By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Patrons of the Forrest City Public Library who have been overly lax about returning books may soon find themselves in court.
Arlisa Price, head of circulation at the library, said the move was necessary.
"It's been a couple of years since we've enforced getting our books back through the Forrest City Municipal Court," said Price.
She said a book can be checked out for two weeks and then checked out again. If the book is not returned after that, a first overdue notice is sent a couple of weeks after the book is overdue. It has the name and address of the person who checked out the book the name of the book (or books), date it was checked out and the date it was due back.
If there is no response in a couple of weeks, a second notice is sent out.
"There is still room for negotiation," said Price. "The important thing is getting the books back. Depending on circumstances. We're not here to bleed anyone dry."
After that, the person should get a call from the library. If there is still no satisfaction, a final notice is sent by certified mail that the case is about to be turned over to municipal court.
The charge is theft of city property under $200.
Price said the library wouldn't be doing this, if it wasn't for people not bringing back books.
"Some people think it's just books, no big deal. But the average price of a book is about $25," she said, adding that it also keeps others from having access to the book.
"We're a small library. We can't buy a lot of copies of something. So if someone keeps a copy of a book, especially if it's a bestseller, that means our other patrons are losing out on getting to read it."
The library attempted an amnesty period of fines June 18-23. There was some success.
"No questions asked, we wouldn't look at you. We had people who brought in books that were due two years ago," Price said. "No one went up to them and asked why they had it. We just said, 'Thank you.' We were happy to get the books back."
However, there is still a large number -- for a small library -- of library materials which have been checked out and not returned.
"There are probably, at least, 70 books or materials," she said. "Those range from videos to books and children's books."
And in the case of children, it's the parents' names who will be turned over to municipal court.
Price also said it's a good idea to keep the library informed of changes of address.
"We had a young lady who came to the library a couple of weeks ago, who had an overdue fine from 1993, who was pulled over by the police (on a traffic violation) on a Friday night and had to spend time in jail because of a $1,500 fine on one of our books. When she came in Monday morning, she said it was for a $15 book, and if only she had given us her change of address, she would have received the notices."
A Proctor man was arrested Wednesday on drug charges by St. Francis County Sheriff's Office personnel.
According to the report, Deputies Donald Parkman and Gene Wingo went to 65 SFC 533 to serve a civil paper, and while at the residence they ran a warrant check on William Allensworth, 41, of Proctor and found he was wanted by the Sheriff's office. Allensworth was placed under arrest.
Officers stated they found a syringe and a marijuana cigarette on Allensworth. They also observed him throwing something away before he was taken into custody, and found a plastic bag containing methamphetamine and several syringes. Methamphetamine was also found inside Allensworth's vehicle, along with some scales.
Allensworth was charged with the manufacturing of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and simple possession of marijuana, along with disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.