By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Members of the Forrest City Civic Center Commission began the process of determining the need for an on-site food service operator at a called meeting of the commission Monday.
Commissioners voted to table work on a new contract for food service at the building after hearing from Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant, and discussing the contract which will end early next year. Bryant also addressed a letter that he sent to commissioners in July.
In that letter, Bryant suggested that commissioners change their meetings from quarterly to monthly, which he told them yesterday will give them an opportunity to focus on working on the contract for the kitchen. By a 3-0 margin, commissioners voted to change their meetings to monthly beginning in January.
Bryant also addressed questions raised over financial statements from current Civic Center on-site caterer Jim Hitchcock. Bryant told commissioners that any issues dealing with the current contract should be set aside so that their focus could remain on a new contract.
"As far as I'm concerned, those reports are water under the bridge. To keep discussing this current contract is basically beating a dead horse because there are only three or four months left on the contract, and there aren't four votes on the city council to throw out the contract. There haven't been four votes on the council to throw out the contract, and there never will be. It's time to move on and decide what we're going to do in the future," Bryant said.
Commissioner Shirley Harvell objected to Bryant referring to the issue as dead, saying, "Mayor it's a sad state of affairs to say that this is a dead issue because the otes aren't there with the council. This issue has never been resolved, and it doesn't look like it's going to be."
Bryant responded, "If you all feel strongly enough about this issue you can always approach the council and try to take it to litigation, which will be lengthy and expensive. There are some fights though that you can win without actually winning. The contract is almost over, and when it is done, you can make a decision to keep the current caterer or you can bid the job out, or you can decide not to have an on-site caterer at all. There are several options that still need to be discussed."
Bryant told commissioners that he could provide them with three model contracts from area civic centers and community centers which they could use as a guideline. He also told commissioners that he was not in favor of a completely open kitchen due to liability issues.
Commissioner Marcus Freeman discussed the option of hiring a full-time cook that would be employed by the city instead of using a contract caterer to handle food service.
"A caterer is someone who delivers food that is ready. They generally provide the warming tables, and the need for full use of the kitchen is really not necessary. The major problem that we've had is with using the water, and we've worked to take care of that. I have a problem with letting just anyone use the kitchen. We might want to consider hiring an on-site cook who could handle events when someone didn't have a caterer, and could also be on-site when a caterer is possibly using the kitchen. We have very expensive equipment in there, and we don't need just anyone using it," Freeman said.
Freeman also said that the city's civic groups should be considered when working on the new contract.
"It really does benefit the citizens and the city to have someone available on short notice to do spontaneous events, and it also benefits our civic organizations who meet in the building regularly to have someone on-site. I'm not saying that I necessarily agree with the current contract that we have because it was more of a gift than it was a contract," Freeman said. "To have an on-site cook is really more feasible than giving access to anyone who puts a deposit on the facility. I would like to see someone maintain that kitchen so that it will always be ready for our civic groups, the mayor or any citizen."
In other business, Bryant told commissioners that he might look to decrease the size of the commission from seven members to five to match other current city commissions. Earlier this year commissioners voted to ask for the removal of two commissioners who had been frequently absent. On Monday night, the commission again voted to approach the city council with a request for removal of the members and also to request a rule on how many consecutive meetings could be missed prior removal.
City council member Louise Fields agreed to bring the matter before the council at Tuesday's meeting.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
While the Arkansas Department of Health may not have any confirmed cases of the flu in St. Francis County, according to local doctors' offices, several cases consistent with the flu have already been treated.
SFC Health Unit Director Bonnie Dodson explained that flu numbers are based on actual positive tests for the bug, and it is up to individual doctors as to whether or not they test their patients.
"Testing by doctors for the flu can be done by collecting a flu culture," said Dodson. "Those tests are done by individual doctors, not the local health departments. We are not equipped to handle those patients because they are acutely ill. They are directed to see their personal physician."
Dodson added, "The numbers provided by the Arkansas Department of Health are those positive tests performed by the doctors in the area. It does not reflect those individuals with flu-like symptoms, but those who have tested positive for the flu."
The office of Dr. James Franks reported some of the patients there have been diagnosed with the flu, but not by cultures.
"We have seen a lot of people this year with symptoms similar to the flu," said office manager Carol Baker. "They have been diagnosed with illnesses that show those similar symptoms, but not the flu. Dr. Franks has only diagnosed two patients with the actual flu. Neither of those patients were diagnosed through flu cultures."
Dr. Frank Schwartz said through his front desk representatives that they have not been bombarded by patients with flu-like symptoms, but have had a few cases. "We have had some flu in younger people, but not the older generation this year," said Schwartz. The front desk clerk said that the office doesn't generally do flu cultures.
Dr. Curtis Patton offered insight as to why the flu cultures are not more widely used. "We do not have flu cultures right now," said Patton. "We had two culture kits given to us by the (SFC) health department, and we used both of them in October. They were both negative. The health department bases its reports on counties that return positive flu cultures. The two cases that we did in October just happened to come back negative. We try to get cases that we think are the flu to do the flu cultures, but sometimes we are wrong.
"We get a limited amount of flu cultures each year from the department to test for the flu. The reasoning for this is that if they had to send 20 kits to each doctor's office, that would get expensive. But once a county gets one positive culture, there is no real need for more testing. Once we know it is here, we can treat our patients accordingly."
While cultures are limited, Patton spoke of another way to confirm a case of the flu. "Instead of the cultures, we give antigen tests, and we have had 20 tests come back positive for the flu in the last two weeks," added Patton.
"I estimate that we have seen 100 cases of the flu in the last week. I have been here for 22 years, and this is the earliest and most severe flu I have seen in awhile. It is affecting a wider range of ages than usual. We have seen a lot of infants with the flu this year, and usually it is the older people who get it."
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City School Board on Monday chose an interim board member to serve while Gordon McCoy is serving in Iraq.
Henry Peacock, a captain with the Forrest City Fire Department, was named to fill the position until the return of McCoy, who was called into active duty recently.
Peacock was one of three nominees which included Jackie Wade and Isaac Wilburn III. By law, after nominations ceased, each nominee had to be voted on by the board. Peacock was then unanimously selected by the board.
Superintendent Lee Vent said any of the nominees would have been excellent replacements for McCoy.
On another matter, Dave Hodges offered an update on the new junior high building. He said the work is 99 percent complete. Hodges said the band hall is complete, the seats are in place in the auditorium and landscaping has begun. He said there was some finishing work still to be done in the auditorium. A curtain, to be used to divide the auditorium, is on order. In addition, several faculty members will receive training on the lighting and speaker systems.
In other action, the board agreed to accept a policy setting guidelines for school libraries, according to Act 1786.
The board also heard from Rudy Beede, who talked about some of the instructional technology currently being used in the schools.
Some of the current technology includes the Forrest City Web Page. There are also Benchmark released items, which are questions on previous Benchmark tests, released after the testing is done that can be used for models of the types of questions asked on the tests. There is also an on-line encyclopedia.
Some of the instructional software includes Success Maker, Accelerated Reading, Accelerated Math, Draftbuilder, Orchard and Skills Bank. There is also software in the subjects of keyboarding, word processing, computer assisted drafting, computerized bookkeeping and desktop publishing.
Beede also talked about Smartboards, upon which a person can actually write.
As part of his presentation, he held up a hammer and indicated a computer (the meeting was held in the library of Stewart Elementary) and he asked what the hammer and computer had in common. Several people joked that occasionally someone may want to use the former on the latter.
After the laughter had died down, Beede said the hammer and the computer are both tools.
"This is nothing more than a tool," said Beede, again indicating the computer, saying he has seen some wonderful things done both with a hammer and a computer. He said whether working with either tool, "It's only as good as the person using it."
After a brief executive session, the board approved four new hires three of certified personnel and one classified.
The certified personnel include Stephen (Ricky) Adamson, assigned as a French teacher at Forrest City High School; Chantil Newmon, assigned to Stewart Elementary as a fourth grade teacher; and Melissa Vaughn, assigned to Forrest Hills Elementary as a kindergarten teacher.
In classified employment, Adamson was also hired as a bus driver.
All the new hires will begin work on Jan. 5.
In other action, the board agreed to hold a retreat before the next regular school board meeting, and to invite the newly-appointed interim board member, Peacock. The retreat will be held Jan. 8 at Catfish Island.
Next month's board meeting will be held at the ABC School.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Full-time employees of the city of Madison may receive a little more Christmas cheer soon, after city council members agreed to an incentive bonus plan during their monthly meeting Monday.
Council members amended a plan submitted by employees which would have paid each fulltime employee $50 for each year of service after the first year. The plan also paid the city's one full-time employee, with less than a year of service, $50 and council members $50. According to the amended version of the plan, council members and the one employee will receive $100, and a scale version will also apply to all other full-time employees.
Council member Annie Winfrey questioned the original version of the measure. "We have a couple of council members who have been on this council for more than one year, and I feel that it would be fair if those members received more than just $50 to show appreciation for the work that they have done for the city."
Council member Janice Whitaker spearheaded efforts to increase the amount for the lone employee to the $100 minimum.
"It really doesn't matter to me if we get any more money, but for this one employee that hasn't been here a year, I don't think $50 is enough. There's not a whole lot you can do with $50, so that needs to be increased to at least $100," Whitaker said.
The council unanimously agreed to the measure which does not include three of the city's police officers who serve part-time or the city's volunteer firefighters.
In other business, Mayor James Brooks updated the council on the status of the city's new community center. According to Brooks, city officials are still gathering information to determine rental rates and other issues on the building. Brooks also told the council that the building is expected to be completed by the end of this month. Council members also voted to name the new center the Madison Community Center.
And the final 2003 Professor Pigskin cash prize of $50 goes to Bill Scheiderer of Forrest City.
Scheiderer held off several Pigskin entries to collect the prize after missing just two of the selected 20 high school, college and NFL games.
At least 25 readers missed just three.
Scheiderer missed the Oklahoma-Kansas State game, as did most everyone and he missed the New Orleans-Tampa Bay game.
The Professor Pigskin Contest will return in September.
Thanks to everyone who played this season and congratulations to each of the 14 winners and thanks to all the businesses who supported the contest each week.
St. Francis County had an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent during October, down more than a point from 9.4 percent in September, but up from the 6.9 percent recorded in October of 2002.
According to figures provided by Arkansas Workforce Labor Market Information, St. Francis County had the ninth highest unemployment out of Arkansas' 75 counties.
During October, St. Francis County had a civilian labor force of 12,850, with 11,776 working and 1,075 not working.
The state's highest unemployment was 11.6 percent, recorded in Woodruff County. There were 10 counties with unemployment of 8 percent or higher.
Benton County, with 2.3 percent, had the lowest unemployment. There were 14 counties with 4 percent unemployment or less.
Unemployment rates in surrounding counties included the following: Lee, 10.9 percent; Phillips, 9.1 percent; Monroe, 6.9 percent; Woodruff, 11.6 percent; Cross, 7.5 percent and Crittenden, 6.2 percent.