By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The opening of the new Forrest City Senior Citizens Center for which a ribbon cutting is scheduled Thursday, will begin a new era for seniors in Forrest City, according to Mayor Larry Bryant.
The new center is located in the Municipal Sports Complex.
"Basically, the new Senior Citizens Center will open up new horizons for our senior citizens," said Bryant. "There will be more room for more people, computers and Internet. They will have all the modern technology, a computer room, and an arts and crafts room. They'll have a big open space where they can meet and interact with each other."
The ribbon cutting activities will begin at 11:30 a.m. and continue until around 2 p.m., said Bryant. The center will be open to the public for anyone to see.
"There will also be office room," said Bryant. "In the old facility (on Grobmyer Circle) the office workers were outside in a module.
"Overall, it is a great situation, and it's going to help our seniors citizens to build a longer and better life."
He said in conjunction with the ribbon cutting, 4-H kids and young people from Forrest City Community Voices will be celebrating their own Grandparents' Day.
"Any grandparent who wants to come out is welcome," said Bryant. "We hope we can get something going throughout the community, where our senior citizens will feel that they have value added to their lives."
Access was sometimes a problem for senior citizens at the Grobmyer Circle location, Bryant said, but at the new location, "the bus can let them off right at the door. It is fully accessible. It's just going to be an asset to Forrest City."
Willie Smiley, director of the Senior Citizens Center, said everyone is excited.
"It's going to be a Godsend," said Smiley. "They are looking so forward to moving into that new center."
The center at Grobmyer Circle was accessible only by stairs, while the new center is on level ground.
"Folks are counting down the days," she said. "Some of them have been having to climb steps for years. Now they'll be able to walk on level ground. And they are looking forward to getting some exercise (walking) without having to go so much up and down. It's great."
She said they are looking forward to getting computers, and said she hopes they will be able to get someone to come teach them a computer class.
"We just can't wait, because they want to get on those computers," she said.
"We're having fun here (at Grobmyer Circle), but just wait until we get them in the new facility. They're really going to have fun then."
The second L'Anguille River Festival will be held at Palestine Saturday, Oct. 25, with activities from 8 a.m. until midnight, including arm wrestling, a pet parade, arts and crafts, live entertainment, food and much more.
The festival will be held in the area of city hall.
The day will kick off at 8 a.m., with patriotic singing. Also at 8, all booths will open and the barbecue cook-off will begin.
The Pet Parade, with first, second and third place prizes, will begin at 9 a.m.
At 10 a.m., there will be an archery contest at the ball park, and a Cake Walk at the old fire department.
BINGO will begin in the Courtroom at 11 a.m. Gospel singing will also begin at 11.
Judging for the Barbecue Cookoff will take place at 11:30 a.m.
The arm wrestling contest, with five weight divisions, will begin at noon.
At 2 p.m, will be the greased pig contest, and the duck calling contest will take place at 4 p.m.
A special treat will be in store at 5 p.m, with Gussie Michaelis and her popular "Minnie Pearl" act.
The womanless beauty pageant will take place at 6 p.m., and from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m, there will be an amateur hour, for anyone who wants to perform.
Beginning at 9 p.m. and continuing until midnight, there will be a street dance, with the group Live Wire.
The day will also feature drawings for two rifles, a Remington Model 700 270 and a Remington Model 700 30-06. There will also be a silent auction.
For more information or to register for an event, call the Palestine City Hall at 870-581-2166 or 870-581-2489.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Residents in one Forrest City neighborhood may have had places to go Saturday morning, but they couldn't get there fast after a rash of tire slashings at Stuart Springs Trailer Park.
According to reports from the Forrest City Police Department, 11 vehicles were vandalized overnight Saturday leaving over $1,500 in damages. Lt. Det. Dwight Duch said this morning that the department doesn't have any leads currently. Duch did say that a reward is being offered through Crime Stoppers.
"Right now, we don't have any suspects, but we're taking information through our Crime Stoppers program, and that will pay up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest," Duch said.
The telephone number for Crime Stoppers is 261-1499. The names of people calling the line remain confidential and tipsters will receive a code and instructions on how to follow up on the information they provide to police.
The annual Rice Tasting Luncheon, sponsored by the St. Francis County Farm Bureau Women's Committee, will be held Friday, Oct. 31 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., at the Family Life Center of First United Methodist Church in Forrest City.
The annual Rice Cook-off will be held also, with the following categories of entries: Salads, vegetables, main dish, desserts to international cuisine and miscellaneous.
Dishes should be brought to First United Methodist between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Oct. 31. Winners will be announced at noon. There will be three winners in each division. There will be cash prizes.
Recognition of "Heart Heroes" will be a new addition to this year's Eastern Arkansas American Heart Walk, to be held Saturday, Oct. 25 at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City.
Participants who walk in honor or memory of a victim or survivor of heart disease or stroke will receive special Heart Hero signs. These will be given to walkers to wear on their backs during the event, with a place to write the Hero's name.
Survivors will also be given red caps to wear during the event.
The walk will begin at 9 a.m., with registration beginning at 8 a.m.
The purpose of the Heart Walk is to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease, the nation's number one killer. A secondary purpose is to promote walking as a health lifestyle (Walking 30 minutes, three times a week, helps lower the risk of a heart attack or stroke).
Hundreds of walkers are expected. Thank-you items will be given to participants based on dollars raised.
There will be refreshments and children's activities following the Walk.
To register, call Mary Beasley or Pam Rawls at 870-931-3070. For more information, call Tiffany Billingsley at Baptist Memorial Hospital, 870-261-0000.
A toddler lost several toes in a freak accident Saturday evening at his home near Hughes.
Eighteen-month-old Cain Graham was a passenger on a 90 E-Tod four-wheeler driven by his older brother, Damien Graham, age 9, when the baby's right foot slipped into the vehicle's chain, according to a report on file at the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department.
According to deputies, the children's father, Carey Graham, notified deputies of the accident about 5:30 p.m., as he was enroute with the child to Crittenden Memorial Hospital in West Memphis.
At the hospital, the older child and his father told deputies the two boys were riding the four-wheeler in their yard when the four-wheeler hit a bump and the baby's foot slipped off a foot stand and into the chain. The toddler was treated at CMH and later transferred to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis for further treatment.
A Forrest City man has been arrested in connection with the alleged attempted rape of a 15-year-old girl last week at his home.
The Forrest City Police Department today reported Osice Locket Jr., 34, of 940 Rice St., Apt. 140, Forrest City, was arrested Friday evening without incident on a charge of sexual assault in the second degree, a Class B felony.
The girl told police she was babysitting at the suspect's home when he allegedly attempted to rape her.
Locket is being held in the St. Francis County Jail on a $10,000 bond. He was scheduled to be arraigned in St. Francis County District Court this afternoon.
A large amount of marijuana was found hidden inside luggage Arkansas State Police searched following a routine traffic stop Sunday evening on Interstate 40.
According to a report from ASP Troop D in Forrest City, a 1995 Chevrolet van, driven by Lynette Maria Hill, 23, of Fayetteville, N.C., was stopped for a traffic violation just before 8 p.m. near the 221 eastbound mile marker.
The trooper was given consent to search the vehicle, and found 200 pounds of marijuana inside a suitcase and two duffel bags.
Hill is charged with possession with intent to deliver.
The Palestine-Wheatley School Board will meet at 6:30 tonight in the junior high school library on the Wheatley campus.