By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City City Council on Tuesday gave Mayor Larry Bryant permission to purchase a new sprayer for the mosquito control program.
One of the city's two spraying machines is broken and is being repaired, but Bryant said it wasn't known how long it would take.
The price of a new sprayer is estimated to be between $4,000 and $6,000. The mayor has the authority to buy things up to $5,000. He asked for permission to purchase the sprayer if it went over $5,000.
Alderman Cecil Twillie asked what would happen if the broken sprayer could be fixed.
"My plan is that we would have a third sprayer to run if necessary," said Bryant. "We won't get caught short. We'll use one of the older ones as a spare."
At times, he said, the city might be running three trucks at once.
Bryant also said that in addition to spraying and using pellets, the city is hiring two men to spray ditches.
In other business, Bryant told councilmen that he had attended a Municipal League Executive Board retreat, and one of the major topics was an attempt to remove the sales tax from groceries.
"We're going to have to cross our fingers and hope for the best," he said in opposition to the removal of the tax. "It sounds good, it sounds very enticing to the general public. If it comes off food, in the city of Forrest City, we can look at about a 30 percent decrease in our funds. This means we will have to start looking at laying off firemen, policemen, street workers, a whole gamut of things."
He said it would amount to a $1 million to $1.3 million loss for the city.
"That's out of our budget, which we will have to come up with some other ways," said Bryant, which means that the refrigerators, the beds, the leaves and all those things we pick up extra out on the curbside, we'll have to start charging for. And it will probably be more than the people realize when they pay the sales tax on food."
It was reported Tuesday that the petition drive to put the measure on the ballot needed about 10,000 signatures. Bryant also said there was a chance it would be kept off the ballot on a technicality.
Bryant told the council, "I just thought I needed to bring that up, to let you know that in the near future we will have to face that."
He said that if the measure makes the budget, the council will have to decide "what to do, either in regards of promoting it, fighting against it or going along with it, and presenting a budget with a 30 percent cut in services."
Bryant said, "It (sales tax) is regressive in a manner, but you don't really miss it. But if you start having to pay for services that you're not accustomed to paying for, then it can hit you a lot harder. We might start charging $8 or $10 or $12 a year to pick up trash."
In other business the council decided to continue negotiating for 26 1/2 acres of land adjacent to the Municipal Sports Complex.
The council also went into executive session. When the council reconvened, it voted unanimously to give an employee a full 5 percent raise retroactive to Jan. 1. The employee had only gotten a 3 percent raise.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
St. Francis County Quorum Court members learned Tuesday that a September change in garbage collection for the county was off, for the time being, after an agreement was reached between the county and officials with B&B Disposal.
St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco, attorneys with B&B and County Attorney Fletcher Long have agreed to allow B&B to continue with its contractual obligations if they could fix the problems that forced the county to consider ending its working arrangement with B&B.
During a meeting of the county's budget committee last week, justices asked if B&B could be given more time to alleviate any problems with the county.
"We sat down with their attorneys, and we were able to hammer out an agreement that we could all live with, and they agreed to fix the problems that we were having with them," Cisco said.
In other business, St. Francis County Treasurer Ann Harbin said the county general account appears to be holding its own. Harbin told justices last night that despite the general account being down over $10,000 compared to the beginning of August 2001, the county is financially in good shape.
"The general account was in good shape at the end of July, and we're still in good shape," Harbin told justices.
Figures presented by Harbin showed the general account balance of $103,570.19 as of Aug. 1. Figures for last year were in the neighborhood of $115,000 for Aug. 1, of last year according to Harbin. As of yesterday, the county general account stood at $130,000.
Justices also approved a four-month budget plan which will appropriate funds for the county for the remainder of the year. In a move which stepped outside of the two-month budget process which has been used all year, justices voted unanimously to appropriate $1,619,112.98 to the county. In other financial news, justices also voted unanimously to another change in the one percent sales tax formula.
Earlier this year, justices removed the allocation of $10,000 which had been going into the Trust Fund account to help shore up the county's general account. Tuesday's amendment will once again deposit the first $10,000 of the one percent sales tax into the trust fund, the next $3,000 will be allocated to the building and maintenance account, and the balance will be split 60 percent to the county road department and 40 percent to the county general account.
Justices also voted to table an issue regarding travel pay for the court coordinator for Circuit Court Judge Baird Kinney. Justices want Kinney to address the quorum court to explain the need for additional travel pay for the employee.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The first couple of school days have gone generally well, according to Superintendent Lee Vent.
"We've had a really good first two days of school," Vent said this morning. "I'm pleased with how things have progressed. We've had a couple of glitches, but they have been worked out."
Vent said there were some air conditioning problems at a couple of schools that are being taken care of. He also said there have been a couple of transportation problems.
"We have those worked out, and everything seems to be going well."
Vent said he hasn't gotten full figures on enrollment yet, but said he is cautiously hopeful.
"It appears, district wide, it may be up," he said. "We've gotten a lot of new kids coming in. We hope we will experience some increase, for the first time in a long while. We're keeping our fingers crossed at this point."
Junior high students are back where they were last year -- eighth graders in the old Stewart building and ninth graders in portable buildings at the high school.
"So far it's working well," said Vent. "I think, with the anticipation of being in the new junior high this time next year, we're going to be able to suffer through this year of being decentralized."
Meanwhile, students in the Forrest City School District are getting their meals at no cost, but only for the time being, if all students don't get signed up for the free meal program.
Evelyn Rayford-Brown, director of the district's Child Nutrition Program, said it is important to get the children signed up.
"All students are receiving their meals at no charge, and our participation is going up," Rayford-Brown said. "So we can see the benefit of it during the first three or four days. But if we don't get all the applications we can get off the program, if it seems that the community will not accept it."
Rayford-Brown said parents who have not filled out applications for their children need to come by the Child Nutrition Office at 836 N. Division.
"We need this done by Oct. 1," she said. " We'd really love to have everyone signed up by Sept. 15. That would give us time to get our work done."
According to Rayford-Brown, besides providing free meals, having everyone signed up will make the district eligible for more money in several areas, including technology and the title programs.
"Basically, it will increase the income for the Forrest City School District all across the board," she said.
A seventh suspect in the alleged rape of a 12-year-old Forrest City girl last week was arrested this morning.
According to the Forrest City Police Department, Alvin Hamberry, 23, of Forrest City was arrested today and charged with rape and violation of parole.
Two other suspects in the case were arrested on Tuesday. Benny Word, 24, and DeMario Roebuck, 15, both of Forrest City, are facing rape charges in connection with the incident. Word also faces a charge of parole violation. Roebuck is being charged as an adult in the case.
The three suspects join four others who have also been charged in the incident. Bishop Pruitt III, 26, Freddy Gray, 28, and Danyell Coulter and Jermeyers Morman, both 17, are all facing a variety of charges in connection with the alleged rape. Coulter and Morman are also being charged as adults.
The alleged incident was reported Aug. 13. by the mother of the girl who told police that the her daughter told her that several men came to her house knocked on the bedroom window. When the men got no response, they reportedly went to the front door of the house and knocked and the girl opened the door.
According to the FCPD press release, the seven suspects then allegedly had sex with the girl on a ditch bank before taking her to a residence on Poplar Street. It was reported earlier this week that the men took the girl to a vacant house and fondled her.
Several of the suspects were scheduled for arraignment this afternoon in Forrest City District Court.
A judge postponed a hearing Wednesday morning in a lawsuit that has prompted most of Lee County School District's 1,750 students to boycott classes since school opened Monday.
School was attended by 181 students Monday, 278 students on Tuesday and 342 students this morning.
Circuit Judge Bentley Story did not immediately set a date for the hearing.
A day earlier, the judge issued a temporary injunction that opened all Lee County School Board's seven seats for the Sept. 17 election.
The lawsuit claimed that all board positions should be up for re-election.