The 23rd annual Arkansas Agriculture Exposition is set for Wednesday and Thursday at the Forrest City Civic Center, and the St. Francis County Cooperative Extension Service is looking to make the Ag Expo a success again this year.
This year's Expo will feature educational sessions aimed at helping East Arkansas producers make a profit. University of Arkansas specialists, researchers and county agents will conduct the Expo. There will also be two former University of Arkansas and Tennessee specialists on the program.
Speakers will cover the latest technology on production, genetics, high yields with low cost, management and other topics, according to SFC Extension Service Staff Chairman Mitch Crow. In addition, close to 50 commercial and educational exhibits will display the latest technology in crop protection products, services, seed and fertilizer. Exhibits will be on the inside and outside of the civic center.
The Expo will open Wednesday morning with a session on marketing and economics from 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. The session will be moderated by Lazaro English with Gene Martin speaking on loan deficiency payment, and Dr. Tony Windham covering crop insurance. The feed grain session will follow from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. with Larry Stauber moderating and featuring Dr. William Johnson speaking on corn varieties and fertility. Jeremy Ross will discuss grain sorghum varieties and fertility. From 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Kevin Norton of the St. Francis County Office will moderate the session on soybeans.
The afternoon session will feature Dr. Nathan Slaton discussing fertility; Dr. Lanny Ashlock covering varieties and Dr. Jeremy Greene talking about insects. Wednesday's sessions will end with the wheat session from 3 p.m. to 3:50. The session will feature Dr. William Johnson and Dr. Rick Cartwright. Johnson will discuss wheat production, fertility and insects, and Cartwright will cover disease identification and control. Reggie Talley will moderate.
On Thursday, the cotton and rice sessions will highlight the morning with the cotton session opening at 8:45 a.m. and ending at 10 a.m. Dr. John Bradley will open the session discussing conservation tillage, and he will be followed by Dr. William Robertson, who will speak on varieties and foliar compounds. Glenn Studebaker will conclude the cotton session, moderated by Rick Wimberly, speaking on insects and highlighting plant and stink bugs.
The rice session from 10:30 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. will end the Expo, and St. Francis County Agent Justin Hensley will moderate the closing session. The rice session will feature Crow with a weed control update. Crow will be followed by Cliff Coker on disease control; Dr. Chuck Wilson on fertility; Dr. Karen Moldenhauer on new varieties; Dr. John Bernhardt on insects and Willard Ryland covering conservation programs.
For more information on the Expo, contact Crow at the St. Francis County Courthouse or call the Extension office at (870)261-1730.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The Colt City Council last night approved a proposal that will bring a new well to the city along with a permanent $3 rate increase to Colt Water Department customers.
According to a proposal submitted by city manager Bobby Clarkson, the city would receive a $5,000 grant from the East Arkansas Enterprise Community, a $50,000 loan from the Arkansas Soil and Water Department and a $95,000 loan from the USDA Rural Development division. Clarkson said water customers have already been paying the $3 for the new well fund, but an ordinance that is expected to be approved next month will make the payment permanent.
"We passed an ordinance adding the $3 a while back, and this will just make it permanent. We had told customers that the money was going towards the purchase of a new well and that it would be a temporary charge. We have close to $21,000 in our new well fund, and that's just from that additional $3. The way that this will work is that we will have to pay back the USDA loan over 20 years, and $1.75 of the $3 will make that payment. The other $1.25 will go to pay back Arkansas Soil and Water, which will be a 10-year loan. Once Soil and Water is paid, then the $1.25 would come to the city to be used for Water Department maintenance and upkeep," Clarkson said.
Clarkson also suggested to council members that they consider funding the reserve fund needed from the USDA loan with funds currently in the New Well Fund. According to the proposal, funding the reserve would cut the city's $666 monthly payment to $604 monthly.
Council members were also updated on attempts to hire a police officer to fill the spot vacated on Feb. 1. According to Colt Mayor Virgil Keeler, only one application had been received. Council members reviewed an application form given to them by Clarkson which will change the process used in the past to hire officers in Colt. Clarkson said the new application, which is similar to the Wynne Police Department application, will call for more details on the aspects of potential officers.
"We had been using a pretty simple application and asking for a resume on applicants. This new application will go more into their background with different types of searches. It asks for releases from past employers, family background details, a criminal background check and just as much information as you can get basically," Clarkson said.
In other business, council members adopted a pair of ordinances which amend the 2001 budgets for the city and for the water departments to reflect money that was actually spent.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A search for an armed robber resulted in the arrest of a man on drug charges Thursday night.
According to a Forrest City Police Department report, a robbery was reported at Pizza For Less at 1519 N. Washington.
Tim Reeves, owner of Pizza For Less, reported that a man armed with a sawed-off shotgun came into the store and demanded money. The man was described as a black man with a goatee. After leaving the store with about $400 from the cash register, the suspect allegedly got into a white Pontiac and left traveling south on Division Street.
Police stopped a vehicle matching the description at the intersection of Division and Davis. The driver, Theotis McKnight Jr., had a goatee. No weapon was found, but a search of McKnight turned up a small amount of marijuana and three bags of crack cocaine.
McKnight, 23, of 304 E. South Street, Forrest City, was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver near certain facilities (the arrest was made within 1,000 feet of the First Baptist Church at 206 E. Cross).
The robbery is still being investigated.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A Forrest City woman was killed in an accident this morning after dropping a child off at a day care.
Arkansas State Police Trooper Mike Kennedy with ASP Troop D in Forrest City said dense fog this morning is being blamed for the two-vehicle accident that occurred at the intersection of Arkansas Highway 50 and U.S. Highway 70 near Madison this morning.
According to Kennedy, Michelle Swanigan, 31, of Forrest City, was killed when the 1986 Jeep Cherokee she was driving pulled into the path of a 1988 International tractor trailer truck being driven by Holbrook Mitchell, 24, of Hickory Ridge. The truck was loaded with rice.
Kennedy said Mitchell was traveling east on Hwy. 70 when Swanigan pulled in front of the truck. He said this morning's fog was the primary factor in the accident.
"We're listing the fog as the contributing factor to the accident. She was leaving, pulling away from the stop sign, and she just couldn't see him," said Kennedy.
The Swanigan vehicle was pushed approximately 215 feet before both vehicles came to a stop in a field just off Hwy. 70.
Witnesses at the scene said Swanigan was leaving the Madison Head Start after dropping off a child.
Two men wearing coveralls and wool ski masks robbed the Union Planters Bank in Earle Thursday, authorities said.
The bank was robbed about 11:45 a.m. One of the men brandished a silver revolver and forced customers and bank employees into a side room while the other man stole money from the teller drawers, according to a statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The men fled in a 1980-1982 gray Cadillac Seville with a third man driving, the FBI said.
St. Francis County Sheriff's Deputies assisted in the search for the getaway car.
"What we did is what we always do," said Glenn Ramsey, chief investigator for the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department. "When the call came out we were notified, and we had several cars set up at different locations, attempting to locate the car that was used in the robbery."
Ramsey said it was unknown if the car had even come this way, or if it had gone east toward Memphis. "But in a case like this, all agencies respond and try to locate the car."
The Madison City Council will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, prior to the regular council meeting at 7 p.m.
The hearing is to discuss a possible community center for the city.