By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
Area police investigated a little bit of everything during the weekend which saw a man killed, a family kidnapped and a girl raped.
A Forrest City man was killed during an argument at an area pool hall Friday afternoon.
St. Francis County Sheriff's Department investigators report Arthur Lee Humphrey, 41, 461 Sunrise, Forrest City, was killed just after 4 p.m. during an alleged argument with Markcus Greer Jr., 19, 816 1/2 East Broadway.
The shooting occurred at the Lucas Pool Room located about eight miles west of Caldwell. Witnesses told police the two had been fighting over a pool game.
Police arriving at the scene found Humphrey on his back outside the business with three gunshot wounds to his upper body. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and his body was later transferred to the State Crime Lab in Little Rock.
The suspect, who was identified by witnesses at the scene, fled before police arrived. His vehicle was later found at his East Broadway residence. Deputies searched Greer's home but were unable to locate him, investigators reported.
A first-degree murder warrant has been issued for Greer. Deputies ask that anyone with information regarding his whereabouts to contact the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department.
A woman and her two children were reportedly kidnapped and threatened by the woman's husband just after midnight Sunday.
A 26-year-old Forrest City woman told police she and her children were visiting at her mother's home about 12:15 a.m. on North Water Street when her husband, Charles Anderson, 28, 211 N. Forrest, stopped by to pick them up.
The woman told police she agreed to go with him with the understanding that he would take them all home to the North Forrest Street residence.
However, according to a report on file at the Forrest City Police Department, the suspect instead drove to a location somewhere outside the city limits and proceeded to beat her repeatedly with a handgun while at the same time threatening the children. According to the victim, Anderson pointed the gun at the children and placed a butcher knife at each child's throat. The children were not reported injured in the attack.
After the alleged beating, the victim told police Anderson drove them back to Forrest City and allegedly threw the weapon behind a residence on Cherry Street before driving the family to the Forrest Street residence. Once there, the victim said she was stabbed in the upper right arm and he again allegedly threatened her if she told the police what had happened.
The victim said she waited until Anderson fell asleep before driving herself to the police department.
Anderson is charged with second-degree domestic battery and kidnapping.
A 17-year-old girl in foster care was reportedly raped by two black males near the band hall on the Forrest City High School campus during the early morning hours on Saturday.
According to the child's foster parent, the girl and a foster sister reportedly left the house through a bedroom window and later came in contact with the suspects near the high school.
The victim told police she was raped by both of the suspects. The second girl told police she ran away during the attack.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Gov. Mike Huckabee will attend a public hearing in Forrest City on Tuesday, July 24, concerning the redrawing of state legislative districts.
The meeting will take place at the Lecture Room on the campus of East Arkansas Community College, from 6-8 p.m.
Because of population shifts, the Delta region of Arkansas may loose some representation, while northwest Arkansas will gain representation.
State Rep. Danny Ferguson of Forrest City said while nothing may be set in stone yet, the final plan will probably look a lot like the one being presented in hearings being held around the state.
"My understanding is that this draft they're taking out for public meetings is pretty well going to be the way the districts will be drawn," said Ferguson. "That's not to say a few voting precincts won't be tweaked or there couldn't be a swap of a precinct or two among districts, but my understanding is that this (current plan) is the footprint. I don't look for any major, huge changes."
He said redistricting is not an easy job.
"The governor, the secretary of state and the attorney general all have staff persons who spent hundreds of hours in front of computers with 2000 census data in front of them," Ferguson said. "I did it just on a city basis after the 1990 census with just four wards and it was a job."
Those working on the redistricting were faced with what Ferguson called a double-edged sword.
"First there was a general population gain in the state. Second, there was a general population shift, where some regions lost population."
Because of a greater concentration of population in the northwest and central parts of the state, districts there are getting smaller geographically, while districts in places like eastern Arkansas are getting larger geographically. This is so districts will have about the same population.
"There are places in central and northwest Arkansas where you don't' have to draw a very big area to have a district," said Ferguson.
A woman critically injured in an accident last week on Interstate 40 near Palestine has died.
Mary McCoy, 42, of Warren, died Saturday at the Med Center in Memphis, according to officials with Arkansas State Police Troop D in Forrest City.
McCoy's 16-year-old son, Danny McCoy, died at the crash scene.
The McCoys were driving eastbound on I-40 when their 1994 Mazda was struck by a Freightliner driven by Richard Layton, 49, of Olive Branch, Miss. Layton was charged with careless driving and negligent homicide in Danny McCoy's death. It is unknown at this time if more charges will be filed against Layton.
A Forrest City liquor store was robbed Saturday morning.
The Forrest City Police Department reported Southview Liquor Store, 1321 S. Washington, was robbed just after 10 a.m. According to the report, two black males armed with handguns entered the business, both wearing hats and masks, and demanded money from the cash registers.
After getting the money, the two reportedly fled on foot across Washington toward South Rosser Street.
An undetermined amount of money was taken during the robbery.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Officials from Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas have been fairly unanimous in their praise of the on-going "Governors' Alliance for Regional Excellence, which last week unveiled a report called the "Memphis Region Sourcebook."
The first question many may ask is, what's the difference between this and so many other studies that have been made? Anticipating that question, Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant had an answer before the question could be asked.
"This is not just another study," said Bryant, who was one of the people appointed to the alliance when it was first formed.
"More than 900 people from our region participated," Bryant continued. "Ten to 15 people from Forrest City had input into the Sourcebook. This study will manifest itself into something good for our future.
"About 30 months ago, the governor (Mike Huckabee) appointed me and the county judge and some others, along with people from Cross County, Crittenden County and Mississippi County, to serve," Bryant said. "We started from scratch. Michael Gallis of Gallis and Associates in Charlotte, N.C. came up and ramrodded it through the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce."
The area taken in by the Alliance lies within a 70-mile radius of Memphis. The group worked to map out a regional approach to tourism, economic development and education.
"Today, we're at the beginning of a process to shape our region," Gallis was quoted as saying last week.
"We tried to formalize a global strategy for the future of our region," said Bryant, "bringing together northern Mississippi, western Tennessee and eastern Arkansas together as a region, rather than separate entities, so we can promote what we have in common and try to get more money into our area."
The effort will also try to promote the differences within the region which compliment each other. Gov. Huckabee was quoted at last week's meeting as saying, "It may be a long time before they do a heart transplant in Wiener, Ark., but you can't duck hunt in downtown Memphis, either."