By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Things are "looking really good" for a new golf course at Village Creek State Park, according to one of the lawmakers who has been involved in the process.
State Rep. Danny Ferguson, who attended a meeting with the Park Commission last week, said the project is moving forward.
"It's looking really good," Ferguson said. "The Parks Commission Thursday voted to select the firm that's made the proposal to do the project, and they voted to proceed with a feasibility study which should be finished by July 4."
He said that after the feasibility study, there will still be another vote to approve the actual construction of the project, "but it looks good. The commission was really upbeat."
He said Andy Dye, the man chosen for the job, is well known in the field of developing golf courses.
"He's done golf courses all over the world -- very high profile," he said. "And it's looking right now like a 27 hole course, with a lodge and sporting clays.
"Andy Dye was thrilled with the geology of Village Creek. He said he thought it could be made into one of the top public golf courses in the country."
None of the new activities will interfere with the rest of the park's existing activities, he said.
Ferguson said the state would be putting in around $3.5 million to $5 million, with the rest of the cost being born by private funds.
"It will be the first in the state like this," he said, referring to a privately run golf course on public land.
"I think it could be a tremendous economic and tourist boon for eastern Arkansas," he said.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The driver and two passengers in a pickup truck -- one of them a 5-year-old boy -- were killed Saturday night when the pickup collided with a tractor-trailer rig on Interstate 40 near the 262 mile marker in St. Francis County, state police said.
According to the state police report, a 2000 GMC pickup was being driven by Lon Busick, 39, of Stuttgart, westbound at about 9:20 p.m. For an unknown reason, the pickup crossed the median of I-40 into the eastbound lanes, in the northeastern corner of St. Francis County.
The pickup collided head-on with a 1998 Freightliner driven by Garry Nation, 44, of Little Rock, the report said. According to the state police report, both vehicles burst into flame upon impact.
Busick died along with two passengers -- Marc Redus, 40 who was ejected, and Isaac Redus, 5, both of the same address in Stuttgart.
Nation and a third passenger in the pickup, Aaron Redus, 6, of Stuttgart, were taken to a hospital at Memphis, the report said.
St. Francis County had an unemployment rate of 10.2 percent in February, the first time since last February that the county's unemployment was over 10 percent.
The February figures, provided by the Arkansas Employment Security Department, show that February's figures was up form 9.5 in January, and also slightly up from the 10.1 percent recorded in February of 2002.
According to the figures, during February, St. Francis County had a civilian labor force of 12,426, with 11, 175 working and 1,275 unemployed. St. Francis County tied with Ouachita County for the 10th highest unemployment in the state in February.
The state's highest unemployment was 13.3 percent, recorded in Mississippi County. Eleven counties had unemployment of 10 percent or higher. Thirty-one had rates of 7 percent or higher.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Plans to demolish portions of the Turner Circle Housing Project could advance with a bid opening scheduled for later this month, according to Forrest City Housing Authority Director Janet Duncan.
Duncan told members of the FCHA board recently that plans are progressing and that the bids will be opened on Tuesday, April 29. Duncan also told members that contractors will be allowed to bid on two separate phases of the construction process.
"We're going to open the bids on the 29th, and the bidding has been broken down into two different parts, the demolition and the remodeling. Contractors will be allowed to bid on demolition only if they choose or remodeling, or both. We're also going to be able to get to work on the project sooner because of a grant that we received. Our plans had been to take our time using our own budgeted funds, but the grant will allow us to move quickly," Duncan said.
In other business, board members approved a 5 percent across-the-board pay raise for FCHA employees, effective Oct. 1. The raise was approved as a part of the 2003/2004 budget of over $892,000 approved by board members. The board also approved $3,500 in appropriations to pay a local contractor to create a ditch near the Rice and Mann apartment complex.
There will be a Cotton Fashion Show and Secretaries Luncheon, held at the Forrest City Country Club on Wednesday, April 23, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Sponsored by the Farm Bureau Women's Committee, the Fashion Show is being held in conjunction with National Secretary's Week.
The cost is $15 per person. Reservations may be made by calling the Farm Bureau office at 633-4112 or by contacting any committee member. There will be door prizes.
Two Texas women were arrested Saturday while transporting 45 pounds of marijuana along Interstate 40.
According to a report from the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department, Yvonne Chacon, 33, and Christina Chacon Williams, 31, both of El Paso, Texas, were traveling on I-40 when they were stopped for driving onto the yellow line at the 243 mile marker and crossing the white line onto the shoulder at the 245 mile marker.
According to the report, Chacon, who was driving the vehicle, appeared nervous when approached by the trooper. Both the driver and passenger consented to the search of the vehicle and the drugs, valued at $45,000, were found.
Both women were charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.