By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Complaints have come flowing in to city hall about mosquitoes at the Forrest City Municipal Sports Complex, but that will be remedied soon, according to the mayor.
According to Mayor Larry Bryant, the mosquito spraying was supposed to have begun already, but didn't.
"They were supposed to spray out there last weekend," said Bryant. "They didn't. They will be spraying out there from now on. I thought this was done, but you know how it is sometimes. I guarantee it will be rectified today."
Bryant said he thought that spraying had been worked out before he left for a recent Municipal League meeting, where he was elected vice president for this district. "But I'm hearing about trucks broke down and this reason and that reason," he said. "I don't need any more excuses. This is something that should have been done and I thought it had been done. It will be done today, in no uncertain terms."
He said he felt as if some members of the public might believe that he had lied, and repeated that he had believed the spraying was taking place.
"People called me about it," he said. "I told them to spray the ball park. My only concern was, I didn't want them to spray on the inside, where people were, for liability's sake. But they were supposed to spray around the perimeter as we have in the past. And it didn't happen. But I won't take any more excuses."
J.C. Rice, the city's pest control officer, said there would be spraying tonight, including around the ball field. The times will be from around 7:30 p.m. until around 12:30 a.m.
"We'll do it Sunday night, Tuesday night and Thursday night until we're told different." Rice continued, "I apologize to people if we haven't been spraying."
Rice was working on a sprayer as he spoke, and said he was trying to get it ready. "We'll spray tonight," he said.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Local law enforcement reminds all residents to use caution when celebrating the Independence Day holiday tomorrow.
Forrest City Police Chief Clarence McNeary said officers with the FCPD will be setting up sobriety checkpoints throughout Forrest City not only on the Fourth, but throughout the weekend.
"We're going to have a few sobriety checkpoints out there. People driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol cause 16,000 deaths a year on the roads, and those can be prevented. We're going to be doing this in conjunction with a program sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a lot of law enforcement agencies are going to be participating in the program," said McNeary.
Arkansas State Police Troop D Captain Steve Gray said the official holiday hours state police began at midnight today and will run through midnight on Thursday, July 5. Gray said troopers will also be putting a special emphasis on drinking and driving and speeding during the holiday period.
"We will be patrolling for drinking and driving and speeding as we do normally, but we'll also be working to try to make sure that we control the traffic on the interstate with all of this construction. We've been backed up every day, and we don't expect the traffic to lighten up anytime soon," said Gray.
McNeary also stressed the fact that the use of fireworks inside the city limits of Forrest City is prohibited. "We want everyone to have a safe holiday, not only with alcohol, but with fireworks too. We have an ordinance on the books that prohibit the use of fireworks inside the city limits, and we will enforce that ordinance. We understand that folks will go outside of the city limits and into the county to shoot off fireworks, but we can't stress the safety issue enough."
According to a report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, close to 11,000 people were injured by fireworks last year which was up from 8,500 in 1999. The report also said that nearly half of those injured last year were under the age of 15. Since 1966, fireworks such as M-80s, cherry bombs and quarter sticks have been banned because they were too explosive.
According to the report consumers should:
* Never allow children to play with fireworks.
* Read and follow all fireworks warnings and instructions.
* Be sure other people are out of range before lighting fireworks.
* Never try to relight fireworks that haven't fully functioned.
* Keep a bucket of water nearby in case of accident or fire.
* Only light fireworks on a smooth, flat surface away from houses, dry leaves and flammable materials.
For those traveling across the state, there are currently more than 200 miles of Arkansas interstate under construction. On Interstate 40, there are 12 construction zones between Fort Smith and Little Rock and five zones between Little Rock and Memphis, including a mile of lane closure in each direction between Palestine and Forrest City. Interstate 30 has six zones between Little Rock and Texarkana, and there are two construction zones on I-55 between Memphis and Blytheville. There is also a construction zone on I-540 in Fort Smith.
The increased traffic on I-40 should create the normal backlog of trucks and interstate traffic detouring through Forrest City, and according to McNeary, there isn't much the local law enforcement agencies can do to alleviate the problem.
"Highway 1 is a state highway and 70 is a U.S. highway so there's not a lot that we can do other than enforce the laws. Forrest Citians might be better served to use alternate routes to avoid the congestion they know is going to come with the increased traffic. We know that the traffic can be a pain, but it's a problem that's going to be around for quite a while and we're going to do what we can to try to ease that burden," said McNeary.
An Arkansas Department of Corrections inmate was found dead over the weekend in a cell at the St. Francis County Jail.
Jailers with the St. Francis Sheriff's Department discovered the body of Paul Jenkins, 59, of Forrest City, Friday night, just after 9 p.m. according to St. Francis County Sheriff Dave Parkman, who said it is believed Jenkins died of a heart attack. Jenkins had been granted a work release into the custody of St. Francis County officials by the ADC. Chief Deputy H.N. Green said the program allowed Jenkins to be housed at the SFC Jail and to also do maintenance work there.
"The jailers told me that Paul hadn't been out of his room for most of the day, and they were beginning to think that something might have happened to him. It was a little after 9 p.m. when they entered the cell and found him," said Parkman.
According to Parkman, state investigators were called in and Jenkins' body was sent to the state crime lab for an autopsy.
During the autopsy, it was discovered that Paul had been suffering from a heart condition for years and that led to his heart attack," Parkman said.
According to Parkman, Jenkins was a model prisoner and was considered an asset at the jail because of his ability to repair vehicles and perform other duties.
"Paul was our top mechanic and our top man really. He could do just about anything, and was always willing to help out and do whatever work we asked of him," said Parkman.
A castrated rapist on parole from Arkansas was arraigned Monday on a first-degree murder charge in the death of a Missouri woman.
A lawyer for Wayne Dumond, 51, entered a plea of innocent on his client's behalf during the brief hearing in Clay County Circuit Court.
Judge Rex Gabbert ordered Dumond held without bond and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Aug. 14.
Dumond is charged in the Sept. 20 death of Carol Shields, 39, of Parkville, who was found suffocated in a friend's Clay County apartment about 10 miles from Dumond's home.
Dumond, dressed in a navy blue prison jumpsuit, stood quietly with his hands folded and showed no emotion during the hearing.
Authorities are also investigating whether Dumond is involved in the homicide last month of Sara Andrasek, 23, in Platte County. He has not been charged in that case.
Dumond was convicted in the 1984 rape of an Arkansas teenager. While awaiting trial in that case, he was castrated by masked men who broke into his home, he said.
After initially being sentenced to life plus 20 years for the rape, Dumond's sentence was commuted in 1992 by Gov. Jim Guy Tucker to 39 years and six months.
Dumond won his release on parole in 1999. An earlier try failed in 1997 when Texas and Florida refused to accept responsibility for him. The Arkansas parole board said Dumond could return to his hometown of DeWitt in 1999, but last Aug. 1 he was allowed to move to Missouri after meeting and marrying a woman from there.
Shields was killed less than two months later.
Prosecutors have not said whether they intended to seek the death penalty in the case although Shields' mother thinks they should.
''It may not seem like the right thing to do, but hey, he took something from me I'll never be able to replace,'' Lois Davidson said after the hearing. ''I want them to get rid of him, and if this is what it takes to do it, well ...''
''I don't want to feed him for the rest of his life,'' she said, referring to the possibility of a life prison sentence.
Shields' husband, Mark Shields, agreed.
''If he's guilty, I prefer the death penalty,'' he said, ''because he walked away from life in prison in Arkansas.''
Tim Kniest, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said Dumond was holding down a job and meeting weekly with a parole officer until he was arrested.
''Everything up to his arrest (indicated) he was abiding by the conditions of parole.''
He said Missouri supervises roughly 2,400 parolees from out of state, and sends about the same number of parolees to other states.
Most of the time, parolees are sent to their home state. For example, a Missourian who committed a crime in Iowa would generally be allowed to return to Missouri for parole supervision.
''If you didn't have this kind of a system in place, many offenders would just abscond from supervision and go back home, and then there would be no supervision,'' he said.
Other prisoners, like Dumond, are allowed to move to Missouri on a case-by-case basis, Kniest said.
The Times-Herald will be closed Wednesday, July 4, for the Independence Day holiday.
The newspaper will resume publication on Thursday, July 5.
The Forrest City City Council will meet in regular session tonight at 7 p.m. at city hall.
On the agenda is a resolution to approve a petition to annex lands. Also on the agenda is first reading of an ordinance to make sure that property owners within the city limits keep grass or weeds cut back on their property.
There will also be a bid opening for sidewalk construction.
Forrest City police are investigating the possible rape of a 12-year-old girl last week.
According to a report at the Forrest City Police Department, a local nurse notified police that she had examined the girl for possible rape on Monday. The alleged rape is believed to have occurred Thursday night at a Washington Heights residence, according to police. The victim told police she was asleep when she was awakened by her cousin allegedly attacking her.
More counterfeit money has surfaced in Forrest City.
A Forrest City woman attempting to pay for groceries at a local store found out the hard way that the $100 bill she handed the store clerk was counterfeit. According to the Forrest City Police Department, the bank where she received the money reimbursed the $100 to the victim.
Police kept the counterfeit bill as part of an investigation into other counterfeit money being circulated in the area. Two counterfeit $20 bills were passed at local businesses last week and turned over to the Secret Service.