By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The school bells rang this morning for most students enrolled in all three of the county's school districts.
Officials in all three districts said the transition from summer break back to business appeared to be moving along this morning.
Forrest City School District Superintendent Lee Vent said this morning's arrival of students went was one of the best in recent memory. "I spent time at several of the schools this morning, and I have to say that everything went really well. As a matter of fact, this was one of the best back-to-school mornings that I can remember. Everything just went extremely smoothly," Vent said.
According to Vent, students are to be dropped off at school between 7:30 and 8 a.m. at all campuses. Breakfast will be served daily beginning at 7:30. While each school day begins at the same time, the bell rings at the end of the day differently, according to the school a child attends.
Four of the district's five elementary schools, Central, Stewart, Forrest Hills and Caldwell, will release students at 3 p.m. The dismissal time at Madison Elementary is at 3:20.
Students at Lincoln Middle School and the Forrest City Junior High School are dismissed at 3:15.
At FCJHS, parents who take their children to school must drop them off and pick them up on either Graham or Victoria streets. According to FCJHS Principal Billy Ferguson, the district is talking to the Forrest City Police Department in an attempt to also use Division Street as a pick up and drop off location.
"In the past, we haven't been able to use Division Street, but I've been in discussions with the police department to see if we can allow parents a 10-to-15 minute window they can park and pick up students," Ferguson said.
The oldest students in the district will also be the last to be dismissed at the end of the school day. All students at Forrest City High School will be released at 3:24 p.m. according to a press release from the FCSD.
According to officials in the Palestine-Wheatley School District, Thursday's back-to-school transition also went well.
"We had a real good morning for our first day back," Superintendent John Manning said.
In the PWSD, the use of shuttle buses staggers the time that some students begin their school day.
"We run some shuttle buses, so some of our students have to arrive a little bit earlier than the rest. We start serving breakfast at 7:30 and parents gather at the elementary school about 3 o'clock in the afternoon," he said.
Manning also asked that parents in the district abide by the traffic schedule used at the elementary school. "At the elementary school, we're asking that parents pull into the line and pull forward to allow our teachers to bring their students to the vehicle," Manning said.
High school students in the district will be released at 3:15.
In the Hughes School District, staggered times will be used for both arrival and dismissal at the elementary and high school campuses. According to officials with the HSD, elementary students cannot arrive on campus prior to 7:45, and they will be dismissed at 3:15. Students on the high school campus may begin arriving at 7:30 a.m., and will be released at 3:30 p.m.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The St. Francis County Election Commission has moved closer to a public hearing during which the state may consider imposing civil penalties against the members.
Officials with the state Board of Election Commissioners voted recently to meet with county officials at the board's next monthly meeting.
According to a story in the Arkansas Democrat -Gazette, Board members voted to meet with St. Francis County election officials at the board's Sept. 8 meeting in Little Rock on complaints of irregularities during the May 18, preferential primary election.
Longtime St. Francis County Election Commissioner Bettye Proctor, said news of the meeting came as a surprise to her Wednesday.
"Right now, I don't know what this is all about. The last thing that I heard from the state was that we were in compliance with their requests and we thought that everything was through and we would be getting our money from the state. Then, I get a call from a reporter with the [Arkansas Democrat] Gazette with all of these questions, and that was before I was even contacted by the state," Proctor said.
Following the May primary election, county election commissioners received a request for information from Susie Stormes, Director of the State Election Commission. Stormes followed her original request in June with a second request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.
Last month, officials with the state voted to subpoena the records which had not been received. Earlier this month Stormes told a reporter with the Times-Herald, that the commission was prepared to issue the subpoena, but received the requested information before that could be done.
The meeting next month will determine whether a public hearing over possible election law violations is necessary. If a public hearing is held, county commissioners could face civil penalties of $25 to $1,000.
Several complaints were made to the state by St. Francis County citizens including allegations that Republican ballots were not furnished at the polls during the May primary. On May 19, Proctor acknowledged that there had been some issues concerning Republican ballots.
In a statement then, she said, "There was some confusion about the Republican ballots, but we had them and they were at the Civic Center. The problem was that all of the ballots for Forrest City had been placed in one box at the Civic Center instead of in the different precincts, and when people asked for a Republican ballot, the workers didn't know that we had them. We got everything sorted out, and everything else went smoothly," Proctor said.
"We also had someone ask for a ballot in Colt, and we didn't have any out there so we took a ballot out and called them and let them know that we had ballots at the location. They came back in and got to vote. Everyone that was registered and wanted to vote, got to vote," said Proctor.
Stormes was not available for comment this morning.
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A blaze that kept firemen at bay for over three hours Wednesday afternoon was apparently set intentionally.
Witnesses told fire and police officials they saw a man throw a can of gasoline through a rear window of a vacant house on East Broadway shortly before the entire structure was engulfed in flames.
The Forrest City Fire Department responded to the blaze at 1106 E. Broadway, just west of Broadway Grocery, about 4 p.m. Forrest City Code Enforcement Officer Chester Crossen identified the East Central Arkansas Economic Development Corporation in Dumas as owner of the structure. Crossen also said the house was in the process of being condemned.
FCPD Criminal Investigation Division Sgt. John Riggins, who is investigating the fire along with the fire department's arson team, said homeless people were known to gather inside the dilapidated structure, and a "couple of them bailed out of it when it caught on fire." Riggins said officers were aware of the homeless gatherings and had routinely checked on the structure to try and keep people out of it.
According to reports, officials asked the witnesses to go to the police department where they identified photographs of the suspects they claim threw the gasoline into the structure.
The house, which had an estimated $30,000 value, was a total loss. No one was injured in the blaze, which kept firemen busy until about 7:30 p.m.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
State Rep. Danny Ferguson on Thursday defended his decisions to attend meetings in Seattle and Alaska this summer, even though he will be term-limited out on Dec. 31.
Specifically, the trips were to the American Legislative Exchange Council conference in Seattle in July, and The Energy Council meeting in Anchorage, Alaska in September.
Ferguson and other so-called "lame duck" politicians have been criticized for taking trips to conferences, even though their terms will expire before they will serve in another session of the Legislature.
Ferguson said the term, "lame duck" doesn't really apply, because there is plenty of work to do before the end of the year.
Ferguson serves on the Joint Budget Committee.
"What people need to realize is that on the Joint Budget Committee, out of 24 members, 18 are third termers (and therefore term limited)," he said.
"We will begin hearings in October, and we will propose the budget that will be addressed in the next legislative session," Ferguson continued. "Every single state agency that gets public funding comes before the Joint Budget Committee, and I serve the people of my district through December."
He said that was his justification for attending the American Legislative Exchange Council conference, which he said was educational.
"At the meeting such issues as funding education and budget shortfalls were discussed," he said. "It covered a lot of issues. I attended meetings all day long with American legislators, finding out what other states are doing to address the issue."
Ferguson said Arkansas has some of the shortest term limits around, and said that saying a legislator's usefulness ends after the final regular session in which he serves is not accurate.
Ferguson also said he is a member of The Energy Council which meets in Anchorage in September.
"The Arkansas Legislature has a Joint Energy Committee. I am the House chair of the committee. In addition, The Energy Council is an organization made up of the 10 states in the United States that are energy producing states. Arkansas produces oil and natural gas."
He said The Energy Council debates and votes on energy policy statements which are forwarded to Congress. Ferguson said he is a member of The Energy Council's executive committee.
"If you say that once an Arkansas House member enters his final term, he should not attend any more conferences because they won't be back for a regular session, you would deny Arkansas representation on The Energy Council," he said.
"Not only do I think it's proper for me to attend, I think it's incumbent upon me to attend so the Arkansas House of Representatives has its vote on energy policies."
Ferguson repeated, "I'm very active in the Legislature. And I intend to serve the constituents in my district through Dec. 31, and I think the people in my district want me to stay on the job."
A group of seven soldiers from Task Force 3-153's C Company, which includes members of Arkansas National Guard Company C based in Forrest City, were recently honored during a Purple Heart presentation.
According to a story reported in the August Edition of the Arkansas National Guard magazine The Bowie, the soldiers were injured in two separate attacks on 'Fort Apache,' the company's base. Among those honored were, Sgt. Robert Hinton of Forrest City, Spc. Darron Stewart of Widener and Sgt. Daniel Poole of Marianna. The other soldiers honored were Sgt. Darron Johnson of Cabot, Spc. Timothy Mays of Hamburg and Cpl. Cory Pickard of Maumelle.
"I can't tell you how proud I am to be here today, said Brig. Gen. Ron Chastain, Commander of the 39th Brigade Combat Team. "I don't like giving out purple hearts, but when you're here to get them, it means one thing...you've been returned to duty, and you're here to fight another day. I'm really proud of everybody," Chastain said.
The members of Company C were called up last fall and were expected to serve 14 months under Operation Iraqi Freedom. The call-up for the guard members was the second extended tour for many of the guard members since 2001.