By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A Forrest City woman is charged with negligent homicide after an alcohol-related accident Saturday evening that killed one person and left another critically injured.
Arkansas State Police Troop D headquarters in Forrest City reported the accident occurred about 6:30 p.m. on Highway 1 South when a car turned in front of a motorcycle. The wreck occurred near the Highway 1 intersection with South Rosser.
Trooper First Class Franklin McMillion reported John Jones, 49, of Marianna, was driving his 1992 Honda motorcycle south on Highway 1 when Carolyn Williams, 39, 340 Turner Circle, Apt. 11, Forrest City, turned her northbound 1993 Oldsmobile in front of his motorcycle.
Jones was killed on impact. A passenger on his motorcycle, Danita D. Jones, 48, of Marianna, was injured and transported by ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City where she was treated and transferred by helicopter to the Elvis Presley Trauma Center in Memphis where she is listed in critical condition today.
Williams was also taken to BMH-FC, but was treated and released.
In addition to negligent homicide, Williams is also charged with driving while intoxicated, failure to yield to a left turn and expired driver's license. She is being held in the St. Francis County Jail pending a court appearance this afternoon in St. Francis County District Court.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Two people were arrested in Forrest City on Friday, and both turned out to have outstanding warrants in other localities.
At about 8:45 a.m., police received a call from the Exxon station at 2319 N. Washington that someone had attempted to steal a car. The suspect fled on foot and was apprehended in the Food Giant parking lot.
The suspect was Sean M. Tuma, 27, of Ohio. He was charged with attempted car theft. It was discovered that there is also a fugitive warrant from the Falls County Sheriff's Department in Texas, for felony car theft.
The second incident took place around 4 p.m. A pharmacist at Harvest Foods Pharmacy reported to police that a woman, identifying herself as Christine Oglesby, had turned in a prescription for a pain killer. The prescription showed to be from Dr. Randall Hart of Newport. The pharmacist reported he contacted Dr. Hart, and learned the prescription was a forgery.
According to the report, the pharmacist was instructed to tell the woman the prescription was ready and call police when she arrived to pick it up. After the woman received the drug, the vehicle she was driving was pointed out to officers, and she was stopped in the 900 block of North Washington.
The woman was identified as Heather Dawn Grady, 32, of Wynne. During a search of her car, officers allegedly found a hypodermic needle, several vials of prescription drugs and other items. There were also several prescription tags with the name Christina Oglesby or Jane Cole on it.
Grady was charged with five counts of possession of forged or fraudulent prescriptions or drug paraphernalia, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance. She was also wanted on outstanding warrants from Newport and Jackson County for failure to appear .
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
The Wheatley City Council agreed last week to rezone a parcel of residential land to commercial despite objections from some residents.
Faron Hamilton, who owns the land on the west side of the Highways 70 and 78 intersection, requested the land be rezoned. The matter was discussed during a public hearing at a planning commission meeting held prior to a regularly-scheduled city council meeting.
Hamilton, who also serves as chairman of the city's planning commission, did not participate in the commission's meeting. Without Hamilton's vote, the commission still approved the request so that it could be presented to the city council.
Hamilton has said he plans to build a storage facility and carwash on the property.
During the public hearing, opposition was voiced to the move by some Wheatley residents.
Donna Browning submitted a letter to the commission opposing Hamilton's plans for the property. The letter stated, in part, that Browning was concerned that the proposed building on the land would bring property values down because, "someone saw fit to build a carwash that will eventually become abandoned after time due to vandalizing and repeated stealing of the coin boxes."
Another resident, Henry Washington, stated that he did not want another metal building near his property.
In the council meeting, however, members discussed the planning group's recommendation along with the residents' concerns and voted to approve the rezoning as requested.
In other business, Wheatley Mayor Larry Nash updated the council on the city's tax revenue situation.
"I spoke to the state revenue people and asked them if they knew why our tax revenues are so low. They said it could be one of four reasons: Adjustments overpayment, revenues being down, businesses closing and opening, and taxpayers not paying," Nash said. "Our revenues are down, and one of our taxpayers has not paid, but the largest reason is an adjustment in payment. They paid us too much and had to refigure our money."
Councilman David Lee suggested a way to increase tax revenue. "I think we should look into a hamburger tax (tax on prepared food) again. We stress out with what little amount of money we have, and I think it could only help." No action was taken on Lee's suggestion.
Before adjourning, Nash told the council of a new problem with the city's sidewalk project. "The low bidder from the rebid could not get his performance bond, and the next lowest bidder did not fill out his paperwork correctly, so our low bidder is MACO General Contractor (of Monticello) our original low bidder."
The Forrest City City Council will meet Tuesday, June 17 at 7 p.m. in regular session.
The veto by Mayor Larry Bryant of a recently passed ordinance to establish a regional airport authority will be one subject of discussion.
There will also be an ordinance to appropriate funding for the Forrest City Quality of Life Project.
The Palestine-Wheatley School Board will meet tonight, at 6:30. The meeting will take place at the Palestine-Wheatley Jr. High Library in Wheatley.
Baptist Memorial Hospital - Forrest City will sponsor a blood drive on June 30 from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the in-service classroom located on the lower level lobby of the hospital.
Life Blood t-shirts will be given to all donors.
To be a blood donor a participant must be at least 17 years of age, in good health and weigh at least 110 pounds. Prior to donating participants are given a mini-physical at no charge to check blood pressure, level of red blood cells, pulse rate and temperature.
The actual donation process is quick, lasting between five and 10 minutes and the needlestick feels like a small pinch that lasts for a second.
After the donation, the blood is typed and tested for several infectious diseases, including the HIV virus and is then sent to one of more than 30 hospitals and transfusion facilities in the Mid-South.
In addition to the normal blood donation, individuals that have a common blood type will make ideal red cell donors. Automated Red Cell donations can help save two lives with one donation.