By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The St. Francis County Election Commission has responded to allegations of voter irregularities in the May primary.
A complaint regarding the Widener mayor's race was filed in June with the State Election Commission by Arvin Billingsley, the losing candidate in the race for Widener mayor.
According to a letter faxed to the state commission, the names of several of the voters in question can be found in election books for the Widener City Precinct. Of the 21 voters in question, 10 of the voters, Francisco Romero, Ruthie Burgess, Marvin William Jr., Patricia Velma, Della Mae Allen, Mildred Taylor, John Henry Wilson, Lavenia Allen, George Danner and Sandra Harris were all listed as registered voters in precinct 10-1 in Widener.
Another four voters, Harvey E. Busby, Bryan Phillips, Edward Temmerson and Holly Sanders either had name changes or misspelling in their names. Bubsy was listed on the books as Edward H. Busby; Phillips was listed as Bryant Phillips and Jimmerson was listed as Edward Temmerson. Sanders was registered under the name of Holly Corrine Padilla.
In their response, the county commission also told the state that the ballot of Henry Pendelton was marked spoiled because Pendelton had not registered to vote in time for the primary election. According to the letter, Pendelton registered to vote on May 21, and should not have been allowed to vote. A second errant ballot was cast by Frank Butler, who according to the election commission response, is not registered to vote in St. Francis County.
The commission also acknowledged a poll worker error in the case of Mary J. Strong of Widener who apparently signed the election books twice. According to the commission response, problems with the books may have caused the error.
In a letter dated July 29, the state board of election commissioners requested that individual questionnaires on each elector in question be filled out and returned. According to Susie Stormes with the state commission in her letter, questions regarding the electors involved still remained unanswered.
"Although you addressed each elector individually, it is still unclear as to the status of these electors and the disposition of their votes. From conversations with Mrs. Bettye Proctor, I understand that the precinct voter registration lists from the year 2000 were used for early voting and differed from the lists used at the polling location on election day. There are also discrepancies between the precinct voter registration list used for early voting and the voter listing regarding voter registration status," Stormes wrote.
The state election commission is expected to meet on the matter of Billingsley's complaint on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Area Humane Society is offering free spaying and neutering to qualified dog owners, and members are looking for more takers.
A recent grant from the St. Francis County Community Foundation has given the Humane Society enough money for about 20 dogs to be spayed or neutered.
According to Jean Guarr, president of the Humane Society, there are guidelines for people who wish to take advantage of the free spaying and neutering.
"We're targeting good pet owners who live on fixed income," she said. "We're not interested in neutering or spaying a pet that someone's not going to be caring for, that's going to get run over or dumped. But we know there are a lot of people out there who love their pets, but just can't come up with the money to spare."
The dog has to be the pet of a St. Francis County resident. Proof of residence is required. Also required is proof of income.
"If they fit the poverty guidelines they would certainly be eligible for this," she said.
Guarr said there is a severe overpopulation problem among dogs, which can make life difficult for dogs and humans alike.
"At the shelter, a lot of the dogs we get are the result of somebody's pet delivering an unwanted litter," said Guarr. "We often have people who call us and say, 'I've tried and tried and tried, and still have three puppies left. I have to get rid of them.' Other people aren't even nice enough to call. One of us just goes out to the shelter and finds a box of puppies."
Spaying and neutering is the answer to the question of unwanted puppies, Guarr said.
"We think that if people could get into the habit of spaying an neutering their pets, it would reduce the overcrowding problem in the shelter," she said.
"Those of us in the Society love dogs. We don't want any dog to die. We don't want any dog to be unwanted. And we hope if we can curb the birth rate, we can accomplish that goal."
Guarr added that many people don't understand what spaying and neutering does, other than keeping animals from reproducing.
"People are misinformed about the effect of spaying and neutering," she said. "It does not make a dog fat or lazy. It actually keeps them frisky and puppy-like through their whole lives, and it does prevent several kinds of cancer."
In the meantime, there is still the overpopulation at the Shelter.
"Right now, as always, we have too many puppies. Anyone who is thinking of adopting a pet should think of us first. We have many adorable dogs."
The old con game known as pigeon drop reportedly reared its head again in Forrest City Wednesday, and police are warning people to beware.
This particular scheme appears to be targeting elderly black women, although anyone could be a target.
A woman who wished to remain anonymous reported that she was approached in a store's parking lot by a black woman who apparently had found some money. They were joined by another woman. The idea was to decide to split the money, but to get the victim to withdraw cash from her bank account.
The woman refused to cooperate, and the women left. "If you are approached in a parking lot, especially by a stranger, do not pay any attention to them," warned Sgt. John Riggins of the Forrest City Police Department. "Be courteous. But if they continue trying to contact you, go into the store and make contact with an employee and have them call the police."
Building permits were issued in July in Forrest City for projects totaling $271,467, according to the mayor's office.
The largest single project was $80,000 for a new office building at Calvary Christian School, located on Newcastle Road. Other commercial projects included a roof for Emmanuel Baptist located at 1453 Laughrun, for $12,000; a sign valued at $6,100 for Car-Mart; and $7,500 for remodel/decking at the St. Francis County Courthouse, located at 618 E. Cross.
Residential projects included four new buildings, two siding projects, one porch, three fences, three additions, one carport remodeling and one new house.
HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) -- Two environmental groups claim the Army Corps of Engineers did not put enough safeguards in place to protect the shoreline of Greers Ferry Lake from having too many private boat docks.
Richard Mays, who filed suit on behalf of Save Greers Ferry Lake Inc. and Arkansas Nature Alliance, said the court action seeks an order that the corps modify its latest plan, which was announced July 3.
The new plan allows rezoning of the shoreline of the lake in Cleburne and Van Buren counties for 55 new boat docks instead of the 93 docks proposed last November. But to prevent further lake development, the plan will allow no additional boat dock rezoning requests.
It also extends from 50 feet to 100 feet a planned vegetation buffer zone that will ring the lake's shoreline and maintain its natural state.
The groups sued in federal court in Batesville, filing July 15. Among the issues in the suit is a claim by the groups that the government would grant permits for docks to some landowners who may not qualify under the new plan's rules.
''The corps is trying to get these people off their back because I think they're afraid they're going to be sued for issuing permits when they shouldn't have -- but that's not our fault,'' Mays said.