By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Construction on a regional Child Support Enforcement office has started on Ark. Highway 1 South in Forrest City.
The building, being constructed by Scott and Johnny Nell Carroll, is expected to be completed possibly in March.
According to Dan McDonald, state administrator for Child Support Enforcement, the Forrest City office will handle two, and at the most four, counties.
"The current office in Forrest City handles St. Francis County," said McDonald. "We're going to be shutting an office in Wynne and coming here with that office. They handle Cross County."
There is a possibility of two more counties.
"We may move a couple of other counties up there (to Forrest City)," he said. "And if we did, more than likely those would be Lee and Monroe counties. And as far as I know, those are the only counties that will be handled out of that particular office. Of course, that's always subject to change, depending on what we feel is best for serving our customers."
McDonald said the trend has been to reduce the number of offices.
Originally, he said, there were 43 offices serving all the counties in Arkansas.
"Our goal has been to get down to 26 offices. Right now, we're at 28," he said.
McDonald further said there were several reasons for consolidating. Cost saving is a big one.
"By consolidating offices, we can use fewer resources," he said. "It requires fewer managers and less equipment. It saves money on leases."
He said consolidating offices also increases the personnel in one place, which can make for a more efficient operation, he said.
"Instead of having three or four in one office, which is really inefficient, especially if a couple are absent, working with a larger staff can provide a better structure. We have a team structure within an office, which is a lot more effective in working cases."
In answer to a question, McDonald also said there should be no hardship on people who need the services provided by Child Support Enforcement, even if there is no longer an office in those people's county. He said Cross County is adjacent to St. Francis County, and the Lee and Monroe cases are already being handled out of Helena.
He also said most of the contact between customers and caseworkers is done over the telephone.
"Basically, 95 percent-plus of our services are provided over the phone or through correspondence," said McDonald. "There is very little need, if ever, for someone to make a face-to-face appearance at our offices."
Two exceptions occur when a customer simply prefers to do a face-to-face interview, or when paternity testing is required.
"Everywhere we have consolidated, I have had no complaints from customers," McDonald said.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Recent heavy rains have caused problems on several St. Francis County roads, according to County Judge Carl Cisco.
County road department workers have spent much of this week, weather permitting, attempting to upgrade roads in several areas which were washed out last week or may have been flooded.
"Things right now, as a whole, are in good shape, but we do have a few areas where we're having to go in and replace pipes and shore up the roads. We've got places that are in sandy areas and the pipes that we have in there deteriorate faster because sand is so abrasive it runs through the pipes. We're also working to clear debris from a lot of the pipes. Our biggest problems though, come from the sand and chemical deterioration from farming chemicals," Cisco said.
Cisco also said that county workers would be using fabric to patch up pipe work in certain areas.
"There are new materials that we can use that will help us repair some places that pipes have worn through instead of replacing the pipes. We're going to take dirt from some of the levees to repair a couple of roads that took severe damage during the rain last week. We're hoping that we don't get a lot more rain soon, because that will make our jobs that much harder and keep us from making repairs that much longer," he said.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Sgt. Bobby Daniels with the Forrest City Police Department said running into a burning house to save the lives of children was not an act of heroism, it was something he had to do.
On Sunday, Daniels was the first person on the scene of a fire at 808 Division St., which sent one woman, Cheryl Walker, 31, of Forrest City, to the Med in Memphis with severe burns. According to Daniels, he went into the burning house on instinct due to the fact that he knew children were inside the house.
"I'm no hero for what I did. I went in because I knew that there were children inside, and I had to get them out. When I got there, the smoke and flames were coming out of the roof of the house. I went in and gathered up as many of the children as I could and got them outside. I went back in and got the rest of them out and then tried to go back in and get Cheryl.
"I looked around the back of the house but couldn't find her. We didn't find out until later that she had gotten under the bed. I felt around the room trying to find her but the heat and smoke was too much for me," Daniels said, adding that Walker is eight months pregnant.
Forrest City Firefighters later located Walker under a bed in a back room of the home. According to Daniels, when firefighters arrived he went to the back of the house with a fire hose in an attempt to cool the room where Walker was later located.
According to reports, Walker was found under the bed after the blaze at the back of the house was extinguished. The front of the home was reportedly still engulfed when Walker was recovered.
"After I came out of the house, I went around to the back of the building and asked one of the firefighters to concentrate on that room because the family kept saying someone was in there. I just wish that we could have found her earlier," Daniels said.
Walker remains hospitalized at the Med Center in Memphis.
According to officials with the fire department, the fire was caused by children playing with matches or a lighter.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
As the Christmas season goes full tilt, the Jazz Band at East Arkansas Community College is preparing for its annual installment in the Christmas festivities.
Mike Duncan, conductor for the Jazz Band, said this year's festivities will offer a mix in music ranging from 1940's big band music to traditional Christmas favorites.
"We're going to do a wide variety of music for this year's concert. We'll have big band music like Glenn Miller and Woody Herman from the 1940's, and we'll also offer music from the 60's and 70's like Steely Dan along with Christmas music from Nat King Cole and Mel Torme," Duncan said.
Duncan said the group, which is sponsored by Forrest City Food Giant, will also play patriotic tunes in honor of recent events. Ruth Ann Vowan, an instructor at EACC, will perform "The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) with the band.
The jazz band will perform in the EACC lecture hall on Sunday, Dec. 16, at 3 p.m.
The band, which started about 10 years ago, is not limited to EACC students, according to Duncan. Currently members range from high school students from area schools, such as Forrest City, Wynne and Marion, to an agricultural pilot, a hospital administrator and even a member of the EACC faculty.