June 20, 2007 Edition

Also in this issue...

WR has new dog catcher

Gloria Wilkerson
TD Staff

The hiring of an animal control officer, who will also serve as a code enforcement officer and fireman, was announced at the June 12 meeting of the Walnut Ridge City Council.

Josh Robison has only been working in this position for a short time, but council members said they are already seeing positive results from his work and told him that he is doing a good job.

Alderman Wendell Jones told the council that signs are in place at Stewart Park to warn motorists that the road around the park is closed to through traffic. "The signs are up but people are not obeying them," Jones said.

The council discussed putting up barrels or chaining off the road to stop the traffic. The park will also be patrolled more often by city policemen. Any violator will be fined $25 for a first offence.

A resolution was passed to provide municipal services to two acreages located in the city limits, north of the Highway 63 Bypass. The first is 18 acres bordered on the east side by County Road 701. The other is 28 acres bordered on the west by County Road 701 and on the east by Highway 67.

The property is owned by Lloyd Cox Jr., Jacqueline Cox and Red Wing Farms Limited Partnership with Wilson Schmidt, general partner.

The city had received a Statement Seeking Municipal Services from the owners.

Council members voted to close 100 feet of Walnut Street as requested by Bill Moore. Moore Brothers owns the property on both sides of the street, which dead ends at the end of the owners' property.

Rodney Mauk of Crossroads Wireless, Sprint SRA, requested a permit from the city that would allow his company to erect a tower for wireless Internet. The tower would be placed near the Cingular tower on Hickory Street, and the property would be leased from Don Nichols. For now the tower would only provide Internet service, but Mauk said they hope to eventually carry wireless phones as well.

The aldermen voted unanimously to approve the permit with the stipulation that the company be in compliance with all controlling agencies and meet all regulations.

In other business:

councilmen voted to reduce the speed limit on South Miller Drive from 40 to 30 miles per hour. Alderman Jonathan Sanders has received many complaints about drivers speeding on that street.
the council was informed that mosquito control began on June 13. Mosquitoes were only recently being found in city traps.
aldermen and emergency personnel asked that the city provide an ordinance requiring citizens to post reflective house numbers on their homes or on a post in their yards. Fire Chief Alan Haskins said that a lot of numbers on houses in town are not visible to emergency personnel, and that it is hard to find homes without large reflective numbers on a dark, rainy night. City Attorney Larry Steele was asked to look at the county's ordinance and bring a recommendation for a city ordinance to the next council meeting.
the city will host a fireworks display on Saturday, July 7 at 8:30 p.m. at Stewart Park.

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