Area merchants are encouraged to provide the Forrest City Police Department with e-mail addresses so they can be alerted to scams involving counterfeit money and stolen or forged checks.
FCPD Criminal Investigation Division Lt. Dwight Duch said in a press release today that the "red alert" system implemented by the department several years ago is being updated to use electronic mail (e-mail)
The original "red alert" system was a telephone notification system used to notify area merchants and banks of stolen or forged checks and counterfeit money. "This new program will allow instant e-mail notification of lost or stolen checks and suspicious money being passed. The new system also gives police the capability of sending photographs to businesses," Duch said.
"The FCPD will determine when e-mail notification is required," Duch added. "Area merchants who have provided an e-mail address to the police department will receive an e-mail directly from the FCPD with information pertaining to the lost or stolen checks and other vital information."
In addition, the alert system will also be used to deliver information on missing persons or runaways.This will be limited to missing persons or runaways from the Forrest City area only, not nationwide, Duch stressed.
Area merchants are asked to supply the information via e-mail to the department at Forrestcitypd@hotmail.com. In the e-mail, businesses should include the name of the business, its address and the name of a contact person. The address will be added to the department's contact list, and the business will immediately start receiving notifications.
According to Duch, the department's hotmail account has a built-in anti-virus program which will assist in preventing viruses from being spread through the system.
Businesses which do not have access to e-mail, may supply the information to the department via a manager's personal e-mail account.
"Currently, area law enforcement agencies and area banks
are on the notification list as well as a few businesses,"
Duch added.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The mystery surrounding Monday night's light show and big bang is getting closer to being solved, and part of the answers may have been found right here in St. Francis County.
A chunk of rock, believed to be a meteorite, was found in a field north of Palestine by Forrest City native Bobby Huckaba Jr. According to Huckaba, the rock was found as he was preparing his combine for a day of cutting beans.
"Tuesday morning, I went out to the field and was getting ready to cut beans when I walked around the header on my combine to check it out. That's when I noticed a black rock that didn't look like any of the other rocks. I picked it up and kept it because I'd found a meteorite before, and I thought I'd get it checked out," said Huckaba.
Huckaba was one of the St. Francis County residents who actually didn't see or feel the effects of the activities that had taken place the night before, but a telephone call from his mother changed all of that.
"My mother called me and was asking me if I had seen the lights or felt the sonic boom from the night before, and she told me that people had been calling the radio and television stations, and that's when I told her what I had found. I knew that what I had found was pretty fresh, because it hadn't been covered with any dirt and was still pretty shiny when I found it," he said.
According to Huckaba, his next phone call was one to the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis where he spoke with geologists and answered several questions.
"I called the Pink Palace yesterday and told them what I had found. They asked me some questions about the rock and asked me to describe it to them. After talking to them, they told me that they were pretty sure that what I had was a meteorite, but that they'd need to see it to make sure," Huckaba said.
It wasn't 10 minutes after that telephone call that Huckaba's 15 minutes of fame began. Two television stations from Memphis spent much of yesterday afternoon with Huckaba and the second station to contact him brought a team of geologists in tow.
According to earthquake specialist Gary Patterson, while the rock may be a meteorite, without analysis that cannot be determined.
"This could be a meteorite, and it appears to be, but it could also be slag from garbage that is being burned. We just can't say for certain until it has been analyzed. Once it's sent off for analysis, then it can be determined for certain what he has," Patterson said.
After speaking with the scientists, Huckaba said that he will
probably take the rock to the Pink Palace for analysis and after
that, put it up for bidding on ebay.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
The St. Francis County Hometown Health Improvement Network celebrated it second year with a luncheon on Tuesday.
According to HHIN Leader Tammy Lawson, the organization is a unique group wanting to improve people's health.
"We are a group of community members and health care providers," said Lawson. "The network was begun through a grant from the Community and Rural Consortium. We come together to improve the health of St. Francis County. We meet each month and discuss projects and programs that will help us do this."
Community support for the HHIN comes from several sources. Members include Forrest City City Council member Roy Hancock, Palestine-Wheatley School District Superintendent John Manning, Angela Wilburn of the Crowley's Ridge Development Corporation and Lawson, who is with the SFC Health Department.
"Our whole objective was to get a diverse groups of people and poll their opinions on what they feel are the most important health issues facing the county. We are wanting to get as many different perspectives of the health issues as we can and include as many opinions as we can."
According to Lawson, the HHIN has accomplished several tasks in gathering that information. "One of the things we are most proud of is the YRBS (Youth Risk Behavioral Survey) we conducted. It asked students in area schools what health issues they are concerned about. We have also spoken to civic clubs regarding the HHIN."
The HHIN has narrowed the major health issues of concern for the county down to three. "For our implementation grant, we have to have a focus, or main goal, on what we feel are the major problems here. The three issues we have decided on are the increased use of tobacco, substance abuse and obesity.
"The HHIN is on the verge of the next step, our implementation grant. We are hoping to apply for the next round of implementation grants, which is in April 2004. We are trying to find a way to outreach all three issues in the grant."
The HHIN, if approved, will receive $100,000 in grant money to implement their programs, but the organization is not sitting ideally by on educating the community of health risks while waiting on the money to arrive.
Lawson spoke of some of the programs that have already been offered. "The Network has already held a few programs. We have had the former Winston Man (an actor who was featured in cigarette ads) speak to the schools in January of this year. Rick Bender (who lost most of his lower jaw to cancer) also appeared at local schools. But we also are very proud of our resource directory. We developed the directory so that St. Francis County residents can find information on healthcare providers in the area and about health concerns.
One goal the HHIN hopes to accomplish is the expansion of its membership. "When we first started, we had several healthcare providers in the network. In the past two years, we have added several new members from the general public, but we are looking for more people who are not providers.
"Many people still don't know who we are or what we do," Lawson added. "We have a lot of good people in the county trying to accomplish the same goals we are. We want to join with them by providing them with health information and have them combine with us to work towards our goal of a healthier St. Francis County."
To join the Hometown Health Improvement Network or to learn
more about the programs and services the group offers, contact
Tammy Lawson at the SFC Health Department at 633-1340.
A Palestine woman was the victim of a scam last week while shopping at a store in Forrest City.
Shirley Jackson of Palestine reported that she was approached by two women while she was at It's Fashion. She said the two told her a story, and she ended up giving the two women $1,000 from her bank account.
Jackson was left, literally, holding the bag -- a brown paper bag that was supposed to have $75,000 inside. After the two women were gone, Jackson allegedly found shredded paper inside the bag.
Police are investigating.
A Madison man is being held on a $50,000 bond for allegedly raping a 21-year-old Heth woman last week.
Calvin Woodard, 35, was arrested Tuesday and charged with rape, a Class Y felony.
According to the complaint, Woodard had been shooting a gun on the afternoon of Oct. 31. He allegedly went to the victim's house and sat on the porch steps, asking for a drink of water. The victim claimed she took the gun from Woodard and put it under his car seat.
The report states that Woodard made some suggestive statements to her, and she tried to go into the house. At that time, according to the report, he grabbed her from behind and threw her on her couch, where the alleged rape occurred.