City, Lowe’s Negotiate Road Site
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City Engineer Pete Sullivan points out locations on the map detailing the proposed road along the western boundary of the Lowe’s property.
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BY KATE B DICKSON
EDITOR
City fathers are so strong in their belief a road should go in along the west boundary of the new Lowe’s store they’re willing to pick up the tab.
The road is in opposition to what the builder of Lowe’s wants which, said Mayor Bobby Baker, is an entrance off Highway 6 that ends in the parking lot.
 On Tuesday, the City Board gave unanimous approval that a letter setting out the city’s position to be sent to McWhorter Properties of Anniston, Ala. That is the company building the new store.
"There are too many property owners to the north and too much future development in the area for the road just to go into the Lowe’s parking lot and die," Baker said in an interview Wednesday.
What Baker said the city wants is to build a road along the west boundary of Lowes that can be extended to facilitate future growth.
A road at Lowe’s has been the subject of several meetings and letters over the course of the past several months, the mayor said.
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Road, Computer Bids Studied
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BY JASON C MATTOX
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Bids for Civic Center Drive are being studied by city staff the week after they were opened Tuesday during a meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen.
Likewise, bids were taken under advisement as well for new computer equipment for the Batesville Public Library.
Four bids were opened during the City Board meeting and were read by City Engineer Pete Sullivan.
Bids for the half-mile road are:
– Endevco, Inc., Oxford – $774,451.44
– Shultz Brothers, Inc., Clarksdale -$791,323.11
– Talbot Brothers Construction, Nesbit – $903,273.75
– W & W Contractors, Inc., Sardis – $846,605.11.
At the library, the new equipment is to be paid for by money still remaining in a previous grant. Included in the bid are computers and a system router.
The bids are:
– Complete Computers, Batesville – $26,158
– Dell Computers – $28,718.81
– Info Works, Ridgeland – $32,560
– Micro Computer Systems, Jackson – $23,452.
– Modern Micro Technologies, Senatobia – $29,590
– Premier Computer Solutions, Batesville – $23,826
– Roth Computers, Columbus – $22,550
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Generous Community …
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Jim Beaver, publisher of The Panolian, checks out a small portion of the items that have been donated to send overseas to the U.S. Troops taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. School and other groups as well as individuals have dropped goods off at the newspaper for shipment. Monetary donations are also being accepted to help defray shipping costs. See Troops pages on A7-10.
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Solar Experiment Money-Saving Plan for Treatment Plant
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BY KATE B DICKSON
EDITOR
The city should expect to realize a savings of at least $16,000 in electrical costs per year if a solar aerator program proves successful at the sewage treatment plant.
That’s if the aerators run 75 percent of the time from solar power and the savings should go higher if auxiliary power is needed less than a fourth of the time. If the units run 100 percent of the time the savings would grow to $26,000 a year.
That’s according to Bob Miller of SolarBee Pond Circulators in Dickinson, N.D.
Miller, and city waste water treatment plant superintendent David Karr, discussed the plan Tuesday with the Mayor and Board of Aldermen.
Miller was given the go ahead to order the equipment.
The project is being financed in part with $12,000 from TVA and the city is paying the other $12,000 for six months rent on two aerators.
If the city chooses to buy the aerators, which will take the place of six electrically powered ones in use now, 60 percent of the rental amount will be applied to the $56,000 purchase price.
Miller said the aerators will draw water to and layer it on the surface of the treatment lagoon where it will better mix with oxygen. He said the system will also result in cleaner treated effluent.
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