By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Members of the Forrest City Housing Authority Board of Commissioners approved a resolution showing both the one year and five year plans for the city's housing developments.
By unanimous vote, board members agreed to the proposal, which, according to department director Janet Duncan, covered several different areas, including flooding at the Rice and Mann complex and air conditioning throughout the department.
"We had public meetings and took input from the residents and one of the major concerns continues to be with the air conditioning. We should have most residents with air conditioning within the next year with the exception of some of the units in Turner Circle," said Duncan.
"The flooding in Rice and Mann continues to be a major problem and we have not found a way to remedy that problem yet. We have tried to dig the ditch deeper, but that just holds the water until it flows but doesn't keep the water from flooding," she said.
Board chairman Gazzola Vaccaro suggested a joint effort from the housing authority and the city to clean the ditch out, which he suggested would help with the flooding.
In other business, board members were told that the daycare center in the Rice and Mann development could be closing by year's end due in large part to lack of participation from tenants. According to Duncan, the St. Francis Area Development Center will not renew their contract with the housing department at the end of the year. Duncan did tell board members that an effort is underway for the current director at the center to continue operating the center if she can receive not for profit status once the contract is ended.
Duncan also updated board members on the status of the demolition at Turner Circle. According to Duncan, work has been progressing well and the first stage of the project should be complete within the four month time frame allotted to Arkatex Contractors.
"People will not believe the new look of Turner Circle. The work has been going really well and I actually expect him to be complete with his portion of the work in a couple of months," said Duncan.
The upper level of the Turner Circle Apartments are being removed making all of the units one story complexes.
By SHANNON NICKS
T-H Staff Writer
Forrest City School District administrators met on Thursday with members of the Arkansas Department of Education in a teleconference.
Forrest City High School was where the local administrators met.The teleconference was held to explain the Omnibus Quality Education Act's proposed rules and regulations, and the Public School Choice Act of 2003.
The Omnibus Quality Education Act was developed to ensure that all Arkansas students receive a quality education. The act is built of components called Standards of Assurance which consist of the proposed rules and regulations that address accreditation, accountibility, assessment, academic distress, professional development, curriculum, parental involvement, and incorporates public school choice.
Though many of the components included in this act have already been in place as parts of other acts, the State Department has incorporated them, along with new components, into one document.
The Public School Choice Act of 2003, which states that all schools must participate in public school choice, was also discussed in the teleconference because the two acts are closely related. Forrest City School District, however, will not be effected by this act because it is governed by a federal desegregation order.
Once the explanations of the acts were given, it was announced that public hearings will take place on July 10 and 11 in order to gather public comment on these proposed rules and regulations before they are submitted to the board for approval.
The East Arkansas Enterprise Community will sponsor a "Stamp Out Smoking" rally on Saturday, June 28, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Forrest City Civic Center.
There will be games, prizes, food and fun. Dr. Brenda Caldwell, a motivational speaker, will talk to the youth. Team members of the EAEC Youth Consortium and EAEC Partners will participate. Educational handouts and information on the hazards of smoking will be available
Funding for the rally is being provided through the Minority Initiative Sub-Recipient Grant Office at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
For more information, call 630-2005.
A 15-year old Forrest City juvenile has been accused of molesting two children, aged 9 and 4, earlier this year.
According to the report, the alleged molestations occurred March 29. It is alleged that the 15-year-old "touched" the two girls in an inappropriate manner. The incident allegedly took place in a house on Bray Street.
The juvenile was released to a "custodial parent," providing he agree to a no-contact order. The boy and his mother also were advised to have no contact with either victims or their families. The juvenile officer was contacted on the case.
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. The procedure takes 40 minutes and prospects must meet certain weight and height requirements.