Northwest Arkansas Times (Newspaper) - March 11, 2007, Fayetteville, Arkansas newspaper serving Washington County since 1860 Arkansas Democrat NORTHWEST ARKANSAS TIMES Hoop Hogs advance to SEC finals with victory over Bulldogs COURTESY Fiberglass settling and pump tanks wait to be installed in the ground as part of a decentralized treatment plant for a sion in Cave Springs an Aqua Tech Systems LLC project School board close to deal on Jefferson Districts smaller than also rent their old build ings but they dont always get market BY BRETT BENNETT Northwest Arkansas Times The School Board is scheduled to consider renting the for mer Jefferson Elementary School building to a start up nonprofit group at its meeting Thursday The newly formed Jef ferson Center for Arts and Education has develop a plan to turn the building into an arts center and facility that specializes in renting office space to nonprofit service agen cies At the boards February meeting members decid ed they would be willing to rent the building to the group for a fee of per square foot annually The fee was also based in large part on an evaluation of commercial rent rates which Associate Super intendent Randy Willison figured would be per square foot The fee would include designed to cover an estimated operating cost which includes utili ties insurance maintenance The rest of the rent would ute toa reserve and pro vide the district opportunity who oversaw a committee that evaluated Jeffersons future and first accepted proposals from nonprofits said he cannot remember when the lost opportunity cost was first proposed by other board members and administra tors The idea behind the notion is that the district is not gaining as much by leasing the facility as it would from selling it so the lost opportunity cost helps make up for it Administrators have estimated the value at million but it has not been formally appraised It should be a consid Kring said See JEFFERSON page A9 Lilliputian trees REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Mike Walker with hosted an Art of Bonsai lecture Saturday at the Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks Cart A Horticulture Center Walker spoke of the differences in styles of bonsai how to care for the plant and showed some of his personal bonsai Whats the stink about Statewide regulations proposed for decentralized sewer systems BY SUSANNAH PATTON Arkansas times As lawmakers scramble to put measures in place to pre vent a financial fiasco should a decentralized sewer system malfunction proponents of the systems are concerned that the technology is get ting a bad rap Tom Bartlett owner of Aqua Tech Systems LLC a company that specializes in decentralized systems said there is a misconception among the public regarding the reliability of the systems They are very reliable easy to maintain and very he said Decentralized sewer sys tems have risen in popularity in the past few years among developers particularly in unincorporated areas of Ben ton and Washington coun ties that dont have access to city sewer services Sensing a potential finger pointing situation once the systems are in the ground and the developer no longer involved Washington Coun ty officials put regulations in place just as the systems were becoming more com used and statewide regulations are on the hori zon Bartlett said the biggest opponents of the systems are the cities and their con engineers that stand to lose the most money The cities make more money off the big treatment plants he said Every decentralized sewer system that is installed means fewer homes that could potentially tie on to a municipal system Its more about econom ics than the actual technol See SEWER page A6 Bombs away BROOKE McNEELY Northwest Arkansas Times Springdale Bomb Squad Technician Michael Meadors operates HYTAR a bomb squad robot Thursday at the Springdale Police Depart ment to demonstrate its features Springdale Bomb Squad set to take top rank in state BY KATE WARD Northwest Arkansas Times The Springdale Bomb Squad will become the squad in the state next week following the certi fication of its fourth bomb tech In order to be a Type 1 squad you have to have four bomb techs to enable you to work in two locations at one said Sgt Russell Hinds Spring dale Bomb Squad commander You also have to have a certain level of equipment and As the first bomb squad in North west Arkansas Hinds said the Spring dale Bomb Squad has moved up the ranks since its establishment 10 years ago Today its one of six squads in the state including the Arkansas State Police Fort Smith Conway El Dorado I can think of a couple times that weve called them out but its never been a bomb Theyre a valuable tool and weve been lucky enough to have them available Deputy Jak Washington County Sheriffs Office and Little Rock Each squad is ranked between a Level 1 and a Level 3 depending on their equipment capabilities and bomb Hinds said We have large vehicle bomb disruption capa which are required for Level 1 status We also have biochemical and blast proof suits xray equipment dis fiber optics capabilities haz rnat gas monitors and various radio Among other equipment Hinds said the bomb squad has its own remote control bomb robot It basically does everything that we would be able to do without getting he said Plus it has xray tech nology and a gas monitor Plus if we ever come across something we cant identify we have the capability of send ing an xray straight to the bomb data center in Washington Hinds said most bomb squads hi Arkansas are ranked at a Level 3 status I believe Little Rock might be at See SQUAD page At Tour of Park West site elicits positive environmentalist reactions Northwest Arkansas Times A tour of the 140acre Park West site near the for mer Wilson Springs Business Park ended Saturday with a small group of praising a Fayetteville developer Though it would be bet ter to leave half of the site undeveloped biologist Joe Neal told developer Tracy Hoskins it could be worse Neal said that his preference would be to leave the wet lands untouched but said that after a tour of the site with Hoskins the developer appears to be doing more than required by law The tour was in response to concerns over a request for a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to allow for the construction to impact water ways con trolled by section 404 of the Clean Water Act The corps regulates all waterways of the country which includes wetlands Neals maui contention is that the laws do not go far enough and should extend to protect seasonal wet lands not just those that are See SITE page A7 years of buildin communit 4444444 THE BANK OF
