Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Court Cancels Lease With Group

Nevada County is attempting to get out of a lease it has with the At Risk Foundation, the group that has the former Nevada County Hospital leased.

At Risk leased the facilities a few years ago and were supposed to have begun using it for at risk youngsters. However, the group has not put any patients in it and apparently At Risk is not interested in meeting with county officials to discuss the care of the facilities.

At its regular meeting March 8, the Nevada County Quorum Court agreed to terminate its lease with At Risk. It okayed a letter to terminate the lease.

"The At Risk Foundation was unprofessional in not even bothering to come and say anything to us," Willie Wilson, a JP on the Quorum Court, said.

Another letter has been sent to Congressman Jay Dickey. The Quorum Court is seeking his help in getting an overpass or underpass for Prescott.

Prescott has been plagued for years with no way over the tracks when Union Pacific is switching or getting freight cars from sidings in Prescott. Sometimes the wait is extended longer than a Prescott ordinance allows, which is 10 minutes for blocking a crossing.

Wilson said he was hindered March 3 by an especially long train, and posed the possible effects of an emergency vehicle being stopped that long.

Adrian Hicks of Waterloo, another JP, also expressed his concern and said he was delayed once for 45 minutes.

The county is seeking help from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and the railroad in addition to Dickey.

County Judge Roy Brown said the railroad left an impression that the problem is not their's.

He said the highway department has addressed the situation before, but determined there is not enough traffic to justify an underpass or overpass.

A group of about 15 were in attendance at the meeting, expressing their concern about the number of vehicles on Cale Road. They requested that speed limits be posted on the county road that runs from Prescott to Morris.

The Justices set different speed limits for different sections of the road: from the Prescott city limits to Moscow Church the speed limit will be 30 miles per hour (m.p.h.); from Moscow Church to Terre Rouge Creek, 40 m.p.h.; from the creek to the J.W. Glass residence, 45 m.p.h.; and from the Glass residence to Morris (Highway 299), 40 m.p.h.

The possibility of 9-1-1 is getting closer. Judge Brown said he had been in contact with Southwestern Bell about the services.

One of the problems facing the county is that two different telephone companies have services in the county. Southwestern Bell services the Bodcaw and Bluff City areas, both on opposite sides of the county. Prescott, Emmet, Rosston, Cale and Willisville use GTE.

A fee must be worked out so that anyone can call 9-1-1 from any part of the county and reach a central operator to get fast results. This means telephone services will go up approximately $2, which is not much more than other counties with 9-1-1 pay.

To go this route an election will have to be held.

Walt Denton of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, told the justices that his office would pay for the election. No date has been set for the election.

In other business the JP's discussed the possibility of getting a grant for new facilities for the Nevada County Library.

Many problems exist at the present library facility, which is a converted service station and garge.

The major problem is leaks. No matter how many times the roof is fixed, leaks about in the old building.

An inter-local agreement between the city of Prescott may need to be worked out so that grants would be available for a new structure.

Brown said he had been talking with Mayor Howard Taylor and state Sen. Mike Ross about the library's needs, and that a grant may be forthcoming.