(The following items were compiled from files of past issues of the Cleveland County Herald. For questions or comments, contact Stan Sadler, P.O. Box 325, Rison, AR 71665, phone (870) 830-2056 or 870-325-6412; or email at sadler.stan@yahoo.com)
10 YEARS AGO
JUNE 29, 2016
At bare minimum, Sheriff Jack Rodgers said Cleveland County will likely have to spend about $340,000 more next year to house prisoners, a figure that is more than twice as much as the $141,000 the county budgeted for the jail this year. The additional money is needed to keep the county's jail operations in compliance with state regulations after an on-site review by the state Criminal Detention Facilities Review Committee in March found that the jail did not have adequate staff or enough space to meet state regulations. Rodgers said the county has until March 1, 2017, to address the findings of the review, or the state could shut down the jail.
Cleveland County Sheriff Jack Rodgers said the jail committee assigned by County Judge Gary Spears earlier this month will likely recommend either expanding the existing jail or building a new one when the committee makes its report to the county Quorum Court Tuesday night. Rodgers said the committee came to that decision after meeting this past Monday night.
Former Cleveland County Clerk Sharon Gray has been elected as chairman of a new group called Friends of the Pioneer Village, which is dedicated to restoring and revitalizing the Pioneer Village in Rison.
20 YEARS AGO
JULY 5, 2006
Former Kingsland volunteer firefighter Dustin Torrence was sentenced to three years in prison last Wednesday after pleading guilty to arson and unlawful burning charges stemming from a series of fires set in and around Kingsland going back to as early as November, 2002. Torrence is the third person to be sentenced to prison in connection with the Kingsland area arson fires.
Circuit Judge Larry Chandler reduced the bond for five of the suspects arrested during the June 2 drug raids in and around Rison during court proceedings last Wednesday at the courthouse here.
A technicality in a June 12 vote forced the Cleveland County School Board to take another vote on buying approximately …