Fayetteville High Renovation Inching Forward

The Kruth Talks

By Amber Kruth

Plan Progress

Plans to renovate Fayetteville High School inch forward. Architectural plans from Hight-Jackson Associates of Rogers, Marlon Blackwell of Fayetteville and DLR Group of Kansas City were to be submitted to the school board today. The school district will be using a low-interest federal bond of $45 million to contract the reconstruction of the high school on the current site. Public comment hearings will be Jan. 19 at Ramay Junior High School, Jan. 20 at Fayetteville High School and Jan. 21 at Woodland Junior High School.

New Arkansas Laws

Act 693: For safety’s sake, the minimum age for operating a watercraft in Arkansas was raised from 14 to 16. If supervised by an adult, a child younger than 16 can drive. All persons born in 1986 or later must complete a safety course through the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. www.agfc.com/boating

Act 1495: To clarify whether an individual is a legitimate threat, all toy guns must be clearly marked with an orange tip on the barrel or be a different color from a real firearm. Exemptions are plastic guns made for theater productions or sporting events, BB, pellet or paintball guns.

Act 697: To help reduce accidental fires, all cigarettes sold in Arkansas must have the fire-safe paper that make it more likely for a cigarette to extinguish if not inhaled. The remaining stocks of cigarettes can be sold until gone.

Poor Health

The National Center for Health Statistics has a page on its Web site called “Stats of the States.” Arkansas is the highest ranked state for stroke being the leading cause of death followed by a number two ranking of death by influenza and pneumonia.

The only category it was not in the top 25 states for the 10 most leading causes of death was Alzheimer’s disease.

Arkansas also ranks poorly in health coverage with more that 21 percent of Arkansans younger than 65 without health insurance based on 2004-06 statistics. This compares to the U.S. average of 16 percent.

Arkansas also ranked in the top 10 for all categories in birth, including the percentage of unmarried mothers, preterm birth, teen birth and low birthweight. www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/stats_states.htmFHS.