By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
School drop offs and pick ups can slow traffic down and cause congestion at certain points in the city early in the morning and in the afternoon.
But one school in particular is having more than its fair share of traffic woes, including speeders and cars making U-turns in the roadway, according to its principal.
Billy Ferguson, principal of Forrest City Junior High School, says that his school has experienced problems on most days with motorists ignoring both traffic signs and children.
"We are trying to get the message out (about the problems the school is having)," said Ferguson. "People are speeding around our school, making U-turns in the middle of the street. Kids are cruising around. Most of our parents drop their children off on Victoria street, but we have had problems on Graham street also. I'm not saying that our students do what they need to be doing all the time either, they do walk in the street sometimes and we try to prevent that, but they are the ones that are in danger because of this."
Ferguson offered some possible solutions to help lessen the traffic problems that have plagued parents and students at the junior high.
"In the past, we have not been allowed to park on Division Street," commented Ferguson. "The (Forrest City) police department said that it would slow down traffic, and I can understand that. But it might not hurt if they could allow us to park there for say a half hour in the mornings and a half hour in the afternoon. It would give us a 30 minute window for parents to pick up and drop off from the front entrance. That would help with the congestion on Victoria and Graham streets.
"It would also be nice if we could get more of a police presence around our school," added Ferguson. "There are a lot of people speeding through our school zone there. If we could get some more police to check vehicles with radar, I think that would do a lot to prevent the speeding and U-turns in the street."
While Ferguson stated that he did express his concerns to an unnamed senior police officer, he has not yet spoken to Forrest City Police Chief Clarence McNeary.
McNeary said that FCJHS is not the only school that is suffering from congestion during school hours.
"One of our main concerns is Stewart Elementary School," said McNeary. "Dawson Road is a two-lane street just like Division Street. It's a bottle-neck over there. Another problem is that the school is a 'shuttle hub.' Kids are taken there that go to Madison and Forrest Hills (elementary schools). We also have the Stewart East school now.
McNeary addressed the issues that Ferguson raised about FCJHS. "First of all, I need to speak to Mr. Ferguson myself, but I don't feel that allowing parents to pick up or drop off children on Division is feasible. It is a two lane street. What could we do, close a lane? That would just cause more congestion in the area. We also have Forrest City High School there and the ABC School all on the same block. I don't think that we could close the street or allow them to park there even if it was just for a half an hour in the morning and afternoon."
When asked about more police presence at the junior high, McNeary seemed more receptive.
"If there is that much traffic that is congested there, I don't see how anybody is going to speed through there," commented McNeary. "But if it is possible, we will try to increase police presence at the junior high and at all of the schools during specific times when traffic is heavy."
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
Many area residents and businesses found themselves looking at shattered windows this weekend as there were 14 reports of broken glass were filed at the Forrest City Police Department.
On Friday, three residents reported incidents. Gloria Anthony, 47, 1029 Smith, Forrest City, reported that a rock had been thrown through a double window, causing between $50 and $75 worth of damage. Denise Washington, 36, 919 North Division, Forrest City, reported to the FCPD that a steel pellet was shot through a front window of her residence. The damage estimate to the Washington home was $300. Lastly, Calvin Goodwin, 29, 538 Old Madison, Forrest City, reported to police on Friday that a kitchen window was knocked out, causing $200 damage.
A flood of reports were filed on Saturday morning, including several people who had car windows broken out while at the Forrest City Mustang game on Friday night in Cabot. The vehicles were all parked in the Forrest City High School parking lot.
LeCody Braddock, 18, 711 Lewis, Forrest City, Martin Miller, 40, 1102 St. Francis County Road 309, Forrest City, Elise Hunter, 39, 2144 Laurel Circle, Forrest City and Charlene King, 43, 1766 St. Francis County Road 229, Forrest City all reported that either their vehicle or the vehicle of their child had a broken window on their vehicle.
Three local businesses were hit on Saturday. Both Southern Furniture on North Washington and Washland on East Broadway had windows damaged. Damage to the Southern Furniture building was listed at $500 and damage to Washland was listed at $800. The third business, National Carpet One on South Washington also received $800 damage to a window. A fourth business, American General on Cleveland, reported $500 damage to one of their windows on Sunday.
Three more individuals filed reports on Saturday for damage to their vehicles. James Humphrey, 48, 315 Beech Grove, Forrest City reported a broken car window as did Mark Gossell, 45, 1332 North Izard, Forrest City and Veronica Boyd, 23, 827 North Rosser, Forrest City. All three of these incidents occurred while the vehicle were parked at the victims' homes.
The investigation into these incidents is ongoing. The FCPD urges anyone with any information on this most recent rash of criminal mischief or any crime to contact the crime stoppers number, 870-261-1499.
St. Francis County is no longer under a burn ban due to about four days of constant, soaking rain. According to county judge Carl Cisco, the ban was officially lifted this morning.
"With as much rain as we have received here in the county, I feel we can lift the ban," said Cisco. "I don't think that there is anywhere in the county that hasn't had at least some rain the past four days.
"I personally got about a half an inch of rain at my house," continued Cisco. "I spoke to a resident of the west end of the county and he stated that they got about three inches. I think we are in a pattern now where we should be getting enough rain so that we don't have to issue another ban, but we will issue another if it dries out again."