By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
There is no word as yet on the possible fate of a fourth phase at the Federal Correctional Institution at Forrest City, but there is still room for optimism.
That was the word from U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor Friday after a tour of the existing facilities.
"Not yet," Pryor said, in answer to a question about movement on the fourth phase. "In fact, we were talking about that earlier (during the tour)."
He said, however, that the tour had given him some "ammunition."
"I have some ammunition now that I can carry back to Washington as we continue to work toward that fourth phase."
The first phase was a low-security facility, and that was followed by a minimum-security camp. The most recent phase is a medium-security facility. The hoped-for fourth phase, a maximum security facility, has yet to be funded.
Pryor said the prison complex was impressive.
"It was great to see. This is an amazing facility," he said. "They showed us the furniture manufacturing, and it's all very impressive. I think this facility can have a great track record, and like I said, it gives me a lot of ammo to use back in Washington to get the fourth phase to come to life."
Pryor continued, "It's very clean and very well run. It's quiet and orderly. I've been in most of the state facilities (in his earlier capacity as state attorney general), and this is new, very well run, and is something this community can be proud of. I know it's also a big employer in the county now. It's certainly part of the economic engine that makes St. Francis county go."
The warden and associate warden for the newly completed third phase were announced recently. The warden will be Linda Sanders, currently warden of the medium security facility at FCI-Ashland, Ky. The associate warden is Amy Carlton, currently administrator for a federal center in Fort Worth, Texas.
They are expected to assume their duties sometime in February, at which time hiring and training of staff is expected to begin. It is expected that there will be inmates at the prison by the end of this year.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
With a Jan. 1 deadline missed and a Jan. 22 session with the state Supreme Court looming, hopes for a legislative agreement on education reform are dim but not yet dead, according to one local representative.
Rep. Danny Ferguson, in town this morning and headed back to Little Rock later today, said talks are still taking place and took place over the weekend.
He said there is some indication that there may be some agreement on a school funding formula, but consolidation is still a sticking point, even when it comes to raising taxes.
"I think we're still a long way apart on the reform bill, particularly the consolidation issue," said Ferguson. "Just keep in mind that all taxes except sales tax require a 75 percent vote in both houses, which is pretty difficult to obtain.
"Taxes are a real battle, because you have one group of legislators saying they're not going to vote for any tax increases if consolidation passes and their school districts are closed. And you have another group saying they're not going to vote for any taxes unless there is consolidation, and you don't end up having to raise taxes to keep these small schools intact."
Ferguson said it gets even more complicated than that.
"There are some real issues. There are well-performing small schools, that have the test scores and pay their teachers well, and are adamantly opposed to closing their schools based on numbers," he said.
"And another major concern is from small districts just with over 500 (one proposed cutoff number for consolidation). What if you have a district with 600 kids, that is doing fairly well, and then you put them in with a small district that is doing poorly, with 250 kids? Does the district automatically go into academic distress?"
Ferguson also said that the idea of postponing consolidation until districts show that they can meet tough new standards sounds good at first.
"But the fears expressed were that standards-based consolidation wouldn't stand up to a court challenge," he said. "Opponents say that small, affluent school districts would be able to raise their teachers' pay and add the required courses, while small, poor districts, many of which are predominantly African-American, would not be able to do that."
He said it essentially would be Lake View all over again.
At issue is a 2002 state Supreme Court ruling (also called the Lake View decision, from the small school district which brought the suit) declaring the state's public school system unconstitutional and giving legislators until Jan. 1, 2004, to come up with a plan to provide the state's 450,000 public children equal access to an adequate education.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The Forrest City Police Department is looking for information leading to the arrest of vandals who struck over the weekend, causing damage to several vehicles
According to several reports from the FCPD, seven cars were "egged" over the weekend with the first report given on Friday morning by Michael Norris, whose vehicles were parked at his residence on Graham Street.
Also Friday, Diane Birdwell, who lives in the Washington Heights area, notified officers that someone had thrown eggs onto her vehicle. The vandals reportedly struck Birdwell again on Saturday, and she told officers at that time that this was the 10th time her vehicle had been attacked. She reported $500 in damages to her car.
Early Saturday morning, an officer on patrol in Washington Heights noticed that the rear window of a pickup truck owned by Greg Bonds had been "egged" and that a vehicle at the residence of FCPD Detective Brian Davis had also been vandalized.
Another officer on patrol Saturday noticed that a vehicle owned by Irene Cash, which was parked at the Manor House Apartments, had been targeted.
The FCPD encourages anyone with information in police investigations to contact Crime Stoppers at 261-1499. The names of people calling the Crime Stoppers line will remain confidential. The tipsters will receive a code and instructions on how to follow up on the information they provide to police.
The St. Francis County Sheriff's Department has joined law enforcement agencies statewide in supporting the 84th Arkansas General Legislature's mandate prohibiting racial profiling in the state.
According to a press release from St. Francis County Sheriff Dave Parkman the departments policy is consistent with all state and federal laws and provides provisions for citizens to contact the office if they have a conflict with a St. Francis County Deputy.
"The St. Francis County Sheriff's Office realizes that there will be disagreements from time to time, with individuals that come in contact with our officers. We realize that confusion, different perceptions or possibly timeliness of information could result in information that may produce different accounts of the addressed. We trust that the vast majority of contacts between citizens and officers are conducted in a positive, professional manner. The relationship between the community and our officers is based on confidence and trust. We cannot be effective without both the community and our officers working together to achieve this goal," the press release stated.
Citizens with concerns over policy violations may make a formal complaint to the Sheriff's Office at 633-2611.
Arkansas' unemployment was 8.6 percent during November, up slightly from 8.4 percent in October, and up more than a point from the 7.5 percent recorded in November of 2002.
According to the figures from Arkansas Workforce Labor Market Information, during November the county had a civilian labor force of 12,875, with 11,775 working and 1,100 not working. The figure gave St. Francis County the eighth highest unemployment out of the state's 75 counties.
The state's highest unemployment was 12.8 percent, recorded in Woodruff County. Three other counties (Mississippi, 10.9; Lee, 10.9; and Calhoun, 10.4) had unemployment higher than 10 percent. Twenty-five counties had unemployment of 7 percent or higher.
The lowest unemployment was in Benton County, at 2.4 percent. Two other counties (Washington, 2.8 and Madison, 2.9) had rates lower than 3 percent.
The unemployment rates in surrounding counties are as follows: Cross, 8.4 percent; Crittenden, 6.6 percent; Lee, 10.9 percent; Phillips, 8.5 percent; Monroe, 12.8 percent; and Woodruff, 12.8 percent.
Statewide, the November unemployment rate was 6 percent, down
two-tenths of a percent from October.