By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A 14-year-old girl is being questioned in connection with the stabbing death of her uncle Wednesday night at her home on Laughrun Drive.
Dexter Tyrone Henry, 17, of North Little Rock, was stabbed while wrestling with his niece about 10:45 p.m. at the 438 Laughrun Drive residence. The NLR native was spending the week in Forrest City visiting with relatives, according to Forrest City Police Department Criminal Investigation Division Lt. Dwight Duch.
Police arriving on the scene found Henry on the kitchen floor with a stab wound to the upper left chest area. Duch said Henry was unconscious when ambulance personnel arrived and later pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City.
Police found the suspect in the living room of the home. When asked who stabbed Henry, she reportedly told police, "I did it."
Duch said based on witness statements, Henry would not leave the girl alone while she was talking on the telephone, and she became upset with him. The pair began wrestling and she allegedly grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the victim once. The victim suffered minor bruising during the scuffle, according to Duch.
Several family members were at the residence when the stabbing occurred, Duch said.
Henry's body is being sent to the State Crime Lab in Little Rock for an autopsy.
Duch said police are still gathering information in the case and hope to know today if she'll be charged. The suspect was expected to be interviewed further by police today.
At this point, Duch said, police are considering the possibility that the stabbing may have been accidental. "We expect more information to come in today."
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
When architect Bob Beavers gave a presentation on a new junior high school to the Forrest City School Board earlier this week, he also said he wouldn't be doing the job alone, and introduced another local architect.
Beavers said this week it is time to get down to the details of designing the new facility.
"I asked Dave (Hodges) if he would like to be a part of this particular program with the design for the new junior high school," said Beavers on Wednesday. "It seemed a good time to involve another Forrest City professional."
Beavers said the board can always pick another architect, but added there are advantages to continuity.
"I've always felt like it was very good for both parties, the architect and the schools, to have continuity of service," he said. "Often they'll call me and I'll go look at something and they don't get a bill because they are a continuing client."
Beavers continued, "Obviously, I'm not going to continue to practice forever. I'm essentially semi-retired. I'm still working as much as I ever did, I just retired from one office. But sooner or later there is going to have to be some hand-off to other professionals. And I feel that this would be a good time to get him (Hodges) involved."
He said he has known Hodges for many years, and Hodges was a fourth-year college student, he actually worked with Beavers on some improvements to the very building which will be replaced by the new junior high.
The design phase of the project is beginning, with all the detail work involved in such a project.
"We know the scope of the project. We know we have so many classrooms. We have their average size, and we also know some can be bigger and some can be smaller."
Beavers said the kind of classroom determines its size.
"The Arkansas Department of Education puts out a guideline called 'Rules and Regulations for Minimum Schoolhouse Construction Standards.' It includes not only how the buildings are to be built and how they are to be bid and (qualifications for) contractors," said Beavers. "It also gives a guide for the sizes and types of rooms provided in each school, elementary, junior high or high school."
According to Beavers, the old standard for an average classroom was 900 square feet. This has been lowered to 750 square feet.
"This is part of the idea of cutting down the student-teacher ratio," he said. "Once we cut down that, we can reduce the size of classrooms."
Rooms like labs will be larger out of necessity.
"All this balancing of the space has to be worked out."
Beavers said notes are being made on what to do to make the old two-story junior high building safe for another year. Engineers will be consulted about the old gym, which plans call for being renovated, along with the one-story north and south wings. These parts of the buildings will have to be brought up to seismic codes.
Beavers also touched on a subject which was discussed at Monday's school board meeting -- the possibility of relocating all the junior high students next fall.
"School officials are trying right now to figure out some way we can get out of the two-story section and not use it next year," he said. "If they could, it would change the time frame as far as construction."
Plans call for new classrooms to be constructed in front of the old building while students attend class in the old building. Then the students will be moved into the new classrooms and the old building will be demolished to make room for the rest of the new junior high.
Beavers said it would be good to keep the students as far away from the construction as possible for safety's sake.
"And, it would cut down considerably on the length of time to complete the project, possibly as much as half a year," he said.
He said it might also reduce costs, "But keep in mind that if they move the students somewhere else, there will also be costs involved in moving them and providing the equipment needed for junior high students. The most critical thing there is to cut down on time. It would be nice to be through by the first of 2003 rather than the middle."
The auditorium will be a major feature of the new junior high. The present auditorium, which is considered unsafe, seats about 600 people, making it the largest true auditorium in town, according to Beavers.
"You can seat more people in places that have flat floors," he said, "But an auditorium should have sloping floors and good sight lines."
He said the new auditorium will seat 850, all on one floor.
"This is not going to be fancy," he conceded. "It will have what is needed and will be certainly be nice. But it's not going to have marble floors or marble pillars or fountains. It would be great if we could do that, but I'm worried to death about the budget."
He said the auditorium will be important not just to the school but to the community.
"It makes all the difference in the world," he said. "It changes so much about what can be offered when you have an auditorium for presentations of real theatrical events. It always amazed me, the things that could come to Osceola after an auditorium was built. And think of all the things that go to Phillips County because of the Lilly Peter auditorium. Our auditorium may not have the trappings, but it will have good seating and good sight lines."
All in all, Beavers said it is going to be a challenge "to get this done and keep it in the time frame and the budget."
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A Forrest City teenager was critically injured in a fire Tuesday night caused by chemicals police say were being used by the victim to operate a meth lab.
Brandon Farrell, 18, 49 SFC 307, is suspected of operating a crystal methamphetamine lab at Indian Hills Apt. 53, the home of his girlfriend, Jessica Harris, according to a report at the Forrest City Police Department. FCPD Criminal Investigation Division Lt. Dwight Duch said Harris, who was out of town on Tuesday, is not a suspect in the case at this time.
According to the police report, witnesses told police they saw Farrell at the apartment about 9 p.m. Tuesday. The fire was reported about 10:30 p.m.
Farrell, who was transported by a private vehicle to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City before police arrived, was treated and later transferred by helicopter to the Med Center's burn unit in Memphis. A Med spokesperson today said Farrell is listed in critical condition.
"This is being investigated as a meth lab fire," Duch said. "We don't know exactly what happened. Something ignited the fumes from the chemicals causing a flash fire which ignited other things in the kitchen." Evidence, such as an ounce of meth, ether, acid and ammonia, were collected from the apartment and sent to the State Crime Lab in Little Rock for further analysis, police reported.
Duch said police plan to charge Farrell with manufacturing a controlled substance near a certain facility and possession with intent to deliver near a certain facility. The apartment complex is located near a church.
An estimated $10,000 damage was reported to the apartment.
Village Creek State Park is planning a summer of exciting programs for kids with the Environmental Discoveries Program.
The six week program began Wednesday afternoon, and is a series of science programs from the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock. It is a unique opportunity which incorporates live animals, museum specimens, games and innovative activities.
Museum instructors will visit Village Creek each Wednesday for a one-hour presentation. "ED classes are an opportunity for children to learn about the natural world and some of the plants and animals that share it with us," said Vicki Trimble, park interpreter. Students and instructors will investigate the intricate web of relationships between themselves and the rest of the world, she added.
For more information contact Village Creek State Park at 870-238-9406.