By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
It is rare that people get recognition for just being good people. It is rarer still that people get recognized for being the Great-Grandparents of the Year for the state of Arkansas.
But a Forrest City couple, Virgil and Dorothy Atkins, were recently given that honor thanks to a poem written by their six-year-old great-grandson.
The Atkins' granddaughter, April Kiser, says that the road to the award began when her son Trea became curious about holidays, two in particular.
"Trea was asking me one day about Father's Day and Mother's Day," said Kiser. "He asked me if there was a Grandparent's Day. That got me curious too, so I looked on the Internet and found out about National Grandparents Day (which was approved by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 is on the first Sunday after Labor Day) and the National Grandparents Council (NGC). On the website, they had information about nominating grandparents for Grandparents of the Year or Great-grandparents of the Year. We thought it would be nice to nominate Papaw and Granny for the award. We decided to write a poem about them. I did help Trea a little, but it is his poem to them. It talks about how we feel about them."
Information provided by the NGC gives some background on the Atkinses. According to Dorothy Atkins, they have five children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Virgil, 84 (and starting on 85 in October as he is quick to point out), is a decorated World War II veteran, having earned a Bronze Star, American Defense Award and a WWII Ribbon He is retired from Yale. In his younger years, Virgil enjoyed tending his garden and was a beekeeper.
Dorothy, 80, is retired from Warwick in Forrest City. She loved to make peanut brittle and would play piano in the evenings in her younger days. Both are called true "caregivers" to people of all ages and have given a lot of time, love and devotion to many families, not just their own.
Trea Kiser's poem, "My Eyes", put the Atkinses over the top to win the honor of being called Arkansas' 2004 Great-grandparents, but how does it feel to be given such an honor?
"It was okay," said Dorothy humbly. "April was the one who told us just recently. I didn't even know that they had done that for us."
"It's something that we never expected," said Virgil. "It is pretty nice for someone to make that organization (the NGC). We have lived in Forrest City since 1957 and we have been married for 62 years. We raised our kids here, and gave them the best opportunities that we could. All of them went on to get jobs that paid a decent amount of money and two of them are now retired. We are happy that our family has turned out so well and we are proud of them."
For more information about the National Grandparents Council or to read a copy of the poem "My Eyes", visit www.grandparents-day.com.
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
St. Francis County election officials were scolded Wednesday for violating numerous election laws during the May preferential primary election, but will not face any civil penalties that could have resulted from the allegations.
By a vote of 4-1, the state board agreed to withhold reimbursement funding for the 2004 May Primary in the amount of $5,943. In addition, the board continues to withhold funding from the May 2002 Primary in the amount of $5,731, because of election law violations that were not corrected after that election.
The 2004 violations were so blatant that Susie Stormes, director of the State Board of Election Commissioners, told the five-member panel that because of "irreconcilable differences" in the county's vote totals, she has "no confidence in the credibility of the certified results of the St. Francis County 2004 Preferential Primary Election."
Wednesday's meeting in Little Rock was for members of the state board to question SFC Election Commission Chairman Joe Young, along with members Bettye Proctor and Florence Brown, on certain violations outlined in a 24-page report prepared by Stormes' office. The three members sat quietly as Stormes read portions of her report to the board, supporting each of the allegations.
Throughout the report, Stormes compared the 2004 election problems to similar problems that had arisen in the 2002 election. Stormes said the commission "continues to display a pattern of disregard for statutes governing election process and procedures relating to record keeping and preservation of materials."
In addition to withholding funding, the state could have requested a public hearing after which commissioners could have faced significant fines. If the board had sought civil penalties against commissioners, each one could have been fined up to $24,000 each for the violations, with the possibility of another $8,000 each for the alleged violations.
When Stormes completed her presentation, Young responded, "I'm overwhelmed."
"After listening to what you just said, I'm not sure we did anything right," Proctor added. "We have a lot we could tell you, but I think it's best we just don't say what we have at this time. I feel like we haven't had our chance."
Ed Chauvin, a local Democrat who is in charge of training SFC poll workers, asked for a copy of Stormes' report and questioned the identity of the people filing the complaints and their party affiliation.
State Commissioner Toni Phillips responded, "These allegations are not Republican or Democrat. These are requests we made to the election commission from this board for information. So, don't say who. This is something where we asked for information that is required by law."
"If it's the $5,000, then we're not concerned with that," Chauvin said. "We're concerned with whether the election was a proper one. Did everyone get a chance to vote?"
State Commissioner Robert Carruthers said the answers provided by the county commission to the information request by the state are "unacceptable. We want to work with y'all and we want to get a perfect election, but it seems to be almost a flat disregard for the law."
"We have tried. We thought we were going by the law," Proctor said. "It's hard to get people that will work and be honest. We have tried so hard to make this an honest election. We can't always do what y'all say do. It seems like y'all have been on us. You listen to about two or three allegations. I've got a book full of allegations that I could tell you about. If you'll give us a chance we'll do it."
"Your funds were withheld in 2002, and obviously that did absolutely nothing," said state commissioner Sandra Rodgers. "He (Chauvin) made the statement that if it was just about the $5,000 then it didn't really matter to him."
"Well, it matters to this commissioner," Proctor said.
In clarifying his statement, Chauvin said, "My concern is not the money as much as it is the fact that somebody complained they did not get a chance to vote. Everybody who is registered should be able to vote."
However, after listening to several comments from a contingency of local Democrats and Republicans, the board agreed to give the county officials one more chance with the Nov. 2 general election to try and correct the problems which ranged from not providing Republican ballots to not having a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of the votes cast.
Phillips asked, "What about the General Election coming?"
"It's going to be worse," Chauvin said.
By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
While being chastised for numerous election law violations Wednesday in Little Rock, St. Francis County Election Commissioner Bettye Proctor admitted she had broken another law just the day before when the voting tabulator was tested without the public being notified.
Proctor said sometimes the commission has to meet without giving the required notice.
"We can't always meet when we want to and give everybody a 24-hour notice," Proctor said. "Just like we just got through with (testing) our machine. The man came just yesterday (Tuesday). We could not notify the press because we didn't not know when the man was coming. He called and said he was in town. I called Mr. Chauvin and my husband to meet me.
"We can't always get the press when we need them It's
not that we're trying to do anything illegal," Proctor said.
Violations
1. Preservation of materials and ballots.
2. Polling site changes.
3. Public notice of election (20 days prior).
4. Public notice of election (5 days prior).
5. Selection and appointment of election officials.
6. Posting list of election officials at county sheriff's office.
7. Public notice of equipment testing.
8. Posting notice of electronic vote counting locations.
9. Posting notice of location of absentee processing/counting.
10. Absentee counting prior to closing of polls.
11. Ballot accounting.
12. Provisional voter notification.
13. Immediate declaration of preliminary/unofficial results via Internet.
14. Early certification of results.
15. Mailed abstract.
16. Reporting overvotes and undervotes.
17. Early voting in clerk's office handled by commission.
18. Form of candidate names/titles on ballots.
19. Delay in start of absentee voting.
20. Delay in start of early voting.
21. Delivery of ballots.
22. Form of ballots.
23. Commission meeting notification.
24. Public access to counting of ballots.
Possible Violations
1. Commission compensation.
2. Required supplies, forms and postings at the polls.
3. Review of provisional ballots.
4. Election official minority party representation.
5. Election official qualifications.
6. Election official qualifications.
7. Extra deputies to county clerk for absentee/early voting.
8. Sufficient quantities of ballots
Shown above is a list of the alleged election law violations
as outlined during a meeting Wednesday in Little Rock. The State
Board of Election Commissioners met with members of the St. Francis
County Election Commission to discuss the violations and agreed
to give the commission the Nov. 2 election to try and fix the
problems.
Two men have been arrested in connection with two unrelated shooting incidents in the area.
In one incident a man was arrested today on a warrant from an alleged shooting on July 30 while he was parked at Freeman's Grocery. In that incident, Tarzan Lee of Madison reported that Vincent Hardaway, 19, shot at him three times, striking his vehicle. He reported that Hardaway had threatened him the day before.
A previous effort to serve Hardaway with a warrant at home and work had resulted in no contact. Hardaway, 19, of 107 Cisco Drive in Forrest City, was arrested at his home without incident after he refused to answer a knock and officers entered the unlocked house.
He is charged with aggravated assault, and also charged with failure to appear.
The other incident took place Tuesday. Rufus Dewayne Richmond, of 317 Rolfe Street, reported that when he pulled into the driveway of his house, his stepson, Jeremiah Rogers, 27, of 804 E. Garland, came out of the house with a gun.
Richmond reported that he locked the door and would not get out of the car when Rogers ordered him out. He reported that Rogers said he was going to kill him and fired two shots into the hood of his car.
Richmond also said that when he drove away from the house, Rogers fired several more shots, but missed the car.
According to the police report, Rogers came to the Forrest City Police Station later and turned himself in. He is charged with aggravated assault.