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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2011

The

Daily Citizen Serving Searcy and White County, Ark., since 1854

TheDailyCitizen.com

LOCAL 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL TO HOLD TOY DRIVE RAIDERS PLAY AT HOME BEFORE BREAK A 12-year-old girl is conducting a toy drive for Arkansas Children’s Hospital on Thanksgiving day. — PAGE 3A

Riverview’s basketball teams took on Heber Springs at home Tuesday evening. — PAGE 1B

State: Eminent domain last resort Highway

Shopping local Searcy chamber president, local business owners and lawmakers discuss advantages of buying local this shopping weekend.

Residents urged to shop local Mom & Pop stores boast customer service

department asks for fair market value on property

BY MOLLY M. FLEMING mfleming@thedailycitizen.com

If the bypass route 1 percent sales tax passes in the city of Searcy on Dec. 13, then the

next question on the agenda to build the bypass will be — whose property do we need to acquire?

Randy Ort with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said that if the time comes for the highway department to purchase property for the bypass, the department is prepared to offer fair market value.

“We initially appraise the property for what it’s worth

and then we appraise it again after we find out how much of the property we will need. At that time, we offer the resident fair market value for the property,” Ort said.

After the initial offer is made, Ort said the property owner can then deny the offer, accept the offer or submit a different offer.

“We’re required by law to

Eminent Domain

■ Highway department discusses how it acquires property when needed ■ Department spokesperson said it uses eminent domain as last resort ■ Department will help with relocation expenses

Please see DOMAIN | 2A

MEALS ON WHEELS TURKEY DINNERS PREPARED

BY MOLLY M. FLEMING mfleming@thedailycitizen.com

While locally-owned stores will not be opening their doors at midnight on Friday, they will be open Friday and Saturday for the busiest shopping day of the year.

And those businesses don’t want to be left off of the shopping agendas this weekend, as supporting local businesses means directly supporting the community, according to Buck Layne, president of the Searcy Chamber of Commerce.

“Local businesses are the ones that invest in our community,” Layne said. “For example, when you go to an athletic event, it’s Please see LOCAL | 2A

Voyeurism at hospital Accused: Kyle S. Carpenter, 28 What: Former employee at White County Medical Center (WCMC) has been charged with four counts of video voyeurism for allegedly recording women with an iPhone in a staff restroom at the hospital.

Molly M. Fleming/mfleming@thedailycitizen.com

Blake Schowe (left), of Wal-Mart Transportation, and Jeff Bolden, of Wal-Mart Distribution, tear apart deep-fried turkeys at the Lightle Senior Center to be put in the Meals on Wheels Thanksgiving meals. Schowe and Bolden deep fried 15 turkeys for the meals.

Drenching rain helps parched areas but snarls traffic Associated Press

Man charged with voyeurism Hospital worker accused of recording females in restroom

BY JACOB BROWER jbrower@thedailycitizen.com

A former employee at White County Medical Center (WCMC) has been charged with four counts of video voyeurism for allegedly recording women with an iPhone in a staff restroom at the hospital.

Kyle S. Carpenter, 28, is Please see VOYEURISM | 2A

LITTLE ROCK — Powerful storms that moved out of Arkansas on Tuesday dropped more rain than what usually falls in all of November in parts of the state, flooding roads but also lessening the effects of a persistent drought.

In far southwestern Arkansas, which is in an exceptional drought, only an inch of rain fell between El Dorado and Texarkana. Communities along the Louisiana border have rainfall deficits approaching 20 inches for the year. But the half-dozen or so counties to the north that have been in extreme drought had two-day rain totals approaching 9 inches.

Danville got 8.96 inches, Hot Springs Village 8.51 inches, Mount Ida 8.35 inches, Norman 8.16 inches and Mena 7.69 inches. At its peak, the storm system dropped 5 inches of rain in four hours at Mount Ida. “Those areas in west-central Arkansas — Mena and Mount Ida — people out there were probably glad to see the rain but not all at once,” National Weather Service meteorologist

WEATHER Today: Sunny. Highs around 60. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight: Clear. Lows around 40. West winds 5 mph.

Vol. 157, No. 281 ©2011 The Daily Citizen

AP Photo/Danny Johnston

West-bound traffic is stopped on Interstate 30 Monday due to high water near Little Rock.

John Lewis said.

In Crystal Valley just southwest of Little Rock, 8.15 inches

fell, enough to force the closing of Interstate 30 near the border of Pulaski and Saline coun-

INDEX NATION & STATE, 2A OPINIONS, 4A LIFESTYLES, 5A CALENDAR/OBITUARIES, 6A SPORTS, 1B CLASSIFIEDS, 5B

“

ties on Monday. The shutdown inconvenienced commuters and snarled a major highway linking Dallas and Memphis, Tenn.

The heaviest rain fell in a band that stretched over Polk, Montgomery, Garland and Pulaski counties, where rainfall amount of between 3 and 5 inches were common, according to the National Weather Service office in North Little Rock.

Evacuations were necessary in Polk County, where people in the town of Acorn were rescued from their homes as propane tanks floated away, according to the weather service.

The storms developed as warm, moist air over Arkansas met cool, dry air that moved in from the northwest. The moist air flowed above the cool air as the front parked on top of the state for about a day and a half, Lewis said.

The weather is expected to be clear and cool on Wednesday and Thursday, with high temperatures in the 50s and 60s. The day after Thanksgiving brings the next chance of rain and storms.

Talent works, genius creates.

ROBERT SCHUMANN 19th Century German composer

Contact us: 3000 E. Race, Searcy, AR 72143, (Phone) 501-268-8621, (Fax) 501-268-6277

”

Page 2A • Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Daily Citizen

FROM PAGE ONE

Holiday toy report finds some dangers Tax cut debate dooms deal to cut US deficit

JENNIFER C. KERR Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Hidden dangers lurk in some of those less-expensive toys that parents might grab as stocking stuffers this time of year — like a Sesame Street Oscar the Grouch doll.

The small furry green Oscar, purchased for $6.99, was one of the toys singled out in the annual toy safety report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

The consumer advocate’s report, released Tuesday, found just over a dozen toys on store shelves that violate federal safety standards. Some had unsafe levels of lead or chemicals called phthalates, and others contained small parts that young children could choke on.

Besides Oscar, other toys deemed potentially dangerous included a plastic book for babies; a $1 plastic mini-crossbow that fires off little balls and a hand-held “whirly wheel.”

The Oscar doll has a small hat that could come off easily, which is a possible choking hazard, PIRG said. The crossbow’s small parts also put young children at risk of choking, according to the report.

The book and the whirly wheel had high levels of lead, according to the study. But an importer of the whirly wheel disputes that, and says the company’s own testing shows the spinning magnetic toy with lead levels well below the limit.

PIRG also warned about toys that are too loud and

BY STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press

AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Nathan, (from left) Jacqueline, Cyan and Cameron, all age 4 and children of hospital staffers, show how, using a common household item such a toilet paper roll - to determine if a toy is not a choking hazardat a news conference by the California Public Interest Research Group Tuesday at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, toy-related injuries sent more than 251,000 children to emergency rooms in 2010. Choking on small toy parts, balloons and balls is he leading cause of toy-related deaths. could lead to damaged hearing, such as an Elmo talking cellphone that the group says tested just above voluntary industry noise limits.

Ed Mierzwinski, the group’s consumer program director, said industrial chemicals and toxins in toys were the biggest problems the group found this year. Exposure to lead can cause irreversible brain damage, and some studies have linked phthalates to reproductive problems.

Toy makers played down the report and pointed to government figures showing sharp declines in the number of national toy recalls.

“All eyes have been on toy safety for several years now,” says Joan Lawrence, the Toy Industry Association’s vice president for safety standards. “I am confident that the toys on store shelves are safe. The toy industry works yearround on this.”

Government figures show 34 toy recalls in fis-

cal year 2011 — down from 46 recalls the previous year; 50 in 2009 and 172 in 2008. Recalls related to lead were down from 19 in 2008 to four this past year.

PIRG credited a 2008 law that set stronger standards for children’s products, including strict limits on lead, for helping to make many of the products on store shelves safer for youngsters. The law was passed after a wave of recalls of lead-tainted toys.

WASHINGTON — A long-running war between Democrats and Republicans over Bushera tax cuts doomed the debt supercommittee’s chances of reaching a deal. Efforts to overhaul the tax code may await the same fate as both parties gear up to make taxes a central issue in the 2012 elections.

Republicans insisted during the supercommittee negotiations that curbing tax breaks to raise revenues be coupled with guarantees that all the Bush tax cuts would continue beyond 2012. The tax cuts, which affect families at every income level, were enacted under President George W. Bush and were extended through 2012 under President Barack Obama.

Republicans for years have bashed Democrats as eager to raise taxes — a theme they will employ often in next year’s elections — so they weren’t about to agree to a tax hike unless they also could take credit for preventing a huge tax increase scheduled to take effect in 2013.

Democrats countered that the supercommittee was created to reduce the budget deficit, not add to it by extending tax cuts. Most Democrats, including Obama, want to extend the Bush

tax cuts only to individuals making less than $200,000 a year and married couples making less than $250,000.

“We simply could not overcome the Republican insistence on making tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a member of the supercommittee.

“This was simply doctrine for some of our Republican colleagues, even as many worked very hard in good faith to find a better way forward.”

Another member of the supercommittee, Rep. Dave Camp, RMich., said, “It is deeply regrettable that my Democrat colleagues could not see their way to addressing these much-needed reforms without at least $1 trillion in job-killing tax increases on families and employers.”

Extending all the Bush tax cuts, including provisions to spare millions of middle-class families from paying the alternative minimum tax, would add $3.9 trillion to the budget deficit over the next decade, according to projections by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The Democratic plan would add about $3.1 trillion to the deficit over the same period and make the wealthiest Americans pay about $800 billion more in taxes.

VOYEURISM: Employee discovered iPhone set to record in bathroom stall; 4 allegedly filmed unknowingly CONTINUED FROM 1A

charged with four Class D felonies, according to 17th Judicial District Prosecutor Chris Raff. A warrant for Carpenter’s arrest was

issued on Thursday but had not yet been served as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Sgt. Phillip Miller with the White County Sheriff’s Department.

According to the report from the Searcy Police Department, WCMC Human Resources Director Pam Williams notified police on Oct. 7 about an employee who found the

iPhone on a shelf near a toilet. The employee picked up the phone and noticed it was recording and turned it over to a supervisor.

Raff said there are four

counts because four females were captured on the video. If convicted, the penalty for each count is up to six years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

“This was an unfortu-

nate incident that was turned over to police and that individual no longer works at White County Medical Center,” Williams said, declining to comment further.

LOCAL: ‘When people support their hometown retailers, then those retailers are able to grow ...’

CONTINUED FROM 1A

those local businesses that have helped to sponsor those events.

Layne said that besides the community support, shopping locally also helps insure the future of the city.

“The sales taxes that are collected from items that are purchased locally help support our city and county government,” Layne said. “So when peo-

ple drive to Little Rock or Conway to shop, they are taking money out of our community.”

Marianne Jones, who owns The Boutique in downtown Searcy, said that hometown businesses have another asset to boast about compared to large box stores — customer service.

“We have great one-onone customer service,” she said. “We help people carry their packages to their car,

even if its a couple blocks away from the store. [The Boutique] also offers free gift wrapping and will special order items for customers. It is important for people to shop locally because [local stores] support the things that are important to them.”

Kaki Bartlett, who manages the store Heart & Soul, said that hometown businesses offer items that many big box stores do not carry.

“You can spend more money in Searcy because you don’t have to spend a lot of money on gas if you were to travel to Little Rock,” Bartlett said. “In addition, the local stores won’t be nearly as busy this weekend as the stores in Little Rock. We do a lot of donations to events and organizations in town, so we would hope our customers would return the favor by shopping in Searcy.”

Local legislators also encouraged residents to shop locally when they need to purchase a gift this holiday season.

State Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, commended the White County stores for their customer service.

“You can’t beat the customer service you get from the local businesses,” he said. “My wife has told me a lot about how great the local shops are. I hope that

people will take the opportunity to explore what is available.”

State Sen. Mark Biviano, R-Searcy, said that supporting the local businesses also helps with job creation.

“When people support their hometown retailers, then those retailers are able to grow, which helps attract newer businesses because the see that those businesses are successful,” he said.

DOMAIN: Project considered to be in overall public good; highway department will try to negotiate fairly CONTINUED FROM 1A

give fair market value,” Ort said. “People think we’re going to try to [cheat] the taxpayers, but this is taxpayer money that we’re responsible for spending. When we make an appraisal, we’re offering fair market value.

The highway department does have its own appraisers and negotiators on staff when it comes time to appraise any property.

Ort said that if an agreement can’t be reached between the property owner and the highway department, then the department has the right to eminent domain.

“Any project of this nature is considered to be in the overall public good,” Ort said. “Eminent domain says that

we can acquire the property so the project can move forward. One disgruntled individual can’t stop the project because overall, it is for the public good.”

If the highway department uses eminent domain to get the property, then the negotiation will go to court for a jury trial. Ort said that going to a jury trial is usually the absolute last resort.

“About 15 percent of the property that we need is actually acquired through eminent doAdmission $200 Tuesdays or Thursdays $100 PG13

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Corrections The Daily Citizen corrects factual errors promptly and courteously. If you have a correction or clarification, please call Editor Jacob Brower at (501) 2688621 or e-mail him at jbrower@thedailycitizen.com.

main, and only about 15 percent of those actually go all the way to a jury trial,” he said. “We give the deposit for the property to the courts so the person can actually take the money and not have a trial if desired.

Ort said that the highway department will

compensate for the moving expenses of people who must leave their homes.

“We’ll help pay moving expenses or even down payments on a home on top of the money we pay for the property,” Ort said.

He emphasized that

the highway department will pay the property owner what their land is worth.

“This is not govern-

ment money that we’re spending,” he said. “This is the taxpayer’s money that we have to be very prudent with.”

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