Dogtown Wire News

Dogtown Hibernation

Written by Scott Miller
Monday, 18 August 2008
This is one of the toughest things I have written. You probably noticed Clay has not been writing articles for well over a week. It seems his personal demons have resurfaced and he has walked away from this opportunity. He was doing a wonderful job and taking Dogtown Wire exactly where I thought it should go. That being a neighborhood resource and local news outlet. I have invested thousands of dollars and countless hours in Dogtown Wire and I still believe in this type of local media outlet. Our neighborhoods are the soul of our City and the print, radio and TV outlets do not have the time, space or resources to cover what is really happening in our neighborhoods. There is just so much going on, we would all be surprised and sharing these experiences would bring us all together. However, I will not put out a half done or partial web site only covering limited parts or areas of the City. I have become extremely busy with work at my engineering business, work on a wireless network for the neighborhood and my bed and breakfast. Oh yea, then there is the Ward 2 alderman election (I filed today). Bottom line I will have to put Dogtown Wire in hibernation until after the election and restart it then. I apologize to all you regular readers and supporters of Dogtown Wire. You have been great and you have given me strength and confidence that I am doing the right thing with this site. I will e-mail you when we come back. WE WILL BE BACK!!!! I have been aware of Clay's personal demons for several years and I knew this opportunity was a risk. But even though I knew better in my head, my heart could not keep from throwing him this lifeline one more time. After all, would any of us do any less for our own child?. I may have lost Dogtown Wire for a few months, but I fear I may have lost Clay to his demons for a lot longer. This may be the personal demon that I have to live with, knowingly putting Clay in a position where his demons could resurface and possibly losing him. Add Comment (6)

Mayor Hay's City Travel

Written by Scott Miller
Monday, 18 August 2008
Based on records obtained by a citizen from a Freedom of Information Act request, Mayor Hays travel expenses have been reviewed. The expenses from January 2007 through May 2008 were reviewed to provide a comparison against the alderpersons travel reported here previously. The highest travel cost for the same time period by any alderperson was nearly $9,000 for Alderman Parker. From January 2007 through May 200 the total travel expenses reimbursed to Mayor Hays was $23,573.73. This represents travel to approximately 26 cities in the US including Key West, Minneapolis, DC, Newark, LA and Seattle for US Conference of Mayors meetings, LA and Houston for Rivers of Trade Corridor meetings, several Arkansas cities for AR Municipal League meetings, Albequerque and Fayetteville AR for ICLEI meetings, Seattle for the American Public Power Association, Norfolk for an Argenta/Rockwater trip, Houston to meet with Bomasada officials, Seattle to attend an Air Mobility Rodeo, St Louis to attend a Soccer Association meeting, and Rogers AR for a sustainability conference among others. More on the jump Read More Add Comment (14)

International City Travel

Written by Scott Miller
Monday, 18 August 2008
The following is a partial list of City International travel by Mayor Hays and alderpersons from October 2004 through May 2006. This information was supplied to Dogtown Wire as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by a citizen. Trip to Seoul, South Korea in October 2005. Those City officials whose travel was reimbursed by the City included Mayor Hays and Aldermen Bryant, Witcher and Parker. The airfare cost was only provided at $1.276.45 per person Trip to Istanbul, Turkey in May 2004 by Mayor Hays, to bring the USS Razorback to NLR. Expenses documented included airfare, lodging, taxis, and reception for 120 people. The total cost of the trip documented was $6,534.25 Trip to Instanbul, Turkey in May 2006. Those City officials whose travel was reimbursed by the City included Mayor Hays and Aldermen, Bryant, Thomas and Parker. The airfare cost was only provided at $1,416.60 per person. Complete records were not provided, probably as a result of the wording of the FOIA request. This a partial list of the City international travel and only represents travel by the Mayor and alderpersons. A recent trip to South Korea did not include any alderpersons or the Mayor and is not included. Add Comment (1)

Fatal Stabbing on East Washington

Written by Dogtown Staff
Monday, 18 August 2008
According to the DemGazette, a 48 year old woman was fatally stabbed by her boyfriend Dan Simpkins (60 years old) Saturday afternoon. Mary Williams was stabbed several times by Simpkins and later died at UAMS, Simpkins was charged with first degree murder and is being held in the Pulaski County jail. The fatal stabbing occured at 1219 East 2nd Street, near east Washington Street and not far from the area Mayor Hays said at a recent Council hearing that he would porch sit to help the citizens. Add Comment (0)

Deal to Sell Old Baptist Hospital

Written by Scott Miller
Friday, 15 August 2008
The City apparently has a deal to sell the old Baptist Hospital site in Baring Cross to America Diamond LLC led by Russell Huckaby of Little Rock. The City will sell the the hospital buildings and 40 acres of land for $200,000. A 2006 appraisal indicated the land alone was worth $1,600,000 or $40,000 per acre. The estimated cost for the building asbestos removal was $1,500,000. Possible uses for the site include dense residential, or lower density residential, mixed use or corporate office park. The agreement to sell the buildings and land will be presented the City Council August 25th for their approval. Add Comment (2)

Candidate Update

Written by Dogtown Staff
Friday, 15 August 2008
There have not been a lot of people filing to run for office so far in NLR. The filing deadline is noon August 26th and many candidates wait until the last minute to file. Tha candidates who have filed so far include Mayor Patrick Hays City Clerk Diane Whitbey More on the jump Read More Add Comment (0)

City Annexing More Land

Written by Scott Miller
Friday, 15 August 2008
At the NLR Planning Commission meeting Tuesday the most controversial item was the rezoning of land outside and adjacent to the city limits to the west and northwest of the current City limits. The rezoning was for property along the proposed Northbelt Freeway extension (connecting I430 to I440). The rezoing failed on a tie 4-4 vote. For a complete descritption of the vote see the article in the NLR Times The interesting part is the revelation, that the City is planning to annex this land in the future and Pulaski County has agreed to allow the annexation. Anyone have an opnion on whether the City should be annexing more land into the City with our current level of police, fire and other City services? Add Comment (2)

CADC Giving Out Food Aid

Written by Dogtown Staff

Friday, 15 August 2008

The Central Arkansas Development Council (CADC) will distribute USDA commodities at 12 locations in PulaskiCounty Sept. 18 beginning at 9 a.m. In North Little Rock the distribution locationis are at Oakgrove Fire Station at 18122 McArthur Dr. and River City Ministry at 1021 Washington.

Food items to be distributed may include carrots, corn, tomatoes, grapefruit juice, tomato juice, apple sauce, salmon, dry pinto beans, dry egg noodles, peanut butter, and rice.