By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Forrest City City Council members and Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant spent close to two hours hammering out the particulars for the 2002 city budget Thursday night at city hall.
Council members agreed to increase funding to the St. Francis County Food Pantry, the St. Francis County CARE Center and the Community Voices Center.
Bryant proposed an increase that would almost double the amounts that the CARE Center and Food Pantry currently receive to try to offset the hits the two organizations will take due to the county's budget woes. Bryant proposed an increase of $5,000 for both the CARE Center and the Food Pantry, and a $1,000 increase in funding for Community Voices.
"We made a $328,000 windfall on our ARKLA fees from everyone paying their gas bills, and I just think that we might need to chip in and help," Bryant said.
Councilman A.L. "Sonny" Harris, questioned the mayor asking if the city was going to attempt to cover for any shortfalls in spending the county might have. Bryant said the city wouldn't be covering all of the excess slack from county shortfalls, and he also said that the county had not announced if it was completely cutting funding to the two charities.
Councilmen agreed to increase the funding support for the three charities. The Food Pantry and CARE Center will get $9,000 each, and the FCCV will get $6,000.
In other budget business, council members made adjustments to the formula for increasing salaries within city departments. The council agreed to remove wording from the budget which would have allowed heads of departments to determine which employees receive raises.
Councilman Cecil Twillie objected to the wording. "I can't see agreeing to a policy which allows the head of a department to give a raise. If we're going to give raises it should be across the board. If we do it this way then we could run into a situation where someone is passed over for a raise because he doesn't smile at his supervisor every morning when he comes in."
The council also agreed to lower the time frame from two years for the equalization of employee pay. Currently members of city departments have to be employed for two calendar years before their pay is equal to city employees who have been there longer. The new policy lowers the amount of time to one year.
According to Bryant's proposed budget, two city employees would receive raises that would be more than the across the board three-percent increase that council members are leaning toward.
Councilman Chris Oswalt disagreed with the increases for the two positions and council members could not agree on the increases or a proposed bonus for grant writing. The issues will be discussed again at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, just prior to the council's regular meeting.
The Homework Hotline for the Forrest City School District will be available for the first time starting Monday, Dec. 3, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., each Monday through Thursday.
Four teachers will be available to answer homework questions for students in grades third through 12 in all subjects areas.
The teachers are Chris Howard, Mary Allen, Deb Chapman and Karen Busby.
Some questions for the hotline can be answered live on Mustang 17 television, which will be under the direction of Dee Murray.
Mustang 17 is on Channel 17 in Forrest City through East Arkansas Video; on Channel 44 on Classic Cable in Madison and Widener; and on Channel 45 on Curtis Cable in Caldwell, Colt, the Newcastle Road area and the Barrow Hill Road area.
Hotline phone numbers are 261-1896, 261-1897 or if those lines are busy, students may call 261-1827 or 261-1859.
Students may call any of the numbers during the hour-and-a-half. Many of the questions can be answered on the telephone, but others will be answered on Mustang 17. For example, math questions which require processes that must be worked correctly will be worked on marker boards or marker board simulators. Similarly, math or scientific equations can be worked out on television.
The program is being adapted from a model in the Birmingham, Ala., School District which was featured in a professional journal and read by Dr. Alice Barnes, Forrest City deputy superintendent, and Phyllis Russell, supervisor of federal programs.
Barnes, Russell and Steve Murray, broadcasting teacher at Forrest City High School, visited the Birmingham program last spring to see how it was operated and if it could be applied in the Forrest City School District.
In Birmingham, the district's broadcasting department televises three hours of hotline, with some questions from students answered on the phone, while others were answered live on television.
"Their studios at Birmingham are larger than ours," said Murray. "But this program did not really require a large amount of space. There will probably be some rough edges when we start, but I don't think we'll have any major problems. The main thing is that the students get the help they need, and we have a good group of teachers to provide that information," he said.
The Homework Hotline is being incorporated as part of the instructional offerings from the school district, through academic support systems of the Title I program, and through the new Distance Learning program being developed by the district through a grant from the Rural Utilities Service.
Teachers are gathering text books from each of the schools, and will use the books to help locate homework assignments when students call.
"Teachers will be assisting students in finding the answers to problems," said Russell. "They won't be doing the assignments for them, just helping," she said.
The Hotline show on Mustang 17 will be at 5 p.m. each day with announcements of phone numbers to call. Teachers will answer, get the student's name, grade and teacher's name for the course for which they need help. They will also need to know the book and page number from which the assignment is coming from.
If they can provide the help over the phone, they will give the answer at that time. If it would be easier to explain the problem on television so students can see it worked, then the teacher will go on the air.
Additionally, teachers may provide assistance with a wide range of academic studies that could be applied to their classes or the testing programs that are required each year, including the SAT 9 examination.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A proposed community center that would have been located at Southside Park in Forrest City was shot down last night by city council members who would not second a motion on a resolution that would have allowed Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant to pursue a grant for the facility.
Bryant told councilmen he learned this week of a possible community facility grant, which could have brought in close to $500,000 for the project. According to Bryant, the facility would have cost $970,000 with the grant possibly paying for at least half of the project.
The mayor said the community center was being proposed for the Southside Park area because of the criteria for the grant from the Arkansas Department of Economic Development.
"The reason that we chose Southside Park as the location is because the area had to be low income and that location fits. We have been making efforts to improve that park so that it will be as accessible as all of the parks in Forrest City. We currently have two basketball courts, tennis courts, softball areas and the swimming pool there, and this would simply accentuate that area. We want to remove the stigma that goes along with Southside park and make it accessible for all Forrest Citians," Bryant said.
Councilman John Gadberry voiced opposition to the facility based on the short time frame that council members were given to investigate the proposal and the proposed location of the facility.
"Mayor, I think that we should have more time to look at this proposal. I don't like seeing something and then voting on it the same night," Gadberry said. "I would like to see if we couldn't have this facility built at the sports complex. It would be more accessible out there to all of the citizens of Forrest City."
By CRYSTAL HOLLIS
T-H Staff Writer
Ways in which the state might become better prepared to handle a disaster caused by terrorist attacks was discussed during a meeting Thursday night sponsored by the Arkansas Communities Activated for Leadership Mobilization.
Tom Allen, Area II Coordinator for Field and Fire Services of the State of Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said the ADEM is required by Gov. Mike Huckabee to hold the meetings in each of the state's 75 counties.
Allen said attendance at these meetings has been sparse, due in part to how much time has passed since the attacks of September 11. "If this meeting were held over a month ago, this whole room would be jammed with people," he said. "Now that over two months have passed, I feel people want to try and forget the events of Sept. 11. But I won't. Nothing will ever be the same for me," he said.
Allen presented a slide presentation which explained how prepared Arkansas would be in the event of disaster, how residents can prepare themselves and the likeliness of an attack in this state.
ADEM Director, W.R. Bud Harper spoke during the slide presentation about why the state needs to be prepared. "Terrorist attacks are generally executed against some target representative of their enemy's power and prestige, and the goal is the symbolism of the event," he said. "This was the case with the World Trade Center and the Pentagon," said Harper.
Harper also explained what weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are and why it is unlikely they would be used here in this state. "Is Arkansas a target? The truth is no one can absolutely guarantee beyond any shadow of a doubt that no place in Arkansas will ever be a target. However, there is a high probability that most locations in our state would be very, very low priority to terrorist threats," he said.
He explained that terrorists have limited resources and manpower. "Even those well financed are limited in resources when compared to the military power and weapons of a small, third world nation, and because of this, they must carefully choose their targets so as to get maximum symbolic impact...a place with worldwide media attention and notoriety of their act," said Harper.
Harper also explained the increased alertness at the state, county, city and community levels since Sept. 11. "The best defense against terrorism is to stop it before it happens. We have done this by training officials at the local levels. Police and fire departments and hospital personnel are trained as to how to be prepared and prevent attacks.
"We are prepared and we ask you to be prepared," said Harper. "Residents should prepare themselves in the event of an attack the same way they would prepare for any disaster."
Harper also said people should follow the same emergency procedures they would follow in the event of a tornado, earthquake or flood, which are to turn on the radio or television for information, call a contact person, go to an established meeting place, have a disaster supply kit ready, and people should know their children's school plans for emergency.
"The best protection," he said, " is to be vigilant, be calm and think things through."
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Whether or not Forrest City teachers receive raises in December will depend on how well administrators and board members feel they can predict the future.
That was the assessment made by Pat Flanagin, fiscal officer for the Forrest City School District, this morning.
The district's Personnel Policy Committee recently requested a $1,000 raise. Committee spokesperson Nevada Nathaniel said at the time that members believe the money is available.
"It's been a tradition to give raises in December," said Flanagin. "And I don't think making that decision would be too difficult this year if we had a crystal ball and knew whether there are going to be any more cuts in state aid by June 30."
Because of two rounds of cuts -- one before and one the case with the World Trade Center and the Pentagon," said Harper.
Harper also explained what weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are and why it is unlikely they would be used here in this state. "Is Arkansas a target? The truth is no one can absolutely guarantee beyond any shadow of a doubt that no place in Arkansas will ever be a target. However, there is a high probability that most locations in our state would be very, very low priority to terrorist threats," he said.
He explained that terrorists have limited resources and manpower. "Even those well financed are limited in resources when compared to the military power and weapons of a small, third world nation, and because of this, they must carefully choose their targets so as to get maximum symbolic impact...a place with worldwide media attention and notoriety of their act," said Harper.
Harper also explained the increased alertness at the state, county, city and community levels since Sept. 11. "The best defense against terrorism is to stop it before it happens. We have done this by training officials at the local levels. Police and fire departments and hospital personnel are trained as to how to be prepared and prevent attacks.
"We are prepared and we ask you to be prepared," said Harper. "Residents should prepare themselves in the event of an attack the same way they would prepare for any disaster."
Harper also said people should follow the same emergency procedures they would follow in the event of a tornado, earthquake or flood, which are to turn on the radio or television for information, call a contact person, go to an established meeting place, have a disaster supply kit ready, and people should know their children's school plans for emergency.
"The best protection," he said, " is to be vigilant, be calm and think things through."
Christmas is just around the corner, and that means it's time to start thinking about letters to Santa.
The Times-Herald will again be printing kids' Santa letters. Letters may be brought by the newspaper office, or mailed to Post Office Box 1699, Forrest City, Arkansas, 72236-1699.
The deadline to insure getting a letter published is Dec. 14. The letters will appear in the Dec. 21 and 24 editions. All letters received will be forwarded to the North Pole, even if they arrive too late to be published.