By CRYSTAL HOLLIS
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Public Library closed its doors for the second time in two weeks due to a computer malfunction, and no one seems to know when the library will open again.
According to board director Jim McInturff, "We are taking it day by day," he said. "We are not going to try and put a day on it (re-opening the library)." He stated further the library employees would continue to put in their time at the library, despite not being able to serve the patrons. "They are working," he said. "They are putting in their time."
McInturff made the decision to close the library after he had been told by an outside source to do so. McInturff said "I spoke with Carolyn Ashcraft of the state library earlier this week and she suggested it would not be a good idea to stay open and allow patrons to check out books by keeping manual records," he said. "She said we would run the risk of people not returning the books," said McInturff.
The computer's server crashed a couple of weeks ago and according to the employees at last weeks emergency board meeting, no information about the patrons or the books had been saved. "We got another hard drive on Monday morning (July 30) after the server crashed on Friday and Mr. (Alan) Grommet came down on Friday morning and came back Monday to start adding programs for the circulation and he started loading it and our back-up disk which is suppose to have all of our data, he couldn't get it to work," she said.
"He thought they were blank. He took it out to the college on Tuesday hoping he could read it from there and he talked to the man out at the college and the tapes are blank," said Roberts "It's not been backing up for two-and-a-half years," she said.
According to Roberts, the back-up tapes were not formatted two-and-a-half years ago when the system was installed.
Board members will meet at the library for their regular meeting on Monday at 4 p.m. Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant has been asked to attend the meeting.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The mayor's office has issued a notice to residents stating that rules for picking up items at curbside will be enforced strictly.
The reason, according to the notice, is that there will soon be some changes in storm drainage laws.
To start with, items must be placed on the curbside.
"Do not place items in the street," the notice says. "The city will no longer pick up items that are placed in the street."
Items placed at the curbside for collection must be separated in the following manner:
*Limbs, brush and wood must be kept together.
*Leaves should be placed in a separate pile.
*Grass should be placed in bags.
*All other trash (metal, appliances, furniture, etc.) must be kept together.
*Paper, bottles and other trash should be placed in the household garbage container.
The notice also states that if trash is due to contracted work, the contractor is responsible for hauling off the trash. Contracted work includes tree trimming services, grass cutting services, building, remodeling and demolition services.
Lincoln Middle School 6th and 7th grade will have open registration Friday, Aug. 10 in the Lincoln Middle School Library. This will include students new to the Forrest City School District as well as students that were at LMS last year.
Students may pick up their schedules Friday, Aug. 10, and Monday, Aug. 13, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. both days. New students are asked to bring a birth certificate, social security card, current immunization records and proof of grade placement in order to register. All students must have proof of two MMR immunizations and 7th graders and new students must have proof of three hepatitis B immunizations.
The Forrest City Police are seeking help from the public in solving a murder which took place last September.
"Tawana Blunt, age 19, was killed on Sept. 15, 2000," said Criminal Investigator Lt. Dwight Duch. "It is August 2001 and we are still looking for information to assist in solving this terrible crime."
Blunt was last seen around 4:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 15, at Highway 334 and Skyline Drive. She had left the Coconut Lounge at 2 a.m. with a girlfriend. The two caught a ride to "C" Street and arrived there around 2:30 a.m. Just before 4:30, Blunt left "C" Street with her friend. When the two arrived at Skyline and Highway 334, Tawana told her friend that she could see her apartment and would be fine.
The friend left Tawana and walked back to "C" Street where her home was, and Blunt walked on toward her apartment, and was not seen alive again.
She was found dead in her apartment at 9:51 that night.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Forrest City Police Department at 633-3434 or Forrest City Crime Stoppers at 261-1499. There is a reward available for information which leads to solving the crime.