Dogtown Wire

Dark Hollow

600 block of East 15^th Street, between 10:15 a.m. July 8 and 5:05 p.m. July 9: A woman told police someone entered her house by removing a pane of glass from a window. She said a window air conditioning unit, four box fans, a Kenmore microwave, a case with about 10 CDs, and a set of baby sheets were missing.

600 block of East 19^th Street, between 6 a.m. and 6:46 p.m. July 10: A woman told police someone entered her apartment but no forced entry point was found. She said a Compaq computer, a global positioning system (GPS) unit, a DVD player, a herringbone chain necklace, and six rings were missing.

East McCain

3400 block of Landers Road, 2:39 July 11: Police responded to a burglar alarm at Concentra Medical Center and found a broken window. A Concentra employee arrived and said a ViewSonic monitor was missing.

Lakewood

2800 block of JFK Boulevard, between 8 p.m. July 4 and 10:17 a.m. July 12: A man told police someone entered his house by forcing open the front door. He said a 42 inch Sanyo LCD TV was missing.

How the media boxes looked in front of the Main Street Post Office before all but four were moved.

All of the city sidewalks may soon be less cluttered from the groupings of media boxes if legislation to be sponsored by Ward 1 Alderman Neil Bryant is approved by City Council.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Debi Ross asked that the letter sent to the City Council from the Planning Commission with a recommendation for the type of media box be read and opened for discussion.

The Planning Commission was given the task of selecting an appropriate media box last December and has come up with the “Arlington Modular” from the Shiner, Texas-based Kaspar Wire Works Inc.

In December, a letter from Planning Department Director Robert Voyles to these commissioners said the review was prompted by those “11 or so boxes” located in front of the downtown Post Office located at Fifth and Main streets.

The placement of these boxes comes under regulations covered by the Main Street Overlay plan and the public-right-of-way City Council gave to the Planning Commission regulatory powers eight years ago, Voyles said. So it would be the job of the commission’s Design Review Committee to approve any such placement and guidelines of the look of such “street furniture.”

Traffic Department employee Corey Thomas puts the heat to the “hot tape” strips in the crosswalk at Eight Street and Main yesterday.

North Little Rock Police Department Narcotics Unit summary report of arrests and seizures for June:

Arrests – 34 people on 65 charges:

Charges:

One arrest for capital murder

Nineteen for possession with intent to deliver

Twelve for possession of a controlled substance

One for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription

Four for possession of drug paraphernalia

Two for fleeing

“I will sit on front porches…”

Mayor Pat Hays said this to indicate he would stay on top of the concerns of residents around the River City Ministry after he cast the vote to break the tie at City Council to permit the Ministry to add services to the homeless.

Hays added, that if need be Police Chief Danny Bradley might join him on those resident porches; that it would become a city priority to ensure that more crime would not come to the neighborhood because of this ordinance’s approval.

 “It will not be ignored,” Hays said.

It took more than an hour – and two months and a day since the Planning Commission denied the permit – of emotion-filled public comments and council member discussion on the ordinance. It now permits the expansion of services the Ministry already offers many “poor and working poor” as Director Jim Woodell has described in past interviews.

Hays said he had visited with Woodell before the council meeting to tour River City Ministry for the first time since the appeal process started.

The $2.1 million Twin City Bank embezzlement case has gone to the next level according to Arkansas Business which broke this story and continues to bring out the latest on it.

It seems fired TCB Vice President Brent Geels has hired Little Rock defense lawyer Sam Perroni to represent him as the investigation begins as to the full dollar amount of the alleged theft and how it might have been pulled off.

A straw poll was taken of the City Council members on resolution R-08-112 they will discuss tonight that could give control to some public parking spots to the Arkansas Travelers organization.

Ward 3 Alderman Cary Gaines and Ward 1 Alderwoman Debi Ross are the only two who said they will vote no to this resolution if it goes to a vote tonight at the City Council meeting.

Ward 1 Alderman Neil Bryant, Ward 3 Alderman John Parker, and Ward 4 Alderman Charlie Hight, though not giving a definitive yes or not on the way they would vote, all said basically the same thing.

These three said in essence that they didn’t believe it was the city’s place to decide on an issue that would give one business preferential treatment which might set a precedent for other downtown businesses to ask for similar treatment.

Today, rookie firefighters (from left) Justin Bradshaw, Kenny Hartness, Blake Watkins and Corey Eisenhower had to perform dishwashing (spaghetti) duties required by all firefighters in any of North Little Rock’s  Fire Stations.

But the little yellow fire hats are something reserved for rookies at least once while performing this duty in their first month at the department.

Fire Marshal Lt. Mark Shoemaker said this isn’t something that anyone else hasn’t had to put up with for their first month spent at the Central Fire Station. And, another firefighter said the first month is something not easily forgotten as the rookies are made to do about anything around the station the veterans don’t want to.

The four smiled and seemed to be taking the ritual ribbing with a grain of salt.

Hey, you missed a spot Eisenhower.

Scott Miller, an announced candidate for his second run for the Ward 2 Alderman on the City Council, said Sunday he has created a website devoted strictly for his campaign. 

This new site allows the voters and citizens to communicate with Miller in a variety of ways, including e-mail, telephone, fax, mail, he said. And for what may be a first for a council race, citizens and voters can chat on-line live with Miller weekly. 

Voters can also use the website so request yard signs, schedule meetings with Miller and donate online to the campaign. The website shows those issues which are important in Ward 2 and allows the citizens and voters to view his experience, background, qualifications and views on neighborhood empowerment.

If you have two years of manufacturing skills, or a background in automotive or construction work you might want to head over to Little Rock for one of 300 new jobs; some that pay up to $12 an hour.

Fox 16 has a story on wind turbine blade manufacturer LM Glasfiber ’s search Saturday to fill these production jobs soon with plans to hire about 500 total new employees by year’s end.

A June 20 article on the North American Windpower said the demand for wind turbines is strong now and that a study shows the generation of electricity from this alternative fuel is expected to “grow more than fivefold from its 2007 total of 94 GW to more than 576 GW by 2020. Rapid growth is expected in the U.S. and China.”

Lm Glasfiber is located here in Little Rock.