By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
While the entire Forrest City bypass won't be open until next year, it is hoped that the southern leg of it will be opened sooner.
"We hope we can get part of it open; that's the tentative plan now," said Ray Woodruff, district engineer with the state Highway and Transportation Department.
He said the target date, which he said is still tentative, is to have the part of the bypass which connects Ark. Highway 1 south of Forrest City with U.S. Highway 70 (Broadway) open around Nov. 1.
The northern part of the project, which takes the bypass from Highway 70 across Interstate 40 and ending on Highway 1 north of Forrest City, will take longer, Woodruff said.
"We hope it will be finished early next year," he said. "Now, when we say early next year, we're not talking about January, because the weather in January is not conducive to doing the work. We're hoping for early spring. It's weather dependent."
Weather has not helped the bypass project this year, he said.
"It's been an unusual summer. You'd have some dry weather, and about the time you're ready to do something, you'd have a rain."
There will not be a traffic light at the southern end of the bypass on Highway 1 as there will be at the northern end, he said.
The third annual Cotton Pickin' Festival kicks off this evening in Caldwell, including some features from last year along with some new activities, all geared toward having fun.
"We feel like this is the largest and most exciting festival in this area," said Caldwell Mayor Gary Hughes. "And we're trying to improve upon it and make it even more exciting for everybody. Our arts and crafts are going to be much bigger this year, and much more interesting. Everything looks like it's going to be bigger and better this year."
Among some of the new events will be the antique car show and a pet show.
Other new events include a greased pig contest, and a "Tacky Contest," which will replace last year's Womanless Beauty Pageant. Courageous men and women will be invited to dress their tackiest. Judging will be on tackiness, poise and personality.
There will also be food aplenty. Chili will be featured on tonight. On both days, there will be hamburgers, hot dogs, funnel cakes, popcorn, French fries, nachos, corn dogs and other favorites.
The schedule is as follows: Events on Friday, Sept, 26, include: Music, Chili Supper, Arts and Crafts, Silent Auction and Kid's Games from 6-9 p.m. Cotton Pickin' King and Queen contest at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 27 events include: Volleyball at 9 a.m., Pet Show at 10 a.m., Cotton Pickin' Contest at 11: a.m., Bingo at 1 p.m., Tacky Contest at 5 p.m., Naval Band of Mid South at 6 p.m., Elvis at 7 p.m. and Direct Connection at 8 p.m.
Kids' Games will be from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. and the Greased Pig Contest will be at 2 p.m. There will also be music from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Silent Auction, Cake Walk and Antique Auto Show will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In addition, Richard Owen Ellis, author of the book, "Pine Tree Times," will attend the Caldwell Cotton Pickin' Festival on both days.
Ellis is now doing research on his next book, which will be about the Telico and Johnson Townships and southern Cross County. He is interesting in contacting people who can provide information and old pictures from that area. The planned release of the book, which may be entitled, "River to River," is two to three years. Ellis will also be signing copies of "Pine Tree Times."
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Housing Authority Board approved three resolutions Thursday to help clear some of their accounts.
According to FCHA Director Janet Duncan, the resolutions were part of annual bookkeeping procedures. The first resolution passed by the board charged off over $3,000 in rent from tenants who had moved out of one of the city's three housing projects. Duncan told board members that the $3,257.47 in rental payments were uncollectable accounts which had resulted from tenants who had moved. The Grobmyer Circle housing project accounted for $1,153.70 of the unpaid rent; the total for Turner Circle, with only four charge-offs, was $1,025.98 and the Rice and Mann project accounted for $1,077.70.
Board members also approved a resolution which charged off a total of $117,676.96 in unserviceable, non-expendable equipment for the three housing developments. According to Duncan, the equipment included a variety of items ranging from refrigerators for apartments to office equipment. The third resolution passed by the board Thursday, approved the charge-off of $1,218.91 in outstanding checks which were more than 90 days old. Duncan told board members that housing authority bookkeepers had requested the checks be charged off even though she was positive they had been cashed.
"I don't know why these checks never cleared, because they went to tenants for various things and I know they got cashed. They just never cleared the bank. Our statements show that they've been cashed, the checks just didn't clear on the banks end," said Duncan.
The board also agreed to increase the flat rate charge for tenants. According to Duncan, Housing and Urban Development officials requested recently that the rates in the housing authority be compared to rents in the open market and be adjusted as such.
"We recently attended training through HUD, and they suggested we change our flat rate. They wanted us to compare our rental rates with rents on the open market which was difficult to do because our apartments don't offer some of the amenities that you can get at some of the other complexes in the area," Duncan said.
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The new flat rates for tenants will be higher, but will remain lower than the open market average according to Duncan.
Board members also agreed last night to continue subsidizing a day care center which is located in the Rice and Mann Housing project. By a unanimous vote, the board agreed to allow the current operator to continue running the center for the first six months of next year under the conditions that she receives her license to operate and gets non-profit status. Earlier this year, the St. Francis County Developmental Center bowed out of operating the center, according to Duncan.
The hospice program at Baptist Memorial Home Care & Hospice is running short on volunteers and is planning a training course that will prepare people to be successful volunteers.
"The training is interesting, incorporating various topics that will be beneficial to you," said Melissa Gore, Volunteer and Bereavement Coordinator. "Helping families cope with death is a normal part of life."
An alternative to traditional health care for the terminally ill, hospice is designed to provide for the physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs of both the patients and their families in the home setting, according to Gore. After the patient dies, hospice continues to work with the family for up to a year after the death.
"The program does much more than traditional health care; it fills in the gaps and meets all the needs of the patient as well as the family," she said. "To do that, hospice uses a trained team, including doctors, nurses, physical therapists, social workers and clergy."
Above all, she said, the hospice volunteers are the backbone of the program.
"The primary purpose of the volunteers is to offer emotional support," Gore said. "That support can be channeled through practical services such as running errands, caregiver relief, reading, being a good listener, and giving the caregiver support. Some volunteers do not make home visits, they may just phone the patient or the caregiver, or send an up-lifting card. The volunteers often just lend a sympathetic ear.
"Becoming a hospice volunteer will make you feel good about yourself knowing that you made a difference in someone's last days or helped a caregiver let go."
Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer may contact Melissa Gore, Volunteer and Bereavement Coordinator, at 870-261-0188 or 800-692-5440.
Forrest City Grocery Company's annual charitable donations have topped the $1 million mark with this year's gifts, made possible mainly from the proceeds of the annual charity golf tournament held at the Forrest City County Club each year.
This year's donations totaled $199,075, bringing the total to $1,089,575.
This year's donations included $25,000 to the St. Francis County Community Foundation, along with a $1,000 operational pledge and $2,000 to the Youth Advisory Council. Total contributions to the Community Foundation have been $69,000 to date.
There was also a donation of $30,000 to the Forrest City Education Foundation, with an extra $4,000 to the Rumble on the Ridge basketball tournament. Total contributions so far to the Education Foundation have been $617,000.
Other donations were as follows:
Razorback Foundation: $20,000; University of Memphis, $25,000; Make A Wish Foundation, $10,000; Muscular Dystrophy Association, $1,575; Eastern Arkansas Heart Walk (Oct. 25) $2,000; Rolling Readers, $1,000; American Cancer Relay For Life (Forrest City, May 4), $2,000;
St. Jude Children's Hospital, $2,000; Toys for Tots, $1,000; EACC Foundation -- Scholarship $3,000; St. Francis County Food Pantry certificates for turkeys, $1,500 value; Forrest City Area Humane Society, $500; Arkansas Children's Hospital, $2,000; American Diabetes Assn., $2,000; St. Francis County Literacy Assn., $500.
All parents of children from kindergarten through grade 5 who want to help their kids with math are invited to a "Math at Home" session with Dr. Linda Griffith, to be held Tuesday, Oct. 28, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Forrest City Junior High Cafeteria.
This will be an hour of learning new ways to teach children math at home. There will also be refreshments and door prizes. For more information, contact Allison Fogg at 261-1858 or 633-7219.
Jay Patel, a local motel owner, was cited with 30 violations of the city's fire code after it was discovered that there were no batteries in smoke detectors in several rooms.
At about 8 p.m., Thursday, a resident at the Save Inn, 105 North West Street, was being investigated for the sale of drugs by the Forrest City Police Department when the violations were discovered. According to the FCPD, the drug suspect was not arrested.
A Forrest City Firefighter was with the FCPD during the investigation as part of a new state abatement law. He noticed the smoke detector in the room was not working. The firefighter then checked the other rooms and found 30 rooms that either the smoke detector was not functioning or that there was no detector, according to the FCPD.
"If they (Save Inn) don't come up to compliance, it is a danger to both them and our firefighters," said FCFD Chief Dan Curtner. According to Curtner, the next step will be for the owner of Save Inn to appear in court and possibly pay a fine. After that, a reinspection will be conducted. If the violations are not corrected at that time, the business could be shut down, Curtner said.
The International Professional Rodeo Association will hold a rodeo at the Wiley T. Jones Fairgrounds tonight and Saturday.
The annual event will begin at 8 o'clock each evening, but gates will open at 6 p.m. Part of the proceeds from the rodeo will go to local schools.
There will be seven events, including bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, calf roping, barrel racing and bull riding. Local riders will be accepted. Call 1-800-639-9002 to enter.