By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A newly-formed St. Francis County Transportation Board was briefed Friday on the progress being made toward locating a transportation mall in the county.
Noel Mace with the Economic Development Council in Jonesboro said progress on the initial study for the project is coming along well, and the study is expected to be completed by February. Mace updated commission members on where the study is currently and the probability of more funding from the Economic Development Administra-tion.
"The EDA was very much behind the funding initially. They came in and funded the study almost immediately, and by definition, if the EDA funds a study and the study comes out good, then they're pretty much on the hook for further funding. It would be unheard of for them to fund a study that comes out successful and them not fund the project," Mace said.
Mace also updated the commission on the progress being made in the study by professors with Arkansas State University. According to Mace, Joe Horsley with ASU is currently working to complete several aspects necessary for the study.
"Joe is currently, as in today, working to complete an inventory of parking spaces, fuel pumps, truck spaces and estimated spaces full for the I-40 corridor through Arkansas. He is currently completing an inventory of West Memphis to count every truck related business and what services they offer and what the capacity is to offer those services.
He is also completing interviews of 100 drivers. He doesn't want to talk to drivers from the St. Francis County and West Memphis areas because they have a place to park their trucks. He is talking to truck drivers in Fort Smith and Little Rock, Fayetteville and then covering areas east as well, doing face to face interviews with drivers asking them what their concerns are, what their views of the parking situation are and all of that. That is a time-consuming job, and that's what he's currently doing," Mace said.
According to Mace, Horsley is also attempting to get an aerial survey of rest areas and truckstops along the I-40 corridor to illustrate the cramped parking situation and to show the need for more spaces and services.
SFC Judge Carl Cisco said the commission was created to tackle issues ranging from the proposed truck mall to a possible regional airport.
"With the truck mall, like many cities have industrial parks, we're looking to tap into the trucking industry with a truck park. This will be something that will bring them in and give them some place to park, and it will also bring some tax revenue into the county.
"We've pursued some grants to help us, and we will also be looking at some other things that will help St. Francis County as well as the counties around us. We will be looking at the possibility of a regional airport with the growth in the area since we're close to Memphis, and as we grow and the county grows, these are things that we will need," said Cisco.
Commission members elected Buzz Haven to chair the new commission and Forrest City City Councilman Cecil Twillie was named vice-chair. Commission terms were also chosen with Twillie serving for one year, Haven serving a two-year term, Rausch Hodges serving for three years and Quorum Court Justices Jack Crumbly and Regan Hill serving four and five years, respectively. Commissioners also extended Frederick Freeman's tenure as interim coordinator for the project with consultant Bobby May assisting.
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A Forrest City man was killed while his girlfriend and a small child hid inside a bathroom at his home Friday night.
Voltaurus Parchman, 22, 838 Inglewood Dr., was shot numerous times during what police believe was originally intended to be a robbery. The shooting occurred about 8:30 p.m.
According to a report on file at the Forrest City Police Department, two black male subjects, both armed with handguns, entered the house through the carport door and shot Parchman numerous times while Felicia Hunt, 26, hid in a back bathroom with a four-year-old child.
Hunt told police she heard Parchman arguing with someone over money in the kitchen. She said Parchman then went to the bedroom to get his revolver. One of the two suspects then reportedly shot him, causing him to drop his gun which was picked up by one of the suspects, police reported.
Hunt, who is eight months pregnant, said she then heard four or five more shots as she hid in the bathroom and dialed 911. She said the two men also asked her for money but she told them she didn't have any and they left. She and the child were unharmed during the incident.
When police arrived, they found Parchman in the kitchen with multiple gunshot wounds. His body was sent to the State Crime Lab for an autopsy.
The investigation is continuing. Police ask that anyone with information regarding the murder contact the FCPD at 870-633-3434 or Crime Stoppers at 870-261-1499. All information will remain confidential.
A local convenience store was robbed at gunpoint early Saturday.
Forrest City Police reported the Shell Superstop at 100 Holiday Dr., was robbed just before 4 a.m. by a black male subject wearing a skull cap and bandana. An undetermined amount of money was taken, according to police.
The store clerk told police the suspect, armed with a sawed-off shotgun, placed the gun to his head and told him to open the cash register. He then allegedly grabbed the money, a store videotape and fled the store. The clerk told police the suspect ran east to a small car parked at Denny's Restaurant.
The suspect is described as a black male about five feet tall and weighing about 170 pounds.
A 12-year-old Forrest City boy seriously injured in a fire early Friday morning at his home has been transferred to a hospital in Texas.
L'Corion Cross was taken Friday evening from Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis to the Shriner's Hospital in Galveston, Texas, for burn treatment. Cross was hurt when his home at 518 SFC 215 caught fire about 5:30 a.m.
The Times-Herald was unable to obtain information regarding Cross' condition today because hospital officials said the family had requested that no information be released regarding the boy.
Cross' brother, Domingo Tyler, 25, was killed in the fire. His mother, was treated overnight at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City.
Forrest City Fire Department officials ruled Friday the blaze was started by a short in a space heater located in the living room. FCFD Fire Marshall Captain Johnny Ruffin said the electrical cord to the space heater had been spliced with a piece of extension cord.
Three people from Texas died Saturday morning when the vehicle in which they were riding hit the median on the interstate and rolled over several times.
According to the report from Arkansas State Police Troop D in Forrest City, the one-vehicle accident happened about 7 a.m., just west of the Widener exit on I-40.
A 1998 Ford Explorer, driven by Teanna Perkins, 16, of Katy, Texas, was traveling in the westbound lane.
"Witnesses said it just drifted off onto the median," said Sgt. Jackie Clark of Troop D. "We don't know if she went to sleep or what."
When the Explorer hit the median, it went out of control and rolled several times, according to Clark. Perkins, who was wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Also pronounced dead at the scene was a passenger, Kenneth Ybarbo, 53, of Katy. He had been ejected from the vehicle.
Also ejected was 10-year-old Sean Perkins, also of Katy. He was airlifted to the Elvis Presley Trauma Center in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead.
On a related matter, Clark said there would be an extra effort on the part of troopers tonight, which is New Year's Eve.
"We may try to have some check points and beef up," he said. "More people than normal will be out, mainly concerned with drunk drivers. Tonight and Super Bowl Sunday are the two biggest nights for drunk driving."
A Palestine boy could lose an eye because of an injury he received Friday night while riding inside a van traveling east on Broadway.
Tanner Wright, 12, was riding in the second seat of a van being driven by Randall Clark, 43, 860 Old Madison Rd., when he was struck in the eye by a rock thrown through one of the van's windows about 8:45 p.m.
Clark told police he was driving on east on Broadway when a subject threw the rock through his van's window and injured Wright. Wright was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City where he was treated and transferred to a hospital in Memphis where he underwent surgery on his eye.