By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A driving while intoxicated charge is pending against a Forrest City Police officer following a near head-on collision Monday night north of Forrest City.
Arkansas State Police Corporal Franklin McMillion filed a report on the accident involving FCPD Lieutenant Frank Frymire today at ASP Headquarters in Forrest City. In addition to the pending DWI charge, Frymire also faces a charge of reckless driving.
The accident occurred at 7:43 p.m. Monday, almost four hours after Frymire, 55, of Colt, ended his shift at the FCPD. A blood alcohol test was also performed on Devin B. Adell, 26, the driver of the 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass that was struck by Frymire. The results of the blood alcohol tests have not been completed, according to McMillion's report.
According to McMillion's report, Adell was traveling south on Highway 1 when Frymire, who was traveling north in his 2003 Toyota Tacoma, crossed the center lane and struck Adell's vehicle on the left side. Adell told police he saw Frymire's truck headed toward him and swerved to the right-hand lane to avoid a head-on collision. Adell's vehicle was struck about eight feet west of the center dividing line. The Frymire vehicle continued traveling west, coming to a final rest about 200 feet into an unharvested wheat field.
Both men were transported by ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City where they were treated and released.
The Adell vehicle received an estimated $2,000 damage, and $10,000 damage was reported to the Frymire vehicle.
Forrest City Police Chief Clarence McNeary said Frymire has not been back at work since the accident, and is being "carried sick" because of the injuries he received as a result of the accident.
McNeary said the result of the blood alcohol test would determine Frymire's standing with the department, but added that he is also waiting to review the accident report.
McNeary estimated the BAC test results should be completed within two weeks.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A temporary solution to school funding may or may not escape legal challenges as Arkansas courts open today.
"I really don't expect one (a challenge) personally, but who knows?" said state Rep. Danny Ferguson, D-Forrest City this morning.
Gov. Mike Huckabee signed the short-term, $5 million solution into law Wednesday before legislators began a four-day recess of a special session that began Dec. 8. Last week, the amount had been reported as $16.5 million. The Legislature was scheduled to reconvene Monday.
Ferguson said something had to be done. He said the understanding of most legislators was that the passage of the stopgap funding created, in effect, a new school funding formula. The new formula, supposedly, would require re-filing of lawsuits, which would give the Legislature time to work on a completely new formula.
"If we had done nothing, the current funding formula had already been declared unconstitutional as of Jan. 1," said Ferguson. "So somebody could have gone to court and asked for an injunction to freeze all funding for schools."
The stopgap measure targets districts by poverty level.
Ferguson said it has been commented that not more than a handful of people understand the current funding formula, and said many people are hoping that the new formula is easier to grasp.
The Legislature will reconvene Monday, Jan. 5.
"It's anybody's guess how long we'll be there," said Ferguson. "I think it'll take a couple of weeks at least."
It may take even longer, because, Ferguson said, once the new formula is passed, the money will have to be raised. And the Revenue and Taxation Committee at the moment is not considering any bills.
"Revenue and Taxation isn't going to consider any bills until it is known how much money has to be raised," he said.
He said there are proposals for sales tax increases, removing the sales tax exemption from most of the services which are now exempt, severance tax increases, even income tax.
"There may even be some proposals to increase the property tax assessment rate," Ferguson said. "I think you're going to see a myriad of tax proposals."
While funding is a large problem, consolidation continues to be an issue which has almost paralyzed the session.
"I would imagine that some action will be taken on the Senate bill (next week) which is the governor's consolidation
bill," Ferguson said. "I look for a vote on it in the House Education Committee and then a vote on the House floor. If it doesn't get out of committee, then it could go to conference committee."
Ferguson said that in cases where the House and Senate are at loggerheads on an issue, legislative leaders can call for a conference committee, in which selected lawmakers get together and try to hammer out something.
A November 2002 state Supreme Court ruling declaring the state's public school system unconstitutional became effective Thursday. The court gave legislators more than a year to develop a plan for providing Arkansas' 450,000 public school children equal access to an adequate education.
After failing to agree on permanent remedies, legislators passed the minor change in funding schools through June 30 to buy more time. They hoped the measure would satisfy the court, as lawyers in and outside the Legislature said the ''new'' formula would be presumed constitutional.
A new lawsuit challenging its constitutionality would take months to work its way through the courts -- more than enough time for the Legislature to enact a new funding system and other major education reforms, some lawmakers said.
David Matthews of Lowell, a lawyer for the Rogers and Bentonville school districts, intervenors in the school-funding case, said his clients favored giving legislators more time to work before filing a new lawsuit.
''There will be no lawsuits filed on behalf of the Bentonville and Rogers school districts on Friday,'' Matthews said.
But former Sen. Bill Lewellen of Marianna, lawyer for the Lake View district, has made no such commitment. Lewellen did not return a telephone call to his office seeking comment.
Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville and a lawyer, said it was unlikely that a judge would issue a temporary restraining order or an injunction to halt the flow of education money because legislators failed to significantly change the school-funding system.
A Marianna man spent part of the first day of his new year at a Memphis hospital after being stabbed just after ringing in the new year at a party near Hughes.
Tommy Butler Sr., 34, was stabbed with a knife when he tried to intervene in an argument between a man and woman during the party at a residence located at 348 SFC 617.
According to a report on file at the St. Francis County Sheriff's Department, the 21-year-old Horseshoe Lake man was leaving the party when he got into a fight with a woman in the front yard. When Butler attempted to intervene, the suspect made several swipes at him with the knife, leaving several lacerations on Butler's neck, his left side and his buttocks, deputies reported.
Deputies said others at the party told them the suspect had been brandishing the knife during the party and had allegedly stated he was going to stab several others there.
Butler was taken to the Med Center in Memphis where he was treated and released.
According to the report, because the suspect and victim had been drinking, deputies advised Butler to contact the sheriff's department after his release from the hospital if he wanted to file charges against the suspect.