Stories from Thursday, August 5, 2004

Frances JoAnn Gilbreath, 66, of Holiday Island, died Sunday, July 18, at St. Mary's Hospital in Rogers. She was born March 24, 1938, in Hardy to Robert Bryden and Bessie Mae Wise Sample. She was a real estate broker and a member of Spring River Baptist Church in Hardy...

Verna Mae Maberry, a long-time resident of Eureka Springs, died July 21 in Oklahoma City. She was born Oct. 31, 1922, in Lemesa, Texas, the daughter of Wesley and Eva Mae Umphrey. She was married to Cecile Maberry on Oct. 15, 1954, and they were previous owners of the New Orleans Hotel, the New Basin Theater in Eureka Springs, and the Main Theater in Berryville. ...

Several Eureka Springs businesses made night deposits at a local bank over the weekend, but the loot made into the hands of two thieves who set up a fake drop in front of the real deposit slot. Eureka Springs Detective Morris Pate said two men made a phony front that looked, at first glance, like the genuine deposit slot and glued it to the front of the real slot at about 9 p.m. Saturday night...

Completion of plans for the new wastewater system for Eureka Springs are within 60 days of being ready to send to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) for review and approval so construction can start late in the fall. Consulting engineer Ron Tracy told an audience of six persons Thursday evening he is working on the preliminary drawings. He needs to get equipment and piping size specifications before he can complete the plans...

The budget and Ordinance 93-15 committees of the Carroll County Quorum Court focused on operation on the county's new detention center, under construction on Hailey Road, during separate meetings on July 27. During the budget committee meeting, County Judge Mike Botelho presented a budget, estimating that $1,380,000 would be raised from the Jail Sales Tax in 2004, with $504,000 ear-marked for debt reduction and the balance available for jail operations...

Four candidates for Eureka Springs City Council have turned in their nomination petitions to Carroll County Clerk Shirley Doss. As of 1:45 p.m. Monday, there were still no candidates for Eureka Springs School Board. Incumbent Steve Hamblin was circulating his petition at last week's school board meeting. Sara Setzer was absent...

A boom in real estate sales is taking place in Carroll County, with a near 15-percent increase in sales, and pressures pushing sale prices up. Louella Smith of the circuit clerk's office in Berryville reports that as of July 27 there were 605 deeds recorded in 2004, compared to 529 for the same date in 2003...

GREEN FOREST ---- Old water and sewer lines throughout Green Forest are slated for replacement under a rehabilitation plan proposed by Public Works Director Buddy Fry. At Monday's agenda setting meeting, Fry said he would present his plan to the council at next week's regular meeting. Money from a bond refinancing package that the council approved earlier this year will pay for the work, Fry said...

When Tina Ayers of Berryville joins with her teammates from Berryville in early September to ride their bicycles 150 miles in support of the national Multiple Sclerosis Society, the irony will almost be palpable. Last year, Ayers rode in the fund- raiser in support of friends with the disease. This year, she is riding as a victim of the disease, which attacks the nervous system...