By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Several county employees did not report for work this morning after learning last week they were being laid off for an indefinite period of time.
Three road department employees have been laid off, and two members of the St. Francis County Judge's staff have been transferred into two of those offices to fill clerical positions. Clydie Garmon has been moved to the clerical position at the road department to replace Haley Mathis. Tracy McCain has been transferred to the clerical post at the Northeast Arkansas Recycling Company in Madison to replace Linda Gasaway. The third person laid off is Calvin Norment, a custodian in the general services department at the courthouse. He has not been replaced.
As for the vacancies in the judge's office, Annie Washington, the county's fine collector, will be moving her services into the judge's office as will the county's 911 coordinator Linda Thweat. Their current duties will be combined with those required by Judge Carl Cisco.
Cisco said the changes are being made in an effort to cut expenses and also make operations in his office more efficient.
"We were looking for ways to consolidate jobs, make things more efficient and use less labor. We know that there are going to be budget cuts, and we're just trying to make the operation of NEARCO, the road department and the judge's office more efficient. It's never easy to lay people off, but with county finances as they are, we all have to look at ways to streamline our budgets. But, we have to figure out ways to make things more efficient," said Cisco.
The positions filled at NEARCO and the road department were positions that, according to Cisco, had been double worked by two staff members when only one was needed to fill the position. Both positions involved clerical duties, and Cisco said that he feels consolidation of the job duties is the best thing to do.
"In moving staff, we hope that we'll be able to eliminate some duplication of work. The work that was being done out there (NEARCO and the road department) could be done by one person, but we had two people doing it. This will give us one person keeping all of the records in one place instead of having part of it in my office and part of it at the other offices. This may be a little more work for the people being transferred, but it's nothing they can't handle," said Cisco.
When asked how long the layoff period for the three employees would last, Cisco was unsure. "We haven't established a timeline for the layoffs yet, but it really depends on the budget cuts and how they affect us. This move was simply made to make our jobs in the judge's office more efficient."
The recent layoffs are the second in the judges office this year, and there have also been layoffs in the County Assessor's Office, the County Clerk's Office and the County Sheriff's Department.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Officers in Arkansas State Police Troop D were kept busy with 21 accidents over the Labor Day weekend. One involved a fatality.
According to Lt. Tommy Wicker, Latonya Watson, 27, of Cleveland, Miss., died in an accident Friday. She was driving westbound on Interstate 40, when the driver of an eastbound tractor-trailer lost control of the truck. The truck jackknifed, crossed the median and struck the pickup, killing Watson.
Wicker said the troop also made 172 speeding arrests, 23 DWI arrests, 39 seat belt arrests and 12 child restraint arrests.
There were 43 other hazardous arrests, which could mean improper passing, reckless driving, etc. There were also 101 non-hazardous arrests, which could mean vehicle license and driver's license -- violations not considered hazardous.
There were 58 criminal arrests (drugs, possession, etc.). There were also 42 motorist assists. In all there were 902 contacts.
Troop D includes the counties of Crittenden, Phillips, Lee, St. Francis, Cross, Woodruff, Monroe and Prairie.
After making some slight alterations to the 24 listed games in the first Professor Pigskin contest for 2001, Larry Taylor of Forrest City became this season's first winner.
The alterations, which did not affect the outcome of the contest, included throwing out three games: the Wynne-Shiloh Christian high school game played Saturday which ended in a 47-47 tie; the Ohio-North Carolina State college football game, after the results could not be obtained in time for the judging process and the Memphis-Mississippi State football game, originally shown on the schedules as a Saturday game and later moved to last night, too late to be included in the final judging process.
So each ballot was based on just 21 games this week rather than the 24 listed.
Taylor missed two high school contests and one college game and for that effort pockets the first $50 prize of the season.
Several Times-Herald readers just missed the cut, finishing with four misses.
The new list of games can be found on Page 7 of today's edition.
The St. Francis County Food Pantry is in need of donations of all kinds. According to Catherine Freeman, many people have lost their jobs recently. Donations may be sent to the St. Francis County Food Pantry, 122 S. Water Street in Forrest City.