By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
One town in St. Francis County can say its population has grown in almost every census since it was incorporated.
Caldwell may not have been incorporated for as long as some towns, having come into being in 1964. But counting from its first official census, in 1970, the small town has shown an increase in every census but one.
In fact, the latest census showed the greatest growth for Caldwell, and the greatest percentage growth in the county.
"Especially, with this last census, we went from (a population of) 334 to 465," said Caldwell Mayor Gary Hughes. "That was close to a 40 percent increase, and we're really happy about that."
According to Hughes, the big jump in the 2000 census was due, at least in part, to miscounting in 1990.
"Of course, we never felt that the 1990 count was correct," he said. "But we kind of learned our lesson in 1990. We worked closer with them (Bureau of Census workers) this time, and we did find some errors."
He said one problem was that the version of the city boundaries with which the census takers had been working was incorrect.
Hughes also said that Caldwell's population increase would be helpful in state turnback, helping make up for an expected cut in that revenue source.
Caldwell's population, according to the 1970 census, was 292. That slipped by nine, to 283 in 1980, then was counted as 334 in 1990, before coming in at 465 in 2000.
Another town which saw only one slip of population between one census and another was Forrest City. From 1940, when its population was 5,699, to 2000, when the census put its population at 14,774, Forrest City's population has increased with each census, except once. The town reportedly lost population between 1980 and the 1990 census, from 13,803 to 13,364.
Larry Bryant, Forrest City's mayor, said the city would appeal, but said the way he understands the appeal process, the city may not gain any more population.
"We're still looking at it, but looking at the parameters they have built in, we don't particularly see where we can gain in population," said Bryant.
"They are not looking for a people count. They're looking for a living quarters count, and that's what they're going by. If we can show we have some houses that they missed or apartments that they missed, they will consider that. They've pretty much closed the door to anything else. We're going to do all right with what we got, but they missed some folks."
According to figures provided by City and Town, some other towns have lost population since reaching a peak in earlier census reports.
Madison had reached a peak population of 1,263, according to the 1990 census, before falling to 987 in the 2000 census. Rev. James Brooks, the mayor, said the city is planning on challenging those findings. He also said the system needs changing.
"I believe the system is outdated," said Brooks. "They need to come up with another system."
He said many people are reluctant to open their homes to a stranger, which is the case with many census workers. That is the change he would make.
"I worked closely with the census workers, and they did have a few problems with residents who didn't want to let them in," he said. "I believe the cities should have a more hands-on approach. If it was done locally, with local people, they could get a more accurate count, because the people who live there know the city and know the people. They know who lives in that house. They know the families It may seem far-fetched, but I think it's a good idea."
He said he had estimated a loss of $30,000 to $60,000 a year in turnback. He said he knows that is a broad figure, but that was as close as they could come at this point.
Widener had been showing growth, from 292 in 1970 to 316 in 1980 and 381 in 1990, only to fall back to 335 in 2000. Mayor Dot Halford said the city would appeal.
"I talked to a state lady in Little Rock, and she told me they're supposed to send out some paper work," said Halford.
She said state turnback had decreased from $525 to $432 a month, street turnback had gone from $1,432 to $1,279, and sanitation turnback had gone from $2,366 to $2,184.
She said she would appeal because she doesn't believe all the households were counted.
"I went through town house by house and just roughly added up -- just counted the people I knew lived there. I came up with 420. And I don't know all the children. It's possible there could be a little more."
Hughes posted a population of 1,960 in 1960. That slowly declined, to 1,867 in 2000. However, the 2000 figure was up from the 1,810 posted in the 1990 census. Mayor Donnie Mooney said he was satisfied.
"We had an accurate count," Mooney said. "The folks who worked over here were our home folks, and they were up and down the streets. We got a fair and accurate count, because we went back after they got through and did some checking ourselves."
Palestine's reported census was 976 in 1980, then fell to 711 in 1990 and increased to 741 in 2000. Mayor Willetta Carroll said she thought it should have been higher.
"It was definitely not right," Carroll said. "We're going to look into it. We figured it should have been about 1,100. I think people would cooperate if they (census workers) wouldn't worry them to death. We offered to do it and do it fair."
Wheatley's reported population peaked at 523 in 1980, but had fallen to 372 by 2000.
Larry Nash, mayor of Wheatley, said at the moment it looks like the city won't appeal.
"We haven't planned on it," he said. "We tried to do a count of our own, and it looks like it's pretty close."
Nash said he wasn't sure why the population has decreased so much.
"I don't know -- the farm economy, people going different places to get better jobs or just to get a job. I don't really know," he said.
Colt's population has been up and down, losing and then gaining. The town had a population of 394 in 1960, then fell to 301 in 1970, went back up to 378 in 1980, fell to 334 in 1990 and increased to 368 in 2000.
Colt Mayor Virgil Keeler said he and the water manager, Bobby Clarkson, believe the town was under-counted.
"We've done talked about it, and we don't feel it was done accurately," said Keeler. He said the number of homes with water meters points to a higher population.
"We figured, like, there's 178 houses in the city of Colt, and most houses have three to four people," he said. "If you figure it out that way, the count would have been more."
He said Colt was appealing the findings.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
After months of trying to keep from moving funds from a county trust fund, members of the St. Francis County Quorum Court Budget Committee on Tuesday agreed to transfer funds which will allow county officials to begin July with figures as close to a zero balance as possible.
In a meeting of quorum court justices and county officials last night, justices agreed to move funds from the County Trust Fund, which currently stands at close to $123,000, into county general to pay bills that have been received by the county prior to July 1.
During last week's regular monthly meeting of the quorum court, justices voted to amend the 2001 budget for county offices. In a move to give county offices an even start, justices agreed to try to bring all county accounts current prior to the beginning of the three-month budget plan set to begin next week.
"We aren't going to be touching the fund for a large amount of money, and we didn't want to do that, but we had to. There will be a payment made to the fund on July 1, of $10,000 so that will begin the process of building the trust fund back up. The main thing that we have to focus on is living within the money that we have coming in and not continually tapping into funds that we've put into reserves. If we keep tapping into those reserves, one day there's going to be nothing there," said St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco.
According to Tracey Teal, chief of staff for the county judge's office, there are $35,000 in bills being processed, $21,600 in bills that are listed to be paid and an additional $5,600 with a total of $62,200 that needed to be paid against an available balance of $48,000. Justices agreed to begin the month of July with a zero balance, on paper, in the county's general fund so that records could accurately show funds received and paid by the offices that use the county general account.
Justices also agreed to allocate additional funds, which will be added to County Assessor Craig Jones' budget.
Total figures that are to be moved were not available this morning, and according to County Treasurer Ann Harbin, the process to move the funds is rather simple.
"I haven't been given the totals that we're going to be moving, but the process is easy. We simply have to get a court order from the judge allowing us to move those funds. We do have to get this done because we've only got a couple of days before the end of the month," said Harbin.
By CRYSTAL HOLLIS
T-H Staff Writer
Many Forrest City area residents reported being awakened this morning by a severe thunderstorm which dumped hail for almost an hour in portions of the city. Though similar storms have left damage in the past, Forrest City authorities report no damages or severe problems as a result of this morning's storm.
Forrest City Police received no reports of damages in the city as a result of the hail. However, due to a brief power outage after 5 a.m., the computer system was reportedly down at the department for a brief time. Officials with the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department and with Arkansas State Police Troop D also said there no damage had been reported throughout the county.
Although no damage apparently occurred, Marlene Mickelson of the National Weather Service in Memphis said there were three reports of hail in the Forrest City area between 5 and 6 a.m.
"At 5:08 we had a report of one-and-one-fourth inch sized hail, and later at 5:20 a.m., one-inch sized hail was reported. The final report was at 5:50 with hail reported at three-fourths of an inch in size in Forrest City. So, that's almost an hour's worth of hail," said Mickelson.
According to Mickelson, the severe storm began during the 4 a.m. hour with the most serious part of the system passing through Forrest City during the 5 a.m. hour.
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A Haynes woman was raped repeatedly inside an abandoned structure in Forrest City's alphabet street section earlier today.
The Forrest City Police Department reported the victim told them she was chased and kidnapped outside a residence at 420 D St., and dragged to the house at 420 B Street.
According to the reports, police said acting on cries from help from the victim, a resident at the D Street home called police about 1:15 a.m. to report the victim was being chased around a parked car by the suspect.
However, after locating the residence, police said they could not find the victim. About 5:45 this morning, police were called to the D Street residence again where they spoke with the woman who told them she was kidnapped, raped and assaulted by the man whose name she provided to authorities.
Based on the victim's statement, the suspect forced her into the house, where he was apparently living, and raped her once. He then reportedly walked her to a nearby convenience store to call a cab. After she made the call, the suspect then allegedly forced her back to the house where he raped her twice more.
A castrated rapist on parole from an Arkansas prison became a suspect in a Kansas City-area murder after police linked him to a dead woman through skin found under her fingernails.
The body of Carol Shields, 39, of Parkville, Mo., was found in a friend's apartment on Sept. 20, less than two months after Wayne Dumond, 51, moved to a Kansas City suburb about 10 miles north of the crime scene.
Investigators questioned Dumond on Friday after the Arkansas Crime Laboratory said skin collected from the woman's nails matched Dumond's genetic profile. Dumond was arrested early Saturday.
Dumond's lawyer, Bruce Houdek, said he was not aware of a link beyond DNA evidence. Dumond's DNA profile was on file because of his 1984 Arkansas rape conviction.
Linda R. Netzel of the Kansas City crime lab said in a report that there was less than a 0.09 percent chance that another person would match the sample taken from Shields.
Dumond has not been charged in the killing but remained in jail Wednesday morning without bond. He is being held for allegedly violating his parole.
''We were dispatched at about eight o'clock that night (last September) on a non-breather,'' Kansas City police spokesman Steve Young said. ''We arrived and found her dead at the scene. It was ruled a homicide.''
Police on Friday searched Dumond's Smithville residence and recovered clothes, two pairs of work boots, latex gloves, an empty latex glove box and hairs from a pair of boots and from Dumond's bathtub drain. Police also received a search warrant to collect hair and blood samples from Dumond.
According to the search warrant and affidavit, Shields had been tied up but the material used to bind her was gone when police arrived. Her clothes were missing except for a brassiere that had been cut from the body.
An autopsy determined that Shields died of asphyxiation. Police would not say whether she had been suffocated or was strangled. The search warrant said a torn white plastic bag was found near her body.
In 1999, Missouri authorities turned down Dumond's request to take over his parole supervision from Arkansas. At the time, officials with the state Department of Corrections who reviewed Dumond's application determined that he had no ties to the area.
Dumond moved to Smithville, Mo., on Aug. 1, when Missouri officials agreed to take over his parole supervision, after he married a woman who was a Smithville resident and had an employment offer to work in construction.
Dumond was released from prison in the fall of 1999, after serving 14 years for the kidnapping and rape of 17-year-old Ashley Stevens of Forrest City.
While awaiting trial, Dumond said masked men broke into his home and castrated him with fishing line. No one was ever arrested.
Dumond's lawyer would not say whether there was any link between Dumond and Shields.
''I'm not saying there is one, and I'm not saying there isn't one,'' Houdek said.
Police also would not discuss any connection.
Shields, who was married and had a teen-age son, was a hotel sales manager.
Houdek said, if charges are filed, he would challenge genetic evidence to ensure Dumond's rights aren't violated.
Dumond was convicted in Arkansas in the 1984 rape of Ashley Stevens, who is a distant cousin of former President Clinton.
After initially being sentenced to life plus 20 years, Dumond's sentence was commuted in 1992 by Gov. Jim Guy Tucker to 39 years and six months.
In 1996, Gov. Mike Huckabee said he had ''serious questions'' about Dumond's guilt and began the process to let Dumond go free. He dropped the plan after the state parole board said in 1997 it would free Dumond if another state would take him, sparing Huckabee the heat of making a politically unpopular decision just months after taking office.
Huckabee said at the time that he agreed with the parole board's decision to release Dumond. Tuesday, his office deferred blame to Tucker, whose commutation made Dumond parole-eligible.
''The only action the governor took was to deny his clemency,'' said Jim Harris, a spokesman for the governor. ''Governor Huckabee was not the governor who commuted his sentence.''
Tucker has been in Indonesia on business and was not immediately available for comment.