Other Days: July 3, 2024

 10 YEARS AGO JULY 2, 2014 An effort is currently underway in Whiteville township of northeastern Cleveland County to collect enough signatures of registered voters to put an initiative on the November general election ballot that would make Whiteville a 'dry' township, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages. Justice of the Peace Owen Rushing, who represents a portion of Whiteville township, said the motivation for the signature drive came after the new owners of the Country Store, located at Highway 63 and Rodgers Road, filed an application with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board to sell beer. While Cleveland County, as a whole, is designated as a 'wet' county where alcoholic beverages sales are allowed, eight of the county's 17 townships are 'dry.' The latest to move from 'wet' to 'dry' came in 1986, when three townships - Lee, Redland and Whiteoak - voted to make their respective townships 'dry.'Mayor Vernon Dollar told the Rison City Council Tuesday night that non-biodegradable towels may be the culprit to sewer problems some residents in town may have been experiencing lately. Dollar said that non-biodegradable towels have been discovered inside some sewer pumps. The mayor said that eventually there would be enough towels inside the system to 'burn up' the pumps.Cleveland County had the seventh best percentage of employment growth in Arkansas last year, but it still lags behind most of the state in terms of wages, total number of jobs, and the number of local establishments. The figures were revealed by the Southwest Office of the U.S. Department of Labor in a report released Friday.The Rison City Council is being asked by Mayor Vernon Dollar for feedback on how the city should handle the transition with Cleveland County when it hands over those expenses to the county once the new 2-cent sales tax for garbage pickup service officially goes into effect. While the city has already decided to let ...