DECATUR — The city of Decatur will face fines from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality because of sewer line overflows after heavy rains in October, Mayor Bill Montgomery reported at Monday’s city council meeting.

Montgomery, city utilities director James Boston and engineer Johnny Quinn traveled to Little Rock to meet with ADEQ officials several weeks ago.

“We are going to be fined, but we do not know yet how much that fine will be,” Montgomery said.

The fines could be as high as $10,000 a day, according to city attorney Tom Smith.

“This is going to cost the city, which is going to hamper the upgrades,” he said.

The city will also have to submit a timeline of how they plan to upgrade sewer lines and stop the infiltration of rain water.

Boston said two or three big issues have already been found and repaired. An old sewer line near E-Z Mart that had previously been capped with a piece of cardboard and a big rock was found and repaired and 115 feet of sewer line near Midway Street was replaced. Boston said it appeared the old tile sewer line had been crushed when the two-ton water line wasput in.

A special process was also used to seal joints on a section of old tile sewer line near T-N-T Express.

“The sad thing is we had a lot of this identified before everything hit the fan,” Boston said.

Boston said he would also like to put flow meters in each manhole next year so the city can track problems. He explained that it would also show the state the city is taking steps to find the problems and fix them.

“What we’re asking the public is to contact us when there is an overflow so we can take immediate action. We will contact ADEQ and clean up the overflow. The thing people need to understand is that with a torrential rain, there is not much we can do until the water has subsided,” Montgomery said.

Officers discover drug paraphernalia while making arrest

Two Decatur residents, Larry Griggs, 38, and Nena Boyer, 22, were arrested Thursday after police found drug paraphernalia and what was believed to be methamphetamine in their home.

Two children, ages two and three, were also residing in the home at the time of the arrests.

Decatur police officer Jeannie Yates and Benton County Deputy Robert Crowe went to Boyer’s home on Thursday morning to serve her with a misdemeanor warrant. As Crowe knocked on the front door, Griggs attempted to run out the back door, according to police reports. Yates asked Griggs to stop and show his hands and he complied with her request.

Yates found that Griggs was on parole. She contacted his parole officer, Kristy Burton, who told her that Griggs had not been reporting to her for his parole and was supposed to be living at a Gentry address.

Yates and Burton searched the home and found a large array of drug paraphernalia, including eight pipes believed to be used for smoking marijuana, eight used needles, tweezers believed to be used for roach clips and many other items. They also found a syringe containing a clear liquid substance believed to be methamphetamine.

Boyer told police that all of the drug paraphernalia belonged to her and none of it belonged to Griggs. She also admitted that the clear liquid substance was methamphetamine. Boyer said she had last used meth that morning, according to police reports.

Yates contacted the Arkansas Department of Human Services about the two children, and the children were picked up by their grandfather.

Griggs is being held in the Benton County Jail for parole revocation and is charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance, both class C felonies.

Boyer was transported to the Benton County Jail on the misdemeanor warrant and then released, but drug charges against Boyer are pending, according to po-

News, Pages 15 on 11/11/2009