By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City City Council on Tuesday agreed to pay $132,500 for 26.5 acres adjacent to the Municipal Sports Complex.
There was some discussion before the council voted. Alderman Cecil Twillie said he would like to see some definite plans for use of the land before the city bought it.
Alderman A.L. Harris, who served on a committee to negotiate the purchase, said he didn't think it was in the scope of the committee's job to decide what to do with the land. He said the land was being purchased for the future.
"I didn't think that there was supposed to be a three-year plan or a five-year plan," said Harris.
Twillie said there were acres of city-owned land at the complex which were still not being used. He said he wasn't necessarily against purchasing the land, but said the city needed to have an idea of its use.
Alderman Richard Benson spoke in support of the purchase.
"I don't have to know exactly what we're going to do, (in order to buy the land)," he said. "Down the road, in 20 years or so, we're going to need that land."
After the discussion, Twillie abstained on the vote, and the rest of the council members voted to purchase the land. The price comes to $5,000 an acre.
In other action, the council opened bids on a thermal imaging camera for the Forrest City Fire Department. Three bids were received. Casco Industries of North Little Rock bid $14,800. Philip Posey of Olive Branch, Miss. bid $17,600. Leeco, a company in Damascus bid $17,990. All three companies were also invited to offer prices on two new cameras, a demonstrator model, and a demonstrator and new camera.
Mayor Larry Bryant said the bids will be studied by Fire Chief Dan Curtner, to see if the low bid meets specifications.
On another matter, the council passed a resolution accepting the 2002 funds of $44,868 in a Law Enforcement Block Grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Bryant also announced that there was going to be an increase in traffic enforcement in Forrest City.
"We're going to begin a special effort to stop speeding and running stop signs," said Bryant. He said he has received several complaints, and mentioned one in particular.
"It came to my attention that someone was coming down Cross Street and hit a dog, and kept going," said Bryant. "It could have been a child, who was only about five feet away from the dog when it was hit."
On a final matter, the police committee reported that it had met and made no decision on disciplining an officer. The committee referred the question to the full council, and Bryant said the matter would be taken up at the next meeting.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco is one of a growing number of Arkansas County Judges who, although appreciative of the state's recent efforts at aiding counties with mosquito control, see the move as too little, too late.
Last week it was announced that St. Francis County would receive $12,881 from the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management's $1 million fund to help prevent the spread of the West Nile virus. According to Cisco, the move was little more than a press relations move to show that the state was attempting to fight the problem.
"This more or less was a PR move by the state, and it really won't help much at all this year. There are several rules and regulations that have to be met in order to do this, and all we're allowed to use the funding for is insecticide. I don't know what we can accomplish right now other than to waste the money," Cisco said.
Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton joined in Cisco's disgruntlement with a letter to the county judges and the Arkansas Association of Counties. In the letter, Hunton voices his displeasure with a number of issues surrounding the funding, including the amount of time given to use the funding and the licensing requirements and restraints.
"My question is, why couldn't the state have alleviated the burden of permitting and licensing which would have allowed us the maximum amount of time for distribution of the product to our citizens? The way this mess has been laid out, the state seems to have fulfilled their obligation by simply sending the counties a small and insufficient amount of money and declaring that they are on top of the problem," Hunton said in his letter.
Cisco echoed Hunton's sentiments. "The money is basically $1,500 per city in St. Francis County, and we have roughly four weeks before the first frost and the end of mosquito season. With as much as we're going to accomplish, we might as well have gone out and bought $12,000 in Off® and handed it out to the citizens of St. Francis County."
Earlier this month, Governor Mike Huckabee authorized the release of funding for the emergency control of mosquitoes. According to an official with ADEM, the funding was allocated based on the population and the square miles in each of Arkansas' 75 counties.
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
Forrest City police are trying to determine today if a shooting last night on Midway Street was accidental or deliberate.
Daniel Swopes, 45, 129 E. Midway, told police he was backing out of his driveway when Curtis Cochran, 50, 121 E. Midway, appeared in front of his vehicle with a shotgun. Swopes told police Cochran aimed the shotgun at him and fired it through the driver's side window of his car, striking Swopes in his left arm. Police reported a portion of Swopes' upper arm was blown off by the shotgun blast.
According to the report, police were notified about 8:14 p.m. that shots were being fired in the area of Southside Park. A short time later, emergency room officials at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City notified police they were treating a gunshot victim.
Swopes was later transferred by helicopter to the Med Center for further treatment. He is listed in satisfactory condition today at the Memphis hospital.
A family member took Cochran to the police department where he was charged with first-degree battery. He is being held in the St. Francis County Jail, and was scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in St. Francis County District Court.
FCPD Criminal Investigation Division Lt. Dwight Duch said both men had been drinking prior to the shooting.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Over a year from the original bidding date, two state departments have agreed to give a local businessman a six-week extension for completing a regional child support office located on Highway 1 South of Forrest City.
Anne Laidlaw, with the State of Arkansas Building Services Division, said after a meeting Tuesday with Forrest City businessman Scott Carroll and his architect, that state officials with both SBS and the State Child Support Division agreed to allow Carroll an additional six weeks to complete the project which began late last year.
"We met with Mr. Carroll and his architect, and they have told us that they can complete this project within the next six weeks, and we're willing to give them the extension," said Laidlaw.
According to the terms of the lease, officials with SBS and the Herman Young Estate agreed to a 10-year lease which began Oct. 1, 2001, and ends, Sept. 30, 2011. According to Laidlaw, state bids are worked on the understanding that the lease will give the contractor time for construction and no payments will be made for the building until the state accepts all terms, including inspection of the building as well as a variety of paperwork.
In July, Carroll stated that the building would be complete within 60 days. That deadline passed earlier this week, and on Tuesday, Carroll said that the new extension should give his contractors ample opportunity to finish the building.
"We'll know on the 10th of this month really where everything stands, and we should be prepared to make an announcement on the 11th. We should be able to finish this whole thing within the time frame that they're giving us now," Carroll said.
Carroll said that the biggest obstacle in completing the building was trying to find local contractors who were certified to handle state building contracts.
"When you're working with the state there are a number of rules, regulations and specifications that have to be met, and it was difficult to find an area contractor that met those. I have tried to use only local contractors to do this job to keep everything in the area," Carroll said.
As of 9:30 this morning, 23 people had early voted at the St. Francis County Clerk's office in the school elections.
Early voting will continue through Sept. 16, the day before the election.
Also, County Clerk Elizabeth Smith said that the office mailed out 210 absentee ballots on Tuesday. She said people can ask to have absentee ballots mailed to them automatically for all the elections in a calendar year.