Mountain Home and Baxter County sales tax initiatives unofficially pass
Although the numbers won’t likely be officially released until Friday, the unofficial numbers for the sales tax proposals by both the City of Mountain Home and Baxter County have been released and indicate both measures will pass. After the polls closed at 7:30 Tuesday, the earliest the official results are allowed to be released is Thursday evening at 7:30 and no later than ten calendar days from the election. Absentee ballots have not yet been counted.
Voters in Mountain Home were asked to consider levying a 3/8 percent sales and use tax that would benefit the city’s fire and police departments. Voting numbers show 1,167 were in favor of the initiative and 271 voted against.
Voters countywide said yes, with 2,846 in favor and 1,232 against, to levying a one cent sales and use tax for eight months beginning March 1, 2018. Net proceeds from the tax will be used to expand the Baxter County Detention Center, as well as furnish and equip the new portion, and provide for the operation and maintenance of the jail.
Voters also approved levying a countywide one-quarter cent sales and use tax beginning November 1, 2018, following the expiration of the one cent sales and use tax by a vote of 2,723 in favor and 1,318 against. The one-quarter cent tax would be ongoing.
According to Baxter County Clerk Canda Reese, approximately 4,050 voters turned out for the election with 1,670 of that number voting early.
Mountain Home Professional Fire Fighters Association President Travis Dover says he’s happy the hard work put into the campaign has paid off.
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Dover say he is anxious to show the citizens of the city what the approved tax will do in terms of emergency services.
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery says going into the election he was cautiously optimistic.
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Montgomery says he appreciates the confidence voters have placed in him and the staff of the Baxter County Sheriff’s office and the support the community has shown as partners in supporting law enforcement.
The tentative plan is to let bids go out in May and to start construction of the new facility shortly thereafter. He estimates construction for the new jail will take a year.
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NABORS landfill closure finally underway
Almost five years since trash was last received at the NABORS landfill in northern Baxter County, work is underway placing closure turf at the site.
Melinda Caldwell, Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District Executive Director, says the work underway at the landfill is a breath of fresh air after what has been a sad, negative story for a long time.
Caldwell says the closure work underway is in an area of the landfill identified as the Class 4 cell. The NABORS landfill has three other cells or disposal units.
Caldwell says the process underway involves the placement of a permanent cover, meaning no more trash will be placed there, and the area will be properly capped.
Once work is completed in the Class 4 area, the closure focus will shift to other areas of the landfill where there are overfill issues requiring waste to be moved among cells that have been prepared to receive it. With the overfill issues completed, the remaining three areas will also be capped.
With the installation of the closure turf completing the capping of all cells in the landfill, the 30-year monitoring and management begins. Caldwell says this phase will include monitoring leachate and methane production.
The closure process was originally estimated to be completed within one year. However, Caldwell says weather has slowed the process.
While it has been a long journey to reach the closure phase, Caldwell says there is a great partnership and collaboration among the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), the Solid Waste District, SCS Engineers of St. Louis, Consolidated Services and others.
NABORS landfill was originally permitted in 1979 and was owned by RLH until 2006. At that time, the landfill was purchased by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Solid Waste Management District, renamed the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District in 2011. The last waste was received at the landfill in November 2012.
The Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District includes Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Marion, Newton and Searcy counties. The district’s board of directors is comprised of each county judge and the mayors of all cities of the first class.
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Mountain Home couple rescued from Irma’s wrath on Saint Martin now safe
A Mountain Home couple, Dr. Ben Petkovich and his fiance Cindy Floyd, is reportedly safe and beginning their journey home after their vacation in the Caribbean turned horrifying after they had to be rescued from the island of Saint Martin in the wake of devastation there caused by Hurricane Irma.
The two were able to manage to get on board a Royal Caribbean ship Sunday amid flight cancellations and an estimated number of 1,000 individuals trying to get flights off the island.
According to ABC news, some 1,200 American citizens had to be evacuated by U.S. military, C-130 aircraft, beginning Friday, prioritizing those needing urgent medical care. An estimated 5,000 American citizens were believed to be stranded on the island at that time.
According to Petkovich’s daughter, Kim, who resides in Los Angeles, she and the Floyd family have been in contact with her dad and Cindy initially through a working cellphone Cindy was able to borrow. They have continued keeping in touch beginning Sunday with WhatsApp, a free messaging app for iPhone and other smartphones.
Kim wanted to make it clear she was given permission Monday to relay her fathers’ status by Dr. Petkovich to KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News and the family is grateful for the outpouring of support and concern coming from the Twin Lakes Area. Although they went through what was described as a terrifying ordeal they are now on a ship to Curacao, Venezuela, then on to Puerto Rico where they will book a flight back to the mainland.
Kim says Dr. Petkovich and Floyd were vacationing in Saint Martin when they learned of Hurricane Irma’s approach. They tried to get a flight out of St. Martin Tuesday and Wednesday, however due to the amount of cancellations to the area they were stranded.
They wound up having to take shelter in a concrete enforced local motel, hunkering down in a bathroom as Irma passed, an experience Kim relays was extremely emotional for the couple.
Perhaps the scariest part of the ordeal for the pair, according to Kim, was transitioning by bus from their hotel to a Dutch military shelter where they had to sleep on the ground. Groups of looters were amidst the chaos. The ABC News report says a group of men armed with, what a witness describes as, long swords stormed a hotel and had beaten up a tourist.
Other witnesses described looters stealing purses from hotel guests and Dutch authorities were in search of men who had just robbed a bank.
Some 20 Americans banded together in Petkovich’s group and arrived at the nearest airport hoping to get a flight out, only to find nearly 1,000 people in the same predicament.
A member of the party heard about a Royal Caribbean ship coming to rescue those in need. Petkovich and FLoyd were able to make it to that ship and were among the first groups of people allowed on board.
Royal Caribbean’s website posted Monday, in coordination with the United States and local governments, ships had been dispatched to the area and the Adventure of the Seas ship made a humanitarian stop in Saint Martin Sunday. Majesty of the Seas will make humanitarian calls in Saint Thomas and Saint Martin as well as provide supplies and continue to transport evacuees to safety.
Kim, along with Petkovitch, Floyd and the entire family say they are lucky and glad to be alive.
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Hurricane Irma has caused widespread damage to the southeastern United States. North Arkansas Electric Cooperative is responding by sending 12 of its linemen to South Carolina to assist with the disaster response and power restoration.
NAEC Chief Executive Officer Mel Coleman says the linemen left Monday at seven a.m. with eight pieces of heavy equipment, and they stayed overnight in Knoxville, Tennessee, before continuing on to South Carolina.
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It was less than a year ago when NAEC sent a crew to the east coast in another disaster. The linemen went to central Florida after it was hit by Hurricane Matthew. Coleman says the cooperative has been ready and willing to assist the coast again.
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There is currently no timetable on the length of time the crew will spend in South Carolina.
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Byrd pleads not guilty in child sex cases
Michael James Byrd of Gassville, who is now charged in two cases with having inappropriate sexual contact with young females, appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him in both cases.
Byrd was jailed August 23rd on the first set of charges and on September 9th on the second. He is currently free on $50,000 bond.
In both cases, he is charged with sexual indecency with a child and first-degree sexual assault.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the original case, the 33-year-old Byrd and the victim’s mother had been living together at a residence in Gassville. The relationship between the adults had been on-going for about three years, and the alleged sexual contact with the woman’s then eight-through-ten-year-old daughter allegedly took place during the last year Byrd and the girl’s mother were together.
The situation was reported to the Gassville police March 13th. In addition to Gassville police, the incident was investigated by the Crimes Against Children Division of the Arkansas State Police.
In an interview with the victim, she described the alleged contacts with Byrd and said he told her “this is our little secret”. The victim was asked if she ever told Byrd that the sexual activity was not right and she told investigators she had thought about it but “didn’t have the courage” to confront him.
She said the first time Byrd had sexual contact with her, she pretended to be asleep. The girl told investigators she did not know what to do and described herself as being in “shock”.
She told investigators she was finally convinced to report what had happened by two juvenile friends of hers who urged her to tell her mother.
In the affidavit, it is reported that during the investigation into the first incident, information came to light that there were other accusations that Byrd had had similar contact with pre-pubescent females.
In the most recent case, Byrd is accused of inappropriately touching a girl beginning when she was 12-years old. It is alleged that Byrd had been sexually assaulting the girl for a period of years. The victim told investigators that the incidents took place at her residence in Mountain Home and at Byrd’s home in Gassville.
The victim said the last incident took place in May last year.
In the probable cause affidavit in the second case, Byrd is described as a “close family friend” of the girl and her mother. The woman said that after dating Byrd for about six months, she had to put her children in counseling. She also reported that Byrd watched “lots of porn” and that he was into such things as “Asian teen porn” and “forced teen sex”.
The alleged victim did not report the molestation until Byrd and her mother had what was described as a “falling out”.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Byrd met with an investigator with the Crimes Against Children Division on June 25th. Byrd is reported to have told the investigator he believed the alleged victim’s mother had told the girl to tell investigators falsehoods about him.
Byrd was ordered to make reappearances on both cases later this month.
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