By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
After years of hoping, then years of waiting for the job to be done, Forrest Citians will finally see a bypass fully open next week.
A ribbon cutting has been set for next Thursday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. Arkansas Highway and Transportation Commissioner Buddy Benafield is expected to be there, along with other officials and Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce Greencoats.
Chamber President Randy Pearson said the completion of the bypass is nothing but good news.
"I think it'll be great for Forrest City and the area," Pearson said. "We've needed a bypass for several years."
He said the bypass will accomplish a couple of things.
"One, it opens up new areas for businesses to locate, to have easy on-and-off access to the interstate, since the cloverleaf doesn't really offer the easiest access," he said. "Another thing it does, is open up our industrial park, so that suppliers and trucks and so forth do not have to go through town to get out there. It's going to be a great thing."
He said there were other potential benefits.
"It may even help the south end of town toward Marianna to develop a little bit, especially since they're four-laning (Ark. Highway 1) from Helena to Jonesboro. Maybe some of that area will start to take off," he said.
There has been a lot of anticipation about the opening of the north leg of the bypass, especially since the opening of the south leg.
It had been hoped that the north leg could be open by Labor Day, but the completion date was pushed back. However, rain during May and June caused delays. Rain wasn't a factor later in the summer, and work was able to continue unabated.
Interviewed in July, Ray Woodruff, district engineer for the Highway and Transportation Department, said weather had been a problem up to then.
"We just had a period where it seemed like we were getting rain every day there in May and June, and it never let up," Woodruff said. At that time, he predicted that if workers could get "a stretch of dry weather," the job could be completed in October. "We just need to have it dry for a while so that we can finish everything off."
The bypass begins south of Forrest City on Highway 1, and goes
past the Federal Correctional Institute-Forrest City. It crosses
Broadway (U.S. Highway 70) and Interstate 40, and ends just south
of Caldwell, back on Highway 1 again. The I-40 overpass will have
an interchange, which was a major portion of the work on the north
leg.
A St. Francis County coalition made up of healthcare providers, police officers, fire fighters, and ordinary citizens was recently awarded three Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) through the State of Arkansas.
The AEDs will be placed in the county's outer communities, including Wheatley, Hughes and Colt, in an effort to increase the chances of survival from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA).
Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City along with St. Francis County Judge Carl Cisco, St. Francis County Sheriff Dave Parkman, Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant, FCPD Chief Clarence McNeary, and all of the police chiefs in the local communities, created the coalition to make AEDs accessible to people such as law enforcement officials, fire fighters, and rescue personnel who are available 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
Other communities that have AEDs are Caldwell, Palestine and Forrest City.
Death due to sudden cardiac arrest accounts for approximately half a million American lives each year, with almost one in two occurring outside of a hospital. Each year, there are about 60 deaths from SCA in St. Francis County.
"Emergency personnel will be key to getting the AEDs to victims of SCA in a timely manner. When a victim of SCA collapses, the heart begins to shake or quiver in the chest instead of pumping blood. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is beneficial to a victim of SCA but the AED is the most important piece of equipment to have to shock the quivering heart back to a pumping heart," said Baptist Emergency Medical Services Supervisor David Herzog.
The hospital's Emergency Services team recently trained 56 people to use AEDs with plans to train more. Baptist-Forrest City continues to pursue grants to secure funding to enable more AEDs to be strategically placed throughout St. Francis County.
Baptist Forrest City provides emergency care for a six county service area and for I-40 travelers who become ill or injured.
The hospital's emergency physicians and staff possess the training and experience in emergency medicine to evaluate, manage, and treat all patients who seek emergency care.
Early voting has begun earlier than was originally expected in a special election in a race for a position on the Palestine-Wheatley School board.
Donald Cagle and Donald Story ended up in a tie after a recount earlier this week.
Bettye Proctor, a member of the St. Francis County Election Commission, said Wednesday that it was decided that sending off to have new ballots printed would have taken too long.
"So were doing it the fastest way we can," she said, adding that the ballots were printed locally and would be hand counted.
County Clerk Elizabeth Smith said the ballots were printed by a local printer, and would be hand-counted because they would not go through the voting tabulator.
"But they're printed, and have a stub and everything," Smith said.
At the regular school election, the vote count was 30-29 in favor of Story. Cagle requested a recount, and the recount resulted in a 30-30 tie.
The special election will be held Oct. 12.
The fifth annual Forrest City Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Banquet will be held Friday, Oct. 1, at the Forrest City Civic Center.
Tickets are available for $10 each and may be purchased at edwin-houston, Taylor-Casbeer and Times-Herald Printing and Office Products and will be available at the door. The banquet begins at 5 p.m.
With this year's group of nine new members, the Hall grows to 51 members.
The Hall of Fame selects three members each from three different eras: Lincoln High School, Forrest City High School before 1970 and Forrest City High School after 1970.
This year's inductees are Ed Henderson, Bill Baxter, Dr. Cato Brooks, Verlond Brown, Cliff Garrison, John Childress, Rayfield Black, Thurman Vanzant and the 1977 Forrest City Mustang mile relay team, Michael Gray, Pat Mitchell, Cliff Blanchett and Terry Brown.
The new class will be introduced at halftime of the Forrest City-Searcy AAAAA-East Conference game that night at Sam Smith Stadium.
Police are investigating an aggravated robbery which took place at His and Hers Hair Salon, located at 826 S. Washington around 6 a.m. today.
Three men with guns allegedly forced their way into the building, made the women in the shop lie down, and took their purses before fleeing.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Forrest City Police Department at 633-3434 or Forrest City Crime Stoppers at 261-1499.