Our Town

Little Rock notebook

Zoo work planned over 2-day closure

The Little Rock Zoo will be closed Monday and Tuesday for maintenance.

"We won't be monkeying around. We'll be removing trees and performing grounds maintenance," according to a news release.

The zoo, located at 1 Zoo Drive off Fair Park Boulevard, will reopen Wednesday.

Workshop will aid former prisoners

A workshop on community justice is planned Thursday for the formerly incarcerated.

The free event is meant to help people who were in jail or prison re-integrate into society. It will be from 6- 7:30 p.m. at the Willie Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center, 3805 W. 12th St.

"Previously incarcerated persons face a variety of challenges upon exiting the prison system, including how to access services," a news release said. "Through this workshop, attendees will learn about how to restore their voting rights, expunge their record, apply for a pardon and find employment opportunities."

The city's Racial and Cultural Diversity Commission is hosting the event.

Someone with the Pulaski County clerk's office will review voting rights restoration. Convicted felons who have lost their right to vote can regain the right after serving their time, completing probation or parole, and paying all related court costs and fines.

Attorney Maximillan Sprinkle will talk about applying for expungement of a criminal record, while Kelly Eichler with the governor's office will talk about pardons.

The city's re-entry coordinator, Keith Alexander, will discuss the sidewalk program in which the city hires ex-felons and teaches them sidewalk construction skills.

There also will be a voter registration booth set up at the event. Refreshments will be provided.

LR visitors bureau hires travel expert

The Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau has hired Little Rock native Tony Poe as director of national accounts.

Poe is the son of Poe Travel founder Fred Poe. He has worked in the luxury travel field for more than a decade, most recently at New York-based tour operator Absolute Travel, where he was a national sales director, according to a news release.

Prior to that Tony Poe was a manager and sales and marketing liaison at Virtuoso Ltd. in Fort Worth.

"In his previous positions, Tony worked with key travel agencies in the U.S. and Canada, to raise brand awareness in the travel agency community for his firm's offerings, while securing new business customers and growing sales," a news release said. "From 2013-2014, while at Absolute Travel, he nearly doubled the company's retail sales, taking them from $2.1 million to $3.9 million."

Poe said he's excited to promote his hometown to the world. Alan Sims, vice president of sales and services at the Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Poe being a native is "icing on the cake."

Metro on 08/21/2016

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