After months of dirt moving by city and county workers, as well as the UAM heavy equipment training class, rails and crossties are now being laid in place for the new rail spur at the Industrial Park, on HWY 35 East.

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The recent re-application for cities to espresse interest in being home to the state’s new veterans care home is receiving the full attention of Quorum Court, MEDC, City of Monticello, and many other local residents and organizations.

When consttucted, the $22 million dollar facility ex expected to provide over $3 million in yearly payroll.

The deadline is November.

The meeting of the Koinonia 4-H club was held at Living Word Fellowship, October 10 at 4:30 PM. This month, the club elected new officers, and each person who ran for an office had to speak in front of the entire club, telling why they wanted to be in that office.

The new officials are listed below….

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The Drew County Courthouse and Road Department will be closed on Monday, October 14, 2013 in observance of Columbus Day!

Sanitation routes will run as follows.
Monday sanitation route will run on Tuesday
Tuesday route on Wednesday
Wednesday route on Thursday
Thursday route on Friday

Around 9:15 Thursday night,  a fire was reported at the Drew County Detention Facility.

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Sunday afternoon, KARK/KLRT’s Jocelyn Tovar inerviewed Mike Fritts, who was trapped inside of Thursday’s wildfire.

As the report states, Mike will get to meet Ms. Gail and other emergency staff members, which he credits with saving his life, today, in a meeting set up by MLive.

Check back later for that video.

The Drew County Ministerial Alliance will host a Prayer Rally and Remembrance Service at the Drew County Courthouse Wednesday, Sept 11th at noon and the public is encouraged to attend.

Friday morning, the Wilmar Mayor and Aldermen met with project engineers to officially open two new bridges.

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According to Judge Robert Akin, Bordeaux Road, which runs between HWYs 278 and 35, approximately 2 miles east of Monticello (Dead Man’s Curve area) will be permanently closed, today, by the Arkansas Highway Dept., due to the construction of the I-69 bypass.

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The Drew County Veteran Services Office is getting new floors.

During this time, all veterans can schedule offsite appointments. Offsite appointments can be conducted in any location. Home and offsite appointments are usually reserved for homebound veterans.

Veterans can call 870 460-4748 to schedule an offsite appointment or ask a question.

As dry conditions continue statewide, 3 woods fires have been reporteed in Drew County since Monday afternoon.

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MLive spoke to Drew County Judge Robert Akin, Tuesday afternoon, about the possiblity of a countywide Burn Ban being issued.

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Several current quorum court members, and even a retired JP were present for the posting of Tuesday night’s election returns.

Click below for precint totals.

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The restitution hearing for former Drew County Circuit Clerk Pat Savage Montgomery was held Monday morning, at the Drew County Courthouse.

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Following three years of intense training, four Drew County 4-H members will represent Arkansas at the July 21-24 National WHEP competition to be held at Trafalgar, Indiana. WHEP is an acronym for Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program.

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Couty Judge Robert Akin is shown swearing in former County Assessor J.D. West as a new member of the Drew County Equalization Board, as well as reappointed members Cass Dattilo and Bob Kizer.

The equalization board is responsible for making sure county property taxes are equal, as compared to other similar properties.

Drew County seems to be the only county in the region that showed an increase in population (since the 2010 Census, through the period ending July 1, 2012) based on the US Census Bureaus’s population estimates.

The graphic below shows the population decreases that have taken place in our neighboring counties: Ashley, Bradley, Chicot, Desha, and Lincoln Counties.

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After years of operating on a “handshake agreement”, the county and city will now support the local museum by means of a services contract, like other local organizers receive, for the educational and historic service that the museum provides to county residents, schools, and organizations.

Effective immediately, sanitation workers will only pick up trash that is in the county provided containers.  No extra bagged trash that is set out beside or on top of the container will be picked up.

Due to recent back injuries and wounds from hypodermic needles, all cans will be picked up by the automated system on the truck.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Extra trash containers may be purchased for the one time price of $54.25.

Drew County Judge Robert Aiken

The Drew County Quorum Court called a special meeting, Tuesday night, to discuss the proposed continuation of the county’s one cent road tax, which will be set for July 9.

The main discussion topics were whether to designate a 75/25 or 80/20 split to be designated for the Quorum Court to be able to direct to shortfalls in other budget areas, would thee be a better chance of voter passage if it were divided into two questions, and should the proposed continuation should be for 4 or 6 years.

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At Monday’s Quorum Court meeting, Judge Robert Akin brought up the matter of what to do about the tree on the north side of the courthouse. There is concern that the tree will cause foundation damage to the courthouse, and one recommendation was that the tree be removed.

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The Drew County Assessor’s office would like to remind all taxpayers that own personal property to assess prior to May 31, 2013. Taxpayers can do this by visiting the Drew County Assessor’s office located at 210 S Main ST, assess over the phone by calling 870-460-6240 or assess online by visiting www.drewcountyassessor.com or at www.actdatascout.com Online assessing is available 24/7 for those who do not have time to make arrangements for assessing during normal business hours – 8:00 am – 4:30 pm.

Eight local business leaders and government officials visited our elected officials in Washington D.C.Tuesday and Wednesday, to discuss our local infrastructure needs.

During their trip, members of the MEDC and 20 for the Future met with Congressman Tom Cotton, Senator Mark Pryor, and Senator John Boozman.

This photo was taken during their meeting with Senator Boozman.

Chuck Dovixh, with AETN, recently held a preview of the completed footage from the upcoming Bayou Bartholomew documentary scheduled to be broadcast on Thursday.

The interest history of “the Bayou” was discussed.  It had as many as 96 steamships traveling its waters, coming as far upstream as Baxter.  It also supported the early log-rafting industry, supplying logs to downstream sawmills

Bayou Bartholomew is the 3rd most diversified waterway in the US , with 117 species of fish in it.

Mark Tiner, of Union Bank, has been appointed to served Drew County on the public facilities board.

Tiner replaces Charlie Searcy, who was elected to serve as county treasurer.

Tiner was appointed by the county judge, with the approval of the Quorum Court.

Judge Robert Akin is shown signing the Proclamation of 100 years for the Arkansas Department of Health.

For your convenience, the Drew County Tax Collectors Office is now accepting Credit Card payments, for delinquent taxes and beginning March 1, on the Current 2012 Tax Year, according toTonya Loveless, Drew County Tax Collector.

Please note that there will be a 2.49% service charged by the supplier that will be applied to your tax payment amount for using your Credit Card.

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Approximately a dozen logging and construction contractors attended the Drew County Quorum Court meeting, Monday night, after hearing rumors about the county’s proposed “heavy use access permits”, that included fines and potentially jail time as penalties for it’s violation.

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The Drew County Assessor’s office would like to remind all taxpayers that own personal property to assess prior to May 31, 2013. Taxpayers can do this by visiting the Drew County Assessor’s office located at 210 S Main ST, assess over the phone by calling 870-460-6240 or assess online by visiting www.drewcountyassessor.com  or at www.actdatascout.com Online assessing is available 24/7 for those who do not have time to make arrangements for assessing during normal business hours – 8:00 am – 4:30 pm.

Former Drew County Circuit Clerk Pat Scifres Savage Montgomery accepted a guilty plea on two of the three charges she was accused of,  in Drew County Circuit Court, this morning by a special appointed judge, Judge John Langston of Little Rock.

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After well over a decade with both the Arkansas Dept. of Correction, and Drew County Sheriff’s Dept. auxiliary unit, Drew County’s new 911 Co-ordinator / Emergency Services Manager has experience with handling “unexpected incidents”.

However, on his first day on his new job, the log truck wreck (shutting down Monticello second busiest intersection) shows “you never know what will happen, and when it will happen.

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