One man was killed and four other people, including two policemen, were injured in an early-morning fire today in rural St. Francis County.
Domingo Tyler, 25, was killed in the house trailer fire at 518 SFC 215 just after 5 a.m. His brother, L'Corion Cross, 12, was critically injured in the blaze, and his mother, Mary Tyler, 55, has been hospitalized for observation due to smoke inhalation.
Cross was taken to BMH-FC where he was later airlifted to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis. At press time, a spokesman at the children's hospital said Cross was in critical condition and being taken to the hospital's intensive care unit.
Forrest City Fire Department Captain Johnny Ruffin reported Tyler told officials she heard an explosion and fled through a window. She then reportedly went back to the trailer and helped her youngest son escape.
Forrest City Police arriving at the scene found the child face down beside the home and pulled him away from the structure where they began administering medical assistance. A second explosion forced them to move further away. When ambulance personnel arrived, police reported the child, who had suffered burns to his face, neck, arms and chest, had begun to take shallow breaths.
According to reports, police and fire personnel were unable to enter the structure where Tyler was located due to the intensity of the blaze.
FCPD Patrolmen Mark King and John Thomas were both treated for smoke inhalation at BMH-FC. They were released this morning from the emergency room.
The Palestine Fire Department assisted the FCFD at the fire which was reported through a 911 call by a motorist on Interstate 40.
Fire department and county officials spent the morning trying to determine the cause of the blaze.
SFC Investigator Herbert Neighbors reported the fire is believed to have been caused by a space heater in the living room.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
By a 2-1 vote, the St. Francis County Election Commission on Thursday adopted new Quorum Court district lines.
Commission members Betty Proctor and Joe Young voted yes, and new member Steve Hollowell voted no. Hollowell said he wanted to see the final maps before voting.
"I just want to see all the lines and numbers," he said.
The new lines are not necessarily set in stone. According to Jeff Hawkins, a redistricting consultant who has been working with the Election Commission, new maps reflecting the commission's decision should be delivered by Monday, and then there are other legal requirements.
"After the Election Commission adopts the maps, the County Clerk has 15 days in which to publish a description of boundaries and number of inhabitants," said Hawkins. "And that can be a narrative describing the districts or it can be a map, or both."
After the publication, there will be a 30-day challenge period.
"And if there is no challenge, after that 30 days, the clerk has to send a copy to the Secretary of State's office."
Then will come the job of putting all the districts -- city, county and school districts -- on one map. This has to be done no less than 30 days prior to the next election.
"So, people are really going to need to know where they are," said Hawkins.
After the latest census, the ideal number of residents in a quorum court district is 2,460. There can be a 5 percent fluctuation up or down. There was also an effort made to leave all incumbents in their existing districts.
The meeting was attended by two Quorum Court members, B. McCollum of District 2 and Jack Crumbley of District 3. Both were unhappy with the way their districts had been redrawn.
McCollum said he had been given half of Widener, where no one knows him. He said there were other problems.
"I have five families that worked for me for years and rent houses from me, living right across the road from me," said McCollum. "They've got them in another district. And people who have voted for me for the last 40-something years, they've got them in another district."
Crumbley was upset because he lost half of Widener, and also because under the proposal, he was taking in the Edgewood section of Forrest City. He said he did not want to go into Forrest City at all if he could help it.
"It's not so much of a race thing as it is a geographic thing," said Crumbley during the meeting. "You've got to consider who can better serve the people in that area." By that, he said he meant that people are more comfortable with a representative they know. Crumbley said he was born in Widener and still lives there, and he said he knows the people there and they know him.
By the end of the three-hour meeting, both McCollum and Crumbley had gotten some of what they wanted. Crumbley got all of Widener back, which was what he and McCollum both wanted. Crumbley also was taken out of Edgewood and also was taken out of the area north of the Interstate.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Quorum court members once again put off the task of completing a budget for next year during Thursday night's special meeting.
Justices voted 10-1 to pass a stop-gap budget which will allot $170,000 for the month of January. That allotment, according to courthouse officials, will allow the courthouse doors to open Wednesday. Without the appropriation, the courthouse would have been closed for business on Jan. 2. Justice Evans Seawood voted against the move.
The move will divide $170,000 among several departments which draw from the County General account with no department receiving any specific appropriation. A second group of general departments, such as the solid waste department and the St. Francis County Museum, will be appropriated 10 percent of each departments' 2001 appropriated budget for next month.
QC Budget Committee Chairman O. J. Gandy Jr., said the $170,000 figure was reached after the county's final tax settlement was received on Thursday, and county officials were notified that there would be $200,000 available to be carried over into 2002. A large portion of the $170,000 will be allotted for the county's liability insurance which costs $42,000 according to Gandy.
"We will have $200,000 that we're going to carry over next year, and if we divide that over the next four months that will be $50,000 added to our revenue until April. The projected revenue for January is $120,000 which will give us $170,000. From that, we have to pay half of our yearly payment on our liability insurance which is $42,000. We then have $128,000 in projected expenditures for January including salaries, fringes, insurance, utilities and bills," said Gandy.
Justice Henry Wilkinson questioned how the funding would be divided and was told that there was no designated amount going to any specific office.
"How do all of these departments get their share of this $170,000, and who is the final arbiter of where this money goes?" Wilkinson questioned. "Does this mean that as the bills come in that the departments will use up this money paying bills on a first come first serve basis?"
Justice Regan Hill answered Wilkinson, "You're 100 percent right, but going in on Jan. 1, we had to have an appropriation in place. I'm not prepared to vote on any individual's appropriation because my opinion is that with the figures here there is a lot of work to be done. There isn't any way before the first that we can sit down and line itemize each individual department in appropriation amounts. I'm hoping that this will just get us past the law of what we're having to do, and it's very important that we get back together as soon as possible so that we can put together the appropriations for this entire county."
Justices also voted last night to join any class action lawsuits against the Department of Corrections for compensation for state inmates currently being housed in the St. Francis County Jail.
Sheriff Dave Parkman told justices that during a recent Arkansas Sheriff's Association meeting, several of the larger counties that the state has not been paying to house inmates are considering a class action lawsuit seeking payment. County attorney Fletcher Long told justices that he fells the county should join any lawsuit seeking the funding. The sheriff said the county is owed about $70,000 from the ADC.
"Pulaski County has been considering this lawsuit, and
I am going to try to get in contact with the county attorney over
there to see what it would take for us to join in this lawsuit.
We may make the Department of Corrections mad, but they owe us
money. This is a just debt, and we should be paid. This was a
debt created by the Arkansas code, and the state of Arkansas is
refusing to pay it," Long said.
Author B. Witherspoon announced today he is seeking the position of St. Francis County Judge in the 2002 Democratic Primary to be held in May.
Witherspoon, 50, and his wife Doris have one son, Van. He is a member of the Rising Sun M.B. Church in Forrest City where he also serves as a Deacon.
Witherspoon currently represents Justice of the Peace District 10 on the St. Francis County Quorum Court.
"Serving as JP has motivated me to better serve you as St. Francis County Judge. I plan to continue working hard for the betterment of St. Francis County to make it the best that it can be," Witherspoon said. "I plan to communicate with the other elected officials for the progress of St. Francis County.
"I would appreciate your vote come election time, and I am looking forward to serving you as St. Francis County Judge," Witherspoon concluded.