Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Chief Childres Asks For Light At Daycare

Vandalism at the Hours of Joy daycare center led Gurdon City Marshal David Childres to ask to have a street light put up there.

Childres, talking to the Gurdon City Council during its regular monthly meeting, said the vandal(s) had broken into the building by going through a window on the south side. Once inside, the vandal(s) tore it up.

Childres said officers with the Gurdon Police Department can't see if anyone is back there after dark because there is no light. In addition, the south side of the building is near a thicket which gives people a place to hide when officers arrive.

Gurdon City Mayor Rick Smith said the city owns the building, obtaining grant money to build it, with the Hours of Joy daycare leasing it.

The center, he said, is responsible for keeping it insured, and all of the interior contents belong to the Hours of Joy.

Entergy may be willing, Smith said, to set a pole and put up a light for this purpose, but there would be a monthly charge of $7 or $8.

The council chose to table the issue until the March meeting so it could be learned who would be responsible for paying for the light.

Smith voiced his displeasure at how the county's Office of Emergency Services handled the problems during the recent snowstorm.

He said Jim Burns, the OES coordinator, never once checked in to see if Gurdon needed anything, and the city was only in contact with the Clark County Sheriff's Office by radio.

"We were pretty much on our own," Smith told the council. "We set up two shelters and had a lot of volunteers who helped get people where they needed to go."

He said the Arkansas National Guard also pitched in, taking people to and from the shelters as needed, but more could have been done if the communications had been better.

"We had people on standby wanting to help," he said, "but the OES never asked for our help. I hope a lot of good comes out of the complaints."

Smith and Burns have since talked. The OES will deputize someone from each town in the county to act as a go-between in times of emergency.

He called this a progressive move and asked the council for suggestions on who the deputy should be. He added, no money is involved in this position.

In the Mayor's Report, Smith updated the council on how the city fared from the lawsuit.

The city was named as a defendant by BankTennessee of Collierville, Tenn. because of the old Gurdon hospital. Also named in the suit were Elton Stewart, Coleman Research and Cliff Coleman.

The city and Stewart were both dropped from the suit at the request of the bank once it was learned neither had done anything wrong.

BankTennessee, Smith said, now owns the hospital and Gurdon remains with an empty building.

But, he said, the city is not responsible for the old hospital in any way.

A large mortgage remains against the facility and, Smith said, the bank may be willing to work with someone to get an assisted living center there. The facility is still licensed for 25 beds by the state.

"We could come out of this OK after all," he said.