The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Union County and Union Parish, La. from 9:43 p.m. until around 11:30 p.m. Union County is also in a tornado watch until around 3:30 a.m., according to KNOE Channel 8 News.
Is it just me, or has our neck of the woods become way more of a shooting gallery for dangerous weather this spring? Look to your right for information on local weather developments.
Be careful out there, folks…
South Arkansas dodged a bullet today. No significant storms passed over our skies, thankfully. Other communities in Arkansas today haven’t been so lucky, as the AP story below indicates.
For the most current weather information from the National Weather Service, click here.
Photo credit: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, BOB COLEMAN. A 16-year-old girl was killed after a storm blew down trees destroying the mobile homes in the Choice Mobile Home Park early Friday morning.
Photo credit: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, BENJAMIN KRAIN. Rescue crews and employees of Caldwell Feed Co. search for valuables after a tornado strike along Highway 65 in Damascus.
By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press Writer
DAMASCUS, Ark. (AP) — Violent storms rolling across the nation’s midsection killed seven people in Arkansas on Friday, including a teenager who died when a tree fell into her bedroom and a father and son when a possible tornado hit their mobile home.
The 15-year-old girl died in the early morning as she slept and her 10-year-old brother suffered minor injuries when the storm, apparently with straight-line winds, hit their mobile home in a working-class neighborhood of Siloam Springs, on the Oklahoma border.
After sunup, the storms killed six in central Arkansas. More than a dozen people were injured. Tornadoes late Thursday and early Friday damaged homes in and around Kansas City, Mo., and also ravaged parts of Oklahoma and Texas.
The Arkansas deaths included the father and son dead in Conway County; one dead in Pulaski County, south of Little Rock; and three dead in Van Buren County. Conway and Van Buren counties also had
fatalities during a Feb. 5 tornado, which struck with winds estimated at greater than 165 mph.
“This year it just seems like we’re getting pounded,” Van Buren County Sheriff Scott Bradley said.
Randy Payne survived by hiding in a hallway at his aunt and uncle’s house in Damascus.
“It sounded like all hell was breaking loose,” said Payne, 38.
Back at their single-story ranch home, Payne and his family found trees down in their front yard, shingles blown off their house and standing water on some of the home’s floors.
Just south of Bee Branch, Van Buren County Sheriff Scott Bradley said a man, a woman and a preschool-
age child died when the storm hit their house.
“There wasn’t anything left,” Bradley said. “It was demolished.”
Another child who lived at the home had already left for school, escaping injury.
Deputies, firefighters and volunteers from the public were going farm-to-farm in the rural area to check on everyone.
Just north of Damascus on U.S. 65, the storm knocked over trees as it moved northeast, directly hitting the Southside Baptist Church. The new church, which neighbors said had not yet held services, lost its roof. Members of a work crew ran inside after a neighbor warned them of the coming storm. They said it was total silence as the storm approached.
“Everybody was afraid,” said Jesus Estrada, 22, a worker.
After the storm ripped through, he and others went down the street and helped firefighters help others out of their homes.
Conway County Sheriff Mike Smith said the father and his son died when storms hit near Birdtown. Brandon Baker, Conway County emergency services director, said six people with “pretty severe” injuries were taken to a local hospital. Ten to 20 homes were destroyed in a rural area, and more sustained damage.
State emergency officials said more than 100 homes were damaged in Cleburne County. Officials also received reports of property damage in Benton, Franklin, Howard, Newton, Pope and Van Buren counties.
The strong winds, rains and hail blew out electric service to nearly 6,000 homes and businesses. Entergy spokesman James Thompson said that as of midmorning, 2,067 customers at Harrison in north Arkansas were without power, 2,602 lost service in Russellville and 1,170 in Dardanelle, both in west-central Arkansas.
In the Kansas City area, officials said several people were injured, none seriously. About 40,000 lost power at the peak of the storm, which brought wind of up to 80 mph. Kansas City Mayor Mark
Funkhouser said 100 homes suffered significant damage in the city alone. Damage was also reported in the suburbs and in Lawrence, to the west.
In northeast Kansas City, dozens of homes had chunks of their roofs missing, and trees were knocked from their roots and laying along the roads and in ditches. Police blocked off roads surrounding the damaged neighborhoods Friday.
In Canton, Texas, local officials said an apparent tornado Friday ripped down power lines and injured two people in overturned vehicles. Details on their condition were not immediately available.
The storm hit as visitors were beginning to show up for a popular open-air market that draws thousands to the county seat each month.
At least two tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma late Thursday, including one near Ralston, though no injuries or significant damage was reported there.
The Associated Press is reporting that Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, along with a state trooper and a member of his staff, helped a woman in a wheelchair off the porch of a burning home.
Halter, on his way to a meeting with Paragould’s mayor Wednesday, told a reporter for the Paragould Daily Press that he saw smoke rising from the house fire about 10:30 a.m., according to the AP. Family members for the unidentified woman needed the help to lift the woman away to safety after she fell out of her wheelchair.
Halter spokesman Garry Hoffmann told The Associated Press that after the men got the woman into the front yard, flames shot out of a doorway. Hoffmann said Trooper Ramey Lovan suffered a slight burn to his arm. Halter apparently escaped unscathed.
Halter said he was “just glad all these people are going to be fine.”
Residents across the Midwest were awakened Friday by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago’s Loop and homes in Cincinnati but appeared to cause no major injuries or damage, the Associated Press is reporting.
The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind.
Click here for more.
The Associated Press reports:
“Many see retail prices peaking around $3.65 a gallon next month (May). The Energy Department, in a recent forecast, said prices could average as high as $3.60 a gallon this summer on a monthly basis, but could spike to $4 on a national average basis at times.”
Click here for more.
Meanwhile, we are STILL paying some of the highest gas prices in the state right here in South Arkansas. I guess if gas is $3.65 nationally in May we will be paying 20 cents beyond that here.
And just a short drive from El Dorado…
The Associated Press is reporting that parts of Arkansas today were with hit with flooding, hail and high winds. A tornado warning was issued for several central Arkansas counties at around noon today. Flights at the Little Rock National Airport were cancelled, and residents in the small north Arkansas town of Leslie were evacuated because of flooding and the threat of mudslides, according to the AP.
Click here for more.
Things don’t look good for the future of Pilgrim’s Pride here in Union County. Speaking to company spokesman Ray Atkinson yesterday, I could definitely feel the sense of immediacy in his voice.
He didn’t mince words when he told me that things are going to have to change immediately at the plant before officials decide to keep it open.
Quality control issues are a concern, and worker productivity is very low. Basically, it boils down to 1,600 people who need to step up or they’ll be shipped out, and Union County will be dealt a blow that it may never recover from.
I don’t know the ins and outs of the plant, but I do know that workers there are going to have to prove themselves very quickly, for their sake and for our local economy’s.
You have to wonder where the 1,600 people will go and what they’ll do if handed pink slips. There are no other jobs available in Union County, and Lord knows they won’t be able to afford to commute elsewhere for a job.
Meanwhile, the national and world economies continue to sputter, and there have even been reports of food riots in parts of the world. The United Nations is reporting today that we are currently in a “world food crisis.”
Times are tougher than many of us realize, and looking around the world, it’s easy to see just how bad things are getting.
Click here for more on this topic.
One has to wonder how much worse our own economy will get.
Do you think the United States should boycott the 2008 Summer Olympic games in China? Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is calling for a boycott of the opening ceremony, not of the entire olympics.
Personally, I don’t think it would be a bad idea, considering China’s track record on human rights and the ongoing struggle between the Communist nation and Tibet. We definitely should send some type of protest.
Click here for more on Clinton’s call for a protest.
The Associated Press is reporting that Gov. Mike Beebe signed legislation Wednesday that raises Arkansas’ severance tax on natural gas for the first time in a half century.
The tax goes into effect Jan. 1, and is expected to eventually raise $100 million annually. The money would be used to improve Arkansas’ roads. Maybe now we can get funding to four-lane U.S. 167 to Little Rock. One can only hope… .
By John Worthen
For Between Editions
Debris is strewn through the streets of Atlanta tonight after a possible tornado rolled through the downtown area. Damaged buildings include the Georgia Dome, the CNN Center, dozens of downtown hotels and other buildings. The storm interrupted an SEC basketball game in progress inside the dome after that structure began shaking violently in high winds. Numerous injuries are being reported throughout Atlanta.
Click here for more from CNN.
By John Worthen
For Between Editions
The Union County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information on the whereabouts of Larry D. Slaughter, 63, of Downsville, La. He is wanted for forgery, a class C felony.
Union County Sheriff Ken Jones said that Slaughter entered into a timber agreement with a Dallas, Texas, woman, but reneged on that deal by harvesting her timber and skipping town with the money. He also forged her name on a document to secure a loan at an El Dorado bank.
Anyone with information on Slaughter’s whereabouts is urged to contact the UCSO at 864-1970 immediately.
Look for more in Thursday’s News-Times.
Click here for more.
*UPDATE* If you’ve seen the morning paper you already know this, but just in case: Police found Keaton Byrd’s body near her car Monday evening. Click here for more.
The Camden News reported Monday that police found Byrd’s car in a creek just off of Cash Road in Camden. Byrd, 23, had been missing for several days.
Byrd reportedly last spoke to family members on Feb. 28, when she called home to ask her mother if she could bring a friend home.
By John Worthen
For Between Editions
A capital murder warrant has been issued and served on James Edward Clemons, 45, of Wisconsin for his involvement in the 1992 death of El Dorado businessman Billy Ponder, EPD Chief Ricky Roberts announced Monday afternoon.
Clemons has been identified as a suspect as the result of a DNA sample, Roberts said.
Clemons also has ties to Arkansas, having served time in the Arkansas Department of Corrections, according to the EPD.
Ponder was stabbed multiple times in his flower shop on North West Ave. on April 28, 1992. Look for more in Tuesday’s News-Times.
UALR spokeswoman Joan Duffy said shots were fired at 2:10 p.m. in a parking lot behind University Theatre and Stabler Hall.
“One person has been injured and is being treated by medical personnel,” she said.
A male believed by investigators to be a student was accosted by two other men and shot, Duffy said. The injured man made it on foot it across to the parking lot in front of the University Theater, where ambulance attendants reached him to administer emergency care and take him to a hospital.
Police were unsure of a motive in the attack, she said.
Duffy said two suspects fled in a gold Chevy Malibu and were last seen driving away on University Avenue. Authorities were interviewing people who may have seen or heard something.
Campus police declined to comment.
Duffy said students, faculty and staff were notified of the shooting by an automated emergency e-mail and phone system.
The university sent the e-mail and phone messages to students and faculty about 2:30 p.m. alerting them to the shooting. Duffy said they sent a second message shortly afterward telling students and faculty that the police believed the suspects had left campus and that the student had been taken to a local hospital.
Duffy said officials had just tested the system last week.
At the scene, police were interviewing tennis players on a nearby court. Yellow police tape was up in part of a parking lot by the theater and a nearby street.
UPDATE from UALR officials: At approximately 2:15 p.m. on Feb. 27, James Earl Matthews, 33, was shot near the UALR tennis courts on University Drive. Campus police responded, and the student was transported to a local hospital for treatment. Police are still searching for the two African American males identified as suspects in the shooting.
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