By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A lawsuit between two local school districts is advancing as parents were questioned last week regarding which school district their children attend.
In the lawsuit, the Forrest City School District is suing the Palestine-Wheatley School District, alleging that students who live within the FCSD have illegally attended the PWSD. The FCSD alleges the students and their parents actually live in the FCSD and that is where the students should attend school.
FCSD Fiscal Officer Pat Flanagin said the deposition of parents last week was part of the information gathering phase in the lawsuit which is scheduled to go to court in March.
"In May of 1999, Superintendent (Lee) Vent spoke with the superintendents in the surrounding school districts to try to determine if there were students going to school outside of our district that should have been in our district. I think that there was one student going to school in Wynne and several in the Palestine district, so we sought to rectify the situation. The situation in Wynne was taken care of, but we weren't able to come to a solution with the Palestine district, and that led to our lawsuit," Flanagin said.
According to Flanagin, the FCSD has used a list of over 100 students who transferred out of the Forrest City district in 1999 to determine if the students are allegedly going to school illegally in the Palestine-Wheatley district. That list was eventually pared down to about two dozen.
"We checked our transfer records and were able to identify all of the students in question by the transfer requests. Our original list was somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 students, but we've narrowed it down to about two dozen that we know of who were going to school out of district," said Flanagin.
The FCSD is seeking reimbursement for funding it lost when the students changed districts. Flanagin also said the district is trying to work with the PWSD to find a way of easing the possible transition of students back into the FCSD.
"We've been working with the Palestine-Wheatley district on a solution that would allow an easy transition into our district. If that meant that students would be allowed to finish the semester or the year in their current school that would be fine, if our district was paid equitably for those students," he said.
Flanagin also said a second group of students may be in question this year.
According to Flanagin, a group of Forrest City School District students enrolled in Palestine-Wheatley schools this year under the auspices of a legislative act which amended the Arkansas Public School Choice Act. Flanagin said PWSD officials have been incorrectly informing parents that the new act will allow them to choose which district within a county their children can attend under certain circumstances.
"There are a couple of problems with this new group, and hopefully we can resolve this situation. First, the law doesn't apply to St. Francis County because all of the districts in the county would have to agree to the freedom of choice and that won't happen. Secondly, the law won't take effect until the 2002/2003 term of school next year so these children should be back in our district," Flanagin said.
The districts are in negotiations regarding the second group of students.
The impact of $65 million in grant money on home loans and business start-up loans in 58 counties in the Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Delta will be discussed Wednesday at the Forrest City Civic Center.
The session will be one of several held in the state. It will begin at 10:30 a.m. and continue until 2 p.m.
The Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, along with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, made the initial announcement in Pine Bluff Monday. The Kellogg Foundation has dedicated $20 million over the next five years to a project called the Emerging Markets Partnership.
In addition, the Fanny Mae Foundation, the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, plans to invest at least $45 million in customized mortgages with low down payments, higher debt-to-income ratios and flexibility for borrowers with less than perfect credit.
The Enterprise Corporation of the Delta will manage these programs.
"By combining financial resources and technical expertise with the determination of Delta residents, we know the emerging Markets Partnership will be successful," said Bill Bynum, chief executive officer of the Enterprise Community of the Delta.
Barry Zigas, senior vice president for Fannie Mae's National Housing Impact Division, said the homeowner initiative "will have a real impact on the region, allowing for community redevelopment and an improved quality of life for many. Home ownership is the greatest source of wealth creation in the United States. Our goal is to help more families achieve their dream of home ownership in the Delta. So they gain access to this wealth creation to help sustain the region's larger economic development goals."
At Wednesday's meeting, the initiative will be announced locally, and there will be detailed briefings on programs and partnering.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 shocked and stunned just about everyone. However, some people, rather than remaining stunned, were galvanized into action.
"We were just sitting around in the kitchen at the firehouse," says Robert Kuenzli, a paramedic with the Kingman, Ariz. Fire Department. "We were feeling useless. It seemed too far away. We could do nothing."
It was then that Kuenzli and others came up with the idea of riding a bicycle from Kingman to New York City, going through as many states as possible, and gathering letters of support and encouragement from firefighters along the way. These letters would be in turn delivered to firefighters and their families in New York City.
The ride has a name, the Firefighters Team America Ride. It began on Oct. 23, and is expected to end in New York City around Nov. 21.
In the beginning, Kuenzli and another Kingman Fire Department member were doing the riding. However, about the time they got to Oklahoma City, Okla., word came that his friend's wife was going into labor. When word got out that one of the riders had to go home, Kuenzli was joined by David Trowbridge, with the Oklahoma City Fire Department. It became a joint effort between the Kingman and Oklahoma City departments.
Kuenzli says the letters vary.
"Some are addressed to a chief, some are addressed to the people in engine companies," he said. "At some point we'll stop and see which letters are appropriate for which people. Some are very general."
The two men are taking turns riding, while a support vehicle goes along with them. Kuenzli said they have encountered a lot of hospitality along the way.
"Everybody who has found out we were coming has just been great," he says."
Best Western has helped with motel rooms along the way, and Kuenzli said it's hard to describe what that has meant.
"The difference between sleeping in a tent, or sleeping in a fire station where the alarm might go off three times during the night, and sleeping in a motel, really makes a difference."
Biking clothes have also been provided, and firefighters have donated money along the way to buy gasoline for the support vehicle.
Kuenzli says the ride will cover quite a large area. He said Kingman is fairly near to the Arizona-California border, so the ride took in most of Arizona. It also has been through New Mexico, the Texas panhandle, Oklahoma and now Arkansas. The cyclists will next head through Tennessee ("the long way," Kuenzli says) and then turn north.
Although Kuenzli says he gets tired and sore, he also says it's worth it.
"We're just collecting letters of support for our brothers back East," he says.
What a weekend for football -- in all categories.
It made for some interesting choices in last week's Professor Pigskin Contest.
Everywhere fans looked there were upsets in the making, and no doubt the biggest of all was Arkansas' seven overtime victory over Ole Miss, which caught a lot of readers by surprise.
The race was close all the way to the final entry.
Helen Bridges of Colt edged out three other entries to win the $50 cash prize. Bridges missed just three of the 24 selected games to beat Eugene Pryor, Terry Gaskin and Sayre Gaskin, who missed just four of the selected games.
There are only four more Pigskins remaining for the season. Choose your games carefully, beginning with this week's list which can be found inside today's edition of the Times-Herald.
The City of Palestine has been sued by a contracting company which claims the city unlawfully withheld part of the payment the company was owed for the construction of a fire station.
According to the suit, Murdock Enterprises of Marianna entered into a contract with Palestine to construct a fire station for $127,000. Murdock was given 220 days, or until around Feb. 18, 2001 to complete the work. The city began using the station on March 15, 2001.
Murdock Enterprises claims that it substantially met the terms of the contract.
However, the suit states, in part, that "on or about Dec. 13, 2000, during the period of construction, Palestine and the surrounding area were hit with an extremely heavy ice storm, which paralyzed the area and prevented any construction for a period in excess of 14 days."
The suit claims that the town's mayor, Willetta Carroll, withheld $8,900 of the balance of the contract amount. The suit asks for the $8,900, plus attorney fees and "all other just and proper relief."