By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Students in the Forrest City School District may get another day off this week due to problems caused by winter weather.
Forrest City School District Superintendent Lee Vent said this morning that it is unlikely that schools in the district will be in session on Thursday.
Classes were called off on Tuesday after a large amount of snow fell overnight on Monday, and continued to be closed today because of hazardous travel created by the winter storm.
"We're closely monitoring the situation, but it doesn't seem likely that we'll be open tomorrow. The city streets and highways are a little deceptive until you turn onto some of the county roads that haven't been traveled much, and then you see that it's still not safe to put children on buses," Vent said.
According to Vent, district officials will make a decision late this afternoon regarding Thursday classes.
Students in the Palestine-Wheatley and Hughes school districts were also allowed to stay home Tuesday and today because the icy condition of rural roads, but a decision has not yet been made in those districts regarding Thursday classes.
In addition to the problems the winter storm has caused school districts this week, the rain delivered by a storm system last week has caused many roads to suffer damage. Potholes and some flooding are starting to reveal some of the damage being done in the county, according to SFC Judge Carl Cisco.
The weather has kept county road crews from completing some much-needed grading in many areas, and Cisco said the problems may get worse before they get better for those who travel the roads daily.
"We wanted to try to get some grading done Monday, before we got this snow and ice, but with all of the rain that we had last week, the roads are too saturated to get any heavy machinery on them. So, our biggest problems are the potholes that are being created now, and we can't get out there to do anything about them," Cisco said.
"As soon as this weather breaks, we'll get the crews out there working six and maybe seven days until we can get these roads back in good shape," he said.
According to Cisco, the county suffered some minor flooding, but for the most part, the roads remained open.
"We had a couple of low spots where the water came over the roads, but in those places it's normal to get flooding. By the same token, out on the highways that run near the L'Anguille, we didn't have near the flooding that we thought we were going to have. We've really come off well considering all the rain we've had in the last week."
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Traffic was moving along Interstate 40 and highways located within Arkansas State Police Troop D at about 9 o'clock this morning, although there was still some ice reported in areas.
There were also two fatalities in the troop area.
"We have had two fatal accidents, both in West Memphis," said Lt. Tommy Wicker, who added that there still wasn't much information available on either of those two accidents.
"About 2 o'clock this morning we had quite a problem, but it's getting slushy now," Wicker said. "Highway 70 has some ice on it in places, and Interstate 40 still has some ice, especially on the bridges. They're very slick. But, as of right now the interstates are open and traffic is running."
There were a lot of traffic problems earlier, he said.
"We had some trucks off the road and turned over around Palestine," said Wicker. "I'm sure some of those trucks are still there, but they're out of the traffic."
He said that early this morning, both bridges in West Memphis were blocked due to accidents, but he believed both are open now.
The East Central Arkansas Razorback Club's annual Arkansas Razorback Rally, scheduled for tonight, has been postponed.
The rally will be rescheduled in April, according to Buddy Billingsley.
"We are looking at two dates right now in April, both are tentative," Billingsley added. "We will try to nail one of the dates down as soon as we can."
Due to inclement weather, the St. Francis County Courthouse closed at 3 p.m. today, and will open an hour later, at 9 a.m., on Thursday, according to St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco.
Cisco said the deteriorating road conditions this afternoon and possible problems with remaining ice tomorrow led to the decision. The courthouse was closed all day on Tuesday due to snow and ice.