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SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 2010
The
Daily Citizen www.thedailycitizen.com
Serving Searcy and White County, Ark., since 1854
LIONS GAINING CONFIDENCE FOR 2010
The Searcy football team is feeling confident after finishing its first week of practices. — PAGE 1B
ROMER: DEPARTURE WAS LONG PLANNED
The departing chief of Obama’s economy council said she is leaving for family reasons. — PAGE 2A
AMMONIA LEAK STOPPED AT LAND O’FROST
SEARCY CITY COUNCIL
Next meeting: 7 p.m. Tuesday Agenda items: Tree board, fees for large scale developments
Tree board on city agenda Fees for large developments in consideration
Captain Barry Daniel and Lieutenant Josh Oakes with the Searcy Fire Department exit the Land O’Frost building Friday morning after shutting off a valve and stopping a leak of anhydrous ammonia. The pair are part of the Hazardous Material Response unit, seen in the foreground. Warren Watkins/warren@thedailycitizen.com
Haz-mat team responds to call
T
By Warren Watkins warren@thedailycitizen.com wo members of the Searcy Fire Department Hazardous Material Response (Haz-mat) unit entered the Land O’Frost factory Friday and shut off a valve, stopping an ammonia leak. At 10:05 a.m., workers at the factory, which makes lunch meat, were alerted to a possible leak of anhydrous ammonia by an electronic monitoring system, then verified the leak visually through a window on a room containing an ammonia compressor. A gauge on a tank had broken, according to Searcy Fire Department spokesman Doug Baker. Plant manager Pat Strickland said the employees shut a back-up valve to the room immediately and called the fire department. The building’s 150 employees were evacuated onto the front lawn along Lincoln Avenue at 10:15 a.m., according to a company Firefighter John Falwell, left, hands equipment to Firefighter Matt Mayfield as Captain Barry Daniel approachofficial. es the tape marking the edge of the scene during a response to Land O'Frost Friday. The two are members CONTINUED ON PAGE 3A of the Searcy Fire Department’s Hazardous Material Response unit. Warren Watkins/warren@thedailycitizen.com
White Sulphur Spring was once heart of Searcy
Thousands flocked to Spring Park
By Luke Jones ljones@thedailycitizen.com Before the days of Eureka Springs and Hot Springs, there was the White Sulphur Spring, and it flowed from the very heart of Searcy. In the mid-to-late 19th century, the town’s flavor was altogether different. The spring, located in the present Spring Park, was known of even before the town’s incorporation. Ray Muncy, a local historian, described it. “The springs had become ‘a place of considerable resort’ as early as 1836, according to a real estate ad in the Arkansas Gazette,” he wrote. According to a 1963 article in White County Heritage, an inn had
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS
Location: Present Spring Park Discovered: Before 1836 Donated to town: 1849 Ceased flowing: 1930s-1940s
been built just south of the spring. Stagecoaches would pause there, and travelers could be treated to a meal of hot cakes and coffee cooked by “Free Joe” and his wife, “Aunt Mymie,” an African-American couple who ran an eatery across from the inn. In 1849, Searcy pioneer Israel Moore made history by creating what is now known as Spring Park. According to Muncy, “Moore was benevolent and extremely civic minded and he confirmed all the sales of
WEATHER
Vol. 156, No. 187 ©2010 The Daily Citizen
Today: Mostly sunny. Highs in lower 90s. East winds 510 mph. Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows in lower 70s. East winds 5 mph.
lots made previously in the newly budding business district and donated the acreage around what is now Spring Park to the city to be used purely and solely for the recreation of its citizens.” Moore continued to be influential in the development of the spring by building a hotel near the springs in the same year. The White Sulphur Springs Hotel was located on the northeast corner of Main and Pleasure Streets. “The public house at this watering place has been repaired and refitted, extensive additions for the accommodations of visitors made, for the entertainment of all who may resort to these Springs,” Moore advertised. His hotel was the first of many. The Kellum Hotel, the Chambliss Boarding House and the Gill House
were just a few of the community centers surrounding the park. The Gill House later became the Mayfair Hotel, and is the only remnant of the original hotels. It is “a present reminder of days gone by when Searcy was a spa city,” Muncy wrote. As for the springs themselves, they were reported to contain a combination of white sulfur, chalybeate and alum. Health benefits were, as with all springs, debatable, but one thing could be agreed on: Senses-wise, the waters were not pleasant. “In keeping with the pioneer attitude toward natural remedies, if it smelled and tasted terrible, it was bound to be good for you,” Muncy wrote. But times were not always so lav-
INDEX NATION & STATE, 2A OPINIONS, 4A LIFESTYLES, 5A CALENDAR/OBITUARIES, 6A SPORTS, 1B CLASSIFIEDS, 5B
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3A
“
By Warren Watkins warren@thedailycitizen.com The work of a Searcy Tree Board would represent an official environmentallyfriendly policy through the “Tree City USA” program already in place in 43 cities across the state. Mayor Belinda LaForce said such a board would require no budget and no extra money would be needed for compliance with regulations because the city is already doing work associated with the program. The formation of the board will once again come before the Searcy City Council as the group set the agenda Thursday for its regular meeting Tuesday. In other business, the council will consider fees CONTINUED ON PAGE 3A
Jonesboro resident convicted of murder
The Associated Press JONESBORO — A Jonesboro man has been sentenced to 65 years in prison after being convicted of killing a woman in her Jonesboro apartment. The jury returned the verdict late Thursday against 21-year-old Edward Anthony Liggins Jr. for the October death of 20-year-old Tyrina Cornwell. State Medical Examiner Frank Peretti testified that Cornwell died of trauma from a beating coupled with a gunshot wound. Deputy prosecutor Alan Copelin says jurors returned shortly after midnight with a 40-year sentence recommendation for the murder conviction that was followed by the judge. The sentence was enhanced by 25 years because a firearm was used in the crime and it was committed in the presence of children. Copelin says Liggins will be eligible for parole in about 48 years.
Well, most grown-ups forget what it was like to be a kid. I vowed that I would never forget. MATT GROENING
American cartoonist, 1954
Contact us: 3000 E. Race, Searcy, AR 72143, (Phone) 501-268-8621, (Fax) 501-268-6277
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The Daily Citizen
Saturday, August 7, 2010 • Page 3A
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VIEW ALL VEHICLES M WWW.EASTPARKAUTOPLEX.CO The original 19th century gazebo still stands over the single remaining sulfur spring well at Spring Park. Visitors like Ivette Suarez, pictured, still use the gazebo for shade even many decades after the spring itself dried up. Luke Jones/ ljones@thedailycitizen.com
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Resort: White Sulphur Spring once was destination
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
ish for the sulfur springs. The Civil War left Searcy, like many southern towns, a ruin. “Only a rickety old shed graced Spring Park, once regarded as the health mecca of Arkansas,� Muncy wrote. “Horses were watering where polite society had savored the sulfur water for whatever ailed them. Even the ladies who went for water often returned with empty pails because the horses and mules formed ‘a picket line’ and would not let them through.� But through the chaos and ruin, the city council looked at Spring Park and saw “Searcy’s Phoenix.� A town-wide cleanup and development campaign followed, ushering in the golden age of the White Sulphur Springs. Residents were fined for spitting tobacco on or around the park’s benches. A person found guilty of driving cows, horses, hogs or other animals through the park could be docked $10-$20. By 1877, the park was in full stride. Lattice spring houses lined the paths and travelers could choose between several
bath houses. The railroad delivered visitors directly to the park’s gates via the station on Pleasure Street. One Chicagoan visited the park that year and was amazed. He stated that if the spring were in a northern state, the town’s population would soon bloom to a permanent number of 10,000 or more, “but in this country Arkansas things do not move ahead so fast nor profitably,� he wrote. Albert Yarnell, chairman of Yarnell’s Ice Cream Company, recalled that there were six or seven wells, each with a different purported health-effect. The health-bathing craze eventually dried up, but by that point Searcy was already on its way up. History was not so kind to the springs themselves. Most of the waters ceased flowing by 1927. According to Bill Leach of the White County Historical Society, there are numerous conflicting reasons why this happened. Wells had been dug for a cotton compress near Harding and a power plant on the corner of Main and Pleasure streets. Could these endeavors
Ammonia: Leak stopped CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
About 40 members of the fire department responded within minutes and set up a command post and equipment needed to respond to the leak. The company set up an air monitor downwind from the factory on Higginson Street between Land O’Frost and Meadowlake Apartments, according to Land O’Frost Vice President Carl Abbott. Meadowlake Apartments contain about 400 residents and are 300 yards from the factory. The leak was stopped at 11:07 a.m., according to the Searcy Fire Department and the command post at the scene has now been terminated. Employees, who waited on the factory’s front lawn for over an hour during the incident, were allowed to return to their jobs at 11:25 a.m. Baker said anhydrous ammonia turns into an acid when it comes in contact with water and could cause respiratory problems and skin irritation. During the incident, the air monitor detected four parts per million of ammonia in the air, Baker said, and 35 parts per million is dangerous. Ammonia used as a cleaning agent is in a water solution, Baker said, and has 10 parts per million. No injuries were reported, Baker said. The SFD Hazardous Material Response Unit entered the building at 11 a.m. wearing their highest-level chemical suits and air packs and shut off a valve, stopping the leak at 11:07 a.m. Employees were allowed back
in the building at 11:25 a.m. “At no time in the facility did ammonia reach levels that could do anybody any harm,� Strickland said. “We did this out of an abundance of caution.� Anhydrous ammonia is the most common commercial refrigerant, Abbot said, and the factory contains 40,000 pounds of the chemical in a closed-loop system. “We do regular evacuation drills so that we are prepared for contingencies,� Abbott said. Company officials are involved in the Local Emergency Planning Committee, leading in the preparation of contingency plans and donating to the committee’s budget. White County Emergency Management Coordinator Tamara Jenkins facilitates the committee and was on scene during the event. An Entry Link camera used during entry into the building had been donated by Land O’Frost. Company Vice President John Horton monitored the employees during the evacuation and said the operation went smoothly. Horton said in a press releasethatapproximately125175 pounds of ammonia were released into the atmosphere and that the company immediatelyalertedtheEnvironmental Protection Agency and other local, state and national emergency agencies. The company's Emergency Action Teams worked very closely with local authorities, Horton said.
have undermined the flow of the spring? But it may have simply been the result of land clearing and the dropping of the water table. “I don’t think any particular well made it dry up,� Leach said. Yarnell remembered hearing that a well was dug for an ice plant situated where the park’s pavilion stands today, and it used the spring water for cooling. He said that although the waters were no longer used for bathing, throughout the depression Searcians were still drawing water for drinking. He also noted that the construction of the Titan II missile bases in White County damaged many local spring wells, and city officials, believing the water to be unsafe for drinking, deliberately shut off the spring themselves. But the spring’s history is not over. Despite the end of the bathing era and the ceasing of the spring water, Spring Park has remained to date a central part of Searcy’s environment, keeping with Israel Moore’s vision even after 161 years.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
large-scale developments and a resolution to refinance Searcy Water and Sewer System bonds. A budget ordinance approving the purchase of 20 sets of turnouts for the Searcy Fire Department at a cost of $54,377.33 will come under consideration. The city’s human resource director, Jay Shock, reported that research was ongoing into the possibility of buying specialized vests that could be worn by city workers to shield them from heat.
Workers on garbage trucks and boom trucks in the street department and officers on bike patrol and motorcycle patrol would benefit from the units, Shock said. Mike Cleveland, director of the city’s code enforcement office, said commercial construction permit sales were up in July. Refunds for the Searcy Advertising and Promotions tax have begun, city clerk Peggy Meads reported, with one request for a $4 refund.
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