By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A busy holiday weekend netted almost 500 traffic arrests, but there was only one fatality in the Arkansas State Troop D area, according to Lt. Tommy Wicker.
Troop D takes in the counties of St. Francis, Crittenden, Phillips, Lee, Cross, Woodruff, Monroe and Prairie.
The lone death took place Friday afternoon in Forrest City, when Paul Oscar Henderson, 41, of Colt, apparently lost control of the motorcycle he was riding.
In all, according to Wicker, during the holiday period which ended Monday night, there were nine accidents, one of which was alcohol related. The holiday reporting period began at midnight Thursday.
There were also a total of 228 speeding violations, 19 DWI violations, 65 seat belt violations and seven violations of the child restraint law.
There were 37 other hazardous arrests (running stop signs, reckless driving, etc.) and 78 non-hazardous (no insurance, etc.)
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
Jury selection was scheduled to begin this morning in the trial of a former Colt resident charged with raping two young children. One of the children was allegedly raped while the suspect was free on bond from the first rape charge.
First Judicial District Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Gary Mitchusson said the jury was expected to be seated this morning, which would allow for the trial to begin this afternoon in the circuit courtroom at the St. Francis County Courthouse.
John Easley, 73, was first arrested in January this year for the alleged rape of a six-year-old boy. He was freed on a $35,000 bond until his second arrest at the end of February for the alleged rape of a five-year-old girl. According to court records, Easley was a family acquaintance of both victims.
The boy told his mother in January that Easley had forced him to perform oral sex on two occasions. One incident is reported to have occurred at Easley's Colt home while his wife was watching television in another room, and the other is reported to have occurred in a truck while the suspect and the boy were on an outing to get ice cream.
The incident involving the girl reportedly also occurred at Easley's home where he allegedly forced the child to have sexual intercourse with him.
Following his February arrest, Easley's bond was set at $25,000 cash, but meetings between prosecutors, the suspect's attorney and a circuit court judge resulted in the bond being changed from a cash bond to an aggregate bond of $35,000, meaning Easley was able to post the required 10 percent of his bond, or $3,500, and was released from the St. Francis County Jail.
The court order changing his bond was also accompanied by an order requiring Easley to relocate to Pulaski County and to cease contact with the victims and their families.
St. Francis County is joining 54 other Arkansas counties in an annual effort to clean up the state.
Beginning Sept. 6, counties across the state will participate in the Great Arkansas Cleanup 2003 which will last the month of September and much of October. St. Francis County's cleanup date is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 4, from 9 a.m. until noon.
Fifty-five of Arkansas' 75 counties are signed on to participate in the Great Arkansas Cleanup. Those counties are Arkansas, Ashley, Baxter, Benton, Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Chicot, Clark, Cleburne, Cleveland, Conway, Craighead, Crawford, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Faulkner, Franklin, Fulton, Garland, Grant, Greene, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Howard, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lincoln, Little River, Lonoke, Madison, Marion, Mississippi, Nevada, Ouachita, Perry, Pike, Poinsett, Polk, Pope, Randolph, Sebastian, Sevier, St. Francis, Stone, Van Buren, Washington, White and Yell.
A statewide campaign will feature television and radio advertising as well as T-shirts and posters encouraging volunteers to participate. Each local event will also give out a litter pickup tool to aid in future cleanups to the leading "litter getter" at each local event.
In St. Francis County, Tracey Teal and Annie Washington in County Judge Carl Cisco's office are coordinating the event.
"We're just wanting people to come out and help get the county cleaned up," said Teal. "We're needing volunteers with trucks so that we can haul the trash to the bins that we'll have set up and we're just hoping to see people come out and help," she said.
According to Teal, dumpsters will be set-up at the Northeast Arkansas Recycling Corporation (NEARCO) in Madison.
Last year, the cleanup boasted 60 events in 54 counties where 16,563 volunteers and 77 local coordinators spent 51,000 hours picking up more than 2.6 million pounds of trash; cleaning up 3,700 miles of roadway, 135 parks and public areas, and 196 miles of shoreline; and closing 14 illegal dumps. The volunteer-driven effort provided the state a cost-saving value of just over $729,000.
The Great Arkansas Cleanup began 34 years ago as the Greers Ferry Lake and Little Red River Cleanup. In 1985, U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers guided legislation requiring an annual pickup event during the weekend after Labor Day on all federal lands. This law, the Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Act, honors the founder of the event. Mr. Garner continues his advocacy for a clean and litter-free environment as a member of the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Foundation Board of Directors.
The Forrest City City Council is scheduled to meet at 7 tonight at city hall.
Councilmen will hear the third and final reading of an ordinance to authorize the city to spend $2,120,000 for capital improvement, economic development, business, housing and quality of life projects.
Similar ordinances have been placed on third readings before the council this year, but before they could be voted on, changes were made to the wording in the ordinances, requiring a new ordinance to be written on the matter. Each ordinance must be read three times before a final vote.
Under new business, councilmen will hear from Scott Carroll regarding a new "Welcome to Forrest City" sign.