Of the people,
Home of subscriber Lois Sikes
By the people, For the people
TUESDAY, December 15, 2015 / Vol. 1 Issue 10 / 75 cents
Council 'reassigns' Keeling Just weeks after a $13 million 10-year improvement plan for the Clinton Water and Sewer Department was unveiled the City Council has removed the water department manager. The council went into executive session for 35 minutes during its regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 10, and when they emerged, Mayor Richard McCormac called for a vote on reassigning Isaac "Zeke" Keeling to the intake facility. The vote was unanimous. No reason was given for the action. McCormac announced that Todd
Burgess would be interim director of the department while applications for a permanent director are accepted. He said Burgess would likely apply for the position permanently. Burgess, who runs a pawn shop in Clinton, formerly worked for Community Water out of Heber Springs. That company supplies water to Shirley and Fairfield Bay in Van Buren County. McCormac also announced that a Marshall man, Ronnie Horton, would take Burgess' seat on the water board that McCormac created several months ago. Hor-
ton, McCormac said, used to work at a water facility in Sherwood, Arkansas. At its regular meeting in November, the council heard from a Heber Springs engineering firm about upgrades and repairs the Clinton Water Department needed. What the mayor termed "painful" rate increases would be a necessary part of that plan with some ratepayers' bills more than doubling over the next years. In 2012, the state Health Department ordered that Clinton's water supply be cleaned up by Febru-
ary 2013, and plans were formed to install a water clarifier at the treatment plant. Work on the project is behind schedule. Also discussed at Thursday's meeting was the mercury level in the city's sewer system that Keeling said has been building up for the past 50 to 60 years. Some of Clinton's permits are being held up because of the debate. Keeling said the state health department is "after" nine large water systems in the state, including Clinton. He said even if See Water on Page 2
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning
Business license
proposal fails An ordinance to establish occupational licenses for the city of Clinton failed when no councilman would second it last week. The proposal's title, to "provide rules and procedures for obtaining and enforcing occupational licenses," was read three times at the Dec. 10 meeting and a motion was made by Councilman Timothy Barnes to vote on it. No one would second the motion. The proposed ordinance, which had been the subject of much discussion and many meetings over the past year or more, called for no fees through 2016, then a $25 per year fee beginning in 2017. The newest rendition of the proposal, according to Mayor Richard McCormac, left out zoning regulations and inspections,
items that had raised concern from several local business owners. The proposal called for all license fees to become a part of the city's general fund and called for penalties for anyone failing to obtain a license. Also at Thursday's meeting, Zoning official Dwight Wilson announced he was retiring early next year. His resignation letter said he would leave the job at the end of January, but at McCormac's request, Wilson agreed to stay until the end of February, working a reduced number of hours. Wilson worked for the city for 12 years and under three mayors. He said he believes the city has a See Business on Page 2
Theft cuts
Christmas lights
This was a recent sunrise in Crabtree.
Photo by Jeff Burgess
Widow knew work on lunar landing gear was something special Floye Utter knew she was working on something special back in the 1960s in San Diego. She was a 50-year-old woman with a ninth-grade education from Van Buren County, Arkansas, when she worked for Teledyne Ryan. In 1969, she was NASA-certified and worked as an inspector on the Apollo 11 lunar landing gear. "We knew we were working on landing gear for the first flight to the moon," Utter says. Born Dec. 20, 1918, into a poor family from Rocky Hill, Utter recalls the one-room schoolhouse she attended with about 20 other children. She says they mostly went to school in the summer because it was too
cold in the winter. In eighth-grade, she moved to Clinton to live with her sister and go to school. But her sister moved again and Utter's family didn't have the money for her to continue to live in Clinton. After ninth-grade, she took "home lessons." Utter moved to California to work and that is where she was divorced from her first husband in 1950. In 1965, she left her job at Consolidated Vaultee and went to work for Teledyne where she met the love of her life, Arley Utter. Most of the people working in the electronics industry back then were women, she recalls. Her See Lunar on Page 2
In a Grinch-like move, someone plunged Clinton's City Park into the dark last week. A thief or thieves stole copper wire that was powering the Christmas lights display at the park, according to a report from the Clinton Police Department. Parks Department Manager Charles Wilson called police to the park on Friday, Dec. 11, to show them that someone had cut the lock off the electrical box nearest the softball fields, then turned off the power and cut many pieces of 10 gauge electrical wire on both sides of ground receptacle boxes. They also cut
the electrical wires below the box itself. Wilson told police about 300 feet of the copper wire had been stolen. He said it was worth approximately $1,000. The labor required to hook up the wiring is very time intensive, Wilson said in the report. Clinton Police reported late Friday afternoon that an arrest has been made in the case by Van Buren County deputies. The investigation is continuing and no further details were available by press time. By Saturday night, enough repairs had been made to the wiring that the lights were shining at the park.
Homecoming at South Side Floye Utter holds a photograph of the crew she worked with on the lunar landing project in the 1960s.
Bryce Sawyer is crowned 2015 South Side Senior High Homecoming Queen on Dec. 8 by 2014 Queen Tori Clemens. Bryce's escort was Hunter Hall. The Senior Honor Maid was Jordan Cossey. Junior Homecoming photo, Page 12.