State-funded school health clinics which will be lost in Forrest City will simply have to be replaced with local funds, Superintendent Lee Vent said this morning.
An anticipated $6.9 million shortfall in the state Department of Health's budget has prompted several cuts, including 20 school-based health clinics around the state.
There are three state-funded, nurse-staffed clinics, in Forrest City -- at the high school, Lincoln Middle and Stewart Elementary.
Vent said the school district has to have the nurses, whether they are locally funded or state funded.
"We are required to have one nurse for each 1,000 students, and this will take away three of our nurses," said Vent. We are going to have to reciprocate by hiring two to three nurses."
Vent said there are about 4,200 students, and the district has had five nurses. Three have been Health Department employees. The other two, an R.N. and an L.P.N., are full-time employees of the district.
"So, we're looking at, probably, to satisfy the standard, hiring two or three more," he said. "It seems like something happens every day in this business."
The school health clinics are not the only cuts being made. Other cuts include child health screenings, perinatal and early childhood home visits and laboratory testing of milk and testing of soft ice cream.
Also as part of the cuts, the agency will no longer serve as a source for rabies vaccines, and will close its Health Education Resource Library.
In response to questions about the cuts, Dr. Fay Boozman, director of the state Department of Health, was quoted as saying the clinics were in only two percent of the state's 1,149 public schools. He said the cost of running the clinics was going to a "very small number of individuals."
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The news that more than $100,000 in state funding is being restored to Crowley's Ridge Technical Institute came as a pleasant surprise to Burl Lieblong, president of the institution.
The returned funding was part of about $1 million which is being returned to the state's nine technical institutes and one vocational-technical school.
Lieblong said he and other presidents had met with Gov. Mike Huckabee on the matter, but said he was not expecting the money so soon.
"The technical school presidents had a meeting with the governor last week," said Lieblong. "We brought it to his attention. We talked about it, but we didn't know he was going to do it. He said he didn't mean to cut us."
Lieblong said when the presidents left the meeting, they felt good.
"He's going to work with us, we thought," said Lieblong. "We felt good about it, but we were thinking two years down the road."
He said he received word Friday that the school would receive $107,720. The original budget cut hit the school for $120,000.
He said the loss of funding would have been the equivalent of two, full time employees, and also some maintenance which needed to be done. However, Lieblong said the plan had been to go into cash reserves to keep from cutting services.
"What we were going to try to do, instead of cutting services, was to use cash funds to keep services at the same rate," he said. "What this has done, it relieves that pressure."
Huckabee was quoted as saying, "The release of these funds shows our commitment to technical education in Arkansas. These institutions play an important role in allowing us to have the kind of work force Arkansas will need to attract high-paying jobs."
The money is from the governor's portion of the General Improvement Fund.
The first-ever Great Rush Road Rally, held Saturday was proclaimed a success, and plans are calling for the rally to be an annual event.
The rally was sponsored by the St. Francis County Museum. According to Laura Mazzanti, museum director, more than 50 volunteers and participants took part.
The museum is located in the historic home of Dr. J.O. Rush, who also founded and was president of the Arkansas Automobile Club in 1912.
After touring the museum on Saturday morning, participants left to find 10 historic sites in the county.
The teams were guided to the sites by hints, such as, "This is not a drink made with tonic, but an important part of our cotton production. You will find it 2.5 miles east of Clue #5."
After they returned to the museum at noon, scores were tallied and prizes were awarded during a barbecue luncheon.
Trophies were presented by Mrs. Anita Widby, representing the museum's board of directors.
The first prize went to the Cannon family of Forrest City and Dallas, who also won the special Class Prize. When awarding the prize, Widby noted that nine family members, ranging in age from 2 to the family Matriarch Mrs. Carroll Cannon, had participated.
The second place trophy went to Bob Smith and his navigator, Charlie White. Smith also won the Classic Car trophy for his reproduction of a 1936 Mercedes convertible.
John Stipe won the Best Sports Car award with his 1960 Mustang. Steve Murry and the Mustang 17 film group won an honorable mention, as did the Lisa Smith team.
Prizes were provided by Howard Miller Insurance, O'Carroll's, Bonanza, Debbie's Flowers, Gray's Service Center and the Movie Gallery.
"We had a really good time," said Mazzanti. "People really got competitive, and they really had fun. The next rally will be in the spring of 2002, which will actually be the 90th anniversary of Dr. Rush's founding of the Arkansas Automobile Club."
Forrest City School District Superintendent Lee Vent was undergoing tests this morning at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Forrest City after passing out in his office.
Forrest City Fire and Rescue personnel were called to the administration building after, according to witnesses at the scene, Vent collapsed. Vent's condition was unknown pending test results.
No other information was available this morning from the school district or BMH-FC.
A teenager accused in the stabbing death of her 17-year-old uncle last week has been charged with second-degree murder.
Forrest City Police Department Criminal Investigation Division Lt. Dwight Duch said the 14-year-old suspect was charged Friday as a juvenile in the case.
The charges stem from an incident Wednesday night at the girl's home located on Laughrun Drive. According to police, she was talking on the telephone when she and her uncle began wrestling and he was stabbed once in the chest with a kitchen knife.
Duch said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Gary Mitchusson decided to take the case through juvenile court which could mean a lesser sentence for the girl if she is convicted on the charge.
The decomposing body of a Helena man was found Friday afternoon inside a locked car on a county road near Goodwin.
St. Francis County authorities are today awaiting information from the State Crime Lab as to the cause of death of Audrey Stevenson, 72. Stevenson's body was found on a dirt road north of Interstate 40 about 2:30 p.m. Friday.
According to SFC Chief Investigator Glenn Ramsey, Stevenson's vehicle had apparently gotten stuck on the dirt road. Police found the man inside the 1993 Pontiac Grand Am with the windows up and doors locked. "He had apparently been there for several days," Ramsey said.
At this time, police do not believe foul play was involved in Stevenson's death.