By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The State Legislature managed to find money to fill in a $56 million shortfall in state funds during its special session last week. That was one bill.
However, the second bill, one which state Rep. Danny Ferguson called "a little more interesting," was for the so-called rainy-day fund. In this bill, the governor got what he wanted -- sort of -- but not the way he wanted it.
"The governor had wanted just a general 'rainy day' fund, and he wanted to take it out of the balances of the fund that was created by the half cent sales tax, that was voted in by the people in exchange for the $300 property tax credit," said Ferguson.
He said that in addition to that, the legislature had passed a further requirement that any excess funds that might accumulate in that account would be held for future tax abatement.
"The governor wanted to take the money out of the balance of that fund and move it into general revenue, to be used at his discretion for the fiscal year that begins July 1," said Ferguson. "I think the vast majority of the legislature had two issues with that."
The first issue, according to Ferguson, was that legislators were uncomfortable about touching a fund which was meant to be used for tax abatement.
"The second issue was the rainy day fund being used for general expenditures at the governor's discretion," said Ferguson.
From that came Senate Bill 2, which passed and does create a rainy day fund. However, the source of the money is different and the way it can be used is limited.
"The source of the rainy day fund can be a loan or transfer from the moneys of the tobacco settlement," said Ferguson. "Secondly, its use would be restricted to only Medicaid match dollars that may be reduced in the upcoming fiscal year due to cutbacks in the budget.
"In other words," he continued, "The governor has a revenue forecast that, to many of us in the legislature, is too rosy. In fact, the legislature actually passed a resolution asking the governor to reduce his 4.8 percent forecast to 2.8 percent."
He said the rainy day fund would insure that Medicaid dollars, which are matched 3-to-1 by the federal government, would be replaced if the state has another revenue shortfall."
If there are many more shortfalls, Ferguson predicted a "rumble."
"We just got through cutting $227 million (in three separate cuts)," he said. "We've cut state funding to libraries, cut scholarships, cut back on children's clinics -- it's just cut after cut.
We can't pay county jails for holding state prisoners."
And sitting out on the horizon is the so-called Lake View case, which may cause the state's public schools to be ruled unconstitutional and which may cost many hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Lake View hanging out there, with the economy of two years ago, was a nightmare," he said. "With the current economy, it's a double nightmare."
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The designation of the Arkansas section of the Great River Road as a National Scenic Byway is good news for St. Francis County, according to officials contacted this morning.
Laura Mazzanti, director of the St. Francis County Museum, said there are now two National Scenic Byways coming through St. Francis County.
"This will give us two National Scenic Byways in our 15-County Delta region, which is of key importance in bringing in much needed tourism dollars to east Arkansas." Mazzanti said.
The Crowley's Ridge Scenic Parkway is the other byway with national designation in this area. Both come through St. Francis County. Mazzanti said that both come through in different places.
That can be confusing at times -- getting the Great River Road and the Crowley's Ridge Parkway confused. However, they are different.
The Crowley's Ridge Scenic Parkway comes through Forrest City from Wynne, on its way to Marianna and Helena, mostly on Arkansas Highway 284 through this area.
The Great River Road follows the Mississippi River more closely. From the north, it goes through West Memphis in Crittenden County and then goes west through Hughes in St. Francis County. It then takes U.S. Highway 79 south to Marianna.
Madison and Forrest City, while not on the Great River Road, are listed as side trips from Hughes.
"This is a big deal," said Mazzanti.
St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco agreed, although he said it would take a while to develop the area more fully for tourism.
"I'm glad of the designation," said Cisco. "It may get us a few more people traveling through, and we hope maybe they'll spend a little money when they come through.
"It's going to take some time to really develop it," he continued, "to really get things up to where they're really a tourist attraction. We need things that will pull them off the road, whether it be fishing, sports or certain historical things. And there's our museum and our parks."
Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant commented that even if the Great River Road doesn't come directly through Forrest City, the entire area can benefit.
"Tourism is one of the ways we can have more resources, and anything that is positive in the tourism industry is positive for Forrest City," said Bryant. "Forrest City is the largest city in this area, and people will stop here to purchase goods and spend the night. Any time we can have more peopole traveling through the area as a whole -- anywhere near Forrest City, it's good for Forrest City."
The Scenic Byway designation is given by the Department of transportation, based on the archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and scenic qualities of a road or route.
A man was arrested on drug and disorderly conduct charges Friday after police officers responded to a call about a fight.
According to the police report, a call was received from Handy Foods No. 1 at 1236 S. Washington that there was a man with a gun. No one was found at Handy Foods, but the officers received a report of a fight between two men at Leake's Quick Stop.
The fight was broken up by police, and one of the men matched the description of the man who had been reported with a gun. The man's car was searched, revealing 26 grams of marijuana and 11.9 grams of crack cocaine. The report did not mention whether a gun was found.
Jerome Anthony Eppes, 27, of 542 Gore Street in Forrest City, was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance near certain facilities, disorderly conduct, refusal to submit to arrest and parole violation.
A Forrest City woman accidentally shot herself while cleaning a weapon Sunday morning.
According to the police report, Lela Jenkins, 33, of 812 N. Rosser, reported she was attempting to clean a gun when it accidentally discharged, shooting her in the left hand.
Jenkins was treated and released at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City.
Two school boards are scheduled to meet this evening in St. Francis County.
The Forrest City School Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the administration building.
The Palestine-Wheatley School Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the cafetorium at the high school campus in Palestine.
On Tuesday, the St. Francis County Quorum Court will meet at 6 p.m. at the courthouse, and the Forrest City City Council will meet at 7 p.m. at city hall.