Other Days: November 20, 2024

10  YEARS  AGONOVEMBER  19,  2014The board of the Cleveland County School District gave Supt. Johnnie Johnson permission to sign off on a settlement reached by the district's insurance company concerning a wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed by former Rison Elementary School principal Ron Sims. Johnson offered no comment on the matter, other than noting that the cost for any settlement from the lawsuit would be covered by the district's insurance company, and the school district itself would not be out any money. Sims claimed the defendants "embarked on a course of conduct designed to humiliate, embarrass and threaten (Sims) by use of knowingly false allegations. In the suit, Sims was seeking damages for breach of contract, wrongful termination, loss of wages both past and future, damage to his reputation and libel. Defendants in the lawsuit were Johnson and all seven members of the board.Portions of six streets within the Kingsland city limits could be receiving new asphalt if a plan put together with engineers from the Arkansas Highway Department is approved in January, Mayor Charles Crain told the Kingsland City Council Monday night. In all, the plan calls for putting 2 inches of asphalt over a total of 1.49 miles of streets inside the city limits. The estimated cost of the project is $260,200, the money to come from the state sales tax that is dedicated to roads.The Woodlawn School Board approved a recommendation by Supt. Dudley Hume last Thursday night to give all staff a one-time, non-recurring payment of $700 each. Hume said the one-time payments will cost the district $65,569.35.A tip from a concerned citizen led to the arrest of two Pine Bluff men after they allegedly broke into a house on Gun Club Road near the Pleasant Ridge community last Wednesday, according to chief deputy Gary Young of the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department. In another recent incident, Young repor...