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• Ridgefest Plans Announced
• Plans are being finalized for the third annual Ridgefest Fall Festival in Forrest City set for November 7th and 8th.
  
  This year’s festival will feature a wide array of family-friendly events including a BBQ contest, a 5K run, a Car and Bike Show, plus lots of music, booths, contests and exhibitions.
  
  The entertainment line-up booked so far for this year’s event includes several local performers; Blue Rib, Hoosier Daddies, Sarah Hughes, the Parkman Sisters, FaSho, Chad Boyd, Cypress Creek and the Ridge Rockers.
  
  The Ridgefest Committee recently approved a new logo for the festival that was designed by Frank Adams of Forrest City. The logo will be used on festival t-shirts, the website and on other promotional materials touting the event.
  
  The festival will be held Friday and Saturday, November 7th and 8th, on the campus of East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City.  For more information about this year’s event, call the Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce at 633-1651. Ridgefest is a joint effort of St. Francis County Farm Bureau and a number of organizations in eastern Arkansas.
  
  
  
• Man Operating Mobile Meth Lab
• Phillips County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Marianna man for operating a mobile meth lab out of his car. His arrest led to two additional arrests in connection with a rash of burglaries in the county.
  
  Detective Mike Russell stated that 39-year old Anthony Bruce Pinegar of Marianna was arrested on Tuesday of this week after officers discovered a “meth lab” in his vehicle. Pinegar was stopped for driving with no vehicle tags. He’d apparently just left the Helena-West Helena Wal-Mart, where he’d tried to buy pills containing ephedrine, a key component in the manufacture of meth.
  
  Pinegar was arrested on the scene on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to use. Detective Russell stated that some stolen jewelry was found in Pinegar’s possession, which had been stolen during a rash of recent residential burglaries in the Marvell and Barton areas.
  
  Further investigation led to the arrest of 32-year old James Franklin of Helena-West Helena on burglary and theft charges. Also arrested in the case was 22-year old Joe Mora of Helena-West Helena on charges of theft by receiving.
  
  
• Several Sentenced To ADC
• Several people were sentenced to time in the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) during court proceedings in Forrest City Thursday:
  
  --Twenty-eight year old Denona Ward Jr. of Forrest City was sentenced to five years in the ADC on a charge of marijuana possession.
  
  --Twenty-eight year old Michael Spath of Marianna was sentenced to 10 years in prison on a residential burglary conviction. The sentence will run concurrently with sentences from Lee, Monroe and Phillips County.
  
  --Twenty-five year old Willard Mathis was sentenced to five years in the ADC after pleading guilty to a charge of terroristic threatening.
  
  --Thirty-two year old James Stacy of Little Rock was sentenced to six years after pleading guilty to a breaking & entering charge.
  
  --Twenty-four year old Joseph May of Forrest City was sentenced to five years in the ADC on drug and weapon-related charges.
  
  
• Area Police Report
• A Phillips County woman was arrested on felony drug charges at her home earlier this week.  A search warrant was executed Wednesday night at the Mamosa Street home of 22-year old Angelene McGee in Helena-West Helena.
  
  Officers with the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office and 1st Judicial Drug Task Force conducted the operation, during which several bags of marijuana packaged for sale (less than one ounce) and several pills were found.
  
  McGee was arrested at the scene on charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and endangering the welfare of a minor; a one-year old child was in the home at the time of the raid. McGee is currently being held in the Phillips County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
  
  In other news:
  
  Brinkley firefighters were called out to a residential fire early this (Friday) morning.
  
  Fire Captain Mark Hamner stated that firemen were dispatched to the Chunn residence on Ash Street around 1 a.m. this morning. There was extensive fire damage to one end of the home as well as complete water and smoke damage throughout the structure.
  
  No one was home at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. Firemen were on the scene for about 1 ½ hours.
  ---
  
  A Forrest City teenager was beaten with a tire iron during a domestic incident outside a local apartment complex Wednesday night.
  
  Police were dispatched to Indian Hills Apartments around 8:00 Wednesday night where they found 18-year old Heather Hodges bleeding from a head wound. Hodges told police that her attacker had driven to her apartment with Hodges’ ex-boyfriend, 22-year old Dameon Jones. While Hodges and Jones were talking, the woman grabbed some type of tire tool from the trunk of her car and began hitting Hodges over the head with it.
  
  Hodges was transported by ambulance to Forrest City Medical Center where she was treated for a cut to the head, a concussion and a small skull fracture.
  
  No arrests have been made. The investigation is continuing.
  
  
• Gustav Cleanup Continues
• Utility workers are continuing to work to restore power to thousands of homes and businesses in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.
  
  Entergy Spokesman Mike Davis has just returned to Arkansas from the gulf coast and talked today (Friday) about the effects of Hurricane “Gustav” on Entergy customers in the tri-state area:
  
  (mp3 audio)
  
  Davis stated that power should be restored to all Arkansas customers no later than this weekend, after which Entergy crews, including a Forrest City contingent, will be going back to the gulf coast:
  
  (mp3 audio)
  
  According to Davis, restoration is about 50 percent complete, with about 130 substations still without power, mostly in Louisiana.
  
  
• School Election Early Voting To Begin
• Early voting in the September school elections gets underway next week.
  
  Early voting will be held during regular business hours at courthouses around the state beginning on Tuesday, September 9th and continuing through Monday, September 15th. No Saturday or after-hour voting will be offered during this election. Polls will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, September 16th.
  
  There are five contested school board races in St. Francis County:
  
  Forrest City School District
  Position 5
  Sandra Taylor (I)
  Scott Carroll
  
  Position 6
  Willie L. Smith
  Sharon Wilson
  
  Position 7
  Ernestine Weaver (I)
  Justin Johnson
  
  Palestine-Wheatley School District
  Zone 5
  Derrick Boileau (unopposed)
  
  Zone 7
  Jimmy Ray Cook
  Dedrick Ingram
  
  Hughes School District
  Position 7 (At Large)
  Charles E. Owens
  Lawrence “Larry” Owens
  
  Only one contested school board race this year in the Lee County School District:
  Zone 3
  Pearlethe Collins—Incumbent
  Lafayette Smith
  
  Zone 7
  Milton Hall—Incumbent (unopposed)
  
  
• Mostly Sunny, Warmer Over Weekend
• Our weather will very slowly clear by tonight and give us a good weekend.  Most of next week looks dry with maybe some more rain at the end of the seven-day forecast.
  
  The cold front has passed through our region and is stalled east of us.  Cloudy skies will prevail for most of today, and we could see some drizzle until the late morning hours.
  
  Skies will clear and we’ll have a warm up over the weekend.  Expect 80 degrees on Saturday, 85 degrees by Sunday and near 90 degrees by Monday.  A weak cold front will pass through the region Monday night; it’ll bring us some cloud cover but very little rain.  Tuesday and Wednesday should be clear with highs in the mid 80s.
  
  We could get rain from a couple of sources by next weekend.  Another cold front is scheduled to arrive, but there could also be a problem with Hurricane Ike.  Some computer models show it moving up along the east coast, which would not be a problem for us.  Other computer models show Ike moving into the Gulf of Mexico and making landfall late in the week around Louisiana.  This could mean another round of heavy rain for the mid-south.
  
  
• Funeral Notices
• Funeral services for John F. Porter, age 86 of Forrest City, are Saturday (9/6) at 11:00am graveside in Forrest Park Cemetery.  Stevens Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
  
  Funeral services for Sherman Nash, age 44 and formerly of Marianna, are Saturday (9/6) at 1:00pm at Lee Senior High School with burial in the St. John Cemetery at Felton.  Marianna Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
  
  Funeral services for Willie Earl Leggs, Sr., age 58 of Forrest City, are Saturday (9/6) at 2:00pm at Shady Grove M. B. Church with burial in the Shady Grove Cemetery.  Clay Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.  Visitation is Friday from 2-5pm at the funeral home.
  
  Funeral services for Winfred G. "Budd" Drury, age 65 of Forrest City, are Monday (9/8) at 10:00am at Stevens Funeral Home with burial in Forrest Park Cemetery.  Visitation is Sunday from 5-8pm at the funeral home.
  
  

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