By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Forrest City has applied for a grant to completely remodel the swimming pool at South Side Park.
The $627,162 grant, if received, would also be used to make the park handicapped-accessible.
"Basically, what we're going to do is to make the park handicapped-accessible and the pool handicapped-accessible," said Mayor Larry Bryant. "We'll re-work the whole infrastructure, including revamping the bath house and putting in a spray system."
Bryant said the city wants to make the park and pool more community oriented, attracting more children and adults.
"The pool hasn't had any major renovations to it in many years," said Bryant, who added that for practical purposes, the project would change the pool completely.
"It's going to gut the whole thing," he said. "The whole pool will be changed."
The city applied for a similar grant before, and just missed it, according to Bryant.
"We applied for it last year, and came up just short in the grant process," he said. "We've found a way to gain a couple of points, and we're going to be prayerful that we will receive it this year."
The grant, if received, is from the Department of the Interior's National Park Service. The application is being reviewed by the East Arkansas Planning and Development District in Jonesboro.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
In a short meeting Monday, members of the Palestine Wheatley School Board hired five new staff members and accepted the resignations of two employees.
Members of the board accepted the resignations of Bobbi Hobson, a Palestine-Wheatley Junior High School teacher, and Danny Miller, who served as a custodian and bus driver in the school district.
According to PWSD Superintendent Jimmy Allen, Hobson left the district after her husband took a job out of state.
Of the five individuals hired last night, three are teachers. The board agreed to the hiring of Susan Morgan, who will serve as a kindergarten teacher; Emily McNair, a high school Spanish instructor and Jessica Hatcher for the alternative school. Board members also agreed to adding Arada Lee as a cook at Palestine-Wheatley Elementary School and Rhonda Turner as a pre-kindergarten aide.
The Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce will host a candidate forum on Thursday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. at the Forrest City Civic Center.
The forum will allow community members the opportunity to find out where the four candidates for mayor stand on economic development issues for the city.
The mayoral candidates are incumbent Mayor Larry Bryant, Bill Baxter, Frederick Freeman and Chris Oswalt.
Each candidate will be asked a series of three questions and allowed two minutes for responses on each question as well as two minutes for opening and closing remarks.
The forum is free of charge.
A 17-year-old Forrest City man has been charged with four counts of breaking or entering a vehicle and three counts of theft of property under $500 in connection with a group of automobile break-ins at Forrest City High School.
According to a report from the Forrest City Police Department, Sylester Moore, 617 N. Rosser St., was arrested Friday on the felony warrants in connection with the thefts which took place on Friday, Sept. 6, at FCHS. He is being charged as an adult in the cases.
According to Criminal Investigation Division Det. John Riggins of the Forrest City Police Department, Moore is one of several suspects being sought in the case.
"We picked up Moore last week, and we've got warrants out on another person that is allegedly involved in this. Once we pick him up, we think there may be as many as four others that we can tie to the cases," Riggins said.
Riggins also said that the department is still investigating to determine if the robberies at the high school are also connected to the recent rash of auto burglaries.
Moore was bound over to Circuit Court, Monday, on a $5,000 bond.
Anyone with information on the thefts may contact Forrest City Crimestoppers at 870-261-1499.
It's only week two of the Professor Pigskin Football Contest, and the tie-breaker has had to be used to declare a clear winner.
Larry Gwyn and David Green, both of Forrest City, ended in a tie when each missed just four of the contest's games.
But Gwyn's guess at the final score of the Arkansas-South Florida game -- this week's tie-breaker -- was closer than Green's guess.
That gives Gwyn the $50 cash prize.
But don't worry, there's still plenty of money to be given away. This week's Pigskin list of games can be found inside today's Times-Herald.
The Village Creek State Park will host a Horse Camp on Friday, Sept. 20, through Sunday, Sept. 22.
Participants should bring their own horses, and will be treated to two nights of camping, three days of riding on the park's new proposed trails, a round pen training demonstration and live entertainment on Saturday night.
Space is limited. To register, or for more information, call Village Creek State Park at (870) 238-9406. The park is located about 15 miles north of Forrest City.