By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Officials with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department have high hopes of opening the new Highway 1 bypass west of Forrest City by the end of the year, but erratic rains this summer may push the project completion into early next year.
Ray Woodruff, district engineer with the AHTD, said the off-and-on rains this summer have erased any solid projections for the completion of the project. Although the project is moving forward, Woodruff said the best hopes of finishing it would be a break in the weather over the next few weeks.
"The bypass is progressing well considering all of the rain that we've had. It really hasn't been a problem of too much rain, it's been that you'll have dry weather one day and wet weather the next, and it's difficult for the ground to dry out with it raining every other day. We're hoping that the weather will give us a break over the next few weeks so that we can get the bypass completed by the end of the year. If we can get a little bit of normal summer weather, and it dries out over the next few weeks, then we should get it finished by the end of the year. If not, then we'll open sometime early next year," Woodruff said.
The wet weather is also playing havoc with other construction sites across the district. According to Woodruff, the on-again, off-again weather has caused delays in construction at the Hwy. 1 lane expansion site between Colt and Wynne, and at the Hwy. 1 site in Marianna.
"Both of those sites are moving slowly, but sure due to the weather. It has just been playing havoc with them. Both sites are trying to get earthwork done, but when it's dry one day and the next day you come in and it rains, you just can't get much done," Woodruff said.
Interstate travel between Forrest City and Memphis will get a little tougher later this year as crews start working, first on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 between the Hwy. 38 interchange and the Shearerville exit near Crittenden County. According to Woodruff crews will begin the project by replacing the eastbound lanes, but then the more extensive work of replacing the bridges at Beaver Slough near the 254 mile marker will begin. Beaver Slough is the swampy area located west of the Parkin exit.
"The work on lane replacement project should go pretty quickly, but then the crews will start on the crossovers at Beaver Slough. Once that happens, things will slow down for awhile because they will have to shut down one bridge and traffic will go down to one lane in each direction as they work," Woodruff said.
Work on the bridges will begin on the eastbound lanes, merging all traffic to the westbound bridge and once completed, the work will shift to the westbound bridge.
"Godspell," a folk-rock musical on the life and passion of Jesus, will be presented Thursday and Friday, Aug. 8 and 9, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 10, at 2:30 p.m., by the Forrest City Little Theatre, in conjunction with East Arkansas Community College.
"Godspell" was conceived and originally directed by John Michael Tebelak, with music and new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Admission will be $8 at the door.
"Godspell" has been called an "interesting interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew," from which many of the parables and the lyrics for some of the songs were taken. The lyrics for other songs were taken from the Episcopal hymnal.
The spiritual journey from the chaos of Babel to community and faith is the theme of the production.
Tammy Freligh is directing. Ruth Ann Vowan is the musical director and is also a cast member. Other members of the cast include Shea Williamson of Brinkley, Brandie Franklin and Marty Parrish of Earle, Angela Fredriksson of Proctor and Suzanne Winter, Dustin Lemke, David Nichol and Luke Patton of Forrest City.
The orchestra is made up of Linda Carter, Tom MacArthur, Ed Bell and Chris Vickers.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The saga between St. Francis County and its former garbage contractor, B&B Disposal, will soon take another turn after county officials decided this week to file a lawsuit against B&B.
Questions over the number of carts the county was charged for under B&B's contract were raised last month during the regular monthly meeting of the Quorum Court. Allegations were levied at the meeting that B&B overcharged the county during its three-year contract for carts.
QC Justice Regan Hill said the number of carts the county was billed for by B&B doesn't equal the number of carts that the county is currently being billed for by King Disposal, which took over the garbage contract in March. According to figures provided by Hill, the number of carts during B&B's contract ranged from 4,192 when their services began to 4,356 carts when the contract ended. King currently has 4,120 carts distributed to homeowners in the county.
"There are a couple of issues here that have to be looked at," said Hill. "There are a number of people in this county that have more than one cart at their home, and that's fine. The problem is that those people with more than one cart should have been billed for the extra carts according to B&B's contract. The county was billed around $11 per cart and those individuals should have been billed a little over $5 for the extra carts. I've been getting complaints from some of those who had the extra carts because now they're having to pay to have them dumped and they never did before. If that's the case, who do you think was getting charged for the carts? If this was a case of an individuals being done this way, we say for them to sue, and I see the taxpayers as being no different. It's our job on the quorum court to look after taxpayer money, and I'm 100 percent behind trying to get the money that's owed to the county back."
According to St. Francis County Attorney Fletcher Long, the decision to sue has been made, although the paperwork has yet to be filed.
"We're obviously going to sue B&B, but I just haven't had a chance to file the complaint," said Long.
Jan Beeson, a partner with B&B said Thursday that he had not been informed of any plans the county has to file a lawsuit against the company, but said that the lawsuit may be in response to a lawsuit filed by B&B against the county. According to Beeson, the county still owes B&B close to $20,000 for past bills and is retaining B&B property unlawfully.
"I am not aware of any pending lawsuit, and as far as us charging them for extra carts, they asked us to count them up, and then they counted them up. I don't know what the problem is. We're suing them right now for $20,000 in bills that they haven't paid us, and they are even holding onto some of our property. They're probably only suing us because we're suing them," Beeson said.
Results of a youth risk behavior survey will be presented during a public meeting set for Monday, Aug. 11, at East Arkansas Community College.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Learning Resource Center at the college.
Students in seventh through 12th grades in St. Francis County completed the survey during the past school year as part of a county-wide effort to determine at-risk behaviors. The meeting is sponsored by the Hometown Health Network Youth Subcommittee, and is open to all citizens of St. Francis County, youth and adults alike.
Copies of the survey findings will be presented during the meting.
For more information, contact Lt. Eddie Adamson at the Forrest City Police Department or Tammy Lawson, the Hometown Health Network Leader, at 633-1340.
The Hughes Satellite Clinic, in conjunction with the Hughes Police Department, will conduct a Morgan Nick Alert photo shoot on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at the clinic located at 503 S. Broadway, Suite A in Hughes.
The purpose of the event, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., is to provide parents or guardians, with digital photographs of their children that can be e-mailed to law enforcement agencies and other interested parties in the event that a child is abducted. The parent or guardian will keep the disc on which the photo is stored.
Children from birth to 18 years of age are eligible for the program.
For more information, contact the clinic at 870-339-4181.
The Palestine-Wheatley High School will hold registration for students, beginning Monday, Aug. 14. Registration will continue through Wednesday and all tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade students can register between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.