By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
The Arkansas Board of Health met Friday morning and voted for an immediate ban on the sale and distribution of the synthetic marijuana commonly called K2. The ban became effective when the governor signed it shortly after it was approved by the board.
The ban was approved according to an emergency rule, which means it is only good for 120 days. However, the board also voted to begin a ban under the regular rule-making process, which could take over when the emergency ban ends. For approval under the regular rule-making process, the ban must go through a 30-day public-comment period and review by two legislative committees, the Public Health and Welfare Committee and the Rules and Regulations Committee, legislative sub-committees that represent both the state House and Senate. That process takes about 90 days.
Asked how a board overseeing a state agency can make law, Ed Barham, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Health, said the Health Department is authorized to protect the public health and the ban on synthetic marijuana is not so different from rules regulating, for example, septic tanks and vaccinations.
“We have pretty broad authority when it comes to protecting the public health,” Barham said.
In The Leader’s coverage area, Austin and Beebe had already banned K2 before the board of heath ban was approved. In Cabot, the city council’s fire and police committee voted this week to send an ordinance banning K2 to the full council.
Manufactured primarily in China and named for the mountain on the border of China and Pakistan that is second in height to Mt. Everest, K2 is one of several brands of synthetic pot that was included in the ban. The drug was developed during the 1990s by a team of researchers working under Dr. John Huffman, a researcher at Clemson University in South Carolina who was studying marijuana as a treatment for the nausea and loss of appetite associated with cancer drugs, Barham said. A synthetic version of the drug was needed because marijuana was illegal. It was tested on mice and never intended for humans, he said.
Barham said the Health Department banned it because its potentially harmful effects, especially to children, are not known. He added that some users have ended up in hospital emergency rooms.
Paul Halverson, doctor of public health, state health officer and director of the Arkansas Department of Health, said in a press release after the Friday morning meeting that the new regulation represents a partnership with the criminal-justice system for purposes of enforcement.
“This new law is not intended to place people into the criminal-justice system,” Halverson said. “This regulation is intended to educate the public about the dangers of this drug and illicit drug use, especially by minors. Enforcement responsibilities will fall primarily to local law enforcement and prosecutors.”
Violation of the new law will be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding one month, or both. Each day of violation shall constitute a separate offense. Every firm, person, or corporation who violates this rule may also be assessed a civil penalty by the board. The penalty shall not exceed $1,000 for each violation. Each day of a continuing violation may be deemed a separate violation for purposes of penalty assessments.
Dr. Joe Bates, deputy state health officer and chief science officer, said that the active ingredient in K2 does not show up on any standard drug screens in use today. “However, we have found a way to test urine samples from individuals who have used the substance that will indicate whether K2 has been used by someone or not,” Bates said. “Until now, we didn’t have a way to prove that.”
Friday, July 02, 2010
TOP STORY>>Airmen make drops at Pope
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. — There was more hard work for the four crews from the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base during the recent joint forcible-entry exercise with the Army.
This Leader reporter went along with a crew from LRAFB’s 53rd Airlift Squadron. The crew flying a C-130 E-model was part of an 18-plane formation of C-130s and C-17s carrying 1,000 Army paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., jumping out of the planes or dropping Humvees from the sky to the designated drop zone during the night all within 13 minutes.
Before each exercise, the flight crews would meet for pre-flight briefings. One briefing was held with the crews flying both C-130s and C-17s and the other was held separately for C-130s. Pilots, co-pilots and navigators learned the latest weather conditions, what position their plane was flying in the line-up and what they were carrying. Then the individual flight crews would head to smaller meeting rooms to discuss and study their flight routes and timing.
After the flights, the C-130 crews returned to Pope and held post-flight briefings. Crews discussed how the flights went and how to improve the next exercise.
The crew from the 53rd Airlift Squadron had 60 paratroopers bail out on both sides of the C-130 in less than 30 seconds.
The C-130 was loaded with two Humvees instead of transporting paratroopers. The planned heavy- equipment drop had a snafu when the stairs to the toilet fell down in the cargo area. A loadmaster noticed the problem and told the crew to cancel the drop for safety and to not risk damaging the plane when the Humvees were pulled out of the cargo ramp.
Work continued late into the night for the crew. After landing back at Pope to unload the Humvees on the ground, the C-130 was flown to Mackall Army Airfield, N.C., where a large heavy truck was loaded onto the plane.
The C-130 crew was worried about fuel usage. They were unable to shut down the engines because a compressor had broke.
They were not sure if they could be restarted.
The control tower finally allowed the plane to take off. The C-130 then flew for 15 minutes to a dirt landing strip near the drop zone. In the black of night, Maj. Lars Johnsen briefly touched the C-130’s wheels down for a second, before forcing the plane back into the air.
The C-130 circled around and made a second landing.
With the C-130’s engines running, the Army truck was unloaded and driven off the plane’s cargo ramp.
With a light fuel load and short runway, Johnsen revved the C-130’s engines high and sped down the dirt strip. The C-130 pushed the passengers hard back into their seats as it rose into the air and flew back to Pope.
THE FINAL DAY
On the last day of the joint exercise, this Leader reporter was going to experience a high-altitude drop of a pallet of materials weighing 1,140 pounds from a C-130 during an improved-container delivery system drop. This was a daytime flight instead of being in 18 plane formation of C-130s and C-17s at night earlier in the week.
The ride was with a new crew in a second C-130 E-model from LRAFB. The flight crew comprised of Capt. Lauren Johnican, aircraft commander with the 50th Airlift Squadron; Capt. Christopher Smith, co-pilot; Capt. Sanam Qadri, navigator; Staff Sgt. Joseph Langer, flight engineer; Senior Airman Robert Wilson, loadmaster, all members of the 61st Airlift Squadron, and Staff
Sgt. Tristan Smith and Airman 1st Class Patrick Thompson, both loadmasters with the 53rd Airlift Squadron.
Unfortunately an equipment malfunction occurred before the C-130’s engines were even started. A computer on the C-130s would not sync up with the dropsondes and make a connection. The dropsonde, resembling a lawn dart, is an instrument attached to a small parachute and is thrown by the loadmaster from the plane. The dropsonde measures wind velocity and wind direction as it travels to the ground.
The instrument relays the information to a computer on the C-130. The measurements tell the aircrew where to drop the cargo from the plane so the cargo reaches the drop zone.
After working on the problem for nearly two hours, the time for the scheduled drop had passed. The planned drop was cancelled. A K-loader cargo-transport vehicle was driven to the rear of the plane. The pallet was then rolled off the C-130 straight onto the vehicle.
If the drop exercise had occurred the C-130 would have made a first pass over the drop zone at 7,000 feet. A loadmaster would have tossed a dropsonde from the plane. When the C-130 made a second pass of the drop zone it would be flying at a lower height of 6,000 feet. The pilot flies at a seven degree angle to make the cargo deck have an incline. The cargo door and the cargo ramp are opened. Gravity pulls on the loaded pallet and it rolls out the back of the C-130.
OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THE WORLD
During the flight back to Jacksonville, Capt. Michael Kis-singer, a pilot with the 53rd Airlift Squadron, talked about why he joined the Air Force. Kissinger, who lives in Ward, is in his fifth year with the service. He is qualified to fly C-130 E-models and C-130 H3s.
He said as a 5-year-old, he knew he wanted to be in the military. In the eighth grade, he wanted to be in the Air Force.
“I wanted to see the world. My first year flying I went to seven different countries,” Kissinger said.
By his second year, he went to 15 countries. He has flown to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Chad, Romania, Germany, England, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Croatia.
Kissinger, originally from Kansas City, Mo., was home schooled through the eighth grade. He is the oldest of six siblings. He has two sisters and three brothers, but none are in the military. Kissinger’s parents were not in the service either.
Kissinger’s grandfather, Joseph Zollmann, was a pilot during the Vietnam War and flew C-123s. Kissinger’s uncle, Steve Zollmann, was a pilot and instructor at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, and flew C-144s.
He said he reason he joined the service was a combination of his grandfather talking about the Air Force and watching “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Kissinger took ROTC at University of Missouri at Colum-bia, Mo., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts.
He spoke about why he likes to fly.
Kissinger said, “There is certain sense of freedom being in the air. It’s fun to work with the crew, manipulate the controls and execute a mission.
“Night is a challenge because it is dark and adds another (element) to navigation and coordination. With day flying, you get to see everything. It is preferred,” he said.
He spoke about flying the C-130 E-models, explaining, “These planes are 1963 Vietnam-era. There is not of lot of
automation. It is a very hands-on platform.”
Kissinger and his wife, Amanda, have two children, a daughter, Shyann, 5, who finished pre-K at Ward Central Elementary, and a son, Thomas, 2.
Leader staff writer
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. — There was more hard work for the four crews from the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base during the recent joint forcible-entry exercise with the Army.
This Leader reporter went along with a crew from LRAFB’s 53rd Airlift Squadron. The crew flying a C-130 E-model was part of an 18-plane formation of C-130s and C-17s carrying 1,000 Army paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., jumping out of the planes or dropping Humvees from the sky to the designated drop zone during the night all within 13 minutes.
Before each exercise, the flight crews would meet for pre-flight briefings. One briefing was held with the crews flying both C-130s and C-17s and the other was held separately for C-130s. Pilots, co-pilots and navigators learned the latest weather conditions, what position their plane was flying in the line-up and what they were carrying. Then the individual flight crews would head to smaller meeting rooms to discuss and study their flight routes and timing.
After the flights, the C-130 crews returned to Pope and held post-flight briefings. Crews discussed how the flights went and how to improve the next exercise.
The crew from the 53rd Airlift Squadron had 60 paratroopers bail out on both sides of the C-130 in less than 30 seconds.
The C-130 was loaded with two Humvees instead of transporting paratroopers. The planned heavy- equipment drop had a snafu when the stairs to the toilet fell down in the cargo area. A loadmaster noticed the problem and told the crew to cancel the drop for safety and to not risk damaging the plane when the Humvees were pulled out of the cargo ramp.
Work continued late into the night for the crew. After landing back at Pope to unload the Humvees on the ground, the C-130 was flown to Mackall Army Airfield, N.C., where a large heavy truck was loaded onto the plane.
The C-130 crew was worried about fuel usage. They were unable to shut down the engines because a compressor had broke.
They were not sure if they could be restarted.
The control tower finally allowed the plane to take off. The C-130 then flew for 15 minutes to a dirt landing strip near the drop zone. In the black of night, Maj. Lars Johnsen briefly touched the C-130’s wheels down for a second, before forcing the plane back into the air.
The C-130 circled around and made a second landing.
With the C-130’s engines running, the Army truck was unloaded and driven off the plane’s cargo ramp.
With a light fuel load and short runway, Johnsen revved the C-130’s engines high and sped down the dirt strip. The C-130 pushed the passengers hard back into their seats as it rose into the air and flew back to Pope.
THE FINAL DAY
On the last day of the joint exercise, this Leader reporter was going to experience a high-altitude drop of a pallet of materials weighing 1,140 pounds from a C-130 during an improved-container delivery system drop. This was a daytime flight instead of being in 18 plane formation of C-130s and C-17s at night earlier in the week.
The ride was with a new crew in a second C-130 E-model from LRAFB. The flight crew comprised of Capt. Lauren Johnican, aircraft commander with the 50th Airlift Squadron; Capt. Christopher Smith, co-pilot; Capt. Sanam Qadri, navigator; Staff Sgt. Joseph Langer, flight engineer; Senior Airman Robert Wilson, loadmaster, all members of the 61st Airlift Squadron, and Staff
Sgt. Tristan Smith and Airman 1st Class Patrick Thompson, both loadmasters with the 53rd Airlift Squadron.
Unfortunately an equipment malfunction occurred before the C-130’s engines were even started. A computer on the C-130s would not sync up with the dropsondes and make a connection. The dropsonde, resembling a lawn dart, is an instrument attached to a small parachute and is thrown by the loadmaster from the plane. The dropsonde measures wind velocity and wind direction as it travels to the ground.
The instrument relays the information to a computer on the C-130. The measurements tell the aircrew where to drop the cargo from the plane so the cargo reaches the drop zone.
After working on the problem for nearly two hours, the time for the scheduled drop had passed. The planned drop was cancelled. A K-loader cargo-transport vehicle was driven to the rear of the plane. The pallet was then rolled off the C-130 straight onto the vehicle.
If the drop exercise had occurred the C-130 would have made a first pass over the drop zone at 7,000 feet. A loadmaster would have tossed a dropsonde from the plane. When the C-130 made a second pass of the drop zone it would be flying at a lower height of 6,000 feet. The pilot flies at a seven degree angle to make the cargo deck have an incline. The cargo door and the cargo ramp are opened. Gravity pulls on the loaded pallet and it rolls out the back of the C-130.
OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THE WORLD
During the flight back to Jacksonville, Capt. Michael Kis-singer, a pilot with the 53rd Airlift Squadron, talked about why he joined the Air Force. Kissinger, who lives in Ward, is in his fifth year with the service. He is qualified to fly C-130 E-models and C-130 H3s.
He said as a 5-year-old, he knew he wanted to be in the military. In the eighth grade, he wanted to be in the Air Force.
“I wanted to see the world. My first year flying I went to seven different countries,” Kissinger said.
By his second year, he went to 15 countries. He has flown to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Chad, Romania, Germany, England, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Croatia.
Kissinger, originally from Kansas City, Mo., was home schooled through the eighth grade. He is the oldest of six siblings. He has two sisters and three brothers, but none are in the military. Kissinger’s parents were not in the service either.
Kissinger’s grandfather, Joseph Zollmann, was a pilot during the Vietnam War and flew C-123s. Kissinger’s uncle, Steve Zollmann, was a pilot and instructor at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, and flew C-144s.
He said he reason he joined the service was a combination of his grandfather talking about the Air Force and watching “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Kissinger took ROTC at University of Missouri at Colum-bia, Mo., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts.
He spoke about why he likes to fly.
Kissinger said, “There is certain sense of freedom being in the air. It’s fun to work with the crew, manipulate the controls and execute a mission.
“Night is a challenge because it is dark and adds another (element) to navigation and coordination. With day flying, you get to see everything. It is preferred,” he said.
He spoke about flying the C-130 E-models, explaining, “These planes are 1963 Vietnam-era. There is not of lot of
automation. It is a very hands-on platform.”
Kissinger and his wife, Amanda, have two children, a daughter, Shyann, 5, who finished pre-K at Ward Central Elementary, and a son, Thomas, 2.
TOP STORY>>Mob trial will start in fall
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The Cabot man indicted in Arkansas for illegal gambling and public corruption and later in Massachusetts for drug trafficking and supplying guns to the Mafia’s Columbo family, was scheduled for trial in federal court this week, but the trial date has been changed to Oct. 18.
George Wiley Thompson, 64, is at the center of Arkansas’ first case with ties to one of the big crime families, U. S. Attorney Jane Duke said when Thompson was indicted in Massachusetts late in 2009 for allegedly selling guns to alleged Colombo
Family street boss Ralph Francis Deleo, 64, who was indicted at the same time.
So far federal investigators have built cases against six men with connections to Thompson’s alleged illegal activities. In addition to Deleo, Edmond Kulesza, 56, and Ranklin M. Goldman, 66, were indicted in Massachusetts.
In Arkansas, North Little Rock aldermen Cary Gaines, 63, and Samuel Gaylon Baggett, 58, were indicted.
Gaines is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a kickback scheme involving contracts and projects for the city of North Little Rock. The profit from the scheme was allegedly intended to pay gambling debts owed to Thompson.
Gaines also is charged with making a false statement to FBI agents regarding conversations he had with Thompson concerning the preparation of Thompson’s tax returns.
The charges against Baggett relate to his role as a federally licensed firearms dealer. The indictment alleges that Baggett sold weapons to Thompson even knowing that he was a previously convicted felon, that he didn’t keep accurate records as required and that he made false statements to agents with the FBI and Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms investigating the case.
The latest indictment, in April, is against Thompson’s son, George Allen Thompson, 41, of Jacksonville, on firearms and drug distribution charges.
Specifically, the indictment charges one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, one count of felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of felon in possession of ammunition.
The younger Thompson was also charged with one count of acting as an accessory after the fact by helping his father avoid apprehension, trial and punishment by sending his father’s prescription medication to an individual who was to carry the medication to his father in Thailand where he went to evade federal authorities after a search warrant was executed at his home resulting in a seizure of more than 140 firearms, and 80,000 rounds of ammunition, which, as a felon, he illegally possessed.
George Wiley Thompson was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 2009 about a month after he was indicted on a multitude of federal charges including bookmaking, distribution of illegal drugs and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with an alleged kickback scheme.
Thompson lived in the modest Oak Meadows subdivision in the central part of the city.
In addition to the Oct. 18 trial with Daleo, Thompson is scheduled for trial with Gaines on Aug. 14 and with Baggett on Dec. 7.
Leader staff writer
The Cabot man indicted in Arkansas for illegal gambling and public corruption and later in Massachusetts for drug trafficking and supplying guns to the Mafia’s Columbo family, was scheduled for trial in federal court this week, but the trial date has been changed to Oct. 18.
George Wiley Thompson, 64, is at the center of Arkansas’ first case with ties to one of the big crime families, U. S. Attorney Jane Duke said when Thompson was indicted in Massachusetts late in 2009 for allegedly selling guns to alleged Colombo
Family street boss Ralph Francis Deleo, 64, who was indicted at the same time.
So far federal investigators have built cases against six men with connections to Thompson’s alleged illegal activities. In addition to Deleo, Edmond Kulesza, 56, and Ranklin M. Goldman, 66, were indicted in Massachusetts.
In Arkansas, North Little Rock aldermen Cary Gaines, 63, and Samuel Gaylon Baggett, 58, were indicted.
Gaines is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a kickback scheme involving contracts and projects for the city of North Little Rock. The profit from the scheme was allegedly intended to pay gambling debts owed to Thompson.
Gaines also is charged with making a false statement to FBI agents regarding conversations he had with Thompson concerning the preparation of Thompson’s tax returns.
The charges against Baggett relate to his role as a federally licensed firearms dealer. The indictment alleges that Baggett sold weapons to Thompson even knowing that he was a previously convicted felon, that he didn’t keep accurate records as required and that he made false statements to agents with the FBI and Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms investigating the case.
The latest indictment, in April, is against Thompson’s son, George Allen Thompson, 41, of Jacksonville, on firearms and drug distribution charges.
Specifically, the indictment charges one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, one count of felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of felon in possession of ammunition.
The younger Thompson was also charged with one count of acting as an accessory after the fact by helping his father avoid apprehension, trial and punishment by sending his father’s prescription medication to an individual who was to carry the medication to his father in Thailand where he went to evade federal authorities after a search warrant was executed at his home resulting in a seizure of more than 140 firearms, and 80,000 rounds of ammunition, which, as a felon, he illegally possessed.
George Wiley Thompson was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 2009 about a month after he was indicted on a multitude of federal charges including bookmaking, distribution of illegal drugs and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with an alleged kickback scheme.
Thompson lived in the modest Oak Meadows subdivision in the central part of the city.
In addition to the Oct. 18 trial with Daleo, Thompson is scheduled for trial with Gaines on Aug. 14 and with Baggett on Dec. 7.
TOP STORY>>Mob trial will start in fall
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The Cabot man indicted in Arkansas for illegal gambling and public corruption and later in Massachusetts for drug trafficking and supplying guns to the Mafia’s Columbo family, was scheduled for trial in federal court this week, but the trial date has been changed to Oct. 18.
George Wiley Thompson, 64, is at the center of Arkansas’ first case with ties to one of the big crime families, U. S. Attorney Jane Duke said when Thompson was indicted in Massachusetts late in 2009 for allegedly selling guns to alleged Colombo
Family street boss Ralph Francis Deleo, 64, who was indicted at the same time.
So far federal investigators have built cases against six men with connections to Thompson’s alleged illegal activities. In addition to Deleo, Edmond Kulesza, 56, and Ranklin M. Goldman, 66, were indicted in Massachusetts.
In Arkansas, North Little Rock aldermen Cary Gaines, 63, and Samuel Gaylon Baggett, 58, were indicted.
Gaines is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a kickback scheme involving contracts and projects for the city of North Little Rock. The profit from the scheme was allegedly intended to pay gambling debts owed to Thompson.
Gaines also is charged with making a false statement to FBI agents regarding conversations he had with Thompson concerning the preparation of Thompson’s tax returns.
The charges against Baggett relate to his role as a federally licensed firearms dealer. The indictment alleges that Baggett sold weapons to Thompson even knowing that he was a previously convicted felon, that he didn’t keep accurate records as required and that he made false statements to agents with the FBI and Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms investigating the case.
The latest indictment, in April, is against Thompson’s son, George Allen Thompson, 41, of Jacksonville, on firearms and drug distribution charges.
Specifically, the indictment charges one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, one count of felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of felon in possession of ammunition.
The younger Thompson was also charged with one count of acting as an accessory after the fact by helping his father avoid apprehension, trial and punishment by sending his father’s prescription medication to an individual who was to carry the medication to his father in Thailand where he went to evade federal authorities after a search warrant was executed at his home resulting in a seizure of more than 140 firearms, and 80,000 rounds of ammunition, which, as a felon, he illegally possessed.
George Wiley Thompson was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 2009 about a month after he was indicted on a multitude of federal charges including bookmaking, distribution of illegal drugs and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with an alleged kickback scheme.
Thompson lived in the modest Oak Meadows subdivision in the central part of the city.
In addition to the Oct. 18 trial with Daleo, Thompson is scheduled for trial with Gaines on Aug. 14 and with Baggett on Dec. 7.
Leader staff writer
The Cabot man indicted in Arkansas for illegal gambling and public corruption and later in Massachusetts for drug trafficking and supplying guns to the Mafia’s Columbo family, was scheduled for trial in federal court this week, but the trial date has been changed to Oct. 18.
George Wiley Thompson, 64, is at the center of Arkansas’ first case with ties to one of the big crime families, U. S. Attorney Jane Duke said when Thompson was indicted in Massachusetts late in 2009 for allegedly selling guns to alleged Colombo
Family street boss Ralph Francis Deleo, 64, who was indicted at the same time.
So far federal investigators have built cases against six men with connections to Thompson’s alleged illegal activities. In addition to Deleo, Edmond Kulesza, 56, and Ranklin M. Goldman, 66, were indicted in Massachusetts.
In Arkansas, North Little Rock aldermen Cary Gaines, 63, and Samuel Gaylon Baggett, 58, were indicted.
Gaines is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a kickback scheme involving contracts and projects for the city of North Little Rock. The profit from the scheme was allegedly intended to pay gambling debts owed to Thompson.
Gaines also is charged with making a false statement to FBI agents regarding conversations he had with Thompson concerning the preparation of Thompson’s tax returns.
The charges against Baggett relate to his role as a federally licensed firearms dealer. The indictment alleges that Baggett sold weapons to Thompson even knowing that he was a previously convicted felon, that he didn’t keep accurate records as required and that he made false statements to agents with the FBI and Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms investigating the case.
The latest indictment, in April, is against Thompson’s son, George Allen Thompson, 41, of Jacksonville, on firearms and drug distribution charges.
Specifically, the indictment charges one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, one count of felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of felon in possession of ammunition.
The younger Thompson was also charged with one count of acting as an accessory after the fact by helping his father avoid apprehension, trial and punishment by sending his father’s prescription medication to an individual who was to carry the medication to his father in Thailand where he went to evade federal authorities after a search warrant was executed at his home resulting in a seizure of more than 140 firearms, and 80,000 rounds of ammunition, which, as a felon, he illegally possessed.
George Wiley Thompson was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 2009 about a month after he was indicted on a multitude of federal charges including bookmaking, distribution of illegal drugs and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with an alleged kickback scheme.
Thompson lived in the modest Oak Meadows subdivision in the central part of the city.
In addition to the Oct. 18 trial with Daleo, Thompson is scheduled for trial with Gaines on Aug. 14 and with Baggett on Dec. 7.
TOP STORY>>Candidate abandons campaign for mayor
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Rizelle Aaron, a candidate for the Jacksonville mayoral race, is dropping out, leaving Mayor Gary Fletcher unopposed.
A statement on his Aaron 4 Mayor Facebook page shortly before the page was taken down said, “I am Rizelle Aaron. June 24th I had a prostate exam and labs. On June 25th I was diagnosed. After careful deliberation it is with deep regret that I will withdraw from the mayors race due to health concerns. Thank you for your over whelming support. I know we would have won.”
In a separate e-mail sent to The Leader on Thursday, he stated, “Due to medical reasons diagnosed last week, I was advised by my doctor that the stress of this campaign will delay and hinder the recovery process.”
The Pulaski County Clerk’s Office has not received official noticed yet that Aaron has pulled out of the race. Until the office receives a notarized letter from Aaron that he wishes to withdraw, he will continue to be listed as a candidate.
In Thursday’s e-mail to The Leader, he said the article that reported on his police record was “full of lies and has caused me and my family great harm.”
He said there were many “intentional errors” in the article. “In my opinion, this is a clear case of defamation and slander.”
The article reported information obtained from 10 police reports and witness statements dated from April 2005.
Even though race was never mentioned in the article, Aaron, in his e-mail, stated, “As an African American, I can never be surprised at what someone like (reporter) Rick Kron will do, but I must say I am surprised at you (publisher Garrick Feldman) and The Leader for publishing something like this. I understand Kron’s motives, because this has always been a way for people like him to stop the progression of people like me. To make an example of me to keep the rest in check.”
He said that he was exploring his legal options, and on advice of counsel would not be giving any further statements.
But within 24 hours, he sent an e-mail and an audio recording to The Leader to prove his innocence.
In an incident in 2005 on Little Rock Air Force Base, where the police report listed the offenses as third-degree battery and rape, Aaron states, in his e-mail, “When I went in to sit and talk with my ex-wife, I recorded the entire incident. Initially, the conversation was calm. I asked my ex-wife for a divorce and she agreed. I then asked her if we could let the children decide who they wanted to live with in the event of the divorce. I called the children into the room individually and asked them. Both of the children stated they wanted to live with me. When the children left out of the room the situation became hostile and I called the police. The reasons no charges were filed was because of the audio recording. I was injured in the incident and still have the scar.”
However, in written statements by Aaron and his ex-wife at the time of the incident, there is no mention of talking with the children or the divorce.
Aaron wrote in the statement to police that when he got home, “she started to get intimate with me, which is what she does when she wants money.”
After thinking about it, he told her “to get off of me.” Aaron wrote that she got mad and “started to push me and scratch and then she bit me.”
His ex-wife’s statement has a completely different and more graphic view of what happened. In her statement, she said that his words to her were “he had everything planned because he knew that the MP’s were fake police as he called them and said they could only detain me until the Jacksonville police got there and that they weren’t going to do anything to him because they were his friends.”
The military reports from that night have been destroyed. “They only keep records for three years,” said Arlo Taylor, a base spokesman. He also said the security-police office that responded is no longer assigned to the base.
His ex-wife also wrote that he was recording the conversation and said, “He could edit out anything that he wanted.”
In 2007, Aaron was arrested on battery charges and was sentenced to one-year probation.
In an e-mail to The Leader on Friday, he said “In the 2007 incident there are audio recorded interviews with the police and witnesses. Detective (Melissa) Burroughs did in fact lie in her police report that can be confirmed by comparing my interview with Burroughs and her police report. Unfortunately, no one will ever know what was really said in the other interviews, because they are juveniles.”
In the 2008 incident, he was charged with battery and assault and took a plea deal.
In his e-mail, Aaron said the Department of Human Services did an investigation and found that no abuse had occurred.
“In fact, when they interviewed my son when asked by DHS if I punched him, he replied it wasn’t really a punch. He stated I grabbed him by his shirt collar and arm. Punched was the word my son was given to use when interviewed by the police.
According to them, the interviews of my children were not recorded, even though they were interviewed at the police department. There were no marks or bruises. I have a copy of the entire report for your review.”
Aaron went on to write, “I plead guilty, because I had received information that I was going to be found guilty whether I was or not. I wasn’t sentenced to 150 days. I did anger management, paid a fine and a few days of community service.”
According to court records, which were double checked Friday, Aaron was “fined $450 and sentenced to 120 days in jail with 90 days suspended because of proof of anger-management classes” on the battery charge.
Records further show that he was “fined $225 and sentenced to 30 days with 20 days suspended because of proof of anger-management classes” on the assault charge.
In a phone interview, Aaron said he knew he would be found guilty because the police had told the judge about the Dupree Park incident in which Aaron has filed suit against the city and officers. Aaron said in that telephone interview, which he recorded, that he ran into District Judge Robert Batton at Walmart later and asked him why he put him in jail, knowing that he was innocent. Aaron said Batton told him it was because he knew about the Dupree Park incident.
Megan Jones, one of four people Aaron detained for drugs at Dupree Park in 2005, filed two complaints with the police against Aaron—one in 2008 and one in 2009, and also a report with the prosecuting attorney’s office.
“In reference to Megan Jones. I received a recorded copy of her call to the police and a copy of Burroughs’ incident report. I also have another recording that Jones referred to in the call. As I stated in an earlier e-mail, Jones was not worried about me.
She is worried about the police and what they might do to her or her father, who was and may still be on parole.”
Yet Jones still filed complaints with the police stating that Aaron had misled her grandfather and her once by saying he had a job for her, and a second time got her phone number from her grandfather declaring that it was an emergency.
He offered up no explanation as to the mix up with his college degree. He states he has one, yet the college does not list him.
Leader staff writer
Rizelle Aaron, a candidate for the Jacksonville mayoral race, is dropping out, leaving Mayor Gary Fletcher unopposed.
A statement on his Aaron 4 Mayor Facebook page shortly before the page was taken down said, “I am Rizelle Aaron. June 24th I had a prostate exam and labs. On June 25th I was diagnosed. After careful deliberation it is with deep regret that I will withdraw from the mayors race due to health concerns. Thank you for your over whelming support. I know we would have won.”
In a separate e-mail sent to The Leader on Thursday, he stated, “Due to medical reasons diagnosed last week, I was advised by my doctor that the stress of this campaign will delay and hinder the recovery process.”
The Pulaski County Clerk’s Office has not received official noticed yet that Aaron has pulled out of the race. Until the office receives a notarized letter from Aaron that he wishes to withdraw, he will continue to be listed as a candidate.
In Thursday’s e-mail to The Leader, he said the article that reported on his police record was “full of lies and has caused me and my family great harm.”
He said there were many “intentional errors” in the article. “In my opinion, this is a clear case of defamation and slander.”
The article reported information obtained from 10 police reports and witness statements dated from April 2005.
Even though race was never mentioned in the article, Aaron, in his e-mail, stated, “As an African American, I can never be surprised at what someone like (reporter) Rick Kron will do, but I must say I am surprised at you (publisher Garrick Feldman) and The Leader for publishing something like this. I understand Kron’s motives, because this has always been a way for people like him to stop the progression of people like me. To make an example of me to keep the rest in check.”
He said that he was exploring his legal options, and on advice of counsel would not be giving any further statements.
But within 24 hours, he sent an e-mail and an audio recording to The Leader to prove his innocence.
In an incident in 2005 on Little Rock Air Force Base, where the police report listed the offenses as third-degree battery and rape, Aaron states, in his e-mail, “When I went in to sit and talk with my ex-wife, I recorded the entire incident. Initially, the conversation was calm. I asked my ex-wife for a divorce and she agreed. I then asked her if we could let the children decide who they wanted to live with in the event of the divorce. I called the children into the room individually and asked them. Both of the children stated they wanted to live with me. When the children left out of the room the situation became hostile and I called the police. The reasons no charges were filed was because of the audio recording. I was injured in the incident and still have the scar.”
However, in written statements by Aaron and his ex-wife at the time of the incident, there is no mention of talking with the children or the divorce.
Aaron wrote in the statement to police that when he got home, “she started to get intimate with me, which is what she does when she wants money.”
After thinking about it, he told her “to get off of me.” Aaron wrote that she got mad and “started to push me and scratch and then she bit me.”
His ex-wife’s statement has a completely different and more graphic view of what happened. In her statement, she said that his words to her were “he had everything planned because he knew that the MP’s were fake police as he called them and said they could only detain me until the Jacksonville police got there and that they weren’t going to do anything to him because they were his friends.”
The military reports from that night have been destroyed. “They only keep records for three years,” said Arlo Taylor, a base spokesman. He also said the security-police office that responded is no longer assigned to the base.
His ex-wife also wrote that he was recording the conversation and said, “He could edit out anything that he wanted.”
In 2007, Aaron was arrested on battery charges and was sentenced to one-year probation.
In an e-mail to The Leader on Friday, he said “In the 2007 incident there are audio recorded interviews with the police and witnesses. Detective (Melissa) Burroughs did in fact lie in her police report that can be confirmed by comparing my interview with Burroughs and her police report. Unfortunately, no one will ever know what was really said in the other interviews, because they are juveniles.”
In the 2008 incident, he was charged with battery and assault and took a plea deal.
In his e-mail, Aaron said the Department of Human Services did an investigation and found that no abuse had occurred.
“In fact, when they interviewed my son when asked by DHS if I punched him, he replied it wasn’t really a punch. He stated I grabbed him by his shirt collar and arm. Punched was the word my son was given to use when interviewed by the police.
According to them, the interviews of my children were not recorded, even though they were interviewed at the police department. There were no marks or bruises. I have a copy of the entire report for your review.”
Aaron went on to write, “I plead guilty, because I had received information that I was going to be found guilty whether I was or not. I wasn’t sentenced to 150 days. I did anger management, paid a fine and a few days of community service.”
According to court records, which were double checked Friday, Aaron was “fined $450 and sentenced to 120 days in jail with 90 days suspended because of proof of anger-management classes” on the battery charge.
Records further show that he was “fined $225 and sentenced to 30 days with 20 days suspended because of proof of anger-management classes” on the assault charge.
In a phone interview, Aaron said he knew he would be found guilty because the police had told the judge about the Dupree Park incident in which Aaron has filed suit against the city and officers. Aaron said in that telephone interview, which he recorded, that he ran into District Judge Robert Batton at Walmart later and asked him why he put him in jail, knowing that he was innocent. Aaron said Batton told him it was because he knew about the Dupree Park incident.
Megan Jones, one of four people Aaron detained for drugs at Dupree Park in 2005, filed two complaints with the police against Aaron—one in 2008 and one in 2009, and also a report with the prosecuting attorney’s office.
“In reference to Megan Jones. I received a recorded copy of her call to the police and a copy of Burroughs’ incident report. I also have another recording that Jones referred to in the call. As I stated in an earlier e-mail, Jones was not worried about me.
She is worried about the police and what they might do to her or her father, who was and may still be on parole.”
Yet Jones still filed complaints with the police stating that Aaron had misled her grandfather and her once by saying he had a job for her, and a second time got her phone number from her grandfather declaring that it was an emergency.
He offered up no explanation as to the mix up with his college degree. He states he has one, yet the college does not list him.
SPORTS>>Benton makes U.S. Amateur
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
It’s been a busy summer for Cabot junior golfer Colby Benton, and it’s only going to get busier.
Benton shot a 1 over par 145 in the USGA Junior Amateur Qualifying at Hot Springs on Tuesday to earn a berth in the U.S. Junior
Amateur later this month.
Benton carded a 74-71 at the Hot Springs Country Club’s Arlington Course to win one of two available spots to the Junior Amateur to be played July 19-24 at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Mich.
Benton, as well as his sister Kaylee, has already qualified for the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships on July 27-Aug. 1 at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
The Junior Amateur will be the first USGA national event for Benton, who finished qualifying five strokes behind winner Reid Holly, of Madison, Miss. Only the top two finishers advance to the Junior Amateur.
Holly shot 69-71—140 to finish 4 under in the rain-plagued event.
Benton shot a 37 on the front nine and 37 on the back to finish the opening round 2 over. He had two bogeys and a birdie while Holly shot an opening-round 67.
That left Benton battling for the final qualifying spot as he had birdies on the second, sixth and eighth holes and a bogey on nine to make the turn even. On the back nine he shot bogies on No. 12 and No. 15 and birdied No. 14.
Leader sports editor
It’s been a busy summer for Cabot junior golfer Colby Benton, and it’s only going to get busier.
Benton shot a 1 over par 145 in the USGA Junior Amateur Qualifying at Hot Springs on Tuesday to earn a berth in the U.S. Junior
Amateur later this month.
Benton carded a 74-71 at the Hot Springs Country Club’s Arlington Course to win one of two available spots to the Junior Amateur to be played July 19-24 at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Mich.
Benton, as well as his sister Kaylee, has already qualified for the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships on July 27-Aug. 1 at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
The Junior Amateur will be the first USGA national event for Benton, who finished qualifying five strokes behind winner Reid Holly, of Madison, Miss. Only the top two finishers advance to the Junior Amateur.
Holly shot 69-71—140 to finish 4 under in the rain-plagued event.
Benton shot a 37 on the front nine and 37 on the back to finish the opening round 2 over. He had two bogeys and a birdie while Holly shot an opening-round 67.
That left Benton battling for the final qualifying spot as he had birdies on the second, sixth and eighth holes and a bogey on nine to make the turn even. On the back nine he shot bogies on No. 12 and No. 15 and birdied No. 14.
SPORTS>>Benton makes U.S. Amateur
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
It’s been a busy summer for Cabot junior golfer Colby Benton, and it’s only going to get busier.
Benton shot a 1 over par 145 in the USGA Junior Amateur Qualifying at Hot Springs on Tuesday to earn a berth in the U.S. Junior
Amateur later this month.
Benton carded a 74-71 at the Hot Springs Country Club’s Arlington Course to win one of two available spots to the Junior Amateur to be played July 19-24 at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Mich.
Benton, as well as his sister Kaylee, has already qualified for the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships on July 27-Aug. 1 at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
The Junior Amateur will be the first USGA national event for Benton, who finished qualifying five strokes behind winner Reid Holly, of Madison, Miss. Only the top two finishers advance to the Junior Amateur.
Holly shot 69-71—140 to finish 4 under in the rain-plagued event.
Benton shot a 37 on the front nine and 37 on the back to finish the opening round 2 over. He had two bogeys and a birdie while Holly shot an opening-round 67.
That left Benton battling for the final qualifying spot as he had birdies on the second, sixth and eighth holes and a bogey on nine to make the turn even. On the back nine he shot bogies on No. 12 and No. 15 and birdied No. 14.
Leader sports editor
It’s been a busy summer for Cabot junior golfer Colby Benton, and it’s only going to get busier.
Benton shot a 1 over par 145 in the USGA Junior Amateur Qualifying at Hot Springs on Tuesday to earn a berth in the U.S. Junior
Amateur later this month.
Benton carded a 74-71 at the Hot Springs Country Club’s Arlington Course to win one of two available spots to the Junior Amateur to be played July 19-24 at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Mich.
Benton, as well as his sister Kaylee, has already qualified for the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships on July 27-Aug. 1 at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
The Junior Amateur will be the first USGA national event for Benton, who finished qualifying five strokes behind winner Reid Holly, of Madison, Miss. Only the top two finishers advance to the Junior Amateur.
Holly shot 69-71—140 to finish 4 under in the rain-plagued event.
Benton shot a 37 on the front nine and 37 on the back to finish the opening round 2 over. He had two bogeys and a birdie while Holly shot an opening-round 67.
That left Benton battling for the final qualifying spot as he had birdies on the second, sixth and eighth holes and a bogey on nine to make the turn even. On the back nine he shot bogies on No. 12 and No. 15 and birdied No. 14.
SPORTS>>Baseball bruises ego, too
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
I always thought I had the worst amateur baseball career a guy can have, until I talked to my friend Mike Garrity.
Up until Garrity told me about his efforts with the Columbia Basin Junior College Hawks — more on that in a minute — I was sure no one had smelled up a ball field worse than me.
I wasn’t necessarily the worst player on my Little League team, but I certainly wasn’t the best, and that, unfortunately, was when my career peaked.
I know I played a lot of right field, which is where I was standing the time I bent over and ripped my pants while a girl I knew from school stood on the other side of the fence behind me. She got a good look and later so did the rest of the fans when I charged out of the dugout to take the field and fell on my face with my legs spread wide.
My Little League highlight was when I walked to drive in a winning run once, but that was because I rarely took the bat off my shoulder. I think I finished with one career hit.
In junior high we didn’t have cuts, so I was able to make the third string. Continuing a trend, I drew a walk as an eighth-grader in an inter-squad game, only todrift off moments later and get picked off by the seventh-grade pitcher.
I threw my hat in anger and all the parents in the stands laughed. Tough crowd.
I was definitely the worst player on my high school team but I became a darn good first-base coach. Based on my own bitter experience I made sure no one got picked off.
I was so bad a player that when I showed up sleepy and late for a Saturday morning doubleheader my coach just laughed. I was what we called in the Air Force “nonessential personnel.”
It’s a wonder I even like baseball after all that. But there I was at Dickey-Stephens Park the other night, watching the Arkansas
Travelers and listening to Garrity tell me about his own horrific experiences in the game.
Garrity has been a high school and college mascot, worked in sports information and administration at UALR and Florida International and has served as Travelers scorekeeper. He is currently the team’s data caster for Minor League Baseball.
He also took a stab at playing ball for Columbia Basin, located in Pasco, Wash. And after hearing his stories, I feel a little better about my career.
Garrity was the Hawk mascot during basketball at the two-year school and then attempted to suit up each spring with the baseball team. Well, he did suit up, but Garrity’s job was basically to serve as the media-relations man and keep the scorebook.
On a spring-break road swing in California, Garrity got a token at-bat in a one-sided game and suffered a critical injury.
“I’m left-handed but I bat right-handed,” Garrity said. “And I took a pitch off the elbow and it swelled up and I couldn’t keep score for the rest of the week.”
The next season Garrity sustained another injury, this time to his pride.
The new coach kept Garrity in uniform as the team’s sports-information guy. But Garrity was also useful as a left-handed batting practice pitcher on days Columbia Basin was facing a left-handed starter.
The Hawks were getting clobbered one Friday night and, with a doubleheader the next day, the coaches didn’t want to waste another pitcher, so Garrity offered to go in.
“They said ‘Really? You need to go warm up?’ ” Garrity said. “I said, ‘No, I’m good. I threw BP an hour ago. Just let me put on my spikes.’ Because I didn’t even bother to wear my cleats at the time.”
Garrity came on the middle of an at-bat to complete a walk that loaded the bases. Then he gave up a triple off the top of the fence 400 feet away and walked two more to load the bases again.
The coach made a visit and urged Garrity to calm down and just throw his best pitch.
“You don’t want that,” Garrity said.
“Why not?” The coach said.
“Because right now my best pitch is ball four,” Garrity said.
True to his word, Garrity walked in another run and was pulled for the left fielder, who used knuckleballs to get out of the inning.
“But really that is what led to my career,” Garrity said. “Keeping score, sending stories to the paper, sending stats to the conference.”
Luckily, there is more than one way for benchwarmers like us to get in the game.
Leader sports editor
I always thought I had the worst amateur baseball career a guy can have, until I talked to my friend Mike Garrity.
Up until Garrity told me about his efforts with the Columbia Basin Junior College Hawks — more on that in a minute — I was sure no one had smelled up a ball field worse than me.
I wasn’t necessarily the worst player on my Little League team, but I certainly wasn’t the best, and that, unfortunately, was when my career peaked.
I know I played a lot of right field, which is where I was standing the time I bent over and ripped my pants while a girl I knew from school stood on the other side of the fence behind me. She got a good look and later so did the rest of the fans when I charged out of the dugout to take the field and fell on my face with my legs spread wide.
My Little League highlight was when I walked to drive in a winning run once, but that was because I rarely took the bat off my shoulder. I think I finished with one career hit.
In junior high we didn’t have cuts, so I was able to make the third string. Continuing a trend, I drew a walk as an eighth-grader in an inter-squad game, only todrift off moments later and get picked off by the seventh-grade pitcher.
I threw my hat in anger and all the parents in the stands laughed. Tough crowd.
I was definitely the worst player on my high school team but I became a darn good first-base coach. Based on my own bitter experience I made sure no one got picked off.
I was so bad a player that when I showed up sleepy and late for a Saturday morning doubleheader my coach just laughed. I was what we called in the Air Force “nonessential personnel.”
It’s a wonder I even like baseball after all that. But there I was at Dickey-Stephens Park the other night, watching the Arkansas
Travelers and listening to Garrity tell me about his own horrific experiences in the game.
Garrity has been a high school and college mascot, worked in sports information and administration at UALR and Florida International and has served as Travelers scorekeeper. He is currently the team’s data caster for Minor League Baseball.
He also took a stab at playing ball for Columbia Basin, located in Pasco, Wash. And after hearing his stories, I feel a little better about my career.
Garrity was the Hawk mascot during basketball at the two-year school and then attempted to suit up each spring with the baseball team. Well, he did suit up, but Garrity’s job was basically to serve as the media-relations man and keep the scorebook.
On a spring-break road swing in California, Garrity got a token at-bat in a one-sided game and suffered a critical injury.
“I’m left-handed but I bat right-handed,” Garrity said. “And I took a pitch off the elbow and it swelled up and I couldn’t keep score for the rest of the week.”
The next season Garrity sustained another injury, this time to his pride.
The new coach kept Garrity in uniform as the team’s sports-information guy. But Garrity was also useful as a left-handed batting practice pitcher on days Columbia Basin was facing a left-handed starter.
The Hawks were getting clobbered one Friday night and, with a doubleheader the next day, the coaches didn’t want to waste another pitcher, so Garrity offered to go in.
“They said ‘Really? You need to go warm up?’ ” Garrity said. “I said, ‘No, I’m good. I threw BP an hour ago. Just let me put on my spikes.’ Because I didn’t even bother to wear my cleats at the time.”
Garrity came on the middle of an at-bat to complete a walk that loaded the bases. Then he gave up a triple off the top of the fence 400 feet away and walked two more to load the bases again.
The coach made a visit and urged Garrity to calm down and just throw his best pitch.
“You don’t want that,” Garrity said.
“Why not?” The coach said.
“Because right now my best pitch is ball four,” Garrity said.
True to his word, Garrity walked in another run and was pulled for the left fielder, who used knuckleballs to get out of the inning.
“But really that is what led to my career,” Garrity said. “Keeping score, sending stories to the paper, sending stats to the conference.”
Luckily, there is more than one way for benchwarmers like us to get in the game.
SPORTS>>Band a hit with honkers
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission made a stop in Jacksonville on Tuesday as part of its annual summer Canada goose banding program.
A crew of 16, which included AGFC personnel and local volunteers, rounded up close to 200 Canada geese and banded 120 on First Arkansas Bank president Larry Wilson’s property on Nixon Drive off Highway 161.
The rest of the geese were already banded and were returned to the water. Geese without the small, numbered, metal bands were put in a makeshift pen made of orange plastic fencing to await their turn.
The last week of June and early July is the only time Canada geese can be banded because that is when they shed their flight feathers. AGFCwaterfowl-program coordinator Luke Naylor estimated 1,000-1,500 Canada geese are banded in Arkansas each year.
“There’s a couple of things you can get from banding,” Naylor said. “It’s basically the only population- monitoring tool we have.
“You can get recoveries whenever a band number is reported, mostly from hunter harvests. They call and report the band number and you get that information back.”
The crew had all 120 geese rounded up, banded and released back to the pond in one hour and 15 minutes.
The Wilson property provided an average-size job for the group, said Naylor, who said they can band anywhere from 75 to 300 geese on a given site.
“We just have a short window,” Naylor said. “We spend five, six days total on it every summer. It’s a one-time effort because it’s one of those projects where we have to mobilize a big crew.”
Naylor said the extra attention paid to Canada geese is mostly because they are a hunted species. And though they are far from being endangered, keeping track of them is very important.
“We know it’s not hurting,” Naylor said. “Residential geese are actually expanding, but it still behooves us to do this for the long term. If we go a few years without doing this, we will lose continuity.”
Leader sportswriter
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission made a stop in Jacksonville on Tuesday as part of its annual summer Canada goose banding program.
A crew of 16, which included AGFC personnel and local volunteers, rounded up close to 200 Canada geese and banded 120 on First Arkansas Bank president Larry Wilson’s property on Nixon Drive off Highway 161.
The rest of the geese were already banded and were returned to the water. Geese without the small, numbered, metal bands were put in a makeshift pen made of orange plastic fencing to await their turn.
The last week of June and early July is the only time Canada geese can be banded because that is when they shed their flight feathers. AGFCwaterfowl-program coordinator Luke Naylor estimated 1,000-1,500 Canada geese are banded in Arkansas each year.
“There’s a couple of things you can get from banding,” Naylor said. “It’s basically the only population- monitoring tool we have.
“You can get recoveries whenever a band number is reported, mostly from hunter harvests. They call and report the band number and you get that information back.”
The crew had all 120 geese rounded up, banded and released back to the pond in one hour and 15 minutes.
The Wilson property provided an average-size job for the group, said Naylor, who said they can band anywhere from 75 to 300 geese on a given site.
“We just have a short window,” Naylor said. “We spend five, six days total on it every summer. It’s a one-time effort because it’s one of those projects where we have to mobilize a big crew.”
Naylor said the extra attention paid to Canada geese is mostly because they are a hunted species. And though they are far from being endangered, keeping track of them is very important.
“We know it’s not hurting,” Naylor said. “Residential geese are actually expanding, but it still behooves us to do this for the long term. If we go a few years without doing this, we will lose continuity.”
SPORTS>>EjBand a hit with honkers
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission made a stop in Jacksonville on Tuesday as part of its annual summer Canada goose banding program.
A crew of 16, which included AGFC personnel and local volunteers, rounded up close to 200 Canada geese and banded 120 on First Arkansas Bank president Larry Wilson’s property on Nixon Drive off Highway 161.
The rest of the geese were already banded and were returned to the water. Geese without the small, numbered, metal bands were put in a makeshift pen made of orange plastic fencing to await their turn.
The last week of June and early July is the only time Canada geese can be banded because that is when they shed their flight feathers. AGFCwaterfowl-program coordinator Luke Naylor estimated 1,000-1,500 Canada geese are banded in Arkansas each year.
“There’s a couple of things you can get from banding,” Naylor said. “It’s basically the only population- monitoring tool we have.
“You can get recoveries whenever a band number is reported, mostly from hunter harvests. They call and report the band number and you get that information back.”
The crew had all 120 geese rounded up, banded and released back to the pond in one hour and 15 minutes.
The Wilson property provided an average-size job for the group, said Naylor, who said they can band anywhere from 75 to 300 geese on a given site.
“We just have a short window,” Naylor said. “We spend five, six days total on it every summer. It’s a one-time effort because it’s one of those projects where we have to mobilize a big crew.”
Naylor said the extra attention paid to Canada geese is mostly because they are a hunted species. And though they are far from being endangered, keeping track of them is very important.
“We know it’s not hurting,” Naylor said. “Residential geese are actually expanding, but it still behooves us to do this for the long term. If we go a few years without doing this, we will lose continuity.”
Leader sportswriter
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission made a stop in Jacksonville on Tuesday as part of its annual summer Canada goose banding program.
A crew of 16, which included AGFC personnel and local volunteers, rounded up close to 200 Canada geese and banded 120 on First Arkansas Bank president Larry Wilson’s property on Nixon Drive off Highway 161.
The rest of the geese were already banded and were returned to the water. Geese without the small, numbered, metal bands were put in a makeshift pen made of orange plastic fencing to await their turn.
The last week of June and early July is the only time Canada geese can be banded because that is when they shed their flight feathers. AGFCwaterfowl-program coordinator Luke Naylor estimated 1,000-1,500 Canada geese are banded in Arkansas each year.
“There’s a couple of things you can get from banding,” Naylor said. “It’s basically the only population- monitoring tool we have.
“You can get recoveries whenever a band number is reported, mostly from hunter harvests. They call and report the band number and you get that information back.”
The crew had all 120 geese rounded up, banded and released back to the pond in one hour and 15 minutes.
The Wilson property provided an average-size job for the group, said Naylor, who said they can band anywhere from 75 to 300 geese on a given site.
“We just have a short window,” Naylor said. “We spend five, six days total on it every summer. It’s a one-time effort because it’s one of those projects where we have to mobilize a big crew.”
Naylor said the extra attention paid to Canada geese is mostly because they are a hunted species. And though they are far from being endangered, keeping track of them is very important.
“We know it’s not hurting,” Naylor said. “Residential geese are actually expanding, but it still behooves us to do this for the long term. If we go a few years without doing this, we will lose continuity.”
SPORTS>>Ejections, rally add extra spark to Gwatney win
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville provided the park and North Little Rock brought the fireworks Thursday.
A sixth-inning rally and two North Little Rock ejections marked host Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet’s 7-4 victory over the Colts that opened the Fourth of July American Legion Classic at Dupree Park.
Gwatney struck for three runs in the bottom of the sixth while North Little Rock starting pitcher David Stracner and coach Drew
Rogers were thrown out of the game after a fourth-inning run in with home plate umpire Juju Harshaw.
Jacksonville had just taken a 4-1 lead in the fourth on Patrick Castleberry’s sacrifice fly that scored Nick Rodriguez. Stracner, who was near home to back up a play at the plate, was ejected on his way back to the mound.
Colts coach Rogers came onto the field immediately to argue with Harshaw and was immediately ejected. Stracner and Rogers said Stracner was only speaking to his catcher, Derek Houser, and not to Harshaw.
“You’ve got to protect your player at that point,” Rogers said of his ejection.
Left fielder Zach Ketchum relieved Stracner, and after stranding five men the previous two innings, North Little Rock seemed fired up when it scored three runs in the fifth to tie it 4-4.
Cain Cormier and Tyson Tackett walked and Jon Edwards doubled to score Cormier. With two outs Brooks Howard doubled off the wall in left to drive in Tackett and Edwards and tie the game.
“I don’t know if it’s a case of getting thrown out to fire up your team or not,” Rogers said.
But North Little Rock stranded two more in the top of the sixth, and in the bottom of the inning Jacksonville posted its three-run rally.
D’Vone McClure doubled and scored on Caleb Mitchell’s groundout, Kenny Cummings bunted for a hit and scored on A.J. Allen’s double to left and Allen, who took third on Ketchum’s wild pitch, scored on Jared Toney’s infield hit.
“We got the top of our order back up there and that’s what we wanted,” Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said. “We just put two or three hits together, two or three good shots together.”
The rally made a winner out of Allen, who relieved Gwatney starter Stephen Swagerty in the sixth. Swagerty worked 5 1/3 innings, and was charged with all of North Little Rock’s runs while striking out four and walking eight.
“We were fortunate we got some pitching out of a fielder that hadn’t pitched much,” Hickingbotham said of Allen. “But Swagerty did an outstanding job. I was proud of him. He’s going longer than he’s been going.”
Hickingbotham was hoping to get five innings out of Swagerty and made a mound visit during the sixth before returning to relieve Swagerty after Edwards reached on a fielder’s choice.
“I wanted five because I think I got a kid or two that can pitch an inning,” Hickingbotham said.
Ketchum was the victim of the Gwatney rally in the sixth and took the loss for the Colts.
Cormier tripled and scored on Swagerty’s wild pitch in the North Little Rock first.
In the Jacksonville third, Cummings reached on a one-out fielder’s choice and Castleberry walked, then Stracner advanced both men into scoring position with a walk. Allen walked an out later to bring up Toney, who cleared the bases with his double into the right-center field gap and made it 3-1.
Rodriguez led off the Jacksonville fourth with a double and he later scored on Castleberry’s sacrifice fly.
“Right now, if we just keep swinging it, we can score some runs,” Hickingbotham said.
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville provided the park and North Little Rock brought the fireworks Thursday.
A sixth-inning rally and two North Little Rock ejections marked host Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet’s 7-4 victory over the Colts that opened the Fourth of July American Legion Classic at Dupree Park.
Gwatney struck for three runs in the bottom of the sixth while North Little Rock starting pitcher David Stracner and coach Drew
Rogers were thrown out of the game after a fourth-inning run in with home plate umpire Juju Harshaw.
Jacksonville had just taken a 4-1 lead in the fourth on Patrick Castleberry’s sacrifice fly that scored Nick Rodriguez. Stracner, who was near home to back up a play at the plate, was ejected on his way back to the mound.
Colts coach Rogers came onto the field immediately to argue with Harshaw and was immediately ejected. Stracner and Rogers said Stracner was only speaking to his catcher, Derek Houser, and not to Harshaw.
“You’ve got to protect your player at that point,” Rogers said of his ejection.
Left fielder Zach Ketchum relieved Stracner, and after stranding five men the previous two innings, North Little Rock seemed fired up when it scored three runs in the fifth to tie it 4-4.
Cain Cormier and Tyson Tackett walked and Jon Edwards doubled to score Cormier. With two outs Brooks Howard doubled off the wall in left to drive in Tackett and Edwards and tie the game.
“I don’t know if it’s a case of getting thrown out to fire up your team or not,” Rogers said.
But North Little Rock stranded two more in the top of the sixth, and in the bottom of the inning Jacksonville posted its three-run rally.
D’Vone McClure doubled and scored on Caleb Mitchell’s groundout, Kenny Cummings bunted for a hit and scored on A.J. Allen’s double to left and Allen, who took third on Ketchum’s wild pitch, scored on Jared Toney’s infield hit.
“We got the top of our order back up there and that’s what we wanted,” Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said. “We just put two or three hits together, two or three good shots together.”
The rally made a winner out of Allen, who relieved Gwatney starter Stephen Swagerty in the sixth. Swagerty worked 5 1/3 innings, and was charged with all of North Little Rock’s runs while striking out four and walking eight.
“We were fortunate we got some pitching out of a fielder that hadn’t pitched much,” Hickingbotham said of Allen. “But Swagerty did an outstanding job. I was proud of him. He’s going longer than he’s been going.”
Hickingbotham was hoping to get five innings out of Swagerty and made a mound visit during the sixth before returning to relieve Swagerty after Edwards reached on a fielder’s choice.
“I wanted five because I think I got a kid or two that can pitch an inning,” Hickingbotham said.
Ketchum was the victim of the Gwatney rally in the sixth and took the loss for the Colts.
Cormier tripled and scored on Swagerty’s wild pitch in the North Little Rock first.
In the Jacksonville third, Cummings reached on a one-out fielder’s choice and Castleberry walked, then Stracner advanced both men into scoring position with a walk. Allen walked an out later to bring up Toney, who cleared the bases with his double into the right-center field gap and made it 3-1.
Rodriguez led off the Jacksonville fourth with a double and he later scored on Castleberry’s sacrifice fly.
“Right now, if we just keep swinging it, we can score some runs,” Hickingbotham said.
SPORTS>>Successful Fusion
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Now that Dane Grant has the group of players he has been looking for, the trick is going to be keeping them together.
Grant coaches the Arkansas Lady Fusion, a group of 12 girls who spend their summer on the basketball court as part of a 14-under AAU team that competes in elite tournaments across the state.
It is the second season for the team, which had mixed results as it went 20-18 last year. That led Grant to an overhaul, replacing almost half the players.
The move has paid off this year. The Fusion is 35-3 and has won a number of major tournament victories while just over halfway through its schedule.
“That’s far exceeded my expectations, because they’ve only been together for three months,” Grant said. “We’re playing teams that have been together for five and six years. It makes a huge difference with the bonding process.”
The biggest addition is potential NCAA Division I prospect Kori Bullard, a 6-2 post player from Lake Hamilton, who is joined by school teammate Kylie Frazier at guard.
Cabot South’s Ryan Wilson is also a guard for the Lady Fusion, which has five players from Beebe: guards Mackenzie Bingham, Jessica Lane and Sam Kendrick and forwards Jesse Kloss and Kalela Miller.
Other players with local ties include forward Anna Lowery, from Harding Academy, point guard Kyndal Clower, of Vilonia, and Bald Knob forward Taylor Varnell. Jessica McCauley, a small forward from Central Arkansas Christian, completes the roster.
Grant, who has coached successful AAU teams in the past, said his years of service could be winding down. But with the chemistry and success of his current group, he is hoping to hold them together through various teenage distractions and finish out his career with a dominant group of players.
“I’ve got four years left,” Grant said. “My plan is to stay with these girls until they graduate high school. I see a big change in the ninth- and tenth-graders. Usually as eighth- graders, they’re not mobile.
“But once they get those driver’s licenses and they get into other hobbies, it gets harder to get them into practices because they would rather go to the lake or do things, so my plan is to bring this entire group back.”
David Kloss, Jesse Kloss’ father, assists Grant and also sponsors the team through his Kloss Machine Company business in Beebe. Other sponsors include Healthway Drug of Beebe, Ozark Biomedical, Secon Construction, Flur Lansdell and Statewide Pest Control.
The Lady Fusion also supports itself with car washes and bake sales.
“That also brings the kids and the parents together,” Grant said. “Not only do the kids have to get along, but the mommas and daddies have got to co-exist as well.”
Bullard and Frazier, from the Pearcy area, have to make the longest haul to the Lady Fusion’s two-and-a-half hour practices every Tuesday and Thursday morning. But the pair has quickly adapted to Grant’s stringent program.
“We’ve all meshed together,” Bullard said. “And we’re all really, really close and we know where each other play. I think it’s progressing; I think we’ll get even better.”
Jesse Kloss, who alternates between forward and guard, is one of the Fusion’s original players from Beebe. Kloss said the new teammates and improved record this year have made the intense summer practices even more rewarding.
The most difficult aspect of Lady Fusion practices has been finding facilities to use each week.
Practices began in February in the old gymnasium at McRae, which is now a part of the Beebe School District. That was home base for the Lady Fusion until the end of the school year in June.
In the past month, the team has practiced everywhere from First Baptist Church of Beebe to the old ASU-Beebe court, and there was one trying practice in the outdated gym in nearby Garner.
The members of the Lady Fusion are required to make good grades. Grant said that with a system more complex than that of a typical high-school team, sharp, disciplined minds are a benefit.
“It’s fun to win,” Kloss said. “These practices are harder than school practices, so it’s pretty tough, especially at ten in the morning.”
The Lady Fusion has three more in-state tournaments this month, leading up to the MAYB National tournament in Stillwater, Okla., beginning Aug. 5.
Grant said claiming the big prize at nationals will require winning anywhere from 13 to 15 games in a four-day span.
“It’s going to be a very, very tough tournament,” Grant said. “But the good thing about it is two teams from Arkansas have won it the last two years. So, it’s time. This is year number two, and I’m hoping, and I feel very confident, that we can win it.”
Leader sportswriter
Now that Dane Grant has the group of players he has been looking for, the trick is going to be keeping them together.
Grant coaches the Arkansas Lady Fusion, a group of 12 girls who spend their summer on the basketball court as part of a 14-under AAU team that competes in elite tournaments across the state.
It is the second season for the team, which had mixed results as it went 20-18 last year. That led Grant to an overhaul, replacing almost half the players.
The move has paid off this year. The Fusion is 35-3 and has won a number of major tournament victories while just over halfway through its schedule.
“That’s far exceeded my expectations, because they’ve only been together for three months,” Grant said. “We’re playing teams that have been together for five and six years. It makes a huge difference with the bonding process.”
The biggest addition is potential NCAA Division I prospect Kori Bullard, a 6-2 post player from Lake Hamilton, who is joined by school teammate Kylie Frazier at guard.
Cabot South’s Ryan Wilson is also a guard for the Lady Fusion, which has five players from Beebe: guards Mackenzie Bingham, Jessica Lane and Sam Kendrick and forwards Jesse Kloss and Kalela Miller.
Other players with local ties include forward Anna Lowery, from Harding Academy, point guard Kyndal Clower, of Vilonia, and Bald Knob forward Taylor Varnell. Jessica McCauley, a small forward from Central Arkansas Christian, completes the roster.
Grant, who has coached successful AAU teams in the past, said his years of service could be winding down. But with the chemistry and success of his current group, he is hoping to hold them together through various teenage distractions and finish out his career with a dominant group of players.
“I’ve got four years left,” Grant said. “My plan is to stay with these girls until they graduate high school. I see a big change in the ninth- and tenth-graders. Usually as eighth- graders, they’re not mobile.
“But once they get those driver’s licenses and they get into other hobbies, it gets harder to get them into practices because they would rather go to the lake or do things, so my plan is to bring this entire group back.”
David Kloss, Jesse Kloss’ father, assists Grant and also sponsors the team through his Kloss Machine Company business in Beebe. Other sponsors include Healthway Drug of Beebe, Ozark Biomedical, Secon Construction, Flur Lansdell and Statewide Pest Control.
The Lady Fusion also supports itself with car washes and bake sales.
“That also brings the kids and the parents together,” Grant said. “Not only do the kids have to get along, but the mommas and daddies have got to co-exist as well.”
Bullard and Frazier, from the Pearcy area, have to make the longest haul to the Lady Fusion’s two-and-a-half hour practices every Tuesday and Thursday morning. But the pair has quickly adapted to Grant’s stringent program.
“We’ve all meshed together,” Bullard said. “And we’re all really, really close and we know where each other play. I think it’s progressing; I think we’ll get even better.”
Jesse Kloss, who alternates between forward and guard, is one of the Fusion’s original players from Beebe. Kloss said the new teammates and improved record this year have made the intense summer practices even more rewarding.
The most difficult aspect of Lady Fusion practices has been finding facilities to use each week.
Practices began in February in the old gymnasium at McRae, which is now a part of the Beebe School District. That was home base for the Lady Fusion until the end of the school year in June.
In the past month, the team has practiced everywhere from First Baptist Church of Beebe to the old ASU-Beebe court, and there was one trying practice in the outdated gym in nearby Garner.
The members of the Lady Fusion are required to make good grades. Grant said that with a system more complex than that of a typical high-school team, sharp, disciplined minds are a benefit.
“It’s fun to win,” Kloss said. “These practices are harder than school practices, so it’s pretty tough, especially at ten in the morning.”
The Lady Fusion has three more in-state tournaments this month, leading up to the MAYB National tournament in Stillwater, Okla., beginning Aug. 5.
Grant said claiming the big prize at nationals will require winning anywhere from 13 to 15 games in a four-day span.
“It’s going to be a very, very tough tournament,” Grant said. “But the good thing about it is two teams from Arkansas have won it the last two years. So, it’s time. This is year number two, and I’m hoping, and I feel very confident, that we can win it.”
TOP STORY >> Questions raised about candidate
IN SHORT: Jacksonville mayoral hopeful Aaron has had several scrapes with the law.
BY RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Jacksonville mayoral candidate Rizelle Aaron has 10 Jacksonville police reports with his name listed as suspect, arrestee or victim.
His opponent, Mayor Gary Fletcher, has two.
The complaints against Aaron run from abuse of family members to harassment to rape. But Aaron says he’s a victim of bad cops.
Aaron has been sentenced to jail for 150 days with 110 of that suspended, had to take anger-management classes, paid fines in excess of $1,000 and spent one year on probation. Fletcher was fined $120 for driving with expired tags.
None of Aaron’s incidents resulted in a felony charge, so he is still able to run for political office.
Aaron, 42, believes the police are systematically after him and used that argument in his lawsuit against the city, which is now on appeal.
However, in his October 2009 ruling, Circuit Judge Brian Miller threw out the racist claim, stating that there was no “pattern or practice” to arrest citizens, “especially black citizens” without probable cause.
The Leader, through the Freedom of Information Act, obtained the last 50 complaints against the Jacksonville Police Department and an 18-month record of citations issued. No discernible pattern of abuse or prejudice was noted in either case.
In reviewing all of Aaron’s police records, also obtained through the Freedom of Information Act — since as a candidate, he is a public figure — the police initiated two of the contacts (once helping Aaron when he was ill and one a traffic stop); calls from other people sent the police to Aaron four times, and he called the police on four occasions.
Aaron said Tuesday that the city didn’t provide all the reports and case files, and that prevents people from knowing the whole story.
Based on the available reports, if the police violated any laws at all, it was in trying to help Aaron after one arrest with the placement of his children. The police gave physical custody of the children to his girlfriend, at Aaron’s request, instead of his ex-wife, who supposedly had joint custody.
n Aaron’s first record of dealing with the Jacksonville Police appears April 20, 2005, and he made the phone call that brought the police out.
Aaron, who was an active-duty National Guardsman at the time, called security police to respond to his on-base home because of a domestic disturbance between him and his wife. He claimed his wife assaulted him. Based on a jurisdictional agreement with the air base, Jacksonville police responded, investigated and considered arresting Aaron and charging him with rape.
However, Air Force security police said they had jurisdiction and instead arrested Aaron for third-degree battery on a family member. Neither law enforcement group charged his wife with a crime. Aaron was released to a member of his unit and apparently nothing further happened in regards to the incident, according to a Guard spokesman.
According to a Guard public affairs spokesman, Capt. Chris Heathscott, the Guard has various types of full-time Guardsmen. Some are under the Uniform Code of Military Justice while others are under civilian law. Aaron’s status placed him under civilian rule, meaning the police department had the right to bring him in.
Even though this was the first documented case of problems between Aaron and the Jacksonville Police Department, it was not the first time Aaron had dealt with the law.
n In 1991, he was arrested by England police and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and public intoxication.
Lonoke County court records show the disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges were eventually dropped and Aaron appealed the public intoxication case, but failed to show, forfeiting his fine of $85.
n The next meeting between Aaron and the Jacksonville police was July 3, 2005, and again Aaron called the police. According to the police report, he suspected his ex-wife was guilty of child abuse because she had allegedly whipped one of the children with a leather belt and thrown the child on the floor. The incident was turned over to child abuse investigators.
n In September 2005, Aaron was arrested and charged with four counts of criminal impersonation (impersonating a police officer), four counts of second-degree false imprisonment and one count of first-degree terroristic threatening.
These charges came after Aaron detained four young people with drugs at Dupree Park. The two officers, Bill Shelley and Greg Rozenski, handling the incident decided to release the four young people and arrest Aaron instead. Aaron said it was the harassment from this case that lead him to filing a lawsuit against the city and the two officers in their official capacity and as individuals.
Judge Miller tossed out the portion of the suit against the city and the officers in their official duties because there was no practice or policy of prejudice by the police department or city, but let the portion of the suit against the officers individually remain as a “reasonable jury” might find that the officers acted inappropriately.
Miller’s Oct. 29, 2009, decision has been appealed by the city, which wants all aspects of the suit dropped, to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The officers and city are being supported by legal assistance from the Municipal League. No court date has been set yet.
Court records show that all the charges related to this incident against Aaron were nolle pros, meaning the charges were dismissed.
“This suit is not about a bad police department, but it is about the one percent that should not be officers,”Aaron said Tuesday.
n In December 2005, Aaron went to the prosecuting attorney’s office requesting charges be filed against Officer Shelley. According to Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, his office found no potential crime and refused to prosecute the police officer.
n On Nov. 19, 2007, according to police records, Aaron allegedly attacked a juvenile who had sexually assaulted his daughter. One version has Aaron dragging the juvenile down a flight of apartment stairs, while another version has Aaron defending himself from the juvenile who wanted to start a fight.
Aaron was found guilty of third-degree battery in circuit court and sentenced to one-year probation.
n On Jan. 26, 2008, Aaron was charged with third-degree battery and third-degree assault on a family member. These charges netted Aaron 150 days in jail, however 110 were suspended due to his completion of anger-management courses. Court records also show he was fined $675.
It was this incident that caused Aaron to file suit against the city for the 2005 arrest in Dupree Park.
“These officers thought they were doing right by doing something bad to someone they thought was the enemy,” Aaron explained. He said they thought he had already filed a suit against the city, but he hadn’t.
The police report states Aaron’s daughter called the police, who then responded to Aaron’s Jacksonville home based on the domestic-disturbance report.
The police said he had been drinking, slammed the front door and grabbed one of his children by the shirt, tearing it. Aaron also supposedly hit his son and his ex-wife. Both Aaron’s mother and girlfriend were present at the disturbance.
Child-abuse investigators were called.
Once Aaron was arrested, his ex-wife, the report says, went to the jail with clean clothes for him and paperwork showing she and Aaron had joint custody, but that Aaron had primary custody of the children.
Rather than turn over the children to their mother, Aaron’s mother or state officials, police, at the request of Aaron, let his girlfriend take physical custody of the children for the duration of Aaron’s stay in jail. Apparently, the children suffered no harm while in the care of Aaron’s girlfriend, for if they had, the police and city might have been liable, according to one legal opinion.
The next morning Aaron was still in jail, but got sick and stated that his chest hurt and that he needed medical attention, then he passed out. He was transported to the hospital, treated and was returned to jail. He passed out again later and the paramedics were called and treated him at the jail.
n On Nov. 7, 2008, Megan Jones filed a complaint of a suspicious incident that listed Aaron as the suspect.
Jones was one of the four young people whom Aaron had detained at Dupree Park in 2005. According to Jones, Aaron got her number from her father by allegedly posing as someone who had a job for her. Aaron supposedly told her to meet him at the Workforce building on Main Street.
When she did, Jones recognized Aaron from the Dupree Park incident. He did not have a job for her but told her she needed to testify in court for him in his civil suit against the police, and she was not to tell anyone that he contacted her.
Police made no arrest, but did tell Jones to see the prosecuting attorney. She did that three days later and the prosecuting attorney’s office sent Aaron a warning letter that suggested no further contact be made with Jones.
n Jones filed another report on July 3, 2009, saying that Aaron again harassed her. Jones said she had changed her phone number since the last incident, but that Aaron convinced her grandfather that he really needed her number, called her and again told her that she needed to go to court.
Even though there was a warning letter, it was not a no-contact order and the police made no arrest, but referred Jones back to the prosecuting attorney’s office.
More than a month later, on Aug. 12, Aaron called police and said the report filed by Jones was false. He filed a report that charged Jones with filing a false police report.
In that report, Aaron stated he had obtained the police recordings between Jones and the police officer that wrote the report and on the recordings Jones allegedly said there was a no-contact order and Aaron said that was false. He said there was no order and he had not been harassing her. According to Aaron, she had committed a crime by saying so.
• On Oct. 22, 2009, Aaron once again contacted the police and this time charged that an e-mail he received from Alderman Bob Stroud was harassing communications because “he felt threatened by Mr. Stroud due to his view of African Americans, his wealth and influence in the community.”
Aaron was told to contact the prosecuting attorney’s office and did so. Aaron was told that one e-mail did not constitute harassment and there was nothing the prosecuting attorney could do.
According to court records, in March, Aaron was cited for parking in a handicapped parking spot and fined $250. The judge suspended $100 of that, leaving Aaron to pay $150.
What are the police contacts that Mayor Fletcher has had with the Jacksonville police?
• Fletcher has a ticket for driving with expired tags from June 23, 2005. Fletcher was not mayor at the time, but was an alderman. The ticket states he was wearing his seat belt, making him eligible for a $5 fine reduction. Court records show that Fletcher paid a $120 fine.
• In a police report dated Nov. 11, 2008, Fletcher is listed as the victim in a theft of property report. Fletcher reported that someone took $75 worth of CDs from his unlocked vehicle while it was parked in front of his house.
BY RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Jacksonville mayoral candidate Rizelle Aaron has 10 Jacksonville police reports with his name listed as suspect, arrestee or victim.
His opponent, Mayor Gary Fletcher, has two.
The complaints against Aaron run from abuse of family members to harassment to rape. But Aaron says he’s a victim of bad cops.
Aaron has been sentenced to jail for 150 days with 110 of that suspended, had to take anger-management classes, paid fines in excess of $1,000 and spent one year on probation. Fletcher was fined $120 for driving with expired tags.
None of Aaron’s incidents resulted in a felony charge, so he is still able to run for political office.
Aaron, 42, believes the police are systematically after him and used that argument in his lawsuit against the city, which is now on appeal.
However, in his October 2009 ruling, Circuit Judge Brian Miller threw out the racist claim, stating that there was no “pattern or practice” to arrest citizens, “especially black citizens” without probable cause.
The Leader, through the Freedom of Information Act, obtained the last 50 complaints against the Jacksonville Police Department and an 18-month record of citations issued. No discernible pattern of abuse or prejudice was noted in either case.
In reviewing all of Aaron’s police records, also obtained through the Freedom of Information Act — since as a candidate, he is a public figure — the police initiated two of the contacts (once helping Aaron when he was ill and one a traffic stop); calls from other people sent the police to Aaron four times, and he called the police on four occasions.
Aaron said Tuesday that the city didn’t provide all the reports and case files, and that prevents people from knowing the whole story.
Based on the available reports, if the police violated any laws at all, it was in trying to help Aaron after one arrest with the placement of his children. The police gave physical custody of the children to his girlfriend, at Aaron’s request, instead of his ex-wife, who supposedly had joint custody.
n Aaron’s first record of dealing with the Jacksonville Police appears April 20, 2005, and he made the phone call that brought the police out.
Aaron, who was an active-duty National Guardsman at the time, called security police to respond to his on-base home because of a domestic disturbance between him and his wife. He claimed his wife assaulted him. Based on a jurisdictional agreement with the air base, Jacksonville police responded, investigated and considered arresting Aaron and charging him with rape.
However, Air Force security police said they had jurisdiction and instead arrested Aaron for third-degree battery on a family member. Neither law enforcement group charged his wife with a crime. Aaron was released to a member of his unit and apparently nothing further happened in regards to the incident, according to a Guard spokesman.
According to a Guard public affairs spokesman, Capt. Chris Heathscott, the Guard has various types of full-time Guardsmen. Some are under the Uniform Code of Military Justice while others are under civilian law. Aaron’s status placed him under civilian rule, meaning the police department had the right to bring him in.
Even though this was the first documented case of problems between Aaron and the Jacksonville Police Department, it was not the first time Aaron had dealt with the law.
n In 1991, he was arrested by England police and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and public intoxication.
Lonoke County court records show the disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges were eventually dropped and Aaron appealed the public intoxication case, but failed to show, forfeiting his fine of $85.
n The next meeting between Aaron and the Jacksonville police was July 3, 2005, and again Aaron called the police. According to the police report, he suspected his ex-wife was guilty of child abuse because she had allegedly whipped one of the children with a leather belt and thrown the child on the floor. The incident was turned over to child abuse investigators.
n In September 2005, Aaron was arrested and charged with four counts of criminal impersonation (impersonating a police officer), four counts of second-degree false imprisonment and one count of first-degree terroristic threatening.
These charges came after Aaron detained four young people with drugs at Dupree Park. The two officers, Bill Shelley and Greg Rozenski, handling the incident decided to release the four young people and arrest Aaron instead. Aaron said it was the harassment from this case that lead him to filing a lawsuit against the city and the two officers in their official capacity and as individuals.
Judge Miller tossed out the portion of the suit against the city and the officers in their official duties because there was no practice or policy of prejudice by the police department or city, but let the portion of the suit against the officers individually remain as a “reasonable jury” might find that the officers acted inappropriately.
Miller’s Oct. 29, 2009, decision has been appealed by the city, which wants all aspects of the suit dropped, to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The officers and city are being supported by legal assistance from the Municipal League. No court date has been set yet.
Court records show that all the charges related to this incident against Aaron were nolle pros, meaning the charges were dismissed.
“This suit is not about a bad police department, but it is about the one percent that should not be officers,”Aaron said Tuesday.
n In December 2005, Aaron went to the prosecuting attorney’s office requesting charges be filed against Officer Shelley. According to Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, his office found no potential crime and refused to prosecute the police officer.
n On Nov. 19, 2007, according to police records, Aaron allegedly attacked a juvenile who had sexually assaulted his daughter. One version has Aaron dragging the juvenile down a flight of apartment stairs, while another version has Aaron defending himself from the juvenile who wanted to start a fight.
Aaron was found guilty of third-degree battery in circuit court and sentenced to one-year probation.
n On Jan. 26, 2008, Aaron was charged with third-degree battery and third-degree assault on a family member. These charges netted Aaron 150 days in jail, however 110 were suspended due to his completion of anger-management courses. Court records also show he was fined $675.
It was this incident that caused Aaron to file suit against the city for the 2005 arrest in Dupree Park.
“These officers thought they were doing right by doing something bad to someone they thought was the enemy,” Aaron explained. He said they thought he had already filed a suit against the city, but he hadn’t.
The police report states Aaron’s daughter called the police, who then responded to Aaron’s Jacksonville home based on the domestic-disturbance report.
The police said he had been drinking, slammed the front door and grabbed one of his children by the shirt, tearing it. Aaron also supposedly hit his son and his ex-wife. Both Aaron’s mother and girlfriend were present at the disturbance.
Child-abuse investigators were called.
Once Aaron was arrested, his ex-wife, the report says, went to the jail with clean clothes for him and paperwork showing she and Aaron had joint custody, but that Aaron had primary custody of the children.
Rather than turn over the children to their mother, Aaron’s mother or state officials, police, at the request of Aaron, let his girlfriend take physical custody of the children for the duration of Aaron’s stay in jail. Apparently, the children suffered no harm while in the care of Aaron’s girlfriend, for if they had, the police and city might have been liable, according to one legal opinion.
The next morning Aaron was still in jail, but got sick and stated that his chest hurt and that he needed medical attention, then he passed out. He was transported to the hospital, treated and was returned to jail. He passed out again later and the paramedics were called and treated him at the jail.
n On Nov. 7, 2008, Megan Jones filed a complaint of a suspicious incident that listed Aaron as the suspect.
Jones was one of the four young people whom Aaron had detained at Dupree Park in 2005. According to Jones, Aaron got her number from her father by allegedly posing as someone who had a job for her. Aaron supposedly told her to meet him at the Workforce building on Main Street.
When she did, Jones recognized Aaron from the Dupree Park incident. He did not have a job for her but told her she needed to testify in court for him in his civil suit against the police, and she was not to tell anyone that he contacted her.
Police made no arrest, but did tell Jones to see the prosecuting attorney. She did that three days later and the prosecuting attorney’s office sent Aaron a warning letter that suggested no further contact be made with Jones.
n Jones filed another report on July 3, 2009, saying that Aaron again harassed her. Jones said she had changed her phone number since the last incident, but that Aaron convinced her grandfather that he really needed her number, called her and again told her that she needed to go to court.
Even though there was a warning letter, it was not a no-contact order and the police made no arrest, but referred Jones back to the prosecuting attorney’s office.
More than a month later, on Aug. 12, Aaron called police and said the report filed by Jones was false. He filed a report that charged Jones with filing a false police report.
In that report, Aaron stated he had obtained the police recordings between Jones and the police officer that wrote the report and on the recordings Jones allegedly said there was a no-contact order and Aaron said that was false. He said there was no order and he had not been harassing her. According to Aaron, she had committed a crime by saying so.
• On Oct. 22, 2009, Aaron once again contacted the police and this time charged that an e-mail he received from Alderman Bob Stroud was harassing communications because “he felt threatened by Mr. Stroud due to his view of African Americans, his wealth and influence in the community.”
Aaron was told to contact the prosecuting attorney’s office and did so. Aaron was told that one e-mail did not constitute harassment and there was nothing the prosecuting attorney could do.
According to court records, in March, Aaron was cited for parking in a handicapped parking spot and fined $250. The judge suspended $100 of that, leaving Aaron to pay $150.
What are the police contacts that Mayor Fletcher has had with the Jacksonville police?
• Fletcher has a ticket for driving with expired tags from June 23, 2005. Fletcher was not mayor at the time, but was an alderman. The ticket states he was wearing his seat belt, making him eligible for a $5 fine reduction. Court records show that Fletcher paid a $120 fine.
• In a police report dated Nov. 11, 2008, Fletcher is listed as the victim in a theft of property report. Fletcher reported that someone took $75 worth of CDs from his unlocked vehicle while it was parked in front of his house.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
EDITORIAL >> Huck gets good press
Whether you are a fan or a detractor of Mike Huckabee — we confess to spells of both — you should pick up a copy of last week’s The New Yorker, which carries a remarkable profile of the glib Floridian who could be the next president of the United States.
If Huckabee always rubbed you the wrong way, you will find part of the portrait familiar: the whining about people who have done him wrong by criticizing him, the facile shading of the truth when he has screwed up, the half-baked policy ideas, the racy jokes, the sanctimony. (Whatever he does, it is always God who is guiding his hand, so be careful when you criticize him.)
But there is also the part of Mike Huckabee that makes him appealing to people who find the orthodoxy of the Republican Party, well, appalling. He was a pragmatic executive, always siding in the end with what needed to be done rather than with conservative orthodoxy, and he defends that attitude eloquently. He is proud that the plutocrats of the Republican Party don’t like him. Rush Limbaugh is in that group.
Limbaugh and the rich Republicans’ salon, the Club for Growth, call him a big-taxing liberal and cite his record as governor of Arkansas. Being a Republican and a conservative, Huckabee says, doesn’t mean you can’t have a heart or use the levers of government to relieve the suffering and raise the opportunities of the downtrodden.
Although the article is written by a liberated feminist, “Prodigal Son” is largely sympathetic to our former governor. Ariel Levy makes the case that he could well be the Republican nominee for president in 2012. Polls tend to rank him a little ahead of the other leading Republican lights: Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich. Levy thinks Huckabee’s radical views on Israel and Palestine — he favors uprooting the Palestinians from their homeland and putting them down somewhere in the Middle Eastern deserts — could get him some important Jewish financial support in 2012 if he runs. He has a forum — his Fox TV and radio shows — that the others do not have. Palin is pretty but she’s not in his show-biz class.
A more realistic view is that Huckabee is not going to run for president, although he will keep the speculation going as long as he can. He is making a fortune now and he would have to give that up if he ran for president. The lucre might not be there afterward if he failed. And, by the way, he did not take up residence in Florida to avoid paying Arkansas income taxes on his big earnings. (If not, why did he move his vote there if not to establish his residential intent for tax purposes?)
Huckabee offers a bit of speculation on why he may not run again in 2012. His Republican enemies would try to use his clemency record as governor against him, specifically his commutation of Maurice Clemmons, who went on to murder four police officers in Washington.
“The truth is, it could be the kind of thing that would keep me from ever being able to run,” he said. And, he explained the Clemmons affair like he has in the past, by fudging the truth. Clemmons was just a young fellow who had committed a couple of minor, nonviolent offenses and then got sent to prison for 108 years for it because he was poor and had a lousy lawyer, he said. But Clemmons had a lengthy record of crimes and of terrorizing people even when he was in custody. There were many others, like Wayne Dumond, the rapist who was accused of murdering two women after Huckabee arranged his release. He was always just trying to do his Christian duty to be charitable and humane.
But humanity was never the issue. Judgment was.
We cavil too much over the shortcomings. Huckabee gives a good apologia for his peculiar position in the political stakes. For every political junkie Levy’s profile bears reading.
If Huckabee always rubbed you the wrong way, you will find part of the portrait familiar: the whining about people who have done him wrong by criticizing him, the facile shading of the truth when he has screwed up, the half-baked policy ideas, the racy jokes, the sanctimony. (Whatever he does, it is always God who is guiding his hand, so be careful when you criticize him.)
But there is also the part of Mike Huckabee that makes him appealing to people who find the orthodoxy of the Republican Party, well, appalling. He was a pragmatic executive, always siding in the end with what needed to be done rather than with conservative orthodoxy, and he defends that attitude eloquently. He is proud that the plutocrats of the Republican Party don’t like him. Rush Limbaugh is in that group.
Limbaugh and the rich Republicans’ salon, the Club for Growth, call him a big-taxing liberal and cite his record as governor of Arkansas. Being a Republican and a conservative, Huckabee says, doesn’t mean you can’t have a heart or use the levers of government to relieve the suffering and raise the opportunities of the downtrodden.
Although the article is written by a liberated feminist, “Prodigal Son” is largely sympathetic to our former governor. Ariel Levy makes the case that he could well be the Republican nominee for president in 2012. Polls tend to rank him a little ahead of the other leading Republican lights: Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich. Levy thinks Huckabee’s radical views on Israel and Palestine — he favors uprooting the Palestinians from their homeland and putting them down somewhere in the Middle Eastern deserts — could get him some important Jewish financial support in 2012 if he runs. He has a forum — his Fox TV and radio shows — that the others do not have. Palin is pretty but she’s not in his show-biz class.
A more realistic view is that Huckabee is not going to run for president, although he will keep the speculation going as long as he can. He is making a fortune now and he would have to give that up if he ran for president. The lucre might not be there afterward if he failed. And, by the way, he did not take up residence in Florida to avoid paying Arkansas income taxes on his big earnings. (If not, why did he move his vote there if not to establish his residential intent for tax purposes?)
Huckabee offers a bit of speculation on why he may not run again in 2012. His Republican enemies would try to use his clemency record as governor against him, specifically his commutation of Maurice Clemmons, who went on to murder four police officers in Washington.
“The truth is, it could be the kind of thing that would keep me from ever being able to run,” he said. And, he explained the Clemmons affair like he has in the past, by fudging the truth. Clemmons was just a young fellow who had committed a couple of minor, nonviolent offenses and then got sent to prison for 108 years for it because he was poor and had a lousy lawyer, he said. But Clemmons had a lengthy record of crimes and of terrorizing people even when he was in custody. There were many others, like Wayne Dumond, the rapist who was accused of murdering two women after Huckabee arranged his release. He was always just trying to do his Christian duty to be charitable and humane.
But humanity was never the issue. Judgment was.
We cavil too much over the shortcomings. Huckabee gives a good apologia for his peculiar position in the political stakes. For every political junkie Levy’s profile bears reading.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
EDITORIAL>>PCSSD puts students last
This editorial, originally published June 24, 2009, won first place in the annual Arkansas Press Association News-Editorial contest.
Pulaski County Special School District’s board members narrowly voted last week to appropriate $1 million in federal stimulus funds for a new Jacksonville middle school.
Although the money is just a fraction of the cost of a new school, it is an important step toward building the first school in Jacksonville in 35 years. But it’s not clear if there will be money available to build the new middle school. What stands there now is dilapidated and polluted with asbestos.
It’s a shocking site: No children should have been exposed to such hazardous materials. The school district should have torn down the school decades ago, but then the board has never shown much concern for the needs of Jacksonville-area children.
But apart from the largely symbolic gesture of allocating $1 million, or less than one-tenth needed for the project, the board missed an opportunity at its emergency meeting Friday to declare its support for quality education in Jacksonville. Instead, the board chose to reprimand city residents and The Leader for their efforts to give students better educational opportunities and better facilities.
The board’s lack of purpose was never more evident than at Friday’s meeting. Not once did the board mention the students of Jacksonville. Board members instead complained about being “pushed around” by residents and this newspaper. Board member Charlie Wood was for building a new middle school until he was against it because he didn’t want to be pushed around, he said.
This is the same board that chased off deputy superintendent Beverly Ruthven, an excellent educator and administrator, in favor of mediocrity and grandstanding.
PCSSD has treated Jacksonville like a third-rate city by ignoring the community’s school problems for too long. In a letter of reprimand sent in April to PCSSD board members, the director of the Arkansas School Boards Association questioned the board’s lack of professionalism and competence.
The letter warned the board to straighten up its act and pointed out that it was because of its reckless behavior that a bill was introduced in the last session of the legislature to allow the recall of incompetent school board members who sit on the PCSSD board. This is the same board that let financial shenanigans and outright thievery run unchecked for too long.
Many school district administrators, most notably middle school principals Mike Nellums and Kim Forrest, have criticized the board’s decision to combine the former Jacksonville boys and girls middle schools. Both principals have conveniently been moved out of Jacksonville. Like Iran’s ayatollahs, the district does not tolerate dissent.
The debate over the board’s middle-school consolidation plan has been heated. It is a plan that calls for the use of trailers to alleviate overcrowded classrooms, something the board did not tell the community about until just a couple of weeks ago.
Jacksonville’s board member, Bill Vasquez, who supported combining both schools, does not respond to questions about the
PCSSD’s plans for Jacksonville. He apparently feels he does not have to answer to Jacksonville residents and has all but disappeared.
The students suffer when school board members no longer want to communicate with their communities. Board members should be scrutinized because their decisions are executed with taxpayer money. More importantly, education policy affects communities on many levels.
Cabot has far surpassed Jacksonville in terms of educational quality. Airmen from Little Rock Air Force Base are flocking to Cabot because the schools are better there.
PCSSD could learn some valuable lessons from Cabot schools. School board meetings there operate professionally. Board members are well-spoken and topics often include funding new schools every couple of years. Instead of crowded classrooms, Cabot schools are focused on building state-of-the-art facilities for their students.
Petty issues that constantly plague PCSSD are never a problem at the Cabot board meetings. By comparison, the PCSSD board seems amateurish.
Jacksonville should appreciate that Cabot has helped to meet the educational needs of Air Force families living in Cabot, although children enrolled at Arnold Drive Elementary on the base attend a substandard school, despite promises by the PCSSD board that improvements will be made.
Teachers should take their civics classes to PCSSD board meetings to see for themselves what happens when democracy fails us. Civics students might do a better job running the district than those board members, who didn’t learn much when they were in school.
Pulaski County Special School District’s board members narrowly voted last week to appropriate $1 million in federal stimulus funds for a new Jacksonville middle school.
Although the money is just a fraction of the cost of a new school, it is an important step toward building the first school in Jacksonville in 35 years. But it’s not clear if there will be money available to build the new middle school. What stands there now is dilapidated and polluted with asbestos.
It’s a shocking site: No children should have been exposed to such hazardous materials. The school district should have torn down the school decades ago, but then the board has never shown much concern for the needs of Jacksonville-area children.
But apart from the largely symbolic gesture of allocating $1 million, or less than one-tenth needed for the project, the board missed an opportunity at its emergency meeting Friday to declare its support for quality education in Jacksonville. Instead, the board chose to reprimand city residents and The Leader for their efforts to give students better educational opportunities and better facilities.
The board’s lack of purpose was never more evident than at Friday’s meeting. Not once did the board mention the students of Jacksonville. Board members instead complained about being “pushed around” by residents and this newspaper. Board member Charlie Wood was for building a new middle school until he was against it because he didn’t want to be pushed around, he said.
This is the same board that chased off deputy superintendent Beverly Ruthven, an excellent educator and administrator, in favor of mediocrity and grandstanding.
PCSSD has treated Jacksonville like a third-rate city by ignoring the community’s school problems for too long. In a letter of reprimand sent in April to PCSSD board members, the director of the Arkansas School Boards Association questioned the board’s lack of professionalism and competence.
The letter warned the board to straighten up its act and pointed out that it was because of its reckless behavior that a bill was introduced in the last session of the legislature to allow the recall of incompetent school board members who sit on the PCSSD board. This is the same board that let financial shenanigans and outright thievery run unchecked for too long.
Many school district administrators, most notably middle school principals Mike Nellums and Kim Forrest, have criticized the board’s decision to combine the former Jacksonville boys and girls middle schools. Both principals have conveniently been moved out of Jacksonville. Like Iran’s ayatollahs, the district does not tolerate dissent.
The debate over the board’s middle-school consolidation plan has been heated. It is a plan that calls for the use of trailers to alleviate overcrowded classrooms, something the board did not tell the community about until just a couple of weeks ago.
Jacksonville’s board member, Bill Vasquez, who supported combining both schools, does not respond to questions about the
PCSSD’s plans for Jacksonville. He apparently feels he does not have to answer to Jacksonville residents and has all but disappeared.
The students suffer when school board members no longer want to communicate with their communities. Board members should be scrutinized because their decisions are executed with taxpayer money. More importantly, education policy affects communities on many levels.
Cabot has far surpassed Jacksonville in terms of educational quality. Airmen from Little Rock Air Force Base are flocking to Cabot because the schools are better there.
PCSSD could learn some valuable lessons from Cabot schools. School board meetings there operate professionally. Board members are well-spoken and topics often include funding new schools every couple of years. Instead of crowded classrooms, Cabot schools are focused on building state-of-the-art facilities for their students.
Petty issues that constantly plague PCSSD are never a problem at the Cabot board meetings. By comparison, the PCSSD board seems amateurish.
Jacksonville should appreciate that Cabot has helped to meet the educational needs of Air Force families living in Cabot, although children enrolled at Arnold Drive Elementary on the base attend a substandard school, despite promises by the PCSSD board that improvements will be made.
Teachers should take their civics classes to PCSSD board meetings to see for themselves what happens when democracy fails us. Civics students might do a better job running the district than those board members, who didn’t learn much when they were in school.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
TOP STORY>>K2 ban in works
JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
Although the state legislature will likely ban K2, a legal drug that mimics the effects of marijuana, when it meets next year, Cabot isn’t waiting that long.
The city council’s police and fire committee voted Monday night to send an ordinance with an emergency clause banning the substance for full council approval in July.
City Attorney Jim Taylor, who learned about the drug and the state’s plan to outlaw it during the Arkansas Municipal League convention a week ago, told the committee that if the legislature bans the drug as planned, it will be July 2011 before the ban becomes state law.
Lt. Scott Steely, filling in for Police Chief Jackie Davis, told the committee that the product is no longer available in Cabot because the distributor that also provides tobacco to local merchants is no longer selling it in central Arkansas because so many cities are either considering bans or have already banned it. However, it is still available in other cities and counties and online.
The drug, sold in tobacco stores and smoked just like marijuana, is a chemical compound similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. It is sprayed on a variety of dried plant material. It is already illegal in Kansas and Kentucky and other states are considering a ban.
But the lack of state and federal control doesn’t mean cities can’t ban the sale of the drug within city limits.
Ed Barham, public information officer for the Arkansas Department of Health, said during an interview last month that his agency is encouraging the state legislature to outlaw K2.
He conceded that making a drug illegal doesn’t make it go away.
If one city bans it, users can buy it in other cities. And if the state bans it, users can buy it online the way many now do, he said.
Barham said state health officials are concerned about the drug for a number of reasons. Most of it is made in China where quality control is lacking, he said. There is no way for the consumer to know exactly what has been sprayed onto the leaves and the strength varies from batch to batch.
The health department is studying the effects as well as working on a test to detect K2 in the system.
“We’re wondering about the effects on the body,” he said. “You can’t have long-term studies until a long term has passed.”
The drug has been in the United States for about a year and in Arkansas for about six months, he said. In that time, some users have been admitted to hospital emergency rooms with seizures, rapid heart rates and nausea.
“We’re concerned about the effects on the memory, respiratory, immune and nervous systems,” he said.
In other business, the fire and police committee instructed the city attorney to modify the existing city ordinance against the discharge of firearms to allow indoor, commercial firing ranges.
Alderman Eddie Cook, chairing the committee for Lisa Brickell who was absent, said two companies have made inquiries about using the old Bancroft Cap Company building as a firing range but neither will consider locating there until the city’s ban on discharging firearms is modified.
“Any business is good business,” Cook said.
Alderman Rick Prentice asked if the revised ordinance would have sufficient safeguards for the community. Customers carrying loaded guns from their cars to the business could be disturbing, he said. The city attorney responded that the ordinance would have to be tied to the police and fire departments to ensure residents’ safety.
Leader staff writer
Although the state legislature will likely ban K2, a legal drug that mimics the effects of marijuana, when it meets next year, Cabot isn’t waiting that long.
The city council’s police and fire committee voted Monday night to send an ordinance with an emergency clause banning the substance for full council approval in July.
City Attorney Jim Taylor, who learned about the drug and the state’s plan to outlaw it during the Arkansas Municipal League convention a week ago, told the committee that if the legislature bans the drug as planned, it will be July 2011 before the ban becomes state law.
Lt. Scott Steely, filling in for Police Chief Jackie Davis, told the committee that the product is no longer available in Cabot because the distributor that also provides tobacco to local merchants is no longer selling it in central Arkansas because so many cities are either considering bans or have already banned it. However, it is still available in other cities and counties and online.
The drug, sold in tobacco stores and smoked just like marijuana, is a chemical compound similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. It is sprayed on a variety of dried plant material. It is already illegal in Kansas and Kentucky and other states are considering a ban.
But the lack of state and federal control doesn’t mean cities can’t ban the sale of the drug within city limits.
Ed Barham, public information officer for the Arkansas Department of Health, said during an interview last month that his agency is encouraging the state legislature to outlaw K2.
He conceded that making a drug illegal doesn’t make it go away.
If one city bans it, users can buy it in other cities. And if the state bans it, users can buy it online the way many now do, he said.
Barham said state health officials are concerned about the drug for a number of reasons. Most of it is made in China where quality control is lacking, he said. There is no way for the consumer to know exactly what has been sprayed onto the leaves and the strength varies from batch to batch.
The health department is studying the effects as well as working on a test to detect K2 in the system.
“We’re wondering about the effects on the body,” he said. “You can’t have long-term studies until a long term has passed.”
The drug has been in the United States for about a year and in Arkansas for about six months, he said. In that time, some users have been admitted to hospital emergency rooms with seizures, rapid heart rates and nausea.
“We’re concerned about the effects on the memory, respiratory, immune and nervous systems,” he said.
In other business, the fire and police committee instructed the city attorney to modify the existing city ordinance against the discharge of firearms to allow indoor, commercial firing ranges.
Alderman Eddie Cook, chairing the committee for Lisa Brickell who was absent, said two companies have made inquiries about using the old Bancroft Cap Company building as a firing range but neither will consider locating there until the city’s ban on discharging firearms is modified.
“Any business is good business,” Cook said.
Alderman Rick Prentice asked if the revised ordinance would have sufficient safeguards for the community. Customers carrying loaded guns from their cars to the business could be disturbing, he said. The city attorney responded that the ordinance would have to be tied to the police and fire departments to ensure residents’ safety.
TOP STORY>>‘Beebe bans K2, a synthetic marijuana
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Beebe joined the growing number of communities in Arkansas banning K2, “Spice” and other synthetic marijuana products during Monday’s city council meeting.
An ordinance passed with an emergency clause prohibits the buying, selling or using of any part of the salvia divinorum plant and the chemical products HU-210, JWH-018 or “Spice,” JWH-073 and TFMPP.
Violation of the ordinance is a misdemeanor with imprisonment up to a year and a fine of up to $1,000. However, the ordinance does not apply to someone who is under the direction of a licensed doctor or dentist or has a prescription for the products.
Four council members were present for the meeting. Aldermen Les Cossey and John Johnson were absent.
Council members passed a second drug-related ordinance banning the possession with the intent to use, manufacture and deliver drug paraphernalia regarding controlled substances.
The ban includes growing kits, processing kits, isomerization devices used to increase the potency of plants that are a controlled substance and testing equipment.
Other items used with controlled substances that are prohibited are scales, diluents used in the cutting of controlled substances, separators, mixing devices, containers including capsules, envelopes and balloons, storage containers, and injecting devices such as syringes and needles.
Also banned are metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic or ceramic smoking pipes, water pipes, chillum pipes, smoking masks, roach clips, bongs and ice pipes.
An ordinance was passed amending paid holidays for city of Beebe employees. Paid holidays are New Year’s Day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee’s birthday, George Washington’s birthday and Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Memorial Day, Inde-pendence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas.
The city’s Fourth of July Extravaganza begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at City Hall. The event is put on by the city and the fire department. There will be Yarnell’s ice cream. Union Valley Baptist Church will provide hamburgers and hot dogs. Entertaining the crowds this year will be rock and roll piano player Jason D. Williams.
Fireworks will begin around 8:45 p.m.
Beebe Mayor Mike Robertson said, “It’s one of the nicest fireworks displays in the state.”
City council members passed a resolution authorizing Mayor Robertson to apply for $12,725 in state grant money under the 2010 General Improvement Funded Community Enhancement Appli-cation for constructing fencing around the city’s animal shelter. The request for funding goes to the Arkansas Rural Development Commission.
A resolution approved a one year extension to Falcon Cable media service in providing cable television service in Beebe until July 1, 2011. The cable company does not provide Beebe residents with high speed internet.
Leader staff writer
Beebe joined the growing number of communities in Arkansas banning K2, “Spice” and other synthetic marijuana products during Monday’s city council meeting.
An ordinance passed with an emergency clause prohibits the buying, selling or using of any part of the salvia divinorum plant and the chemical products HU-210, JWH-018 or “Spice,” JWH-073 and TFMPP.
Violation of the ordinance is a misdemeanor with imprisonment up to a year and a fine of up to $1,000. However, the ordinance does not apply to someone who is under the direction of a licensed doctor or dentist or has a prescription for the products.
Four council members were present for the meeting. Aldermen Les Cossey and John Johnson were absent.
Council members passed a second drug-related ordinance banning the possession with the intent to use, manufacture and deliver drug paraphernalia regarding controlled substances.
The ban includes growing kits, processing kits, isomerization devices used to increase the potency of plants that are a controlled substance and testing equipment.
Other items used with controlled substances that are prohibited are scales, diluents used in the cutting of controlled substances, separators, mixing devices, containers including capsules, envelopes and balloons, storage containers, and injecting devices such as syringes and needles.
Also banned are metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic or ceramic smoking pipes, water pipes, chillum pipes, smoking masks, roach clips, bongs and ice pipes.
An ordinance was passed amending paid holidays for city of Beebe employees. Paid holidays are New Year’s Day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee’s birthday, George Washington’s birthday and Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Memorial Day, Inde-pendence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas.
The city’s Fourth of July Extravaganza begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at City Hall. The event is put on by the city and the fire department. There will be Yarnell’s ice cream. Union Valley Baptist Church will provide hamburgers and hot dogs. Entertaining the crowds this year will be rock and roll piano player Jason D. Williams.
Fireworks will begin around 8:45 p.m.
Beebe Mayor Mike Robertson said, “It’s one of the nicest fireworks displays in the state.”
City council members passed a resolution authorizing Mayor Robertson to apply for $12,725 in state grant money under the 2010 General Improvement Funded Community Enhancement Appli-cation for constructing fencing around the city’s animal shelter. The request for funding goes to the Arkansas Rural Development Commission.
A resolution approved a one year extension to Falcon Cable media service in providing cable television service in Beebe until July 1, 2011. The cable company does not provide Beebe residents with high speed internet.
TOP STORY>>‘LRAFB ties us together’
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The mayors of Jacksonville and Cabot agreed Tuesday that Little Rock Air Force Base ties their communities together.
Both Mayor Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot and Mayor Gary Fletcher of Jacksonville had a chance to speak at the first joint chamber luncheon between the two cities.
Jacksonville chamber president Jason Wilkinson, who emceed the noontime event at the Jacksonville Community Center, called the gathering “something great” and said it would become an annual event.
The mayors had 10 minutes to speak about their communities and the ties the cities have to each other. The buzzing of a borrowed score clock indicated that both mayors went over their time limit, but no one complained.
Williams spoke first, calling his four years as mayor among the best times of his life. “Jacksonville and Cabot are two of the greatest cities in Arkansas,” Williams said. “And they are made up of great people.”
“Clearly it is Little Rock Air Force Base that ties us together. Base support is a priority,” he said.
The mayor said the base pumps in close to $600 million into the local economy. He said Cabot’s share of that is about $240 million. “That’s about $20 million a month. What community could afford to lose that? We certainly can’t,” he said.
The mayor added though that the base is more than just money to the area—that it is about people. “And we must not forget our responsibility to them.”
Williams recalled a low point as mayor when someone painted racial slurs on a garage. “This was the home of a mother with a special-needs child whose husband was deployed. We repainted the garage, but she was scared. I gave her my card and told her she could call night or day.”
Later, Williams found out it was the simple act of giving the woman his card that helped her make it through that troubling time.
Williams said traffic to and from Little Rock also ties the communities together. “We’ve all experienced the bottlenecks on Hwy. 67/167,” he said, adding the state Highway Department is working on expanding the highway,” he said.
“But it does take time. However, since we work as a team and get along, it does make the projects move along better,” Williams said.
Jacksonville’s mayor piggybacked on the military connection, thanking everyone in the room for their part in bringing the Abilene Trophy to Little Rock Air Force Base.
The trophy is given to the Air Mobility Command base with the best community support. “We all worked to bring that trophy here and now our job is to figure out how to keep it here.”
Fletcher, who said Wednesday marks his one-year anniversary as mayor, reflected back on his first year.
“When I was first elected, I thought I would use Conway Mayor Tad Townsell as my mentor, but the Lord had different ideas.
He sent Eddie Joe to me,” Fletcher said, “and he’s been a great mentor.”
Fletcher said among the accomplishments during his first years were the formation of a landlord’s association, the demolition of Manor House apartments, a new website and the introduction of CodeRed, which he initiated after Cabot’s success with the computerized telephone-warning system.
Fletcher said projects getting underway include the new 45,000-square-foot Joint Education Center “that will benefit all our citizens,” he said. “There’s also the $3 million police and fire training facility that not only our police and firefighters will use, but so will our neighbors.”
Fletcher said growth through new businesses and expansion is important to Jacksonville. He said that even though Jacksonville restaurants have brought in $37.5 million, that there was still room for more.
The first three months of the Memphis Flea Market in the old Walmart building have brought in 28,000 visitors to the city.
“And once the studies are complete, I’m sure they will show that Jacksonville has the best land for the new state fairgrounds.
That won’t be just a Jacksonville thing, but an area thing.”
Fletcher added that his advice is not to invest in the stock market, but in the local communities.
Leader staff writer
The mayors of Jacksonville and Cabot agreed Tuesday that Little Rock Air Force Base ties their communities together.
Both Mayor Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot and Mayor Gary Fletcher of Jacksonville had a chance to speak at the first joint chamber luncheon between the two cities.
Jacksonville chamber president Jason Wilkinson, who emceed the noontime event at the Jacksonville Community Center, called the gathering “something great” and said it would become an annual event.
The mayors had 10 minutes to speak about their communities and the ties the cities have to each other. The buzzing of a borrowed score clock indicated that both mayors went over their time limit, but no one complained.
Williams spoke first, calling his four years as mayor among the best times of his life. “Jacksonville and Cabot are two of the greatest cities in Arkansas,” Williams said. “And they are made up of great people.”
“Clearly it is Little Rock Air Force Base that ties us together. Base support is a priority,” he said.
The mayor said the base pumps in close to $600 million into the local economy. He said Cabot’s share of that is about $240 million. “That’s about $20 million a month. What community could afford to lose that? We certainly can’t,” he said.
The mayor added though that the base is more than just money to the area—that it is about people. “And we must not forget our responsibility to them.”
Williams recalled a low point as mayor when someone painted racial slurs on a garage. “This was the home of a mother with a special-needs child whose husband was deployed. We repainted the garage, but she was scared. I gave her my card and told her she could call night or day.”
Later, Williams found out it was the simple act of giving the woman his card that helped her make it through that troubling time.
Williams said traffic to and from Little Rock also ties the communities together. “We’ve all experienced the bottlenecks on Hwy. 67/167,” he said, adding the state Highway Department is working on expanding the highway,” he said.
“But it does take time. However, since we work as a team and get along, it does make the projects move along better,” Williams said.
Jacksonville’s mayor piggybacked on the military connection, thanking everyone in the room for their part in bringing the Abilene Trophy to Little Rock Air Force Base.
The trophy is given to the Air Mobility Command base with the best community support. “We all worked to bring that trophy here and now our job is to figure out how to keep it here.”
Fletcher, who said Wednesday marks his one-year anniversary as mayor, reflected back on his first year.
“When I was first elected, I thought I would use Conway Mayor Tad Townsell as my mentor, but the Lord had different ideas.
He sent Eddie Joe to me,” Fletcher said, “and he’s been a great mentor.”
Fletcher said among the accomplishments during his first years were the formation of a landlord’s association, the demolition of Manor House apartments, a new website and the introduction of CodeRed, which he initiated after Cabot’s success with the computerized telephone-warning system.
Fletcher said projects getting underway include the new 45,000-square-foot Joint Education Center “that will benefit all our citizens,” he said. “There’s also the $3 million police and fire training facility that not only our police and firefighters will use, but so will our neighbors.”
Fletcher said growth through new businesses and expansion is important to Jacksonville. He said that even though Jacksonville restaurants have brought in $37.5 million, that there was still room for more.
The first three months of the Memphis Flea Market in the old Walmart building have brought in 28,000 visitors to the city.
“And once the studies are complete, I’m sure they will show that Jacksonville has the best land for the new state fairgrounds.
That won’t be just a Jacksonville thing, but an area thing.”
Fletcher added that his advice is not to invest in the stock market, but in the local communities.
SPORTS>>Beard fights Frye for MSRA victory
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Kyle Beard may be known as “The Silent Assassin,” but the Trumann driver is starting to make a lot of noise.
Beard won his second straight Comp Cams MSRA super late-model series race of the season with a flag-to-flag victory over strong-running veteran driver Bill Frye in action at Beebe Speedway on Friday.
Greenbrier’s Frye challenged Beard for the lead with a persistent charge on the low side entering almost every corner, but Beard kept his No. 86 GRT by Frye on the outside and rode the momentum the entire 30-lap distance to earn a $2,000, first-place payday.
“Every restart we had I think he pulled up beside me,” Beard said of Frye, a veteran car builder who constructed Beard’s winning car. “He had me pretty nervous. You get nervous every caution and then you finally get it out when you take off.
“And then another caution comes out and you get nervous all over again. I wish it could have just went green; I felt like I was better after I had run a few laps.”
Beard also led his heat race from start to finish and earned top qualifier for the feature. The 24-year-old used his good track position to claim the lead out of turn two on the first lap and survive a record seven caution flags for MSRA at Beebe.
He entered the event as the most recent series winner after dominating the field at NEA Speedway in Harrisburg to take over the season points lead two weeks earlier.
Frye also finished second to Beard in that race, a straightaway behind the leader at the finish, but he did not go as quietly at Beebe on Friday.
The five-time MARS series champion put his years on the national circuit to use with a fast, steady line around the bottom that prevented Beard from pulling away.
Frye pulled alongside Beard on lap six and again on lap 22, and worked his way right behind the leader after many of the late restarts only to have another caution slow his charge.
Russellville’s Jon Kirby was the only driver to interrupt the duel between Beard and Frye when he worked his way from a seventh-place starting position to overtake Frye for second on lap 19.
A caution was waved before Kirby could get his number 11 GRT up to Beard and contend for the lead, and Kirby’s chances ended when he became the reason for the next caution after his car got sideways on the front- stretch wall entering turn one and slid over 50 feet before bouncing violently back onto the track and coming to a stop.
Kirby was okay but his car appeared to be completely destroyed and needed a tow hook back to the pits.
Beard and Frye’s mostly clean battle up front was not indicative of the rest of the field, as series director and flagman Chris Ellis waved the caution flag seven times to break a streak of one caution or less in the previous four series events at Beebe’s quarter-mile, clay oval.
Several two-and-three-car incidents slowed the pace, but a seven-car melee with three laps left ruined the night for a number of competitive drivers, including local favorite Curtis Cook from Vilonia making his super late- model debut.
The close racing and more closely contested restarts finally backfired on lap 27 when Beard, Frye and third-place runner Shane Stephens bunched up at the front on a restart, causing a chain-reaction accident in turn four that involved five cars initially.
The carnage also spread to the front stretch where two-time MSRA champ Joey Mack was slowed because of a broken transmission and hit Cook’s 601 car.
That led Cook to an early exit from his impressive maiden voyage and left 11 cars on the track from the 20 that started.
The lineup went single file for the final restart as Beard and Frye duked it out over the final three laps. Frye made his strongest assault on Beard in that stretch, crossing the line for the white flag with his nose a few inches behind Beard’s and staying beside him for the entire final circuit.
Beard got the run he needed out of turn four of the final lap to hold off Frye by a just over a car length.
“He had a good car,” Frye said. “He was better than me around the top. I couldn’t even keep up with him on the top, but I really didn’t plan on running up there when the deal started, so, I think I just needed some more laps.”
The staff at Beebe went with a different approach to prepare the track for late-model racing. There was a flat area on the outside of turn one leading up to the pit entrance that allowed a deeper cushion of loose dirt to build and gave the racing surface a more competitive upper groove.
“The track was so much better than the last two times I was here, so I’ll take it,” Frye said. “It was good — you could race on it tonight. The last couple of times we’ve been here, it’s been one lane around the bottom, so they did a great job on the racetrack.”
With his second straight victory that helped him increase his margin in the championship standings, Beard said he was aware early in the night he could add even more momentum to his 2010 campaign.
“I had a pretty good feeling — the car felt good in the heat race,” Beard said. “The slicker it gets, the better this car gets. I had a good feeling about it.”
Stephens gained ground in the MSRA rookie points battle with a third-place run while Jon Mitchell of Texarkana, Texas, recovered from two early spins to finish fourth. Flora driver Brandon Smith completed the top five.
Mark Stephens, of Arlington, Tenn., was sixth while Eddie Provence of East End made the most of a 20th place provisional start to finish seventh and earn hard charger of the race. It was the highest finish this season for Provence in his first year back in a late model after six years of modified racing.
Jeff Floyd bounced back from a mid-race spin to finish eighth while DeWitt’s Clay Fisher and Daniel Waters of Hoxie filled out the top ten.
Mack and Cook were credited with 12th- and 13th-place finishes after running in the top five most of the way, while local driver Wade Johnson was 15th after retiring from the race early.
Kirby ended up 16th and North Little Rock’s Terry Henson was the first retiree from the race and listed 20th when his engine expired shortly after the start. Bryant’s Joseph Long, Wesley Crutchfield and Bobby Derryberry did not qualify for the feature.
Jeff Porterfield won the hobby feature while Lane Cullum took the checkers in the E-mod feature race. Paul Shackleford was the winner of the mini-stock feature and Beebe’s Ricky Wilhite won his second straight factory feature.
Randy Weaver added to his points lead in the modified division with a flag-to-flag victory over Curtis Cook and Donnie Stringfellow.
Leader sportswriter
Kyle Beard may be known as “The Silent Assassin,” but the Trumann driver is starting to make a lot of noise.
Beard won his second straight Comp Cams MSRA super late-model series race of the season with a flag-to-flag victory over strong-running veteran driver Bill Frye in action at Beebe Speedway on Friday.
Greenbrier’s Frye challenged Beard for the lead with a persistent charge on the low side entering almost every corner, but Beard kept his No. 86 GRT by Frye on the outside and rode the momentum the entire 30-lap distance to earn a $2,000, first-place payday.
“Every restart we had I think he pulled up beside me,” Beard said of Frye, a veteran car builder who constructed Beard’s winning car. “He had me pretty nervous. You get nervous every caution and then you finally get it out when you take off.
“And then another caution comes out and you get nervous all over again. I wish it could have just went green; I felt like I was better after I had run a few laps.”
Beard also led his heat race from start to finish and earned top qualifier for the feature. The 24-year-old used his good track position to claim the lead out of turn two on the first lap and survive a record seven caution flags for MSRA at Beebe.
He entered the event as the most recent series winner after dominating the field at NEA Speedway in Harrisburg to take over the season points lead two weeks earlier.
Frye also finished second to Beard in that race, a straightaway behind the leader at the finish, but he did not go as quietly at Beebe on Friday.
The five-time MARS series champion put his years on the national circuit to use with a fast, steady line around the bottom that prevented Beard from pulling away.
Frye pulled alongside Beard on lap six and again on lap 22, and worked his way right behind the leader after many of the late restarts only to have another caution slow his charge.
Russellville’s Jon Kirby was the only driver to interrupt the duel between Beard and Frye when he worked his way from a seventh-place starting position to overtake Frye for second on lap 19.
A caution was waved before Kirby could get his number 11 GRT up to Beard and contend for the lead, and Kirby’s chances ended when he became the reason for the next caution after his car got sideways on the front- stretch wall entering turn one and slid over 50 feet before bouncing violently back onto the track and coming to a stop.
Kirby was okay but his car appeared to be completely destroyed and needed a tow hook back to the pits.
Beard and Frye’s mostly clean battle up front was not indicative of the rest of the field, as series director and flagman Chris Ellis waved the caution flag seven times to break a streak of one caution or less in the previous four series events at Beebe’s quarter-mile, clay oval.
Several two-and-three-car incidents slowed the pace, but a seven-car melee with three laps left ruined the night for a number of competitive drivers, including local favorite Curtis Cook from Vilonia making his super late- model debut.
The close racing and more closely contested restarts finally backfired on lap 27 when Beard, Frye and third-place runner Shane Stephens bunched up at the front on a restart, causing a chain-reaction accident in turn four that involved five cars initially.
The carnage also spread to the front stretch where two-time MSRA champ Joey Mack was slowed because of a broken transmission and hit Cook’s 601 car.
That led Cook to an early exit from his impressive maiden voyage and left 11 cars on the track from the 20 that started.
The lineup went single file for the final restart as Beard and Frye duked it out over the final three laps. Frye made his strongest assault on Beard in that stretch, crossing the line for the white flag with his nose a few inches behind Beard’s and staying beside him for the entire final circuit.
Beard got the run he needed out of turn four of the final lap to hold off Frye by a just over a car length.
“He had a good car,” Frye said. “He was better than me around the top. I couldn’t even keep up with him on the top, but I really didn’t plan on running up there when the deal started, so, I think I just needed some more laps.”
The staff at Beebe went with a different approach to prepare the track for late-model racing. There was a flat area on the outside of turn one leading up to the pit entrance that allowed a deeper cushion of loose dirt to build and gave the racing surface a more competitive upper groove.
“The track was so much better than the last two times I was here, so I’ll take it,” Frye said. “It was good — you could race on it tonight. The last couple of times we’ve been here, it’s been one lane around the bottom, so they did a great job on the racetrack.”
With his second straight victory that helped him increase his margin in the championship standings, Beard said he was aware early in the night he could add even more momentum to his 2010 campaign.
“I had a pretty good feeling — the car felt good in the heat race,” Beard said. “The slicker it gets, the better this car gets. I had a good feeling about it.”
Stephens gained ground in the MSRA rookie points battle with a third-place run while Jon Mitchell of Texarkana, Texas, recovered from two early spins to finish fourth. Flora driver Brandon Smith completed the top five.
Mark Stephens, of Arlington, Tenn., was sixth while Eddie Provence of East End made the most of a 20th place provisional start to finish seventh and earn hard charger of the race. It was the highest finish this season for Provence in his first year back in a late model after six years of modified racing.
Jeff Floyd bounced back from a mid-race spin to finish eighth while DeWitt’s Clay Fisher and Daniel Waters of Hoxie filled out the top ten.
Mack and Cook were credited with 12th- and 13th-place finishes after running in the top five most of the way, while local driver Wade Johnson was 15th after retiring from the race early.
Kirby ended up 16th and North Little Rock’s Terry Henson was the first retiree from the race and listed 20th when his engine expired shortly after the start. Bryant’s Joseph Long, Wesley Crutchfield and Bobby Derryberry did not qualify for the feature.
Jeff Porterfield won the hobby feature while Lane Cullum took the checkers in the E-mod feature race. Paul Shackleford was the winner of the mini-stock feature and Beebe’s Ricky Wilhite won his second straight factory feature.
Randy Weaver added to his points lead in the modified division with a flag-to-flag victory over Curtis Cook and Donnie Stringfellow.
SPORTS>>Beard fights Frye for MSRA victory
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Kyle Beard may be known as “The Silent Assassin,” but the Trumann driver is starting to make a lot of noise.
Beard won his second straight Comp Cams MSRA super late-model series race of the season with a flag-to-flag victory over strong-running veteran driver Bill Frye in action at Beebe Speedway on Friday.
Greenbrier’s Frye challenged Beard for the lead with a persistent charge on the low side entering almost every corner, but Beard kept his No. 86 GRT by Frye on the outside and rode the momentum the entire 30-lap distance to earn a $2,000, first-place payday.
“Every restart we had I think he pulled up beside me,” Beard said of Frye, a veteran car builder who constructed Beard’s winning car. “He had me pretty nervous. You get nervous every caution and then you finally get it out when you take off.
“And then another caution comes out and you get nervous all over again. I wish it could have just went green; I felt like I was better after I had run a few laps.”
Beard also led his heat race from start to finish and earned top qualifier for the feature. The 24-year-old used his good track position to claim the lead out of turn two on the first lap and survive a record seven caution flags for MSRA at Beebe.
He entered the event as the most recent series winner after dominating the field at NEA Speedway in Harrisburg to take over the season points lead two weeks earlier.
Frye also finished second to Beard in that race, a straightaway behind the leader at the finish, but he did not go as quietly at Beebe on Friday.
The five-time MARS series champion put his years on the national circuit to use with a fast, steady line around the bottom that prevented Beard from pulling away.
Frye pulled alongside Beard on lap six and again on lap 22, and worked his way right behind the leader after many of the late restarts only to have another caution slow his charge.
Russellville’s Jon Kirby was the only driver to interrupt the duel between Beard and Frye when he worked his way from a seventh-place starting position to overtake Frye for second on lap 19.
A caution was waved before Kirby could get his number 11 GRT up to Beard and contend for the lead, and Kirby’s chances ended when he became the reason for the next caution after his car got sideways on the front- stretch wall entering turn one and slid over 50 feet before bouncing violently back onto the track and coming to a stop.
Kirby was okay but his car appeared to be completely destroyed and needed a tow hook back to the pits.
Beard and Frye’s mostly clean battle up front was not indicative of the rest of the field, as series director and flagman Chris Ellis waved the caution flag seven times to break a streak of one caution or less in the previous four series events at Beebe’s quarter-mile, clay oval.
Several two-and-three-car incidents slowed the pace, but a seven-car melee with three laps left ruined the night for a number of competitive drivers, including local favorite Curtis Cook from Vilonia making his super late- model debut.
The close racing and more closely contested restarts finally backfired on lap 27 when Beard, Frye and third-place runner Shane Stephens bunched up at the front on a restart, causing a chain-reaction accident in turn four that involved five cars initially.
The carnage also spread to the front stretch where two-time MSRA champ Joey Mack was slowed because of a broken transmission and hit Cook’s 601 car.
That led Cook to an early exit from his impressive maiden voyage and left 11 cars on the track from the 20 that started.
The lineup went single file for the final restart as Beard and Frye duked it out over the final three laps. Frye made his strongest assault on Beard in that stretch, crossing the line for the white flag with his nose a few inches behind Beard’s and staying beside him for the entire final circuit.
Beard got the run he needed out of turn four of the final lap to hold off Frye by a just over a car length.
“He had a good car,” Frye said. “He was better than me around the top. I couldn’t even keep up with him on the top, but I really didn’t plan on running up there when the deal started, so, I think I just needed some more laps.”
The staff at Beebe went with a different approach to prepare the track for late-model racing. There was a flat area on the outside of turn one leading up to the pit entrance that allowed a deeper cushion of loose dirt to build and gave the racing surface a more competitive upper groove.
“The track was so much better than the last two times I was here, so I’ll take it,” Frye said. “It was good — you could race on it tonight. The last couple of times we’ve been here, it’s been one lane around the bottom, so they did a great job on the racetrack.”
With his second straight victory that helped him increase his margin in the championship standings, Beard said he was aware early in the night he could add even more momentum to his 2010 campaign.
“I had a pretty good feeling — the car felt good in the heat race,” Beard said. “The slicker it gets, the better this car gets. I had a good feeling about it.”
Stephens gained ground in the MSRA rookie points battle with a third-place run while Jon Mitchell of Texarkana, Texas, recovered from two early spins to finish fourth. Flora driver Brandon Smith completed the top five.
Mark Stephens, of Arlington, Tenn., was sixth while Eddie Provence of East End made the most of a 20th place provisional start to finish seventh and earn hard charger of the race. It was the highest finish this season for Provence in his first year back in a late model after six years of modified racing.
Jeff Floyd bounced back from a mid-race spin to finish eighth while DeWitt’s Clay Fisher and Daniel Waters of Hoxie filled out the top ten.
Mack and Cook were credited with 12th- and 13th-place finishes after running in the top five most of the way, while local driver Wade Johnson was 15th after retiring from the race early.
Kirby ended up 16th and North Little Rock’s Terry Henson was the first retiree from the race and listed 20th when his engine expired shortly after the start. Bryant’s Joseph Long, Wesley Crutchfield and Bobby Derryberry did not qualify for the feature.
Jeff Porterfield won the hobby feature while Lane Cullum took the checkers in the E-mod feature race. Paul Shackleford was the winner of the mini-stock feature and Beebe’s Ricky Wilhite won his second straight factory feature.
Randy Weaver added to his points lead in the modified division with a flag-to-flag victory over Curtis Cook and Donnie Stringfellow.
Leader sportswriter
Kyle Beard may be known as “The Silent Assassin,” but the Trumann driver is starting to make a lot of noise.
Beard won his second straight Comp Cams MSRA super late-model series race of the season with a flag-to-flag victory over strong-running veteran driver Bill Frye in action at Beebe Speedway on Friday.
Greenbrier’s Frye challenged Beard for the lead with a persistent charge on the low side entering almost every corner, but Beard kept his No. 86 GRT by Frye on the outside and rode the momentum the entire 30-lap distance to earn a $2,000, first-place payday.
“Every restart we had I think he pulled up beside me,” Beard said of Frye, a veteran car builder who constructed Beard’s winning car. “He had me pretty nervous. You get nervous every caution and then you finally get it out when you take off.
“And then another caution comes out and you get nervous all over again. I wish it could have just went green; I felt like I was better after I had run a few laps.”
Beard also led his heat race from start to finish and earned top qualifier for the feature. The 24-year-old used his good track position to claim the lead out of turn two on the first lap and survive a record seven caution flags for MSRA at Beebe.
He entered the event as the most recent series winner after dominating the field at NEA Speedway in Harrisburg to take over the season points lead two weeks earlier.
Frye also finished second to Beard in that race, a straightaway behind the leader at the finish, but he did not go as quietly at Beebe on Friday.
The five-time MARS series champion put his years on the national circuit to use with a fast, steady line around the bottom that prevented Beard from pulling away.
Frye pulled alongside Beard on lap six and again on lap 22, and worked his way right behind the leader after many of the late restarts only to have another caution slow his charge.
Russellville’s Jon Kirby was the only driver to interrupt the duel between Beard and Frye when he worked his way from a seventh-place starting position to overtake Frye for second on lap 19.
A caution was waved before Kirby could get his number 11 GRT up to Beard and contend for the lead, and Kirby’s chances ended when he became the reason for the next caution after his car got sideways on the front- stretch wall entering turn one and slid over 50 feet before bouncing violently back onto the track and coming to a stop.
Kirby was okay but his car appeared to be completely destroyed and needed a tow hook back to the pits.
Beard and Frye’s mostly clean battle up front was not indicative of the rest of the field, as series director and flagman Chris Ellis waved the caution flag seven times to break a streak of one caution or less in the previous four series events at Beebe’s quarter-mile, clay oval.
Several two-and-three-car incidents slowed the pace, but a seven-car melee with three laps left ruined the night for a number of competitive drivers, including local favorite Curtis Cook from Vilonia making his super late- model debut.
The close racing and more closely contested restarts finally backfired on lap 27 when Beard, Frye and third-place runner Shane Stephens bunched up at the front on a restart, causing a chain-reaction accident in turn four that involved five cars initially.
The carnage also spread to the front stretch where two-time MSRA champ Joey Mack was slowed because of a broken transmission and hit Cook’s 601 car.
That led Cook to an early exit from his impressive maiden voyage and left 11 cars on the track from the 20 that started.
The lineup went single file for the final restart as Beard and Frye duked it out over the final three laps. Frye made his strongest assault on Beard in that stretch, crossing the line for the white flag with his nose a few inches behind Beard’s and staying beside him for the entire final circuit.
Beard got the run he needed out of turn four of the final lap to hold off Frye by a just over a car length.
“He had a good car,” Frye said. “He was better than me around the top. I couldn’t even keep up with him on the top, but I really didn’t plan on running up there when the deal started, so, I think I just needed some more laps.”
The staff at Beebe went with a different approach to prepare the track for late-model racing. There was a flat area on the outside of turn one leading up to the pit entrance that allowed a deeper cushion of loose dirt to build and gave the racing surface a more competitive upper groove.
“The track was so much better than the last two times I was here, so I’ll take it,” Frye said. “It was good — you could race on it tonight. The last couple of times we’ve been here, it’s been one lane around the bottom, so they did a great job on the racetrack.”
With his second straight victory that helped him increase his margin in the championship standings, Beard said he was aware early in the night he could add even more momentum to his 2010 campaign.
“I had a pretty good feeling — the car felt good in the heat race,” Beard said. “The slicker it gets, the better this car gets. I had a good feeling about it.”
Stephens gained ground in the MSRA rookie points battle with a third-place run while Jon Mitchell of Texarkana, Texas, recovered from two early spins to finish fourth. Flora driver Brandon Smith completed the top five.
Mark Stephens, of Arlington, Tenn., was sixth while Eddie Provence of East End made the most of a 20th place provisional start to finish seventh and earn hard charger of the race. It was the highest finish this season for Provence in his first year back in a late model after six years of modified racing.
Jeff Floyd bounced back from a mid-race spin to finish eighth while DeWitt’s Clay Fisher and Daniel Waters of Hoxie filled out the top ten.
Mack and Cook were credited with 12th- and 13th-place finishes after running in the top five most of the way, while local driver Wade Johnson was 15th after retiring from the race early.
Kirby ended up 16th and North Little Rock’s Terry Henson was the first retiree from the race and listed 20th when his engine expired shortly after the start. Bryant’s Joseph Long, Wesley Crutchfield and Bobby Derryberry did not qualify for the feature.
Jeff Porterfield won the hobby feature while Lane Cullum took the checkers in the E-mod feature race. Paul Shackleford was the winner of the mini-stock feature and Beebe’s Ricky Wilhite won his second straight factory feature.
Randy Weaver added to his points lead in the modified division with a flag-to-flag victory over Curtis Cook and Donnie Stringfellow.
SPORTS>>McClure has triumphant swan song in Fayetteville
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Deshone McClure got a second chance at a curtain call Thursday.
This one went his way.
McClure was named the East squad’s outstanding player in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Game at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The former Jacksonville High School standout had 14 points, five assists and three rebounds tohelp the East to an 89-62 victory over the West.
McClure was a junior when Jacksonville won its 6A state championship and his hopes for a return to the finals were squashed in the second round of this year’s state tournament.
“We didn’t have the kind of season we wanted to have this year so the all-star game kind of capped it off for me,” McClure said.
McClure was the only Jacksonville player on the East squad, but he was far from lonely. He was joined by several AAU teammates as well as several former opponents like game MVP Alandise Harris, of Little Rock Central; Daquan Bryant, of crosstown rival North Pulaski; Marcell Mosley, of Marion, and Wynne’s Jerome Weaver.
“I was used to going against them every time I stepped on the court,” McClure said. “I told them, ‘I hope you’re ready for this.’ ”
The East was down by five points at halftime but rallied to outscore the West 42-25 in the second half and hold it to 29 percent shooting.
“It was real fun until the second half because I don’t like losing,” McClure said. “Then it was for real. It was real fun. It was a real fun experience.”
Though he wore the blue jersey of the East, McClure said he still felt like a Red Devil on the court.
“I had to represent Jackson-ville,” McClure said. “I felt like I was carrying my city. I wanted my team to be there.”
McClure is headed to Seminole State Junior College in Seminole, Okla.
The school plays in the National Junior College Athletic Association and finished 21-10 this year and bowed out of the NJCAA Region 2 tournament with a loss to Western Oklahoma State in the final.
While McClure may be pointed toward Oklahoma, he is hoping to use Seminole as a springboard back to Fayetteville.
“My cousin Nick Smith went there,” McClure said of Seminole. “I was going to go to a prep school but now I’m going to try to go to Seminole and then go try to play for the Razorbacks or Ole Miss.”
Leader sports editor
Deshone McClure got a second chance at a curtain call Thursday.
This one went his way.
McClure was named the East squad’s outstanding player in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Game at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The former Jacksonville High School standout had 14 points, five assists and three rebounds tohelp the East to an 89-62 victory over the West.
McClure was a junior when Jacksonville won its 6A state championship and his hopes for a return to the finals were squashed in the second round of this year’s state tournament.
“We didn’t have the kind of season we wanted to have this year so the all-star game kind of capped it off for me,” McClure said.
McClure was the only Jacksonville player on the East squad, but he was far from lonely. He was joined by several AAU teammates as well as several former opponents like game MVP Alandise Harris, of Little Rock Central; Daquan Bryant, of crosstown rival North Pulaski; Marcell Mosley, of Marion, and Wynne’s Jerome Weaver.
“I was used to going against them every time I stepped on the court,” McClure said. “I told them, ‘I hope you’re ready for this.’ ”
The East was down by five points at halftime but rallied to outscore the West 42-25 in the second half and hold it to 29 percent shooting.
“It was real fun until the second half because I don’t like losing,” McClure said. “Then it was for real. It was real fun. It was a real fun experience.”
Though he wore the blue jersey of the East, McClure said he still felt like a Red Devil on the court.
“I had to represent Jackson-ville,” McClure said. “I felt like I was carrying my city. I wanted my team to be there.”
McClure is headed to Seminole State Junior College in Seminole, Okla.
The school plays in the National Junior College Athletic Association and finished 21-10 this year and bowed out of the NJCAA Region 2 tournament with a loss to Western Oklahoma State in the final.
While McClure may be pointed toward Oklahoma, he is hoping to use Seminole as a springboard back to Fayetteville.
“My cousin Nick Smith went there,” McClure said of Seminole. “I was going to go to a prep school but now I’m going to try to go to Seminole and then go try to play for the Razorbacks or Ole Miss.”
SPORTS>>Points leader hits his stride over summer
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
He might just be the friendliest assassin you’ll ever meet.
But that’s not to say that Kyle Beard of Trumann, nicknamed “The Silent Assassin,” is not a fierce competitor when it comes to racing.
Beard is the season points leader in the Beebe-based MSRA late-model series, and has won two of the last three series events.
His victory at Northeast Arkansas Speedway in Harrisburg on June 12 broke a dry spell that went back almost a year to the day, when he won his last MSRA event at Drew County Speedway in Monticello on June 15, 2009.
He also won this past Friday at Beebe Speedway by holding off a hard-charging Bill Frye, and ran third to veterans Frye and Jeff Floyd at Crawford County Speedway the following night.
“It started off a little slow but I think we’re starting to get in a little bit better groove than we havebeen,” Beard said. “We’re starting to run a little closer to the front, anyways. It’s starting to get a little better.”
The 2009 season was not the strongest of Beard’s career. He suffered through a number of accidents and part failures, which kept him out of contention for most of the season.
He still managed to finish third in the final MSRA standings, but with only one victory for the season, the worst of his six-year career behind the wheel of a super late model.
This season got off to a lukewarm start for Beard until unseasonably high temperatures started kicking in around the middle of May.
Beard had one top-five finish and two more top 10s through five events from early March into May, and also endured six rainouts.
That included a stretch of four straight MSRA events over two weekends at the end of April and first weekend of May, but since the rain has moved out, Beard has moved up.
Beard finished out of the top 10 only once in nine starts since May 7, with six finishes in the top five. His only bad finish came in a SUPR race at I-30 on June 18 when he was spun while moving up through the field and was forced to retire early.
“It just seems when the summer starts, I get a little better,” Beard said. “I guess it takes me a couple of months to get back in my groove. We’re already having a better year than we did last year. We had some motor problems last year, but it’s already a little better than it was then.”
The majority of Beard’s 13 career, super late-model victories have come on tracks with a dry-slick condition. When tracks are not able to retain moisture and become coated with rubber from racing tires, it becomes much harder to pull alongside another car and pass.
But for Beard, who cut his teeth in the weekly street-stock class at Harrisburg in the early 2000s, those slippery conditions have been more of a benefit.
“I was raised at Harrisburg, and it’s the slickest track around pretty much,” Beard said. “I’ve always been used to it, and I think that’s helped me because I grew up racing on a slick track.”
Beard plans on finishing out the MSRA schedule as well as competing in the annual Topless 100 at Batesville in August.
He will also race in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 in Columbus, Miss., in the fall along with a handful of events with the MSCCS and P.R.O. late-model series in that area.
The biggest change for Beard and his race team in 2010 will be a new chassis. They are waiting for the final touches to be put on a brand new Moyer Victory Circle chassis that will soon arrive at Beard’s shop to replace his current GRT by Frye.
The Moyer chassis are built by hall-of-fame late-model driver Billy Moyer of Batesville, and were used by his son Billy Moyer, Jr. to claim the MSRA championship last year. But given the success he has had with the Frye chassis over the years, including two recent victories, the jury is out for Beard when it comes to deciding which ride he will favor.
“I don’t really know, we had been throwing the idea around a little bit,” Beard said. “We’ve been talking to little Billy a lot. He’s kind of talked us into it, I guess. I ordered the car last week, and then I went out and won that weekend, so it’s making me nervous a little.”
Moyer, Jr. and Beard have become friends while coming up through the late-model ranks the last five years, and with Moyer’s recent departure from the local scene and into the national spotlight, there is speculation as to whether Beard will be far behind.
Arkansas is considered a hotbed of late-model racing talent across the country, and Beard would like to add his name to the long list of successful drivers from the Natural State.
“If I can keep in a good groove and do good, I would like to go a little bigger and try some bigger shows,” Beard said. “I guess it just kind of depends on how I run.”
Leader sportswriter
He might just be the friendliest assassin you’ll ever meet.
But that’s not to say that Kyle Beard of Trumann, nicknamed “The Silent Assassin,” is not a fierce competitor when it comes to racing.
Beard is the season points leader in the Beebe-based MSRA late-model series, and has won two of the last three series events.
His victory at Northeast Arkansas Speedway in Harrisburg on June 12 broke a dry spell that went back almost a year to the day, when he won his last MSRA event at Drew County Speedway in Monticello on June 15, 2009.
He also won this past Friday at Beebe Speedway by holding off a hard-charging Bill Frye, and ran third to veterans Frye and Jeff Floyd at Crawford County Speedway the following night.
“It started off a little slow but I think we’re starting to get in a little bit better groove than we havebeen,” Beard said. “We’re starting to run a little closer to the front, anyways. It’s starting to get a little better.”
The 2009 season was not the strongest of Beard’s career. He suffered through a number of accidents and part failures, which kept him out of contention for most of the season.
He still managed to finish third in the final MSRA standings, but with only one victory for the season, the worst of his six-year career behind the wheel of a super late model.
This season got off to a lukewarm start for Beard until unseasonably high temperatures started kicking in around the middle of May.
Beard had one top-five finish and two more top 10s through five events from early March into May, and also endured six rainouts.
That included a stretch of four straight MSRA events over two weekends at the end of April and first weekend of May, but since the rain has moved out, Beard has moved up.
Beard finished out of the top 10 only once in nine starts since May 7, with six finishes in the top five. His only bad finish came in a SUPR race at I-30 on June 18 when he was spun while moving up through the field and was forced to retire early.
“It just seems when the summer starts, I get a little better,” Beard said. “I guess it takes me a couple of months to get back in my groove. We’re already having a better year than we did last year. We had some motor problems last year, but it’s already a little better than it was then.”
The majority of Beard’s 13 career, super late-model victories have come on tracks with a dry-slick condition. When tracks are not able to retain moisture and become coated with rubber from racing tires, it becomes much harder to pull alongside another car and pass.
But for Beard, who cut his teeth in the weekly street-stock class at Harrisburg in the early 2000s, those slippery conditions have been more of a benefit.
“I was raised at Harrisburg, and it’s the slickest track around pretty much,” Beard said. “I’ve always been used to it, and I think that’s helped me because I grew up racing on a slick track.”
Beard plans on finishing out the MSRA schedule as well as competing in the annual Topless 100 at Batesville in August.
He will also race in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 in Columbus, Miss., in the fall along with a handful of events with the MSCCS and P.R.O. late-model series in that area.
The biggest change for Beard and his race team in 2010 will be a new chassis. They are waiting for the final touches to be put on a brand new Moyer Victory Circle chassis that will soon arrive at Beard’s shop to replace his current GRT by Frye.
The Moyer chassis are built by hall-of-fame late-model driver Billy Moyer of Batesville, and were used by his son Billy Moyer, Jr. to claim the MSRA championship last year. But given the success he has had with the Frye chassis over the years, including two recent victories, the jury is out for Beard when it comes to deciding which ride he will favor.
“I don’t really know, we had been throwing the idea around a little bit,” Beard said. “We’ve been talking to little Billy a lot. He’s kind of talked us into it, I guess. I ordered the car last week, and then I went out and won that weekend, so it’s making me nervous a little.”
Moyer, Jr. and Beard have become friends while coming up through the late-model ranks the last five years, and with Moyer’s recent departure from the local scene and into the national spotlight, there is speculation as to whether Beard will be far behind.
Arkansas is considered a hotbed of late-model racing talent across the country, and Beard would like to add his name to the long list of successful drivers from the Natural State.
“If I can keep in a good groove and do good, I would like to go a little bigger and try some bigger shows,” Beard said. “I guess it just kind of depends on how I run.”
SPORTS>>Points leader hits his stride over summer
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
He might just be the friendliest assassin you’ll ever meet.
But that’s not to say that Kyle Beard of Trumann, nicknamed “The Silent Assassin,” is not a fierce competitor when it comes to racing.
Beard is the season points leader in the Beebe-based MSRA late-model series, and has won two of the last three series events.
His victory at Northeast Arkansas Speedway in Harrisburg on June 12 broke a dry spell that went back almost a year to the day, when he won his last MSRA event at Drew County Speedway in Monticello on June 15, 2009.
He also won this past Friday at Beebe Speedway by holding off a hard-charging Bill Frye, and ran third to veterans Frye and Jeff Floyd at Crawford County Speedway the following night.
“It started off a little slow but I think we’re starting to get in a little bit better groove than we havebeen,” Beard said. “We’re starting to run a little closer to the front, anyways. It’s starting to get a little better.”
The 2009 season was not the strongest of Beard’s career. He suffered through a number of accidents and part failures, which kept him out of contention for most of the season.
He still managed to finish third in the final MSRA standings, but with only one victory for the season, the worst of his six-year career behind the wheel of a super late model.
This season got off to a lukewarm start for Beard until unseasonably high temperatures started kicking in around the middle of May.
Beard had one top-five finish and two more top 10s through five events from early March into May, and also endured six rainouts.
That included a stretch of four straight MSRA events over two weekends at the end of April and first weekend of May, but since the rain has moved out, Beard has moved up.
Beard finished out of the top 10 only once in nine starts since May 7, with six finishes in the top five. His only bad finish came in a SUPR race at I-30 on June 18 when he was spun while moving up through the field and was forced to retire early.
“It just seems when the summer starts, I get a little better,” Beard said. “I guess it takes me a couple of months to get back in my groove. We’re already having a better year than we did last year. We had some motor problems last year, but it’s already a little better than it was then.”
The majority of Beard’s 13 career, super late-model victories have come on tracks with a dry-slick condition. When tracks are not able to retain moisture and become coated with rubber from racing tires, it becomes much harder to pull alongside another car and pass.
But for Beard, who cut his teeth in the weekly street-stock class at Harrisburg in the early 2000s, those slippery conditions have been more of a benefit.
“I was raised at Harrisburg, and it’s the slickest track around pretty much,” Beard said. “I’ve always been used to it, and I think that’s helped me because I grew up racing on a slick track.”
Beard plans on finishing out the MSRA schedule as well as competing in the annual Topless 100 at Batesville in August.
He will also race in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 in Columbus, Miss., in the fall along with a handful of events with the MSCCS and P.R.O. late-model series in that area.
The biggest change for Beard and his race team in 2010 will be a new chassis. They are waiting for the final touches to be put on a brand new Moyer Victory Circle chassis that will soon arrive at Beard’s shop to replace his current GRT by Frye.
The Moyer chassis are built by hall-of-fame late-model driver Billy Moyer of Batesville, and were used by his son Billy Moyer, Jr. to claim the MSRA championship last year. But given the success he has had with the Frye chassis over the years, including two recent victories, the jury is out for Beard when it comes to deciding which ride he will favor.
“I don’t really know, we had been throwing the idea around a little bit,” Beard said. “We’ve been talking to little Billy a lot. He’s kind of talked us into it, I guess. I ordered the car last week, and then I went out and won that weekend, so it’s making me nervous a little.”
Moyer, Jr. and Beard have become friends while coming up through the late-model ranks the last five years, and with Moyer’s recent departure from the local scene and into the national spotlight, there is speculation as to whether Beard will be far behind.
Arkansas is considered a hotbed of late-model racing talent across the country, and Beard would like to add his name to the long list of successful drivers from the Natural State.
“If I can keep in a good groove and do good, I would like to go a little bigger and try some bigger shows,” Beard said. “I guess it just kind of depends on how I run.”
Leader sportswriter
He might just be the friendliest assassin you’ll ever meet.
But that’s not to say that Kyle Beard of Trumann, nicknamed “The Silent Assassin,” is not a fierce competitor when it comes to racing.
Beard is the season points leader in the Beebe-based MSRA late-model series, and has won two of the last three series events.
His victory at Northeast Arkansas Speedway in Harrisburg on June 12 broke a dry spell that went back almost a year to the day, when he won his last MSRA event at Drew County Speedway in Monticello on June 15, 2009.
He also won this past Friday at Beebe Speedway by holding off a hard-charging Bill Frye, and ran third to veterans Frye and Jeff Floyd at Crawford County Speedway the following night.
“It started off a little slow but I think we’re starting to get in a little bit better groove than we havebeen,” Beard said. “We’re starting to run a little closer to the front, anyways. It’s starting to get a little better.”
The 2009 season was not the strongest of Beard’s career. He suffered through a number of accidents and part failures, which kept him out of contention for most of the season.
He still managed to finish third in the final MSRA standings, but with only one victory for the season, the worst of his six-year career behind the wheel of a super late model.
This season got off to a lukewarm start for Beard until unseasonably high temperatures started kicking in around the middle of May.
Beard had one top-five finish and two more top 10s through five events from early March into May, and also endured six rainouts.
That included a stretch of four straight MSRA events over two weekends at the end of April and first weekend of May, but since the rain has moved out, Beard has moved up.
Beard finished out of the top 10 only once in nine starts since May 7, with six finishes in the top five. His only bad finish came in a SUPR race at I-30 on June 18 when he was spun while moving up through the field and was forced to retire early.
“It just seems when the summer starts, I get a little better,” Beard said. “I guess it takes me a couple of months to get back in my groove. We’re already having a better year than we did last year. We had some motor problems last year, but it’s already a little better than it was then.”
The majority of Beard’s 13 career, super late-model victories have come on tracks with a dry-slick condition. When tracks are not able to retain moisture and become coated with rubber from racing tires, it becomes much harder to pull alongside another car and pass.
But for Beard, who cut his teeth in the weekly street-stock class at Harrisburg in the early 2000s, those slippery conditions have been more of a benefit.
“I was raised at Harrisburg, and it’s the slickest track around pretty much,” Beard said. “I’ve always been used to it, and I think that’s helped me because I grew up racing on a slick track.”
Beard plans on finishing out the MSRA schedule as well as competing in the annual Topless 100 at Batesville in August.
He will also race in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 in Columbus, Miss., in the fall along with a handful of events with the MSCCS and P.R.O. late-model series in that area.
The biggest change for Beard and his race team in 2010 will be a new chassis. They are waiting for the final touches to be put on a brand new Moyer Victory Circle chassis that will soon arrive at Beard’s shop to replace his current GRT by Frye.
The Moyer chassis are built by hall-of-fame late-model driver Billy Moyer of Batesville, and were used by his son Billy Moyer, Jr. to claim the MSRA championship last year. But given the success he has had with the Frye chassis over the years, including two recent victories, the jury is out for Beard when it comes to deciding which ride he will favor.
“I don’t really know, we had been throwing the idea around a little bit,” Beard said. “We’ve been talking to little Billy a lot. He’s kind of talked us into it, I guess. I ordered the car last week, and then I went out and won that weekend, so it’s making me nervous a little.”
Moyer, Jr. and Beard have become friends while coming up through the late-model ranks the last five years, and with Moyer’s recent departure from the local scene and into the national spotlight, there is speculation as to whether Beard will be far behind.
Arkansas is considered a hotbed of late-model racing talent across the country, and Beard would like to add his name to the long list of successful drivers from the Natural State.
“If I can keep in a good groove and do good, I would like to go a little bigger and try some bigger shows,” Beard said. “I guess it just kind of depends on how I run.”
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