11/12/15  Thornton Mayor Resigns

Libby Coates, the Mayor of Thornton, announced on KQ-102's "South Arkansas Today"  yesterday that she's resigning her post, effective immediately. The resignation came as the result of the action taken by a Thornton resident who called Channel 7 complaining about the “pink” water in Thornton. Coates says pink water is not something new in Thornton and is completely safe to drink and use.  Coates wondered why the woman in question would call a TV station and not her office or the health department.  By the way, Channel 7 didn't bother to get a comment from the Mayor to get her side of the story. The Mayor said the thing that concerns her most is the grant applications that have been made by the City of Thornton.

Mayor Coates says the city has made application for a grant for a track hoe to lay water lines for the city...a  project that's now underway in Thornton, and the fire department has applied for a grant to buy a generator. Mrs. Coates said the pink water resulted from an equipment failure over the weekend and city crews have been out flushing water lines. Following her comments, Mayor Coates had one final thing to say.

Her husband, Paul is also a councilman at Thornton.

The Mayor and city councilmen at Thornton are not paid, it's a volunteer position.