By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
After a week of waiting, ballots should be on the way, according to officials with the company printing the ballot and officials with the St. Francis County Election Commission.
According to election commission member Bettye Proctor, officials with Election Systems & Software notified her this morning that ballots were being loaded on a plane today for shipment.
"Hopefully they'll be here by noon tomorrow unless something awful happens," Proctor said this morning.
Thursday afternoon Megan McCormack with ES&S also said the company expected to have ballots in St. Francis County by Saturday. According to McCormack the drafts of the ballots were received later than needed for the May 3, opening of early voting.
"We received the information for the ballots on April 21, which is late in the game if you're getting them for an early May election. After that, we submitted the first proof on April 26, which is still late in the game, and we didn't receive a final approval until May 4," McCormack said.
St. Francis County is one of four counties that experienced early voting delays. According to an Associated Press story, officials in Phillips County blamed a computer glitch and Craighead County Clerk Nancy Nelms attributed the delay there to election commissioners not having time to meet. In a similar situation to St. Francis County, Clark County officials faulted printing companies in charge of printing ballots.
Earlier this week, it was reported that ES&S might be in charge of the printing for Phillips County, but according to McCormack, the company sold voting equipment to Phillips County but did not develop the ballots. McCormack said that ES&S previously printed ballots for six counties in the state, but two were using different printers for this election and of the remaining counties, St. Francis was the only one with delayed ballots.
After the third consecutive election with ballot issues, St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco said he is looking into the option of employing a person who would answer not to the election commission, but to a group including the commission's chairperson, the county clerk and the county judge.
"After the last election, I mentioned possibly hiring someone who to handle all of this who would have elections as their primary job. Judy works hard, but she has a full-time job that takes up a lot of her time. I think we need a person who would be trained to work elections and even if the job was only part-time, it would be the focus of what that person would do," Cisco said.
If ballots arrive on Saturday, early voting will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. in the St. Francis County Clerk's Office. According to St. Francis County Clerk Elizabeth Smith, extended hours are not allowed according to the new laws.
"According to the law, you can only hold early voting Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The only way to change that would be through a lawsuit, and no one has filed one yet," Smith said.
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
For a brief moment on Thursday it appeared as if Hell's Angels were taking over Palestine when close to 200 motorcycles crossed the Interstate 40 overpass headed for Love's Truckstop.
It was anything but as the bikers traveling in the Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America stopped briefly to fill the tanks on their bikes and bodies before heading off to their next destination in Memphis and later to Tupelo, Miss., where they spent the night. The group began Thursday's ride in Branson, Mo., and was headed to Atlanta., Ga., today. The ride will conclude with a private event on Saturday in Randleman, N.C.
Flanked by NASCAR sponsors, drivers and supporters, the event's main draw is Kyle Petty, who originated the ride about 10 years ago to benefit children's charities. The ride took on a whole new meaning after the death of Petty's son Adam, a fourth-generation driver, in 2000. Adam Petty was killed in a racing accident in May that year.
Joining Petty in Palestine were drivers Harry Gant and David Green. Other NASCAR favorites such as Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte and Terry Labonte, were expected to join the trip in Atlanta, and Petty's father, Richard, was to meet them Thursday in Memphis. Driver Steve Park had been with the group until the stop in Branson. He was to join them again in Tupelo.
The ride normally concludes with a concert, but on this year's diamond anniversary, the ride will end with a private party to celebrate the grand opening of the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, N.C., founded by Petty and his wife Pattie in memory of Adam.
The goal of the racing-themed camp is to enrich the lives of children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses by creating camping experiences that are empowering, memorable and fun.
Campers will be among peers that face same or similar illnesses, enabling them to share stories and build friendships while participating in activities such as boating, horseback riding and swimming.
The camp will open this summer and serve as a year-round retreat at no charge to the campers or their families.
Once open, the camp will host campers ranging from seven to 15 years old. The summer programs will consist of eight, week-long sessions, each with 125 participants. The remainder of the year will include family retreat weekends, specialized programs for smaller disease groups, sibling weekends and camper reunions. Pediatric specialty doctors, nurses and a full-equipped medical center will be available 24 hours a day to handle any medical needs, ranging from bandaging a minor cut to providing chemotherapy.
The facility's racetrack theme will have children enter the camp through a tunnel, via tram, as if they were entering a speedway's infield. The camp's main building will resemble a front stretch grandstand. The camp will have 36 buildings, including 16 camper cabins, a seven-acre lake, a performing arts center, a boathouse and an equestrian center.
The motorcycles are a thing to see. They come in all shapes and sizes and are driven by men and women; white and black; young and old, and are escorted in pairs across Interstate 40 by Arkansas State Police. Some wear helmets, some don't. Some have passengers, some don't. Some have sidecars, some don't. There are Harley's, Hondas, BMWs. Some motorcycles are brightly painted while others are more subdued in the design.
To offer an idea of how long a line of about 200 motorcycles is, some motorcycles can be seen still taking the I-40 eastbound exit in Palestine while the first ones in line are beginning to pull into the truckstop located on the north side of the Interstate.
As bikers walk around the parking lot, stretching their legs, they stand in a sandwich line while drivers such as Petty, Green and Gant are flanked by fans.
Different setup crews arrive before the main group gets there to make sure everything is set up and ready. Other support staff pack up and head out to the next destination before the main group arrives.
With his elbow perched on the tailgate of a pickup truck, the tall and slender Petty, wearing his trademark No. 45 baseball cap, talks about the children and the ride. Petty drove the No. 44 car until Adam's death, then changed to No. 45 in honor of his son.
During his NASCAR career, Petty has won eight races, but never a championship. He is the son of Richard Petty, a NASCAR legend with two career championships and 36 NASCAR wins. Kyle Petty's long braided ponytail hanging from his baseball cap is a testimony to his own style as much as his father's cowboy hat was a testimony to his.
Although driving in NASCAR is what he does for a living, it's the children and their charities that appear closest to his heart.
"The majority of the children are chronically ill, and what I mean by that is it's for kids with severe asthma, those on kidney dialysis, hemophilia, arthritis, things these kids are fighting their whole life," Petty said.
The ride actually began on Saturday, May 1, in Palm Desert, Calif., but Petty had a NASCAR race to compete in on Sunday, so he joined the ride after that.
In talking about the ride, Petty said, "It started really small, but we've got a lot more corporate involvement this year," Petty said. "Usually we go to children's hospitals, or at least that's what we've done the last nine years.
He explained why the ride would end at the VJGC. "We've not taken anyone to the camp. It's been kept secret in a lot of ways. These people have donated so much time to build the camp that this year we're doing a low key thing and having these people be the first ones to see the camp."
"All money raised now will go to keep the camp alive," Petty said.
"It gets bigger and bigger every year," he added.
April was light for building permits in Forrest City, according to information from the mayor's office.
There were no commercial building permits issued. All were for private homes. There were four fence projects, two sheds, two remodeling projects, two roofs, a floor and windows.
The total value of the April projects was $39,534. The total value of projects for the first four months of the year was $2,129,109.
The St. Francis County Food Pantry recently reported that it had served 338 families during March, reflecting 367 adults and 240 children.
There were 12,430 meals.
During April, the number of families served was 327, with 388 adults and 246 children. During April, 12,680 meals were served.