Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Jordan new resource officer for school district

Prescott Police officer Ann Jordan has a new job. She is the resource officer for the Prescott School District.

The Prescott City Council, at its August meeting, approved an interlocal agreement naming Jordan the districts resource officer. During the next 10 months, the district will pay her salary while shes on duty.

Prescott Police Chief Sam Reeder said the district requested a resource officer to help deal with problems teachers arent able to handle, but Jordan wont be involved in normal school discipline. Last year there were six or seven incidents requiring an officer on hand.

Councilman Howard Austin said the trouble usually occurs at the start of the school year and toward the end of the term. The last couple of months were busy last year.

Reeder said Jordan will be a regular police officer the other two months, and can be called on for weekend work during the school year.

The PPD, he added, has hired another officer, Kelly Lee. Reeder said Lee is coming to Prescott from Bradley and has been an officer for four years. Lee has worked in Atlanta, Texas and Bradley as a police officer.

When questioned about the status of officer Walt DeYoung, who suffered a back injury while on the job, Reeder said the PPD is also waiting to hear when DeYoung will be able to return to duty.

In other business Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor said the city is still working on demolishing condemned houses, and several have been razed already.

Sonny Haynie, he said, wants to give the city a building downtown next to what used to be the old movie theater. This building, Taylor told the council, has been a problem as parts of it have fallen in. Because its connected to surrounding buildings, those structures suffer water damage when it rains.

If the city takes it, Taylor said, the building will be torn down. The open space left could be used as a parking lot.

Perry Nelson, superintendent of the Prescott Water Department, was asked to update the council on the rural water system.

Construction is 90 percent done, Nelson said, where getting the pipe laid is concerned. There are three areas where pipe needs to be laid. These areas include Red-E-Mart to the landfill road; Cale Road to Cruise Creek; and under I-30 behind Loves. The problem with installing pipe under I-30 is the Arkansas Highway Department wont allow any digging on the interstate. This means there will be one 550-foot bore done under the road.

Several areas have had water put in the pipes with no pressure. This was done to test for leaks and to disinfect the pipes. Pressure tests will be done soon to make sure the construction holds.

Currently, he said, the construction company is on schedule for getting the job done on time, which is in October.

Nelson said no meters have been installed yet, and the meters are being stored at the city shop. Its better to wait till the lines are disinfected before installing the meters.

Once this is done, the lines will have to be tested and approved by the Arkansas Department of Health.

Nelson said those homes with wells will have to be physically inspected to make sure the wells are disconnected from the house. This is done to protect the integrity of the water system.