HOT SPRINGS - A massive earth-moving exercise has begun south of Hot Springs as work on the new Fall River Health Services hospital has begun in earnest. The equipment was moved in on Nov. 14 and digging began Monday, Nov. 17.

Health services administrator John Miller said that the company in charge of the project, JE Dunn of Kansas City, Mo., plans to provide project updates every couple of weeks. Marvin Griffin is overseeing the operation for Dunn and has moved to Hot Springs for the duration of the project.

Miller said that a Nov. 22 soup benefit for the Contractor's Fuel Fund raised nearly $1,400, pushing the total in the fund to between $6,000 and $7,000.

"That's where we thought we should be when we started the fundraising," Miller said. "Plus, at that time, fuel was over $4 per gallon, so our dollars will go further now."

The local contractors are planning to begin work on the sewer line sometime this week, according to Trent Johnson, the local contractor who has been coordinating the effort.

"I think that things will get rolling this week," he said last week. "Work is kind of slowing down in the area and should make it workable to get started."

Johnson said that the first priority was to get the sewer line laid from the building site to the city limits, north of the property and across the Highway 18 Bypass.

"Once we get the sewer line in, then we will start looking at the water supply line," Johnson said. The water supply will be coming from across Highway 71 and Johnson believes the line will be bored under the highway, to cross to the hospital property.

Miller said earlier that work should be able to continue through the winter. The target date for opening the new facility is in December of 2009.