By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Members of the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce spent Thursday morning at the Forrest City Civic Center visiting with business people from across eastern Arkansas to discuss the group's upcoming biennial visit to Washington D.C.
Jesse Johnson, vice president of public policy with the Memphis Chamber, said the meeting was to get regional input on the economic issues in the tri-state area of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, that can be discussed with elected officials during the trip.
"This is the third in a series of four meetings that we're holding in communities throughout the region so that we can get more input from the communities outside of Memphis. The meetings have gone well and have helped us in determining what needs should be addressed in our upcoming trip," Johnson said.
According to St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco, who will be making his third trip to Washington D.C. with the MRCC, the tour provides a wealth of information and opportunities for local involvement with the MRCC.
"The trips to D.C. have really been good for us. They have allowed us to make some real good contacts, not only in Washington, but also in Memphis and across the region. We now have contacts from Blytheville to Tunica, and we're all working to increase the economic power of this region," Cisco said.
While the trips to Washington have been successful, Cisco also said he hoped to see more local involvement in the regional chamber. "I just wish we could get a larger amount of participation from our area. We need more business people and local leaders participating because it shows a greater interest in making this a success. This isn't something that we're going to see dividends immediately from, but over the next four to five years, our participation will start to show rewards," he said.
Neither the Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce nor the City of Forrest City were represented at the meeting. According to officials with the FCACC and the city, neither organization was represented because both Chamber Executive Director Danny Ferguson and Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant were out of town.
According to Ferguson, the Chamber was notified of the meeting earlier this week through the St. Francis County Judge's Office, which was working in conjunction with the MRCC, but he could not attend due to Thursday's legislative session.
"We didn't receive a formal invitation, which was probably just an oversight from the Memphis Chamber, but did find out through a third party on Wednesday that the meeting was being held. It's my understanding that someone from the judge's office noticed that we were not on the list and called on Wednesday to invite us, but I couldn't attend because we were in session yesterday," Ferguson said.
According to Ferguson, the FCACC schedules their trips to Washington with the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce which he said might have attributed to the FCACC being inadvertently left off of the Memphis list.
Officials with the city also said that there was no formal invitation to the meeting, but they were notified of the meeting and an informal invitation was issued when the civic center was booked for the event.
Bryant was out of town this morning and was not available for comment.
The three-day conference in Washington will include several networking opportunities for local business leaders and will also include a reception co-sponsored by the Tennessee Valley Authority and Memphis Light, Gas & Water. The early sign-up period for the tour, which will be from April 28 through April 30, ends on March 19, with registration ending on April 8. Parties interested in attending the conference can contact the St. Francis County Judge's Office for more information.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Six Forrest City homeowners are the first to take advantage of a grant program which will renovate several homes across the city and rebuild others.
According to Joe Maxwell, a consultant for the city on the grant, the program is part of a federal grant to help low-income homeowners. Maxwell said funds for the grant were allocated by the Housing and Urban Development Department which then gave the funds to the Arkansas Development and Finance Authority. Those funds were then given in grant form to communities across the state.
Forrest City's portion of the grant was for over $260,000 and will remodel four homes and build two new homes. The funding will also pay to demolish homes where it is necessary to build new ones.
For homeowner Pearlie Grady, the remodeling of her home was a blessing. "I think that it's great. They've (Cox Construction) been really nice, and they've done an excellent job. The only way it could have been any better is if I would have done it myself. This doesn't even look like the same house it was five weeks ago when they got started," said Grady.
Grady's home was the first to be completed, and Maxwell said he expects the work on the other homes to go well also.
"This program was announced a couple of years ago, and it took us a little longer to get started than we expected or wanted, but now that we've started, everything is going well," he said.
According to Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant, the program has been successful and the city will attempt to get another grant to do more work.
"We're going to be able to get four homes renovated and two new homes built, including one for an elderly couple. There were some problems on the state's end, but it's running well now and it's a good program. We hope to utilize it again in the future," Bryant said.
Sometimes honesty isn't necessarily the best policy -- at least it isn't if you're already breaking the law.
According to a report from the Forrest City Police Department, at about 8:40 Thursday night, an officer was driving through the Rice and Mann housing complex, when she saw LeChillo White, 20, standing outside.
The officer said she shined her flashlight on White and asked him to walk toward her. White did so, and the officer asked what he was doing.
According to the report, White answered, "Just smoking my weed."
The officer asked him again, "to verify what I thought he said," the police officer said in the report, and was answered by White that he was smoking marijuana.
After White identified himself and said he was from Detroit, "I advised Mr. White that what he was doing was illegal," the officer continued in the report. "Mr. White stated that he did not want the smoke in the apartment because of the kids, so he went outside."
According to the report, White handed the joint to the officer, who put out the lit end and smelled it, confirming that it was marijuana.
White, whose address is listed as 906 Victor Street in Forrest City, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.