By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Unlike some towns, Forrest City will be in fairly good shape when a new state law goes into effect requiring cities to allow prefabricated homes in at least one residential division.
"We took care of that a while back," said Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant. "As a matter of fact, we've been working with Fort Smith, helping them with their ordinance, to make sure they're in compliance."
The Affordable Housing Accessibility Act goes into effect on Oct. 1 and could leave cities open to litigation if they don't change their laws to comply, said Davis Schoen, an attorney for the Arkansas Municipal League.
In Forrest City, according to Bryant, prefabricated houses may be built in areas zoned R-3 and R-4.
The amount of work to change zoning ordinances varies from city to city, and the cities can draft the changes to require prefabricated homes to meet certain physical and cosmetic standards. Bryant said Forrest City said there are already rules in place for the building of prefab homes.
"Once someone is going to build a prefabricated house on a lot, we have a check-off sheet" at city hall, Bryant said. "It includes underpinning, the way to anchor it, the footings that have to be poured. We have a systematic approach."
He said the city "shouldn't be in any trouble -- not under the current laws, unless something else sneaked by that we don't know about. Other folks have called us (to ask advice). Basically, it says you can't discriminate against people who build these types of facilities. I think we're in pretty good shape."
Chester Crossen, Forrest City's code enforcement officer, agreed that the city is ready for the new law.
"Basically, the law says we cannot stipulate anything more on them than we stipulate for a regular frame house," he said.
However, a city can make the same stipulations as to underpinning, foundations and footings as regular housing.
"We're in pretty good shape," said Crossen. "We're pretty much in compliance."
Fort Smith, Crossett, Searcy and Russellville all are considering allowing prefabricated homes that must be at least 20 feet wide on all sides and have foundations, porches and pitched roofs.
Most cities will only have to make minor adjustments to current code, said Jim von Tungeln, a consultant for the league and some cities.
Fayetteville already allows the homes in one agricultural/residential district, and Bentonville has a residential district established specifically for the homes. Maumelle allows the homes in two areas.
Complying with the law could prove more difficult for the tiny Little Rock suburb of Cammack Village, which bans the homes in all zones. All the city's 408 residential lots are occupied by houses.
The new law could help prefabricated homes overcome stereotypes that have kept them out of many cities, said J.D. Harper, executive director of the Arkansas Manufactured Housing Association.
Those stereotypes are based on dated notions of dilapidated single-wide mobile homes and fears that their presence will decrease property values, Harper said. But the average price of new prefabricated homes bought last year was $42,700, he said.
''We see it in the city councils and the planning commissions over and over,'' Harper said. ''It's 'We don't want those kind of people living in our neighborhood.'
''That's an image that this industry has long outgrown. We can show stats where manufactured homes appreciate if they are regulated properly.''
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The unofficial end of Summer is coming this weekend and an effort is underway from two state agencies to keep Arkansas' highways safe.
According to a press release from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, a two mile stretch of Interstate 40 in St. Francis County is included in 34 miles of closures statewide. One lane of I-40 in each direction will be closed between the 253 and 255 mile markers in St. Francis County. That work joins three miles of lane closures in Crawford County near Van Buren and two eight mile stretches of I-40 in Johnson County near Clarksville. Along I-55, AHTD crews will have one lane traffic for five miles in Crittenden County near West Memphis and seven miles of construction will cause congestion near Osceola in Mississippi County for seven miles in the southbound lanes. In the southwest corner of the state, eastbound drivers will see one lane travel for a mile in Miller County near Texarkana.
Drivers may also see an increase police presence as Arkansas State Police Troopers hit the highways in force. According to Lt. Tommy Wicker with ASP Troop D in Forrest City, the normal holiday schedule will be in effect, beginning tonight at midnight and ending Monday at midnight. Wicker said that Troopers will again be focusing on drinking and driving and seat belt usage and will be out in force.
"We'll be fully staffed for the holiday weekend and no one will have any leave or vacation time, which is normal, and we'll be looking for drunk drivers and checking to make sure people are using their seat belts. We'll have sobriety checkpoints set up throughout the district," Wicker said.
Wicker also said that there an increased focus on the interstate system will be seen Friday, as Troopers hit I-40 and I-55 for a 12-hour period.
"On Friday we'll have a 12-hour saturation of the interstate with all Troopers in the district concentrating their efforts on the freeway. Everyone will be out there including myself and the Captain," Wicker said.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
Five Area 8 athletes with the Special Olympics recently brought home the gold... and the silver and the bronze lots of it from the Special Olympics World Games held this summer in Dublin, Ireland.
A combined group of athletes, including Randy Clarkson, Theodis Haggins, Cedrix Parker, Kentrell Williams and Terrance Williams, won seven gold medals, five silver medals and four bronze medals. They also won five fourth places, two fifth places and an eighth place. The athletes, except for Parker, who could not be reached, recently talked about their summer adventure and the competitions they participated in.
"It was nice to see new things and meet new people," said Haggins. "I met lots of people from all over the world. I met people from places like Afghanistan, I really had fun. I liked Belfast better than Dublin, it was fun there." Haggins and the others stayed in Belfast, the Team U.S.A. Host City in Ireland. They trained for about a week there before going to the games in Dublin. Haggins won fifth place in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes and eighth place in the 4 x 100 meter relay.
Kentrell Williams added that while he liked Belfast and meeting new people as well, he enjoyed the competitions. "I really liked the gymnastics," he said. Kentrell received three gold medals in gymnastics competitions for floor exercise, horizontal bars and rings. "I liked the opening ceremonies too. I had a really good time there."
Clarkson talked about some "stargazing" that the group enjoyed. "James Bond was there (Pierce Brosnon), Arnold Schwarzeneggar was there and Nelson Mandella. Robert Kennedy Jr. put the medal around my neck." Clarkson was part of the 12 man U.S.A. Male Handball Team that took the gold from the team from Algeria. "We played teams from India and Iceland too. The competition was real tough." Other celebrities that the group remembered were Jamie Lee Curtis and Dylan McDermott.
Terrance said he thought "the parallel bars and horizontal bars were difficult, but I had fun meeting new people and I liked the practices in Belfast." He also participated in the gymnastics in Ireland and won two gold medals in the ring and vault events; two silver medals in horizontal bars and parallel bars; a bronze on the pommel horse and two fourth place finishes in all around and floor exercise.
Both Clarkson and Haggins discussed some of the other activities they also enjoyed. "At the closing ceremonies, we traded stuff," said Haggins. "I traded one shirt and got a whole warm-up suit. They wanted our autographs too. It was great."
Clarkson also enjoyed his experience while dancing in Ireland. "We got to dance there. It was a little like the electric slide, but they taught us how to dance like them."
Anita Vandiver, the Northeast Arkansas field representative for the Special Olympics, praised the citizens of Ireland. "The Irish really treated our athletes like celebrities," recalled Vandiver. "One of our athletes was walking around the mall with me, just shopping. She happened to have on her medal. People would stop her for her autograph and to take a picture with her. I teared up. That is what the world games are about, bringing people from different backgrounds together." According to Vandiver, about 30,000 volunteers from Ireland helped with the games. She also said that when the volunteers that were assigned to their group found out they were from Arkansas, "they just loved it. They asked all kinds of questions and were really excited to meet them.
"These athletes are really down to earth," continued Vandiver. "They don't see rich or poor, ugly or pretty; they look at what is in your heart. The games prove that we are all gifted in different ways."
The Special Olympics World Games are held every four years and each athlete is assigned a sport that volunteers and other SO officials feel best suits their abilities. The events are assigned to different regions of the country at random. Athletes are also assigned divisions where they compete against athletes with similar skills to balance the competitions.
Area businesses and residents help raise money annually for the Special Olympics events.