Quorum Court hears of idea for student’s safety

— By HANNAH NANCE

Staff writer

The Ouachita County Quorum Court held its monthly meeting Thursday and one of the justices told the group about an idea that would help ensure the safety of students in area schools.

During the meeting, District 2 Justice Dale Vaughan addressed the court about a “brainstorming” idea that he has had the last few days. He stated that he wanted to find a way - with the help of the justices of the quorum court, Ouachita County Judge Robert McAdoo and Ouachita County Sheriff David Norwood - to place armed guards at the three school districts in Ouachita County.

During the last year, there have been several school shootings and threats made at schools across the United States. Vaughan stated Thursday that he wants to prevent those types of attacks from happening in Ouachita County. He stated that he wants to give the idea more thought to iron out the details.

This idea will be further discussed at the next quorum court meeting on Aug. 7.

During the audience participation portion of the meeting, James Lee Silliman - the executive director of the Ouachita Partnership for Economic Development, and James Nixon - the chairman of the sub committee on the Future Funding of OPED, addressed the quorum court. They thanked the court for all the help and support it has given OPED this year.

Silliman listed a few things that OPED has done the over past year in Camden and Ouachita County such as hosting an Industry Appreciation Golf Tournament, hosting job fairs, the creation of the South Arkansas Intermodal Park which brought 20 new jobs to the city, and helping to lease buildings to General Dynamics and Aerojet.

At Thursday’s meeting, Silliman and Nixon also discussed a meeting that took place on June 14 at OPED where future funding for OPED was discussed.

During the meeting on June 14, Nixon stated that OPED is one prospect away from going broke.

Also at that meeting, Silliman stated:

“Years ago we used to have an economic development sales tax here. That tax expired and left a finite amount of money on deposit with the city of Camden. The funds are slowly being whittled down.”

On Thursday, members of the quorum court stated that funding for OPED would be discussed in future meetings.

Also during Thursday’s meeting, the following items were approved:

• An appropriation of $60,000 to the General Fund for general supplies.

• An appropriation of $44,624.55 for other miscellaneous items.

• A resolution was accepted to appoint Terry Thornhill to the Ouachita County Board of Equalization.

• A resolution was accepted for the new voting machines that will be used for the first time in the General Election on Nov. 6, 2018.

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