TRI-LAKES AREA — CLARK COUNTY Enrollment up at HSU ARKADELPHIA - Henderson State University has experienced a 14 percent increase in its enrollment for the Summer 1 session.
According to final figures released this week, 972 students are enrolled in summer classes, compared to 851 a year ago.
“Our more aggressive approach to recruiting students has already resulted in this increase in enrollment this summer,” said Charles Welch, Henderson president. “And we have admitted 30 percent more freshmen for the fall semester than we had at this time last year. A larger student body not only allows us to operate more efficiently, but also creates a more dynamic life on campus.”SALINE COUNTY Comments invited about proposed lake BENTON - Public comments are being accepted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Saline County officials about a proposal to build a dam for a new lake that would supply water for county residents well into the future.
Documents from the Corps said Little Alum Fork Creek, a tributary of the Saline River, would be held by a dam, creating a lake that would hold an estimated 17 million gallons of water.
The comments will be accepted until July 2. After that time, the Corps will evaluate the comments, and if no major issues are found, the county will be granted a permit for the construction of the dam.
The dam would be south of Lake Winona and could supply the county with water until 2050 and beyond.
Comments may be sent online to the to County Judge Lanny Fite at lfite@salinecounty.
org and to Tonya Acuff of the Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg, Miss., office at tonya.
County officials have hired McCelland Consulting Engineers for the project of securing a long-term water source. If the permit for construction of the dam is granted, the county will have five years to start construction.
Saline site still considered for fair LITTLE ROCK - Ned Ray Purtle, chairman of the executive board of the Arkansas Livestock Show Association, said in a meeting that Saline County has not been ruled out as a possible location for the Arkansas State Fair.
In a meeting of the association on June 17, Purtle said that with the Fairplex complex now facing a bond vote, it will remain in consideration even after the association selected four other sites to investigate.
“I don’t think we should just put it out of the picture completely,” Purtle said. “It’s nice to be wanted.” GARLAND COUNTY Red Cross director pleads guilty HOT SPRINGS - The former executive director of the Garland County Chapter of the American Red Cross has pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzling funds from the organization.
Karla Lynn Brown was arrested in 2008 and charged with 211 counts of forgery concerningchecks totaling almost $100,000. Since then, the charges were reduced to one count of theft of property.
Brown will face a Garland County Circuit Court jury for sentencing next month. The Garland County Prosecutor’s Office said the jury will determine any sentence and restitution because the exact amount Brown is alleged to have stolen was still undetermined.
State Supreme court overturns evidence ruling
LITTLE ROCK - The Arkansas Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion Thursday, overturned a Garland County Circuit Court ruling involving a drug-sniffing police dog. The court said the decision would have “widespread ramifications” on criminal procedure.
In writing for the Supreme Court, Justice Paul Danielson said there is no problem accepting evidence located by a police drug dog.
He wrote that a circuit judge was wrong to say that drugs seized in such a way would violate the state and federal constitutions if allowed into evidence.
According to the opinion, the case arose from a tip that a Hot Springs police sergeant received on April 9, 2009, about a man selling illegal narcotics from the back of his truck in a parking lot of the National Park Medical Center emergency room.
Police spotted the truck after it left the hospital and stopped the vehicle after an officer said it veered across the centerline.
While police conducted field sobriety tests on driver Jaret Thompson, another officer arrived with Nero, the Police Department’s drug dog.
One officer said Thompson was “acting suspicious” and asked another officer to have Nero sniff the truck.
“Nero then gave ... a positive alert on the driver’s-side door,” the court wrote. “A subsequent, on-the-spot search of Thompson’s vehicle uncovered a large amount of pseudoephedrine.”
The Supreme Court noted that it generally doesn’t hear appeals by prosecutors. The court said it agreed to hear the appeal because “it will provide guidance to our law-enforcement officers and our courts as to the law in our state when faced with similar circumstances in the future.”HOT SPRING COUNTY Parts of city evacuated
MALVERN - Malvern Police evacuated a half-square-mile radius surrounding the Kohler plant on June 17 after a propane leak sent thousands of gallons of gas spewing from a tank on the property.
No injuries were reported. Malvern Police Department Sgt. Doroteo Delacruz said that the problem began around 8:30 p.m. at the plant on Industrial Drive and that 9,000 gallons of propane escaped before the leak could be slowed half an hour later.
Emergency crews decided to burn off the remaining gas in the tank, which was estimated at about 7,000 gallons. That process began at midnight and went well into Friday morning, police said.
Police and fire personnel maintained roadblocks to keep people out of the area around the tank during the burn.
The plant, which makes brass plumbing fittings and has more than 100 employees, was shut down. Several homes were evacuated, as was nearby Ouachita Technical College. The American Red Cross offered food and shelter at a nearby church for several dozen affected residents.
Tri-Lakes, Pages 58 on 06/24/2010