By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A $10 million lawsuit has been filed by a Madison woman who alleges that her unborn child died as the result of an accident which took place in September of 2000.
According to the complaint filed in St. Francis County Circuit Court, on Sept 16, 2000, Tiffany White was inside her trailer home at 119 Hadley in Madison. At about 1:30 p.m., it is alleged that a vehicle belonging to Cruising Classics ran a stop sign and struck another vehicle. The driver then allegedly lost control, and the vehicle struck the trailer where White was living.
The suit names the driver, Sherill Hall, and also Lonnie Miller, doing business as Cruising Classics.
The suit alleges that White received injuries and that her unborn child died as a result of the injuries. The suit accuses Hall of negligence by not keeping a proper lookout, driving too fast for conditions, failure to stop at a stop sign and creating a dangerous condition on the road way. There are also other accusations, including that Hall was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol and refused to submit to a breath alcohol test and a blood test.
The suit seeks compensatory damages of $3 million and punitive damages of $7 million.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Parents who are delinquent in their child support are being given a two-week amnesty period to make attempts to avoid arrest.
The amnesty period, which began Monday, is an attempt by the state Office of Child Support Enforcement to give non-custodial parents, who may fear arrest, a chance to make arrangements to get themselves back in good standing. According to CSE administrator Dan McDonald, the amnesty period may give the CSE an opportunity to reach a portion of their caseload that they otherwise wouldn't.
"What we're doing is trying to reach those non-custodial parents who are out there who have not done anything since their court order regarding child support payments. We're wanting to get those parents who currently fear being arrested an opportunity to come in and try to make arrangements to make amends on their cases," McDonald said.
According to McDonald, during the two-week period, any parent with an arrest warrant outstanding that comes in will have the warrant removed once efforts have been made to pay on their outstanding fees.
"We hope people will seize this opportunity to contact us and make arrangements for the sake of their children. This will give evaders a chance to come forward without fear of arrest and get some money going to the families that are in need out there," McDonald said.
Those parents who do not take advantage of the two-week amnesty period could find themselves spotlighted in the CSE's new Top 10 Most Wanted Child Support Evaders.
"The Top 10 will be for our most egregious offenders and it will include wanted posters that show individual's names and pictures and will published statewide. We would really like to get as many of these people in during our amnesty period but if they don't take advantage of this then we're going back to business as usual," said McDonald.
According to St. Francis County Circuit Clerk Bettye Green, the amnesty period may only affect those non-custodial parents who make payments through the CSE system.
"This amnesty period will only affect those parents that are paying through the CSE system. If a non-custodial parent is paying their child support through the court to the Clerk's office then it doesn't affect their warrant status," Green said.
Circuit Judge Baird Kinney and CSE attorney Steve Routon also echoed Green's sentiments.
An Indiana man was killed Wednesday in a crash on Interstate 40, in Crittenden County, Arkansas State Police said.
The accident occurred near the 272 mile marker.
Jerome Neufelder, 73, of St. Meinrad, Ind., died in the 2:30 p.m. crash.
According to the State Police report, the Neufelder vehicle was struck by a vehicle driven by Ann Kennedy, 67, of Clarksburg, W.V. Kennedy apparently lost control of her vehicle and crossed the median, where she struck the Neufelder vehicle.
The vehicle that hit Neufelder's also struck another vehicle that was stopped in the median, according to the crash report.
Kennedy was injured, as was a passenger in her car and two people outside the stopped vehicle, state police said.
A free magic show, with a message about drugs and violence worked in, will be presented Friday, July 26, at 7:30 p.m., at the Forrest City Civic Center.
The event is sponsored locally by the Forrest City Police Department.
Jim Princeton will be the magician. He has performed at theaters in Branson, Mo., and all over the country, according to a press release.
"This will be a show for the entire family," said Lt. Eddie Adamson of the FCPD.
The free event will be part of a year-long schedule of Drug Free/Violence Free programs being paid for through a grant from the Arkansas Department of Health.
For more information, contact Adamson at 633-3434.
Forrest City Police are investigating an incident in which a man was shot Wednesday night on Oakland Street.
According to the police report, Terrell Burks, 25, apparently got into a disagreement with another man at Grobmyer Circle. Later, the two met again at 815 Oakland. Burks told police he saw a gun in the man's hand and began running. Several shots were fired, police reported.
Burks was hit in the forearm. He was treated and released at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City.