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March 3
The El Dorado Airport Com- mission covered a wide range of topics during a regular meeting on Monday, including the question of whether to renovate the terminal building at South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field or start anew.
After a lengthy discussion, which touched on a master renovation plan that was completed last year, commissioners asked Blake Dunn, of CADM Architecture Inc., to com- plete another study of the building that includes options for improve- ment and comparisons.
Commissioners agreed to spend up to $5,000 for the study.
The Union County Sheriff’s Of- fice has confirmed that human re- mains found on Feb. 21 have been positively identified as those of Amanda McPherson. The Arkansas Crime Lab in Little Rock made that determination using dental records.
Union County Sheriff Mike Mc- Gough said that as of this time, the remains haven’t given any indica- tion of foul play, but added that toxicology results have yet to be returned, and authorities are still waiting on full autopsy results.
Missing since Nov. 4, 2014, the UCSO and others had been search- ing for the Marion, La., native for four months when a search team found the remains using K-9 offi- cers.
During that search, she was lo- cated in a grid search of the area, McGough said.
A man who fell into an empty tank on Friday was released from Medical Center of South Arkansas the following day with a minor con- cussion, his employer at Kehl Solu- tions, LLC, told the News-Times.
Chris Lee, owner and operator of the truck and trailer repair business at 1568 Haynesville Highway, said the 61-year-old man slipped and fell into the tank as employees were repairing it on Friday.
Lee said noting the tank was clean and empty at the time.
“He slipped and hit his head, and he was knocked unconscious. He was released from the hospital at (10 a.m.) on Saturday. He suffered a minor concussion,” Lee said.
He declined to release the name of the man.
March 5
An El Dorado woman who plead- ed no contest in December to a pair
of felonies related to a foiled poi- soning plot against her ex-husband has been sentenced in a New Mexi- co court to serve six months in jail.
New Mexico District Judge Brett Loveless suspended a four-year sen- tence against Lara Mason on Tues- day, instead ordering her to serve six months in the Bernalillo County jail in Albuquerque. She has three weeks to turn herself in, state offi- cials said.
Mason’s attorney, Ryan Villa of Albuquerque, said Wednesday that he was surprised that his client re- ceived jail time “given the facts of the case and the fact that she had never been in trouble before. But I understand the sentence.”
The prosecution offered no com- ment on the sentencing.
In December, Mason entered no contest pleas to charges of so- licitation to commit trafficking and solicitation to commit auto burglary. Charges of solicitation to commit first-degree murder and evidence tampering were dropped as part of the plea agreement, Villa said.
Mason was initially arrested in June 2013, after authorities said a plot to kill her ex-husband, Casey Quintana of Albuquerque, N.M., was exposed by his adult son, Coty, according to court documents. The prosecution has said that the mur- der scheme wasn’t fully planned out, resulting in the dropped charges.
An arrest warrant affidavit ac- cuses Mason of first planning to plant cocaine in a water bottle in- side Casey Quintana’s vehicle in hopes that he would ingest it, fail a drug test and lose the custody fight over their young daughter.
March 6
El Dorado hunkered down Wednesday for another blast of win- try precipitation and got hit with an overnight mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow.
While icy conditions slowed things down a bit early Thursday, traffic on city streets picked up around mid-morning as the sun peeked out, turning the frozen com- bination into slush and making pas- sage on the roads easier.
Schools in the county closed due to the inclement weather and those who walked outside on Thursday morning noticed a blanket of white covering every surface outside in ice. Reminiscent of last week, schools were closed once again due to the conditions, including Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia.
FIle photo
SKATE: Thirteen-year-old Eric McCarty skateboards at Bodenhamer Skate Park in El Dorado, Tuesday, March 24, 2015. McCarty frequents the park to spend time with friends.
March 2015
Capt. Kevin Holt, public infor- mation officer for the El Dorado Police Department, said police responded to a couple of minor vehicle accidents as residents be- gan venturing out early Wednesday morning.
At least one person was trans- ported to Medical Center of South Arkansas with non life-threatening injuries, Holt said.
March 12
Shortly after 10 p.m. on March 10, the Parkers Chapel Fire Department was dispatched to Del-Tin Fiber, 757 Del-Tin Highway, to put out a fire at the medium density fiberboard manufacturing plant.
Owned by Deltic Timber, PCFD was first on the scene to extinguish the blaze. PCFD Fire Chief Steven Keaster said that the fire started
in the duct work above one of the presses, most likely by a spark.
He explained that Del-Tin em- ployees had been trying to get the fire out for some time before calling the fire department. He also said that there is a fire protection system that is designed with doors inside the ducts that will automatically shut in case of a fire to try to isolate it. Another system dumps water to extinguish fires.
“We could see the fire from the highway on top of the building. The biggest problem we had extinguish- ing the fire was lack of water pres- sure inside the plant,” he said.
No injuries were reported, but there was smoke, fire and water damage that he said was extensive.
March 19
A moderate severity flood
warning for the Ouachita River at Thatcher Lock and Dam that is af- fecting Union, Bradley and Calhoun counties has been issued by the National Weather Service in Little Rock. Flood stage on the river at Thatcher is 79 feet and the river is expected to continue to rise to near 89 feet today.
At 2 p.m. Wednesday, the river level was recorded at 88.7 feet, ac- cording to the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Pre- diction Service website, and at 88 feet, the river is high enough to stop drainage from Calion Lake. Heavy rainfall in the area could cause the lake to rise toward several homes along the shore. Downstream, water could rise into areas at Moro Bay State Park and cause widespread flooding of timber, limiting access to many oil and gas rigs.
El Dorado NEWS-TIMES – Friday, January 29, 2016 – 5