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Home My WebLink AboutS-1356 Map 612B • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2002 • ArlcarliDemoclii Iazette Tax suit • Continued from Page 1 B we feel it's fair to both the tax- payers and the school, and that's where we were trying to come out from the beginning." The three -fourths -mill roll- back would set the school dis- trict's collage rate at 30.25 mills, the lowest in Garland County, said Floyd Worley, the superin- tendent of the Fountain Lake school system. The $1.3 million settlement pool represents the amount the school district would have to pay if everybody filed a claim, Wor- ley said. In a similar Amendment 59 settlement in Washington Coun- ty, only 47 percent of eligible claimants filed for payment, he said. Payments from the settlement could start next summer, Wor- ley said. A taxpayer with a $200,000 home who has lived in the school district during the eight years of the lawsuit would see $99 a year for three years under the pro- posed settlement, Worley said. That figure is based on the home's $40,000 assessed value and paying attorneys their 25 percent cut of the settlement. Paying the settlement would "hurt the district," Worley said. However, he said, everything possible would be done to pro- tect "the quality of instruction." "We'll have to tighten our belt, and we'll have to do some things differently," he said. The district has a budget of $7.2 million. Building projects and pur- chasing new buses might be put on hold, he said. If the lawsuit had gone to tri- al, the district might have been hit with a lump -sum judgment, Patty MacDonald said. Attorneys for both sides are negotiating how taxpayers would make their settlement claims. Worley said he wants to argue for "the shortest period of time to file a claim" and for claimants to "physically have to go to the courthouse to make a claim." Patty MacDonald said she hopes for a "really simple claims process." "So many of our people up here [in Hot Springs Village] are old and many of them infirm," she said. "So they really can't travel to the courthouses and stand in line to get a claim. "We're hoping that it will be greatly simplified, even to the point that maybe they'll just have to mail in a coupon," she said. Little Rock attorney Tim Fox, who represents Wayne and Car- ol Stewart of Hot Springs, the representatives for school dis- trict taxpayers living in Garland County, said Erwin, the circuit judge, should be able to sign off on the settlement in enough time to notify property owners when they get tax bills in the spring. Once taxpayers are notified and have time to study the pro- posed settlement, a fairness hear- ing would be held in March or April in the Saline County Court- house, Fox said. If there are no objections at that hearing and Erwin approves the deal, claims can begin to be processed, he said. Fisher to undergo surgery on spine ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT -GAZETTE State Treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher said Thursday that she's scheduled surgery for a bulging disc that bothered her late in her campaign for governor this year. Fisher, a Democrat, who lost ,the governor's race to Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, said she expects a full recovery. She said the disc slipped while she was visiting a church last month on the campaign trail. Fisher said Dr. Glen Pair at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will perform the surgery Nov. 22. Parolee a Continued from Page 1 B taped from a Pulaski County jail bus in May, Burrell raped a woman and robbed a produce vendor before he was caught about 11 hours later. The former parole officer, Clifton Blunt who was demot - information under questioning by Jim Rhodes, one of the at- torneys for the Purtle family. But under later questioning by David Eberhard, staff attorney for the Community Correction Depart- ment, Blunt said there were valid, justifiable reasons Burrell was given travel permits. Unlike many parolees, Bur- ll had Job tin d d 1 Apartments a Continued from Page 1 B cept this or they're going to build Cabrini-Green," referring to the high-rise apartment complex in Chicago often cited as an ex- ample of failed public housing. "There's a need for low-in- come housing, but this is a bare - bones development," Nunnley said. "We have developers come into this town and say,'What can I get away with?"' Opponents cited several rea- sons why the development should not be permitted: trees that shel- ter eagles will be cut down, city bus services don't reach the area, the play area is too small to ac- commodate the scores of children that likely will live there. They also brought up what one developer called the "holy trinity of opposition" — traffic, crime and property devaluation. Their underlying fear, though, was that the apartment complex will become a slum. The majority of planning - commissioners considered the proposed gated development — which will include a 3,000- square-foot clubhouse, a play- ground and swimming pool — more than adequate. The developer, Kenneth Fam- bro, said he would double the size of the playground to satisfy complaints. Fambro seemed taken aback by the opposition to his project. Planning Commissioner Bill Rec- tor came to his rescue. "The issue here is we're go- mg to put low-income housing In an area that doesn't want it," Rector said. "You have someone rut there who has done this proj- Peacock countered that "the department certainly didn't fol- low its own rules in supervising this parolee." The commission refused to hear the Purtles' claim in April, but Pi rtle's husband, Clifton Purtle, subsequently filed a law- suit to reverse the decision. A legislative committee directed 1- h ld h ect elsewhere. I'm sure the neighbors don't want this here, but that's the way it's zoned. "To badger [the developer] about this type of thing — they're in accordance with our rules," Rector said. "Badger them? It's badger- ing the neighborhood," an op- ponent in the audience whis- pered loudly, All of the apartments are re- served for tenants earning $29,820 or less, or 60 percent or less of the area's median fam- The majority of planning commissioners considered the proposed gated development — which will include a 35000- square-foot clubhouse, a playground and swilmning pool — more than adequate. ily income, Fambro said. The gates will provide controlled ac- cess, and the complex will of- fer after -school, GED and col- lege -bound programs in the clubhouse. Screenings for prospective tenants will include criminal background checks and em- ployment checks, he said. Ward 7 City Director B.J. Wyrick, who spoke against the development, was dubious. "I've spoken to'the %develop- er, and he told me he doesn't "When they turned him loose, he was a time bomb waiting to explode. On June 19, he did it. It was almost predictable what was going to happen." r407-0400 y C S screen the applicants for any- thing other than income," Wyrick told the Planning Com- mission. "He told me that if the residents in the area don't like it, they should move:' Nunnley said developments that house tenants of diverse in- come levels work better than housing. designated as "100 per- cent low- to moderate- income." "Go out down East Sixth Street in east Little Rock," Nunn - ley said. "That is how this de- velopment is going to be: a hous- ing project the city is looking to get rid of. It's an experiment in public housing that doesn't work." Earlier in the evening, the commission rejected a different proposal for a 64-unit complex of duplex and six-plex housing near County Line Road in South- west Little Rock. Commission- ers worried that multiple land- lords in the development would set different standards of care. Several Saline County resi- dents showed up to oppose the development. Jamie Hutchison, who represented homeowners in the new Carrington Place sub- division, said residents of the subdivision are worried about their property values declin- ing. Carrington Place is a devel- opment planned for 300 homes each valued between $110,000 and $170,000. SALE MARY ENGELBREIT CIFTS & HOLIDAY 25% - 40% OFF crapbooh c o r n e r Market Place Shopping Center 11121 N. Radii Parhmn K) Sta€reach & (, County Linee R I-30, Exit 126 ad to probation officer, ac- re airs e up an apace to stay upon his release, Blunt t e commission to o a ear- ing. Grazie! TORANTE Ira aFULERIA GfaZle� knowledged Thursday that Bur- said, adding, "My training has Darren O'Quinn, another at- Thank you Little Rock, for making us a success) In the celebration of our third rell's parole file showed that he always told me we need to help torney for the family, acknowl- year in business, every night in the month of November we will be r had amassed 55 "disciplinaries" [parolees] get back into society." edged it's "possible" that if Bur- serving UOVA Fettucclni Alfredo or Lava Fettuccini with sweet basil during his nearly 18 years in Because Burrell's job was in rell had been placed on elec- marinara sauce Dinner for 2 with salad & Hot Panini bread for $mok ,Italian Beers & Fine ItoliaoWine Available. prison on a 1983 rape conviction. North Little Rock and he didn't tronic monitoring, he could still Smoke Free Environment. Burrell was convicted of bat- have a car, it made more sense have murdered Pottle. O'Quinn Quiet, relaxing, romonlic, unique a6nosphere tery charges for knifing another to let him stay in Little Rock, said the commission should look REAL Italian F00 tanALIAN inmate, beating two guards and hitting another inmate in the Blunt said. Eberhard pointed out that at whether the murder was "more probable" as a result of PIZZAS & other I DISHES back of the head with a board, Burrell's last disciplinary prob- the parole officers' mistakes. Blunt testified. Burrell also was acquitted of murdering anoth- er inmate. Blunt acknowledged he did- n't place Burrell on electronic monitoring — a condition of his parole — after the inmate's Jan- uary 2001 release. In fact, he granted 30-day travel passes, al- lowing Burrell to live and work in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Jacksonville. Blunt said he couldn't place Burrell on electronic monitor- ing because his office "didn't lem in prison had been a year and a half before his release, and the inmate stabbing had oc- curred 14 years earlier. Blunt said it was true that Burrell tested positive for mar- ijuana on June 8 — 11 days be- fore Purtle's murder, but he said that wasn't enough to justify re- voking Burrell's parole. He said that during his five months of supervising Burrell, he made eight office visits — more than required — and Blunt had 10 telephone conversations with The commission also heard testimony from Clifton Pottle and his children, Nathan, 34, of Edmond, Okla., and Lesley Irons, 29, of Sheridan, about how the loss has affected them person- ally. Earlier, Blunt said Burrell nev- er went into a 60-day "pre-re- lease" program to help him ad- just to society. But later, Dina Tyler, spokesman for the state De- partment of Correction, said that's because Burrell wasn't housed in a unit that had the program and have a strap" needed for the Burrell or his father. neither he nor the parole board device. Noting that Blunt was de- requested it. He said lacking equipment moted and suspended for 10 days Most inmates don't go through "wasn't an isolated problem" and without pay and his supervisor it, she said. the parole office even had a wait- fired, Commission Chairman Clifton Purtle said he believes ing list of parolees who were or- Peacock told Rhodes that negli- that program could have saved dered into the program. gene was proved. his wife's life. His supervisor also told him But Eberhard said his de- "Sixteen years in solitary con - that Burrell eventually would be partment "never has admitted finement. During that time he under the guidance of parole of- legal negligence" because that didn't communicate with peo- ficers in Little Rock, said Blunt, requires a breach of duty, and ple. He didn't know how," who was based in Pine Bluff. the department didn't have a du- Clifton Pottle said outside the Blunt provided most of that ty to stop a third party's actions. hearing. Airport in Lee County to get $262,000 from Delta agency ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT -GAZETTE The Marianna -Lee County Airport has been approved for a Delta Regional Authority grant of more than $262,000 to extend its runway and upgrade control - tower equipment. The grant was announced Thursday by Arkansas' con- gressional delegation. It is the 15th of 17 projects Gov. Mike Huckabee recommended for funding by the authority. 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