Another weekend of wild weather caused damage and power outages, but nothing very serious in the immediate area.
"We've been working all weekend," said Mike Davis, customer service representative for Entergy. "At the height of the storm we had 32,000 customers out statewide Friday night."
The hardest hit places in the area were Hughes and Horseshoe Lake, according to Davis.
"There was quite a bit of damage over there," he said. "We've had crews from Mississippi and from all over the state trying to get people back on. It was wrapped up by Sunday night."
Farther away, in Harrisburg, the situation is more serious.
On Sunday, the Poinsett County Sheriff's Department kept in place a curfew in Harrisburg, where the roof blew off the high school cafeteria Friday night during a graduation ceremony. Monday classes were called off in Harrisburg.
No one at the graduation was hurt, but electricity was still out Sunday in parts of the town, according to a sheriff's dispatcher. She said people driving through town snarled traffic to the point that line crews had trouble reaching areas where they had to restore electricity.
"We still have a lot of outages in the Harrisburg area," said Davis. "I don't have a head count on crews, but in Harrisburg we have a lot of resources. We'll stay with it until we get them back on."
Carl Horton of Woodruff Electric said it was estimated that the co-op had about 2,000 customers out during the worst part of the storms.
"These were widely scattered, caused by lightning and tree limbs," he said. "Around Beck Spur they had a a pole broken, and near the hospital (Baptist Memorial at Forrest City) a car went off the road, hit a pole and knocked it down."
Horton said that except for some cleanup, things are pretty much back to normal today.
According to the Memphis office of the National Weather Service, the heaviest recorded rainfall over a 24 hour period was 3.45 inches, reported in Madison on Saturday morning.
On Sunday, weather service meteorologist Joe Goudsward said the partly sunny skies would give way to another weather system approaching the state from the west.
The system was forecast to move over Arkansas Monday night and Tuesday.
''That could exacerbate the (flooding) conditions,'' Goudsward said. ''It's looking like a general half-inch rainfall, possibly more in isolated areas.''
The tornado in Saline County carried winds of 115 miles per hour. The twister struck the Landers car dealership and damaged 500 new cars and 200 used cars of the 1,500 vehicles in stock. A fire broke out at the body shop. No one was hurt.
A manager said the dealership would reopen Wednesday.
The weather postponed a number of graduation ceremonies until Sunday. In Cross County, graduation was moved to Tuesday evening.
The annual Tutor and Student Recognition Banquet will be held on Thursday, May 29, at 5:30 p.m. in the Henley Room at the Forrest City Civic Center.
This event, hosted by the Literacy Council of St. Francis County Board and Forrest City Even Start, recognizes students and volunteers that take part in the various programs the two organizations offer each year. Mary Ella Riley, Coordinator of the LCSFC, talked about the event.
"We will recognize every student and volunteer that attended in past year," said Riley. "Many elected officials in St. Francis County attend and in the past we have had Mayor Larry Bryant and St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco hand out awards."
According to a press release, the LCSFC worked with approximately 150 adults and children in the county in basic reading classes, after school programs and English as a second language classes. "With the adults, we tutor low-reading and non-reading adults as well as English as a second language. The second language students, for the most part, can read English, but when it is spoken to them, they cannot understand it. We work to help them better communicate in English."
The Even Start program has worked with 50 families so far the fiscal year, according to the release, and have had several parent volunteers along with 20 to 24 active volunteer tutors and two AmeriCorps Delta Service Corps volunteers this year. "The Even Start program helps single or married parents who don't have a high school diploma or GED work towards earning it. We offer child care, parenting and nutrition classes-whatever they need to accomplish their goal."
Among the various awards and recognitions that will be handed out are the Student of the Year and Volunteer of the Year Awards. The speaker at this year's event will be Judge L.T. Simes
A Forrest City man accused of killing his brother during a fight over food will not be sent to prison.
Walter Lee Dinwiddie, 35, 125 Poplar St., was given a 10-year suspended imposition of sentence Friday when he appeared before Judge Harvey Yates during circuit court proceedings at the St. Francis County Courthouse.
Dinwiddie was arrested in October last year after stabbing his brother to death at their home on Poplar Street. He was originally charged with first-degree murder, but that charge was later reduced to second-degree murder and then to manslaughter, for which he pled guilty and was sentenced.
Louis Dinwiddie, 39, also of 125 Poplar St., was stabbed once in the chest with a butcher knife. Police said the stabbing occurred after the two brothers argued over food and women.
The suspended sentence was agreed upon during meetings between the Dinwiddie family and representatives of the prosecutor's office, according to Deputy Prosecutor Chris Morledge.
Forrest City Junior High boys' athletic physicals will be given at Lincoln Middle School Tuesday, May 20, from 9 until 11 a.m. and from 12 noon until 2 p.m. and again on Wednesday, May 21, from 9 until 11 a.m.
Cost per student is $10 and each student must have a physical examination form completed and signed by the parent or guardian. The forms may be obtained from the junior high school coaches or by calling Athletic Director Mike Bender at 633-1485.
Voters in the Palestine-Wheatley School District will decide on a millage increase Tuesday, to bring the district in line with state requirements.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Voting will take place at the Wheatley Community Center in Wheatley, and at Twin Assembly of God Church in Palestine.
Several meetings are planned for this week in St. Francis County.
The Palestine-Wheatley School Board will meet at 6:30 tonight in the cafetorium on the high school campus in Palestine.
On Tuesday, the St. Francis County Museum Board is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. at the museum.
The St. Francis County Quorum Court will hold its regular monthly meeting at 6 p.m. at the courthouse, and the Forrest City City Council will meet at 7 p.m. at city hall.
The Caldwell City Council is also scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. at the city hall in that community.
The Wheatley Planning Commission has a meeting scheduled for 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
The East Arkansas Community College Board of Trustees will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 22, in the board meeting room in the administration building.