Severe thunderstorm brings downed trees and power lines, loss of power
As many as a dozen thunderstorm warnings were issued by the National Weather Service as a line of severe weather swept through the Twin Lakes Area shortly after 1 Friday afternoon bringing with it high winds and leaving behind downed trees and power lines.
Here at KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot, we received numerous calls throughout the county reporting loss of power from both Entergy and the North Arkansas Electric Coooperative.
Entergy advised nine customers were without power, all in Stone County, about around seven a.m. Sunday.
North Arkansas Electric Cooperative crews were responding to multiple storm-related outages throughout the service territory. Most have been caused by high winds and trees knocking down power lines.
All NAEC members have service restored.
Baxter County Judge Mickey Pendergrass says road crews were working feverisly to open all roads by dark Friday.
The biggest challenge is working with the loss of power.
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Judge Pendergrass says there have been reports of structural damage in the Norfork area. However, his crews have not yet made an assessment.
In Marion County, Office of Emergency Services Director Keith Edmonds, says county road crews were busy clearing roadways.
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Edmonds says as of about 4 they believed all roadways had been cleared. One fire department was on the scene of a tree that was on fire due to downed power lines.
He says they are not aware of any injuries or structural damages from the storm.
He says should residents encounter trees blocking roadway, they should contact the Marion County Sheriff’s Officed at 870.449-4236. They are aware of numerous trees down in ditch lines. However, residents should only call if trees are blocking roadways.
As clean-up from the storms begin Friday afternoon, Cotter Mayor Peggy Hammack has a message for Cotter residents.
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MH man charged with arson, his 13th trip to jail
A 21-year-old rural Mountain Home man, Mitchel Dylan Teconchuk, has been charged with arson, following a fire Sunday afternoon at a residence located at 3215 Highway 62 East. While no injuries were reported from the fire, a cat was lost.
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery says Teconchuk is no stranger to law enforcement officers. He has been booked into the Baxter County Jail 12 previous times and is also being held on a probation violation from previous felony convictions. Since 2014, he has been arrested and charged with parole revocation four separate times, forgery, felony fleeing, breaking or entering, shoplifting, theft of property, contempt of court, three hot check incidents, and felony theft of property.
In the latest incident, firefighters from Northeast Lakeside, Henderson and Hand Cove responded and were able to extinguish the blaze before the house was a total loss. Firefighters were suspicious of the fire and requested assistance from the Baxter County Sheriffs Office.
Sheriff Montgomery says Sergeant Brad Hurst determined the fire had been purposely set. Three forged checks were recovered belonging to the home owners. During the course of the investigation, the son-in-law of the home owners was developed as a suspect. Many of the suspects statements made during an interview were later determined to be false.
The suspect was interviewed a second time on Thursday and admitted to the arson and other crimes. Based upon evidence collected, interviews of witnesses and statements by the suspect, Montgomery says investigators believe Teconchuk knew the homeowners were out of town that day and drove to their home, set it on fire, then drove back to his home, picked up his wife, the daughter of the home owners, drove back to her parents’ home to make it look like they had discovered the fire. Teconchuk had his wife call 9-1-1 to report the fire. Investigators believe the fire was set to cover up that Teconchuk had stolen items from the residence along with other crimes.
Teconchuk was arrested and charged with arson, residential burglary, filing a false report, and three counts of forgery, all felonies.
He being held in the Baxter County Detention Center on $150,000 pending his appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court.
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Mountain Home woman charged with battery
A rural Mountain Home woman 39-year-old Sarah Lynn Smith was arrested Sunday morning on a felony battery charge after an domestic violence incident. She remains in the Baxter County Jail on a $10,000 bond along with an additional charge of violating probation.
According to Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, a deputy was dispatched to a residence on Elm Tree Lane at 8:45 Sunday morning on a complaint a 73 year old woman had been assaulted and injured by another member of the family.
An investigation determined the victim, who is wheelchair bound, was allegedly struck three times in the face by Smith and sustained injuries. Based upon the evidence, she was arrested and taken into custody. She appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and entered a not guilty plea.
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Six apply for Mayor of Bull Shoals position
The City of Bull Shoals received six applicants for the vacant Mayor position following former Mayor David Hotchkiss’ resignation in early June. Resumes submitted were reviewed by the city council at its workshop on Monday. All applicants will be required to be present at the regularly scheduled city council meeting on June 29th at 6:30 p.m. for any questions the council may have. The decision on selecting the new mayor is expected to be made at that time.
Initially six candidates submittied resumes, however Aldermen Alan Graley says he dropped out to support another candidate. The five remaining applicants include two current city council members, and Marty Nickels. The other candidates are Phillip Friese, a local businessman and two-term city council Alderman; David Nixon, Justice of the Peace for the Marion County Quorum Court; James Nolan, former Public Relations Officer for Ranger Boats; and Bill Stahlman, former Justice of the Peace for the Marion County Quorum Court.
The candidate filling the current vacant position will serve out the remainder of Hotchkiss’ term set to expire December 31st, 2018.
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Cotter Schools seeking new superintendent
For the second consecutive year Cotter Schools are seeking a new superintendent. Jasper School District Superintendent Jeff Cantrell says his board voted on Monday evening to hire Chad Harp as the principal of its Oark K-12 School. Harp is in his first year as superintendent at Cotter.
Cantrell says the Jasper School District has three campuses, Jasper, Kingston, and Oark. He says the Oark campus has 165 of the district’s 855 students.
Cantrell says Harp was selected from a pool of 22 applicants. He will fill the position vacated by David Westenhover, who has been selected as the new superintendent at Alpena Public Schools.
Cantrell says negotiations continue with Cotter regarding Harp’s start date.
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