By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The St. Francis County Election Commission listened to several complaints about alleged irregularities at the polls during Tuesday's general election, and the message to all was the same -- their complaints, in all likelihood, can only be solved through the courts.
The complaints came from Widener, Madison, Palestine and Hughes residents.
In Widener, mayoral candidate Larry White has claimed that people who live outside the city limits were allowed to vote. He narrowly lost the election. He was asking for the right to challenge early voting ballots.
Commission Chairman Joe Young told White's representative that early voting ballots can only be challenged as they are given out, just as ballots are challenged at the polling places. He also said that as long as a voter is still listed in the book, the commission is powerless.
"I can't say to someone, 'You can't vote because you live outside town,'" said Young. "I can say, 'You can't vote because you're not in the book."
In Madison, voting had always been at-large until the Tuesday election. Tuesday marked the first time the town voted by ward, and there were complaints that some people were given the wrong ballots. Because two of the city council races were decided by single digits, there were concerns that the mistakes might have affected the outcome of the races.
On the one hand, Young said people should know what ward they are supposed to vote in. On the other hand, he admitted that voting by ward for the first time could have caused some confusion.
"We have got to have more poll worker training," said Young. "We did not do it this time, and I apologize."
In Palestine, Ricky Plunkett lost a city council race by three votes. He claimed that several people from his ward were given ballots in the wrong ward, and said he believed it was enough to have changed the election's outcome.
Also, Edward Watt, losing candidate for mayor of Hughes, claimed that people in Hughes were not allowed to vote because they could not produce an I.D. He lost by a wide margin, but still claimed he might have won.
Young said the commission would seek guidance from the State Election Commission, but he said he was fairly sure that the courts would be the only place to resolve the complaints.
People have 20 days following the certification of the election in which to take action.
The election was not certified during Thursday's meeting. Young said there were still some figures the commission did not have. He said he was sure the commission could get an extension on the deadline to certify the election.
Young said the voting locations for the Nov. 26 runoffs will be the same as for the general election. There will be three runoff races. In Forrest City, Mayor Larry Bryant and challenger Bill Baxter are in a runoff for mayor.
In Hughes, two alderman races will have runoffs. Gary Barkley and Irene Combs will face off for Ward 3, Position 1. In Ward 3, Position 2, at-large, Ray Charles Robinson will face Jon E. Tate (The vote in this ward was reported incorrectly Wednesday. The unofficial results were 341 for Robinson, 247 for Tate and 102 for Edward Gardner).
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City City Council on Tuesday voted to leave the city millage rates unchanged for 2003.
Mayor Larry Bryant said that with the failure of Amendment 3, which would have removed the sales tax from groceries and over the county medicine, he felt that the council did not need to raise the rates.
The mayor and council had been concerned that if the amendment passed, it would cause a big cut in city revenue, which would have mean either increases in other taxes, cuts in services or a combination of the two.
On another matter, the council gave preliminary plat approval for a vacant lot on Lindauer, which is being divided into three lots, with individual driveways for each house, connected by one private drive.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
St. Francis County Quorum Court members on Thursday approved a preliminary balanced budget for 2003 which projects over $390,000 in surplus for the coming year.
Justices approved the budget, which appropriates $7,530,306.58 for 2003, by a unanimous vote after an additional $9,000 was placed into the budget for two St. Francis County charities. The budget submitted to justices last night was based on the actual amounts spent by county agencies in 2002.
In 2002, the county is on pace to pay a total of $9,000 to the St. Francis County CARE Center and the St. Francis County Food Pantry. Justice Jack Crumbly argued that those figures were incorrect in the proposed budget for 2003 and that the county was not in compliance with an agreement made during budget talks last year.
"It was my understanding that we were to withhold payment to the Food Pantry and the CARE Center until July of 2002, then we were to pay them in full, what we'd normally pay which was $9,000 each. The figure here is going to cut their funding in half, and I can't agree to that," Crumbly said.
Justice Evan Seawood also spoke against passing the budget
without increasing the funding.
"I came here prepared to vote to pass this budget, but if
we're cutting charity then I won't have any part of it. I need
to know what we're going to do about this and I need to know tonight,
because I will be getting telephone calls tonight, and I need
to have the answers to those questions," Seawood said.
Justices agreed to increase the funding to both entities to $9,000 for 2003, but did not offer any guarantees for the funding any increased funding for the remainder of 2002.
Prior to voting, justices were also petitioned by St. Francis County Museum Director Laura Mazzanti, who was requesting an additional $12,000 in funding for the museum. Budget figures provided to justices would appropriate $39,785.23 to the museum. According to Mazzanti, the proposed budget for 2003, would force the museum to take a staff cut and might put the county at risk of losing the museum.
"With the funding that we're proposed, we just couldn't stand it. We worked with the county last year during the budget crunch and used a grant to pay our lease, which was the county's responsibility. There are only two employees at the museum, myself and a part-time worker, and with the funding proposed, we wouldn't be able to afford salaries and benefits for both. We are the one shining star for St. Francis County that gets nothing but positive publicity," Mazzanti said.
"With these cuts, we couldn't even pay the lease on the building which has to be paid. We've sought funding from other sources and that helped us through this year, but the grant that we used to pay our lease last year was a one-time grant and we won't have that funding next year," she said.
Mazzanti told justices that the museum was also seeking $12,000 in funding from the city of Forrest City, but was unsure if or when that funding would be approved. Justice Regan Hill told Mazzanti and his fellow justices, that any plans for 2003 were still only plans because justices would have to adjust the appropriations as funding was received.
"We all need to remember that this budget is simply that, a balanced budget. In December, we'll be back in here working on a budget that deals with the money that we've actually got and not on projected revenue. Right now, we can't say whether we can give any additional funds to the museum, but we also can't rule out giving them the additional funding. There will be several changes to the budget during the year and this is something that we can tackle at a latter date," Hill said.
In other business, by a 10-1 vote, justices approved an incentive payment to be issued to county employees and elected officials in December. With Author Witherspoon serving as the lone dissenting vote, justices approved the plan which will pay full-time employees $500 next month and $250 to part-time employees and elected officials. Witherspoon argued that a plan which paid $750 to full-time employees should have been considered more.
About 30 World War II veterans will receive Forrest City High School diplomas Monday Nov. 11, during the annual Veterans Day celebration.
Henry Haven of the St. Francis County Office of Veterans Affairs, reported the number this morning.
The veterans will be honored as part of a program called "Operation Recognition," designed for recognizing people, including veterans, for service to the state. It is suported by theArkansas department of Education and theArkansas Department of Veterans Affairs. The event will take place at Mustang Arena, beginning at 10 a.m.
The guest speaker will be Col. Ed Rolle, director of the Arkansas Employment Security Department.
Several rocks of crack cocaine were found during a traffic stop in Forrest City Thursday night.
An Arkansas State Police Trooper reported he was behind a 1995 GMC pickup at the Buford and Division streets intersection just after 6 p.m. when the driver paused and continued through the red light. The trooper said he pulled the car over at a nearby building and found the two occupants had been drinking.
During a search of the vehicle, the trooper found 14 rocks of crack cocaine inside a prescription bottle for Viagra.
The driver, Clyde Hamilton, 46, of Colt, was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving on a suspended driver's license, running a red light, no proof of insurance and drinking on the highway.
The passenger, Rocco Winfrey, 41, West Memphis, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, drinking on the highway and obstructing government operations. He was also wanted for warrants by the Forrest City Police Department.
After the subjects were transported to ASP Troop D headquarters in Forrest City, troopers found Winfrey in possession of a crack pipe and he also had a crack rock under his tongue.
The two men are scheduled to be arraigned in St. Francis County District Court on Wednesday.