By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The Delta Regional Airport Authority on Thursday conducted business fairly quickly, but the meeting was then lengthened by personality conflicts.
Representatives of Garver Engineers, chosen recently to perform a study on the feasibility of a regional airport between Wynne and Forrest City, presented commissioners with a more detailed report on the proposal for an airport feasibility study.
Shirley Harvell, a commission member from Forrest City, said she had a problem with the wording of the report as written. She said the wording as it stands says that the study's purpose is to "justify" the need of a regional airport. She said the wording should be to "determine" the need. She said it was not just a matter of semantics. Later, on a vote to accept the report, she abstained.
In other business, commission members Dr. John Kerr and Bill Hays were asked to sign loan applications to the Federal Aviation Administration for $30,000 each. Their signatures were asked for as the chairmen of their respective airport commissions in Wynne and Forrest City.
Kerr signed, but Hays, while commenting that there probably wouldn't be a problem, said he felt he should run it by Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant first. The applications have to be received by the FAA by Aug. 1. Kerr is also chairman of the regional authority, and Hays is vice chair.
The grant money, if awarded, will pay for $60,000 of the feasibility study, which will be about $67,000, with some money coming from the state and some from the participating entities.
It was as the meeting was about to adjourn that things turned personal. Earlier in the meeting, Harvell had said the minutes from the previous meeting did not include the use of a proxy vote. She said the commission's bylaws do not address a proxy vote, and she wondered if that was legal. During the discussion, Dr. Robert Cole, another commission member, said the outcome of the vote would not have been affected by the proxy, but said a provision for proxy voting might be added to the bylaws. That was done, with Harvell voting no.
As the meeting was about to break up, member Shannon Hobbs said he wanted to address Harvell.
He said that Harvell has refused to sign the bylaws, but "You consistently come to meetings and want to address the bylaws and make changes to them...I don't understand it. I would beg you to tell me what your purpose is on this commission. Are you for this airport? Or are you not for this airport? I would like to be on the record having this question answered right here."
Harvell answered that she has always been for whatever is "best for Forrest City."
"And as far as the bylaws, just because I won't sign the bylaws, they have been passed by this body," she continued. "Therefore I recognize them as the operating arm of this body. So, as my First Amendment rights, I have the right not to sign them until I'm satisfied that they are documents that I feel personally comfortable with."
Hobbs asked what specifically bothered her about the bylaws. Harvell said that Kerr had received a letter from her attorney, "that explains my objections, and we are working through that. My attorney is waiting for a response."
"He's not going to get a response," said Kerr. "You brought my name into this so let me address it...I did receive a letter from the person you call your attorney."
Harvell took exception to that, stating that he was indeed her attorney.
"I'll recognize him as your attorney...but I feel no obligation to respond to a letter from him, quoting his opinion," Kerr said. "As far as representing you, he'll have to pull me into court to do that. He just sent me a personal letter on his letterhead, and I'm not really one to be intimidated by an attorney's letterhead, especially one that's as grammatically incorrect as that (letter)."
He also contended that he believed he had answered questions that she had asked. He said the commission is trying to do something positive for both communities, and he defended his right not to recognize her if he believes she is being disruptive.
"If you don't want to be a player under the guidelines we have here, then it will be my office not to recognize you for anything, until you do want to be a player. And your recourse on that is, you can call for a vote or you can get someone else to call for a vote to elect another chairman. And if another chairman is called for in a vote, I'll be glad to step down."
He continued, "I don't see you as a participating member. I see you as an obstructionist, to be quite frank. That's the way it's going to stand, that's the way it's going to be, and if you want to call for someone to elect another chairman, have at it....Sign on or get off."
At that point there was a motion for adjournment.
A Forrest City man owing more than $10,000 in fines to various agencies was apprehended early this morning when he broke into a former girlfriend's residence.
According to the Forrest City Police Department, Kinon Peacock, 23, 1462 St. Francis County Road 231, entered the home of Tiffany Green, 23, 190 Rice St., Forrest City, through a child's window by breaking out the glass with a crowbar. Though glass from the window landed on the child, he was not injured.
Peacock made his way further into the residence and allegedly attempted to hit Green and a male friend, Christopher George, who was in the home at the time, with the crowbar. A fight ensued, ending with all three outside in the yard. Also according to the FCPD, neighbors assisted in holding Peacock on the ground until police arrived.
Peacock was charged with two counts of third-degree battery, residential burglary and endangering the welfare of a minor.
He was also served warrants for failure to appear, failure to comply and second-degree forgery from agencies in Forrest City, St. Francis County and West Memphis.
St. Francis County and County Judge Carl E. Cisco have appealed a judgment which awarded back pay to three former employees of the county road department.
Circuit Judge L.T. Simes had awarded more than $30,000 to Jerry King, Louis Pugh and Herman L. Greenwood, who contended they were dismissed unfairly.
The county is being represented by Fletcher Long Jr.
A man from Wynne was injured Wednesday when his motorcycle was struck by a vehicle with Texas plates.
According to the Forrest City Police report, Howard Collier, 40, of Wynne, was traveling south on Highway 1 on a motorcycle when a vehicle pulled out of a business parking lot between the Ole South Pancake House and the Exxon Station.
The vehicle struck the motorcycle and left the scene. A witness said the vehicle had a Texas tag and gave police a partial license number.
Collier was transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City. Information was not available on his condition as of press time.
Through funding provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council, the youth council of the St. Francis County Branch of the NAACP will be taking oral histories in Forrest City on Saturday, July 19.
The local NAACP youth are working with the Arkansas Delta African-American Historical Society Inc., of Helena, to collect information surrounding the first case of Little Rock Attorney John Walker. Walker's first case was tried in Forrest City in 1965. The case involved students at Lincoln High School.
Youth will be visiting those people who want to participate on Saturday. Anyone wanting to participate, be interviewed or who has information that would be beneficial to the project should contact Annie Winfrey at 870-633-0326. Dr. C. Calvin Smith, a history professor at Arkansas State University, is serving as the group's humanities scholar.
The Palestine-Wheatley School Board is scheduled to meet in Palestine at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 21.
The Forrest City Planning Commission is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, at city hall.