Monticello Live

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According to Ronnie Carr, chairman of the Farm Family of the Year selection committee, there will be no Farm Family of the Year awarded in Drew County this year.

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At Monday night’s quorum court meeting, the JP’s passed a resolution declaring a vacancy in the District 2 position, formerly held by Ron Echols, who recently resigned, due to a business conflict, where he needs to purchase a piece of property from the county, which he can’t do as a quorum court member.

Gov. Mike Beebe will select someone to fill the un-expired portion of Echols current term..That appointee will not be eligible to run for that position in the 2012 election.

The court also authorized a court order declaring a small piece of property in the medical complex as “surplus property” for sale.  Bids will be taken for the land. This is the land that Echols wants to buy from the county. (more…)

The Arkansas state legislature recessed in Little Rock this morning after finally coming to an agreement on the new congressional redistricting plan.

After considering multiple plans and maps over the past few weeks, the Senate and the House both agreed to this plan Tuesday, and officially passed it Wednesday morning.

The new plan, as shown above, will leave Drew County, in the 4th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Congressman Mike Ross.

Drew County’s new 1/2 cent library tax is now being collected

Purchases made in Monticello will now have a 9.5% sales tax rate; with 6% going to state sales tax, 1% to the city, 2% is designated to Drew County, and the new .5% sales tax will fund the new library

Last Friday, April 1, was the first day for the tax to be collected .

The Quorum Court met Monday evening at the Court House, with one member absent. 

A brief review of several pending bills was presented and discussed. (more…)

The Quorum Court met Monday evening at the Courthouse, with all members present.

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Judge Lampkin presented samples of lignite to the members present, and explained that 2 barrels of crude oil can be extracted from a ton of coal, that it would increase employment opportunities for Drew County, and that the land restoration examples he has seen, have shown that land is restored to better than its original condition. Permission to mine lignite would be at the discretion of the local landowners. The Members voted to support funding of testing and enhancement of legislation to promote the lignite Industry of South Arkansas.

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Arkansas Senate Bill SB82, , sponsored by Senator Jimmy Jeffress and co-sponsored by Rep.Sheilla Lampkin was unanimously approved by the House Committee on City, County and Local Affairs of 88th General Assembly, Wednesday.

Thursday, it was passed by the house with an 87-7 margin.

It will now be sent to the Governor for his signature.

When it completes this process, we will be voting for separate candidates for those two offices in 2012, to take office in 2013. (more…)

2020 U. S. Census totals were releases Thursday, with Drew County showing a 1.1% population decrease since 2000, a decrease of 214 residents.

The 2010 population was 18,509.   The 2000 population was 18, 723.

Also listed below are other South Arkansas counties and their totals.

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Sheriff Mark Gober has recently re-implemented the “Sheriff’s Litter Crew” to help misdemeanor law violators have a way to work off fines, and provide for more appealing roadways in Drew County.

Roadways that were picked up during December included Sixteen Section Road, Firing Range Road, Barkada Road, and a section of Old Warren Road.

The trip shown here produced 25 bags of litter that were removed

In all, there were a total of 95 trash bags, two mattresses and one toilet picked up.  

The program has been added to the county’s 2011 budget to provide for supplies hours for an officer to supervise the workers.

Act 833 of 1991 will provided approximately $63, 129  to Drew County, to be divided up between the county’s fire dept.  (more…)

The Drew County Quorum Court thought that they’d completed the 2011 budget, complete with it’s health insurance issues for the county employees, shortly before the Christmas holidays.

Then it was realized that the information packets that were provided to them by the Hatcher Agency weren’t all the same. (more…)

Monticello Alderman Clifton Bonds received a round of applause, as he was recognized by Mayor Joe Rogers, at the final meeting of Judge Bond’s term.

He has served 26 years as Municipal Judge, followed by 14 years as a city alderman.

At Monday night’s Quorum Court meeting, Justices Gay Griffith and Kenneth Trotter were presented plaques, recognizing Griffith’;s 8 and Trotter’s 6 years of service to Drew County.

Origionally posted November 22, 2007.

Selma Rosenwald School by Sheilla Lampkin

In the past year or so the Drew County Museum was contacted as to the location of Drew County’s Rosenwald School. Since none of our museum commission members had any knowledge about such a place, a fascinating search began which led to the discovery of the Rosenwald educational project and the knowledge that Drew County did indeed have an old school building of great national significance resting quietly down one of our rural byways. The search was an interesting and informative one, especially dear to my heart since it involved schools and education.

First, let’s go back in history and explore the name Rosenwald and its effects on American education.

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Family foster care is a program designed to provide a substitute family life experience. The purpose is to provide a healthy home and community experience for the child while conditions which caused the placement away from the birth/legal family are being resolved.

Foster care is intended to be temporary. Children are placed in foster homes because they have been removed from their own families due to abuse, neglect or other family problems that endanger their safety. The children may range from infancy to 18 years. The Children may belong to any ethnicity or race as well as belong to a sibling group of brothers and sisters that need to be placed together.

Click Here For More information about Foster Care in Drew County.

Drew County Division of Children & Family Services :
444 Hwy 425 North
Monticello, AR  71655
Phone:  870-367-6835

This year’s Drew County Farm Family of the Year title has been awarded to James and Rene Knowles. Both were raised in farming families and made the decision to keep that tradition alive in their own family, that now includes two sons and a grandson.

“I’ve been farming all my life,” James said as he recalled growing up in Valley Community.  “Dad (Pharris Knowles) was originally a cotton farmer; when I was old enough to help farm he was a commercial hay farmer. He sold hay all over southeast Arkansas.”  James’ mother is Marjorie Knowles Craig.

James graduated from Drew Central High School, is a member of the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association, and a member of the American Quarter Horse Association. He worked on the farm with his father until he was married to Rene.

Rene’s dad (Bob Person) owned a hog farm and raised cattle over the years. Rene’s mom was the late Joyce Person, “but  dad’s wife, Mrs. Judy, has been ‘mom’ for over 20 years.”  Rene graduated from Monticello High School and completed 3 years of college. Rene is a Drew Central School board member and was just re-elected to her second term on the Quorum Court. They are active members of Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church.

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At Monday night’s quorum court meeting, under the topic of new business, Judge Damon Lampkin updated court members on the status of several grants, including a $12,000 for the Rosenwald School,  a $10,000 grant for Options Women’s Shelter, and a remaining balance of around $10,000 from a recent courthouse restoration grant, which will be used to restore the south entrance to the courthouse.

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Members of UAM"s American National Government class, who attended Monday night's Drew County Quorum Court Meeting

Judge Lampkin also show the group the new county road signs, which are marked with the words, “$1,000 Fine for Sign Theft”.

He estimated that the county is losing around $1,000 each month, due to having to replace stolen and missing road signs, and also pointed out safety issues, when missing road signs may have affected an ambulance responding to a recent call.

The fine is approved by a state stature.   Cameras will possibly be used in the future, to monitor sign theft.

The many contributions of the late James T. Jordan to Monticello and Drew County were recognized with an official proclamation honoring his memory during Thursday night Monticello City Counil meeting.

U.S. Representative Mike Ross met with representatives of Drew County’s “Twenty for the Future” group in his Washington, D.C., office Wednesday, during their visit to the nation’s capital to meet with federal legislators.

Ross, as well as our other elected Washington delegation members, met with the group to discuss Monticello and Drew County’s economic challenges and needs and how best to facilitate economic growth in the region.

Items on the agenda to be covered included:
University of Arkansas at Monticello, for funding of projects for the Arkansas Forest Resources Center, the School of Nursing, and to replace the university’s current phone system.
Drew Memorial Hospital intended to request funding for an electronic medical records system, a nurse call system, a digital mammogram machine, a 64-slice tomography scanner, and a telemetry system for the E.R.
The City of Monticello planned to point out the  benefits of a potential Monticello community center.
Other topics to be discussed were: I-530, the Southeast Arkansas Regional Library to build a new library the local Intermodal Facility, and nearby Yellow Bend Port.

Meeting were held Wednesday, and the group is returning to Monticello, today.

Local insurance agent, Tommy McLemore, who had placed a bid for the contract for the Drew County employees insurance contract, filed a complaint with the county’s insurance committee.

McLemore’s complaint was that bids were allowed to be modified after they were originally presented to the county.

In last week’s quorum court meeting, the JP’s voted to accept the services of the Hatcher Agency of Little Rock, over McLemore’s local agency.  (The Hatcher Agency also has the insurance contract for Drew Memorial Hospital.)

The essence of McLemore’s complaint is that Lambert’s agency should not have been able to reduce his agency’s fees to match McLemore’s. Other items that were modified and/or discussed after or during the earlier insurance committee presentations by the agents included Cobra compliance, employee insurance handbooks, and life/vision/dental coverage.

Tuesday’s meeting included County Clerk Lyna Gulledge reading a letter from County Attorney Cliff Gibson, which stated that legal statutes don’t require counties to follow the bid process for insurance for employees. It was also pointed out that the advertisement for bids was very general and non-specific.

Judge Damon Lampkin opened the program for both McLemore and Hatcher’s Drew Lambert to comment on the situation.  McLemore informed the court that this was now a “if you lose, you lose: and if you win, you lose.” situation.  He added that ” it’s in the best benefit of the county and the employees, with such short notice, that I’m withdrawing my consideration from the bid process.”   (McLemore’s statement is at the 15:00 point in the video above.)

 As the topic turned to tax related issues, Gay Griffith asked the County Attorney Cliff Gibson for a clarification as to what limits would bind the use of the “1400″ account, which is a sales tax fund, that can have multiple designated purposes.   Basically, Gibson responded the court can set it’s own purpose for the money in that fund, as long as it’s done in a public forum, once a year.

Next, Arlene Russell asked to come before the court and discuss her feelings on the possible increase of millage taxes. Russell is reluctant to support the tax increase due to the fact that the county is not “hurting” for money. She feels that the county is likely going to be getting more money. She also mentioned that the Quorum Court should be paying for their own healthcare benefits.

“We pay for our own, and I don’t see how you can in good conscience take it out of the general fund,” stated Russell.

 After several comments from the Quorum Court about the ad velorum (millage) tax issue, they voted to leave the tax on property at the same rate that it has been set at since 1983, which is 1.8%.

U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor and U.S. Representatives John Boozman and Mike Ross recently announced that Arkansas has received $1,135,088 to fight domestic violence in the state. The funds are allocated through the “Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Assistance Program,” which is authorized through the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women.

Options, Inc., a women’s shelter in  Monticello that provides multiple services to women and children will received $644,447 of those funds.  Options applied for these funds last January.

However, the funds are designated to provide “outreach service” to the surrounding counties in the 10th judicial district, where Options also provides services to, in an effort to levelize the services that are provided to nearby areas.

The news from Washington was considered a blessing by Options Director, Brenda Noble, even though it’s funds can’t be used to help with the Women’s Shelter’s most serious problem.

The Drew County Public Facilities Board met Thursday, Oct. 1 to confirm that organizations desire to sell the property, which has served as “Options Safe House” for 20 years, either to Options, or to list it for sale to the public. (more…)

Click to Enlarge.

The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department held a Public Hearing Tuesday evening at the Sadie Johnson Community Center, to allow public input, as well as answer some questions about the proposed plans for a bypass of Monticello for the future I-69.

Approximately 90 area residents attended the informational meeting, to ask questions about their land, houses, and community.  I was able to go through the process of question and answers with a couple who are losing their home of 12 years to the new roadway, as they visited with one of the approximately 9 AHTD representatives who were present for the forum, representing different departments of the AHTD.

The official name of the “Monticello Bypass” is known as “job 020471″, and will begin near the “dead man’s curve” area of HWY 278 East, and continue to it’s end, on HWY 425 South, near the Drew Central Bus Shop.

AHTD brought to the meeting 3 16 foot long maps, showing in great detail the exact area, down to storage sheds, that will be directly affected by the construction.

Interchanges will be built at the 278 East and HWY 425 connection points, as well as it’s crossing with HWY 35 South/HWY 35 East.

3 overpasses will be built where the new roadway comes into the Old Deane Road, Old Troy Road, and Midway Route areas of construction.

The 8.6 mile project will also be raised over the crossing of the Arkansas Midland Railroad.

The project could begin as early as acquiring properties with the next year, and beginning the bid process for construction in the Fall of 2010.  The project will begin as a 2 lane highway, and will be expanded into a 4 lane divided roadway in the future. (more…)

Attorney Cliff Gibson draws a rough diagram of the location of the medical office building during his presentation. According to Gibson, the medical office building will be located on Old Warren Road between Scogin and Ross Drive.  (more…)

All 7 members of the board of directors of Drew Memorial Hospital unanimously approved a resolution encouraging the quorum court and county judge to support the sale and use of approximately 5 acres of land (located in the pine covered area north of the hospital) to be used as a medical office building.

Dr. Sydney Collins and Dr. Jeff Reinhart were present at last week’s board meeting, representing local dentist Tim Chase, who will also be a part of the venture.  Dr. Michael Fakouri will also work out of the facility. (more…)

The Drew County Quorum Court heard a report on the Federal Highway Administration’s new regulations on traffic signs visibility, uniformity, placement and maintenance during its regular session June 15. Drew County must begin the three-step process by 2010.

According to Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Horn, the first step requires all jurisdictions to establish and implement a sign management method by January 2010. The goal of sign management is to maintain minimum levels of sign retro-reflectivity. (more…)

The Drew County Quorum Court met for its regular session June 15. The court received updates on the emergency sirens and alert system and received updates on Jerome’s water problem and the Department of Arkansas Heritage grant, among other business. (more…)

4 courthouse employees are shown leaving work Tuesday afternoon, across the newly paved parking lot at the Drew County Courthouse.

Tuesday’s business was conducted as usual, with a little extra walking to get inside the building.

The paving was done in one day, and the parking lot is expected to re-open Wednesday morning

The Drew County Quorum Court heard a presentation on the Arkansas Crime Information Center of Little Rock’s county-wide alert system during its regular session March 16. The court approved the initiation of the AlertXpress system; though other steps to implement the system will be taken in the future.

Stacy Nolan, coordinator of Victim Information and Notification Everyday and JusticeXchange of the ACIC, provided the presentation on AlertXpress along with Officer of Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Horn. The AlertXpress system is a high-speed notification system powered by the Appriss Communication Platform based in Louisville, Ky.

As the state pays for the operation of the alert system, the county will receive the service for free. This free alert system can provide instant alerts via telephone, fax and e-mail on a number of issues from basic business to emergency situations, including: jury duty reminders, delinquent fines and restitution notifications, prison or jail escape alerts, sex offender notifications, weather advisories, and other safety alerts. (more…)

It was announced at Wednesday’s intermodal authority meeting that there is a possiblilty that there may be grants available for a total of $2.3 million. (more…)

The signs posted at the new library parking lot show that I’m not the only one who needs to use spell-check more often.

They have been taken down and will be corrected by the company in central Arkansas who sold them to the county.

Drew County Elected Officials were sworn into office New Year’s Day at the Drew County Courthouse.

County Judge Damon Lampkin and Circuit Judge Bynum Gibson administered the oaths of office to each other, as the traditional ceremony began.

Circuit Clerk Pat Savage was sworn into her continuing position.

County Clerk Lyna Gulledge repeated her oath of office,

followed by tax assessor Beth Davis,

Sheriff Mark Gober, and

County Treasurer Shirley Hancock.

Drew County Quorum Court members were sworn in as a group,

as were Constables Scott Chapman and Joe Burgess,

the Monticello City Council,

Wilmar City Council, and

 

 

Winchester’s Aldermen.

Charlie Dearman repeated the oath of office for his position as County Coroner.

As the ceremony came to a close, Drew County Sheriff Department Deputies were also sworn in.

Grant to Assess Feasibility of Ethanol Production

U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor along with Representative Mike Ross announced Monday that Delta Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Producers, LLC, of Lake Village will receive a $97,500 Rural Development grant from the United States Department of Agriculture. The funds will be used to asses the feasibility of cellulosic ethanol production from sweet sorghum in Arkansas. (more…)

 

Drew County Maintenence Crews are shown here removing a tree from Midway Route, around 5 p.m., Tuesday afternoon. 

According to reports, the entire western half of Monticello went dark at 9:15 p.m., but power came back on within minutes.

Drew County Judge, Damon Lampkin, earlier today, said that the heavy rains and strong winds that have brought down several trees across the county , throughout the day, and asked for residents to have patience as the county workers are busy clearing other areas. (more…)

Thanksgiving morning, MonticelloLive will be running a Special Article, about Selma’s Historic Rosenwald School.

This award winning report was written by Mrs. Sheilla Lampkin a few years ago, but is extremely interesting, especially to History buffs, here in Drew County.

Check back Thanksgiving Day, to learn more about the rich history of Drew County.