By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A Forrest City teenager is dead from a stab wound he received during an altercation last week at a downtown club.
The incident occurred almost a year to the date after the teenager's father was stabbed to death during an altercation with a family member.
The Forrest City Police Department reported Louis Dinwiddie III, 18, was stabbed in the neck and shoulder areas in an incident outside Billy Ray's Place on North Grant Street about 9:45 p.m. last Thursday.
According to the police report, Dinwiddie told police he was at the club with some friends, and when they went outside, he realized he had left a compact disc on a table inside the club. A few minutes later, according to Dinwiddie, a black male subject came outside and tried to sell him the CD.
An argument ensued after Dinwiddie told the subject the CD was his, police said. The suspect then allegedly pulled a screwdriver out of his pocket and stabbed Dinwiddie in the upper left chest area near the collar bone and neck.
The suspect then fled the scene in a green Saturn, according to the report. Dinwiddie told police he went home because he did not think the injury was serious.
The incident was not reported to police until Friday evening when Dinwiddie sought treatment and a tetanus shot for the stab wound at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City. He was later transferred to Baptist East Hospital in Memphis where he died on Sunday.
FCPD Criminal Investigation Division Sgt. Brian Davis said the investigation is continuing.
The victim's father, Louis Dinwiddie Jr., was killed during a fight over a neck bone last October. He was stabbed to death by a brother, Walter Dinwiddie, 36, who was eventually charged with first-degree murder. The Dinwiddies shared a home at 125 Poplar Street, according to police reports. Witnesses told police the two men had argued over food and women, and that the disagreement escalated into name calling and violence. Dinwiddie was stabbed with a butcher knife.
The murder charge against Walter Dinwiddie was first reduced to second-degree murder and then to manslaughter in May of this year. He pled guilty to manslaughter and received a 10-year suspended imposition of sentence.
The suspended sentence was agreed upon by family members during meetings with prosecutors.
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
Forrest City Police are trying to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting of a local teenager Wednesday afternoon while he visited at a local apartment complex.
Courtney Howard, 17, 1128 Dawson Rd., Forrest City, was shot in the left leg just before 3 p.m., according to a report on file at the Forrest City Police Department.
Police were called to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City in reference to the shooting. When officers arrived, Howard first told them he had just left a cousin's apartment at Chapel Ridge and was shot when he got to the bottom of the stairs. He also told police he was shot in a field between the apartment complex and the hospital.
Howard was taken to BMH-FC by a cousin and a friend, police reported, but neither was at the hospital when police arrived to question the victim.
Forrest City Police Department Criminal Investigation Division Sgt. John Riggins said a followup investigation did not support the information first provided by Howard, but instead revealed Howard had actually been shot while inside the Paula Lewis apartment at 1428 Chapel Ridge. Riggins said police followed a blood trail from the stairs to Lewis' apartment.
Lewis allowed police to search her residence. When asked if she knew about the shooting, Lewis told police she was in the shower when she heard a gunshot. When she exited the bathroom, she found her cousin, Howard, outside her apartment with a gunshot wound and called another cousin to take him to the hospital.
However, inside the apartment, police found a bullet hole in the bathroom door.
Eventually, according to Riggins, Howard told police he and a friend were playing with a gun and Howard got scared and ran into the bathroom and was shot through the bathroom door. He also told police they thought the gun was unloaded.
Howard was treated at BMH-FC and later transferred to Arkansas Children's Hospital. Riggins said police have not yet determined what type of weapon was used in the shooting because the bullet was still in Howard's leg when he was transferred to the Little Rock hospital. "The main thing is the bullet shattered his leg," Riggins said.
"This could end up being an accidental shooting, but we haven't found the guy who did the shooting yet to question him," Riggins added.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Although there are some possible concerns with weather, cotton and soybean farmers in St. Francis County are looking forward to good crops this year, according to Extension Agent Mitch Crow.
"Our farmers are just in a good mood -- the best mood I've seen them in, in the fall, for years," said Crow. "They're really enjoying themselves again, and it's about time."
He said it looks as if the yields and the prices are going to be good.
"Both of those are kind of coming together for once. It's been a while since we had that," he said.
Crow said cotton yields have been good.
"I've heard all the way from a bale and a quarter to two and a quarter," he said. "I've even heard of some small fields picking three bales. If we can get a lot of fields like that, it will be fantastic."
The weather has become a concern for cotton farmers.
"We've got some late cotton that is probably going to be dependent on the weather," he said. "It will probably depend on whether it can be harvested."
Rain has been spaced out, and cotton fields need a couple of days after a rain before they can be harvested effectively, he said.
"The lint and the fiber has got to dry to a certain degree before the picker will pick it," he explained. "You need, probably, a couple of good days of drying and sunshine to dry down enough for the picker to get it."
He continued, "Another thing which may become a factor is muddy fields. I don't think they're a factor now, but may become a factor later."
Meanwhile, soybeans, including late soybeans, have done well.
"A lot of the later soybeans look great," said Crow. "We've been producing 40 to 45, or 50 bushels of beans. I think we've still got that potential with the late beans.
"At one time, some of the folks were saying that we were going to be right under our state record, of 36 bushels, that we got back in 1994. We could get right up there close. I doubt we will beat it. It might be within a couple of bushels."
The Delta Regional Authority will hold one of two check presentations Monday, at the St. Francis County Courthouse.
According to a press release from the DRA, representatives from Congressman Marion Berry's office, the DRA and the offices of Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor will be on hand for the festivities. The presentation will take place in the Quorum Court Room of the Courthouse at 1:30 p.m.
The grant award is for funding to the St. Francis County Transportation Mall project.
Baptist Home Care and Hospice is holding classes to prepare those interested in becoming hospice volunteers. Classes will be held in the Baptist Memorial Hospital Forrest City classroom on Monday, October 20, at 5 p.m. For more information about volunteering, please call Melissa Gore at 870-261-0188 or 800-682-5440.
Hospice is a program that takes care of terminally ill patients with a life expectancy of six months or less. The volunteers give support to the patient as well as the family.
Baptist Home Care and Hospice is a community service agency dedicated to caring for people who require health care in the home by providing nurses, nursing assistants, physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, social workers and medical equipment.