said McNeary.
According to McNeary, a part of the program may include sobriety and seat belt checkpoints. The FCPD's efforts will begin Friday at 6 p.m. and will continue until Monday at midnight.
Arkansas State Police Troop D, in Forrest City, will also be cracking down on drivers this weekend according to Troop Captain Steve Gray.
"We'll start all of our crackdowns at midnight tonight, and those will run through midnight Monday night. We'll have sobriety checkpoints set up throughout the troop, and we'll be cracking down on seat belt use," said Gray.
According to Gray, the job of patrolling Interstate 40 will be made easier this weekend as construction closes for the holiday period.
"It's my understanding that everyone (the construction crews) will be off of the road for the entire holiday period. That should make things much easier for us," Gray said.
Statewide, travelers over the Labor Day weekend will face numerous lane closures. According to the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Depart-ment, motorists should allow extra time to reach destinations and obey signs that advise drivers to slow down as they approach merging areas. The lane closures include:
Interstate 30
* Three miles narrowed from three lanes to two between the Arch Street overpass and 65th Street in Little Rock.
* Five miles of one lane in each direction near Social Hill in Hot Spring County
* Eight miles of one lane in each direction from Caddo Valley to near Friendship in Clark and Hot Spring counties.
* Three miles of one lane in each direction between Gurdon and Gum Springs in Clark County.
* Three miles of one lane in each direction just east of Prescott at the Nevada/Clark county line
Interstate 40
* Five miles of one lane in each direction just west of Conway.
* Four miles of one lane in each direction between Blackwell and Atkins in Conway and Pope counties.
* Six miles of one lane in each direction at Russellville.
* Five miles of one lane in each direction just west of Clarksville.
* One mile of one lane in each direction just west of Ozark in Franklin County.
* Seven miles of one lane in each direction just west of Mulberry in Crawford County.
* Three miles narrowed from three lanes to two lanes in West Memphis.
Interstate 55
* Six miles of one lane in each direction just south of Joiner in Mississippi County
* Six miles of one lane in each direction near Osceola in Mississippi County.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Overgrown trees and brush near a railroad crossing in the Forrest City Industrial Park obstruct a motorist's view of a southbound train.
Officials with the Forrest City Street Department and Union-Pacific Railroad agree the crossing on Eldridge Road needs to be mowed, but no action has been taken on the matter yet.
Drivers approaching the crossing from the east may find it difficult to spot an oncoming train due to the dense overgrowth of weeds and trees in the area.
Clovis Macon with the Forrest City Street Department said the area is the responsibility of the railroad, although the city might be willing to assist.
"All railroad right of way is generally the responsibility of the railroad that owns the tracks. That makes it their responsibility to cut back any over growth and they usually do that. If there's anything that we can do to help them we'd be more than glad to help them out so that we can help keep drivers safe," said Macon.
Officials with Union-Pacific said earlier this week an order to begin work on clearing the area has been issued. However, nothing has yet been done to clear the view.
The St. Francis County government's sales tax receipts for July totaled $133,069.66, according to the Arkansas Municipal League.
Other towns within received the following amounts: Hughes, $26,373.78; Forrest City, $208,701.82; Wheatley, $5,254.98; Palestine, $10,467.58; Madison, $13,942.64; Caldwell, $6,568.72; Colt, $5,198.48; Widener, $4,732.34.
In cities with their own sales taxes, the receipts were as follows: Forrest City, $147,600.58; Hughes, $10,753.01; Madison, $2,106.97; Palestine, $5,784.01; Wheatley, $5,791.19.
Area residents will have one last time to fill the boot for muscular dystrophy.
Firefighters representing area fire departments will be in Forrest City during the weekend helping to raise money to fight the disease.
Caldwell Fireman Kevin Renigar said this is last weekend for the fundraiser. "This is the last time we'll be out this year," he said. "We have raised over $6,800 so far and we hope to reach our goal of $10,000 this weekend."
On Friday, Aug. 31, firemen will be raising funds at the Forrest City High School Mustang football game at Sam Smith Stadium. They will also be back at McDonald's on Saturday, Sept. 1, starting at 7 a.m.
Renigar said those donating to the cause may register for prizes to be given away on Saturday. "We have close to 100 prizes," said Renigar. "Some are gift certificates and some are actual prizes. We even have a Sanyo 19-inch color television to give away."
He also said there will be attractions for the children at the McDonald's location on Saturday.