RISON - Cleveland County Judge Melody Spears said she intends to chair the September meeting of the Cleveland County Quorum Court next Tuesday, though she will likely be doing it from a wheelchair af‐ter breaking several bones in an accident on Aug. 20.
On Monday, Spears an‐nounced that the meeting is be‐ing moved to the Hall-Morgan Veterans Building since it will be easier for her to access there. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6. The quo‐rum court usually meets on the first Monday, but the September meeting was changed due to the Labor Day holiday falling on the regular meeting date.
Spears said she suffered the in‐juries after falling from the roof of her house in New Edinburg as she was trying to clean pine straw off the top. As she was get‐ting read to get on the roof, Spears said the ladder shifted beneath her and onto a wood deck below, knocking her un‐conscious for a few minutes.
Her son was at the house at the time of the accident, and she said she was transported by am‐bulance to Jefferson Regional Medical Center at Pine Bluff be‐fore being transfered to the Uni‐versity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) hospital in Little Rock.
Spears said the fall resulted in several broken bones in her face, a fractured tail bone, two broken ribs and a hematoma on her kid‐ney. She said her doctors, at this time, believe the broken bones will heal on their own and she will not need any surgery.
“It’s a miracle it didn’t kill me,” she said.
Spears said she did not want to miss this month’s meeting since the quorum court is scheduled to make a decision on a new fiveyear solid waste contract.
Two companies submitted bids for the contract: the county’s existing solid waste contractor, Get Rid of It, Inc. of El Dorado, and Big Smith Waste Services based in Lincoln County. While Big Smith had the lower bid of the two, the quorum court decided to ta...
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