St. Francis County voters will be asked to visit the polls tomorrow, where they will decide precious little in the way of school elections.
The exception is in Palestine/Wheatley, in which two school board races have developed.
Polls will be open from 7:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.
The only contested races in the county will be in Palestine/Wheatley School District 23, where two incumbent school board members will face challengers. Ronnie Crider is being challenged by Charley McGowan for the Zone 4 seat, while John Henry Parker is being challenged by Phyllis Autry in Zone 6.
In the Palestine/Wheatley race, all voting will be at the Twin Assembly of God Fellowship Hall in Palestine.
There are no challenged races in Hughes School District 27. Incumbent Bobby Allison is unopposed in Zone 1. All voting boxes will be located at the Hughes Community Center. These include Zones 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Position 5 and 7, Horseshoe, Heth and Blackfish.
In Forrest City School District 7, Wards 1, 2, 3 and 4 will vote at the Forrest City Civic Center; Widener, Round Pond, Mosley and Madison City/Country will vote at the Madison City Hall; Courthouse East and West, Parrott, Newcastle, Bonair and Tuni will vote in the quorum court room of the St. Francis County Courthouse; Pine Tree, Colt City/Country and Caldwell City/Country will vote at the Colt Civic Center.
Rev. Ronald Williams is unopposed for reelection to Position 3 in Forrest City, and Gordon McCoy is unopposed for reelection to Position 4.
No school district in St. Francis County is asking for a millage increase in this election. The Forrest City District has already passed a 2.5 millage increase to build a new junior high. This was done in a special election held June 5.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A break-in occurred Sunday night at the Palestine/Wheatley Elementary School and the high school agri building, both located in Palestine.
According to Palestine Police Chief Stanley Barnes, it was hard to tell if the main motive of those who broke in was vandalism or theft.
A computer was stolen from the Agri-Building, and money was taken from several desk drawers.
"They broke some windows and damaged several doors," said Barnes. "Paper was strewn about."
He said there was extensive damage to about five classroom doors and three office doors. Two windows were broken out.
Superintendent Jimmy Allen said it was a strange break-in. He said if all the perpetrators had wanted to do was commit vandalism, they missed chances. At the same time, he said the amount of money taken was small.
"They did not tear up the computers like they could have," said Allen. "It was a strange mix. They broke some windows and damaged some doors, looking for money and a few wrenches.
"It looks like if it was vandals, but they could have torn up all kinds of things," Allen continued, and gave an example. "They went into the computer lab. We had 25 computers in there."
No damage was done to the computers. Allen said in another room, a mirror was taken off the wall as if someone was looking for something behind it. The mirror was not even broken.
In addition, Allen said there was probably not more than $45 in cash taken.
The locks to several toolboxes in the agri building were broken, according to Barnes, and some small wrenches were taken.
On the other hand, according to Allen, "They took that one computer from the agri building. They didn't even take the speakers. They didn't take the printer."
Allen said the schools have suffered from very little vandalism over the past three years.
A new fire chief is expected to begin work this week in Forrest City, although that information has not yet been confirmed for the Times-Herald by the mayor's office.
Various sources have told the Times-Herald a Wynne resident, who is also a former employee with the Wynne Fire Department, has been hired as the city's fire chief.
When asked to confirm the information today, Mayor Larry Bryant said he had not prepared a press release regarding a fire chief and one would be forwarded to the newspaper "when the time came."
According to several unnamed sources, the fire chief is expected to begin his duties Wednesday morning.
A pair of American flags distributed last week by the Forrest City Lions Club are missing from the businesses where the flags were left to show support following the recent terrorist attacks.
Flags were reported missing by employees at two local businesses today. According to Lion's Club member Danny Capps, members of the organization were expecting some flags to disappear with the shortage of flags since last week's attacks.
"We knew that we would have some flags come up missing, we're just hoping that people are borrowing the flags to show their patriotic support for our country and not desecrating them," said Capps.
Lion's Club members were planning to travel the area today to inventory the remaining flags.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A new fire vehicle for Colt is nearing completion.
Colt City Manager Bobby Clarkson told councilmen at a meeting last week that a pickup has been purchased and only needs the equipment added to it in order to be converted to a fire truck. Clarkson said a local resident had offered his services for the welding work which was needed to add a tank and other equipment to the bed of the truck.
"We've got the truck that we need, and now we just have to get the equipment added to it. We received an estimate from a company for the additions that we needed, but it was well over what we have to spend on the truck. John Tanner does a lot of welding and he's offered his services to us, and that will help us with getting the tank, pump and motor into the truck," said Clarkson.
Clarkson also told council members that the city is looking at going with a new hose system that would use three-quarter inch hoses to accommodate the foam system being installed on the new truck.
In other business, council members passed the first reading of an ordinance which will establish two wards within the Colt city limits. According to the ordinance, all homes west of Arkansas Highway 1 within the city limits will be in Ward 1 and all homes east of Highway 1 will be in ward 2. Two members of the city council will be elected from each ward, but all city residents will be able to vote on the four council positions.
A grant application the city had been seeking for a new well was denied Wednesday, according to Clarkson. Clarkson explained to council members that he told a grant committee in a hearing Wednesday about the need for a new well for Colt.
"I explained our needs as best I could, and I gave them several reasons why we needed a new well. I told them that we were in an economically depressed area, that most of our water users were on a low to moderate or fixed income and that the factory here (Rubatex) would suffer if our existing well went out. But they still didn't see the need to grant us the well," Clarkson said.
He told council members that the only option the city had for replacing the existing well was to seek a loan from Rural Development.
Council members also discussed ways of preventing further burglaries at city hall. According to Clarkson, during the past week, city hall has been broken into twice. Council members asked Clarkson to get estimates on adding steel bars to the windows and possibly the doors.
Several meetings are on tap for Tuesday in Forrest City.
The Forrest City Water Commission is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the water department. At 5 p.m., the St. Francis County Museum Board will meet at the museum.
The Forrest City City Council has a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at city hall. Council members will open bids for a new brush chipper, a leaf machine and for residential and commercial waste disposal. Council members will also hear second reading of an ordinance requiring uniformed emergency personnel to live within the city limits and second reading of an ordinance to prohibit the increase of fees for use of city facilities.
Also on Tuesday, the St. Francis County Quorum Court is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. at the courthouse.
A Wheatley woman died Friday from a Monday afternoon self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
Margaret Darby, 58, was found shot inside her home Monday after nearby witnesses told police they heard gunshots coming from the residence. She was taken by helicopter to the Med Center in Memphis where she remained in critical condition until her death early Friday morning.
Her husband, Jimmy L. Darby, 60, was pronounced dead at the scene. Autopsy results show he was shot a total of five times, according to St. Francis County Sheriff's Department Chief Criminal Investigator Glenn Ramsey.
A Widener man was shot twice in the leg just after midnight Saturday while visiting his girlfriend in Madison.
The St. Francis County Sheriff's Department reported Hal Wafford, 54, was shot twice after being called outside the girlfriend's residence on Spring Creek Street.
Wafford was treated and released at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City.