By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
From the specter of eight-year-old kids walking the streets at 2 a.m. to fears that teenagers might get arrested for going to a movie in Forrest City, a proposed new curfew was inspected from all sides, including enforcement, during Thursday's city council meeting.
"My main concern is children under 14," said Mayor Larry Bryant, referring to the proposed ordinance which would require kids 13 and younger to be off the streets by 6:30 p.m. and kids aged 14 to 18 to be off the streets by 9 p.m.
"It was all for discussion," said Bryant. "We can come to some arrangement."
Most of those critical of the proposal said the hours are too early. But there was also some concern over enforcement. Alderman Roger Breeding asked if there were any grants available which could fund a policeman whose sole job would be to patrol the streets looking for kids in violation of the curfew. Alderman Cecil Twillie said if there are little kids out at 2 a.m., the present law isn't being enforced. "They don't do what we have on the books now," he said, referring to the police.
The Forrest City curfew as it currently stands is as follows: For children 14 and younger, 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; for ages 15-18, 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday. The curfew ends at 5 a.m. for all age groups, both in the existing and proposed laws.
Lt. Eddie Adamson of the Forrest City Police Department was asked to speak about the curfew.
"The first thing, make it simple," he said. According to Adamson, under the current law police have to keep track of a three-warning system before any real action can be taken. He said the law needs to be "something the police can easily understand and that parents can easily understand."
Later he said, "We need to be able immediately to cite these parents. If we have an eight-year old kid out walking at 2 in the morning, some parent is being irresponsible."
When asked, Adamson said the age group of kids which give police the most problems is the mid-teen group, aged 14-16. "At that age, they're roaming the streets looking for something to get into."
There was some discussion of easing the proposed curfew for those 16 and older who are fully licensed to drive. One mother from Wynne had contacted a council member asking if her child was going to be arrested for driving to a movie in Forrest City.
Both the existing and proposed laws have provisions which allow for a teen going to and from a church or school function or work.
The ordinance containing the proposed new curfew times was read for the second time. There is one reading left before the measure can pass. Bryant said the ordinance could be tabled or amended as the council desired.
On another matter, the real estate committee may meet soon to discuss the possibility of getting funding from the Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields Program. These grants are available to assess, clean up, or establish a revolving loan fund for properties where a site may be contaminated.
The interest in the Brownfields Program stems from an offer the city has received to purchase the site of Snyder's, a scrap metal business. Up to $200,000 over two years is offered for assessment. The same amount is also offered over two years for cleanup of land owned by the grant recipient.
In other action, the council approved a request to bid for demolition of 17 condemned houses. The locations are at 108 W. Day, 141 Brandon, 303 W. Davis, 418 Lombardy, 1451 Newcastle Road, a garage building at the north end of Stewart on the east side, 508 Davidson Lane, 2138 Williams, 142 W. Day, 150/152 E. Day, an old house behind 119 W. Midway, 1212 Purifoy, 111/113/115 W. Broadway, 233 N. Water, 1106 E. Broadway, 2126 Peevey and 1201 Airport Road.
There was also some discussion on getting construction of the new Humane Shelter started. Bryant said the building wanted by the Forrest City Area Humane Society would cost more than the $100,000 which has been appropriated.
Two residents of Wynne pled guilty and were sentenced recently in the U.S. District Court in Little Rock for defrauding the Social Security Administration.
Woodrow Easter, 61, was sentenced to six months home detention and three years of federal probation following the completion of his sentence. He was also ordered to pay $50,047.40 full restitution to the Social Security Administration.
Diane Baskins, 47, pled guilty to providing false statements to the Social Security Administration to fraudulently obtain benefits to which she was not entitled. She was sentenced to nine months home detention, which will be enforced by the use of an electronic monitoring device. She was also ordered to pay $68,943.20 full restitution. She will have five years of probation following her home detention.
According to a press release, investigation by agents with the Social Security's Office of Inspector General found that Easter was paid for work using his wife's Social Security number at Baskin's mobile home business in an effort to conceal his work from the Social Security Administration in order to continue receiving disability payments.
Agents also discovered that Baskins also received Social Security disability benefits while she managed and operated Baskins Mobile Homes. She was subsequently charged with concealing her work activity and income from the Social Security Administration to continue receiving disability benefits.
The matter was investigated upon the referral of the Forrest City Social Security office. Anyone wanting to report Social Security fraud or abuse can call the toll-free number at 1-800-269-0271 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Central Time.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The Delta Regional Airport Authority could get a glimpse at the first 10 to 15 potential sites for a proposed regional airport as early as next month, according to the authority's engineering firm.
At a DRAA meeting Thursday, Mike Stengel with Garver Engineers updated board members on the progress being made to finalize the site selection matrix, which now puts the project in the actual site selection mode.
According to Stengel, as many as 10 to 15 sites in the area between Forrest City and Wynne will be selected based on a variety of data utilizing aerial photography, general property and land use maps, prevailing wind data, topographic maps and possible airspace obstructions. Garver will then present the potential sites so that any unacceptable sites can be eliminated, leaving six to eight options determined to be most suitable based on comments from the DRAA meetings and site visits.
On Thursday, officials also decided to welcome input from the public at their next meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 16. The primary topic at the meeting is scheduled to be the presentation of the first preliminary sites.
"Getting input from the public would really be a good idea on the front end. We want the input from the public and we may learn of sites that we don't know about and may have offers for land donated or sold from a landowner. We just want to make sure that the public understands that this will be a DRAA meeting and not a public hearing," said Stengel.
Dr. John Kerr, DRAA chairman, was pleased with the progress shown by Garver, but also expressed concern over an outline provided which showed a potential location area stretching from the outskirts of Forrest City to the outskirts of Wynne.
"The initial picture that you have provided to us is really wider than we anticipated. I'm a little concerned about this because from the beginning both communities have expressed a desire to see that this airport is equally user friendly for either community. My first knee-jerk response to the picture would be to ask that we start from close to here (Colt) and work our way out," said Kerr.
Stengel told board members that while a user friendly location may be desired, from the beginning any potential sites needed to be considered.
"I understand that we want this to be easy for both locations to use, but we want to present all of the best available sites so that we can say that we didn't pass over any feasible locations without at least presenting them," said Stengel.
Stengel and Kerr both applauded efforts from the Federal Aviation Administration which have kept the project moving smoothly. According to Stengel, the first two phases of the project, the feasibility study and the site selection matrix, are in the hands of the FAA already. Both men said that approval of grant funding for the first three stages of the project has helped move things forward.
"Each project in the Airport Development normally would take a year to complete because of the way funding is generally handed down. In this case, the FAA has really worked with us to get this done and they have given us the funding for the first three phases and because of that, the process could actually be shortened up to two years," said Stengel.
"From the very inception of this program, the FAA and Lana Logan have worked hand in hand with us to see that we get this project completed, and we can't thank them enough for that," said Kerr.
After the sites have been narrowed to six to eight potential locations, preliminary site evaluation will begin. During that stage, a more detailed review of the preliminary sites will be completed and property values will be assessed. A preliminary environmental assessment will also be held on each location which will be followed by evaluation of the sites which will be ranked and narrowed to the top two or three locations. Garver will then present a recommendation for the top sites to the DRAA which will select a preferred site. At that point the information will be presented to the public in a public meeting prior to final submittal of the site selection study to the FAA.
DRAA members also heard concerns from one member that committee members be kept in the loop on issues concerning the commission. According to Shirley Harvell, a meeting earlier this year which included a presentation by Garver to the Forrest City City Council, left her feeling awkward as they discussed issues she felt she should have had knowledge about.
"There was a meeting this summer where Garver came to the city council to ask for increased funding for this project, and I, for one, felt awkward and uneasy as I sat at the meeting because city council member Roger Breeding knew more about what was to be presented at the meeting than I, a member of this commission, did. I just want to make sure that there are no meetings being held without all of the commissioners being apprised, and I want to make sure that everything is kept above board," said Harvell.
According to Kerr, there were no attempts to hide any information. Kerr told board members that he had informed the Cross County and Wynne representatives on the bi-county board of the situation and that he felt Bill Hays, vice chairman of the DRAA and Forrest City Airport Commission chairman, had done the same with the Forrest City contingent.
"There were no discussions or meetings that were held in secret, I assure you. Garver and Lana Logan contacted me as chairman of the Wynne Airport Commission and notified me that there would be an increase in the amounts. She did the same thing with Bill and I just assumed that he spoke with the members of this commission from Forrest City just as I did with those from Wynne. I can understand the uneasy feelings if presented with that situation, but I don't think anything was done intentionally to keep you out of the loop," Kerr said.
Following Kerr's comments, Shannon Hobbs, secretary for the DRAA, suggested periodic reporting to both the Wynne and Forrest City city councils as well as the quorum courts of each county. Stengel told the board that he was in agreement with Hobbs.
"We were created by those two cities and two counties
and those officials need to be presented with information on the
progress of this project from time to time," said Hobbs.
Historians from the Arkansas Historic Prevention Program (AHPP) will visit St. Francis County during the week of Nov. 15 to document historic properties reflecting the history of cotton and rice farming industries in the Arkansas Delta.
A press release from the Department of Arkansas Heritage in Little Rock states that among the types of properties the agency will seek to document are barns, sheds, silos, mills, dryers, elevators, gins, warehouses, crop duster hangars and landing strips, plantation stores and offices and tenant houses that were constructed at least 50 years ago.
The AHPP historians will photograph the properties and document them on architectural resource forms, which will later be used to determine which properties may be eligible for National Register recognition.
In addition to St. Francis, other counties in the survey area include Arkansas, Ashley, Chicot, Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Desha, Drew, Greene, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lee, Lincoln, Lonoke, Mississippi, Monroe, Philips, Poinsett, Prairie, White and Woodruff.
Anyone with information on a historic structure associated with the cotton and rice industries is encouraged to write the AHPP at 1500 Tower Building, 323 Center, Little Rock, Ark. 72201, call the agency at 501-324-9880 (TDD 501-324-9811) or send an e-mail message to info@arkansaspreservation.org.
Several meetings are on tap for next week in St. Francis County.
The St. Francis County Election Commission will meet at 10 a.m. Monday in the quorum court room at the courthouse.
The Forrest City School Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the administration building. Board members will consider the sale of the Caldwell and Evans buildings, along with the sale of a portable building in Madison. In addition, the board will review guidelines for use of school facilities.
At 7 p.m., the Madison and Hughes city councils will each meet at their respective city halls.
On Tuesday, the Forrest City Advertising and Promotions Commission will meet at 2 p.m. at the Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Caldwell City Council is set to meet at 6 p.m., Tuesday, and at 7 p.m., members of the Palestine City Council will convene at city hall. The Hughes School Board is also scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday. On Thursday, the East Arkansas Community College Board of Trustees will hold its regular meeting at 7 p.m. The Wheatley City Council will also meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at city hall.