By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A new state law allowing city and county courts to collect a $5 fine for jail maintenance and operation is causing some confusion in St. Francis County and statewide.
In May, members of the SFC Quorum Court adopted an ordinance to impose the fine on any misdemeanor or traffic case to which a defendant pleads guilty or nolo contendere. The fine is also levied when a person is found guilty of, or forfeits bond, for any misdemeanor or traffic violation in District Court or city courts within St. Francis County.
According to the ordinance, the additional fine was to be placed into a special account by the county treasurer's office and to be used exclusively for maintenance, operation and capitol expenditures at the St. Francis County Jail.
District Court Clerk Neva Vance said officials began assessing the fine this fall, and $1,950 was the first deposit made into the new account.
"We started assessing the new fine in October and everything has been working fine,"
While Vance said the new program has worked well, St. Francis County Sheriff Dave Parkman still has questions on the application of the new program. Parkman said he didn't feel that the ordinance was being followed properly.
"The bond amounts should be raised by $5, and I don't think that the $5 is being applied to all the cases like it's supposed to be. What I am concerned with is the money that's going into the special account, and it just doesn't seem to me that it's being applied to every case," Parkman said.
According to Vance, the additional fine can only be applied to misdemeanor cases and traffic cases, and excludes cases of contempt such as failure to comply or failure to do community service.
"I think that there may have been some questions over the number of cases it was to be applied to, but the fine only applies to cases that aren't contempt cases. Cases such as contempt of court or failure to comply for someone not paying their fine don't have the additional $5 fine assessed," Vance said.
Statewide, questions over the implementation of the fine are also being raised. In November, Attorney General Mike Beebe's office issued an opinion regarding the applicability of such ordinances after being questioned by State Representative Wayne Nichols of Marked Tree as to whether the fine is to be imposed on all cases inside of Poinsett County, or whether it applies only to cases outside of municipal boundaries.
"In sum, while I believe the 'plain meaning rule' may be cited to support the county collecting the additional $5 fine from each defendant regardless of the arresting office or location of the offense, I am uncertain whether the plain meaning will be controlling, given the arguable inconsistency in the court's approach to the rule. Case precedent on statutory construction compels me to alert you to the possibility that the statute will be construed to limit the fine to county cases, i.e., those cases in which the county would otherwise receive fine proceeds," said an opinion issued by the Attorney General's office in Little Rock.
Currently, District Court, which handles all felony cases as well as city cases for Forrest City, Wheatley and Colt, is the lone judicial entity in the county which applies the additional fine.
Representatives in Hughes, Madison, Palestine and Widener, where court is also held, were not aware that they were to collect the additional fee, but according to Shelly Bieber, chief of police in Widener, the court would start collecting as soon as the city is officially notified.
"We haven't been notified that we were supposed to be collecting the fine, but if the county will get me something, we'll start doing so," Bieber said.
County officials are unsure as to whose responsibility it is to notify city court officials of the new ordinance.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A lack of single, high-dollar building projects kept the value of building permits down in Forrest City during 2003, but it still wasn't a bad year, according to Mayor Larry Bryant.
There were 130 permits issued during 2003. The total value of the permits was $4,766,340.99. That is the lowest in several years. The number of permits was also lower.
"Some years we've been fortunate that we've had a lot more construction going on," Bryant said. "This past year, we just didn't have any major construction, like Chapel Ridge Apartments or the new junior high school, that kind of skewed the numbers for a couple of years. It goes in spurts, and the numbers just got skewed."
Some of the figures seem to bear out Bryant's assessment concerning the lack of large projects. In 2002, for instance, 155 building permits were issued for nearly $8 million worth of construction. However, that included the $3.2 million for the second phase of Chapel Ridge Apartments.
In 2001, although there were 173 permits issued, the year's value total was headed toward a mediocre finish until December, when a $6 million permit was issued for the new Forrest City Junior High School. That pushed the over all total for 2001 to $10.4 million.
Likewise, the year 2000, which would have been a fairly good year anyway, was pushed to $9.5 million by the first phase of the Chapel Ridge Apartments ($2.6 million) and $1.2 million for the construction of Grace Plaza.
During 2003, there were no single million-dollar permits, and only one month (April) that went over $1 million. A breakdown of the months of 2003 is as follows:
January -- seven permits valued at $183,799, the largest being $150,000 for a new house.
February -- eight permits valued at $38,750, the largest being repairs to Taylor Chapel C.M.E. Church.
March -- five permits valued at $334,640, the largest being $328,000 for the new Forrest City MRI building.
April -- 23 permits valued at $1,186,070, the largest being $734,861 for a new building at Baptist Memorial Hospital. This month also saw a lot of home repair or improvement projects.
May -- 10 permits valued at $428,049, the biggest being $347,500 for a remodeling project on Newcastle Road.
June -- 19 permits valued at $962,109, the biggest being $550,000 for a new home. This was also a big month for home improvement.
July -- 13 permits valued at $217,143, the biggest being $63,793 for a code locator by Verizon Wireless.
August -- 12 permits valued at $262,100, the largest being $96,000 for the remodeling of the new Popeye's restaurant.
September -- 11 permits valued at $100,900, the largest being $50,000 for an iron fence.
October -- nine permits valued at $122,740, the largest of which was $68,000 for a building on Grant Street.
November -- nine permits valued at $868,600, the largest of which was $619,000 for a new u building on North Washington.
December -- four permits valued at $62,000, including two private home remodelings, a room addition and a medical building modification on Lindauer.
"We've been building houses, one at a time, and also had some other things built," said Bryant. "Things are looking up, according to all the government indicators."
A man who fought with police after his vehicle was pulled over during a routine traffic stop faced several charges in St. Francis County District Court today.
The Forrest City Police Department reported a police officer responding to an alarm call about 6:20 p.m., observed a 1978 Chevrolet pickup driving recklessly on Beech and Oak Streets. When the officer pulled the vehicle over, the driver, Dion Johnson, 31, 203 N. Beech St., Forrest City, reportedly exited the truck with carrying a "large bottle of alcohol."
According to the police report, Johnson allegedly began cursing and walking toward the officer who said Johnson tried to assault him, and when he pushed the suspect, Johnson fell to the ground. Other officers were called to the scene and helped place Johnson in the patrol car.
While being searched at the police department, officers found 8.5 grams of crack cocaine in his jacket pocket and $500 in cash.
Several hours after his arrest, police said Johnson complained of pain in his wrists and was taken to the emergency room at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City where he was treated and released.
Additional charges followed his visit to the emergency room where he allegedly threatened officers.
In all, Johnson is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver near certain facilities, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, reckless driving, running a stop sign, driving while intoxicated and terroristic threatening. Police said the incident occurred within 1,000 feet of a school and several churches.
Elected officials and members of boards and/or commissions have until Saturday, Jan. 31, to turn in their annual Statement of Financial Interest according to a press release from St. Francis County Clerk Elizabeth Smith.
According to the press release, all state and district office holders must file the forms with the Secretary of State's office while county, township and school board members must file with the county clerks office. City officials along with district judges and city attorneys must file with the city clerk of the municipality that they serve.
The forms are available in the county clerk's office or at the Secretary of State's office.