Wednesday, April 18, 2007

SPORTS>>First-inning run enough to get past LR Catholic

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

One run in the top of the first inning was all the Cabot Panthers needed to win a bizarre but crucial 7A-Central Conference game over Little Rock Catholic Saturday. The Panthers beat the Rockets 1-0 at Porter Field in Little Rock in wet and windy conditions to remain in sole possession of second place behind Conway in the league standings.

The game was played a day late due to the nasty weather that blew through the area Friday. As an added distraction, Cabot won the game without the help of head coach Jay Fitch, who was home with his wife and newborn son.

Cabot assistant coach Andy Runyan was pleased to get out of the terrible atmosphere with a win.

“The conditions were certainly not conducive for offense,” Runyan said. “It was wet, windy and blowing in at about 30 miles per hour. Even with all that I thought we took some really good swings. We just didn’t find the gaps. I was actually pleased with the way we hit the ball.”

Cabot took the lead and set the final margin with two outs in the top of the first. Sophomore first baseman Drew Burks got things rolling with a two-out single to right field. Catholic assisted the run on the next at bat. Sam Bates popped up to third base, but it was misplayed. Burks was hustling on the play and made it all the way to third, leaving runners on the corners for freshmen Jonathan Parker. Parker singled to right field to score Burks from third and drive in the winning run.

Cabot senior pitcher Colin Fuller turned in a masterful performance. He went the distance and threw a one-hit shutout with seven strikeouts.

“Colin pitched at outstanding game,” Runyan said. “It’s really rare to see a shutout at all anymore, and to see a game finish 1-0 is really rare. He did a great job and we played good defense.”

Catholic’s most serious threat to score came in the sixth inning when it put runners on the corners with one out. The threat was short-lived. Fuller served up a looping curve ball to the Rockets’ five-hole hitter, who grounded to third base where Daryl Murphy scooped it up and set in motion a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Catholic got the tying run on second base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Fuller fanned the leadoff hitter to preserver the lead and the win.

The victory lifted Cabot to 17-7 overall and 6-3 in conference play. All other league games were rained out Friday and haven’t yet been made up. Conway leads the league with a perfect 8-0 mark. Little Rock Central is third and just a half-game behind Cabot at 5-3. Bryant is fourth with a 4-4 mark while North Little Rock is 3-5 and Catholic are 3-5. Pine Bluff is in seventh place at 2-6 while Russellville is still searching for its first league win.

The Panthers played North Little Rock last night after Leader deadlines at Burns Park. They will face Central at home on Thursday.

“Obviously because of the way the standings are right now, those are two huge games for us,” Runyan said.

SPORTS>>Tailback taking next step

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Jacksonville senior Justin Akins is currently putting the finishing touches on an outstanding high school career in football and track. After helping the 2006 Red Devils football team to their second-straight playoff appearance in the fall, Akins is fresh off a pair of meets at Beebe and Jacksonville’s own Red Devil Relays, where he took first place in the 200m dash.

With many seniors across the state already signed to their colleges of choice, Akins has yet to ink for the next four years. He was initially set on Grambling State in Louisiana, but sudden interest from Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., after he had already sent out highlight tapes to several schools forced him to re evaluate things.

“They just came to me out the blue,” Akins said of Lane. “I couldn’t send them a tape because I had already sent them all out, so I would have to try out, but I am leaning towards them. They have a good program for my major, psychology, so I’m looking forward to going there and looking at the campus.”

Akins’ career began further up the interstate in Woodruff County, as a Red Devil of a different sort. He played his freshman year at Augusta, where he started out on the ninth-grade team before being moved to varsity after a breakout performance against North Pulaski. That game at Falcon Stadium resulted in a three-touchdown, 270-yard game that gave Augusta the win, and made the name Akins a buzzword for area pigskin fans. The buzz has only grown over his high school years.

His move to Jacksonville the following summer is actually an interesting study in fate. The original plan was to enroll at North Pulaski in order to start at tailback for the Falcons, but zoning requirements insisted that the young sophomore attend Jacksonville instead. The Falcons, who have struggled through three seasons of tough football, were on the verge of receiving one of the fastest runners in the state, but instead watched the young talent go across town to Jacksonville, who enjoyed a share of the 6A-East Conference title last year. Either way, Akins is glad things ended up working out the way they did.
“I already had friends at North Pulaski, but I had to work my way up at Jacksonville,” Akins said. “I did get some recognition from when I played here with Augusta. People were saying, ‘Aw, that’s that kid that beat North Pulaski by himself.’” When all was said and done, Akins ended up as an All-Conference player for two years at Jacksonville, with All-State honors his senior year.

Now that his playing days are over at Jacksonville, he says he’s hoping for a shot at the big time in the future, as a running back in the NFL. Upon graduation from college, his dream is to reside in Florida and play for the Buccaneers of Tampa Bay. He lists the beach and attractive women as the two major factors regarding his desire to live in the sunshine state. If the glory of professional football escapes him, Akins says he will be content as a high-school teacher. When asked if coaching was an option for him, he was quick to dismiss the possibility.

“I’m not really good at explaining plays to people,” Akins said. “If I did anything like that, it would be as a special teams coach, or a little league football team or something like that. But a high school coach? No. You got people coming up and screaming at you, telling you what all you’re doing wrong, and I just couldn’t take all that.”

SPORTS>>Lady Falcons shut out BHS for 5A-East championship

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Losing 10 seniors from a team would usually spell devastation for many, but this year’s North Pulaski Lady Falcons soccer team responded from the loss of 10 players off of the ’06 team with a conference championship in 2007. The Lady Falcons went through the 5A-East Conference schedule with a 4-0 undefeated mark, capping off their campaign with a 4-0 shutout win at Batesville on Friday to take outright possession of the East crown.

It is far from the first trip to the state playoffs for the Lady Falcons in recent years, but entering as an undisputed No. 1 seed this year is a far cry from the team that barely squeaked in as a No. 4 seed last year.

Lady Falcons co-coach Christy Delao hopes that is not where the differences will end after NP was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round last year.

“This is our seventh straight year of making it to the state playoffs,” Delao said. “This is our first time to enter with a high seed, so hopefully that will help us in the first couple of games.

“The girls are all excited, especially the freshmen. The older ones have been there before, but for our younger players, they are beyond excited.”

The Lady Falcons essentially closed the deal with Batesville in the first half, scoring three goals in the first half before sophomore Kara Sargent added an insurance goal 10 minutes into the second half.

Freshman Claire ?? started things off for North Pulaski with a goal 10 minutes into the first half. Defender Sara Watson has been a strong part of the Lady Falcons team this year, but she got her chance at a rare offensive play on a penalty kick for the next goal. Watson’s kick was good for a goal, her first ever in high school varsity action.

Senior exchange student Sophia Weber added the final goal of the first half, as the Lady Falcons went with mostly subs for the second half.

Goalkeeping has been a crucial part of the Lady Falcons success this year as well. Starting junior goalkeeper Lacey Ellis saw little action on Friday with only two touches in the first half before being replaced by freshman Brandi Glover in the second half, but has limited opponents’ chances at scores all season.

The obvious question from most is how the Lady Falcons turned things around from being a decent playoff-capable team to the powerhouse squad they have proven to be this year. De Lao says the formation of an 18U rec. team that essentially became a North Pulaski summer team gave the girls a lot more time on the field together, making team chemistry for this season almost second nature.

“They have really come closer as a team this year,” De Lao said. “We basically got to play the whole year, the rec. league ended just a few weeks before the high school season started, and that good core rec. experience really made the difference.” De Lao says she and her husband Javier will coach rec. this summer before their final year as coaches of North Pulaski in 2008. Although their daughter Megan graduates this year, De Lao says they will stay with the team one more year until a replacement can be put in place. Javier De Lao, now in his second year as NP head coach, has been a part of the soccer program for the Falcons since 2001.

Although their opponent is yet to be decided, North Pulaski will begin state playoff play on April 28 in Harrison. They will defend their 9-2-1 overall record against the No. 4 seed from the ?? conference.

OBITUARIES >> 4-18-07

Jack Miller

Jack Curtis Miller, 84, of Beebe passed away April 15. He was born July 22, 1922 in Clarendon, Texas. He was preceded in death by his parents, David and Sarah Miller and brother, Roy Miller.

He is survived by his wife, Lavida Miller; his son, Bobby Joe Miller of Des Arc and four stepchildren; his son, Mike and wife Debbie Baum of Beebe; daughter, Susie and her husband Bob DeYoung of Beebe; son, Keith and his wife Debra Baum of Beebe and son, Jay and his wife Nancy Baum of Cabot; 14 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. The family wishes to express appreciation to those who provided loving care, support and encouragement during Jack’s extended illness.
Family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 18 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe. Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 19 at the funeral home, with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens.


Alfred Wilson

Alfred “Al” Woodrow Wilson, 90, longtime Cabot resident, passed away April 15. He was born April 5, 1917 in Wilson, Okla., to the late Dora and “King” Wilson. He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Charlie and Aubrey Wilson and five sisters, Lorena Rogers, Theo Dearen, Nellie McLaughlin, Iva Christensen and Barbara Wilson, all of Duncan, Okla.

Survivors include his wife of 69 years, Clara Ruth “Womack” Wilson; three daughters, Amy Addeo and husband Carmine of Cabot, Sue Upson and Stephanie Wilson also of Cabot; one son, Lynn Wilson and wife Ursula of Butlerville; seven grandchildren, Donna Clark, Ron Wilson, Scott Campbell, Randy Wilson, John Campbell, Rick Wilson and Rob Wilson; 26 great-grandchildren; 14 great-great grandchildren; one sister, Myrtle Shultz of Duncan, Okla.; two brothers, George Wilson of Duncan, Okla., and Verlyn Wilson of Tucson, Ariz.; along with many other family members and friends.

He has lived in the Cabot area since moving from California in 1977. His greatest joy in life was his wife and family. His passion was buying, restoring and selling old Chevy pickup trucks, which he continued until he was 88-years-old.
Visitation will be from 1 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 19 with the family receiving friends from 6 to 8 p.m. at Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot. Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Friday, April 20 at Christ Worship Center Church in Cabot with Rev. Thomas Heffner officiating. Funeral arrangements are by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.


Paul Riba

Paul Alfred Riba, 81, died April 15. He was a member of Gateway Fellowship Church and was a Navy veteran. His son, David Riba and a daughter, Melinda Riba preceded him in death.

Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Susie Chesser Riba; son, Boyd Riba and wife Debra and one daughter, Vangie Roach and husband Jackie, all of Lonoke; sons, John Hankins of California and James Hankins of Arkansas; siblings, Frances Curtis of Georgia, Ralph Riba of Hot Springs, J.W. Riba of Mabelvale, Jessie Prince of Texas, Lawrence Riba of California and Ethel Doom of Hazen; five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 18 at Gateway Fellowship Church with burial in Sunset Memorial Gardens in Lonoke. Funeral arrangements are by Boyd Funeral Home in Lonoke.


Alice Hall

Alice ‘Mutt’ Hall, 85, of Jacksonville died April 17 in Jacksonville. She was born Feb. 22, 1922 in Benton, to the late John A. and Hassie Wright Robinette Neighbors. She was also preceded in death by her loving husband, Ivy E. Hall as well as her sisters, Georgia Jordan, Billie Jo Hicks and Alva Evans. Mrs. Hall helped her husband found and operate Ivy Hall Garage in 1955 and retired in 1995. She was a member of North Jacksonville Church of Christ.

Survivors include her sons, Billy Hall and wife Pam, and Vernon R. Hall and wife Pat, all of Jacksonville; a sister, Lorece Crook of Benton; grandchildren, Wendi Snell and husband Joel and Misty Cagle and husband Brian, all of Jacksonville, April Hackett and husband Steven of Yorbalinda, Calif.; great-grandchildren, Emily and Olivia Snell and Brice and Brady Cagle, Morgan and Michael Hackett as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 19 at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home Chapel with LeRoy Wood officiating. Interment will follow in Mt Pleasant Cemetery. Visitation will be at the funeral home Wednesday evening from 6 until 8 p.m. The family would like to give special thanks to Dr. Ron Fewell, Doris and Sam Clark, Evelyn Ringgold, Earlene McKenzie and Rebsamen Hospital. Funeral arrangements are under direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.


Pauline Downey

Pauline C. Downey, 92, of North Little Rock died April 13. She was born June 9, 1914 in Ohio to the late John Clarence and Maude Wisecup Cooper. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Joe Downey; three children, Irene, Leroy and Eugene Kennedy; one grandson, Billy Thomas and an uncle, Dewey Wisecup. She is survived by a daughter, Frances Thomas of Jacksonville; two stepdaughters, Loraine Davis and Sandra Taylor, both of Springfield, Ohio; five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild as well as a host of cousins. Funeral services will be under the direction of Littleton and Rue Funeral Home of Springfield, Ohio. Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home handled preparations and visitation.


Gussie Benton

Gussie L Benton, 91, of Floyd died April 13. She worked at the munitions plant in Jacksonville during World War II and later worked as an aide at several nursing homes before retirement. She was a member of Floyd Assembly of God Church.
She was preceded in death by her husband, C. C. “Chunk” Benton; four sons, Arville, Wayne, Willard and Elvis; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.She is survived by two daughters, Mary Sue Fontenot and Linda Fontenot, both of Lake Charles, La.; 19 grandchildren; 40 great-grandchildren; several great-great-grandchildren; and one sister, Dorothy Stoker of Conway. Funeral was April 16 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe with burial in Old Floyd Cemetery.


Leonard Howard

Leonard M. Howard, 84, of Romance died April 13. Memorial service was April 17 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe.
Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, 901 N. University Ave., Little Rock, Ark., 72203.

TOP STORY >>Cabot opens new road to alleviate congestion

By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer

The weather was warm and the atmosphere festive for the Monday ribbon cutting on the 2.5-mile long roadway connecting the Cabot Wal-Mart to Hwy. 5. More than 100 area business people and government officials from all levels chatted amiably while they waited for the ceremony to start on the new bridge that cost Cabot $150,000.

Mayor Eddie Joe Williams passed out flyers commemorating the event that looked like the front page of The Leader. Lonoke County Justice of the Peace Larry Odom, who was instrumental in building the $1 million road, served strawberries ripened in his fields at Holland Bottom Farms. Cabot Chamber of Commerce provided real, working scissors (replacing the silver-painted wooden ones) to cut the ribbon. And after the ribbon was severed, the guests passed underneath an arch of water from two fire trucks as they drove across the bridge for the first time.

Unlike the February ribbon cutting for the railroad overpass that was hurried because school was about to let out and a little tense because the city and the county disagreed on its location, Monday’s event was a celebration of the two governing bodies working together on a project that will benefit both.

It is generally believed that not only will the new road help some traffic congestion, both the county and city will benefit from increased tax revenue because of the direct route to Wal-Mart and the potential for commercial development along the road.
“This is a million-dollar project,” Williams said as the ceremony began. “If it had been done with outside vendors, it would have been a $10 million project.”

Except for removing the trees, the paving and the bridge, the entire project was completed using county labor, which was not included in the $1 million price tag. Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman said later that the project actually would have cost $3.5 million to $4 million if the county hadn’t supplied most of the labor and equipment.

He gave credit to the leaders of his road crew, Roger Light and Jimmy Bowlin, whose simple instructions were to “get it done.” His voiced cracked with emotion when he said Bowlin died from a massive heart attack last October before the work was finished.

Troutman also gave credit to Odom, who instigated the project two years ago when he asked if there was anything the county could do to help the traffic congestion around Cabot. And there was an edge to his voice when he recalled that Wal-Mart, the business that would benefit the most from the new road, refused to help pay for it.

The city also would not help, though several on the council pushed the project, until Williams became mayor in January. One of his first requests from the council was for $250,000 to pay the county $150,000 for the new bridge and $100,000 to help with paving.

Even before the road opened, “for sale” signs were going up on some of the property that joins it. Williams said he has heard criticism that the new road will be a financial benefit to some property owners, but there is no way to avoid that and no reason to try because new businesses bring in more tax revenue for the city. “I’ve said, ‘show me a piece of property that nobody owns and I’ll build a road through it,’” the mayor said.

In addition to the new road, which has been named South Rockwood, the county also replaced several narrow bridges on First Street for the city and is currently helping the city widen Hwy. 89 at the Rockwood intersection. According to Metroplan, which helps with planning for new roads in central Arkansas, by 2010 the new road will carry 2,000 to 2,500 vehicles a day and reduce the traffic on Hwy. 89 and Hwy. 5 by 500 to 1,000 vehicles a day. While not a fix for the city’s entire traffic problem, Troutman said it is a start and one that he is pleased the city was willing to help with.

“Yesterday was a good day,” Troutman said. “I was glad to see it come.”

TOP STORY >>Tax to help Jacksonville attractions

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Jacksonville’s military museum wants to park a C-130 just to the north of the museum, and at least $120,000 year in tax-generated funding.

The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society didn’t ask for a specific amount, but did say it needed “big bucks” for land acquisition to turn the battlefield into a site that would bring in 100,000 tourists a year. Spokesmen for the two groups presented their case before the Jacksonville Advertising and Promotion Commission Monday night as the group continued its discussion on adding a two-percent “hamburger” tax to the cost of restaurant foods.

Both the museum and battlefield groups, along with the chamber’s tourism committee, support the idea of the tax, which would add about $551,000 to the city’s coffers for the purpose of promoting the city and bringing in tourists.
In 2006, Jacksonville had 53 restaurants, and together, they did $28.4 million in business.

The commission made no decision on the tax issue, instead setting another meeting May 21 to debate the issue.
By law, the commission can ask for up to a three-cent tax on hotel rooms and up to a three-cent tax on prepared foods. That decision then goes to the city council where aldermen, not residents, have the final say. The commission and council have already initiated a two-cent hotel-room tax, which generates about $80,000 annual in funds for advertising and promotion. There is currently no prepared food tax.

Sherwood, which has no hotel tax, does have a hamburger tax which brings in $451,400 to the city’s advertising and promotion commission. Cabot has a 1.5-cent hotel room tax and a 1.5 hamburger tax.

The commission has been looking at the idea of a two-cent hamburger tax since the completion last year of a $12,000 tourism study, which recommended the city focus on developing a tourist district. The study said that Jacksonville does not have a true downtown. So it would have to develop a central or tourist district, like Little Rock did with the River Market.

According to the study, “The area around the military museum would seem to be the most logical place to anchor one end and perhaps the new library/park area on the other.”

Warren Dupree, representing the museum at the commission meeting, said that the museum had developed a six-year plan of expansion that included opening numerous exhibits and parking a retired C-130 just to the north of the museum. Dupree said if the commission and council approve the tax and allow the museum to have $120,000 a year, the museum could accelerate its expansion. “We could go from six years to about two and a half years,” Dupree said. Dupree said as the museum expands it incurs additional expenses in increased utilities, additional insurance and display maintenance.

The museum board also wants to hire a full time professional curator and an administrative assistant. Tommy Dupree, representing the battlefield group, reminded the commission that Reed’s Bridge is the most complete of seven battlefields that represent the Little rock campaign of the Civil War.

He said that the core area of the battlefield consists of 412 acres, but only 70.3 acres are under the control of the city or the preservation society, and of that about 40 acres are part of Dupree Park.

The society has plans to purchase another 86 acres at a cost of $700,000. Dupree said, “Funds for buying the land are the hardest to come up with. Scheduling the next meeting, Smith said, it was important that if the commission decides to go ahead with the tax it “can tell the people what the money is going to be used for.”

TOP STORY >>Buyer offers to sell city country club for $5.1M

By HEATHER HARTSELL
Leader staff writer

The sale of the North Hills Country Club and golf course for $5.1 million will be finalized this week. And if the city of Sherwood wants to keep it a golf course they too will have to pay $5.1 million to purchase it, soon-to-be owner Ron Campbell told Mayor Bill Harmon.

The two got together Monday in the mayor’s office to clarify rumors and lay everyone’s cards on the table.“We’d be happy to sell the property,” Campbell told the mayor, adding he and his business partner want to keep five acres on the corner of Hwy. 107 and North Hills Boulevard.

The five acres with 1,500 square feet of frontage on John F. Kennedy Boulevard, would turn a profit for the partners down the road and might possibly be turned into commercial property. He said he already has two parties interested in the frontage for use as commercial property, as well as someone interested in purchasing the 90-acre country club and golf course property for $7.1 million.

“Naturally, if we sell to anyone, it’d be you guys (Sherwood),” Campbell said, “they don’t separate the money at the bank from one buyer to the next.”

“It’s a business deal for us, but for the city to raise $7 million would be a pretty big chore; the golf course has been losing money for years,” he said.

“Five million will be a chore,” the mayor said, conceding however that $5 million would be easier than $7 million. For the city to purchase the property, residents would have to vote on a tax proposal.

“This is what we wanted to know,” Harmon told Campbell. “We’ll take it before the (city) council and see what we’ll do,” Harmon said.

Campbell said he recognized the property as a tremendous buy and considers it “the most beautiful property on this side of the river.”

If the city decides not to purchase the golf course, the property might become a gated residential community of $400,000 to $500,000 homes. If the land becomes a housing development then Sherwood could become the only city of its size in the state without a golf course within its city limits.

Mayor Danny Stedman hired a consultant to conduct a feasibility study of the golf course before he resigned on April 5, just four months into his term, citing health reasons.

Stedman signed a contract with W.P.D. Golf Management in Horseshoe Bay, Texas to see if a city-operated golf course was a viable option after the consultant addressed the golf course exploratory committee.

Members of the committee include Aldermen Becki Vassar and Keith Rankin, City Attorney Steve Cobb, Linda Nickle from the city’s economic development department, City Engineer Michael Clayton, Parks and Recreation director Sonny Janssen and Cheryl Ferguson with the city’s advertising and promotion department.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

FROM THE PUBLISHER >> Politics at local level rough, just ask mayor

“All politics is local.”
— Thomas “Tip” O’Neill,
longtime Speaker of the House

The political pros know that voters are more passionate about local issues than about national politics, even in time of war.
How the local electorate feels about their representatives’ local job performance can affect the outcome of national politics. No wonder there’s so much furor over the firing of seven U.S. attorneys: Their job security was tied to how well they prosecuted local Democrats. Former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins lost his job because he corralled but one lowly Pine Bluff alderman, not enough to change the outcome of congressional and gubernatorial races here.

Of course all politics is local: Last month, the Sherwood City Council rebelled when Mayor Danny Stedman made a decision the aldermen decided was theirs to make.

What did Stedman do wrong? Did he accept payments from contractors who were doing business with the city?
Did he pave private roads to supporters’ homes?

Did he hide weapons of mass destruction in the basement of city hall for possible use against his political opponents?
No, it was much more serious than that: Stedman tried to hire his own public works director. The council forced him to withdraw his choice.

Not only is his public works director gone, but so is the mayor. Stedman became ill, complaining of chest pains, and he called it quits.

He served but three months, although everyone had expected he’d be around for at least three terms.

Crusty former Mayor Bill Harmon is filling in until elections are called in June.

Local politics can be brutal. It’s like hand-to-hand combat, winner take all. Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Benny Petrus, D-Stuttgart, for House Speaker, and guess who’s bringing home the bacon now.

Petrus, who may be a keen student of Tip O’Neill, knows how to reward his supporters and shut out his challengers.
So don’t expect any General Improvement Funds for Jackson-ville anytime soon, even if Mike Wilson doesn’t go to court to stop them, although he probably will.

Sure, people care about local issues more than, say, a balanced federal budget.

When they see crumbling schools and inadequate roads and they drive by a garbage dump higher than the tallest building in their community, they know local politicians should do more, a lot more, although we’ve noticed Eddie Joe Williams, Cabot’s energetic new mayor, has embarked on a manic road-building program.

Our youngest daughter, visiting home from out of state, noticed the stinking garbage dump along Hwy. 67/167 and the North Belt Loop south of Jacksonville on the way home from the airport. She said it reminded her of poverty-stricken India.
Amazingly, this is what the people see when they enter Jacksonville—and it’s a couple of hundred yards from a youth baseball field.

The dump keeps growing, like a Tower of Babel. The burning flames lighting up the sky remind me of an oil field in the Middle East.

Didn’t city planners have the foresight to keep this dump well away from Jacksonville? Waste Management, the dump’s operator, gives Jacksonville students a couple of college scholarships a year, but I’d give them back and tell them to take their dump someplace else.

When people start asking how this dump was allowed in here in the first place and allowed to expand in all directions, it will become a major political and health issue.

City planners in the biggest communities make bad decisions and in smaller cities they’re capable of doing even worse. Look at the controversial Graham Road closing for a poorly planned railroad overpass at Main Street, forcing motorists to detour for six blocks if they want to get to North First Street.

People have abandoned that area, hurting businesses and leaving North First Street, which was widened several years ago, virtually untraveled, wasting millions of dollars for taxpayers.

So we’re back to Tip O’Neill’s dictum. Local politicians ignore it at their own risk.

TOP STORY >>Campbells get 619 years total

IN SHORT: Jury recommends Jay Campbell’s 315 years and Kelly Campbell’s 304 years to run concurrent, meaning Campbell could be out in 10 years and his wife in less than four years.

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

The jury recommended locking up Jay and Kelly Campbell Tuesday night and looked to be throwing away the key in the sprawling Lonoke corruption case that has riveted the attention of Central Arkansans for nearly two months.

The color drained from Kelly Campbell’s face as the jury first sentenced her husband to 40 years in prison for masterminding a continuing criminal enterprise (he could have gotten life without possibility of parole), then to the maximum for each of the other 22 charges for a total of 315 years.

Her sentencing recommendations followed and it seemed at first that she had caught a break from a suddenly sympathetic jury that might have decided to punish her husband severely but give her a slap on the wrist and the ability to stay free and mother her three children.

They recommended 10 years probation for each of the first two charges of furnishing contraband to inmates and the minimum — one year — for a third count. But from that point on, like her husband, the jury recommended the maximum sentence for all other convictions.

If her sentences were served consecutively — one after the other — she could have served 304 years.
As a first-time offender, she could have been sentenced to probation.

There was stunned silence at the defense table.

Both families, sitting behind them were in tears.

The defense has promised to appeal the verdict. Then the judge read the final recommendations from the jurors—that each defendant’s sentences run concurrently.

Formal sentencing will be at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and if Special Judge John Cole imposes the jury’s sentence, Jay Campbell could be eligible for parole after 10 years and his wife after three years and four months—that’s with time off for good behavior.

Cole refused Prosecutor Lona McCastlain’s request to revoke Jay Campbell’s bond as a flight risk. “I don’t think he’s a risk,” Cole said.

Kelly Campbell’s attorney, Mark Hampton called the sentences “absurd.”

Jay Campbell said the sentences didn’t disappoint him any more than the guilty verdicts that preceded them.
“Lonoke is well on its way back,” McCastlain said.

TOP STORY >>Couple found guilty

IN SHORT: Former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell was convicted of running a criminal enterprise and both he and his wife were also convicted on two dozen other charges.

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

A jury of six men and six women Tuesday found former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell guilty of running a continuing criminal enterprise (CCE) and he and his wife Kelly were each found guilty of about two dozen other charges, mostly theft of property, residential burglary and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or theft.

After nearly two months of testimony, the jury deliberated about 16 hours over two days before finding the Campbells guilty of nearly all charges.

Jay Campbell sat still and red-faced as the judge read the verdicts — guilty, guilty, guilty, not guilty.”

Kelly Campbell sat stoically at first but descended briefly into tears before regaining her composure.

Both Jay Campbell’s lawyer, Patrick Benca, and Kelly Campbell’s lawyer, Mark Hampton, said they would appeal on a number of grounds.

In addition to conviction for running a CCE, which has a sentence of 10-40 or life, and conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, Jay Campbell was convicted of two charges of hindering apprehension, one charge of filing a false police report, seven charges of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, six charges of residential burglary, three charges of theft of property, one charge of theft of services and one charge of theft of property.

The jury convicted Kelly Campbell of three counts of furnishing inmates with prohibited items, including alcohol, drugs and an implement of escape, nine charges of residential burglary, nine charges of obtaining a controlled substance by theft, two charges of theft of property, one charge of theft by receiving, one charge of criminal trespass and one charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

While Jay Campbell was convicted of the over-arching crime of running the CCE, Kelly Campbell was acquitted of participating in the enterprise, prompting the defense lawyers to ask for a mistrial. Special Judge John Cole said he would rule later on their motions.

Benca has argued since pretrial hearings that there were not enough crimes involving enough people to sustain a continuing criminal enterprise charge, calling it the numerocity argument.

“I guess I’m convicted of being the leader of an organized crime ring with no members in it,” said Campbell after the jury had announced the verdicts and was sent back to determine sentences.

“I still have faith in the system, faith in my lawyers and faith in the Lord,” Campbell said.

“I have three little girls and home that I hope will be with me and their mom for the rest of their lives,” he added.
Lonoke County Prosecutor Lona McCastlain said the verdict proved that the jurors really understood the evidence and the nature of the crimes.

Asked if as a former police chief and deputy sheriff he would serve any sentence in the state prison, Campbell said “I would not ask for any special treatment for who I am or what I’ve done.”

In his sentencing closing, Benca told of first meeting Jay Campbell when Campbell helped him free an innocent man from prison, framed by a bad cop.

“Jay’s going to prison, there’s nothing I can do,” Benca said. But he asked jurors not to run sentences one after the other, but rather consecutively. He said Campbell had been able to help others turn their lives around. “There’s some good in him. Punish him, you have to, but give him an opportunity to lead a good life.

“The jury was completely overwhelmed with the amount of evidence and confused by the CCE statute,” Hampton said.
He said the verdict would be completely overturned on appeal.

In closing arguments before the sentencing phase of the trial, Hampton asked the jury to show mercy to Kelly Campbell, who is 42 years old and had never before been charged with a crime. “You have the ability to not completely destroy (their three children),” Hampton said.

She has emotional and metal problems and physical problems that help explain some of her behavior.
“You have the opportunity to give her a second chance,” he said.

McCastlain told the jury the individual cases were not so much about stealing prescription drugs from friends as about betrayal of trust by the person they should be able to trust the most—their friend and police chief.

“Someone in a position of authority preying on people he pledged to protect.”
“The state asks for consecutive sentences,” said Deputy Prosecutor Jack McQuary. We don’t ask lightly. They are convicted of 23 separate crimes a piece.”

EDITORIALS>>Gonzales must go

Alberto Gonzales will go to Capitol Hill next week to persuade a skeptical Congress and public and maybe even a dubious president that he deserves another chance — is this the eighth or the ninth? — to be an effective attorney general, but he has become sadly almost beside the point. When even Sen. Mark Pryor, who broke ranks with Democrats in 2005 to confirm Gonzales, demands his resignation, he has to despair about his prospects.

In the weeks since Gonzales gave his accounts of innocence in the firing of U. S. attorneys, most notably H. E. “Bud” Cummins III of the eastern district of Arkansas, much of his narrative has been proven disingenuous or simply a lie.

E-mails and testimony by a former aide to the attorney general show that the accounts given to Congress about why and how the administration installed political hit man Tim Griffin in the job of enforcing federal law in Arkansas were flatly untruthful. The White House and the Justice Department never had any intention of subjecting Griffin to the normal confirmation process.

They would string senators along until it was too late to replace Griffin, they confided in e-mails. They knew that Griffin’s weak legal background and involvement in voter-suppression activities in Florida would propel him into trouble with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sure enough, Griffin has been in the job at Little Rock four months, his name has not been submitted to the Senate, he says he will agree to be questioned, and the White House has not nominated another for the job.

But so much has transpired in two months that the transparent dishonesty and the ineptness of the attorney general and his deputies seem nearly irrelevant. He is barely more than a symptom of the problems.

Gonzales’ top assistants, summoned to testify before Congress about what they knew about the firings of eight district attorneys, have resigned, one after insisting that she would claim the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination if she were subpoenaed to talk about the role of the White House political office and counsel’s office in the firings.

Monica Goodling was a graduate of Rev. Pat Robertson’s law school, and her legal experience consisted of working in Karl Rove’s political shop at the White House under Tim Griffin.

As Gonzales’s assistant, she took the lead role at the Justice Department in getting Bud Cummins hired and replaced by Griffin. Her résumé was typical of the top echelon of the Justice Department.

The White House is refusing to let Rove and his top staff testify under oath. This week, the White House said relevant e-mails over the past two years had been destroyed, which seems to be a violation of federal record-keeping laws.

Twenty-two members of the White House staff, including Rove, have separate e-mail accounts provided by the Republican National Committee, and they do some official government business on party e-mail addresses (ending in gwb.43.com) to avoid public scrutiny.

The White House conceded this week that Rove’s staff might have illegally used the party account for government business.
Quietly, the gwb.43.com account was figuring in another developing scandal. According to documents uncovered by the House Government Oversight Committee, a Rove aide used the account to circulate a document to some federal agencies identifying Democratic members of Congress who were vulnerable to defeat next year and discussing strategies to beat them.

“Please do not e-mail this out or let people see it,” the e-mail read. “It is a close hold, and we’re not supposed to be e-mailing it round.”

In January, Rove’s top deputy did a workshop for top employees at the General Services Administration, the big federal agency that supplies products, transportation, office space and communications for the federal bureaucracy all across the country.

He used slides outlining the Republican strategy for defeating Democratic congressmen and protecting Republicans in the 20 congressional districts that the party thought were most vulnerable next year. He also outlined the “2008 Battle for the Senate,” which targeted for defeat Pryor, Arkansas’s junior senator.

President Bush’s new appointee as head of the General Services Administration, Lurita Alexis Doan, said employees should come up with ways to use government funds and services to defeat Democrats and elect Republicans, including the selective awarding of government contracts in the districts. Testifying this month before a House committee, Doan said she could not remember what she said at the meeting. Others did.

Last fall, a book by former Arkansas Gazette reporter Tom Hamburger, now with the Los Angeles Times, recounted how Rove’s office routinely conducted such political forums in federal agencies in the year before the 2006 congressional elections and how the taxpayers’ money was employed for those ends.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees — political appointees as well as civil service workers — from engaging in election activity on official time or using government offices or equipment. But it is a safe bet that the Justice Department will not be pursuing the violations.

Law enforcement and impartial justice have different meanings now.

EDITORIALS>>Vote on bonds November '08

The state Highway Commission is pondering whether it would be better to put a highway bond issue before the voters at a special election during the next year or at the general election in 2008. That ought to be a no-brainer: Do it at a general election, where perhaps four times as many voters get to have a say.

But the selfish and undemocratic impulse is always to do these things at a quiet special election, where those with a direct pecuniary interest — contractors, suppliers, bond dealers and the like — will carry more weight. It does not always work. Gov. Mike Huckabee called a special election on the same $575 million bond issue in December 2005 and it was overwhelmingly defeated.

Everyone will have a stake in the election because they pay the taxes that would retire the bonds if the election succeeds. Gov. Beebe and the Highway Commission will score points if they demonstrate confidence in the voters by making it their call and not that of the special interests. You do that at the general election.

Besides, what is the rush? Not one dollar of bonds can be issued until the first of the 1999 bonds that the motor-fuel taxes are supporting will be paid off. That will be in 2010. All the bonds will be retired in 2014. So there is no reason to vote on the bonds until the general election of 2010 or later. The needs and market conditions may change — no, they will certainly change — before then. The voters ought to be able to consider those conditions when they undertake a public debt of that magnitude.

EDITORIALS>>Prosecution wins big one

A Lonoke County jury deliberated less than two days before finding former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell and his wife Kelly guilty on multiple corruption charges involving sex, drugs, stolen jewelry, misuse of prisoners and a host of other serious accusations.

A jury in Cabot on Tuesday accepted the prosecution’s case almost in its entirety. Kelly Campbell was found guilty on 26 charges and not guilty on five, while Jay Campbell was found guilty on 23 counts and not guilty on six. They face long prison sentences unless the jury’s verdict is overturned.

Last night, the couple received more bad news from the jury. It recommended he be sentenced to 315 years in the state prison, while she’s facing being locked up for 304 years in a women’s penitentiary, where she will be kept away from male prisoners, quite a change for someone who rendezvoused with the male population at the Lonoke Jail while her husband was in charge there.

Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Lona McCas-tlain put her reputation on the line when she filed the complex case against Jay Campbell and his co-conspirators, essentially arguing that the former police chief used his badge to pervert justice in Lonoke and enriched himself with jewelry and other valuables to support his drug habit as well as his wife’s.

There was much more to this case, but the jury accepted virtually all the charges she filed against the Campbells. McCastlain and her deputy, Stewart Clearley, went through the charges point by point, reminding the jury in their closing arguments that the Campbells set themselves up as a lawless couple who thought they could violate the law and rules of decency and do as they pleased. The jury has now told the couple that there’s a high price to pay when you think you’re above the law. The stiff sentences reflect the jury’s disgust with the couple’s behavior.

It was an astonishing case that stunned Lonoke and received national media attention, from the National Enquirer to CNN, and involved more than just the Campbells, who were charged with running a continuous criminal enterprise while he was in charge of law enforcement in Lonoke. A couple of bail bondsmen have also been indicted and the fallout tarnished the reputation of former Lonoke Mayor Thomas Privett, who was caught using state prisoners held at the city jail to do chores around his house.

Amazingly, Privett had hired Campbell as his police chief, despite a controversial past in law enforcement, with rumors of drugs, sex and even murder dogging him wherever he went. Why Privett hired Campbell in the first place remains a mystery. Another mystery is why Campbell’s attorney put him on the witness stand. A universal courtroom rule is that you don’t let your client testify if you have a shaky defense.

The Campbells running the Lonoke Jail was like putting the lunatics in charge of the insane asylum, but actually a lot worse: A criminal element took over Lonoke’s law-enforcement as if it existed for their private pleasure and gain until Prosecutor McCastlain put her case together against a band of outlaws and convinced the jury that the Campbells must pay for their criminal activities.

The people of Lonoke can now resume their normal lives, their long nightmare having finally ended.
Thanks to Lona McCastlain, she has cleaned the place up. She has won a major corruption case and has proven herself once again a tough prosecutor.

SPORTS>>Bears split with Hurricane

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Cold and wet conditions were apparently not conducive to good play by the Sylvan Hills Bears Tuesday evening in Jonesboro. The Bears salvaged a split with the Hurricane with a 6-1 win in the nightcap after blowing a 3-0 lead late in game one.
The split leaves Sylvan Hills 7-2 in the 6A-East and a half-game behind league-leading Searcy, who is 8-2 after pulling off an impressive sweep of Marion.

“We got great pitching but we didn’t play well in one inning and it cost us,” Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton said of game one.

The Bears took the lead in the second inning when junior Hunter Miller hit a two-run home run. They added to that lead in the top of the very next inning on an RBI base hit by Garrett Eller that drove in Miller.

No one scored in the fourth and Jonesboro made it 3-1 with a run in the bottom of the fifth. The sixth inning was the costly one. After starting pitcher Ross Bogard got the leadoff hitter out, an error left a runner safe at second and a base hit scoredthe runner to make it 3-2. Tipton pulled Bogard at that point for Blaine Sims. Sims struck out the next batter for out number two. An error and a hit batter followed to load the bases, and a triple cleared them and gave Jonesboro the lead.
“We had two mistakes and gave up five unearned runs because of it,” Tipton said. “I thought Bogard did a good job for us on the mound.”

Bogard gets a no-decision and Sims took the loss on the mound. Sims got the save in game two after another fine performance on the mound by starting pitcher Blake Evans. Evans gave up just four hits and no earned runs in the Bears’ 6-1 win.

Senior Taylor Roark was the offensive star of game two. He gave Sylvan Hills the lead in the first inning, scoring on a passed ball a few pitches after his base hit. Miller made it 2-0 on a sacrifice grounder by Mark Turpin. Roark got an RBI double in the second inning and a two-run home run in the fifth that made it 5-1. Shod Neely scored the final run of the game in the fifth inningt off a sac fly by T.C. Squires. The Bears moved to ?? overall and will play a non-conference game at Springdale on Saturday. Next Tuesday Sylvan Hills will get back league play against Jacksonville.

The Red Devils were swept Tuesday by West Memphis. The other league matchup saw Mountain Home take two from Forrest City. After Searcy and Sylvan Hills, Jonesboro is in third place at 7-3, Marion is 6-4, Mountain Home.

SPORTS>>Five Red Devils move on

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

A grand total of five Jacksonville athletes signed scholarship offers Thursday morning and will continue their sports careers in college. Three basketball players, Kajuan Watson, Gerron Riddles and Tarneshia Scott, and two softball players, Ellen Burr and Rochelle Holder, are moving on to the next level of sports competition.

Watson was Jacksonville’s leading scorer this season and was the team’s only three-year starter. He signed with Missouri State-West Plains Junior College, which he chose over Arkansas-Fort Smith among other schools that had shown some interest.

He took his visit to the school three weeks ago, but admitted that he didn’t make his final decision until very recently. “I didn’t really know until last night,” Watson said. “The schools were about the same. I just really liked the team and the staff at Missouri State. They made me feel like family.”

Watson was All-Conference for three years for Jacksonville and made the All-State team and All-State tournament team this season in leading the Red Devils to a state semifinal appearance. Most recently he was named the most valuable player in the annual Metro All-Star game which is held for the top senios in Pulaski County.

His teammate Gerron Riddles signed with Shorter College in North Little Rock. Riddles is a 6-foot-6 post player that has been one of the most improved players on the team, according to his basketball coach Vic Joyner. “G (Riddles) has worked hard and that’s why he got this offer,” Joyner said. “We talked about what he had to do at the beginning of the year to get better and he went out and did it.”

Riddles made no secret about why he chose Shorter.

“Basically because that was my only offer,” Riddles said. “I’m just happy to make it to the next level. I know I’ve got two more years now on my basketball card. Hopefully I can make the most of it, keep getting better and move up into a four-year school.”

Scott signed with Division III Texas State-Dallas on an academic scholarship. She carries a 3.8 accumulative grade-point average and chose TSD over UT-Arlington and Texas State-San Marcos, also D-III colleges.

Other small colleges were interested in Scott, who led the team in scoring the past three years and averaged a double-double the past two, but she only looked at Texas.

“I just knew I didn’t want to go to school in Arkansas,” Scott said. “I have some family in Texas and I just wanted to get out on my own.”

Burr also signed an academic scholarship with Hendrix College in Conway. She has been a key player for the Lady Red Devil fastpitch team since her freshman year when she was the designated hitter. She is a four-year letterman and has made All-Conference twice. Burr carries a 3.525 GPA and says she doesn’t care what position she ends up playing in college.

“I’ve played a lot of positions for Jacksonville and we really haven’t talked about that yet,”Burr said. “I just love softball and want to keep playing.”

Holder is headed to LeMoyne-Owen College, an NAIA Division I school in Memphis, to play two sports. She believes she will likely be a defensive specialist in volleyball and an outfielder on the softball team.

“I really love both sports so when they said I could play both I was really excited,” Holder said. “Plus they gave me a full ride so that was awesome. It was a really easy decision.”

Thursday’s quintet of Red Devils makes eight players from the school to sign scholarships this year. Football players Norvel Gabriel, Daniel Hubbard and ?? signed scholarships earlier this year.

SPORTS>>Big eighth lifts Cabot to victory over MSM

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Mt. Saint Mary made a huge statement on Thursday by forcing conference-leading Cabot into extra-innings after a scoreless regulation, but the Belles would find freedom of speech bittersweet in the top of the eighth inning.

The Lady Panthers went through their entire lineup in the eighth, turning a once nail-biter into a 7-0 shutout win for Cabot at the Sherwood Sports Complex. MSM pitcher Taylor Morgan kept the Lady Panthers off the bases for the most part during regulation, but her fatigue started to show the moment Chelsea Conrade bunted home free runner Crystal Cox for the first Cabot run in the eighth. Morgan mishandled the ball badly, overthrowing first base to allow Cox home and for Conrade to make it around to third.

In all, the Lady Panthers racked up six hits in the eighth inning, and also utilized two Belles’ errors to keep the momentum going to remain unbeaten in 7A-Central play.

Lady Panthers coach Becky Steward was not only proud of how her team handled their first extra-innings affair of the season, but was also glad for them to have the experience to draw from later on, with the playoffs a few weeks away.

“We haven’t been put in that situation all year, and we needed to be put in that situation,” Steward said. “We needed to see how we respond to it.”

Sophomore Cherie’ Barfield had another solid night at the mound, taking the win with seven strikeouts and three hits allowed with no walks and one error. The error was a technicality of sorts, as a blast from Morgan in the bottom of the sixth ricocheted off Barfield’s glove hand and onto her leg, causing a moment of breath holding in the Cabot dugout. After a brief talk with Steward as she walked it off, Barfield shook off the incident and closed just as strong as she began. “It was my intention to take her out when I went out there,” Steward said. “But she said she was okay, so I have to trust her. She’s a fighter, that’s for sure.”

The same could not be said for the Belles Morgan. After allowing only two Cabot hits in regulation, Morgan started off the eighth with back-to-back errors, and then watched helplessly as the Lady Panthers rolled off four-straight singles, followed by a pair of doubles to take complete control of the contest.

After the RBI for Conrade to start out the eighth, Jamie Sterrenberg reached on a bunt when Morgan hesitated on the throw in an attempt to get Conrade out at third. Conrade made it back to third safely, putting runners at first and third with no outs. Rachel Glover followed that with a two-RBI shot into centerfield to score both runners, and she was advanced on a single from Jessica Lanier.

Ashton Seidl then got her first hit of the game to drive home Glover for a 4-0 lead, and two more would score on a perfectly-placed double by Becca Bakalekos along the left field line. Cox scored the first run, and bought in the final one with a double into center that brought in Bakalekos for the final run of the game.

Barfield ended her game the way she started it, with a strikeout on MSM lead-off Breanna Wilkerson.

Rachel Glover finished the game 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Bakalekos also went 2 for 4 with a pair of RBIs and a double. Rachael Lamb went 2 for 4. The Lady Panthers finished with 10 hits and one error.

Cabot’s record now stands at 17-6 overall and 9-0 in the 7A-Central Conference. They will play

EDITORIALS>>Gonzales must go

Alberto Gonzales will go to Capitol Hill next week to persuade a skeptical Congress and public and maybe even a dubious president that he deserves another chance — is this the eighth or the ninth? — to be an effective attorney general, but he has become sadly almost beside the point. When even Sen. Mark Pryor, who broke ranks with Democrats in 2005 to confirm Gonzales, demands his resignation, he has to despair about his prospects.

In the weeks since Gonzales gave his accounts of innocence in the firing of U. S. attorneys, most notably H. E. “Bud” Cummins III of the eastern district of Arkansas, much of his narrative has been proven disingenuous or simply a lie.

E-mails and testimony by a former aide to the attorney general show that the accounts given to Congress about why and how the administration installed political hit man Tim Griffin in the job of enforcing federal law in Arkansas were flatly untruthful. The White House and the Justice Department never had any intention of subjecting Griffin to the normal confirmation process.

They would string senators along until it was too late to replace Griffin, they confided in e-mails. They knew that Griffin’s weak legal background and involvement in voter-suppression activities in Florida would propel him into trouble with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sure enough, Griffin has been in the job at Little Rock four months, his name has not been submitted to the Senate, he says he will agree to be questioned, and the White House has not nominated another for the job.

But so much has transpired in two months that the transparent dishonesty and the ineptness of the attorney general and his deputies seem nearly irrelevant. He is barely more than a symptom of the problems.

Gonzales’ top assistants, summoned to testify before Congress about what they knew about the firings of eight district attorneys, have resigned, one after insisting that she would claim the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination if she were subpoenaed to talk about the role of the White House political office and counsel’s office in the firings.
Monica Goodling was a graduate of Rev. Pat Robertson’s law school, and her legal experience consisted of working in Karl Rove’s political shop at the White House under Tim Griffin.

As Gonzales’s assistant, she took the lead role at the Justice Department in getting Bud Cummins hired and replaced by Griffin. Her résumé was typical of the top echelon of the Justice Department.

The White House is refusing to let Rove and his top staff testify under oath. This week, the White House said relevant e-mails over the past two years had been destroyed, which seems to be a violation of federal record-keeping laws.
Twenty-two members of the White House staff, including Rove, have separate e-mail accounts provided by the Republican National Committee, and they do some official government business on party e-mail addresses (ending in gwb.43.com) to avoid public scrutiny.

The White House conceded this week that Rove’s staff might have illegally used the party account for government business.
Quietly, the gwb.43.com account was figuring in another developing scandal. According to documents uncovered by the House Government Oversight Committee, a Rove aide used the account to circulate a document to some federal agencies identifying Democratic members of Congress who were vulnerable to defeat next year and discussing strategies to beat them.

“Please do not e-mail this out or let people see it,” the e-mail read. “It is a close hold, and we’re not supposed to be e-mailing it round.”

In January, Rove’s top deputy did a workshop for top employees at the General Services Administration, the big federal agency that supplies products, transportation, office space and communications for the federal bureaucracy all across the country.

He used slides outlining the Republican strategy for defeating Democratic congressmen and protecting Republicans in the 20 congressional districts that the party thought were most vulnerable next year. He also outlined the “2008 Battle for the Senate,” which targeted for defeat Pryor, Arkansas’s junior senator.

President Bush’s new appointee as head of the General Services Administration, Lurita Alexis Doan, said employees should come up with ways to use government funds and services to defeat Democrats and elect Republicans, including the selective awarding of government contracts in the districts. Testifying this month before a House committee, Doan said she could not remember what she said at the meeting. Others did.

Last fall, a book by former Arkansas Gazette reporter Tom Hamburger, now with the Los Angeles Times, recounted how Rove’s office routinely conducted such political forums in federal agencies in the year before the 2006 congressional elections and how the taxpayers’ money was employed for those ends.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees — political appointees as well as civil service workers — from engaging in election activity on official time or using government offices or equipment. But it is a safe bet that the Justice Department will not be pursuing the violations.

Law enforcement and impartial justice have different meanings now.

OBITUARIES >> 4-14-07

Dorothy Flory

Dorothy Flory, 89, of Lonoke and a resident of Chambers Nursing Home in Carlisle for the past 13 months, passed away at St. Vincents Hospital in North Little Rock early April 12. She was the only child of the late Andrew H. and Ludie Ford Glover.

She was a member of Lonoke First United Methodist Church. Also preceding her in death was her husband, Homer Earl Flory. Survivors are children, John Flory and wife Carolyn of Vilonia and Judy Miller and husband Lionel of Bastrop, La.; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services will be at Boyd Funeral Home in Lonoke at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 14 with Rev. Steve Brizzi officiating. Burial will follow in Glover Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Lonoke First United Methodist Church or favorite charity.


Eldon Bryant

V. Eldon Bryant, 76, of Ward passed away April 12. He was a member of Cabot Masonic Lodge and a long-time ham radio operator. He was preceded in death by his wife, Helen Bryant.

He is survived by two daughters, Vel’ Donna R. Troup of Ward and Sharon E. Bryant of North Little Rock; two sons, Jimmie E. Bryant of Jacksonville and John W. Bryant of England; 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 19 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe. Burial will be in Prescott, Ariz., at a later date.

Donations may be made to St. Jude’s Children Hospital or American Cancer Society. To all his ham buddies, he wishes to say “73s”.


Floyd Taylor

Floyd Bert Taylor, Jr. 74, died April 10.

He was a Christian, an aircraft inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration and a 40-year Mason. He is survived by his wife, Mary Hill Taylor of Lonoke; two daughters, Nina Peterson of Crowley, Texas, and Judy Littleton of Pocahontas; a son, Michael Warren of Sherwood; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Graveside services were April 13 at Hestir Cemetery. Funeral arrangements were by Boyd Funeral Home in Lonoke.


Addie Waller

Addie Corinne Waller, 82, of Austin died April 7. She was born Nov. 10, 1924, at Austin.

She was retired from Redmond Motors where she operated a restaurant, and was a long-time store proprietor. She was a member of Country Chapel Church in Sylvania. She was preceded in death by her husband, Carl F. Waller; brother, H. M. Lemay; and two sisters, Audrey Travis and Elva Kenney.

She is survived by her son, Joe Waller and wife Susan of Hickory Plains; two grandchildren, Brandi Reynolds of Greenbrier and Sara Waller of Hickory Plains; and one brother, Isaac Wilson of Cabot.Graveside service was April 9 at Sylvania Cemetery. Funeral arrangements were by Westbrook Funeral Home at Beebe.


Jerry Smith

Jerry L. Smith, 65, of McRae went to be with Jesus on Easter Sunday, April 8.

He was a retired striping department superintendent from the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department. He was a member of McRae First Baptist Church. Jerry loved to hunt with his beagles.

He was preceded in death by his parents, G. T. and Emily Fair Ward Smith and two sisters, Johnnie Cutaia and Frankie Smith.
Jerry is survived by his wife, Lana Smith of McRae; two sons, Michael and wife Pamela Smith of West Memphis and Tommy and wife Nicole Smith of McRae; one sister, Billie Smith of Pasadena, Texas; three grandchildren, Jaxon, Shayleigh and Aleigha Smith; one cherished nephew, Bobby Smith of McRae, and many friends and loved ones. Funeral was April 10 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe with burial in Lebanon Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Lebanon Cemetery, care of First Security Bank in McRae.

TOP STORY >>Trial going to jury Monday

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

Lonoke County Prosecutor Lona McCastlain wrapped up closing arguments in the corruption, drug and theft trial of former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell and his wife Kelly Friday evening, showing jurors an exterior picture of the couple’s idyllic, manicured, middleclass home, hiding a turbulent, disheveled interior.

She called the house a metaphor for the former chief—a perfect picture on the outside and really messed up inside.
The jurors, in what the judge said was the longest criminal trial in state history, sat stoically through 90 minutes of instructions from Special Circuit Judge John Cole, followed by about seven hours of closing arguments. They will return at 9 a.m. Monday—the beginning of the trial’s eighth week—for an explanation of verdict forms and to begin deliberations, Cole said.

Campbell, a large friendly man, usually quick to smile, sat intently with a furrowed brow at the defense table, leaning in from time to time to talk with Patrick Benca, his lawyer.

Kelly Campbell, his codefendant, patted her lawyer Mark Hampton on the back following his closing argument. Both Campbells are codefendants on dozens of theft, burglary and prescription narcotic possession charges as well as the overarching charge of participating in an ongoing criminal enterprise and other crimes.

Jay Campbell is charged with running the enterprise, while his wife and bail bondsman Bobby Junior Cox are charged with participating. The linchpin of the criminal enterprise charge was the conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine charge against Campbell, Cox and fellow bail bondsman Larry Norwood.

In her closing, McCastlain led the jury through the timeline of that conspiracy. The three men are alleged to have had Randy Adams cook some meth, sell it to Roger Light in September, 2004, arrest Light and make him reveal the whereabouts of his life-long friend Gene Beasley. Beasley skipped on a $150,000 bond and the bail bondsmen needed to get him or forfeit the money.

Deputy Prosecutor Stuart Cearley closed first, saying that the American legal system has its roots in the Magna Carta, where “no person, not even the king, is above the law.”

“Jay set himself up as king of Lonoke,” said Cearley, calling it the police chief’s fiefdom. “There were a lot of common crimes facilitated by the use of a badge,” Cearley added.

Then, witness-by-witness, crime-by-crime, Cearley reminded jurors with projected photographs and bullet points of the circumstances and testimony spread across nearly two months.

He said Campbell pulled people off the street, making deals, threatening arrest or prison if they didn’t cooperate. Dexter Washington, just out of prison, said he was intimidated into selling crack cocaine for the chief and paying him $2,000.
He’s violated the trust that goes with the office, Cearley said.

He said the Campbells stole from friends, neighbors and church friends who preferred letting the matter go to confronting them or else feeling it futile to file a police report in Lonoke. That was until Charlotte Hill threatened to go to the State Police, setting off a flurry of activity to recover from a pawn shop about $10,000 worth of jewelry they allegedly stole from her.
In his closing argument, Benca told the jury his interpretation of the continuing criminal enterprise law, and why the crimes of the Campbells and Cox didn’t fit that definition.

Criminal enterprise statutes are for gangs and organized crime, he said. He said a criminal enterprise requires at least two felonies and that each of those must have three members.

Cole ruled even before jury selection that the offenses could be spread among the three members or participants.
Benca reminded jurors that to find the Campbells guilty, they must find them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and that coincidence, bad policy, things Jay Campbell should have known, things that were highly suspicious, a preponderance or clear and convincing did not meet that standard. “We are talking about someone’s life,” he said.

He suggested that Lonoke Police Det. David Huggs, who testified for the prosecution and was evidence custodian, would himself be a good candidate for having taken drugs found missing from the evidence locker.

He said that drug dealer Ryan Childress, from whom Campbell is alleged to have stolen $15,000, didn’t mention the money through interviews with several investigators and that no officer was on record as ever having seen that money. Charge by charge, Benca told jurors by Campbell was not guilty, and why. Of the jewelry stolen from the Hills, Benca suggested that Campbell discovered that his brother—now dead—had stolen it and that he wanted to get it back so he wouldn’t have to arrest his brother.

Shane Scott, who testified against both Campbells “goes to bed thinking how he can manipulate and use people,” Benca said. He suggested that Scott had a relationship with Kelly Campbell mostly to get leverage on her husband.

Kelly Campbell’s lawyer Mark Hampton reminded the jurors that all charges that she had sex with inmates had been dropped.
“You have to determine whether Mrs. McCastlain has given you all the lumber, pieces, bolts to put together a mega crime case,” he said, comparing it to a backyard playground he tried to build for his children. He called inmate Scott, the chief witness against his client, a con man and a liar and urged jurors not to believe his testimony that she provided contraband in the form of alcohol, marijuana and a cell phone to him.

TOP STORY >>First mayoral vote goes awry

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

The Sherwood City Council voted Bill Harmon as interim mayor Tuesday night, but then found out the vote wasn’t valid and had to revote Wednesday afternoon. Former Mayor Bill Harmon, 80, still got the job.

The council called a special meeting Tuesday night to decide on a temporary replacement for Mayor Danny Stedman who resigned April 5, citing health reasons.

Without a mayor to chair the council, the aldermen decided to have their senior member, Alderman Becki Vassar chair the meeting. The council then went into executive session to discuss the matter. Fifteen minutes later, the council was back and Alderman Ken Rankin nominated Harmon. The council then voted, but Alderman David Henry was out of town, Alderman Charlie Harmon abstained since Harmon is his father, and Vassar, as chair, can only vote if there is a tie. Everyone else voted for Harmon, a 5-0 vote.

Municipal Judge Butch Hale then swore in Harmon as the interim mayor and everyone went home.

Later it was discovered that, in this case, the council needs two-thirds –or six votes—to pass the ordinance. With just five votes, Harmon was not officially the mayor. The council met again Wednesday afternoon and this time let Alderman Charlie Harmon chair the meeting which allowed Vassar to cast the sixth and decisive vote, making Harmon the mayor for sure—or at least until July 10, the date of the special election to elect a new mayor.

At Tuesday’s meeting, City Attorney Steve Cobb told the council and the hundred-plus residents attending the meeting that state law required the council to pick an interim mayor and set a date to elect a new mayor.

He said because Stedman served less than six month of his four-year term, an interim mayor could not be appointed for the entire length of the term. He said city residents would have to elect a new mayor.

The council set July 10 as the date and residents planning to run for mayor could start filing as a candidate on Friday. The last day to file for candidacy will be noon, May 2. As of Friday afternoon the only one to officially file was City Clerk Virginia Hillman.

Harmon, who was Sherwood’s mayor from 1992 through 2006, didn’t run in the last election, citing that it was time to retire. In accepting the interim post Tuesday, Harmon said he had been retired “long enough” and was ready to get back to work for the city.

Harmon also said that he planned to run in the special election. Stedman, 58, announced his immediate resignation in an April 5 letter to the council.

“With the strong recommendation of my doctor, the demands of my wife, family and close friends, I resign from the position of mayor,” Stedman’s letter stated.

Stedman butted heads in February over a department head hiring and was soundly chastised by the council. He’s also been working hard with council members and others to determine what options the city has in the pending sale of the North Hills Country Club for residential development.

Shortly after a meeting over the golf course issue March 28, Stedman was rushed to the hospital with chest pains, missing the council meeting that night. He was hospitalized over night for test and observation. Doctors said he did not suffer a heart attack.

“I deeply appreciate my friends and supporters,” the mayor said in his resignation letter, “for their steadfast backing, however; in the final analysis, my health, the health off my wife, a two time cancer survivor, must be my number one priority.”

This isn’t the first time in Sherwood’s history that the city has had an interim mayor. When longtime Mayor Jack Evans died in office in 1991, the council appointed the city’s human resource director Brent Chambers to the post and set a date for a special election. Then-alderman Bill Harmon won that special election.

TOP STORY >>Gas leaping to $3 mark nationwide

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Federal energy officials are predicting gasoline prices to hit $3 a gallon nationally by summer. Five states are already averaging more than $3 for a gallon of unleaded and Arkansas is moving closer to that mark.

As of Friday, the average price nationally for a gallon of unleaded was $2.82, and in Arkansas it was $2.71—up about 30 cents from about a month ago.

Premium gasoline in Arkansas is selling for an average of $3.04 per gallon.

Mike Right, a spokesman for the American Automobile Association which daily surveys about 80,000 gas stations nationwide, said the rise is mostly based on demand. “We are using about three percent more gasoline than we did a year ago,” he said. At the same time inventories are low because many refineries are down for maintenance or switching over from winter blends to summer blends.

“The price will level off and start to drop once the supplies are built up and the demand goes down,” he said.
In the local area, most clerks when asked the cost of gasoline, prefaced their answers with “right now...”

The most quoted, and highest, price was $2.79 for a gallon of unleaded. The cheapest price Friday was at the Cabot Texaco on south Highway 367 at $2.65 a gallon. “We are going through three truckloads a day,” the clerk said.

The average in Jacksonville on Friday was $2.76, about six cents above the state average. Sherwood and Beebe were almost at $2.78 a gallon, and Cabot was $2.73.

Around the state, Fort Smith is the cheapest area, coming in at $2.69 per gallon of unleaded gasoline. The Little Rock-North Little Rock area is averaging $2.71, Pine Bluff is at $2.73, and Texarkana and northwest Arkansas are at $2.74.

The five states already averaging more than $3 a gallon for unleaded are led by California at $3.28, Washington at $3.05, Nevada at $3.03, Hawaii at $3.04 and Oregon at $3.02.

For the local information, 11 stations were surveyed in Jacksonville, nine each in Cabot and Sherwood and four in Beebe.

TOP STORY >>Housing Authority may lose $140,000

By PEG KENYON
Leader staff writer

Department of Housing and Urban Development officials in-formed the Jacksonville Housing Authority Friday that it would lose its 2008 capital funds grant money. According to Barbara Boyd, a JHA employee, the loss is expected to be about $140,000.
At Thursday’s meeting of the JHA Board of Directors, there was still some hope the penalty could be avoided because of how quickly the board had complied with federal regulators’ requests before the date set for completion.

“We’re 79 percent complete,” Phil Nix, the new executive director, told the board of directors at Thursday’s meeting. The board of directors is also new, comprised of members appointed less than a year ago after federal regulators discovered mismanagement of the housing authority’s funds and poor record-keeping.

Working with his staff to restore the JHA’s good standing with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Nix has continued to complete tasks ahead of schedule to bring Jacksonville’s housing authority in compliance with federal regulations listed in a memorandum of agreement.

The tasks include establishing a contracting file system, employee training, promoting active-resident organizations, meeting regularly with resident leadership and dealing with vacant units during specific dates throughout this year.
Neither Nix nor any of the current JHA board members were in charge last summer when a HUD review uncovered lack of documentation, inadequate employee training and no-bid contracts for expenditures of more than $25,000 jeopardizing thousands of dollars in federal funding for the organization.

JHA oversees the day-to-day operation of the Max Howell Place apartment complex and disbursements of rent vouchers to low-income families and individuals. Last summer, the federal agency asked for contracts and work orders for more than $132,000 spent by the housing authority. HUD officials wanted to scrutinize all contracts and purchase orders and asked that they be pulled and made available for June 28

Along with a less-than-flattering review of the way the JHA was run, longtime executive director Virginia Simmons submitted her resignation leading to the resignation of the four remaining JHA board members. The new board was elated that Nix had completed 79 percent of the agreement with HUD between January and now. “We’ve been pedaling fast,” said Marilyn Canon, one of the new JHA board members.

Before Friday, HUD officials had not pinpointed how much funding, if any, the JHA could lose because of mismanagement during the past few years. Boyd said the penalty was levied because the former executive director was “late in obligating capital funds money.”

Nix, the new JHA executive director, and Jim Durham, the new board chairman, are cooperating with HUD officials to rectify deficiencies and avoid being penalized by federal regulators. Durham had said previously the group hoped all penalties will be waived.

During Thursday’s meeting, JHA board members expressed the need to mitigate any possible penalty by continuing complete the required tasks in a quick and efficient manner.

Durham said he was concerned that a monetary penalty would penalize future tenants of Jacksonville’s public housing.
In other business:

Following an executive session, JHA board members passed Resolution 07-20. It dealt with a new organizational chart and salary schedule for JHA employees. Four employees’ salaries will be decreased beginning with the first pay period of the new fiscal year this July.

Initially, the proposed resolution read that the salary cut would begin April 27, 2007. After adjourning the JHA board meeting, Durham told The Leader that the current position of assistant executive director would be referred to as office manager and a $4,000-gross pay cut would be imposed starting this fiscal year in July. The past board’s decision to give a salary increase and to participate in a housing authority retirement plan caused “deficit spending,” according to Durham.

To cover the costs, JHA was tapping into its reserves, Durham explained. The retirement plan will stay intact because it had been covered by “one lump sum,” he said.

Durham said he hopes that time will allow those employees affected by the pay cuts to find their best alternative choices. “We care about our employees,” Durham said.

Nix advised board members that Section 8 housing vouchers may face a funding cut this year and 167 applicants are on the waiting list as of now. At this time, JHA oversees 314 housing vouchers. “I have withheld issuing any more housing vouchers,” Nix said.

The 2007 proposed budget for JHA was also discussed. It will continue JHA’s handicap program to make accessibility easier for tenants of the Max Howell Place apartment complex in Jacksonville as well as demolishing two of the 100 units to construct whatever the board decides would be most beneficial for tenants.

One of those two units was a site of a methamphetamine lab several years ago which made the two units under the same roof uninhabitable.

It was also mentioned that some tenants had recommended additional lighting for the Max Howell Place apartment complex playground area.

The JHA’s future plan may include projects such as sidewalks as well as cabinet and appliance replacements. The local housing authority has already purchased two commercial lawnmowers costing more than $11,000.

Board members also approved Resolution 07-22, which addresses excess property. The resolution reads, “…it is determined that the JHA needs to write off from the inventory and dispose of the following equipment…” That equipment included four lawnmowers, a power washer, two printers, monitors, four air conditioners, an answering machine, a fax machine and a typewriter. Nix deemed those items mentioned in the resolution as “surplus” and once disposed of, those items will not be replaced.

The JHA Board approved a revised resident maintenance charges list for the Max Howell Place apartment complex. For example, it will cost a resident $6 to replace a door or mailbox key while replacing a toilet will cost $44. To unstop a drain caused by a resident, there will be a charge of $12 per hour. And to unlock an entry door after hours, it will cost a resident $25.

Board members also approved Resolution 07-23, which revises Section 8 Administrative Plan. The plan will allow Section 8 housing vouching recipients who under report their incomes a chance to pay off the amount owed to the JHA. An initial 25 percent of the amount must be paid and then the remaining 75 percent is divided into 12 equal payments.

TOP STORY >>Tax might help bring in tourists

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Would you pay a 2-percent hamburger tax to help fund the military museum, the Civil War battlefield and the parks and recreation department?

The Jacksonville Advertising and Promotion Commission will take up that issue at its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at city hall.

The tax is a suggestion that came out of a $12,000 tourism study funded by the commission and completed last year. The tax, which would bypass the vote of the citizens, will generate about $500,000 with 60 percent of the new money being split between the Jacksonville Museum of History, Reed’s Bridge Civil War Battlefield and the city’s parks and recreation department.

The Chamber of Commerce tourism committee is also a proponent of the tax. If the commission votes to approve the tax, it could go before the city council in early May. The council, without the vote of residents, can pass the tax.

At the commission’s March meeting, Mike Wilson, chairman of the chamber’s tourism committee, said the two-percent tax would bring in almost $550,000 annually, coupled with the two-cent hotel tax already being collected (about $80,000 annually), the commission would have $629,000 to work with.

Sherwood, which has no hotel tax, does have a hamburger tax which brings in $451,400 annually to the city’s advertising and promotion commission.

Wilson’s committee suggests the commission keep about $100,000 for discretionary spending, Reed’s Bridge Civil War Battlefield, the military history museum and the city’s parks and recreation department would each get $109,000, and the newly created Keep Jacksonville Beautiful group would get $94,000.

About $61,000 would be spent by the chamber, the commission and the council on printed advertising, promotion and marketing. Other expenditures for the money include $31,400 in administrative costs, and $5,000 each to the Patriotic Spectacular and the Wingding Festival. Alderman Bob Stroud, a longtime proponent of a hamburger tax, had his doubts.
“When most people go out to eat, they don’t think about the tax, so that doesn’t bother me. But this looks like we are divvying up a slush fund,” he said.

“What do I tell the citizens,” Stroud said. “I do want to improve our city’s tourism, but what are we going to give the citizens for their money?” Stroud asked.

Wilson responded, “It will be a hard sell.”The tourism study, prepared by Curt Cottle Consulting and Thomason Associates, pointed out that to bring in tourists the city needed an identifiable tourism district and to generate more money to promote tourism to the area.

The study said that since Jacksonville does not have a true downtown and central or tourist district, like Little Rock did with the River Market, needs to be created.

According to the study, “The area around the military museum would seem to be the most logical place to anchor one end and perhaps the new library/park area on the other. The divided road (Main Street) is an interesting feature and one that already signals to the out-of-towner something different than everywhere else in town.”

The consultants also suggested building a new conference center and sprucing up the city through “the right mix of ordinances and aesthetics.”

The city’s current 56,000-square foot conference center, a part of the city’s 11-year-old community center just south of city hall, had to turn away nearly 400 events in 2005 because it was already booked, turning down about $94,000 in additional revenue.

“The current numbers would suggest ample capacity for a new conference space,” the study said. Restaurant selection seems to be a hinder in attracting tourist, according to the study.

It says the city has 52 places to eat, but most are chains and fast food facilities. “One website only lists four locally operated facilities,” the consultant said.

The consultants said that “for the most part, rural tourism is dependent on small town charm and sensibilities, with business communities characterized by numerous owner-occupied small businesses.”

TOP STORY >>School officials ease concerns

By SHERRY HALL
Leader staff writer

Parents of sixth-graders who attend Cabot Middle School North had some of their fears allayed Monday night in an informal meeting with school officials held at the school’s cafeteria.

Some parents reported hearing rumors and there has been a lot of speculation about what will go on next year with their students (who will go to the seventh grade) as well as eighth- and ninth-graders who attended Cabot Junior High North, the eight-year-old building which burned to the ground last August. Trailers have been used for school rooms since then.

A possible solution to what has been a trying year since the school burned was outlined for parents who attended the meeting. Superintendent Frank Holman told parents Monday’s meeting was called to “go over the latest plan the district has and other things being considered.”

Before the meeting began parents could be heard talking among themselves about what they thought about the rumors their kids would be attending the high school next school year.

“My son just came home one day and said, ‘Mom, I am going to be going to high school next year,’” one mother said.
“I have heard that too, but I just don’t understand why they just don’t leave them here in the middle school,” another said. “I just don’t think I am going to like this at all. I just don’t think it is good to be mixing our young kids with these older ones.”
“You all have been hearing a lot of rumors but we want to give you facts today,” Holman began. “First I want you to know that the district is going to rezone and there will be an eighth elementary school. We would have already called a meeting, we actually had one scheduled for March 5 but with all the battling with the insurance company (over the Junior High North settlement) and the state we had to cancel because we still didn’t know what we were going to be able to do.”

Negotiations with Great American Insurance Company of Ohio ended after eight months with a settlement of $10 million and the state agreed to match the district 60 percent of the remaining cost to rebuild with a cap at $5.2 million. That leaves the district with approximately $3 million as their share to build the new school, which officials say will cost anywhere between $14 to $18.5 million.

Holman said that with the finalization of the insurance and state settlements the district is ready to move forward with its goals.

“One of our goals has been to eliminate as many portable buildings as we can,” he said. “We want to see students in permanent buildings in case of bad weather. We have some permanent facilities to utilize and we think it will work out for everyone.”

Of the more than 30 trailers being used by the district now, the district proposes doing away with all but 15 and moving them to the high school campus. This is where all seventh through ninth graders, who would have been going to the junior high, will attend school until the new junior high is completed, “allowing students and faculty the better of both worlds,” according to officials.

Dr. Tony Thurman, principal at Cabot High School, says the very best case would be for the new school to already be built and for students to be moved in but that just isn’t the case yet.

“Since it looks like we are all going to be together we need to understand the importance of working together and that is another reason for being here tonight,” Thurman said. “It is going to be 18-24 months before the new building can be constructed so we want to make the best of what we have for students and faculty.” One of the faculty’s big concerns is storms. This is also a concern for parents who want their children to be safe in case of tornados or inclement weather. Changing classes is another concern.

“There are a lot of things to consider here and that is what we have been looking at,” Thurman said. “A lot of you say ‘why can we not just keep the village?’ With that the students have no cafeteria. They eat in bleachers and they are using a portable for a bathroom facility and the village is in a hole. It is just a muddy mess and not the best for our students.”
With new traffic going to be coming in an out of the area to start building the new school, it will also be difficult for parents dropping children off for school, according to Thurman.

Some of the parents wondered why the seventh graders couldn’t just stay at the middle school for the year. But with moving up to seventh grade comes an entire different schedule with students changing classes seven times a day and that is not the structure at the middle school.

“We also have 32 teachers who teach the seventh and eighth graders and these teachers cannot make it from campus to campus in time for each class each day, “ Thurman said. “We know this is going to be difficult at first but we are going to reinforce to students where they need to be at all times and we will always have faculty out to monitor students while on campus.”

Thurman stressed to parents that while he could not promise them their children would never come in contact with a senior high student, he could promise that there would be very limited amount of contact. “We have a plan in place but everyone will need to work with us,” Thurman said.

The districts plan seems to cover every aspect from having separate lunch times where junior high students will eat separately from high school students to dismissing junior high kids five minutes early after school to keep them from having interaction with senior high students.

Thurman also discussed the layout of the plan explaining to parents where the 15 portable buildings will sit on the high school campus, which is strategically placed behind the gym building and beside the S building where students will have science class.

“The students will stay in this area, pretty much segregated from senior high students,” Thurman said. “The senior high students have their own ‘hang out’ place and the faculty will be on site to keep close monitoring.”

Thurman said although the faculty will be reinforcing to students where they should be and the rules of the school, parents also need to do so at home.

“It will take a joint effort from all of us to make it work, but we can do it,” he said. More public meetings have been set for later this month.

TOP STORY >>Design plans released

By HEATHER HARTSELL
Leader staff writer

An option to keep seventh-graders at Cabot Middle School North rather than at the high school campus during the rebuilding of Junior High North was presented Thursday afternoon by CMSN principal Renee Calhoun.
Calhoun’s option called for no more than five portable buildings to help house band, industrial technology, athletics, and computer lab for the 385 students that would call CMSN home for two years while the district rebuilds the burned down junior high.

Five more portables would be needed at the high school, replacing the old ones already there; eighth- and ninth-graders would still attend classes at the high school in this option.

School board president David Hipp asked Calhoun to come up with this second option after the April 9 meeting with parents in which many didn’t like the thought of seventh-graders attending school at Cabot High School, even though the seventh- through ninth-graders would be on a separate part of the campus with little or no interaction with high schoolers.

The Cabot School District is currently paying $40,000 a month to rent the 30 portable buildings that comprise “the village” of CJHN. Calhoun’s option would save the district about $25,000 a month in rent.

That money would come in handy for the district’s share of rebuilding CJHN, an estimated $3 million for the 134,486-square-foot structure that will be rebuilt on the hill.

The state agreed on April 4 to pay no more than $5.2 million for the new building that is projected to cost $18.5 million.
The $10 million the school district received from their insurance company, Great American Insurance Company of Ohio, will also go to construction costs.

Assistant Superintendent Jim Dalton revealed the first blueprints for the new two-story structure on Thursday.

In a close resemblance to the high school design, the new CJHN will have two wings branching off the main entrance and add about 28,400 square feet to the school. Both the band area and the cafeteria will be located at the ends of the wings, with an outside commons area between the two.

The agriculture building, that remained intact after the Aug. 8 fire that destroyed the main part of the school, will be located to the right of the new main building; the multi-purpose activity building will be located to the left of the new construction.
The new CJHN will meet all new building codes and standards, will have a sprinkler system, 850-square-foot classrooms, six science labs, a 9,000-square-foot cafeteria, and meet the indoor air quality standards.

MSN Option

In Calhoun’s option, seventh-graders would occupy the majority of the left wing of her campus; fifth- and sixth-graders would be combined in the right wing with a few classrooms having to be in the left wing.

There would be three four-person teams of seventh-grade teachers that would teach the four core classes: English, math, science and social studies.

“Those four teachers would see the same students all day for the core classes,” Calhoun said. Additional seventh-grade teachers would teach elective classes.

Calhoun said she believes an additional 385 students would not add much traffic during school pickup, saying it currently takes between 11 and 13 minutes to have all 730 fifth and sixth-graders loaded in the afternoon with no traffic sitting on Hwy. 38.

Her option, she believes, would be better for seventh-graders because they would be in familiar territory and be in one building.

The eight and ninth-graders would still be placed on the high school campus, using the same spaces allotted in the option that places seventh- through ninth-grade at the high school.