SCOTT CO., Ark. -
Students of all ages turned out to greet Governor Mike Beebe during his visit to Waldron on Wednesday.
The governor wanted to recognize how well high school students there were doing; Waldron is one of only twenty schools in the state participating in the AAIMS program, which helps students succeed in advanced maths and sciences.
"It's always heartening when you can go to a school and see bright faced young people that are energetic about their future," the governor said.
After a program at the school, students from the Advance Placement social studies class got a second chance to meet the governor when he toured the new Scott County Jail. Kelly Smith, who wants to be a teacher, said it's inspiring to know people at the top of state government care about how they're doing in school.
"It helps to know that there's someone to back us up who believes in us," she said. "It is very hard in these AP classes, and to know that there's someone who supports us it really keeps us going."
According to Beebe, the state-of-the art facility could be a big help to other nearby jails that are faced with overcrowding. Sheriff Cody Carpenter said it could take some time to get to that point, though.
"We're just looking forward to getting it open to accommodate our own prisoners," he said.
"We're going to go through the hiring process in November, and train our dispatchers and jailers to work in the jailÂ… then January first we'll be able to take our first inmates."
Jails around the region have had to deal with chronic overcrowding for quite some time, and Scott County could use the extra money out-of-county or state prisoners could bring in. But the Department of Corrections lost $9 million in the recently-announced budget cuts, which could mean less money to put prisoners up in jails around the state.
Governor Beebe said while Arkansas isn't nearly as bad off as other states have been through the recession.
"We're so much better off than virtually every state in the country who are cutting billions of dollars instead of just $100 million. It'll hurt some, but we'll make it through and it'll get better."
The governor wanted to recognize how well high school students there were doing; Waldron is one of only twenty schools in the state participating in the AAIMS program, which helps students succeed in advanced maths and sciences.
"It's always heartening when you can go to a school and see bright faced young people that are energetic about their future," the governor said.
After a program at the school, students from the Advance Placement social studies class got a second chance to meet the governor when he toured the new Scott County Jail. Kelly Smith, who wants to be a teacher, said it's inspiring to know people at the top of state government care about how they're doing in school.
"It helps to know that there's someone to back us up who believes in us," she said. "It is very hard in these AP classes, and to know that there's someone who supports us it really keeps us going."
According to Beebe, the state-of-the art facility could be a big help to other nearby jails that are faced with overcrowding. Sheriff Cody Carpenter said it could take some time to get to that point, though.
"We're just looking forward to getting it open to accommodate our own prisoners," he said.
"We're going to go through the hiring process in November, and train our dispatchers and jailers to work in the jailÂ… then January first we'll be able to take our first inmates."
Jails around the region have had to deal with chronic overcrowding for quite some time, and Scott County could use the extra money out-of-county or state prisoners could bring in. But the Department of Corrections lost $9 million in the recently-announced budget cuts, which could mean less money to put prisoners up in jails around the state.
Governor Beebe said while Arkansas isn't nearly as bad off as other states have been through the recession.
"We're so much better off than virtually every state in the country who are cutting billions of dollars instead of just $100 million. It'll hurt some, but we'll make it through and it'll get better."
Digg
Twitter
Facebook
StumbleUpon
