By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce recently launched its new web site, www.forrestcitychamber.com, which showcases a condensed version of the chamber's past website as well as several new features and added benefits for chamber members and visitors to the area. The chamber also has a new e-mail address: info@forrestcitychamber.com.
The site will feature a member database that will allow visitors to search for chamber members in four different ways: by business name, contact person, category and keyword as well as provide a description of the business in their directory listing.
Guests will also be able to view an online map which will show the business location. The member portion of the website will be limited to chamber members but will allow visitors to go to other portions of the website that will give varying information on the Forrest City area.
"The section of the site, which has our chamber directory, will be limited to chamber members, but you can also link to sites that list the local churches. If someone is looking to research the idea of moving into the area, or if someone is interested in visiting the area, they can link up to our resource and information links that send them to Village Creek State Park and other areas for people to visit," said FCACC Executive Director Danny Ferguson.
According to Ferguson, the website's greatest benefit will be its economic development area which will give prospective companies information on the industrial park and some of the incentives available for companies interested in possibly relocating to Forrest City.
"The economic development area on the site is a very important tool in industrial recruiting. Until the last couple of years, industries would either hire consultants or pick a member of their management to send around which was costly and time consuming. Companies now are doing all of their initial work online." Ferguson said. "Things like industrial park information and utility information that used to be done with onsite visits are now done online, so having an up-to-date website is crucial if you're going to be competitive with other communities when it comes to economic development," Ferguson said. "Communities that don't have an adequate website for their economic development are really starting out behind the curve. By the time you have a visit from a member of management or a consultant now, you've already made the first cut because they know that you meet the basic criteria for their company," said Ferguson.
Along with the economic development and membership pages on the website, the site will also feature an event calendar showing a schedule and description of chamber events and an online newsletter.
An Arkansas parolee sits in the Clay County jail, charged with first-degree murder in one case and suspected in a second. That's no surprise to a woman whom Wayne Dumond was convicted of raping, and who fought for years to keep him in prison.
''I told the parole board if they let him out he'd do it again, and he wouldn't leave a witness,'' Ashley Stevens told The Kansas City Star. ''I told them that for 14 years.''
Dumond is charged in the Sept. 20 death of Carol Shields, 39, of Parkville, who was found suffocated.
Dumond, 51, was connected to the crime after police matched his DNA to skin taken from beneath the dead woman's fingernails. His genetic profile was in a national database because of his 1984 rape conviction in Forrest City.
Stevens, his victim in that case, for years fought rumors that questioned the basic fact that put Dumond in prison -- that on Sept. 11, 1984, Dumond kidnapped Stevens, then 17, raped her and threatened to kill her if she ever told.
Dumond came to Missouri in August after he was granted parole in Arkansas.
He had served 14 years in prison there for raping Stevens, then a high school cheerleader. Stevens is also a distant cousin of then-Gov. Bill Clinton.
Some of Dumond's supporters say he was trying to weed out corruption in the local sheriff's office when he was arrested -- framed, they say -- for the rape.
But Dumond's past includes arrests for rape and murder long before the Forrest City case.
He had been charged with a 1972 murder in Lawton, Okla. The charges were dropped after he agreed to testify against two others, who were convicted.
He had served five years' probation in Washington for attacking a woman in a parking lot in 1973.
He had been arrested in 1976 after the alleged rape of a woman in DeWitt who refused to press charges, Arkansas authorities said.
One of the case's more bizarre aspects is what happened to Dumond about six months after Stevens' rape. Dumond says two masked men broke into his home in Forrest City and castrated him on March 7, 1985.
''With the castration, if Wayne Dumond is guilty, it's not as good a story as if he's not guilty,'' said Fletcher Long Jr., who prosecuted Dumond. ''People get it in their heads that he's the victim, not the criminal.''
Today, some argue that Dumond, drunk and racked by guilt, castrated himself.
Either way, Dumond's testicles wound up in a jar displayed on the desk of Sheriff Coolidge Conlee.
Less than two months later, Dumond's house was destroyed by fire.
It all happened as he was out on bail, awaiting trial for Stevens' rape. He later was convicted and received the maximum sentence: life plus 20 years.
In 1991, Clinton refused to grant clemency to Dumond, saying he would take no action until Dumond's appeals had run their course.
Dumond's supporters chalked up Clinton's refusal to the influence of the victim's father, Walter E. "Steve" Stevens, and to the distant family relationship.
Clinton's successor as governor, Jim Guy Tucker, commuted Dumond's sentence to 39 1/2 years, making him eligible for parole.
That's when anti-Clinton conspiracy theorists went into overdrive.
Rumors abounded -- that Ashley Stevens identified Dumond only after being coached by her father and the sheriff; that before identifying Dumond, she named two other men as her attacker -- both of whom had alibis; that the sheriff arranged Dumond's castration as a favor to the Stevens family; that Clinton, motivated by personal anger and political ambition, let an innocent man rot in prison.
Taking the strongest hold was a rumor that the DNA evidence proved Dumond's innocence. In truth, the DNA evidence had its foundation in pre-DNA genetic testing that was done but which was inconclusive.
Current Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, publicly questioned Dumond's guilt in 1996 and said he planned to free Dumond.
Huckabee's doubts about Dumond's guilt were based on a letter from John Wesley Hall Jr., Dumond's post-conviction attorney. It included an allusion to the alleged DNA evidence, said Jim Harris, Huckabee's spokesman.
In a meeting with prosecutor Long, Huckabee cited DNA as a factor.
''I said, 'Governor, there is no DNA evidence. There never was,''' Long said. ''And he was just dumbfounded.''
After a public outcry, Huckabee abandoned his plan. He wrote to Dumond that he would deny clemency, but added that ''my desire is that you be released from prison.''
That same day, the Arkansas Post Prison Transfer Board voted to parole Dumond, as long as he found a state that would take him. Two states refused him, and Dumond remained in prison until 1999, when the parole board said he could live with his stepmother in DeWitt, Ark.
Dumond moved in August to Smithville, Mo., where he lived until his arrest last week.
Authorities in Missouri are investigating whether Dumond also was involved in the homicide last month of Sara Andrasek, 23, in Platte County.
Dumond's lawyer said Dumond isn't connected to either killing. The Clay County authorities have scheduled an arraignment Monday afternoon at the Clay County Courthouse.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
There is a good chance that students will not have to attend school in the old Forrest City Junior High building this fall.
The solution may be to move some school district-owned portable buildings to a location on the high school campus, and rent several other buildings.
"We are having a meeting of the administrative team and the architect tomorrow to finalize a contingency plan for housing the junior high," said Pat Flanagin, finance director for the district.
According to Flanagin, safety is the number one reason for wanting to get the students out of the old building. Several school board members had expressed concern at the most recent meeting over the stability of the old building, and Flanagin said the members were being notified in order to get their input.
"We've got a memo going out to the board, trying to get their input without having to wait until the next board meeting," he said. "The reason is, if we're going to accomplish this, we've got to start immediately to be ready for school to open on time."
Originally, plans had called for the old building to be used this fall while construction began on new classrooms. The students would then be moved into the new classrooms while the old building was demolished. This plan would put the students in close proximity to the construction site, as well as having them use a building which may not be safe.
Flanagin said the cost would probably even out."We'll be using about four portable buildings we own from other campuses in the district," he said. "It'll cost us under $10,000 to do that. The big expense will be a couple hundred thousand to rent nine double classrooms."
Flanagin said that cost would be comparable, "perhaps even cheaper than implementing the engineering reports on doing temporary shoring up of floors in the old building, which still won't guarantee safety."
It has been reported that the old two-story section of the building could be made safe from vertical movement (floors falling in). However, it has been estimated that the cost of making the building safe from lateral movement, such as what might be caused by an earthquake or strong wind.
"As far as the cost, it's probably six of one, half a dozen of the other," said Flanagin. "But throw in the safety factor. Of all the reasons we're proposing to do this, number one is the safety of the children. We feel much more comfortable with the students away from the construction area. We'd like to get them totally away from the construction itself. Construction areas are hazardous, and getting the students completely off the campus is probably the best thing for their safety, and it would be a lot better for the contractors, too."
The portable buildings would probably be located somewhere on the high school campus.
Another advantage is the possible time-saving involved.
"Obviously, there would be less moving time and delays if we just said to the contractors, 'There it is, no one is in there. Tear down what needs to be torn down and remodel what needs to be remodeled and start building."
Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant was elected vice president for District 1 of the Arkansas Municipal League Friday in Little Rock.
The action came at the close of the Municipal League's 67th Annual Convention.
The league's four districts coincide with the state's congressional districts. The officers will serve one-year terms, which began immediately upon election.
George Overbey Jr., mayor of Lamar, was elected president for 2001-2002.
The Arkansas Municipal League was founded in 1934, with the purpose of advancing the interests of cities and towns in Arkansas.
Officials with the Forrest City Police Department Criminal Investigation Division said that they have turned two counterfeit $20 bills over to officials with the Secret Service.
According to Sgt. Howard Munn, the two bills, passed last week at local stores, and found at First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas, are the only bills that have shown up so far in St. Francis County.
"We've only had the two $20 bills show up. That's not saying that there aren't more out there, but those are the only bills we've seen. We've turned the matter over to the federal government and they're handling everything now," said Munn.
The mystery of the yellow ribbons turns out not to be that mysterious, after all.
Calls had been coming in since last Friday, asking about the ribbons tied to light poles up and down Washington Street. Calls to several florists and churches turned up nothing.
Finally, one florist had a tip, which turned out to be correct. Michael Renee Harp of Forrest City recently returned from Europe, where she was visiting as a "Student Ambassador." Her mom, Robin Redhorse, tied the ribbons as a special gesture to welcome her home.