THE ARKANSAS LEADER

CLASSIFIEDS >> 2-8-12

2012-02-08T10:00:00.000-06:00

ANNOUNCEMENTS

THRIFT SHOP open to the public. MWF, 10 am to 2 pm, first Saturday monthly. Great bargains. All revenues used to support mission. Volunteers and donations welcome. Jacksonville Care Channel, 201 Elm, 982-4647.

ANNOUNCEMENT: HELP the less fortunate in your area. Donate - Shop - Volunteer. Fishnet Missions Thrift Store is located at 1700 Swift Drive, Jacksonville, Arkansas. Hours are M-S, 9 am-1 pm. Come check us out! We have furniture, housewares, knickknacks, shoes, clothing (fill a brown paper bag for only $5, or $1 per item). We gladly accept donations of anything. All donations are tax deductible. Volunteers needed! All monies go to supply food for or food pantry, which helps approx. 9,000 families each month. (501) 241-1211.

EXPERT HAIR Cutting. Men, women, children. ROBERTA SALON, 985-2165, 118 South First St., Jacksonville. Haircuts $10. By appointment only.

THE BUTLERVILLE Volunteer Fire Dept. is getting ready for their annual yard sale fundraiser. Accepting donations of any yard sale type items. All donations are tax deductible. Accepting donations until 5/1. Pickup service available or items can be dropped off at the Butlerville Fire Dept. on Tues. evenings. Items accepted are clothes, shoes, knickknacks, furniture, tools, sporting goods, electronics, household items, books, etc. Anything that is sellable and legal. Thanks for your support.

AARP DRIVER'S Class, 2/15, 9:30 am, $12 for AARP members, $14 for non-members. St. Jude Catholic Church, 2403 MacArthur Dr., 982-4891 to register.

SERVICES

HARRELL LANDSCAPING, specializing in hedge trimming, flower beds, mowing and edging. (501) 259-1607 or (501) 628-7959.

EXPERIENCED PAINTER needs work. 10 yrs. experience, 7 yrs. in spraying. Experienced in both stain and paint. Self-motivated. 744-7457.

LITTLE HUNNY'S licensed in-home day care in Ward is now enrolling age 2 and up. Three openings available. New hours: 6 am-11 pm. For questions or enrollment, please call (501) 843-7663 after 6 pm.

HELP WANTED

Class A CDL driver needed with experience pulling long dump trailers and dry van. Must have GOOD driving record and pass drug test. home every weekend and some during the week. Home terminal Beebe, AR, (501) 690-2015.

FT/PT office assistant for construction based company. Duties include accounts payable and receivable, data entry and answering phone. Send resume to: P.O. Box 5023, Cabot, AR 72023 or fax to (501) 605-8882.

DRIVERS: $1,200 Orientation Completion Bonus and make up to .43 cpm! CDL-A OTR. Experience required. Many routes available! Call now: 1-800-213-7696.

PART-TIME/FULL-TIME COURT Security Officer in charge of security in courtroom. Minimum computer skills needed, takes pride in work. Mail resume to: P.O. Box 430, Lonoke, AR 72086.

VEHICLES and ACCESSORIES

18x9 DRIFZ wheels, FWD offset, uni-lug, spun aluminum and silver, $400. Pics. avail. (501) 230-6062.

2007 FORD Explorer Sport Trac Limited Edition, 4-Door, red, 4.6L V8, 48K miles, all power, sun roof, leather, towing pkg., Tonneau cover, $18,900 obo. (501) 590-7588.

NISSAN MURANO, 2009, SL-AWD, 32K miles, white, leather, B/U camera, fully loaded, mint condition, $24,000. (501) 941-0273, Cabot.

1996 CHEVY Corvette, red, auto., 74K miles, $10,000 or partial trade for ? 796-3901.

2005 JEEP Liberty, silver, 4-door, gray interior, 175,000 hwy. miles, great condition, $11,000. 259-9312.

2007 CHEVROLET Silverado, 66K miles, black, ext. cab, 4-Dr., leather, beautiful truck, pwr. windows, 2 WD, $17,000. 982-9279.

1998 FORD F-150 3-Dr., 4.6 liter, new tires, new brakes, new plug wires/plugs, clean, straight truck, $4,250. (870) 318-7993.

SCHOOL BUS, no motor, trans. or seats. Storage or deer camp. Clear title. $550. 982-1220.

1995 S10 Blazer 4x4, 4-Door, automatic, teal green, loaded, 156K miles, must see! $2,495. (501) 743-9252, Cabot area.

1995 NISSAN pickup, XE, 4-cyl., 98,000 miles, $4,500. (501) 983-4016.

16" CHROME rims and tires off Cadillac El Dorado, $200. (501) 779-5890, Cabot.

1989 CADILLAC Seville, good, 4.5 eng. and trans. w/20" rims and tires, has a few problems, $2,500 obo. (501) 779-5890.

1965 2-TON truck, looks good inside and out, straight 6 motor, will run, $2,000 obo. (501) 779-5890.

TOYOTA 22R head, fits early '80s rebuilt. Left fender and grill to 4x4, all for $300. (501) 983-1445.

TOYOTA HEAD for 1.8 motor, $150. (501) 983-1445.

2003 CHEVY Duramax 2500 HD 4x4, red w/tan interior, tow pkg., full ranch hand bumper on front, 131,000 miles, $13,500. (501) 288-2123.

1971 CHEVY, all original, SWB; 1982 Chevy SWB. (501) 344-2637.

2004 FORD F150 XLT reg. cab, 4.6L V8, 106K miles, tonneau cover, towing pkg, $8,000 obo. (501) 590-7588.

XM ONYX satellite radio for vehicle, all mounts, manual, brand new, pd. $80, asking $50. (501) 281-3967.

2006 DTS Luxury 2 Cadillac, 1 owner, 69,000 miles, new tires, 6 CD changer, non-smoker, quality car. (501) 834-3742.

REAR PASSENGER door for '30-'31 model Chevy, original, excellent condition. 744-8479.

RUNNING BOARDS, new, for '06-'12 Honda Ridgeline, brackets included, $75. (501) 588-5331.

HOMEMADE TRAILER, 5' sidewinder bush hog. 843-2117.

4 USED tires, 265/75/R16, $100 for all obo. (501) 266-9846.

NEW TRUCK grill, fits 2004-2008 Ford F-150 pickup. $340 new, asking $150. 843-8174.

CAR RAMPS, $15 for both. 982-0872.

1993 CROWN Victoria, no motor, $400. (501) 259-2046.

TRANSMISSION FROM '93 Crown Victoria, $150. (501) 259-2046.

1971 CHEVY custom deluxe, all original; 1982 Chevy truck. (501) 344-2637.

LATE '80/early 90s S-10 2.8 eng., 5-speed transmission and rear end. (501) 259-4620 after 3 pm.

1998 FORD Taurus 4-Dr., white, $800. 988-0530.

PARTING OUT: Chevrolet truck, many parts to choose from. 744-8479.

RECREATIONAL VEHICLES

2005 SUZUKI Boulevard C90 1500 w/accessories, 1,800 miles, adult ridden, quiet pipes, $5,500 obo. (870) 448-5635.

18' BOAT and trailer w/Johnson motor and trolling motor, $600. (501) 779-5890, Cabot.

1988 HONDA GL1500 motorcycle, free. mrsbrowntracy@gmail.com or (501) 605-1392.

2009 YAMAHA Raider motorcycle, 113 ci., 6,700 mi. Comes w/Raider backrest, windshield, 2 helmets, $9,999. 743-0172.

MOTORCYCLE TRAILER, hauls 2 bikes, older, heavy duty, Arkansas title, $400. 243-0699, Jax.

LAWN and FARM EQUIPMENT

WANTED: LATE model riding lawn mower, prefer John Deere, consider other brands, must be good price, pay cash. (501) 843-5376.

JOHN DEERE mounting frames for 200 CX loader that fits John Deere 27-20 tractor, $225. 843-8363 afternoons only.

42" CRAFTSMAN riding mower w/triple bagger, approx. 10 yrs. old, very good condition. Includes alum. loading ramp. $650. (501) 626-5084, Beebe area.

WANTED: ROTO-TILLER, free or cheap. (501) 743-5573.

1981 KUBOTA tractor, 47.5 hp., only about 5400 hours, comes w/bush hog and 8' disc, $3,800. 743-0172.

LOST and FOUND

LOST: MALE Chihuahua mix, white w/tan on back, answers to Peanut, near Pear St., Cabot, wearing a blue harness. (501) 941-1177.

LOST: LARGE Sumbrella brand brown and tan striped porch pillow from Southfork Subdv., Cabot. (501) 626-1769.

LOST: REDDISH brown Chi-weenie from Butlerville Rd. on 1/17. Wearing blue collar, weighs 5 lbs. Family is heartbroken, (501) 231-9495.

FOUND: LABRADOR Retriever in Turkey Mountain Rd area. 288-3566.

FOUND: BICYCLE, near Cabot. (501) 605-2712 to identify.

ANIMALS, PETS and SUPPLIES

LAB MIX puppies, 1 or all, free to good home, 5 black and 3 chocolate, 6 wks. old. 843-6108.

GUINEA PIG cage, 1.5' x 3.5' with bedding and feed, $20. (501) 554-3794.

FERRET, very friendly, big house and lots of accessories included, $150 for all. (501) 605-6534.

FREE KITTENS to good home. (501) 743-5573.

2 FREE puppies, pit bull/American bull dog mix, 11 wks. old. Must live outside city limits. (501) 519-1588.

GENTLY USED pet stroller, used only 2 mos., $50. (501) 258-0993.

WANTED: MALE Bourbon red turkeys, will take up to 3, call or text (501) 941-4534, Felicia.

FREE PUPPIES, German Shepherd/Rottweiler mix, cute and smart, 8 wks. old. (501) 283-1949 or (501) 288-2851.

CHIHUAHUA/POODLE MIX, 1 yr. old, free. (501) 519-1588.

GOATS, $35 each. (501) 843-1026.

DANDY NEW dog house, well built, $150. 982-6225.

MISCELLANEOUS

BIG WHEEL wheelchair with leg and feet supports, 18" seat, black, $50. (501) 940-5972.

WHITE SATIN wedding gown, pearls, sequins and detachable train, sweetheart neckline, sleeveless, sz. 4, $125. (870) 552-3626.

CRAFT FIREPLACE insert with blower and heavy duty grate, good condition, $250 cash. 843-7939.

5-PC. CB drum set, excellent condition, all pedal parts included, $325 obo. (501) 941-8595.

LADIES JEANS, all different sizes, brand new Khakis, misc. items. (501) 983-4579.

WOMEN'S CLOTHES, approx. size 6-8, mostly name brand items, most skirt/pant suits, $25; most tops, $5; most pants/shorts, $5; dresses, $10-15, leopard coat w/tags, $200 obo. Pics. avail. Call or text (501) 944-5346.

70 PC. angel collection, ceramic, $100. 259-9457.

RAINBOW VACUUM cleaner, good condition, $300. 988-4094.

PROFORM 765i interactive treadmill, excellent condition, rarely used, includes built-in CD player, motivational CDs and fan, space saver, so it won't take up much room, $300 obo. (571) 259-9926 or (571) 259-9929.

SINGER SEWING machine, in case, $50; wooden rocking chair, $30; antique chest w/marble top, $75; 2 windows, $100. 988-0334.

AREA RUG, $40; lamps, $50; Ficus tree, $25; TV cabinet w/shelves and glass top, $80. 843-8363 afternoons only.

PROPANE TANK, 150 gallon w/20 gallons propane, $200. (501) 310-0879.

MOBILE HOME meter loop, complete, 1st Electric specs., $350. (501) 310-0879.

OHAUS TRIPLE beam penny weight scales, $75 obo. (501) 941-0011, Cabot.

DELL 19" monitor, keyboard, speakers and mouse, $50. (501) 628-7085.

2-PC. JAGUAR luggage set, new condition, $40. (501) 628-7085.

1958 SINGER Slant-O-Matic sewing machine w/cabinet and all accessories, $225. (501) 628-7085.

PECANS: CRACKED, halves, pieces. (501) 743-8129, 10 am-10 pm, Doris.

JUNK for sale, lots of miscellaneous. (501) 983-4016.

TREADMILL, manual operated, brand new. 843-6219.

TRAINS, BACHMAN G scale, 2 full sets plus, $350 neg. (501) 988-1701.

20 AVON decanters from the 70s, all for $30; 1966 Avon vanity tray w/3 perfume bottles, $5. (501) 982-2688, Jax.

200 AMP meter loop, $250. (501) 983-1445.

SHOWER CURTAINS and other misc. household items. (501) 983-4579.

WHITE WEDDING gown, size 14, shawl included; wedding shoes, size 6, blue and white lace, garter. (501) 533-3031.

OAKLEY MEN'S sunglasses; antique porcelain doll, 2 sets of clothes; 1993 Clinton doll; Elvis playing cards and Memphis newspaper dated Elvis' death. (501) 533-3031.

1966 SEARS motorcycle; 1927 washing machine; 2 antique jukeboxes, working condition. (501) 344-2637.

TREADMILL, Welson model Candace G5.9, brand new, used once, manual included, pd. $257, asking $150. (501) 281-3967.

ORANGUTAN FOR bed patient, new cost $500+, asking $150. 982-1097.

8 CASES of small briefs, (4) 12 packs for $10. 985-6996, Larry.

SUN RECORD #234, Blue Suede Shoes, 78 RPM, written 1955 and sung by Carl Perkins in 1956, good condition, make offer. 988-5237.

CRIB MATTRESS, Simmons Babyrest, $25; crib bedding set, girl's, w/comforter, bumper, sheet and bed pad, $15; Fisher Price musical mobile, $15; All for $50. 941-9664.

PLAYSTATION 2 w/2 controllers, rock band set and steering wheel set, all for $150. (501) 680-6155.

5,000 WATT portable Generac generator w/elec. start B and S 10 hp. gen. pwr. motor, 5 gal. fuel tank, wheel kit, (1) 30 amp. 120v, (2) 20 amp. 120v and (1) 20 am 120/240v outlets. Purchased 2001, garage kept, low hrs., $450 obo. (501) 837-6189.

GOLF CLUBS, 2 L-wedge II clubs, $75. 982-0872.

ANTIQUE VINTAGE Maytag washer, 1927; Antique 1966 Sears motorcycle; 2 antique jukeboxes. (501) 344-2637.

CHIMNEY TOPS, T-shaped, 18" tall x 21" wide x 8" diameter, Spanish clay, good condition, $30 ea. or 2 for $50. 982-1220.

BUTTONS, all sizes, shapes and colors, 7" x 10" metal box, $30. 982-1220.

2 SUMP pumps, 5 hp. Briggs gas motors, run good, no hoses, $150 ea. 243-0699, Jax.

SPRING JACKETS, sz. 8-10, various colors, nice, Kasper, etc. Some new w/tags, $8-$10. (501) 268-3886.

2 SETS of luggage, brand new; microwave oven, good working condition; spa slippers; back supports. (501) 882-3171.

GIRL'S 26" bike, $25; boy's 10-speed 26" bike, $25. 681-5330, Jackie.

MOBILE HOME door and storm door, 32x75, $80 for pair. Has frame, but needs repair. (501) 983-1445.

FURNITURE and APPLIANCES

MASSOUD SOFA, mauve w/blue and peach, 3-cushion, very good condition, $175. (870) 552-3626.

GE PROFILE 30 smooth black glass cook top, like new, $450 obo. (501) 941-7402.

NICE DAYBED w/like new mattress, excellent condition, walnut veneer trim, $150 cash. (501) 833-2338 or (501) 425-9133.

2 VINTAGE ladder back chairs, 38" high, $30 ea. (501) 628-7085.

KENMORE TRIO refrigerator, white, ice and water in door, filter, fits in 33" space, 3 yrs. old, very nice. (501) 270-0593, El Paso area.

30" SMOOTH top range, Whirlpool brand, self-cleaning, large oven, 3 yrs. old, very clean, works like new, lots of nice features, $350. (501) 270-0593, El Paso area.

CRIB, honey oak, turns into toddler bed, $60. (501) 270-0593, El Paso area.

SPINET solid maple piano glider rocker w/footstool, 2 colonial-style rockers, washer, 2 electric dryers, 2 bedroom suits. (501) 425-8085.

PREMIUM KENMORE front loading washer and dryer, white, Master Protection maintenance agreement through 8/12, purchased 2003, $500 for both. (501) 400-5656.

KENMORE UPRIGHT freezer, white, purchased 2003, 5' tall, very good condition, $125. (501) 400-5656.

TAN OVERSTUFFED couch w/ chocolate brown legs, used; black sleigh bed set. (501) 983-4579.

ROUND INDIAN brass gate leg coffee table bought in London, England. Padded top, wood legs; vanity bench; clean air machines (2); Excellent Kirby and Rainbow vacuum cleaners. (501) 533-3031.

REMODELING: Kenmore dishwasher, excellent condition, $100; double sink, stainless steel, new faucets, $55. (501) 690-5132.

RECLINING SOFA and matching love seat, medium blue, nice condition, $175. Pics avail. (501) 940-0638.

MAYTAG NEPTUNE front load washer and dryer, electric, excellent condition, $400. (501) 941-5274 or (501) 944-2258.

SPEED QUEEN washer, needs new belt, $50 obo. Call or text (501) 286-3833, Victoria.

3 YR. old Whirlpool, looks brand new, needs work on agitator, free. 985-4454, Virginia.

TV DESK, food serving cart, wood cabinet w/drawer, 4 bar stools. All for $75. (501) 680-6155.

NU-WAVE COOKER, as seen on TV, $65. (479) 409-6151.

SOFA, 7.5' long, $125; antique wooden ironing board, $20; Jenny Lind wooden high chair, $20. 681-5330, Jackie.

TABLE, 4 chairs and 2 stools, oak butcher block top, white metal framed chairs, $150 for all. (501) 983-1445.

WANTED

WANTED: 6' round cattle stock trough. (501) 476-2764.

FREE FILL dirt needed, El Paso. Will pick up. (501) 398-6359.

WANTED: SINGLE mom on fixed income needs a good working washing machine. (501) 259-2402.

RENTALS

Sherwood/Jacksonville areas. Beautiful 2, 3 and 4 Bedroom Mobile Homes. Large lots, in quiet safe park, close to LRAFB. Clean, quiet, and safe park. $450-$695 plus deposit. (501) 835-3450.

Jacksonville Mobile Homes for rent. Quiet safe park, internet security cameras, 2 or 3 bedrooms, kitchen furnished. Water/sewer, trash dumpster and yard care furnished. (501) 982-5267.

IN BEEBE: very nice, 2 Bedroom/ 2 Bath apartments. All utilities paid including basic cable. Washer and Dryer furnished. $700 month. Twin Lakes Apartments. Call Lisa at 278-0498.

STUDIO APARTMENTS - Jacksonville. Cozy 1 bedroom apts. Bed pulls down from wall in living room. Wood burning fireplace, $295 mo. and util. Military discount available. No children, no pets. Camp Construction, 982-0434.

Ward: 2 and 3 bedroom duplexes, all electric, stove, dishwasher, washer/dryer hookups, $485 and $525 with $400 deposit. Water and garbage paid. No pets. (501) 529-2303.

CABOT AREA, extra nice 2 and 3 BR duplexes for rent. $575 and $650. No pets. (501) 605-0614.

CABOT SCHOOL District, 1,800 sq. ft., 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 15 minutes to base, large lot, covered patio. $1,000 deposit, $1,300 month rent, no pets. (501) 681-8400.

NEW MOBILE home. 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1,100 sq. ft. Rent $575 and lawn mowed. Cabot school district. (501) 941-9417, BJ.

UPSTAIRS UNIT, 700 sq. ft., 2 BR, 1 BA, $500. Contact Mary Jane at (561) 287-0256.

HOUSES FOR SALE

HOUSE FOR sale - Must see! 2 bedroom, 1 bath with carport, newly remodeled, fenced-in backyard with storage building, central heat and air, all electric. Great starter home. (501) 605-2056.

EVENTS >> 2-8-12

2012-02-08T09:59:00.000-06:00

SENIOR CENTER ROAST OF PERRY ON FEB. 23

The Jacksonville Senior Wellness and Activity Center, 100 Victory Circle, will host its 17th annual roast and toast at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23.

State Rep. Mark Perry (D-Jacksonville) is the honoree.

Tickets are $35 per person or $280 for a table of eight. They may be purchased at the senior center by contacting Christy, Lala, Betty or Connie at 501-982-7531.

All proceeds will go toward further services and activities for seniors in north Pulaski County.

n The center will also dance the evening away with Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 13. Admission is $6 per person and tickets may be purchased at the door. The dance is open to all ages.

COALITION OF CHARITIES MEETS THURSDAY AT THE DINER

The Cabot Community Coalition, a group of charities in the Cabot area, will meet at The Diner at noon Thursday.

A representative from the Arkansas Hunger Alliance will discuss the the organization’s new No Child Hungry campaign.

People looking for a place to volunteer are welcome to attend. The Diner is at 3286 S. 2nd St. For more information, call 501-529-0604.

SHERWOOD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DINNER THURSDAY

The Sherwood Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual installation and awards banquet at 6 p.m. Thursday at Sherwood Forest. A social hour will kickoff the event followed by dinner and the program at 7 p.m. Little Rock film producer Vincent Insalaco will speak and Xceptional Duo will perform.

Tickets will be $50 at the door.

SHARON'S PARENTS ASSOCIATION HOSTS DANCE FRIDAY

Sharon’s Parents Association will hold its Sweetheart Dance from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at Sharon’s School of Dance, Gymnastics and Cheer, 213 N. James St. in Jacksonville. Bring your little sweetheart and join in the fun.

Attire is Sunday best. Admission is $20 for couples or $10 per person, which includes a spaghetti dinner, dessert and dancing. Pictures will be taken and sold at the dance.

For details, call Tracy at 501-940-9703.

JACKSONVILLE AARP DRIVER-SAFETY COURSE FEB. 15

Jacksonville AARP will begin its next drivers-safety course at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15.

The cost is $12 for members and $14 for nonmembers. The class is held at St. Jude Catholic Church, 2403 MacArthur Drive. Call 501-982-4891 to register.

HOPE LUTHERAN CHURCH'S SPAGHETTI DINNER SATURDAY

Hope Lutheran Church in Jacksonville will hold a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at 5:30 p.m. Saturday with all-you-can-eat spaghetti, salad and bread. Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for children. Kids under 4 eat free. Proceeds fund the church’s outreach ministries. Music will be provided by Alice 107.7 and there will be a silent auction. The church is at 1904 McArthur Drive.

For more information, call 501-982-1333.

JACKSONVILLE SERTOMA CLUB FATHER-DAUGHTER DANCE

The Jacksonville Sertoma Club will hold its second-annual father-daughter banquet at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17 at the Jacksonville Community Center. There will be dinner, dessert and dancing.

Admission is $35 for father and daughter, $45 for father and two daughters and $50 for father and three or more daughters, which includes a keepsake photograph and tiara. Dress is evening attire. For more information, call Mary Twitty at 501-912-9422 or Valerie Perry at 501-259-3685.

WEIGHT-LOSS PROGRAM AT SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH

The Second Baptist Church of Jacksonville chapter of Take Off Pounds Sensibly, a weight-loss support group known as TOPS, will meet from 8 to 10 a.m. every Thursday for weigh-ins, information sessions and fellowship. The church is at 1117 N. James St.

For details, call 501-985-2502.

CABOT KIWANIS CLUB CHILI COOKOFF FEB. 25

The Cabot Kiwanis Club will hold a chili cookoff from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25 at Cabot Junior High North.

Tickets are $3 and can be purchased at the door or from club members.

Entry fee is $20. Applicants can register and get contest rules by calling Trina Welch at 501-605-2580.

Four prizes of $100 will be awarded — one for best chili in each division and one for best theme and decorations in each division.

The Sherwood Rotary Club will hold its annual chili cookoff beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25 at Sherwood Forrest, 1111 W. Maryland Ave.

FUNDRAISER FEB. 25 FOR GOD'S HOLY HOUSE REPAIRS

God’s Holy House Church in Jacksonville will host a fundraiser chili supper and gospel music concert from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb 25. The church is at 417 Dupree Drive.

Admission for adults is $8 and $4 for children. Proceeds will help the church repair and replace water-damaged equipment and items that were intended to be distributed to people in need.

The Red River Band and Milton Lee will perform. The event is cosponsored by Westside Baptist Church.

JACKSONVILLE NARFE MEETING 11:30 A.M. THURSDAY

The Jacksonville chapter of National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association will meet at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Western Sizzlin’ in Jacksonville.

All active and retired employees are welcome. NARFE works to protect the benefits of federal employees and retirees.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR CABOT'S CLEANUP MARCH

Cabot will host its annual spring cleanup Saturday, March 17.

The annual event sponsored by Cabot City Beautiful and the city offers residents a chance to spruce up their hometown from 9 a.m. until noon. It is held in conjunction with the national Great American Cleanup and Keep Arkansas Beautiful Month.

Everyone in the Cabot area is encouraged to participate: Civic and service groups, church and youth groups, school groups and clubs, scout groups, residents and their families and neighborhood groups and businesses.

Volunteers will meet at the Cabot Panther Stadium parking lot at 9 a.m. March 17. They will be assigned routes if they have not already designated their own areas. Orange safety vests and garbage bags will be provided. Participants are encouraged to bring sturdy work gloves. A free lunch will be served to volunteers. To volunteer, call 501-920-2122.

The event will also include a drop-off point to dispose of various electronics and household hazardous waste.

AUTHORS SIGN BOOK ON CABOT'S HISTORY

Mike and Debra Polston will sign copies of their new book, “Images of America: Cabot,” from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Museum of American History, 114 S. First St. in Cabot.

The photographic history is the first full-length book published about Cabot in 20 years. The book was published by Arcadia Publishing and contains more than 120 pages of photos and text detailing the city’s history from the late 1800s to the present.

The Museum of American History in Cabot will be open six Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on several upcoming Fridays.

The museum, at 114 S. First St. in the old Cabot Public Works building, contains about 6,000 pieces, many from political campaigns. The museum will be open this Friday, as well as Feb. 24, March 9, April 6 and April 20. The award-winning museum is run by volunteer Cabot High School students with assistance from Mr. Polston.

DISMANG, GILLAM SPEAK AT BEEBE BREAKFAST FRIDAY

State Sen. Jonathan Dismang of Beebe and state Rep. Jeremy Gillam of Judsonia will attend a breakfast in Beebe at 7:30 a.m. Friday to provide constituents with an update on their agenda for the upcoming legislative session.

This event is sponsored by the Beebe Chamber of Commerce and will be held in the Centennial Bank room at Beebe City Hall. Coffee and donuts will be served.

CABOT LIONS BELIEVE IN 'LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT' MONDAY

The Cabot Lions Club will hold a “Love at First Sight” collection drive from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at the Walmart Supercenter in Cabot.

Residents are asked to donate used eyeglasses, sunglasses, frames or lenses.

DEADLINE FOR JACKSONVILLE BEAUTY PAGEANT FEB. 17

The Miss Greater Jacksonville Pageant and the Miss Greater Jacksonville Outstanding Teen Pageant will be held Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Jacksonville Community Center. Deadline to enter is Feb. 17.

The pageants are preliminary competitions for the Miss Arkansas and Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen pageants to be held in Hot Springs in the summer. The pageant is open to contestants who have lived, attended school or worked in Jacksonville for the last 6 months and live in the following counties: Grant, Faulkner, Lonoke, Jefferson, Perry, Pulaski or Saline.

Miss Jacksonville contestants must be between the ages of 17 and 24. Outstanding teen contestants must be at least 13 years old by the date of the state pageant or no older than 17 and must not be a senior in high school. Other contests will include Baby Miss for girls under 18 months, Toddler Miss for girls between the ages of 19 and 35 months, Wee Miss for 3- to 4-year-olds, Tiny Miss for 5- and 6-year-olds, Little Miss for 7- to 9-year-olds and Petite Miss for 10- to 12-year-olds. Each competition includes beauty with optional talent and photogenic portions. For details, call Sharon at 501-982-38

SPORTS EVENTS >> 2-8-12

2012-02-08T01:19:00.000-06:00

COACHES CALL US

The Leader would like to hear from all coaches in all sports in our coverage area. Please e-mail results, statistics or information to leadersports@arkansasleader.com or fax to 501-985-0026 or call 982-9421.

REGISTRATION, COMMUNITY CLEANUP UNDER WAY AT FLOYD

The Floyd Community Ball Park is holding registration for youth baseball and softball from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Feb. 4 and Feb. 18 at the community ball park. The annual park committee meeting and community chili supper will be held March 3 at the Floyd Methodist Church, and will also be the last chance to register. Registration days will also be cleanup and preparation days for the upcoming season, and the park is in need of volunteers. Anyone needing more information on registration, or wanting to help prepare the park, e-mail dcorivs@gmail.com or call 501-796-8726.

FREE CHEERLEADING CLINICS AT JHS GYM

Free cheerleading clinics for anyone planning to try out for the Jacksonville Red Devil cheer squad will be held at 6 p.m. on Feb. 20, 23, 27 and March 1 at the Jacksonville High School auxilary gym. The clinic covers jumps, motions, stunts and tumblings. Mandatory parent meetings are also scheduled for 2 p.m. Feb. 12, and 6 p.m. Feb. 13. All interested in trying out must have a parent attend one of these meetings. Tryouts are March 8-10.

OBITUARIES >> 2-8-12

2012-02-08T00:13:00.000-06:00

JEAN SEARS

Jean Ray Sears, 66, passed away Feb. 7.

She was a member of Bethel United Methodist Church in North Little Rock and a lab technician at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and later an office manager for Alcinco Drilling in Alaska and Bill Keathley Construction of Little Rock.

She served as secretary and treasurer of the Lions Club of Fairbanks, Alaska. She was an avid fan of NASCAR and dirt track racing. She was a board member of the the Greater Fairbanks Racing Association and the Walter’s Chapel Cemetery Association.

She had a green thumb and was an admirable gardener.

Her parents, Hayward and Lavodia Rochelle Jones, of North Little Rock preceded her in death.

Survivors include five children, Carl Ray of South Haven, Miss., Doris Saltkill of Lavaca, Diana Spears of Lonoke, Jimmy Ray of Ward, and Donna Webber of Fairbanks, Alaska; two brothers, Robert Jones of North Little Rock, Tom Jones of Piedmont, Ala.; a sister, Joy Jones McPherson, of Lavaca, seven grandchildren and a host of other family and friends.

The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 10 at Boyd Funeral Home in Lonoke.

Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

LAURA JONES

Laura Jo Jones, 79, of Carlisle passed away Feb. 5.

She was born March 25, 1932, in Vandale.

She was retired from Remington Arms.

A sister, Joyce Walker, and her parents, John and Lois Walker, all of West Memphis, preceded her in death. Survivors include two daughters, Diane Worley, of Jonesboro and Deborah Ingle of Carlisle; one son, Donald Jones, of Norfolk, Va.; four sisters, Pattye Watson, Sue Pittman, Johnnie Price and Glenda Tackett, eight grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and a multitude of loving nieces, nephews and cousins.

A memorial service will be held at Hickory Plains Methodist Church at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 11.

Arrangements are by Boyd Funeral Home in Lonoke.

LAWRENCE FISHER

Lawrence Carlo Fisher, 63, of Jacksonville, born April 16, 1948, to Arthur and Nancy Fisher, passed away Feb. 5. He was a driver for Pathfinders.

He was preceded in death by his father, a brother and a sister.

Lawrence is survived by his wife, Margaret Fisher; his mother, Nancy Fisher; a son, Nathan Hogans, two nieces and one nephew.

A memorial service will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11 at Arkansas Funeral Care in Jacksonville

WILLIAM POINDEXTER

William H. (Bill) Poindexter was born Aug. 25, 1940, and he died Jan. 23 at the Navy Regional Medical Center in San Diego, Calif.

He served 30 years in the Navy and retired as command master chief.

His parents and a sister, Ida Jo Reaves, preceded him in death.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Kay Poindexter; two sons, Mark and Jeffrey; one brother, Danny Poindexter; two nephews, Keith Reaves and Nate Poindexter, and one niece, Janice Davis.

A memorial ceremony with military honors will be held at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego on Feb. 16.

TOP STORY >> Former legislator had Cabot roots

2012-02-07T21:20:00.005-06:00

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

George Wimberly, who grew up in Cabot, was known for many things.

He was a former mayor of Little Rock and he served in the Arkansas House of Representatives.

He was a drug store owner with no formal education as a druggist and by most accounts a caring man who would go out of his way to make sure his drug store customers had what they needed even in the middle of the night.

Wimberly died Sunday. He was 92 and despite all his accomplishments, he is best known across the state from news reports in 1988 about a scandal at his Buice Drug Store in Stifft Station concerning his good friend Little Rock Police Chief Jess F. “Doc” Hale. Hale was caught on camera with his hand in Wimberly’s cash register. He was suspended and charged with misdemeanor theft of less than $200. Then he shot himself to death a month later.

His defenders said Wimberly allowed him to take money from time to time.

State Sen. Eddie Joe Williams called The Leader when he heard about Wimberly’s death, not to set the record straight but to talk about his connection to Wimberly, a first cousin to Williams’ mother, Dorothy Wimberly Williams.

He had always known Wimberly, Williams said. They attended the same family reunions and his mother told him stories about how Wimberly’s father made sure her father had money to buy Christmas gifts for them.

“When we were kids, we looked up to him because he was the mayor of Little Rock,” Williams said. “That might be where my interest in politics came from. I didn’t know anyone else who was involved.”

It was only later, when Williams ran for city council in Cabot that he learned that J.T. Wimberly, George’s father, became Cabot’s first mayor in 1919 before going back to Star City where he was elected Lincoln County judge and then to the Arkansas House of Representatives.

When Williams became mayor in 2007, he looked through old city records and found his great-uncle’s name in the first city book. Then he called his cousin and got a picture of J.T. Wimberly to hang in the hallway at city hall with all the other mayors. Until January 2011, J.T. Wimberly was at the head of the line of pictures and Williams was at the end.

When Williams was sworn in as mayor, his mother and Wimberly were there. Wimberly talked briefly about the old days and one of his teachers, Mrs. Park, mother of city leader J.M. Park, now deceased.

When Williams ran for state senate, he visited Wimberly at his drug store, which had ceased to be a popular hangout for politicians after the incident with Hale in 1988.

“He reached in his pocket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. He said he wanted to help,” he said.

Williams said he talked to his cousin once about what happened with Hale.

“The Doc Hale thing was such a sad chapter in his life,” he said. He said it was the most difficult thing he had ever lived through.

“Money was missing and he didn’t know why. And when he saw the tape, he turned it over to the State Police. He said it was out of his hands.”

The incident almost certainly ended Wimberly’s political career. But he kept his drug store open and continued to take care of his customers until shortly before his death.

“What you hear is true, Williams said. “He really did carry a case of light bulbs in his car.”

Wimberly delivered medicine to shut-ins, Williams said. When he came across a porch with a light out, he changed the bulb because he knew the people inside couldn’t do it for themselves.

Williams also attested to the truthfulness of the blog posts about the signs that hung in his cousin’s drug store: The only true love that money can buy is a dog and don’t tell my mother I’m a lobbyist, she thinks I’m a piano player in a whorehouse.

They were there on the wall, Williams said.

Even Williams pointed out that his cousin is probably best known for the incident in 1988. But here are a few remarks posted on the Arkansas Times blog by people who knew him:

“George and I sat on the same row in the ledge and we came into service in the same class. George was always genial and respectful and helpful to most. Other things, others can testify to.

Once I went to George with a complaint about my big toe hurting. I could hardly walk.
I removed my shoe to let George look at it. Before I could yell in pain, he had taken pliers and pulled off my toe nail. More shock than pain. He then patched me up and sent me on my way. Problem solved.”

“George was the sweetest man. When my girls were little we lived down the street, and we would walk to see him on Saturdays. He also very graciously delivered their prescriptions to the door when they had an ear infection or were sick. Loved him dearly.”

“Mr. Wimberly was one of the most caring people to ever live in this fine state. There is no telling the number of prescriptions he filled and gave to patients who could not afford them. He took in stray dogs and stray people of all shades and lent them a hand. He was a true friend to many, and he will be missed.”

“The pharmacy, the sign and all ought to be a little museum. I think it was the last place I filled a prescription, which the label was made with a typewriter.”

“George was one of the hardest working men I ever knew, even at 80 or 90 years old he worked seven days a week, and got there early in the morning. I have even seen him at work on Christmas Day on more than one occasion. He would go out of his way to help someone. He would sometimes bend the rules a little when someone truly needed help, and understood that doing what was right was sometimes more important than doing what was legal. He was a role model, a better person than most anyone I have ever known.”

EDITORIAL >> Welcome, Mrs. Obama

2012-02-07T21:20:00.004-06:00

Michelle Obama will land at Little Rock Air Force Base on Thursday to promote the second anniversary of her “Let’s Move!” initiative geared toward fighting childhood obesity.

We extend an Arkansas welcome to the first lady, whose health and fitness campaign will complement the military’s efforts to improve the nutritional content of food served on military bases.

The base is one of six military installations taking part in a pilot program designed to improve the quality, variety and availability of food for the men and women in uniform and their dependents.

The first lady will be briefed about the healthy eating habits of airmen and tour the dining facility. She will sit down and eat with about 40 airmen and discuss how they feel about the pilot program.

The first lady’s three-day tour kicks off in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday morning and makes stops at Jacksonville, Fort Worth and Dallas, as well as Homestead, Orlando and Longwood, Fla.

Mrs. Obama kicked off “Let’s Move!” exactly two years ago to reduce childhood obesity. According to a White House press release, some of the initiative’s accomplishments include the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. In January, the USDA released school meal regulations updating the quality of nutrition through the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs. The updates call for more fruits, vegetables and whole grains to be served at schools, as well as meals with less sodium, saturated fat and trans fat.

Grocers have committed to build or expand 1,500 stores in communities with little to no access to healthy food. Approximately 9.5 million people will now have healthier food choices available to them, according to the White House.

While the first lady visits here, let’s hope she finds the time to drop in at the two fine schools at the air base, the new Flightline Academy for middle-school students and the award-winning Arnold Drive Elementary. In 2010, the U.S. Education Department named Arnold Drive a Blue Ribbon school for academic excellence, one of only four schools in Arkansas to get the award.

Arnold Drive Elementary has about 250 students and about half qualify for free or reduced lunches. The website Schooldigger.com gives Arnold Drive a five-star rating, placing it 16th among the state’s 457 elementary schools.

Mrs. Obama will be impressed.

TOP STORY >> PCSSD hoping it can escape state scrutiny

2012-02-07T21:18:00.006-06:00

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

Bill Goff, the Pulaski County Special School District’s chief financial officer, thinks the district has a good chance of meeting all requirements to be released from fiscal distress by the end of the 2012-13 school year by balancing its books, which would help the district get out from under state supervision.

“I’m very optimistic we can fulfill the fiscal distress plan” by cutting several million in spending, Goff said.

The original finding of fiscal distress dates back to transgressions several years old, discovered after the PCSSD board asked the state Bureau of Legislative Audit to take a good look at the district’s books.

When the state Board of Education meets Monday, it is slated to consider classifying the district as being in fiscal distress for having a low financial reserve budget.

Again.

This would be on top of the district’s existing designation of fiscal distress, issued last March.

Following that designation, the state board dissolved the PCSSD school board and fired its superintendent, Charles Hopson, who is a finalist for a superintendent’s job in Florida.

State Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell thus became a board of one for the district.

MORE DISTRESS

The fiscal distress designation that the state Board of Education will consider Monday is based on the drop in the district’s financial reserves from $9.5 million to $4.5 million over the course of the 2010-2011 school year, Goff said.

Excluding federal program funds, the PCSSD budget is about $170 million, about 80 percent of that in hard-to-touch salaries, Goff said.

The teachers and support staff have agreed to forego pay increases, other than regular step-grade in-creases, which could save the district about $4 million, using Goff’s rough figures.

A change — reduction for some — in fringe benefit health insurance could save another $1.5 million, improvements to some buildings, making them more energy efficient, will help some, the warm winter has reduced utility costs will contribute to the $7 million in savings, he said.

The 70 percent of district workers who receive $313 a month for their health insurance will continue to do so, but those who opt instead to receive a similar amount toward buying their own insurance will have that amount reduced to $40 a month.

For the first time in at least a decade, student enrollment increased at PCSSD by perhaps 135 students. Each student brings about $5,500, so there’s an income increase in minimum foundation aid of about $750,000 if those numbers hold.

OPTIONS LIMITED

A district that can’t escape from fiscal distress within two school years is subject to consolidation or annexation with an adjacent school district, or reconstitution, but the existing desegregation agreement would make any of those options difficult if not impossible, according to Goff.

Federal District Judge Price Marshall has oversight regarding desegregation matters, and any real change in structure would have to be approved by him.

Kimbrell has told some state legislators that he would like the law changed to allow a district five years to fully implement a recovery plan. Kimbrell’s proposal is unlikely to be considered next week, when the state General Assembly convenes for its fiscal session, but it could be considered at the next regular session a year from now, in plenty of time to be in force before the district’s two-year time limit expires.

Based largely on the legislative audit, the state Education Board last March put PCSSD on fiscal distress for bad financial oversight and transparency, improper payments to former superintendent James Sharpe, inappropriate reimbursement to board members and because a maintenance manager stole and sold $400,000 in parts, supplies and items — among other reasons.

TOP STORY >> Legion honors heroic war chaplains

2012-02-07T21:18:00.004-06:00

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

The Cabot American Legion Post 71 held a memorial service on Sunday to honor four chaplains of different faiths who sacrificed their lives to save four soldiers on a troop carrier that was sunk by a German submarine during the Second World War.

On the night of Feb. 2, 1943, the Army transport ship Dorchester was traveling the frigid waters from Newfoundland to an American base in Greenland.

The Dorchester, a former luxury ocean liner, was carrying 902 servicemen, merchant seamen and civilian workers. It was escorted by three Coast Guard cutter ships.

The Dorchester was 150 miles from the base. The captain ordered the men to sleep in their clothing and keep their life jackets on. Many of the men ignored the captain’s orders, because the life jackets were uncomfortable and the ship’s engine made them hot.

A German U-boat spotted the Dorchester at 12:55 a.m. on Feb. 3. The submarine fired torpedoes, striking the Dorchester. The hit blasted a hole in the ship and knocked out radio contact. The ship sank 27 minutes later.

One of the Coast Guard ships saw the flash from the blast and three cutters circled back to the Dorchester.

While the men were jumping ship, chaplains Lt. George Fox, Methodist; Lt. Alexander Goode, Jewish; Lt. John Washington, Roman Catholic, and Lt. Clark Poling, Dutch Reformed, stayed on the ship calming the wounded and offering prayers to the dying and hope for the survivors.

When there were no more life jackets, the chaplains removed theirs and gave them to four soldiers. As the Dorchester slipped into the waters, survivors in the life rafts saw the four chaplains with their arms linked, braced against the slanting deck continuing to offer prayers until their deaths.

That night, 672 died and 230 survived. The four chaplains received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart medals. In 1961, the military honored the chaplains with the Special Medal for Heroism, the only time the medal was presented.

The Cabot Legionnaires honored the four chaplains with a memorial service and candle lighting. Among those attending the service were Mayor Bill Cypert, Cub Scout Pack 205 and American Legion national chaplain Carl Schmidt.

TOP STORY >> Base units thrive amid cuts

2012-02-07T21:16:00.003-06:00

By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor

The commanders of the Air National Guard and the new Air Force Reserves unit at Little Rock Air Force Base said this week they’re confident their missions will thrive even with proposed cuts in the defense budget.

Col. Steve Eggensperger, commander of the 189th Airlift Wing, said that despite a hold on the avionics modernization program, his wing continues to operate at full strength with 790 airmen and is still looking to fill key positions with qualified high school graduates.

He expects to lose only one C-130 in the next five years.

“Little Rock Air Force Base will continue to provide global airlift,” the colonel said. “The 189th, in partnership with the Reserve unit, is responsible for legacy training.”

The 314th Airlift Wing has transitioned to an all-modern C-130J training unit. The 19th Airlift Wing, the host unit at the base, leads the global C-130J combat airlift mission.

Col. Edsel A. (Archie) Frye, who heads the new Air Force Reserve Command at the base, said the cuts announced at the Pentagon last week will mean possibly losing two C-130s assigned to the unit, but not not until 2017.

Despite the projected cuts, the new unit he’s building will have more than 700 Reservists. Half of the new hires will be full-time.

The 19th and the 314th Airlift Wings, the two largest units on base, have seen minor reductions. At year’s end, the base eliminated 41 civilian jobs and has retired some 20 young officers, but both the Reserves and Air National Guard are still recruiting new members with $20,000 signing bonuses, Eggensperger said.

Nationwide, the Air Force will eliminate 10,000 airmen and 65 C-130s.

20 C-130s

The 189th and the Reserve each have 10 legacy C-130s. The Guard has four planes that have been modified with new avionics, including new cockpit panels and extensive rewiring from Boeing, although the planes are now grounded.

Until last month’s cancellation, the new avionics were being installed at Warner Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia at a cost of at least $7.5 million each.

The AMP modifications re-place analog controls and displays with digital, standardize the 30 different C-130 cockpit configurations and upgrade and standardize communication, navigation and air-traffic management, have a glass cockpit, including so-called heads-up displays, night-vision imaging and will meet operational conditions.

They also reduce the size of the flight crew from five to four and make the cockpit compatible with that of the state-of-the-art C-130J. The 19th and 314th Airlift Wings at the base are transitioning to all C-130Js.

The Air Force has also delivered a new simulator to train for the new avionics upgrades. Another simulator is scheduled for delivery soon and will be located in a new building, Eggensperger said.

He emphasized that if the avionics program is scrapped, the two simulators can be rewired for training on the older C-130s. The Air Force had planned to upgrade some 200 older planes, but the Pentagon will save $4 billion by cancelling the program.

The 189th had assigned eight crews with 100 maintainers — three from Arkansas and five from Missouri — to the avionics program before it was put on hold.

“We understand fiscal realities,” Eggensperger said. “There will be some turbulence and uncertainty, but we remain confident about our mission.”

He said when there’s another round of base closings, LRAFB will be on solid footing because it remains the C-130 center of excellence.

Eggensperger said the Guard has openings in several key areas.

FRYE CONFIDENT

Other than possibly losing two planes in five years, Frye said, “We don’t know of any other cuts in the foreseeable future.”

Frye, whose unit, 22nd Air Force Detachment 1, is being built from the ground up, said, “We’re continuing on schedule. The unit is replacing active-duty maintainers and flying instructor crews on the legacy C-130s as the active-duty training wing, the world-champion 314th Airlift Wing and transitions to the newer C-130J models.

He said, “Our maintainers and flight instructors are already integrating with the 314th to learn and perform the new mission. Other than losing two planes in five years, we don’t see any cuts in the foreseeable future.”

“We’re not programmed for reduction,” he added, although he concedes, “I can’t predict the future.”

“We’re gaining members daily,” he continued. “We’re extremely optimistic about being able to rapidly recruit all our members by 2014.”

Frye, who was named commander last February, has so far recruited 112 reservists, including maintainers, flight instructor crews and an all-civilian finance team.

They are spread out over several buildings around the base.

He praised the 189th AW as “our nation’s most highly decorated Air National Guard wing. All three wings on base have graciously made room for the fledgling Reserve unit. By 2014, the Reserve unit will associate with the 189th (lead wing) to train all legacy C-130 aircrews worldwide.

“It is our intention to build the best wing in Air Force history. We are committed to that vision,” he said.

SPORTS >> Hall whips Red Devils, wins again physically

2012-02-07T19:15:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Early in the second quarter, it appeared Jacksonville was going to avenge its last loss, a 65-52 loss to Little Rock Hall on Jan. 6. The Red Devils led 17-6 and Hall was reeling. Instead, it was the Warriors who made it a season sweep over the Red Devils, dominating the fourth quarter and pulling out a 47-43 victory in a defense-dominated game.

Hall’s Aaron Walton entered the game and changed it with his physical brand of defense, too physical at times for Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner’s liking. Joyner made it clear that he felt Hall was allowed too much contact, but that wasn’t his biggest concern after the game.

“We were just soft,” Joyner said. “They were coming out, picking us up at halfcourt. When they come out that high and get on you, you go by them. We weren’t doing that. We were picking up the dribble way out there in the corner. You can’t do that. That’s soft. That’s timid. They were aggressive and we were timid. That’s the bottom line.”

It was a game of runs for the first three quarters. Jacksonville opened with six straight that should’ve been eight, but Aaron Smith goal tended on a Justin McCleary fast break runner. Jacksonville post player Brandon Brockman scored the first bucket of the second quarter to give Jacksonville a 17-6 lead just second into the period, but Hall answered with six straight and Jacksonville got just two more points the rest of the quarter.

Hall began to extend its man defense to mid-court, and was transitioning out man defense in halfcourt settings and into traps.

The strategy got the Red Devils totally out of sync. By halftime, Jacksonville’s lead was 19-17.

Hall tied the game 40 seconds into the third quarter and took its first lead 15 seconds later with a steal and layup by Javon Perry.

The Warriors’ lead grew to 28-24 before Jacksonville went on an 11-0 run and seemed to have figured out the Hall defense.

Brown scored the last four of the run, giving Jacksonville a 35-28 lead with 1:15 left in the third quarter. But it didn’t even last the rest of the period.

Hall closed the frame with six straight points to make it 35-34 going into the fourth quarter.

“We should’ve gone ahead and put it away right there,” Joyner said. “But they started grabbing and putting two hands on our ball handlers. I told the officials if they were going to let them put two hands on us, I’m going to tell my guys to knock their hands away. And I did. I told them to be forceful. Don’t take that. But they didn’t do it. They just let it happen, let ‘em stop their momentum, stop their drives.”

The game wasn’t settled until Walton hit two free throws with six seconds remaining to set the final margin. His two foul shots immediately followed a blow opportunity by Jacksonville’s James Aikens. Aikens was at the line with a chance to tie the game, but missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Both teams were bad from the line, but Hall pulled it together in the fourth quarter. Jacksonville made just eight of 17 attempts. Hall went 9 of 19, but was five of seven in the fourth quarter.

The Red Devils suffered a season-high 17 turnovers while Hall gave it up 11 times.

Walton came off the bench to lead Hall with 13 points, including seven in the fourth quarter. Quan Jones added 11 and David Berete scored 10 for the Warriors. McCleary and Dwayne Waller scored 10 points each to lead Jacksonville.

The Lady Devils hung tough for a quarter, but the Lady Warriors blew the game open in the second period en route to a 73-48 victory.

The Devils’ Den was crawling with big-time college coaches for the girls game, including defending national champion Gary Blair of Texas A and M. They were there to watch Jacksonville junior Jessica Jackson and Hall’s Tyler Scaife. Neither disappointed.

Jackson almost single-handedly kept the Lady Devils close with 13 of the team’s 14 first-quarter points. She finished with 23 points and seven rebounds.

Scaife had an incredibly balanced game. She finished with 20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals.

The Red Devils were at home last night against Parkview. They go on the road on Friday to face Searcy.

SPORTS >> ’Rabs split pair with Cave City

2012-02-07T19:14:00.003-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

A strong second half boosted the Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits to a 47-25 victory at Cave City on Friday. The Lady Jackrabbits outscored the Cavewomen 13-8 in the third quarter before holding the hosts to a single point in the fourth quarter with increased defensive pressure.

“We played a little more zone in the fourth quarter,” Lady Jackrabbits coach Nathan Morris said. “We pressured more in the second half altogether.”

The victory improved the Lady Jackrabbits to 14-11 overall and 8-4 in the 4A-2 Conference.

Cave City matched Lonoke beat for beat through most of the first half until Lady Jackrabbits senior guard Kaitlyn Tate made a three-point basket in the final eight seconds of the second quarter to give Lonoke a 20-16 lead at the break.

“We didn’t play especially great in the first half,” Morris said. “We didn’t value the ball very well. Second half, played better defensively, we had a lot better defensive pressure in the third quarter. And the fourth quarter, we played a little more relaxed on offense and started moving the ball a lot better.”

The Lady Jackrabbits got off to a slow start in the first quarter with no score until senior Mary Davis came off the bench to make a pair of free throws midway through the period. The two teams eventually fought to a 10-10 deadlock at the end of the first quarter despite no scoring from either team early on.

Lonoke was 18 of 58 from the field for 31 percent and was 10 of 13 from the free-throw line.

“We had shots, maybe we didn’t quite attack the basket hard enough,” Morris said. “There were not a lot of fouls called, it was that type of game that we got into, but it helped when we upped the pressure in that third quarter.”

Senior post player Anna Himstedt led the Lady Jackrabbits with nine points while freshman guard Kerasha Johnson added eight points. Eboni Willis and Savannah Holman each finished with seven points for Lonoke, with all of Holman’s points coming consecutively during a run in the third quarter.

The Jackrabbits boys team did not fare as well and lost 53-52. The Cavemen were playing in memory of a recently-fallen classmate for an inspiring performance in front of an emotional crowd. Cave City has been a conundrum all season, losing to teams at the bottom of the standings and beating the teams at the top.

It was the second straight loss for Lonoke, which also lost at Marianna Tuesday 67-58.

The two teams battled to a 19-19 lead at the half before the Cavemen outscored Lonoke 17-12 in the third quarter. The Jackrabbits made some of that up in a frantic final period in which they outscored Cave City 21-17.

“We pressured them practically the entire second half,” Lonoke coach Dean Campbell said. “And in doing that, I think we got into their legs and were able to make a run on them.”

Sophomore Blake Mack led the Jackrabbits with 21 points while senior Tarrale Watson poured in another 15 for Lonoke.

The Jackrabbits are now 15-8 overall and 8-4 in the 4A-2 Conference. Campbell was pleased with both the shooting and defensive efforts of his team, but simply said playing against an inspired team is a difficult game to win, especially on the road.

“They were definitely driven,” Campbell said. “Sometimes, you have to have more to play for than just the game. Kids will always come together in those types of situations.”

Lonoke hosted Clinton last night and will have senior night at home against Heber Springs on Friday to conclude the 4A-2 Conference schedule before district tournament play begins next week at Heber Springs.

SPORTS >> Evans leads at junior college

2012-02-07T19:13:00.001-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Jacksonville native Mike Evans is larger than life at North Arkansas College in Harrison, and he has the billboard to prove it.

Of course his 6-8 stature doesn’t hurt things for the starting sophomore post player on the NorthArk Pioneers basketball team under longtime coach Jerry Thomason. Evans leads the team in scoring, blocking and rebounding, averaging 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks per game, which has helped the Pioneers to a 16-6 record so far this season.

The school’s advertising theme which features faculty members working with students in their field on billboards are prevalent in the northwest Arkansas area. Evans got the nod to be featured alongside Thomason as one of three returning sophomores and team captain this year.

“He’s got a little bit of height, and he’s got a good work ethic,” Thomason said of Evans. He’s gotten a lot stronger while he’s been up here. He’s our leading scorer and top rebounder, so he’s been real good for us.”

The Pioneers are an independent team as one of only two public two-year institutions that fields a competitive basketball team, along with West Memphis. Though they do not take part in any conference race, they do compete for a chance to take part in the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament in late March.

In fact, NorthArk will host the NJCAA sub-district tournament on March 3, with the district finals being held in Clarendon, Tex. on March 11. The winner there gets to move on to the NJCAA Nationals in Danville, Ill., March 20-24.

Thomason, who has led the Pioneers to six straight regional championships during his 23-year tenure at the school, says he feels good about his team’s chances again this year.

“I thought we would be pretty good,” Thomason said. “I knew we would have a decent ball club, but you never know how long it’s going to take them to have chemistry together. We had three sophomores that were a good foundation.

“Our depth has really improved since semester. I’m not surprised that we’ve had success, but I guess I’m a little surprised that we are 16-6. I never thought we would have that kind of record, but we have pulled out some close games.”

Evans got his first taste of basketball success as the starting post player on the North Pulaski Junior Falcons freshman team under coach Ben Belton in 2007, as the team went on to claim the River City Conference championship that year. Evans then went on to play high-school basketball at North Little Rock, where he eventually attracted the interest of Thomason and the NorthArk staff.

“It’s definitely different up here,” Evans said of college life in northwest Arkansas. “It’s only a two-and-a-half hour drive, but it’s a lot different.”

Though Evans downplays the significance of being featured on a billboard promoting the school, simply saying it’s “pretty cool,” Thomason said the advertisement is a good representation of the program.

“It’s not unique to our school,” Thomason said. “There are five or six of them, and each one has a faculty member and a student. It is promoting our school and letting them know what we have to offer here, and we wanted to make sure they knew that athletics was one one of them.”

Evans will have to move on after this year, and is in the process of finding a four-year school where he can play basketball with the help of his father Steve Evans, who has had a big hand in Mike’s career.

“He helps me a lot,” Evans said. “I don’t know where I would be without my dad.”

But for the six remaining regular-season games and however far NorthArk gets in the postseason, Evans is still a Pioneer for the time being. His role as team captain will be even more vital as the games increase in importance.

“He’s a team player, and he works very hard,” Thomason said. “He does everything right, and he’s a good team leader.”

SPORTS >> Panthers take second in Central wrestling

2012-02-07T19:11:00.003-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The Cabot Panthers made a fine showing at the 7A Central Conference wrestling tournament on Saturday at North Little Rock High School. The Panthers finished second in team points with 171-.5, 37.5 behind winner Little Rock Central.

Cabot had wrestlers in 12 of the 14 weight classes. Six made it to the finals and two took first place in their respective class.

“I think we’ve done pretty well,” Cabot coach Jason Rogers said. “We’ve guys in the finals of half of our weight classes we entered. We needed to pretty much win out in all of them to catch Central, so we knew that was a longshot. But overall I think the guys have done a very good job.”

Erik Cooley won the 126-pound division. Cooley was 13-6 on the season entering the tournament. He received a bye in the first round then beat Catholic’s Henry Yeary to advance to the title match.

There he faced Central Tiger Jaylen Webster and dominated the three-round bout 13-5.

Cabot’s other champion was 145-pound Tyler Kurz. Kurz, who entered the match with an impressive 22-1 record, also received a first-round bye. In the semifinals he pinned North Little Rock’s Detirick Deshazier just 1:28 into the bout.

His championship match was over even quicker. Kurz pinned Bryant’s Brett Blend in 1:26.

138-pound Panther Daniel Davis was one of four second-place finishers for Cabot. He pinned Marlon Cuevas of Russellville at 3:53 in the semifinals. He then lost to Van Buren’s John Haywood 11-5.

In the 152-pound division, Cabot’s Kyle Wheeler, who entered the tournament with an impressive season record of 18-3, pinned Matt Mears in just 19 seconds in the quarterfinal round. He won a close 7-5 decision over Andrew Elam of Russellville in the semifinals to advance to the championship round. There he faced Central’s Tyler Mann, who is ranked in the top 30 nationally and sported a 29-1 record coming into the tournament. Mann pinned Wheeler with less than one second remaining in the first round.

Cabot’s other two second-place finishers were Chase Campbell in the 182-pound division, and Keith Pledger of the 285-pound division.

Campbell was 16-2 entering the tournament. He pinned Bryant’s Colton Caviness at the 2:08 mark in the quarterfinals. He pinned Khalil Campbell of North Little Rock at 3:24 to advance to the finals. There he lost to undefeated Van Buren wrestler Lucas Ardemagni (23-0) by pin with just 20 seconds left in the bout.

Pledger also faced an eye-popping record in his championship bout. He lost his championship match 8-4 to 32-1 Keidrick Usifo of LR Central.

Before that, Pledger beat Hubert Bryant of Central in the quarterfinal round by pin at 1:15. Then got by Conway’s Brannon Kotch, who quit the match due to injury with Pledger leading 6-3.

In the 106-pound division, Hayden Mills took third place by beating Conner Perkins of Catholic High in the finals of the consolation bracket. Mills won the match by pin at the 3:32 mark.

The class 7A state finals are Saturday at UALR.

EDITORIAL >> Principal rising star

2012-02-03T21:58:00.003-06:00

Henry Anderson, the new principal at Jacksonville High School, has opened a dialogue with students and teachers. He has formed a principal’s cabinet, which includes some of the brightest students at the high school.

They told Anderson last weekend that they’re not happy with the dilapidated conditions at the school. They want better teachers and an environment that’s more conducive to learning.

A survey of students and teachers, which Anderson shared with the principal’s cabinet, produced troubling responses.

The survey revealed mostly shared concerns: The poor state of the building, the performance of students and teachers and a lack of pride in the campus.

Students said many of their teachers have poor attitudes and don’t understand how to teach. A junior who attended the meeting asked, “If they don’t have the passion, what is going to inspire us?”

Students also complained about the aging school building being dirty and even having a bug problem.

They want someone to get the school under control, set standards for students and teachers by increasing expectations.

Members of the principal’s cabinet also criticized aimless classmates who don’t care about studying. There were complaints about drug use, crowded hallways, teen pregnancy, bullying and fights – problems that could become overwhelming for faculty members.

Students want better computer technology classes, more time to study, a dress code and more extracurricular activities.

Teachers said the school lacks positive and encouraging collaboration among the faculty; that they don’t receive enough recognition for their successes; that district officials have failed to take action on gangs; that students ignore rules and don’t take pride in the campus, and that teachers lack support from administrators and parents.

Teachers also complained about the poor condition of the school; the need for additional technology training; that there has been a failure to deal with incompetent teachers, and a failure to improve classroom management. In short, staff members have no sense of unity.

After completing the school census, Principal Anderson is prepared to improve the attitudes of students and teachers. He now knows exactly what is weighing on their minds.

Both groups want the same thing. With a good leader in charge, these problems can be fixed.

The principal says morale isn’t the problem with his teachers. “I think it’s teachers reaching a standard. There hasn’t been a standard for years,” Anderson pointed out.

Anderson is open and honest. He has a passion and talent for addressing problems head-on. Concerning discipline, he knows yelling doesn’t work, but that being stern and consistent does.

He is a “speak-softly-and-carry-a-big-stick” kind of man, but his good humor helps him connect with students when they are behaving well.

He has high expectations for his colleagues. While some teachers may not like being so closely supervised, it is the only way to separate those who really want to fix Jacksonville High School from those who are content with its failures.

Anderson is an optimist who believes that the Pulaski County Special School District and JHS can reach their full potential.

Unlike his predecessors, Anderson will use his power to transfer under-performing teachers. He would be wise to reward faculty members who do their jobs well.

There may never be a better opportunity to change the school’s course. Although the professional agreement with the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers remains in force, the state Education Department took control of the district last summer and disbanded the dysfunctional school board.

PCSSD officials have announced 75 facility improvement projects at a cost of $7 million, most of them for dilapidated schools in Jacksonville and Sherwood schools. Improvements at Jacksonville High School will include roof work, intercom and bell systems, stadium-lighting fixtures, new stage lighting and controls and adding a new gas line. That’s a start. The school needs more good teachers, and the building needs a complete overhaul. After Anderson restores Jacksonville High School to its glory days and the district is released from oversight by the state, we’ll recommend him as the next superintendent of the Pulaski County Special School District. He’s that good.

TOP STORY >> Pet group takes dogs from state

2012-02-03T21:57:00.005-06:00

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

Several dogs at the Cabot Animal Shelter and the Beebe Animal Control shelter were given a second chance to find new homes in New York Last weekend.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had 22 dogs transported to Pets Alive Westchester in Elmsford, N.Y., a no-kill animal shelter, from JP Ranch and Rescue in Atkins after the rescue organization was forced to close because the founder has a terminal illness.

With the transport vehicle only half-full of dogs from the Atkins shelter, Pets Alive reached out to other area rescue groups and pulled 39 dogs from animal shelters. The Cabot Animal Shelter had 11 dogs and Beebe Animal Control had nine dogs taking the trip to New York.

Cabot Animal Shelter manager Jason Ellerbee said the dogs that were transported from the Cabot shelter had been there longer than other dogs and were less likely to find a home. He said some of them included a cattle dog, a couple of labs and Chihuahua-mix.

Ellerbee said many of the animals are picked up by rescue organizations, and no taxpayer money is spent on feed and veterinary care.

“We take the best possible care of the animals, providing vaccinations and deworming. It makes it easier for the rescue groups,” Ellerbee said.

“It is a positive all the way around. Rescue groups guarantee not to euthanize an animal unless it has a health condition,” he said.

At the Beebe shelter most of the dogs pulled for Pets Alive were full grown and all were neutered. Some of the dogs had been at the shelter for several weeks. One was there since November.

“It keeps us from having to put any down,” Beebe Animal Control officer Horace Taylor, said. In December, 53 dogs were taken from JP Ranch and Rescue to Pets Alive. Of those 53, 42 now have homes. The ASPCA funded testing, vaccinations, heartworm medications, flea treatments, worming, health exams and transportation of the dogs.

TOP STORY >> First Arkansas obtains credit card business

2012-02-03T21:57:00.004-06:00

First Arkansas Bank and Trust became the full owner of an Atlanta-based credit card company on Wednesday. With the acquisition of BV Card Assets, the bank will begin offering its customers credit cards by spring.

First Arkansas owned 18 percent of BV Card Assets before this week’s deal. The Arkansas Bank Department approved the sale on Monday.

The bank did not disclose the sale price.

Larry Wilson, First Arkansas’ chairman and chief executive officer, told The Leader on Friday that the bank has “no plans to move the operation.”

He added, “Rates will be competitive. We will have very attractive card graphics. We will have specifics later.”

First Arkansas will retain BV Card Assets’ management team and keep its headquarters in Atlanta, where about 40 people are employed.

First Arkansas Bank and its previous partners, BancVue of Austin, Texas, and Virtual Point Management of Atlanta, bought the credit card company in September 2010 from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which took over the company from Silverton Bank in 2008.

“We are very excited about becoming the sole owner of this credit card portfolio,” Wilson said.

“The portfolio has performed extremely well for many years and has been a consistent revenue producer during that time. It is a conservative portfolio with an outstanding balance of approximately $115 million and has approximately 80,000 active cardholders,” he explained.

“Those cardholders, both individuals and small businesses, are spread geographically across the country, but the majority of them are in the southeastern United States,” Wilson said.

“This is a great opportunity to utilize some of our excess capital, and we are pleased that we were able to work with our partners, BancVue of Austin, Texas, and Virtual Point Management of Atlanta to purchase their stock in the company.

“We are confident that there is a great opportunity for growth in credit card programs in community banks across the country,” he added.

“We fully intend to tap this market and grow this portfolio over time,” Wilson said.

First Arkansas has 23 locations in central Arkansas. The family-owned bank, in business for more than 60 years, has $650 million in total assets.

TOP STORY >> First lady plans visit to air base

2012-02-03T21:56:00.001-06:00

By CHRISTY HENDRICKS
Leader staff writer

Michelle Obama will make a stop at Little Rock Air Force Base on Thursday to promote the second anniversary of her “Let’s Move!” initiative geared toward fighting childhood obesity.

While here, she will make an announcement about the military’s efforts to improve the nutritional content of food served throughout military bases, according to a White House press release Friday.

The base is one of six military installations taking part in a special pilot program designed to improve the quality, variety and availability of their food service, according to 2nd Lt. Mallory Glass, 19th Airlift Wing public affairs chief.

The first lady will be briefed about the healthy eating habits of airmen and tour the dining facility. She will sit down and eat with about 40 airmen and discuss how they feel about the pilot program.

“We are greatly excelling,” Glass says of the pilot program. “Use of the dining facility has increased due to the healthy options. It’s not just airmen who can dine there—anyone allowed on base can eat there.”

“It (the pilot program) ties in well with her initiative,” Glass said. “She takes a keen interest in military families.”

The three-day tour kicks off in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday morning and makes stops at Jacksonville, Fort Worth and Dallas, as well as Homestead, Orlando and Longwood, Fla.

“Let’s Move!” was launched Feb. 9, 2010, with the intent to resolve childhood obesity. Since its launch, the initiative has made significant progress in its efforts, has been made to solve the problem of childhood obesity.

According to a White House press release, some of the initiative’s accomplishments include:

President Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. In January the USDA released school meal regulations updating the quality of nutrition through the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs. The updates to the regulations will allow more fruits, vegetables and whole grains to be served at schools, as well as meals with less sodium, saturated fat and trans fat.

Grocers, including Walmart and Walgreens, have committed to build or expand 1,500 stores in communities with little to no access to healthy food. Approximately 9.5 million people will now have healthier food choices available to them.

Walmart’s Nutrition Charter committed to lowering the cost of fruits and vegetables as well as healthier options like whole grain products by $1 billion in 2011. In addition, Walmart pledged to work with manufacturers to remove 10 percent sugar and 25 percent sodium in categories throughout the store. For more information, visit www.letsmove.gov.

SPORTS >> Freshmen Red Devils win in OT

2012-02-03T21:54:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Jacksonville’s freshmen Red Devils garnered mixed results this week, splitting their final two Metro Conference games and finishing the regular season in third place. On Monday the Red Devils had a chance to avenge a heartbreaking loss to Maumelle just a few days earlier. For a half it appeared the game would go down to the wire just it did the week before. But the Hornets took control in the second half and won by 10, 44-34.

In the regular-season finale, Jacksonville did go down to the wire for a second time against Sylvan Hills. And for the second time, came away with an exciting victory, beating the Bears 42-38 in double overtime.

“We just competed a lot better than we did against Maumelle,” Jacksonville coach Tirrell Brown said. “I thought we competed well for a half against Maumelle, then just stopped. We were in a 2-3 zone and their guards were in there getting offensive rebounds. That’s just effort.

“If we compete like we should, I feel like we have the capability to beat anybody.”

In Thursday’s game, Jacksonville never led by more than four points and Sylvan Hills’ biggest lead was two.

Kerry Knight led the Red Devils with 13 points while Maurice Young finished with 10.

Jacksonville beat Sylvan Hills by one point nearly two months ago. The final week of regular-season games shows that this weekend’s Metro Conference tournament is wide open.

The top four seeds are Maumelle, Watson Chapel, Jacksonville and Sylvan Hills. All four of those teams have played nailbiters with each other throughout the season.

The Metro Conference tournament begins today at Watson Chapel. Jacksonville has a first-round bye and will play at 3:30 Monday against Mills or Central Arkansas Christian.

SPORTS >> Sylvan Hills crushes Helena-West Helena

2012-02-03T21:52:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Sylvan Hills got a pair of easy conference road wins over Helena-West Helena Central on Tuesday. The boys got very little resistance from the Cougars in a 74-47 victory. The girls got even less resistance, winning 54-21.

The Sylvan Hills boys (18-5, 8-0) had to force the issue when the Cougars (6-12, 3-5) decided to shorten the game. The home team got the opening tip, set up on offense, pulled the ball out toward center court and stood.

That drew Sylvan Hills out of the zone it started the game in. When they went man-to-man and stepped out on the ball, the pace of the game changed.

Still, HWHC hung tough for a while. Sylvan Hills lead was only 19-12 at the end of the first quarter. By halftime the lead had doubled. Sylvan Hills then came out of halftime with a 16-4 run and soon after invoked the mercy rule.

“Tuesday night was probably our best display of what we’re trying to get accomplished on the basketball court of the whole season,” Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis said. “Our game plan, our philosophy is to be able to score on the break, get great spacing and score inside and out. We executed all of that pretty well on Tuesday. All our parts came together and when they do, it makes it awfully tough on our opponent.”

The evidence for Davis’ analysis is in the box score. Senior leading scorer Archie Goodwin had a season low 21 points. Trey Smith hit three, three-pointers and finished with 14 points. Post player Larry Ziegler had 10 points and led an inside game that posted 25 points in the paint. Senior Devin Pearson and sophomore David Johnson accounted for the points Ziegler did not get.

Lady Bears’ coach Shelley Davis wasn’t pleased at halftime of the girls game, but was glad to see her team respond to her challenges in the third quarter and pull away for a 54-21 victory.

“I’m pleased other than the fact that if you can handle somebody like we did in the third quarter, you should just go out and do it,” Shelley Davis said. “We were just letting them take shots and they were dogging some in. We just did not play aggressively in the first half.”

Sylvan Hills (7-12, 5-3) led 25-14 at halftime and outscored the Lady Cougars (1-12, 0-8) 21-7 in the third quarter. The Lady Bears didn’t give up a point in the fourth.

Sylvan Hills was on the road again on Friday against Monticello. It has two more road games next week that wraps up a seven-game, four-week stretch of road games.

“It does get a little tough,” Shelley Davis said. It’s very rare to have seven conference games in a row on the road. It gets tough for the players because the homework and makeup work starts the pile up. It’ll be good when we finally play at home.”

SPORTS >> All Stars speak to students

2012-02-03T21:51:00.003-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson and Arkansas Razorback safety Tramain Thomas highlighted a group of college football players that spoke at three Jacksonville schools on Friday. The five college seniors are playing in today’s All-Star Classic, North-South football game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, and spent Friday touring the area speaking at several local schools.

Jefferson and Thomas were joined by Ole Miss running back Brandon Bolden, Arkansas State defensive end Brandon Joiner and Henderson State defensive end Antonio Leak.

Jefferson, who led LSU to a perfect regular-season record and a spot in the 2012 National Championship game, was a late addition to the All-Star game, deciding to play in today’s game late last week.

“It was just another opportunity to get in front of the scouts and show what I can do,” Jefferson told The Leader.

Despite being joined front and center with a former Razorback, Jefferson was the most popular attraction at Jacksonville Middle School, the first stop of the tour that also included North Pulaski High School and Jacksonville High School.

“It’s very shocking to know that I have these fans in other cities,” Jefferson said. “They make me feel very appreciated. I had a great time throughout the whole week and am ready to have an even better time (in the game).”

Tickets to the game are $15, but middle school student athletes who arrive at the game wearing their youth football jerseys will get in for free.

Thomas was also very popular among the students and was the most interactive with the kids clamoring for his attention.

“It feels good to be here,” Thomas said. “I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the country right now. To be out here with all these kids, to try to give them a little bit of encouragement, it puts a smile on my face also.”

Thomas, who led the Razorbacks in interceptions last season with five, also took to heart his role in the promotional tour. Most of Jefferson’s speech to the students was about promoting the game. Thomas and the others talked about things like grades, work ethic and proper attitude.

“Anytime you can have a role model, or someone that kids look up to come in and talk to them, I want to do it,” Thomas said. “I didn’t have that when I was kid so anything I can do to give back I want to try to do while I can.”

Joiner was an all Sun Belt Conference selection at Arkansas State. Bolden finished his career at Ole Miss ranked second in school history in both total touchdowns scored (33) and rushing touchdowns (27). He is third all-time at Ole Miss in all-purpose yards (3,681) and fourth in rushing yards (2,604).

Leak, who played high-school football at Palestine-Wheatley and already has his master’s degree in secondary education, commanded the student’s attention when he spoke.

“How many of you want a college degree,” Leak asked the students. “Now how many of you want to be out on the streets? See, none of you want to be out on the streets. I didn’t see a single hand go up. So you have to start making right decisions now. Nobody wants to be on the streets, but they don’t think they have to start taking stuff seriously at your age. That’s not the case. You have to start making right decisions now.”

Players took a few minutes after their speeches for photographs with students and faculty. Afterward Jefferson took a final chance to promote the game. “I’ve had a lot of fun this week,” Jefferson said. “Coming out to the schools and talking to kids has taught me a lot. Now I hope they can come out and support us. It’s going to be a great game.

SPORTS >> Badgers rout Yellowjackets

2012-02-03T21:50:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Things took a little while to get into gear. Once they did, the Beebe Badgers had a lot more of them to hit than did the Wynne Yellowjackets. Neither team was able to much going offensively for a couple of minutes, but once Beebe did, it set the tone for the rest of the game.

Beebe won the opening tip-off and ran its offense for nearly two minutes looking for a good shot. The patience paid off and the Badgers lulled Wynne to sleep. Beebe post player Dayton Scott caught the ball on the left elbow and passed out to point guard Brandon Fuller at the top of the key. Scott then rolled around the right elbow to the baseline, and snuck backside to the basket. Fuller lobbed the pass from about 20 feet and the game’s first basket was an alley-oop dunk. The play was a microcosm of the rest of the game as the Badgers rolled to a 60-30 victory.

“I thought we defended well,” Beebe coach Ryan Marshall said. “Wynne is very athletic and has some good size. I just thought we defended the way we should and we shot the ball pretty well too.”

Beebe raced out to a 12-4 lead before a Marvin Norman three pointer made it 12-7 halfway through the first quarter. The Badgers then closed the first period with seven straight points, including five by guard Zach May. May hit a three at the buzzer to make it 19-7.

Things got worse for the Yellowjackets from there. Reserve center Zach Baker hit a three pointer with 6:15 left in the first quarter to make it 25-9. The two teams traded buckets all the way to 31-15, but Beebe scored the final eight points of the quarter, including two more three pointers by May to end the half. May had 15 points at halftime and finished with 22 to lead all scorers.

He hit four of six three-point attempts, and the team made eight of 14.

Neither team scored a bucket in the third quarter until Wynne’s Joseph Saintly scored at the 5:28 mark. Beebe finally got a basket 17 seconds later on a driving layup by May. The Badgers were never able to stretch the lead to more than 28 points in the third quarter. Wynne freshman Romaine Harris began to find his rhythm and scored seven points in the quarter.

Wynne point guard Marvin Norman dropped in a three pointer to start the fourth quarter to make it 54-29, but it was the last basket the Yellowjackets got the rest of the game.

Beebe invoked the mercy rule with six quick points. May hit a three pointer with 6:13 remaining to make 60-29, and there were no more field goals the rest of the game.

May was the only player in double figures. Scott finished with nine points and six rebounds and Braden Jones had seven points for the Badgers. Fuller scored three points, but grabbed five rebounds and dished out six assists.

Norman led Wynne with nine points, all from three-point range.

SPORTS >> Jackrabbits’ Carpenter goes Division I

2012-02-03T20:37:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

It doesn’t seem like it could be true, but it is. No Lonoke Jackrabbit has signed a Division I college football scholarship since 1995, that is until Wednesday’s national signing day. That’s when Lonoke offensive lineman Justin Carpenter signed with the University of Central Arkansas. Carpenter ran a gauntlet of camps in an attempt to get college coaches to take notice and the hard work paid off late. The offer from UCA didn’t come through until about two weeks ago. He had received offers from Division II schools Henderson State in Arkadelphia and Arkansas Tech in Russellville.

After the visit to the Conway campus and the subsequent scholarship offer, Carpenter felt it was an easy decision.

“The facilities, the coaches, the environment, the fact that it’s DI, it just seemed like the obvious choice,” Carpenter said.

Like most freshmen lineman, especially DI freshmen linemen, Carpenter probably won’t see a lot of playing time his first year, but at 6 feet, 4 inches, 290 pounds, he has the physical attributes of a top-notch lineman and shows a lot of promise for the future. Some the evidence for Carpenter’s potential is already showing. He improved his bench press by over 60 pounds over the summer, and drastically increased the weight in his other lifts.

UCA Bears’ coach Clint Conque has asked Carpenter to try something he’s never done.

“They’re wanting me to play guard or center,” Carpenter said. “Coach asked me to work on snapping the ball. I’ve never done that before, but I’m going to work hard on it.”

Carpenter was a three-year starter for the Jackrabbits. He was named to the 2011 Super Sonic team and was Farm Bureau Player of the Year finalist his senior season.

He joins a signing class of 23, but is one of only two offensive linemen signed by UCA this season. Lance Kloker, 6-5, 275 of Owasso, OK, is the other lineman.

EDITORIAL >> New leader: He’s ready

2012-02-01T00:05:00.007-06:00

Col. Brian Robinson, new commander of the 19th Airlift Wing, salutes as Lt. Gen. Mark F. Ramsay and Col. Mike Minihan look on.

Lt. Gen. Mark F. Ramsey, commander of the 18th Air Force, presided over Tuesday’s moving change-of-command ceremony at Little Rock Air Force Base as Col. Brian (Smokey) Robinson succeeded Col. Mike Minihan as commander of the 19th Airlift Wing.

In an emotional farewell, Minihan thanked the central Arkansas community for its support of the men and women of Little Rock Air Force Base, and he thanked the airmen for their contribution to the global airlift effort, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Robinson, having served on both fronts, knows those countries well. At the start of the Operation Iraqi Freedom back in 2003, Gen. Ramsey said at the change-of-command ceremony, Robinson was named chief of the Air Mobility Division Strategy and Tactics Team at the Combined Air Operations Center in Iraq.

The colonel, a C-17 Globemaster pilot, took charge of strategic planning for air mobility and led the way for the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s airdrops into northern Iraq, an achievement, Ramsay said, that’s comparable to the greatest successes during the Second World War.

Since then, he’s served in Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, the Horn of Africa and elsewhere. He has been vice commander of the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston AFB in South Carolina and executive assistant to Gen. Raymond Johns, the commander of Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

As Gen. Ramsey said, the Air Force replaces the best with the best. The description aptly describes Minihan, who after a record of achievement here, will head the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., where Air Force One and other planes for VIPs are stationed.

Like Minihan, Robinson is approachable, modest and a natural leader. These qualities are important as the military is retrenching on several fronts.

The Pentagon will cut spending by at least $487 billion during the next decade, although that figure could go as high as $1 trillion under a deficit-reduction deal reached between President Obama and Congress.

The Air Force has halted the avionics modernization program for about 200 older C-130s, which would have cost about $4 billion and would have kept more planes flying at Little Rock Air Force Base.

In addition, the Air Force says it will close bases across the country, retire older planes and as many as 10,000 airmen, along with thousands of civilian employees.

Air Force Chief of Staff Norton A. Schwartz pointed out last week that the Air Force has eliminated 500 planes since the last round of base closings in 2005.

“So the presumption — I think it’s a fair presumption — (is) that there is yet more excess infrastructure,” Schwartz told a Pentagon briefing. “I think our expectation is that we will actually close bases in a future base-closure round.”

Little Rock Air Force Base is in no danger of closing, but we expect the new commander of the 19th Airlift Wing will usher the base into a new era.Col. Robinson, who has been in the Air Force since 1987, will rise to the occasion. It was his namesake, the immortal R&B legend Smokey Robinson, who wrote the Motown classic, “Get Ready.” The colonel has been getting ready for 25 years for his important new assignment.

Welcome to Little Rock Air Force Base, Col. Robinson.

TOP STORY >> Cabot history emphasizes schools

2012-02-01T00:05:00.005-06:00

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

Mike and Debra Carrington Polston’s book on Cabot history appropriately features a cover photo of children smiling at desks in a classroom and one boy holding a sign that reads “Cabot Elem, Grade 1, Mrs. Nipper.”

One thing that defines the state’s “boomtown” is its world-class school district, the Polstons write.

“Images of America: Cabot” has a whole chapter dedicated to the history of education in the city.

Pictures of a brick building, affectionately called Old Main, that housed the student body in 1915; a graduation ceremony from the ’50s; group photos of organizations like the Future Farmers of America, and sports teams through the decades tell the story well.

Another chapter details football in the town with team and cheerleader photos. Cabot High School has won the state championship twice in its history.

But the book also vividly describes and shows the defining moment in the history of Cabot, when a deadly tornado leveled most of downtown — the main business section — and cost five people their lives on March 29, 1976.

The only still photograph of the storm is menacing and another photo shows four chairs surrounded by flattened buildings sitting in the aftermath unmoved, as if nothing had happened.

The Polstons teach in the Cabot School District and have brought history alive to hundreds of students. He founded the Museum of American History at Cabot High School. She teaches at Cabot Middle School South, which holds an annual Frontier Day.

Cabot was founded as a railroad stop in 1873. Photos of the many prominent businesses in the downtown area and residents lining up loaded wagons in anticipation of the train that transported their goods to the world market support the Polstons’ claim that the farming community was poised for growth in its early years.

Another section shows how proud the city is of veterans with snapshots of smiling soldiers who were brave enough serve or to die for our country.

One photo, sent home from a Cabot soldier, features Viet Cong prisoners. The keepsake is remarkable because it was unusual for something like that to make it through the military’s strict censorship procedures.

The last chapter, “Faces,” is just that. It shows the people who made the city what it is today.

The Polstons’ book offers a detailed glimpse of Cabot that shouldn’t be missed. Descriptions for pictures are short and sweet but they add color to the black and white photographs.

An overview of the city’s history at the beginning of the book and few paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter offers readers the context that can be used to thoroughly enjoy the visual experience it offers.

Arcadia Publishing’s other offerings include “Images of America: Jacksonville, Arkansas,” “Images of America: Searcy” and “Images of America: Historic Pulaski County.”

TOP STORY >> Robinson takes helm at 19th Airlift Wing

2012-02-01T00:03:00.007-06:00

Col. Brian (Smokey) Robinson leaves the change-of-command ceremony Tuesday with his wife, Maureen, and their sons, Shawn and Justin. Behind them are the colonel’s parents, Judy George and William Robinson.

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

There may have been a dry eye in the house Tuesday when Col. Brian (Smokey) Robinson assumed command of the 19th Airlift Wing from Col. Mike (Mini) Minihan, but as promised, it wasn’t Minihan’s.

Minihan warned audience members, including the Black Knights of the 19th AW, that his Irish roots would betray him and “before my entire command, I will cry like a baby.”

True to his word, he appeared to choke back tears twice in farewell to the base and welcoming Robinson. (See editorial, p. 6A.)

“Smokey, every day of your command we’ll be in combat,” said the popular commander, his voice breaking. “Every hour, every minute, every second for the next two years, you will have somebody in harms way,” he warned.

“I embrace the opportunity to serve and lead,” Robinson said, and to “ensure that the Black Knights and their families are adequately prepared for the task ahead.”

“We will continue to exercise our mission safely, effectively and professionally, with an eye on innovation, to be as efficient as operationally feasible and to face many challenges that are before all of us,” Robinson said.

Lt. Gen. Mark F. Ramsay, commander of the 18th Air Force, spoke glowingly of the 19th Airlift Wing, of Minihan’s leadership at Little Rock, Robinson’s success in Southwest Asia and also of the civilian community that has embraced—and been embraced by—Little Rock Air Force Base.

SUPERB LEADERS

“This is a great day of transition between two superb Air Force senior leaders—between Col. Mini Minihan and Col. Smokey Robinson. It’s a great day for the Air Force, for Team Little Rock and for a great day at the Rock,” Ramsay said.

The microphone Ramsay was using kept cutting out, and when he was brought a functional one, he said, “The Air Force has a primary and a backup for everything.”

Ramsay spoke of the rich histories of the base and of the 19th Air Wing.

“The missions of both these organizations have been the backbone of our nation’s past,” he said, pointing to “strategic reconnaissance for bombing, for Cold War nuclear deterrence, air refueling to enable global reach, air mobility, command control and for operations in support of counterinsurgency.”

SOMEONE TRUSTS US

“These organizations accomplished their missions with excellence,” he said, and “rest assured that when the next call comes, and it will come, we will answer it. You may ask why. Simply put, somewhere, someone trusts us explicitly to deliver so they can win. Team Little Rock will deliver.”

Ramsay said Little Rock has been the No. 1 tasked Air Force base in support of Southwest Asia overseas operations and that the Black Knights had flown 40 percent of all the lifts in Afghanistan and Iraq and 30 percent of the airdrop missions and flown 13,000 sorties a year “and done it incredibly safely.”

He praised Minihan for taking on the challenge to realign the units and the aircraft on the flightline to make up for years of base realignment and closure movements and the arrival of the C-130J aircraft.

In awarding the Legion of Merit medal, Ramsay also cited Minihan for great work with the housing privatization effort, with the food service transformation, with establishment of the Air Mobility Command’s first base charter school and with the $15 million Jacksonville/Little Rock Air Force Base Joint University Center, which opened about one year ago.

MEET THE NEW BOSS

“Smokey epitomizes combat airlift,” Ramsay said.

Robinson started in C-130s, transitioned to the larger C-17 Globemasters. “What Mini is to C-130s, Smokey is to C-17s. They epitomize combat airlift,” Ramsay said.

Robinson “has literally written the book on combat tactics and deployment of the C-17,” Ramsay said. “He is the first weapons-instructor course graduate in the history of C-17 to command a squadron.”

“His most noteworthy accomplishment was when his wing got the daunting task in 2003 of figuring out how to insert an entire aviation brigade—the 173rd of Italy—into Iraq. It had never been done before in the C-17 platform. The mission was textbook. He was awarded the bronze star, pinned on by Vice President Cheney,” the general said.

Robinson comes from Scott AFB in Illinois, where he was executive officer to Gen. Raymond Johns Jr., commander of Air Mobility Command there.

Minihan, who has been commander here since August 2010, will assume command of the 89th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Andrews, Md., whose responsibilities include Air Force One and other planes assigned to top officials.

In an open letter to the base community, Minihan wrote in Friday’s Combat Airlifter newspaper, “You dominate our nation’s enemies in combat. You train daily to a standard worthy of the title ‘C-130 Center of Excellence.’ You execute a state mission to a level that leaves 49 other states extremely envious.”

MIRACLE MONDAY

“On April 25, 2011, I watched you fight for each other on ‘Miracle Monday.’ I’ve seen some powerful things in my life…but never to the level of what I witnessed after the tornado struck.

Minihan’s new assignment will include worldwide special airlift missions, logistics and communications support for the president, vice president, cabinet members, combat commanders and other senior military and elected leaders.

Robinson was previously assigned to the Pentagon and was vice commander at the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina.

Robinson graduated from Philadelphia University in 1987 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in computer science and received his commission from Air Force Officer Training School in December 1987 at Lackland AFB, Texas.

His career as a pilot began in 1989 after earning his Air Force pilot wings at Vance AFB, Okla., followed by a position as a T-38B instructor pilot.

Minihan commanded an airlift squadron and four deployed expeditionary airlift squadrons.

Before he took over the 19th Airlift Wing, Minihan served as vice commander, 60th Air Mobility Wing, Travis AFB, Calif. Minihan is a command pilot with more than 3,200 flying hours in the C-130 and KC-10.

TOP STORY >> Musical comedy in Cabot

2012-02-01T00:02:00.004-06:00

Myrtle (left), played by Catherine Roberts, and Maude, played by Kathleen Whitt, gasp in horror at seeing dancing in the small Baptist church.

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

The cast of the musical comedy “Smoke on the Mountain” expects to fill the Cabot Community Theater with laughter Friday and Saturday night.

The musical takes place in 1938 when the wacky but lovable Sanders Family Singers get back on the gospel singing circuit after a five-year hiatus. They’re making their comeback at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in North Carolina for an evening of singing and witnessing. More than two-dozen bluegrass gospel songs are interspersed with hilarious testimonies from the family.

Dinner is at 6:30 p.m. The show starts at 7:30. The play will be staged at 204 N. First St.

The theater is taking reservations for the performances and dinner, which will be held again Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10 and Feb. 11. On Feb. 12, the musical will be performed without dinner.

Tickets for dinner and the show are $25 for adults. Tickets for just the show are $15.

Children ages 12 and under get dinner and the show for $15 or just the show for $10.

Director Brian Wolters explained that the central conflict in the plot is that members of the small church aren’t ready for “fiddles and guitars” in the house of the lord.

He couldn’t find a fiddle player in Cabot, so the theater’s production will feature guitars and a piano instead.

Traditionally, every cast member played an instrument, but that won’t be the case for this production.

“We’re lucky to have singers and actors. All three would be great,” Wolters said. That was one challenge he faced getting the musical together.

“This has been a fantastic cast. They’re seasoned singers. I was blown away,” he added.

This is the sixth production of “Smoke on the Mountain” Wolters has directed, he said. He has done it at the Arkansas Arts Center, Searcy Community Theater and in Cabot. The play is performed daily in Branson and it has been on Broadway before.

Preacher Mervin Oglethorpe, Wolters’ character, is “goofy, but he means the best. He wants his church to go into the modern world,” the director/actor explained.

Wolters said, “I fell in love with it (theater) in high school, back in ’86. Every time I wanted to give it up (to spend more time with family), it kept pulling me back in. I work and live and play in Cabot pretty much.”

Catherine Roberts plays the role of Myrtle, one of the small church’s two benefactors. “We’re appalled at what they’ve (the Sanders family) done in here (Mount Pleasant). We don’t do things like this (music in the church),” she explained.

Bob Morris is Burl Sanders. “He’s the patriarch of the family. He’s a pretty steady part of the family, but a little eccentric. He’s a good old dependable father,” Morris said.

Dee Clark is Vera Sanders, the mother of the singing group. “She puts on airs that her life is perfect and she has perfect children,” Clark said.

Ashley Shearers, Clark’s real-life daughter, is Denise Sanders, Vera’s daughter. “She (Denise) is 17 and she’s very impressed with herself. She makes a huge mistake and realizes that she’s not perfect.”

Tyler Kibbe plays Denise’s twin brother, Dennis. “He’s naive, very scared to speak in public. I get to play someone I’m not normally like,” Kibbe said, adding that Dennis wants to be a pastor and addresses sermons to his dog as a way to get over his fear of public speaking.

Johnny Hunt is Stanley, Burl’s brother. Stanley went to prison, their mother passed away after he got out of jail and Stanley straightened up his life after that.

Hunt said he enjoys playing the part because, “I get to sing a lot of old stuff. It’s a kind of real country get-up.”

Other characters are Jude Sanders, the eldest daughter who does sign language and a Sanders cousin who plays guitar.

SPORTS >> Cabot moves past Cyclones

2012-01-31T20:15:00.003-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

The Cabot Lady Panthers secured second place in the 7A Central Conference standings with a 68-58 victory at Russellville on Friday. The two teams were tied for the second spot going into the game, one back of unbeaten North Little Rock.

Senior Laci Boyett led the Lady Panthers with 17 points while Melissa Wolff and Elliot Taylor each had 14 points. Free-throw shooting turned out to be the difference for Cabot as Taylor went 6 of 8 at the stripe and Wolff was 7 of 8. Senior forward Sydney Wacker had a season-high 13 points and was also solid at the line, going 5 of 6.

“You never know about free throws,” Lady Panthers assistant coach Charles Ruple said. “I’ve been doing this for 40-something years, and I can’t tell you what to do. I can tell you this – what we shot on Friday is pretty good for a team.” In all, the Lady Panthers shot 73 percent at the foul line against Russellville (16 of 22).

Free-throw shooting has been a strong point for the Lady Panthers since the start of league play. Their only game to fall below 68 percent was also their only loss to North Little Rock at 58 percent.

For Russellville, Carroll Davis led with 15 points while Susan Taylor added 11 points.

“They didn’t handle the press well,” Ruple said of the Lady Cyclones. “We kept it on longer than we normally would. Sometimes, there might be a team where we feel like we need to keep pressure on them a little longer. What was really surprising is that they only hit one three pointer in the first quarter.”

Outside shooting was not a mainstay for either team. Wolff and junior Ally Van Enk each scored beyond the arc once in the second quarter for all of Cabot’s three-point baskets.

Junior point guard Jaylin Bridges finished with six points for the Lady Panthers, including 4 of 4 at the free-throw line. Cabot is now 17-5 overall and 6-1 in the 7A Central Conference through one round of league play.

Free-throw shooting did just the opposite for the Cabot boys as the Panthers fell to the Cyclones 49-44. The Panthers (11-4, 3-4) shot 8 of 16 at the foul line while Russellville went 18 of 22. Sam Howe led Cabot with 10 points while seniors Arthur West and Adam Rock each added eight points. Junior Clayton Vaught finished with seven points for the Panthers.

“It’s been our Achilles’ heel,” Panthers coach Jerry Bridges said of his team’s inconsistent free-throw shooting. “We’ve won every game where we’ve shot 65 percent or better from the line. I would like to up that a little more up to 70 percent, but 65’s been our magic number. That made a big difference.”

Cabot was up by six with five minutes left to play when Russellville began to close in with a three-point basket that cut the advantage in half. The spotty foul shooting led to Cabot missing the front ends of two straight one-and-one fouls, and the Cyclones were there for key defensive rebounds.

The Cabot teams played at Conway last night and will host Little Rock Catholic/Mount St. Mary on Friday.

SPORTS >> JHS ladies hang on, knock off Bombers

2012-01-31T20:14:00.006-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The Lady Red Devils are sometimes making things a bit more exciting than they should be, but they’re still coming away with wins. That was the case again Friday night when Jacksonville beat Mountain Home 46-42 despite the Lady Bombers controlling the pace for most of the game.

“We want to get to 60,” Jacksonville coach Katrina Mimms said. “We feel like if we can get to 60 we’ve given ourselves the best chance to win. We didn’t get there, but we found a way to pull it out. So I’ll take it. A win is a win in this league.”

Jacksonville appeared to be taking control of the game when sophomore guard Tiffany Smith hit a three pointer with 3:50 left that gave the Lady Devils their biggest lead of the game at 43-34, but it was the last basket Jacksonville would make the rest of the way.

Over the next 2:16, Mountain Home added a bucket and a free throw while Jacksonville made one of four attempts. With the score44-37, Lady Bomber Anna Floyd hit her fifth three pointer of the game to make it 44-40 with 1:10 remaining.

Smith was fouled but missed both attempts at the line with 53 second left. Mountain Home stayed patient on offense. After a miss, Katie Kepler got an offensive rebound and putback to make it 44-42 with 25 seconds remaining. Jacksonville got up the floor quickly and Sacha Richardson took a three-point shot from the corner and missed. Jacksonville’s Jessica Jackson got the rebound and was fouled. Jackson made both free throws with 10 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Since things worked out, Mimms wasn’t too upset about Richardson’s ill-advised shot.

“The poor kid does all our dirty work,” Mimms said. “She’s our best defender and it’s her job every game to guard the other team’s best player. She is our dirty-work kid and she doesn’t really look to score a whole lot. When we finally went man number 21 (Floyd) had four threes. After that she only got one and that was because Sacha was on her. Without her playing defense the way she did, we may not be in the position we were in. So you can’t scream at her too much.”

The Lady Red Devils began controlling the action late in the third quarter. Jacksonville scored the final eight points of the quarter, turning a 27-26 deficit into a 34-27 lead by the start of the fourth.

Freshman guard Shakayla Hill closed the half with a steal. She got the steal at midcourt, passed to Jackson, who went back to Hill for the bucket to end the third quarter.

“We started to get control in the third and then just hung for dear life from there,” Mimms said. “You know, just hang on.”

Only four Lady Red Devils scored with Jackson leading scorers with 23 points. Kepler led all scorers and rebounders with 16 points and 13 boards. Floyd finished with 15 for Mountain Home. Hill scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds, got five steals and dished out five assists. Nichole Bennett had seven points and seven rebounds for Jacksonville.

The Lady Devils were off Tuesday, and return to action on Friday at home against Little Rock Hall.

SPORTS >> Falcons’ playoff chances still alive

2012-01-31T20:14:00.005-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The North Pulaski Falcons came off their most disappointing loss of the year with a big win over White Hall on Friday. After losing a late lead and dropping a crucial home game to Helena-West Helena Central on Tuesday, the Falcons did what they needed to do to keep playoff hopes alive, they went on the road for a conference win. North Pulaski (3-16, 2-5) beat White Hall (5-11, 1-6) 73-61 with intense pressure defense.

“It showed a lot about my kids to come off a loss like that emotionally,” North Pulaski coach Roy Jackson said. “They went right back to work the next day after the loss. We had two really tough practices and they came back with some intensity and worked hard. Due to that hard work, we came out with a victory.”

The hosting Bulldogs handled the pressure early. White Hall held an 18-15 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the pace favored the Falcons. With more quickness and depth, North Pulaski’s constant defensive pressure began to wear on the Bulldogs in the second quarter. The Falcons had forced several turnovers and started getting transition baskets. By halftime they had taken a 34-26 lead.

“They’ve got a really good point guard who can handle the ball,” Jackson said. “I just think in the second and fourth quarters, we started getting in his legs. That’s why we were able to make runs. They handled the pressure pretty good in the first and third quarters when they were rested, but we made our runs in the second and fourth quarters, mostly with some easy buckets in transition.”

White Hall didn’t go down without a final stand. The Bulldogs made a run that started late in the third and moved into the fourth quarter. North Pulaski’s lead had stretched to 14, but was back to eight by the end of the third at 46-38.

Another bucket cut it to six points, but that’s where it stopped. After another miss, center Jeremiah Hollis got a big offensive rebound and putback that sparked a Falcon run. After Hollis’ basket, Senior guard Brandon Simpkins got a steal and a layup. Daniel Drone followed with another steal and layup and in less than a minute, North Pulaski’s lead was back to 12 points.

“Jeremiah’s bucket was big,” Jackson said. “They were making a run and had all the momentum. Being at home, we knew they were going to make a run, but it was going on a little too long. That putback was big for us because it kind of sparked us and we were able to take back control. Finally making that basket, we were able to set up our press again and got a couple of steals.”

Jackson also gave his bench much of the credit for the win.

“My bench played most of the third quarter, and that’s really what allowed us to come in fresh and make that run in the fourth,” Jackson said. “Courvasiea Allen came in and played real well. Carlos Fuller made some big plays for us. Really I just have to give it up to my whole bench because when we made those runs, it’s because of what they did.”

Jamalin Nash led North Pulaski with 16 points. Simpkins added 13 and Allen scored 10.

The Falcons caught a tough break over the weekend when White Hall forfeited two of its three conference wins due to using an ineligible player. White Hall had beaten Helena-West Helena Central and Crossett. But the forfeit puts each of those teams a game ahead of the Falcons in the 5A Southeast standings. North Pulaski is still very much alive in the playoff race. Only one game separates third place from seventh place. Sylvan Hills and Mills lead the league at 7-0 and 6-1. HWHC, Crossett, Watson Chapel and Monticello are all 3-4. North Pulaski is 2-5 and White Hall, whose win over Monticello on Tuesday still stands, is 1-6.

The Lady Falcons fell in their game 51-13.

The Falcons traveled to Watson Chapel on Tuesday and will host Mills on Friday.

SPORTS >> Jackrabbits control inside

2012-01-31T20:13:00.003-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Physical play inside was the key for Lonoke as the Jackrabbits out-muscled Southside Batesville for a 50-32 victory in the 4A-2 Conference at the LHS gymnasium on Friday.

The Jackrabbits (13-6, 6-2) kept the pace slow in the first half while establishing the lead, then opened things up in the second half. Lonoke outscored its guest 19-9 in the third quarter and kept its intensity high through the final eight minutes.

Sophomore Blake Mack led the Jackrabbits with 15 points, eight rebounds and five steals while senior guard and team captain Tarrale Watson added 14 points and three blocked shots for Lonoke. Senior reserve Keli Bryant finished with eight points.

“What I’m really excited about is the fact that we really defended,” Lonoke coach Dean Campbell said. “We talked about doing that before we could get in transition. To be able to have fun just playing the game, you’ve got to pay your dues – defend on one end and get rebounds, and we did that.”

Bryant gave the Jackrabbits a 13-7 lead to end the first quarter when he took an assist from Darrius McCall and hit from three-point range just before the buzzer. That was how the margin remained until Mack scored under the goal at the 4:23 mark of the second quarter. Mack finished the first half with five points before turning up the heat in the third quarter along with Watson. The pair bullied their way inside against a Southside Batesville defense that appeared to be timid at times.

“We’re bigger than they are and at some positions, I feel like we’re stronger,” Campbell said. “In our conference, that’s the way you have to be. Heber’s very strong, Marianna’s strong, even Newport and some of the other teams that are up there are pretty strong physically.

“And that’s what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to get and-ones, not trying to go to the free-throw line. And that’s what we talk about is trying to finish at the basket.”

Watson pushed Lonoke’s lead into double digits for the first time when he scored on a reverse lay up off a steal and assist from Mack 7:02 mark of the third quarter. He also earned a trip to the free-throw line during the play and converted the and one to give the Jackrabbits a 22-11 lead.

Mack was next to convert a traditional three-point play to stretch the lead to 25-11 with 6:11 left to play in the third quarter. Mack went on to score nine of his game high 15 points in the third quarter.

“Blake is one of those guys that when things are going good, he’s pretty good,” Campbell said. “He was a lot more aggressive defensively, and those are things he can do. When a team is like that where they won’t let him get to the rim, for him to defend and try to get boards and do something on the offensive end is big for us.

“When he does that, we’re really good. When we try to do things in a way other than that, that’s what hurts us.”

Other Lonoke players got in on the scoring later in the period as Dra Offord scored on a putback at the 4:10 mark to give the Jackrabbits a 30-14 lead.

Mack scored on two more possessions before Bryant hit again from the outside with his second three pointer of the game to give Lonoke its largest lead at 37-15.

With the game in hand midway through the fourth quarter, Watson decided to give the home crowd a show with a dunk at the 3:35 mark to up Lonoke’s lead to 46-25.

Lonoke shot 43 percent from the floor (17 of 40) While Southside Batesville went 31 percent (11 of 35).

TOP STORY >> Change of command is slated for 19th AW

2012-01-27T20:49:00.006-06:00

By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor

Col. Brian (Smokey) Robinson will assume command of the 19th Airlift Wing from Col. Mike Minihan at Little Rock Air Force Base at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Robinson is executive officer to Gen. Raymond Johns Jr., commander of Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, Ill.

Minihan, who has been commander here since Aug. 2010, will assume command of the 89th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Andrews, Md., whose responsibilities include Air Force One and other planes assigned to top officials.

In an open letter to the air base community, Minihan wrote in Friday’s Combat Air-lifter newspaper, “It has been an honor to watch you in action. You make magic happen both at home and abroad.

“You dominate our nation’s enemies in combat. You train daily to a standard worthy of the title ‘C-130 Center of Excellence.’ You execute a state mission to a level that leaves 49 other states extremely envious. And you provide meaningful support to our most important assets…airmen and families.

“On April 25, 2011, I watched you fight for each other on ‘Miracle Monday.’ I’ve seen some powerful things in my life…but never to the level of what I witnessed after the tornado struck.

“You perform under pressure. Your combat, crisis and inspection record proves it.

“You define resiliency. You define community.”

Minihan’s new assignment will include worldwide special airlift missions, logistics and communications support for the president, vice president, cabinet members, combat commanders and other senior military and elected leaders.

Robinson was previously assigned to the Pentagon and was vice commander at the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston, S.C., air base.

Robinson graduated from Philadelphia University in 1987 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in computer science and received his commission from Air Force Officer Training School in December 1987 at Lackland AFB, Texas.

His career as a pilot began in 1989 after earning his Air Force pilot wings at Vance AFB, Okla., followed by a position as a T-38B instructor pilot.

At LRAFB, Minihan leads the world’s largest fleet of C-130 aircraft and is responsible for providing worldwide deployable C-130 aircraft, aircrews, support personnel and equipment for Air Mobility Command and Air Expeditionary Force missions.

He ensures support for combat, contingency and humanitarian requirements with 12,000 personnel and families at LRAFB.

Minihan entered the Air Force in June 1989 after receiving his commission through the ROTC program at Auburn University.

He completed undergraduate pilot training in 1991 and served as an aircraft commander, instructor pilot and evaluator pilot in the C-130 Hercules.

Minihan commanded an airlift squadron and four deployed expeditionary airlift squadrons.

Before he took over the 19th Airlift Wing, Minihan served as vice commander, 60th Air Mobility Wing, Travis AFB, Calif.

Minihan is a command pilot with more than 3,200 flying hours in the C-130 and KC-10.

EDITORIAL >> Military cuts loom large

2012-01-27T20:49:00.004-06:00

Little Rock Air Force Base will get new leadership next week as Col. Brian Robinson succeeds Col. Mike Minihan, just days after Thursday’s announcement of huge cuts in military spending.

For many in the military, it was Black Thursday, because the cuts include a reduction in personnel, smaller pay raises, as well as lower retirement and health benefits. There was much more:

Other cuts include eliminating seven Air Force squadrons, retiring 65 older C-130s, eliminating fighter planes and reducing the number of battleships. Many of those cuts will affect Little Rock Air Force Base and veterans who live here.

Defense Secretary Leon Penatta has proposed a $525 billion military budget, down from $531 billion. Another $487 billion will be cut over the next decade, in addition to some $500 billion in cuts that are required under Congressional spending guidelines.

The Air Force budget of $119.6 billion is down $4.5 billion from the year before as more cuts were announced Thursday.

The Pentagon has also called for another round of base closings, which are unpopular with members of Congress whose districts might be affected.

Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) supports cutting military spending but opposes canceling a $4.4 billion avionics contract to upgrade aging C-130s at Little Rock Air Force Base and elsewhere. The Air Force announced the end of the avionics modernization program earlier this month, although Griffin thinks supporters in Congress could get it back on track.

He thinks the avionics program saves money in the long run because it would keep hundreds of C-130s in the air. He’s also unhappy that some 45 civilians are losing their jobs at the base.

At an appearance at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce dinner Thursday, Griffin said President Obama’s budget proposal is only “the first step” before negotiations start in Congress, which will decide the size of the defense budget.

Griffin said Obama’s military budget didn’t get far last year, and he predicted smaller cuts this year. Will Congress split the difference with the Obama administration? Perhaps. The military shouldn’t have to bear the biggest cuts in the federal budget. But even if half the proposed cuts are restored, a $500 billion reduction over the next decade will be widely felt.

TOP STORY >> Griffin applauds base community

2012-01-27T20:48:00.001-06:00

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Rep. Tim Griffin (R.-Ark.) told a packed house at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce annual banquet Thursday night that the community had set the standard when it came to having a positive relationship with a military base.

“I know you would think all communities are that way, but they are not. The standard is here and we want the country to know it,” the freshman Republican representative said.

Besides talking about how well Jacksonville and central Arkansas embraces Little Rock Air Force Base, Griffin also brought up some budget concerns and his reasoning why the big problems aren’t being resolved.

Griffin, the chamber’s guest speaker for a second year in a row, said he and his staff recently sat down and came up with a list of what set Jacksonville and its relationship with Little Rock Air Force Base apart from other military communities.

“We came up with five major points. First, here the air base is a generational priority. It’s been important for decades. Your relationship is rooted in history, and the community has been involved from the beginning,” he said.

The second point, the congressman said, was how well the civilian and military population work together. “There is a seamless transition.”

Thirdly, he pointed out that there is a shared standard. He said both the base and the city live up to the Air Force’s high expectations and pursuit of excellence.

Next, he said was the city’s tireless advocacy for the base and the military, and finally, the extended family feelings. “The community’s warm embrace of the base and its members bring a lot of members back when they get out or retire,” Griffin said.

Earlier in the day, information was released about major military budget cuts that President Obama had announced. “The thing we have to remember is the President’s budget is the first word, not the final,” Griffin said.

He said the President got no Democratic votes in the Senate on his last budget. “The president’s budget is a starting point for discussion. Should we be concerned? Yes, but there’s no need to hyperventilate. I caution people and remind people that the President’s budget is not the final word, only his vision. If he wants a program killed, it doesn’t mean we are killing it.”

Griffin did say his efforts to purchase more flight-training simulators in the last budget did fail.

“Those were not earmarks because they weren’t specifically for LRAFB, but were for the Air Force in general. I still think spending a few million on simulators can save a lot on wear and tear of aircraft. Making more training available is a good thing—better then buying gas flying around,” he bemoaned.

The Pentagon is looking at cutting the avionics modernization program that updates the technology on older C-130s. “I’m an advocate for it because it ultimately saves money,” Griffin said. “It gets rid f the navigator position and extends the life of an aircraft you already own. It’s a good use of our taxpayers’ money.”

So far four C-130s have been upgraded through the program and all those aircraft are at LRAFB.

While Griffin was the main speaker, the banquet was also the time for the outgoing chairman of the board to pass the gavel to the new chamber leaders.

Jason Wilkinson, after holding down the chairmanship for two years, passed the team over to the new chairman, Joey Urquhart.

Other new officers for 2012 include Larry Biernacki, vice chairman; Daniel Gray, treasurer, and new board members David Copeland, Lauren Fowler, Carol Langston, Andy Patel, Jay Quebedeaux, Terry Ray, Matt Robinson, Roger Sundermeier, Val Yagos and Larry Wilson.

TOP STORY >> Study reveals road dangers for area cities

2012-01-27T20:47:00.002-06:00

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

The high incidence of pedestrian and bicycle crashes with motor vehicles on South First Street in Jacksonville and on Main Street in Cabot between Hwy. 67/167 and the public school complex at Polk Street requires further study, according to a Metroplan draft report released to its board Wednesday.

In Little Rock and North Little Rock, eight other corridors are recommended for further study, according to the report.

“The next step is to get police reports, review them, then deliver them to the cities and make recommendations,” according to Metroplan’s Casey Covington.

The study, which mapped hundreds of crashes by GIS location, found clusters of accidents at various intersections and corridors throughout Pulaski, Lonoke, Saline and Faulkner counties from 2001 through 2010.

Including Sherwood — with Gravel Ridge — Jacksonville, Cabot, Austin and Ward, the four-county study found an average of 140 pedestrians and 50 cyclists are involved each year, averaging 100 serious injuries and 11 fatalities.

CABOT

The intersection of Hwy. 38 and South Polk Street in Cabot has been the site of four pedestrian crashes over those years, putting it in a five-way tie for the eighth most dangerous pedestrian intersection in the four-county area.

As far as dangerous corridors, a two-mile stretch of West Main Street in Cabot has seen 22 crashes, including the four at Hwy. 38 and South Polk Street.

On the stretch of Hwy. 67/167 including the area from Sherwood through Cabot, seven deaths were recorded during that period, as well as 25 other pedestrian accidents.

Most of these involve pedestrians trying to cross the highway; most of the rest were walking along the side.

Among about 20 Cabot pedestrian accidents, one was a fatality in September 2008 when a motorcyclist struck two pedestrians leaving a Cabot football game.

In the general area east of Hwy. 67/167, north of Richie Road, the study locates 18 pedestrian accidents and 14 bike accidents from 2001 through 2010. They include seven pedestrian and two bike crashes on that area of Hwy. 89 (Main Street) alone, with another four pedestrian and three bike crashes on that section of Hwy. 367 and six pedestrian and three bike crashes on North Lincoln, including the fatality.

Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert, who is also vice president of the Metroplan board of directors, says the city now has sidewalks along about two blocks of Main, with grants confirmed for another two or three blocks. He hopes eventually to have sidewalks from the schools all the way to Hwy. 67/167.

A new traffic signal at the intersection of Locust and Lincoln streets may also increase pedestrian safety.

Between 1995 and 2010, 103 pedestrian crashes in Lonoke County accounted for nine deaths, while in Pulaski County, 1,939 pedestrians were hit and 118 died.

During that same period, one bicyclist was killed among 45 bike accidents in Lonoke County, and eight of 612 bicycle/vehicle crashes resulted in death.

Of about 45 pedestrian accidents in Jacksonville, four were fatal.

“While this is a small percent of the total number of vehicle crashes, it represents 10 percent of the total number of fatalities and is a major concern for pedestrians and in the bicycle community,” according to the report.

North Little Rock had the highest pedestrian crash rate in the four counties, with about 32.5 per 100,000 population. By comparison, the pedestrian crash rate per 100,000 in Jacksonville was 15; unincorporated Pulaski County, 13; Cabot 11; Sherwood 8, and unincorporated Lonoke County 5.

SHERWOOD

The report identified six pedestrian crashes on Hwy. 67/167 or frontage roads and another six pedestrian and six bicycle crashes on Kiehl Avenue.

In Gravel Ridge, there have been eight pedestrian and four bicycle crashes between 2001 and 2010. Those include three pedestrians and one bicycle crash on Hwy. 107 with an equal number on Jacksonville Cutoff.

Maumelle had the lowest pedestrian/bicycle crash rate, perhaps because the pedestrian/bike system is separated from the motorized traffic, the Metroplan study postulated.

North Little Rock led the fatality rate with 2 per 100,000 population, compared to Jacksonville, the second deadliest, with 1.6 deaths per 100,000. Both Cabot and Sherwood had about 0.3 deaths per 100,000.

Lonoke County recorded 103 pedestrian crashes between 1995 and 2010, with nine fatalities, while Pulaski County recorded 1,939 crashes with 118 fatalities.

During that same period,45 bicycle crashes were recorded in Lonoke County with one fatality, and 612 bicycle crashes in Pulaski County with eight fatalities.

JACKSONVILLE

In Jacksonville, there were 15 pedestrian crashes on Hwy. 67/167 from 2001-2010, with six fatalities. During the same time, on South First Street, there were seven pedestrian crashes with one death and seven bicycle crashes with no fatalities.

In the Sunnyside area, there were six pedestrian crashes and seven bicycle crashes.

Overall, the study found that minorities and young people are disproportionate affected, according to the study.

The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate pedestrian/bicyclist safety within the Central Arkansas Regional Transportation Study (CARTS) area and provide a comparative assessment to the baseline initially established in the previous study.

Building on the previous study, this update seeks to identify specific intersections and roadway segments with the highest number of crashes and greatest levels of safety concern.

Black males under 16 had the highest pedestrian and bicyclist crash rate. However, black males 16 and over had the highest pedestrian fatality rate. Nearly 64 percent of pedestrian crashes were not at intersections, contrasting with the nearly 65 percent of bicycle crashes occurring at intersections.

Central Arkansas’ 15-year pedestrian fatality rate is lower than the national rate and the state’s rate. Nearly 80 percent of pedestrian fatalities were not at the intersection and 57 percent of bicycle fatalities occurred at the intersection. Twenty-two percent of the pedestrians were crossing the roadway when killed. About 60 percent of pedestrian crashes occurred during dark, dawn or dusk conditions.

Sidewalks were present in only 47 percent of pedestrian crashes mapped. Crosswalks were present in 22 percent of pedestrian incidents.

Speed was identified as a contributing factor in both the likelihood of a crash and its severity, according to the report.

SPORTS >> Jackrabbits get two conference wins at Stuttgart

2012-01-27T20:45:00.001-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

The Lonoke Jackrabbits needed overtime to take a huge 56-55 victory over Stuttgart in a 4A-2 Conference road game on Tuesday.

The Jackrabbits (14-6, 7-2) came back from an eight-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter, and actually took a two-point lead in the final minute of regulation before Stuttgart scored on a lay up just before the buzzer to force overtime.

“You could tell our guys were a little disappointed after that happened,” Lonoke

coach Dean Campbell said. “But I told them that they needed to understand, we were the ones who came back and were down – we’re the ones with momentum. I think that helped us take that momentum into overtime.”

The Ricebirds took the lead early in the extra period before Lonoke senior guard Tarrale Watson led the ’Rabbits back. The game was tied with 10.7 seconds left to play when Stuttgart hit the front end of a two-shot foul. Watson pulled down the rebound on the missed second shot and quickly got the ball out to Darius McCall. McCall moved to the middle of the court and found sophomore Blake Mack, who went up for the winning shot but was off. Watson powered his way up for the offensive rebound and dropped it in for a putback just before the buzzer.

“We were more or less down the whole game,” Campbell said. “It’s big – I don’t think we’ve won over there since the ’08 season. That’s a three-year drought, but it’s a tough place to play.”

Watson led the Jackrabbits with 17 points, including 6 for 6 from the free-throw line, while junior post player Reid McKenzie added 14 points and Mack had 12 points despite sitting out most of the second quarter after getting into early foul trouble.

The Lady Jackrabbits also came up big on the road when they defeated Stuttgart 51-43 on Tuesday. Freshman guard Kerasha Johnson led Lonoke with 14 points and eight steals, while senior Kaitlyn Tate added 10 points for the Lady ’Rabbits (13-9, 7-2).

“Playing in a place like Stuttgart is always tough,” Lady Jackrabbits coach Nathan Morris said. “So it was a great win for us from that standpoint, and it was good for us to get out of there with a win to help us in the conference race.”

Johnson went on a 4-0 run for Lonoke to start the fourth quarter, giving the Lady Jackrabbits a 40-29 lead.

The Lady Ricebirds inched their way back, and took advantage of Lonoke’s struggle at the foul line to stay within striking distance most of the way. The Lady ’Rabbits went 12 of 36 from the stripe.

But they made up for some of that on the boards, out-rebounding the Lady Ricebirds 35-20.

The conference race remains close at the halfway point with Marianna up top at 8-1, while Lonoke, Heber Springs and Southside Batesville clog up the second spot all at 7-2.

Heber Springs defeated Southside on Tuesday to make a close race even closer, while the Lady Jackrabbits hosted the Lady Southerners Friday night in a game with big implications.

SPORTS >> Mustangs put away Badgers in overtime

2012-01-27T20:44:00.001-06:00

By FRED CONLEY

Forrest City Times-Herald

It would be hard to imagine a state championship game being any better than Tuesday’s 5A-East conference game played at Mustang Arena.

Tre Hutchieson’s running jumper with 1.1 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 48-48.

Mekyiel Harris scored the game’s final four points in overtime to give Forrest City a 58-56 heart-stopping win over the Beebe Badgers.

The win keeps the Mustangs unbeaten in conference play and in sole possession of first place. With the loss, and coupled with Greene County Tech’s win over Paragould, Beebe fell to third.

Tuesday’s win marked the first Forrest City victory over Beebe since the school moved from the 5A-Southeast conference into the East last season. Beebe swept the Mustangs last year, winning 54-50 and 45-44.

Forrest City and Beebe played a first-round game in the 2008-09 Class 5A state tournament in Alma with the Mustangs winning that matchup 56-53 in overtime.

“They (Beebe) are a championship caliber team,” said Forrest City coach Dwight Lofton. “I wasn’t surprised at all at the way the game played out. They wanted it as badly as we did. The fans saw two championship teams go head-to-head. They weren’t going nowhere. We weren’t going nowhere. All the big players played big for both teams. But right at the end, no one stepped up bigger than Hutchieson.”

Forrest City sophomore Trey Thompson led four players in double figures with 16 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots.

Hutchieson finished with four points as well as the biggest shot of the game.

Beebe led 18-14 after one period and 29-28 at the half, getting 14 first half points from Dayton Scott, who finished with 20. Zack May was the only other Beebe player to reach double figures – finishing with 10.

“I knew at the end of the first half, they were playing a much faster game than they wanted to play,” said Lofton. “I was happy with that.”

Forrest City, 10-7 overall, forced a 32-32 tie in the third period when Chatters converted a layup off a feed from Harris with 5:19 to play.

Martin Clanton’s three pushed the Mustang lead to 37-32 with three minutes showing before Beebe battled back by hitting six consecutive free throws to get within one point, 39-38 to start the fourth period.

Beebe regained the lead to start the fourth period and never trailed, surviving two ties at 40-40 with 5:41 to play and 46-46 with 52 seconds left.

Beebe used two free throws to break the 46-all tie to lead 48-46 with 12 seconds left, before Hutchieson’s basket sent the game into overtime.

Harris put the Mustangs in front 50-48 with a short bank shot before Beebe’s Brandon Fuller tied the game at 50-50 with 2:18 remaining in overtime.

Chatters rebounded a Thompson miss with 1:46 to play and got the putback for a 52-50 Forrest City lead. A long three by Beebe put the Badgers in front 53-52 with 1:13 showing before Lee sank two free throws for a 54-53 Mustang advantage with 53 seconds left.

Harris hit one of two free throws for a 55-53 lead, converted a layup with 18 seconds left and dropped in his final free throw with 13 seconds to play for a 58-55 lead.

A long three pointer by Beebe that caught nothing but net with 2.5 seconds showing was waved off after the officials ruled Beebe head coach Ryan Marshall had called for a time out just before the shot.

Beebe inbounded following the time out and drew a quick foul from Lee, but made only one of two free throws with .2 seconds left.

The Beebe Lady Badgers remained in third place in the 5A-East with a 69-43 win.

Jamie Jackson led Beebe with 25 points, while Kalela Miller added 18 and Angelina Williams had 11 points. Alexis Miguel added seven points for Beebe, 13-5 overall.

Forrest City junior guard Mary Burks finished with 18 points – hitting five, three-pointers – four in the first half. Nikima Chatters finished with eight points, while Deja Collins, Keyma Thompson and Marina Ford had five points each.

Forrest City falls to 1-4 in the conference and 4-14 overall.

Beebe led 18-13 after one period and 40-26 at the half, bolstered by Johnson’s 17 first-half points.

The Lady Badgers led 58-37 to begin the fourth period and invoked the 30-point “mercy rule” with 3:36 to play in the game when they pushed the lead to 68-38.

SPORTS >> Lady Falcons beat Cougars

2012-01-27T20:43:00.005-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The North Pulaski Lady Falcons got their first conference win of the season and just their second win overall Tuesday night in Jacksonville, beating Helena-West Helena Central 55-49 in overtime. Lady Falcon guard Haley Hudson scored 14 of her game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter and overtime period.

North Pulaski led 10-4 after one quarter and 20-14 at halftime, but the Lady Cougars rallied for a 31-29 lead at the end of the third quarter. With four minutes remaining regulation, HWHC had stretched its lead to 40-32, but North Pulaski mounted a furious comeback.

It started with a three pointer by North Pulaski’s Neddy Fuller with 3:45 left that made it 40-35. That’s when Hudson took over. She scored North Pulaski’s final 10 points in the fourth quarter to rally her team into an extra period that began with the two teams tied at 45.

Hudson’s first basket of the rally came with 2:55 remaining and made it 41-37. She scored again 30 seconds later to make it a two-point game. The Falcons sent Shadashia Baker to the line. Baker missed both free throws, but got her own rebound and scored to make it 43-39 with two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Hudson drove the length of the floor and into the lane for another bucket just 10 seconds later. She then got a steal, was fouled and made both free throws to tie the game with 1:17 remaining.

Hudson rebounded a missed three pointer by Baker and was fouled again. This time she missed both free throws. Helena-West Helena’s Delana Bedford scored with 38 seconds remaining, but Hudson answered with 22 seconds to go.

NP fouled Helena-West Helena’s Lakwonta Harvey with 11 seconds left, but Harvey missed the front end of the one-and-one. NP got the ball down the court and the Lady Cougars knocked it out of bounds with two seconds remaining. North Pulaski got it in bounds, but couldn’t get a shot, sending the game into an extra four-minute period.

Khalea Rhodes got North Pulaski’s first points of overtime. She made both ends of a one-and-one trip to the free-throw line for a 47-45 North Pulaski lead. Talia Nation then got the rebound off a Helena miss. She passed to Hudson who was fouled and made one of two foul shots for a 48-45 NP lead with 3:09 left.

Lady Cougar Kymberlee Collier made it a one-point game with two free throws, but Lady Falcon post player Cathy Waylan scored inside to make it 50-47 with 2:34 remaining.

Fuller then got a steal and was fouled. She hit one of two at the line for a 51-47 North Pulaski lead. Fuller got another steal on Helena-West Helena’s next possession. She passed to Jolisha Baker for a layup and a 53-47 North Pulaski lead with 2:00 left in the game.

The two teams then traded trips to the line. Hudson made two free throws with 1:09 on the clock that set the final margin. Fuller got her third steal in two minutes, but the Falcons turned it back over. The two teams combined for four missed free throws in the final minute.

North Pulaski (2-10, 1-5)won the rebounding battle 48-41.

Waylan finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Baker came off the bench to score 10 points and grab 13 rebounds. Rhodes had two points and eight rebounds while Nation finished with five points and six rebounds.

Bedford led Helena-West Helena Central (1-11, 0-6) with 15 points. Baker finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds. Bri’ana Meriweather came off the bench for 10 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Cougars.

SPORTS >> Devils sweep West Memphis

2012-01-27T20:43:00.004-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Jacksonville won its fifth consecutive game Tuesday night, picking up a big conference road victory over always-tough West Memphis 54-44. The Lady Red Devils also got an important win to run their winning streak to four games, running over the West Memphis ladies 66-40 in an impressive road performance.

The Red Devils (15-3, 5-1) took complete control of the game in the first quarter and raced out to a 21-6 lead. They were only able to add a point to that lead in the second quarter, outscoring the Blue Devils 13-12 and taking a 34-18 lead into the locker room.

After the break, the home team rallied.

“They changed defenses on us a couple of times and it took us a minute to get adjusted to it,” Jacksonville coach Victor Joyner said. “We never panicked or anything like that. They just did a good job of making some changes they had to make to try and get back into the ball game.”

The Blue Devils stayed in a 2-3 zone for most of the first half, but Jacksonville’s outside shooting forced a change of strategy. Guards Dustin House, Dwayne Waller and Justin McCleary each hit three pointers in the first half.

In the second half, West Memphis went to a matchup zone and ran some man defense. Once the Red Devils made the proper adjustments, they began to work the ball inside for points in the paint or trips to the free-throw line.

Free-throw shooting was one area that wasn’t impressive for Jacksonvlle. The Red Devils made just 11 of 21 attempts, but Joyner didn’t seem too worried about the one bad night.

“We’ve been pretty good at the line most of the year,” Joyner said.

House led Jacksonville with 12 points while post player Tirrell Brown added 11.

“House did a good job staying within his game,” Joyner said. “He’s not quick enough to get to the rim, but he’s tall and has a good jump shot. He went as far as he could and when someone came out to get him, he pulled up and shot.”

Jacksonville was back at home against Mountain Home last night after The Leader deadlines.

The game against the Bombers closes the first round-robin in 6A East Conference play.

The Red Devils will take a break Tuesday before resuming conference play on Friday against first-place Little Rock Hall.

The Warriors handed the Red Devils their last loss on Jan. 6. in Little Rock. Hall controlled every aspect of that game and won 65-52. The Warriors entered last night’s action still unbeaten in league play.

Behind Jacksonville in third place is Jonesboro. Little Rock Parkview is fourth with losses to each of the top three teams.

Parkview leads the girls standings while Hall is second and Jacksonville third.

SPORTS >> Panthers pull away late, beat Van Buren

2012-01-27T20:42:00.001-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Good second-half shooting helped Cabot pull away from Van Buren in a 65-36 victory over the Pointerettes at Panther Arena on Tuesday to remain unbeaten at home in 7A-Central Conference play.

The Lady Panthers (16-5, 5-1) built a 38-24 halftime lead despite shooting just 25 percent from the floor (3 of 12) in the second quarter, but were lights during a third-quarter performance in which they shot 10 of 11 from the field. Cabot went 20 of 38 for the game for nearly 53 percent while Van Buren was 11 of 29 for just under 40 percent.

“If we could figure out what that was and put it in a bottle, we could make a million dollars,” Cabot assistant coach Charles Ruple said. “There weren’t many bad shots, and some of them were threes. Getting in the flow – that’s the real key, it makes your defense better, and your offense better. That kept us pumped up even when we switched and had other players come in.”

The Pointerettes (15-5, 3-3) fought to a 16-16 tie at the end of the first quarter but could not keep pace beyond that as Cabot used its full-court defensive pressure to generate 24 turnovers, including three steals for senior forward Sydney Wacker, who also finished with eight points.

Wacker was a big part of the third-quarter push that doubled the Lady Panthers’ lead. But the run started from the outside as senior Melissa Wolff hit a three-point basket at the 7:50 mark to give Cabot a 40-24 lead. Laci Boyett then hit a three for her only shot from the floor for part of her nine points. Boyett also went 6 for 6 from the free-throw line.

Wacker then scored the first of three inside baskets with 5:48 left to play in the third just before junior Jaylin Bridges hit a three-pointer to give the Lady Panthers a 48-27 lead.

Wacker scored again off a steal and dish from Wolff, and the duo repeated on Van Buren’s ensuing possession with a steal at midcourt for Wolff and an uncontested shot under the goal for Wacker with 4:15 left to play in the third quarter to give the Lady Panthers a 52-27 margin.

Steals that led to easy points were part of the key to Cabot’s high-percentage third quarter as Bridges stole the ball and got it to Wolff in transition to make it 54-27, and Ally Van Enk took a steal from Micah Odom and scored with 2:04 left to play in the third quarter for a 56-29 Cabot lead.

Senior reserve Sarah Fowler then put the game at mercy-rule status with a minute still left to play in the third quarter when she hit both ends of a two-shot foul to make it 59-29.

Free throws were the key to Cabot establishing a lead in the second quarter after the two teams battled to a stalemate through one.

Wolff hit two foul shots to give the Lady Panthers an 18-16 lead with 7:37 left to play in the half, followed by a three pointer for Bridges and an inside shot by Elliot Taylor to give Cabot a 23-16 lead. Taylor also hit two free throws at the 4:38 mark before Wolff scored the last goal from the floor of the half on an inside basket assisted by Boyett to put the Lady Panthers up 28-19. Boyett then clicked off four straight free throws to put Cabot up by double digits for the first time at 33-21.

Wolff led the Lady Panthers with 16 points and three steals. Bridges added 12 points after going 4 for 4 from three-point range for the game. Taylor and Odom each finished with six points for Cabot.

For Van Buren, Britney Campbell led with eight points.

EDITORIAL >> Air base rebuilds

2012-01-24T21:44:00.003-06:00

Col. Mike Minihan, commander of the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base, will depart next Tuesday for Andrews Air Force Base, where he will oversee the presidential and VIP fleet of jets. He will leave his successor, Col. Brian Robinson, an air base that ranks with the best in the world.

The tempo may slow down at times, but the mission continues. Even when LRAFB took a terrible hit during last spring’s tornado, the air base continued to train and make deliveries around the world.

The base has started to rebuild some of the worst-damaged structures with a $16 million contract issued recently to AECOM, the giant architecture and engineering firm based in Los Angeles.

The tornado caused about $85 million in damage to about 60 buildings, five planes and other infrastructure on base.

Two of the C-130s that were hit will never fly again, but those two were scheduled to retire last year anyway. Two others have been fixed and another one is undergoing repairs.

AECOM will design and repair three hangars, the fire station, a training building and two other structures. The roof and all the doors at the fire station have to be replaced.

Two buildings should be finished in February. Construction on two others will start next month. Five others are in the design phase. The company plans to be complete repairs on all seven buildings by March 2013.

To complete the projects, AECOM is getting help from CDI Contractors, a Little Rock construction company; HDMS Architects and Interior Designers of North Little Rock, and Tecta America, a Texas-based roofing company. They could hire several hundred workers before the first phase of the repairs are done.

Hunt Building Services, which owns base housing, has rebuilt much of the damaged homes after several were badly damaged in the tornado. The company demolished 19 homes and is rebuilding them. Hunt has finished work on all but 34 houses.

Much work remains to be done and it could take several years before all rebuilding contracts are issued and completed. Thanks go out to Col. Minihan for making sure that adequate funds became available before taking on his new assignment at Andrews AFB.

TOP STORY >> China troupe thrills crowd at a big show

2012-01-24T21:43:00.003-06:00

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

More than 400 people gasped in awe and offered several rounds of robust clapping to the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe on Friday night at its first visit to Jacksonville, where they celebrated the Chinese New Year and helped raise money for a city arts center.

The center could be housed at the closed Jacksonville Elementary School, 108 S. Oak St., off Main Street.

Jacksonville is trying to work out a lease agreement for the property with the Pulaski County Special School District. The plan is to have classrooms, a museum and an exhibition hall for the performing arts. The center would bring visual, musical, literary arts and drama to youth and adult residents.

The driving force behind the effort is the new Jacksonville Arts Council, which met for the first time last month and spearheaded Friday’s event.

Angie Mitchell of Costume Corner, coordinator of the Patriotic Spectacular and one of the Chinese New Year celebration organizers, told the crowd Friday that the council has applied tobe a corporation and is working toward achieving nonprofit status.

Sherwood resident Jean Hill, who has two adopted Chinese granddaughters who live in New York, said Friday evening, “I’ve enjoyed it so far,” after she finished a plate of favorites from the Asian Pacific Resource and Cultural Center.

Hill also remarked on how wonderful it was to see REAL Entertaining. They performed for the crowd from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and wrapped up the show with “It’s a Small World.”

REAL Entertaining is sisters Rebecca, Emily, Abigale and Lydia Vandervate. They play the accordion, flute, violin and harmonica. The youngest of the sister is 8 and the oldest recently become a teenager.

Jacksonville High School coach Marvin Lindley, who teaches art, stood near the doorway to the hallway filled with paintings and drawings his students created. “We put a lot of planning into it. A lot of hard work went into it. Our goal is to have a center for the arts. That’s our goal and this is our dream,” he said.

One of the drawings was of a person’s body curled into a larger hand, but the lines and texture blended together so well that a viewer had to look closely to see the vulnerable creature.

Another attraction was the silent auction, which included decorated cakes that earned their creators a little change for their wallets. Prizes were $100 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place.

The cake in the shape of red dragon captivated everyone. Its baker was 10-year-old Aurora Johnson, who was sitting next to it nonchalantly. She won first place in the child category.

Other winners, in the adult category, were Elizabeth Johnson with first place, Angie Grant with second and Jennie Stewart with third.

Sam Parsley, owner of Cakes by Sam at 1212 John Harden Drive in Jacksonville, said about the delicious works of art, “There’s a lot of talent here. You can tell their hearts were into it.”

She pulled Johnson aside to ask questions in order to figure out if the girl had help with her tasty treat. Parsley said her conclusion was that the child is very gifted and creative as well as a jokester.

“She said she could be my kitchen slave,” Parsley said with a laugh, but nodded yes when asked if she would consider hiring Johnson when she gets older.

Parsley said she told Johnson’s mother to have her enter something in the Tulsa Sugar Show, which is held the first week in October.

Another star of the evening was Consul General Xu Erwen for the People’s Republic of China in Houston. “The people (in Jacksonville) are so friendly. The year of the dragon is a very auspicious sign. It is luck and bravery,” she said to The Leader before the show. Erwen met Gov. Mike Beebe and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark) during her visit.

“I would like to take the opportunity to express our deep appreciation for your support. Over the past three decades, progress has been made.

It (China and America) is the important, the most dynamic relationship. My job is to promote good relationships. I look forward to the future building a stronger relationship. We wish all of you good luck and the best in the New Year,” she told the audience.

Jacksonville Mayor Fletcher presented Erwen, Consulate-general Wang Dong, Consulate-general Cai Lian, their staff and the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe with honorary citizenship certificates. Erwen also received an ornate key to the city.

Sue Khoo, owner of Unique Furniture, greeted the audience that was patiently waiting for more than two hours of entertainment to begin. The show included live commercials promoting the sponsors of the celebration.

People wearing outfits, one of which was a monkey suit, walked the runway advertising Costume Corner and another ad featured a bank robber and a teller who had a candid conversation related to which bank would be best for him to try the crime at.

Khoo said, in an excited tone, “Are you ready for something different? We’re going to have some fun,” then translated that into Chinese.

Peppered throughout the local acts were performances by the acrobatic troupe, which always earned a standing ovation for twisting their bodies in unimaginable ways.

“It was awesome. I loved the stunts they pulled off,” said Marbe Meneses.

Trish Winer said, “I thought it was pretty amazing how they could balance and their strength.”

JHS English teacher Elizabeth Lanius, said, “It was beyond amazing. I loved to see the culture that this brought to our city.”

Christina Vaughn said, “This was my first time at a Chinese New Year and it won’t be my last.”

Tao Chen with the troupe said, “The show was very nice. The whole performance with the local people was very special. It is a beautiful city. The local people, their enthusiasm is very good.”

Fletcher said to the audience and the city’s guests, “America is such a special place. We celebrate diversity. In Jacksonville, we have the opportunity to embrace diverse and great people like Sue in our community. It is America where you can plant your dreams and see them to fruition.”

Khoo joked with the crowd, “I worry we have no more than 20 people show up.”

Mitchell added, “The arts aren’t just a painting out there (gesturing toward the hallway). Aren’t those amazing? Those are high school kids. The arts are visual, drama, literal. You are an artist in yourself and you don’t even realize it. Your penmanship is art.”

The Jacksonville High School color guard presented the flags gracefully before the school’s drumline stole the spotlight with their faster and faster movements that were in perfect sync.

Dr. Alan Storyguard, a local physician and concert pianist, played jazz selections “Wade in the Water” and “Baby you don’t have to go” with Dave Rogers and Brian Wolverton. Colorful spotlights on both sides of the stage seemed to dance with their music.

Storyguard performed at Carnegie Hall in 2003 and the trio play there in April.

The Jacksonville High School Jazz Choir gathered on the stage twice to sing “Luck be a Lady” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it ain’t got that Swing.”

Lisa Kirkpatrick and Darral Pogue swept across the floor with their ballroom dancing before a preview of the high school’s upcoming production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” a Broadway play.

Hannah Shelleto’s powerful voice reached the back of the packed room in “Somewhere that’s green,” during a nasal monologue that imitated her character, Audrey. Audrey is a sweet, quiet, ditsy and insecure coworker of and the object of protagonist Seymour’s affections. But she is dating an abusive and sadistic dentist.

Then Shelleto performed the duet “Suddenly, Seymour” with Chase Smiley, who will be playing the role of Seymour, the good-hearted protagonist and a nerdy florist who loves strange and interesting plants.

TOP STORY >> Austin is seeking vote on sales tax

2012-01-24T21:42:00.001-06:00

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

The Austin City Council on Monday passed a $1.4 million budget and decided to ask voters for a one-cent sales tax to generate $1.2 million that would help fix roads.

Mayor Bernie Chamberlain told aldermen that Crew and Associates said the city needed the tax before it could issue bonds for the loan. The sales tax could have been put on the November ballot, but the council voted to look into having a special election for it.

“The problem I have waiting until November is I want some of these roads done now. I hate sales tax. I hate ’em. But I can’t do anything about (the bank’s requirement),” Chamberlain explained.

Sales taxes are collected on residents’ water, sewer and cell phone bills and other items, she said.

Alderman Matt Sheets said, “I think the No. 1 thing I hear is ‘fix the streets.’”

Alderman Rusty Eisenhower agreed, saying he’d had about 40 calls to complain about roads.

One of the projects the sales tax would help get under way is the widening of Austin’s section of Old Austin Road to 22 feet and replacing culverts on several streets that flood when it rains, Chamberlain said.

A resident told the council, “Whet their (voters’) appetite. Lay it right out there for them and they’ll get behind (the sales tax).”

The council also approved the city’s 2012 budget.

Last month, Chamberlain told The Leader that the city planned to use $65,000 from the general fund in the 2012 budget for street improvements.

The council decided to let that money be until the voters say yes or no to the sales tax increase.

The $65,000 could come from the $200,000 carryover the city has from last year’s budget.

Projected revenues for 2012 are $1.4 million. That is up about $500,000 from last year’s $894,650.

Chamberlain said the increase is the result of the city’s growth in population, from 600 in 2000 to 2,038 now.

Expenses are expected to be about $1.2 million.

The water and sewer budget, which separated from the city’s general fund budget, is $1.2 million.

Expenses for that budget are projected to be about $1.5 million.

Some of the major changes to Austin’s budget involve salaries and pay for city employees.

Alderman this month began receiving $150 per monthly meeting attended.

Chamberlain explained that she wants to motivate the council to meet quorum every month and this was a way to do that.

Only one council member was absent at Monday’s meeting.

Previously, aldermen had not been paid for their services.

The city is also giving merit raises, in addition to cost-of-living adjustments, to its employees who have worked there for several years.

Department directors, who have been paid on an hourly basis in the past, will now be paid salaries.

Those salaries are $896.45 per week for public works director John Ryan, $730.01 per week for police chief John Staley and $600 for city office manager Randy McKenzie.

The raises for the five workers who received merit raises range from $1.03 to 26 cents more per hour.

Chamberlain also received a merit raise of $500 per month. She was being paid $1,243. Her new salary is $1,805 per month and that includes a cost-of-living adjustment.

Full-time employees got a one-time bonus of $150 and part-time employees got a $50 one-time bonus.

Those who have worked for the city less than a year will get a cost-of-living adjustment raise on their one-year anniversary.

The budget also includes:

Hiring a part-time office person to accept water and fine payments

Doubling payments of $398 toward a police car

Hiring a probation officer and part-time clerk for the police department

Aside from the $65,000, the only other change from the preliminary budget is that the city will not double up payments of $1,363 toward the new city hall building.

TOP STORY >> Stalker leaves jail, kills woman

2012-01-24T21:41:00.005-06:00

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

A man charged in Lonoke County in December with rape, terroristic threatening and false imprisonment has killed himself and the woman who accused him of those crimes.

Ronnie Odell Stewart Jr. 38, of Maumelle was held for a week in the Lonoke County Jail and released on a $50,000 bond after charges were brought against him on behalf of Jenny Marie Cavender, 39, who lived near Austin.

He was in court in Lonoke County on Jan. 9, and he was set to return to court on Feb. 13 for plea and arraignment.

The murder-suicide happened at about 8:15 a.m. Monday in the parking lot of the Saline Memorial Hospice in Bryant where Cavender worked.

Sgt. Todd Crowson, spokesman for Bryant Police Department, said his agency is trying to get security tapes from Lowe’s next-door to Cavender’s workplace to determine if he waited there for her to show up.

What is known is that Stewart jumped out of his car while it was still running and it rolled into a parked ambulance so hard that the car’s airbag deployed.

Crowson said Stewart jumped out on the passenger side of Cavender’s car firing a semiautomatic 40-caliber pistol and continued to fire as he made his way around to the driver’s side.

“He just got out shooting, and this poor lady didn’t stand a chance,” Crowson said.

Cavender had lived in Bryant for 11 days when she was killed and had not alerted the Bryant police to the order of protection against Stewart.

“We had no idea this was going on in her life,” Crowson said.

Reports filed by the sheriff’s departments in Pulaski and Lonoke counties indicate that Stewart’s violent behavior escalated from mid-September until he killed Cavender.

Stewart was arrested Dec. 9 for rape and the other associated charges.

Cavender lived near Austin at that time. On the same day Stewart was arrested, the sheriff’s department gave Cavender an order of protection from him.

On Dec. 14, Cavender contacted the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department about an incident that happened Sept. 22, near Maumelle in the mobile home park where Stewart lived.

Cavender said in that report that she and Steward argued over money she spent on children from a previous relationship. Specifically, he was angry about money she sent her daughter who didn’t live with her.

Cavender said he grabbed her cell phone, pushed her and told her to leave. But she stayed and tried to sleep on the couch but she was awakened several times by his yelling.

Eventually he pulled her off the couch and kicked her in the back. Then he held a gun on her and said, “I’m not going to shoot you.”

She left a short time later without further incident.

Asked why she waited almost two months to report the incident, Cavender said she loved Stewart and didn’t want to get him into trouble.

Stewart was freed on bond on Dec. 15, the day after Cavender reported the Sept. 22 incident to Pulaski County.

After Stewart was released from jail, Dean White, chief deputy for Lonoke County Sheriff Jim Roberson, said his department received information about a disturbance at the state revenue office in Maumelle when Cavender tried to get a license for her car. Apparently, Stewart had the title to it and did not want to relinquish it, White said.

Although the order of protection didn’t stop Stewart from killing Cavender on Monday, the Lonoke County prosecutor said Tuesday that domestic violence is a huge problem and that protection orders help keep abusers at bay because they are backed up by the threat of arrest.

And Sgt. Crowson in Bryant has this advice: “If you’ve got an order of protection against someone, go by the local police department and give them all the information they should have.”

TOP STORY >> City to sell hospital for $10M

2012-01-24T21:41:00.004-06:00

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

The firm that has managed North Metro Medical Center for the past three years is finalizing the paperwork on a $10 million local loan to purchase the facility from the city.

Allegiance Medical has worked out the loan with First Arkansas Bank and Trust, but the city had to put up the medical clinic near the hospital that it owns as added collateral.

Attorney Mike Wilson, chairman of the hospital board, told the council Thursday night the sale would include only the hospital building. The city retains ownership of the nearby medical clinic, medical offices at Crestview Plaza and the clinic in Cabot. The city will also have what Wilson called right of first refusal for the next five years in case Allegiance decides to sell the hospital.

But Jay Quebedeaux, the hospital’s chief executive officer, said that was doubtful. “The hospital is celebrating its 50th year here, and we expect to be around with it for the next 50,” Quebedeaux said.

The city council actually approved the sale of the hospital in November 2010. City leaders thought everything would have been ready six months ago, but it has taken longer to secure the financing and get the paperwork in order.

“We expect to close on this deal by the end of the month,” said Wilson. “The sale is going to happen soon—finally,” he added.

Wilson called Allegiance a first-class management team and said the only thing residents, patients and patrons will notice after the sale is “continued improvements. It should be seamless to the public.”

The approximate $10 million price tag would cover the bond the city has on the hospital and other related debts and lines of credit.

According to the mayor’s 2012 State of the City report, the hospital employees about 400 people and has a $17 million economic impact on Jacksonville and the surrounding area.

In the past fiscal year, the hospital had 19,661 emergency room visits, 1,688 outpatient surgeries (an increase of 30 percent), 1,741 admissions and 38,893 outpatient visits.

In September, the hospital opened a surgical inpatient wing — a specialty unit that houses patients in private spacious suites after they have undergone surgery and require inpatient stay.

The hospital also opened an inpatient medical unit with 26 beds, and in November it reopened its heart catheterization and interventional radiology lab.

Mayor Gary Fletcher complimented Allegiance for making improvements at the hospital.

The mayor called the hospital a great asset to the city and that it has come a long way over the last few years. “It’s very important to us and to the air base,” the mayor said.

Under the management of Allegiance the hospital turned a profit in 2010. Before 2010, the last time the hospital operated in the black was 2003-04, when it closed the fiscal year June 30, 2004 with a $652,000 positive income.

The next year, net income slipped to the other side of the ledger with a $98,000 loss. In 2005-06, losses totaled $804,000, and then jumped to $3 million in 2006-07. The 2007-08 fiscal year closed out with a net loss income of $2.38 million.

SPORTS >> Aggressive defense gets ’Rabbits win

2012-01-24T19:59:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The Lonoke girls did not play one of their better games, but they got away with a conference road win. That’s good enough for coach Nathan Morris as his Lady Jackrabbits beat Clinton 36-24 Friday in Van Buren County.

Morris’ bunch didn’t shoot well from the floor, and shot horribly from the free-throw line, but played strong defense and made points for the Lady Yellowjackets extremely difficult to come by.

“It wasn’t pretty, not at all,” Morris said. “At the same time, we’re not giving it back. It’s a road win in a tough place to play. Clinton doesn’t have the record that maybe its used to, but it’s not easy going over there. Those rims are tight. They have a good student section right there behind your basket. The play hard, they have tradition. We’ll take a win in that place no matter how we get it.”

The Lonoke ladies shot 30 free throws in the game and made just eight of them. Kaitlyn Tate made five of her eight attempts. The rest of the team combined to go three of 22.

“Take Tate’s out of the formula and then do the math,” Morris said. “That’s really unbelievable because we’ve been a pretty good free-throw shooting team. I told them they better get their act together because that’s not going to fly most of the time.”

The game wasn’t all bad for Lonoke. Morris was pleased with the defensive effort and also felt his team did a good job with its offensive execution, right up to the part where you shoot the ball.

“We did a great job of taking care of the ball,” Morris said. “They couldn’t get to us. They chase out of their zone. They never play man, but when they come out of their 2-3 zone, they go to a 1-2-2 zone and chase with their top three. They just couldn’t get to us. We got to the middle and had some 3 on 2 matchups. We just didn’t convert as often as we should have. But we did get some easy baskets out of it so they started fouling.”

Despite the low score and Clinton’s intentions of playing a slow-paced game, the pace wasn’t a slow one. Lonoke forced several turnovers, but usually in the half-court setting. Very few of the steals turned into transition opportunities.

Lonoke led 6-4 at the end of the first quarter, but a Clinton three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer gave the home team a 14-13 lead at intermission.

Lonoke took control of the game after the break.

Lonoke got a backside layup by Kerashsa Johnson to start the second half. Johnson added another bucket before Mary Davis hit a three pointer to make it 20-14 halfway through the third quarter. Freshman post player Eboni Willis scored on lob pass into the lane and Davis hit a driving shot at the buzzer to give Lonoke a 26-16 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“We executed offensively pretty well, but to hold them to two points, we did a really good job defensively in the third quarter,” Morris said. “We had a pretty good defensive effort all night.”

Tate, Johnson and Mary Davis each scored seven points to lead Lonoke.

Lonoke played its second game against Stuttgart on Tuesday at Stuttgart. The Lady Jackrabbits will face Southside-Batesville on Friday.

SPORTS >> Lady Bears impressive in victory over Mills

2012-01-24T19:58:00.003-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The Sylvan Hills Lady Bears turned in one of the best performances of their season on Friday, beating the Mills Lady Comets 53-32 at Mills to improve to 3-2 in 5A Southeast Conference play.

The Lady Bears dominated in the rebounding category and showed tremendous improvement in many aspects of the game.

Sylvan Hills jumped out to a small, early lead and never trailed. The Lady Bears led 12-7 at the end of the first quarter and scored first in the second to make it a seven-point game. Mills stormed back with six straight points to cut the margin to one with 5:32 left in the half, but scored just one more basket the rest of the quarter and never took the lead.

After taking a 23-15 lead into halftime, the Lady Bears broke the game open in the third quarter. Mills (7-10, 2-3) called timeout after Sylvan Hills scored four quick points to open the third quarter.

It didn’t help. The Lady Bears displayed some nice interior passing when post player Jamedal Byrd-Hudson found fellow post Val Jarratt underneath the basket for a layup. Senior guard Kashima Wright then scored four straight, the second off a steal and assist by sophomore Calyn Fulton.

Wright got her own steal and layup to make it 38-18 with 50 seconds left in the quarter. Each team added another bucket to make it 40-20 heading into the fourth.

“I thought they really played hard and played good defense,” Sylvan Hills coach Shelley Davis said. “We rebounded very well. Mills is a quality team.”

Jarratt finished with six points and 14 rebounds. Ten of those rebounds were in the second half.”

“I talked to her because offensively she’s struggled a little bit,” Davis said. “We have some players that do certain things well. She got some height and she’s very athletic, can jump really well. I talked to her and just said we need you to rebound. That’s one thing you can do with no excuses. She’s really stepped up and done that for us.”

Sophomore guard Naomi Gregory led Sylvan Hills in scoring with 15 points. She also had nine rebounds. She’s been a consistent scorer for Davis’ squad all season.

“If I had to name a player that’s been the most consistent all year long, it’s been Naomi,” Davis said.

Sylvan Hills handled Mills’ pressure well throughout the game, and forced several turnovers with its own pressure. Byrd-Hudson had the task of stopping Mills’ top scorer, Jasmine Perkins, when she would get the ball on the wing after a press break.

Hudson, Wright and Jarratt pressured the ball well and ended with 10 combined steals. Wright and Jarratt led the way with four apiece.

Wright finished with 13 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Byrd-Hudson had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lady Bears are 5-5 since opening the season with six-straight losses. Now at 3-2 in conference play, the Lady Bears are serious contenders for a playoff spot from the 5A Southeast Conference.

“That’s been our goal from the beginning, even when we were 0-6,” Davis said. “We played some very stiff competition at the beginning. What I could see against those teams is that they played very hard. We took the effort from those games. We’ve focused in more on the little things that were hurting us and I think that’s sharpened us up. Good teams are what makes you better.”

The Lady Bears (5-11, 3-2) traveled to Watson Chapel on Tuesday and will be on the road again Friday at Crossett.

SPORTS >> Bears win wild one at the Galaxy

2012-01-24T19:57:00.003-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Those expecting high drama got what they came for when Sylvan Hills battled Mills on Friday in the Galaxy Gymnasium in Little Rock. The two teams sitting undefeated atop the 5A Southeast standings provided excitement, some good, some not. When the dust cleared, the Bears remained unbeaten in league play with a 59-53 win over the Comets.

Sylvan Hills spent the third quarter taking control of the game and extending a small halftime lead, but Mills cut the lead to just two at 51-49 with 1:28 remaining.

Sylvan Hills shot about 50 percent from the free-throw line for most of the game, but hit 11 of 14 in the final three minutes, including its final eight in a row down the stretch to seal the victory.

Goodwin hit two with 1:03 left to make it 53-49. Mills’ Braylon Spicer missed a three. Goodwin got the rebound and was fouled again. Again he hit both shots to make it a six-point margin with 47 seconds remaining.

Mills didn’t quit. Spicer was fouled while shooting and hit both free throws with 40 seconds left. Comet senior Shyheim Barron then got a steal, dished to Spicer who missed a three-pointer, but Shaquan Fletcher got the offensive rebound and putback to make it 55-53 with 21 seconds remaining.

Mills fouled Larry Ziegler with 17 seconds remaining and Ziegler nailed both shots. Trailing by four, Barron got the ball on the left wing and traveled. Junior Daylon Jones, who provided a lift off the bench for Sylvan Hills with11 points, seven in the second half, made two more free throws with three seconds remaining to set the final margin.

Sylvan Hills was in the bonus three minutes into the game. Mills had eight fouls at the 5:00 minute mark and the Bears shot 11 free throws in the first quarter. The Bears made only six of them and weren’t able to get the lead until late in the frame.

Sylvan Hills senior and University of Kentucky bound guard Archie Goodwin hit two long three pointers.

The second one, from beyond 30 feet, gave the Bears their first lead at 14-12 with 1:03 left in the opening period. Sylvan Hills added two free throws and took a 16-12 lead into the second quarter.

After a break in the action following Goodwin’s second three-pointer, he caused the first of two disturbances in the stands by taunting the Mills student section with shouts and gesticulations.

Goodwin’s father was escorted out of the gym for coming out of the stands and onto the court, although it appeared he was only trying to calm Goodwin down. The incident started with two other players underneath the Mills basket jawing at each other. Goodwin reacted first to the on-floor spat, then directly to the Mills student section, intensifying the longer he went unchecked by coaches and officials.

After a lengthy delay and long discussion among officials, no personal or technical fouls were called on anyone and play resumed.

Goodwin hit another 30-foot three pointer in the second quarter and was hit with a technical for taunting when he ran back down the court with his mouth directly in his defenders ear.

Players were more composed in the second half and Sylvan Hills controlled much of the action. Another incident in the stands unrelated to the game caused another stoppage of play, but the delay was brief and cooler heads prevailed the rest of the way.

The Bears took a 27-22 lead into halftime and steadily grew the lead in the third quarter.

The Bears dominated the glass and got several second-chance points, especially in the third quarter. Sylvan Hills scored seven straight to start the third, four by Goodwin and three by Devin Pearson, five of which came after offensive rebounds.

For the game, Sylvan Hills won the rebounding battle 37-21. Pearson led all players with 14 boards.

Goodwin led all scorers with 27 points and added eight rebounds. He hit 10 of 11 free-throw attempts and was three of six from three-point range.

Barron led the Comets (14-3, 4-1) with 13 points. Spicer added 12 and Flecther 10.

The Bears (15-5, 5-0) traveled to Watson Chapel on Tuesday, and go to Crossett on Friday.

SPORTS >> Red Devils grind out victory

2012-01-24T19:56:00.005-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Jacksonville used its depth and athleticism to lead most of the way during the 6A-East Conference matchup, but Marion used its hard-nosed work ethic to make things downright messy for the Red Devils as they ground their way to a 74-58 victory over the Patriots at the Devils Den on Friday.

The Patriots matched the Red Devils nearly shot for shot in the first quarter before Jacksonville (14-3, 4-1) separated itself slightly with a strong second quarter to lead 38-27 at the break. Marion (8-8, 1-4) let the margin slip further in the third quarter, but bogged the Red Devils down in the fourth quarter with a slower tempo and physical play inside that forced Jacksonville to maintain its advantage at the foul line.

“It’s difficult to play them,” Red Devils coach Victor Joyner said. “Man, they’re so scrappy. And they play hard. Nobody’s just dominated them all year, I mean, they’ve been in every game. They forced 19 turnovers on us and weren’t even pressing.

“They’re just in your face playing solid man to man. What’s that, a 16-point win? I’ll take that any day of the week – this is conference.”

Marion’s Warren Boyd gave the Red Devils fits with his repeated inside drives that led to a game-high 23 points for the 6-2 forward. Given Boyd’s performance, the last 3:27 of the third quarter proved to be the biggest difference for Jacksonville as they ended the period on a 16-2 run in Boyd’s absence after Marion had cut the lead to 40-32.

“He’s a man,” Joyner said of Boyd. “It’s like I told the kids at halftime. That dude played mostly every minute of that game, and was knifing through them like they weren’t there. That was a man out there – he’s got a big heart, played tough. I don’t know how many he had out there, but it felt like 50.”

Jacksonville had two players finish in double figures as senior post player Tirrell Brown finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds while point guard Justin McCleary added 11 points. Keith Charleston and Xavier Husky both scored nine points for the Red Devils while Aaron Smith and Dewayne Waller both added eight points.

Waller gave an indication of things to come in the middle of the third quarter when he went 4 for 4 on two straight trips to the free-throw line to give the Red Devils a 44-32 lead with 2:42 left to play in the period. Waller then got a steal and dished to McCleary for an easy lay up, and Smith made it 48-32 with an inside shot at the 1:32 mark.

Husky scored on a putback before Boyd reentered for the Patriots and broke their scoring drought with another inside driver that made it 50-34. Charleston answered right back for the Red Devils while Husky scored again in the final 15 seconds, but Boyd got the final word for the Patriots with an inside shot that made it 54-36.

Jacksonville maintained that margin for the most part in the fourth quarter despite a combined 16 trips to the foul line for both teams.

“When you play a team that scraps and plays as hard as they do, it’s going to make it an ugly game,” Joyner said. “They challenge every shot, every little thing. It’s a 16-point win, that’s the main thing. The kids adjusted to the way they played when they had to make the big plays regardless.

“I told my kids at halftime that it was going to be a backyard fight, because that’s what was going on. There was a lot of pushing and a lot of grabbing, so y’all need to push and y’all need to grab too.”

SPORTS >> Cabot takes two at Bryant

2012-01-24T19:56:00.004-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

The Cabot Panthers got back on the winning side of things last week after dropping three straight games to begin their 7A-Central Conference schedule and picked up their first league road victory on Friday with a 49-45 decision over Bryant.

The Panthers (11-3, 2-3) had been hampered recently with poor free-throw shooting in close losses to Conway and Little Rock Catholic, but went 8 for 8 from the stripe in the fourth quarter against the Hornets to secure the victory.

“We know we stumbled out of the blocks,” Panthers coach Jerry Bridges said of opening conference play. “That 0-3 start really hurt us. But last week, we were able to get some wins that hopefully we can build on. From here on out, we know you have to protect home court and get any win you can on the road, but that was big for us, I’m not going to lie.”

Sam Howe led the Panthers with 14 points while J.D. Brunett added eight points. Ryan Stafford, Adam Rock and Arthur West all finished with six points for Cabot.

West hit four straight free throws in the final minute while point guard Bryan Shrum added two more in the final eight seconds to keep the Panthers at a two-score advantage.

“We didn’t shoot well against Catholic, but we made our free-throws down the stretch up at Bryant,” Bridges said. “You take them any way you can get them in this conference. We won in a hostile environment, and we needed it.”

The Lady Panthers continued their hot hand in the 7A-Central with a 52-37 victory over Bryant on Friday. Cabot (15-5, 4-1) jumped out to a 28-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and rode the early momentum the rest of the way in a homecoming of sorts for coach Carla Crowder, who led the Lady Hornets to four state championships during a 16-year tenure there in the 1990s and early 2000s.

“For an away game, there was a lot of emotion,” Cabot assistant coach Charles Ruple said. “After the game, there were former players and dads of former players who came up to coach Crowder. I’d bet there was about 50 people who waited around to talk to her. It was unbelievable.”

Senior and University of Arkansas signee Melissa Wolff led the Lady Panthers with 16 points while junior guard Elliot Taylor added 15 points. Post player Sydney Wacker finished with seven points and led an inside defensive stand that denied Bryant of points in the paint.

Ruple also noted guard play, as Jaylin Bridges, Micah Odom and Maddie Smith all finished with strong performances. Smith’s outside shooting served as an effective distraction against the Lady Hornets, who gave up several easy inside shots in attempt to stop her.

“She had a lot of playing time in the second half,” Ruple said. “With her being a long-range shooter, it gave her teammates some opportunities to drive it into the post.”

The Cabot teams hosted Van Buren last night after The Leader deadlines, and will travel to Russellville on Friday.

EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK >> Church reaches out

2012-01-20T20:54:00.008-06:00

Here’s an inspirational story.

Cabot aldermen, while working through the process of condemning a batch of derelict buildings, found themselves dealing with an irate homeowner who demanded to know why the city code-enforcement officer was snooping around his mobile home. And why they wanted him to repair it or tear it down.

Edwin Burdick told the city council in September that he would like to have a better place to live, but he is still paying for his land and could not afford another $500-a-month payment.

Pictures that circulated among council members showed that the mobile home did need work. Hanging soffit and fascia boards and a dilapidated addition made it very unsightly. Dilapidated and unsightly are among the criteria for being declared a harmful structure, the first step toward condemnation and demolition.

But how do you put a family out of their home because it is unsightly?

The members of the Cabot City Council obviously weren’t prepared to make that call, so they gave Burdick 60 days to make repairs.

Then in December they gave him 30 more days. How could they condemn someone’s home before Christmas, especially since there was a chance someone might volunteer to help with the work?

We wrote about it when an occupied mobile home made it to the city’s list of harmful structures, something that had never happened before. And we wrote about the two chances the city council gave the owner to clean up and fix up or face condemnation. And now the council has decided to give Burdick another reprieve, perhaps for good.

We admit that we hoped someone who cared was reading. Now we want to express our gratitude for the group that volunteered their labor to try to save the Burdicks’ home as well as the Cabot alderman who said many times that he would never vote for condemnation.

So thank you, Men at Work from Cabot United Methodist Church. You read our stories and decided that someone needed to help a family stay in their home. And thank you, Alderman Jon Moore, for being quotable enough that Mike Hedges with Men at Work knew whom to call to get started.

EDITORIAL >> System fails to protect

2012-01-20T20:54:00.007-06:00

James Michael Davis was a habitual criminal who got out of jail because an overloaded criminal-justice system couldn’t figure out how to keep him behind bars until he allegedly killed two people in the Cabot area before Christmas.

Davis, 37, slipped through the cracks of law enforcement and the prison system and couldn’t be locked up for any length of time. The victims’ families and law-enforcement officials keep asking themselves: Why wasn’t Davis in jail that evening he stabbed to death David Linnon Smith, 56, and Tracy Mills, 45, in their home?

Although Smith and Mills had befriended Davis, they had no idea what fate awaited them. According to our reporter Joan McCoy, Davis should have been in the Pulaski County Jail for stealing a car in Cabot. But he was released just two days before Smith and Davis were killed because he had already been in jail for 60 days without charges being filed against him, and that is as long as allowed under state rules for criminal procedure.

Davis, from Conway, is held in the Lonoke County Jail without bail. His ordinary name probably threw off law-enforcement officials who didn’t realize Davis was a danger to society.

The State Police are conducting an internal investigation to determine why a trooper’s report of Davis’ alleged car theft wasn’t turned over to Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley in time for him to file charges and keep Little Rock District Judge Alice Lightle from ordering his release.

The case just kept spiraling out of control: After he left the Pulaski County Jail, Davis could have been held in the Cabot lockup but wasn’t. Cabot had a misdemeanor arrest warrant for Davis for failing to pay fines to district court. If it had been possible, a Cabot police officer would have taken Davis to Cabot, but the police department lacked the manpower to go after Davis. In any event, how many misdemeanor cases have the potential of turning into a double homicide? Not many.

Davis also could have been back in prison for violating his parole. Convicted of theft of property, he failed to report to his parole officer, didn’t show up for work or appear in court. He pretty much went his own way because the system couldn’t keep up with him.

A hearing to revoke his parole wasn’t held until Tuesday morning — too late for the two people who were murdered. Everyone agreed at the hearing Davis should have landed in prison long before the murders.

But the system is too complex, with too many competing turfs and jurisdictions and too much room for fatal errors. All the complicated computer systems in the world couldn’t stop him because the people who run them couldn’t predict Davis’ behavior.

Every department and agency involved in this tragedy is promising a thorough review, which could save lives in the future. But it is too late for David Linnon Smith and Tracy Mills.

TOP STORY >> Cabot mobile home gets reprieve

2012-01-20T20:53:00.006-06:00

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

A rundown mobile home in Cabot, which has been targeted by the council table for possible condemnation since September, stands a good chance of being taken off the harmful-structure list since a group of men from Cabot United Methodist Church worked with the owner to tear down a dilapidated addition.

Alderman Rick Prentice, who wanted to condemn the mobile home in December because the owners had done little to comply with the city’s mandate to bring it up to code recommended during the Tuesday night council meeting that it be taken off the harmful-structure list.

It was on the list because of the way it looked, Prentice said. Now that it looks better, he doesn’t see a reason to keep it on the list.

Mike Hedges, one of five men from Men at Work, told the city council that debris from the mobile home still needs to be removed. And the mobile home needs front steps and windows replaced, trimmed and caulked. But in his opinion, it is livable now but not secure.

Prentice said the mobile home is not secure, but it is safe to live in.

“If it’s not in danger of falling in, maybe it should be taken off the list,” he said.

But instead of removing the mobile home from the list, the council voted to table the resolution declaring it a harmful structure for 30 days to allow a code-enforcement officer time to inspect it.

The council also passed an ordinance that raised the fees set by an animal-control ordinance passed in 2009.

Attempts to revise the ordinance started about a year ago when Jason Ellerbee, head of animal control, told the city’s aldermen that the fees weren’t high enough to cover his costs.

The added fees include a $7 increase from $3 to $10 for paperwork associated with spaying and neutering. The ordinance also charges pet owners who reclaim their pets $10 if the animals have to be trapped or tranquilized to capture them and $15 for vaccinations they receive while at the animal shelter.

Additionally, anyone relinquishing a litter of kittens to the shelter will be charged $25.

Alderman Patrick Hutton voted against the ordinance saying he fears that the $25 charge for kittens would lead to dumping.

Prentice also voted against it for a different reason. In keeping with the city’s zoning book, the animal-control ordinance said poultry is allowed on lots of one acre but did not set a limit on how many are allowed.

Prentice said even one Guinea can disturb a whole neighborhood, and he thought the ordinance should be reviewed and amended before it was passed.

Ellerbee said that he doesn’t get complaints about poultry.

In other business:

The council approved the rezoning of 5.44 acres on North Second Street from R-1 to C-2.

Changed the name of the portion of Forest Loop Drive from Blake Drive to Eastern Avenue to North Forest Loop. The change is expected to clear up confusion for those providing emergency and delivery services to the street.

Approved a resolution adopting a land-use plan for the Kerr Station corridor.

Approved the $88,484 purchase of a front-end loader from JCB of Arkansas. It will be used in combination with the city’s asphalt zipper, a piece of equipment that repairs streets by grinding the bad spots into bits that are used as the base for repairs.

TOP STORY >> PCSSD says it has funds for projects

2012-01-20T20:53:00.004-06:00

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

The Pulaski County Special School District on Thursday fielded questions from the public about desegregation funding and new construction as it presented $7 million in 75 facility improvement projects.

Of those 75, half the projects concern local schools.

The list includes roof work at Northwood Middle School, Jacksonville High School and North Pulaski High School; intercom and bell systems at JHS and Sylvan Hills High School; drainage at Sherwood Elementary School’s media center, the rear of Taylor Elementary School and at SHHS in front of the gym and behind the band room; ADA restrooms at Sherwood Elementary; adding parking at Taylor; plumbing replacement at Northwood; bathroom renovations and hallway paint rework at Oakbrooke Elementary School; bathroom renovations at Pinewood Elementary School; stadium lighting fixtures at JHS; stage lighting and controls upgrade at JHS and SHHS; a gas line at JHS; SHHS classrooms in the old shop and portable moves; door replacements at the JHS field house, Sylvan Hills Elementary, SHHS and NPHS; replacement of Cato Elementary School’s HVAC system; walk-in freezers at Sylvan Hills Elementary, Warren Dupree Elementary School, Jacksonville Middle School and SHHS; bleacher replacement at Northwood; repairs to Cato’s parking lot; locker replacement at Northwood; demolition of select parts of the old Sylvan Hills Middle School; window replacement at Northwood; installing a wood floor at the NPHS and Northwood gyms; entry steps and sidewalk at JHS; renovation of the field house at SHHS; a facelift — carpet, paint, furniture, ceiling, lighting and more — to media centers at SHHS, Northwood and Jacksonville Middle; repairs to Jacksonville Middle’s field house; replacement of the NPHS auditorium, and HVAC upgrades at Taylor, SHHS and JHS.

The theme for the projects is “safe, warm and dry.”

The money is coming from refinancing debt and savings leftover from other projects, Derek Scott, chief operating officer for PCSSD, said after the meeting. The first job on the list: is replacement of the roof at Fuller Middle School. That will cost between $300,000 and $400,000.

Jacksonville resident Rizelle Aaron asked during the question and answer section, “Will those desegregation funds be used primarily in low-income areas to build new schools?”

Superintendent Jerry Guess responded, “I think we can achieve unitary status. We’re going to use that money to make schools safe, warm and dry. I’m asking my friends at the state, ‘Does anyone have answers?’ Can we pass a millage for new facilities? I don’t think voters would do that in this economy.”

Most of the projects on the list were for schools in low-income, predominately black areas and Guess said the district was “filtering the building fund money through a desegregation lens.”

Cindy Holmes, a teacher at Robinson Middle School in Little Rock, said, “Have we shelved any plans to build any new facilities?”

Scott spearheaded the presentation and started by saying, “It’s no secret we’re fiscally distressed.”

That was his response to those questions. Guess stepped in to answer with, “What we are trying to do now is fix the buildings we have now. Our goal is to keep these buildings in the best shape we can for our students.”

Guess added, “You (Holmes) might be a good person to start a millage campaign.”

About 20 people showed up for the meeting. Scott told them the district had at least eight roofs with significant leaks.

“We have a couple of campuses that have drainage problems where kids are walking through two to three inches of water. We need to fix that drainage.”

He added that temporarily dealing with such problems isn’t working. “We’ve got a lot of this bubblegum and Band-Aid we need to fix,” Scott said.

Bathrooms are another concern at several schools.

“Teachers are living it. Even when they’re cleaned, they smell,” he explained.

Other issues include inadequate security lighting, plumbing and heating that needs replaced, tile flooring “popping up,” flooded playgrounds and rotted doors.

He said heating and ventilation was one area that will be less of a priority. “We were fortunate last year to have federal stimulus money, so we’re pretty healthy there,” Scott explained.

“We knew the major issues we were having problems with. If there’s something we’re not seeing we’re open to suggestions.”

“Regina George, another Robinson teacher, said her school has mold in every classroom.

Scott said, “If the school has mold, that’s not a project we need to wait on.”

A teacher at Sylvan Hills High School said the toilets have been fixed there, but the dilapidated doors were left alone.

Another attendee told Scott that some ceiling tiles at North Pulaski High School are missing.

Holmes asked about temperature control in classrooms. “Kids are wearing coats all through class, and I’m wearing long johns. That’s why I got a career, so I don’t have to work outside,” she joked.

A teacher at Baker Elementary in Little Rock said, “We are grateful for the drainage that was taken care of last year,” but suggested the district put an awning on a portable building that doesn’t have one. Third-graders are getting drenched waiting to get into the classroom, she explained.

Scott responded, “First, we’ve got to make sure they’re dry once they’re in the school.”

Someone asked if doing the improvements gets the district closer to Plan 2000. Scott said it does.

“I’m excited about getting some money out of the building fund and doing some stuff. I’m excited and thankful to the boss (Guess) and Mr. (Bill) Goff (PCSSD’s chief financial officer) for finding us some money.”

Guess explained after the meeting that the building fund has to be used for these kinds of projects. He said the district is being financially conservative in several ways.

Those ways include reducing staff by not filling the positions of employees who retire, asking the state Education Department to evaluate cuts to the cafeteria program, establishing a new benefits plan that will save the district several hundred thousand dollars a year and implementing a new bell schedule that will save PCSSD at least $500,000.

The district also had a one-time windfall of $15 million because of the change in the legal requirement to defer pullback money to the following fiscal year.

PCSSD is required by law to submit a facilities master plan to the state. The source of funding for the projects is based on local funds.

TOP STORY >> Jacksonville mayor sees bright future

2012-01-20T20:36:00.002-06:00

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Better schools, a big fair, plenty of construction, a cleaner city and a larger one are all the things Jacksonville residents have to look forward to according to the mayor’s State of the City address.

Mayor Gary Fletcher painted his view for 2012 and beyond at the city council meeting Thursday night when aldermen also heard annual reports from the water and wastewater departments.

In a three-page introduction to the annual 39-page report that the mayor read to the council, he said, “2012 holds much promise for our city due to developments and decisions last year.”

He said the city was moving closer to getting its own school district, adding that education was a top concern.

“Frustrated over the past by the lack of response to our needs and facilities, the state of Arkansas took a major step in correcting these neglects by taking over the Pulaski County Special School District and is working hard to resolve the federal court case of desegregation that has run a course of nearly three decades at a cost just short of $1 billion to the three school districts,” he said.

Continuing, the mayor said, “The city has showed what it is capable of doing on its own through the ribbon cutting of the Jacksonville-Little Rock Air Force Base Joint University Center, which houses six universities.”

He said the state takeover, coupled with the new education center and the city’s dedication “will move us closer toward the creation of an independent school district for the City of Jacksonville, Little Rock Air Force Base and north Pulaski County.”

The mayor also predicted that this would be the year that the state fair issue would be settled.

“We have patiently waited for two years, and we will move forward with the establishment of a regional fair that will both provide economic opportunities for our city and help solidify the future of the fairgrounds as we work toward building an event center that will accommodate national shows and events.”

Fletcher made it clear that “Jacksonville will not wait and depend on others, but will chart our own course and work hard to accomplish our dreams.”

He also said 2012 would be a year of great construction. He said the 555 single-home building permits issued in December for affordable homes near the Homer Adkins Pre-K center is a good indicator. The city also plans for the new multi-million public safety building to be completed by the end of year. The facility will house the police department, the 911 communications center, training rooms and a large safe room that could hold up to 600 people in severe weather.

Fletcher said another safe room would be built in the Jacksonville Senior Wellness and Activity Center and would double as an exercise area and a safe haven.

The community center pool is expected to be reopened within the next few weeks, the mayor said. “Not only will the center have a new roof, but a PoolPak will also be installed to prohibit corrosion from recurring and to create a more pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere at it that will better control humidity.”

The mayor also expects the city to annex the southern edge of the city along Hwy. 161 to I-440 and along Military Road.

Fletcher also said the recent shift of putting code enforcement under the police chief would bring about a positive change in the city’s appearance. “Much time in the past had been spent reacting, however, now with additional officers and realizing that code violations and crime are many times tied together, it is more of a natural fit as we become more proactive. This is necessary to build the kind of city that attracts families and industries.”

Other highlights from the State of City report include:

The city’s garage maintained a fleet of 250 vehicles, spent 1,715 hours working on the vehicles at a labor cost of $51,450 and bought $87,558 worth of parts.

The district court handled about 1,000 fewer cases in 2011 than it did in 2010, going from 14,832 cases down to 13,903. The court brought in $1.4 million in fines and forfeitures in 2011, down about $60,000 from the previous year.

The city’s 911 center received 175,993 calls during 2011. About 75,000 of those calls were for police, fire or medical assistance.

In 2011, the city’s animal shelter handled 2,063 animals. Of those, 416 were returned to their owners and 758 were adopted. Animal-control officers picked up and disposed of 514 dead animals from city streets. The agency conducted 156 animal-cruelty allegations and 16 counts of animal cruelty were processed through the courts. Thirty-nine bite cases were reported during the year.

The fire department responded to 3,129 fire alarms and had 3,125 ambulance runs during 2011. Fire loss for the year were placed at $407,600, while fire savings was estimated at $990,000.

The police department responded to 47,217 calls in 2011, down slightly from the previous year. There were 198 violet crimes (homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults) reported during the year, down four percent from 2010. Just over 4,000 arrests were made.

There were 171 building permits issued in 2011 with a value of $13.3 million.

The Splash Zone had a record year, partly because warm sunny weather and the fact that the community center pool was closed most of the year. The aquatics park saw revenues jump 11 percent in 2011 to $228,882.

The city had its worst flood in more than five decades in May 2011 and Hwy. 67/167 and several other area roads were closed for several days.

The public works department spent 390 man hours controlling mosquitoes, mowed 1,850 miles of rights of way and city ditches, put 9,318 miles on the street sweeper and repaired 241 potholes.

The beautification department planted 1,283 flowers, shrubs and trees as well as picked up 3,386 bags of trash and 167 used tires from the city’s rights of way.

The sanitation department collected, processed and sold 1.3 million pounds of recyclables for $102,474 and saved the city $16,626 in landfill fees. More than 7,377 tons of garbage were picked up during the year, costing the city $170,680 in landfill fees. The city also picked up 443 tons of bulky landfill items and 35,768 cubic yards of yard waste.

The Jacksonville Senior Wellness and Activity Center delivered almost 40,000 meals to homes in 2011 and provided transportation for seniors to and from the center more than 10,000 times during the year.

In 2011, the city had more than 300 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees. The turnover rate dropped from 36 percent in 2010 to 30 percent in 2011.

During 2011, the city council approved 26 new ordinances.

SPORTS >> Jackrabbits get season sweep over Greyhounds

2012-01-20T19:43:00.001-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Early foul trouble for senior leader Tarrale Watson was easily overcome by Lonoke as the Jackrabbits downed Newport 66-56 at the Lonoke High School gymnasium on Tuesday, improving their record to 12-6 overall and 5-2 in the 4A-2 Conference.

Sophomore Blake Mack picked up the slack offensively to lead the Jackrabbits with 23 points while defensive play improved across the lineup.

“I thought as a team, we played about as well as we have all year,” Jackrabbits coach Dean Campbell said. “We played well together as a group, and a lot of guys stepped up on defense. They understood that when you have starters out, everyone has to contribute.

“Blake did a good job of scoring in transition, and that can only help his confidence.”

Watson sat out most of the first half after picking up three quick fouls, but he returned with a vengeance in the second half for most of his 17 points.

“When he came back in, I talked to him about not trying to make up for lost time,” Campbell said. “He was able to do that and had a good second half.”

For Newport, standout D.J. Rucker led the way with 23 points.

“Late, they tried to pressure us, and we were able to get to the basket,” Campbell said. “We feel like if you have to do that to us at that point, one, we know we can get up on the defense and two, we can get to the rim.”

The Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits put together one of their best performances of the season in a runaway 54-23 home victory over Newport on Tuesday.

Seniors led the way as Derrika Mays scored a game-high 12 points while guard Kaitlyn Tate finished with 10 points.

Underclassmen also shined in the 4A-2 Conference victory as sophomore Savannah Holman matched Tate’s totals with 10 points while freshman post player Eboni Willis added eight points for the Lady Jackrabbits (11-9, 5-2).

Lonoke outscored the Lady Greyhounds 23-3 in the second quarter for a commanding 33-10 halftime lead after going 4 for 4 from three-point range, including a pair of treys for Tate.

Holman and Mary Davis also scored threes in the first half while freshman guard Kerasha Johnson scored all six of her points for the game in the second quarter.

“We got a lot of those threes with good penetration and kick outs from our guards,” Lonoke coach Nathan Morris said. “We played hard. We didn’t handle the ball particularly well, but we played hard offensively and defensively. If we do that, we can survive some of the turnovers.”

SPORTS >> Bears defeat Falcons

2012-01-20T19:42:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

North Pulaski put up a good fight, but couldn’t overcome big performances from two star players as the Falcons fell 75-53 to host Sylvan Hills Tuesday in a 5A Southeast Conference matchup in Sherwood. The Bears entered the game as heavy favorites over the 2-14 Falcons, but North Pulaski entered the game riding high after a win over Crossett in its previous game.

The wave of momentum came to a sudden halt when the Bears opened up a double-digit lead in the first quarter.

“They came out and jumped on us pretty good,” North Pulaski coach Roy Jackson said. “My guys, they never quit trying though. They fought hard and got back in it.”

The Falcons completely erased a 23-12 deficit at the end of the first quarter. Halfway through the second period, North Pulaski tied the game at 23, and briefly held a one-point lead later in the frame. But Sylvan Hills had the last word in the half.

The Bears picked up a few steals and got some easy buckets in transition. Senior guard Dion Patton struck the first huge blow to North Pulaski’s upset bid with the final shot of the half. Patton hit a long three pointer at the buzzer that turned an eight-point lead into 11 heading into intermission.

“That was a big bucket,” Jackson said. “That hurt us. We fought so hard to get back in it after that bad first quarter. If we go in down eight, that’s one thing. But that shot put us down 11 and it was like we were right back where we were.”

Sylvan Hills came out for the third quarter intent on putting the game away, and did so. The Bears held the Falcons to just nine points in the third quarter, and took a 56-36 lead into the final frame.

“We just didn’t play as smart trying to catch up as we did the first time,” Jackson said. “We started trying to force some things and turned it over a few times.

“Sylvan Hills did a good job on us too. That’s a veteran team. They have two outstanding players and a whole bunch of guys that are really good players. They know their roles and they know how to find the guys they need when they need a big shot.”

Sylvan Hills senior Archie Goodwin finished with 35 points while senior Dion Patton had 17. Senior Marvin Davis led North Pulaski with 12.

“Everybody knows about Archie,” Jackson said. “But Dion Patton is one of the best players we’ve faced too. He’s a clutch player.”

Despite the loss, Jackson was proud of his team’s effort.

My kids went in there and played their hearts out,” Jackson said. “I couldn’t fuss after the game. They played as hard as they could play and that’s all I can ask of them.”

The Lady Bears picked up their second conference win of the season, beating North Pulaski 51-13.

Junior guard Naomi Gregory had one of her best games of the season, leading the Lady Bears (4-11, 2-2) with 17 points.

North Pulaski traveled to Monticello on Friday while the Bears went to Little Rock for a showdown with Mills University Studies.

The Falcons will be back at home to face Helena-West Helena Central on Tuesday while Sylvan Hills stays on the road at Watson Chapel.

SPORTS >> Cabot gets big win over Tigers

2012-01-20T19:41:00.005-06:00

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter

The Cabot boys got a very important win at home Tuesday, beating Little Rock Central 62-51 for their first conference win in four tries.

The Panthers started their season hot, winning its first nine games before entering 7A Central play. They have struggled since, losing their next three games, but might have found a spark with Tuesday’s victory.

Cabot was turnover-prone in the first half, and the Panthers found themselves trailing the Tigers by two at halftime. In the second half, Cabot won the turnovers battle and set the tone for the remainder of the game en route to its first conference win of the season.

The first half turnovers were something Panthers coach Jerry Bridges knew the team had to correct in order to earn its first win in 7A Central play.

“That’s what we told them at the half,” Bridges said. “We told them, ‘guys cut down on the turnovers and just keep moving the ball.’ I thought our shot selection was good.

“The past few games I don’t believe our shot selection has been that good. It was much better tonight.”

Along with better shot selection, Cabot did a better job on the boards, out-rebounding Little Rock Central 26-22. The Panthers scored the first four points of the game, but after that both sides went back and forth for the remainder of the quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, Cabot narrowly led 15-14. The second quarter was when the Panthers committed most of their 12 first half turnovers. The turnovers proved costly as Central took a 27-25 lead going into the half.

In the third quarter, Cabot took better care of the ball and had better shot selection to out-score Central 18-11 in the quarter to take a 43-38 lead heading into the fourth.

“I thought in the second half we never panicked, and we did a good job,” Bridges said. “We took care of the ball, and I thought down the stretch we shot our free throws alright, which has been hurting us.”

The Panthers shot 70 percent from the line, bettering the Tigers’ 59 percent as both teams had nearly 30 free throw attempts for the game. Cabot’s free throw shooting has been an issue as of late, and has contributed to the team’s three-game losing streak.

In the fourth quarter, Cabot led 55-49 with 48 seconds left, forcing Central to foul to stop the clock. The Panthers hit their free throws when it mattered most, and out-scored the Tigers 19-13 in the quarter to set the final margin.

“We needed that man,” Bridges said. “We needed that. It’s like I told them, we have to find our mojo. Our confidence has been down. When you lose games like we lost those first two and North Little Rock just beat us.

“This is a good win for us. Hopefully it’s something we can build on, and try to get back in this race to get a playoff spot. I was proud of our boys. I thought it was a good team effort to be honest, all the way around.”

Cabot did a solid job of distributing the ball throughout the game, primarily through its senior point guard Arthur West, who led the Panthers with a game-high 19 points. West scored 15 of his points in the second half, and added seven assists and three steals to his stats.

Junior Ryan Stafford scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Panthers, while senior Sam Howe scored 10.

Evan James and Kylon Nichols scored 12 points for the Tigers. Keith Hayes had 11.

Cabot (10-3, 1-3) continued conference play Friday at Bryant, and will host Van Buren Tuesday.

SPORTS >> Beebe girls’ focus lost, regained in league play

2012-01-20T19:41:00.004-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Their focus may have been inconsistent, but depth and talent prevailed as the Beebe Lady Badgers routed struggling Batesville 67-35 at Badger Sports Arena on Thursday to improve their overall record to 12-3 and their 5A-East Conference standing at 2-1.

Beebe dominated the first half and built a 37-18 lead, but the Lady Pioneers (2-12, 0-3) took advantage of lackadaisical play from the Lady Badgers early in the third quarter to chip into the lead.

Head coach Greg Richie got the group refocused, and the lead was up to 23 by the end of the frame and finally 30 midway through the final period.

“I could see it coming,” Richie said. “I saw it coming at halftime when I was talking to them, and you could tell they were beginning not to take this game seriously, and I could see when they came back out there that they were kind of dragging around a little bit.”

Junior guard Jamie Jackson got things revamped for the Lady Badgers with five straight steals to end the third quarter, which led to 10 of her 19 points. Sophomore Kalela Miller then started off the fourth quarter with a free throw followed by an inside basket to give Beebe a 56-30 lead with 6:45 remaining.

That set up Lady Badger junior reserve Sydney Gunter to finish off Batesville with a pair of outside shots, including a three-point basket at the 5:39 mark to set the sportsmanship/timing continuous clock in motion.

The Lady Pioneers focused much of their defensive efforts on Beebe sophomore post player Angelina Williams early on, using as many as three players to guard the 6-3 standout in some instances.

That opened the door for Miller inside with some solid assists from Jackson and senior guard Sarah White.

“We try to get to that short corner,” Richie said. “That’s part of our offense. And if she’ll get out there far enough, and we’ll rotate the ball fast enough, she’ll get open. And it leaves a lane for her to get to the basket. She was taking advantage of it in the first half.

“At half, she got a little indifferent with even wanting to be out there it looked like – just kind of not taking the game seriously. Those things were still there, we just didn’t take advantage of them like we did early.”

Richie attributed much of Miller’s second-half effort to sophomore inexperience.

“That’s part of it, but she’s working on it,” Richie said. “She’s going to get better and better as the year goes.”

Miller led the Lady Badgers with 23 points while Williams finished with eight points.

Added defensive pressure from Batesville was only part of the story for Williams, who was not 100 percent due to illness. Jackson was one Lady Badger hitting on all cylinders throughout. She finished with seven steals, five rebounds and four assists to go along with her 19-point offensive performance.

“We kind of moved her around a little tonight,” Richie said. “We did a little more with our offense, and moving her from the point to the wing. She had some nice assists in to Angelina. She got the ball in, and we’re going to do more of that. We’re going to try and get her in positions where we can make passes in and drive from the wing instead of from the front.

“Defensively, she’s just stepping up and being a really good team leader.”

The Lady Badgers played at Greene County Tech last night after Leader deadlines, and will continue 5A East play at Forrest City on Tuesday.

SPORTS >> Lady Devil nails winner

2012-01-20T19:40:00.003-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The play started to go all wrong, then went incredibly right for the Jacksonville Lady Red Devils. Jacksonville sophomore Tiffany Smith was hovering around the three-point line during a scramble for a loose ball with seconds remaining and the score tied.

Junior Jessica Jackson scooped up the ball and found Smith standing all alone on the right wing. Smith took the pass as she squared to shoot, and nailed the three-pointer, giving the Lady Devils a 54-51 victory over Jonesboro Tuesday in the Devils’ Den.

Jonesboro guard Lara Marshall had just hit a three pointer that tied the game with about 14 seconds remaining. Jacksonville had timeouts left, but didn’t use them.

“I learned early on in the jamboree, with this bunch, don’t stop them,” Jacksonville coach Katrina Mimms said. “It’s better to let them play it out. They know their roles. They’re going to try to get it to Jessica. Tiff is going to be Tiff. Jessica got it out to her and she was wide open. She made a great shot.”

Smith’s shot went down with about six seconds left, but Jonesboro didn’t get the ball inbounds until about two seconds to go, which wasn’t enough time to get a good shot.

It was an error-filled game for Jacksonville. The Lady Devils repeatedly built leads of eight to 10 points, only to allow Jonesboro to get back to within five. Finally in the fourth quarter, the Lady Hurricane came all the way back to tie it with their last shot.

Usually reliable freshman point guard Shakayla Hill lost the ball twice late in the fourth quarter which Jonesboro turned into points during the comeback.

Hill wasn’t the only one turning it over, but Mimms was philosophical about her teams’ mistakes.

“You’re going to have bad games,” Mimms said. “Shakayla, she’s been a big help to this team. But she’s a freshman and she’s going to make mistakes at times. The way I look at it, if you can have one of your bad games and still get a win, I’ll take that.”

Jackson turned in another double-double, scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to lead all players in both categories.

Smith’s game-winning three pointer was her fourth of the game in seven attempts. It was her second-straight four-three-pointer game. She hit four of five in Jacksonville’s win over Searcy last Friday.

“Tiff is shooting the ball with a lot of confidence,” Mimms said.

Smith also had five rebounds. Hill finished with seven points, six rebounds and two assists. Nichole Bennett scored six points and Sacha Richardson had five for the Lady Red Devils.

Jacksonville made 11 of 15 free-throw attempts.

The Lady Devils continued league play on Friday at home against Marion. They will travel to West Memphis on Tuesday.

SPORTS >> Devils rough up Hurricane

2012-01-20T19:39:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The Jacksonville Red Devils save their best for the big boys. A week after beating the state’s top-ranked team on the road, Jacksonville mauled No. 2 Jonesboro 68-41 at home Tuesday. The week before, Jacksonville built a 23-point lead before then top-ranked Parkview made a strong comeback that ultimately fell short. On Tuesday, 23 points was but a brief margin as the Red Devils demolished the second-ranked Hurricane.

Jacksonville’s lead was 35 going into the fourth quarter, and grew to as much as 38 before Jonesboro got hot from outside during a ragged fourth-quarter of play that set the final margin.

The Red Devils went to a four-guard lineup to combat Jonesboro’s extreme quickness and guard-oriented offense. The game plan worked to perfection. The one post player who started, senior Tirrell Brown, finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds despite only playing about one half of basketball.

“We knew number 30 was their only big rebounding guy so I just tried to make sure I got a body on him and boxed him out,” Brown said.

Brown’s 13 boards led the way for Jacksonville’s utter domination in that category.

The Red Devils won the rebounding battle 46-12, and held a 31-5 advantage at halftime.

“That’s good to know,” Jonesboro coach Wes Swift said. “They (Swift’s players) think this (the game) was bad, wait until practice tomorrow. 46-12, that’s just effort.”

The game started out at a high tempo, but both teams struggled from the floor. Jonesboro was able to get into the lane, but was finding junior Keith Charleston in the way once there. Charleston blocked four shots in the first quarter, one early in the second and no more the rest of the game.

“They stopped taking it inside,” Jacksonville coach Victor Joyner said. “Keith was part of that because he was so disruptive once they got in there. We also started switching off their screens and they weren’t able to come around the screens and go anywhere. That’s an adjustment we made at halftime and the kids went out and executed it perfectly.”

The Red Devils’ lead was only 12-6 at the end of the first quarter, and that was cut to four before the second quarter began. Jonesboro hit two free throws before the start of the second quarter because of an error in Jacksonville’s submitted lineup. It turned out to be the Hurricane’s highlight of the quarter.

Jacksonville began making shots after hitting just five of 18 attempts in the first quarter. Defensively the Red Devils didn’t let up at all.

Through the second and third quarters, Jonesboro managed just two field goals, one in each quarter.

Jacksonville began lighting it up. And when the Red Devils missed, they usually got offensive rebounds and putback buckets.

Senior guard Dewayne Waller hit four of four shot attempts in the quarter. Senior Dustin House nailed Jacksonville’s only three pointer of the game and also hit a reverse, over-the-head backwards shot from underneath the backboard, an improbable make and an indicator of how the game would play out from that point forward.

Everything went Jacksonville’s way, but it wasn’t because of good fortune.

“We started working on a four-guard game plan a couple of weeks ago because of Jonesboro,” Joyner said. “The kids went out executed it to perfection. This was all just execution on their part. These kids did a fantastic job.”

The Red Devils turned their 12-8 lead at the start of the quarter into a 38-15 advantage at halftime. Things just continued to get worse for Jonesboro in the second half.

Junior Justin McCleary began to heat up from outside, hitting all three of his shot attempts and adding a free throw for good measure after being fouled. Post player Brandon Brockman missed, but was fouled, on both of his shot attempts, and sank all four free throws.

Jacksonville did turn it over seven times in the third quarter after giving it away just once the entire first half, but Jonesboro wasn’t able to capitalize.

By the end of the third quarter, Jacksonville’s lead had grown to 56-21 and the continuous clock ran throughout the fourth quarter.

Jonesboro’s overall shooting statistics were terrible, even though the Hurricane made eight of 11 shot attempts in the fourth quarter, and was four of six from the three-point line.

For the game, Jonesboro (15-2, 3-1) made 13 of 55 shot attempts and went four of 19 from beyond the arc. The visitors did enjoy a modicum of success at the free-throw line, where they hit 11 of 15 attempts.

Jacksonville (12-3, 3-1) was 26 of 61 from the field and one of six from three-point range. The Red Devils made 15 of 22 free-throw attempts.

Waller led all scorers with 14 points while McCleary added 11 for the Red Devils.

Charleston finished with eight points, five rebounds, five blocks, two steals and two assists.

TOP STORY >> He talked his way free until murders

2012-01-18T00:17:00.001-06:00

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

Is it fair to suggest that parolee James Michael Davis, 37, who is accused of killing two people from the Cabot area on Dec. 23, slipped through the cracks of law enforcement and the prison system and could have been in jail that evening instead of at the home of people he is accused of killing?

Or does that suggestion detract from an alleged killer’s culpability and place unfair blame on the agencies that deal with lawbreakers?

Davis, accused in the stabbing deaths of David Linnon Smith, 56, and Tracy Mills, 45, could have been in the Pulaski County Jail for stealing a car in Cabot.

But he was released just two days before Smith and Davis were killed because he had already been in jail for 60 days without charges being filed against him and that is as long as allowed under state rules for criminal procedure.

After he left the Pulaski County Jail, Davis could have been held in the Cabot lockup, but he wasn’t.

“When they decided to release him, they called us,” said Lt. Brent Lucas, spokesman for the Cabot Police Department.

Cabot had a misdemeanor arrest warrant for Davis’ for failing to pay fines to district court. If it had been possible, a Cabot police officer would have transported Davis to Cabot, but it wasn’t possible, Lucas said.

“That particular day, we were very busy, and we were short staffed. When we have needs for service, we answer those first, especially if the warrant is for a misdemeanor,” he said.

Instead, Pulaski County jailers released Davis and told him that his court date in Cabot had been set for Feb. 8.

Davis also could have been back in prison for violating his parole. But a hearing to revoke parole wasn’t held until Tuesday morning.

Lonoke County Prosecutor Chuck Graham, who attended that hearing, said the murder case was discussed, but he also heard talk about Davis not reporting to his parole officer, not reporting that he had a job, theft of property and not appearing in court, which could have landed Davis back in prison.

The State Police are conducting an internal investigation to determine why the trooper’s report of Davis’ alleged theft of a car in Cabot wasn’t turned over to Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley in time to file charges and keep Little Rock District Judge Alice Lightle from ordering his release.

Bill Sadler, spokesman for the State Police, said he doesn’t know how long the investigation will take.

“You never put a clock to something like this,” Sadler said. “If it takes an extra day or the week to get it in, let’s get it in and get it right.”

Davis, who is from Conway, is held without bail in the Lonoke County Detention Facility, but Graham said since his parole was revoked on Tuesday, it’s possible he will be sent back to prison until his trial.

He is scheduled to appear in circuit court for plea and arraignment at 9 a.m. Feb. 13. Graham has not officially filed charges against Davis, but he said it will be done before Davis goes to court and inside the 60-day window. The sheriff’s office has recommended charging Davis with two counts of capital murder.

The incident report about the stabbings said Mills identified Davis as the man who stabbed her and Smith.

Lonoke County Sheriff’s deputies were called at 7:48 p.m. Dec. 23 to the triplex on Charles Drive off North Stagecoach Road on Hwy. 38 between Cabot and Ward, where Davis appeared to be living with Mills and Smith.

The caller told the 911 operator that a woman on her front porch was screaming for help. She had been stabbed, and she was bleeding.

While deputies were responding to the scene, the caller said a man was stabbing the woman and another man on the caller’s front porch.

She then said the two stabbing victims were lying motionless on her porch, and she believed they were dead. The man ran away.

Mills was taken by ambulance to Ward and airlifted to North Metro Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Emergency medical technicians told deputies that Smith was dead at the scene.

State Police, along with Ward and Austin police officers, arrived to assist.

A dog tracking team from the Department of Corrections’ Tucker Unit assisted in a search of a nearby wooded area, where Davis was found less than two hours after Mills and Smith were stabbed.

Sheriff Jim Roberson said soon after Davis was arrested that he wasn’t cooperating with the investigation.

Chief Deputy Dean White, who runs the jail, elaborated, saying Davis was claiming that he didn’t know his own identity.

But that appears to have changed. The prosecutor, who saw Davis on Tuesday during his parole hearing said, “He knew who he was today.”

TOP STORY >> Benefit will help build arts center

2012-01-18T00:16:00.003-06:00

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

Jacksonville’s many talented performers and artists will show off their stuff Friday to celebrate the Chinese New Year, “The Year of the Dragon,” and raise money for a new Jacksonville arts center, which could be housed at the closed Jacksonville Elementary School.

The city is trying to work out a lease agreement with the Pulaski County Special School District for the property at 108 S. Oak St. off Main Street.

The plan is to have educational classrooms, a museum and an exhibition hall for the performing arts. The center would bring visual, musical, literary art and drama to youth and adult residents.

The main attraction at the Jacksonville Community Center is the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, an internationally known Chinese group. It will provide the event’s finale at 7:30 p.m.

Consul generals Wang Dong, Cai Lian and Xu Erwen of the People’s Republic of China’s consulate in Houston will be special guests.

The troupe was formed in December 1957. Its shows have South China characteristics and have won several awards.

The troupe has performed in about 120 cities in more than 30 countries since it was established. Its audiences have included 15 presidents, five prime ministers and 17 representatives of host countries.

Tickets for the performance are $20 for general admission, $5 for children ages 10 and under, $50 for a gold VIP ticket and $100 for a VIP ticket, which offer better seats for the show.

Tickets are being sold at Costume Corner, 80 Municipal Drive; Double “R” Florist, 918 W. Main St.; Unique Furniture, 638 W. Main St., and Jacksonville Guitar, 1101 Burman Drive.

All tickets, sponsorships and auction donations are tax-deductible. Proceeds will be donated to the arts center.

The Arkansas Asian Association and Unique Furniture are sponsoring the event.

Admission is free from 5:30 to 7 p.m., which is when entries in the cake-decorating contest and other items will be featured in a silent auction. The concession stand, operated by the Asian Pacific Resource and Cultural Center, will open at 5:30 p.m.

The silent auction items will include a costume, a guitar, a crystal vase, the works of local artists and more.

Entry forms for the contest can be found at Oliver’s Antiques, 1101 Burman Drive. There is a $10 registration fee and the prizes are $100 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place.

Angie Mitchell of Costume Corner, the driving force behind the Patriotic Spectacular and one of the Chinese New Year event organizers, said there was so much interest from children that organizers decided to split the contest into two categories, adults and children ages 12 and under.

The opening ceremony for the event will feature the Little Rock Air Force Base Honor Guard.

Dr. Alan Storeygard, a local physician and concert pianist, will play with Dave Rogers and Brian Wolverton. Storeygard performed at Carnegie Hall in 2003, and his trio played there in April.

Also set to perform are professional ballroom dancers, Lisa Kirkpatrick and Darral Pogue; Pathfinder Academy director Tim Thomas and his students; choirs from Jacksonville High School and North Pulaski High School, and REAL (Rebecca, Emily, Abigail and Lydia) — four Jacksonville girls who play the accordion, penny pipe, harmonica and violin at the Rivermarket in Little Rock.

The Jacksonville Police Department will give away child ID kits and gunlocks. There will be several door prizes for those who attend the show. There will also be Kung Fu demonstrations.

The art of Jacksonville High School students, local artists and art collectors will be on display, too.

Others involved in the event include Sherry Oliver, Steve Evans, Roberta McGrath, Jacksonville High School coach Marvin Lindley, Joann Calhoun, Margaret River, Carl and Susan Rice, Sue Khoo of Unique Furniture, Sonya Clark, Larry Sansom, Araya Charles, Kay Danielson, Glenda Fletcher, Yolly Seedtibood, Mary Pelphrey, Kenya Wynne, Lucian Stockey, Henry Rainey, Tracee Rainey, Laura Harper and Wilma Houston.

Several of them attended the first meeting of the Jacksonville Arts Council last month. The council, Mitchell said, has applied to be a corporation and is working toward achieving nonprofit status.

“We’ve got to start somewhere. We’re hoping whatever is raised will help us get this (center),” she added.

TOP STORY >> Teacher with gun arrested

2012-01-18T00:15:00.003-06:00

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

A Jacksonville High School English teacher was arrested Tuesday morning when she inadvertently brought a pistol to school in her purse and a student stole it.

The student who took the gun was quickly apprehended and no one was injured.

This is the second gun incident at the school in less than two years.

The teacher, Jennifer Paul, 55, of Jacksonville, was charged with possession of a handgun on school property. The student, who is a juvenile so his name will not be released, was arrested without incident.

His charges include theft and being a minor in possession of a handgun on school property. He was turned over to the Juvenile Justice Center.

According to the police report, Paul, who has a concealed-carry permit, forgot to take the gun out of her purse before going to school. In her classroom, students saw another student steal the handgun from Paul’s purse and conceal it in his waistband. The theft was reported immediately.

Deb Roush, spokesman for the Pulaski County Special School District, said the teacher has been suspended with pay and the district is investigating. She said the district’s final decision will be made independently of what the prosecutor’s office may decide to do. She also said the incident report has been sent to the teacher’s ethics board for disposition.

“We are very appreciative of the Jacksonville Police Department and their handling of the incident. We had a safe outcome and very little disruption to the normal school day,” Roush said.

Paul appeared before Jacksonville District Court later Tuesday and was released. Her next court date is Feb. 2.

She faces a Class D felony, and according to the law, “no person in this state shall possess a firearm upon the developed property of a public or private school K-12.” The law also states that those convicted of this charge “will not have their sentence suspended, probated or considered as a first offense.”

A Class D felony is punishable by up to six years in the state penitentiary and a fine of up to $10,000.

In a similar incident last year, two shop teachers and a counselor were suspended with pay after a gun was found in a faculty member’s car.

Pamela Perez, 53, a counselor from Beebe, who also had a concealed-handgun license, had a .380 handgun in her car at school Feb. 26. The gun was in the driver’s-side door pocket and visible.

She took her vehicle to the auto shop to have the oil changed, and two 15-year-old students found the gun and reported it to the shop teacher, Wayne Griffin, 39, of Cabot.

According to the police report, Griffin told another shop teacher, James Poindexter, 38, of Conway.

Poindexter took the gun, removed the seven-round clip and placed the gun in a locked storeroom. Poindexter then contacted Perez and explained what had happened, and she made plans to pick up the gun after school.

Then-principal Kenneth Clark got word of the incident and called police, who came and took possession of the gun, clip and ammunition.

Perez, Poindexter and Griffin were immediately suspended with pay. The three were suspended until the police and the school district finished their investigation. No charges were filed and all three eventually returned back to work.

EDITORIAL >> Governors a lot alike

2012-01-17T22:48:00.003-06:00

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour are such good friends, you have to wonder if they ever got together before they pardoned dozens of killers, rapists and murderers and other violent criminals.

Huckabee and Barbour are the heavyweight champions when it comes to pardons and commutations. No other governors come close. Huckabee issued clemencies to hundreds of felons — more than all of his predecessors combined going back to the Faubus years, according to our reckoning. Barbour was not far behind in Mississippi.

Arkansas and Mississippi are usually ranked together near the bottom when it comes to education, health and income, but this dubious achievement when it comes to pardons is something both states would do well without.

There are now more limits on the governor’s powers to issues pardons in Arkansas after Huckabee’s abuses became a political issue. Mississippi, amazingly, still gives the governor a free hand. But that will change when the Mississippi legislature convenes and checks the governor’s powers on pardons.

Fortunately, both governors were both term-limited and are finished politically.

Gov. Beebe, meanwhile, has issued a fraction of Huckabee’s pardons, and almost never for violent criminals. The pardons are usually for selling marijuana, writing hot checks, an occasional burglary and shoplifting. Pretty mild stuff, and never for a serial rapist and murderer like Wayne Dumond. That’s the thug Huckabee thought was framed by the Clinton machine and had him freed. Dumond, a convicted rapist, later killed two women in Missouri, where he died behind bars.

The similarities between Huckabee and Barbour are striking: Like Huckabee, Barbour favored killers who worked at the governor’s mansion. Before he left office on Jan. 9, Barbour pardoned 193 criminals, including five killers, which is a record for Mississippi but is up there with Huckabee’s pardons.

Barbour freed a killer who served less than 10 years for murdering his estranged wife. He also pardoned a teacher who pleaded guilty in 2004 to having sex with a student.

Several murders involve wives, ex-wives and girlfriends, but one pardoned murderer had robbed and then shot and elderly man. All were pardoned as if they had done nothing wrong.

A year earlier, Barbour released two sisters from prison on condition that one of them donate a kidney to the other sister. The sisters, who were convicted of armed robbery, are now upset because they didn’t get an unconditional pardon like the more serious criminals who were released for serving a lot less time.

A Mississippi judge has issued a temporary halt to 21 of Barbour’s pardons because they were not published as legal notices in local papers. The idea was to give victims’ families time to object. That’s what Beebe does when he announces his intent to issue pardons.

But Barbour, like Huckabee, didn’t think the families deserved notice from the governor.

The judge noted that Barbour has pardoned criminals who were convicted of “murder, manslaughter, rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary, domestic violence, etc.”

Some of those criminals are on the loose and may not be caught. Let’s hope they’re not headed for Washington state. That was where Maurice Clemmons moved to after Huckabee pardoned him in 2000. In 2009, Clemmons killed four police officers in a coffee shop outside Seattle and then shot himself before he could be arrested.

Huckabee tried to pardon Glen M. Green, but was stopped after negative publicity. Green was convicted of kidnapping 18-year-old Helen Lynette Spencer of Gravel Ridge from Little Rock Air Force Base and brutally murdering her on Graham Road just over the Lonoke County line.

Scores of other violent criminals went free. Huckabee got away with it for so long because the Little Rock media ignored most of the clemencies and pardons. He was a popular governor, like Barbour, both law-and-order types. Unlike Huckabee, who issued clemencies throughout his 12 years in office, Barbour started issuing his pardons in his second term, almost all of them on the last day in office.

The Arkansas Legislature finally tied Huckabee’s hand and wouldn’t let him issue any more pardons without adequate advance notice to victims’ families. Huckabee stopped issuing pardons and ran for president and did pretty well despite his record. Barbour also considered running for president, but thought better of it.

They still talk a good game, though. Huckabee is doing well on Fox News. His audience doesn’t care that he’s responsible for the deaths of six innocent people.

Barbour is back in the lobbying game and making speeches. He’d better pray that those murderers on the run don’t have a chance to kill four cops on a coffee break or kill a couple of women after raping them.

SPORTS >> Comeback falls short for Cabot’s girls at NLR

2012-01-17T18:37:00.001-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

The battle for early supremacy in the 7A Central Conference was a physical one as North Little Rock outlasted Cabot’s best shot in the final minute to win 44-39 at Charging Wildcat Arena on Friday.

The Lady Charging Wildcats (14-2, 3-0) built a 36-27 lead by the 5:35 mark of the fourth quarter only to see the Lady Panthers (13-5, 2-1) close to within 41-39 with 38 seconds remaining before a key steal by Xena King took away the ball and a chance to tie or pull ahead for Cabot.

The battle between league unbeaten was further hyped by each team having an elite DivisionaI signee as Cabot senior and future Lady Razorback Melissa Wolff led her team with 11 points and nine rebounds while Southern Methodist University pledge Lexus Williams dominated the post with 14 points, 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks.

“It was outrageous,” North Little Rock coach Daryl Fimple said. “I think both teams didn’t really have a chance to play. It was very physical both ways, and you had to play through it. We missed a ton of free throws – had chances to expand that lead, but Cabot’s kids played so hard.

“It was a battle. It will be a battle again when we go over there. It’s one of those things where you have two good teams with a lot on the line. I just wish (the officials) would have backed off a little bit and let us play.”

Cabot post player Laci Boyett scored on a putback with 59 seconds left to play to cut North Little Rock’s lead to 39-36 and Wolff swished a three pointer with 38 seconds to go to make it 41-39, but the rest of the points from the 5:27 mark on were scored at the foul line for both teams. In all, Cabot went four for five from the free-throw line in the final five minutes while North Little Rock struggled to put it away, going eight of 17 from the stripe.

Cabot junior Elliot Taylor caught the brunt of the physical action when she took an elbow to the nose with 1:54 left to play in the third quarter while involved with a tie-up situation. She went to the locker room to recover and returned to action at the 6:16 mark of the fourth quarter sporting a bandage-packed right nostril.

Despite missing several minutes, Taylor still led the Lady Panthers in rebounds with 11 and added eight points.

Williams was also sidelined briefly after taking a hard foul under the rim from Boyett with 2:11 remaining. Williams went to the bench favoring her right knee but soon returned for the frantic finale.

“We did a good job of getting her the basketball in some instances,” Fimple said. “But we went way too long in the third quarter without letting her touch it. For us to be successful, we’ve got to play off of her.”

The turning point for Cabot came with 4:31 remaining in the third quarter when Ally Van Enk scored on a reverse lay up to make it 23-18. The Lady Panthers then upped the defensive pressure with a full-court press led by Boyett, who forced Sandy Jackson back on a sideline inbound play and stole the ball under the goal for a quick jumper that cut it to 23-20. Boyett then took an assist from Wolff and scored again inside to make it a one-point game with 3:39 left to play in the third quarter.

Cabot sophomore guard Maddie Smith gave the Lady Panthers an early boost when she hit a three-point basket with 4:07 left until the half to cut the Lady Wildcats’ lead to 15-14, but she could not repeat in the final 14 seconds with a chance to tie the game. Kaprecia Slocum pulled down the defensive board for North Little Rock and added a pair of free throws to set the final margin.

Boyett finished with seven points for Cabot while Slocum led the Lady Charging Wildcats with 15 points and six rebounds. Jackson added 11 points for North Little Rock.

Fimple was somewhat annoyed by the picky calls and overall rough play, but was ultimately pleased to take the victory against a Cabot team he was not hesitant to praise afterward.

“They’re a talented bunch – they’ve got a lot of kids that can shoot it,” Fimple said. “So they can stretch you that way, and of course Melissa, we kept our best two defenders on her. Elliot Taylor’s always played well against us. She’s a good kid – scrappy kid. It’s good playing teams that are extremely talented, and I think we both have a chance to make some noise in the state of Arkansas.”

SPORTS >> Falcons break through with league victory

2012-01-17T18:36:00.003-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The North Pulaski Falcons finally broke their losing streak on Friday, picking up a conference victory at home against Crossett, 69-56. The Falcons won their season opener by a huge margin over Pulaski Robinson, but had lost 13 in a row, including three overtime games and several other close calls.

Finally getting over the hump was a big deal for coach Roy Jackson’s squad.

“That was a good win for us,” Jackson said. “The kids have stayed positive and kept working hard. We’ve been aiming for conference the whole time, but it gets hard when you can’t get a win. We’ve been improving. I’ve seen the progress, but it helps a lot to get a win so the kids can see the progress. They’ve done everything we’ve asked, and that’s all I can ask for. They came out with intensity and they executed the game plan.”

The game plan was to make Crossett’s leading scorer, Shaquille Culbreath, work for everything he got. The Falcons played a lot of man defense, but also employed a box-and-one to deny Culbreath the ball.

“He’s by far their best ball handler and best player,” Jackson said. “We wanted to force their other guys to take the ball and make decisions with it. He still got 24 but he had to work for it, and I think towards the end he was a little tired.”

The Falcons stormed out to an 18-5 lead in the first quarter with good defensive pressure that forced several Eagle turnovers. The Falcons weren’t quite as dominant in the second quarter, but managed to add to their lead and take a 37-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“We came out really aggressive and ready to play,” Jackson said. “I thought we came out flat against Watson Chapel (a home loss on Tuesday), and we wanted to change that. We came in this game and became the aggressors. We sort of took it to them, and you could see the evidence of that at the free-throw line.”

Jacksonville shot 25 free throws and made 18 of them against the Eagles after getting to the line just eight times against Watson Chapel.

North Pulaski had to fight off a Crossett rally in the third quarter. After North Pulaski stretched its lead 20 points, the Eagles climbed back to within 11 when a Shaquille Culbreath basket made it 50-39, but the Falcons ended the rally shortly afterwards.

North Pulaski’s Eric Mouton answered Culbreath’s basket with a three pointer. Brandon Simpkins then got a steal and a layup to make it 55-39 to match the halftime margin and put an end to Crossett’s last real threat of the game.

“They answered every challenge,” Jackson said. “Really it started in the second half of the Chapel game. They came and fought hard to get back in that one. We just had to start fouling, and they made their free throws. That final score was not indicative of how close that game was. We felt like we gave that one away with how we started it, but we ended it well and it carried over to this one.”

Brandon Simpkins led the Falcons with a season-high 20 points. Fred Thomas added 13 and post player Jeremiah Thomas scored 11. Culbreath led Crossett (5-5, 1-2) with 24 points.

The Falcons went to Sylvan Hills on Tuesday and will be at Monticello on Friday. Jackson is optimistic that his squad can rally from the poor start to the season and make the playoffs.

“You’ve got Mills and Sylvan Hills at the top, and after that it’s out there for anybody,” Jackson said. “Crossett beat Watson Chapel then went to Monticello and lost by one point. We beat Crossett. That’s why it’s so bad that we lost to Watson Chapel at home. We have to get those home wins. Now we have to go to someone else’s house and steal one to get back even. But I really feel like we can do it. We can get to the playoffs.”

SPORTS >> JHS girls run past Lions for East win

2012-01-17T18:35:00.005-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The Jacksonville Lady Red Devils got in the win column in conference play on Tuesday with a decisive 72-36 victory over the Searcy Lady Lions. The Lady Red Devils enjoyed one of their best shooting performances of the season, and were able to force several Searcy turnovers in the mercy-rule victory.

“Defensively, I thought we made some mistakes early, but we executed the game plan,” Jacksonville coach Katrina Mimms said. “We wanted to make it a fast-paced game because we knew Searcy didn’t have much depth. We were able to do that and play the tempo we wanted.”

Jacksonville (11-3, 1-2) didn’t have to wait until Searcy wore down to begin pulling away. The defensive pressure paid dividends early and often, and the Lady Red Devils were in command from beginning to end.

Guards Sacha Richardson and Shakayla Hill ruthlessly hindered Searcy’s ball handlers, and most of the turnovers turned into buckets or trips to the free-throw line.

Richardson also contributed from outside offensively, nailing two three pointers.

Three-point specialist Tiffany Smith also got in on the action, hitting three three-pointers, as did junior guard Jessica Jackson. Those are things Mimms has been waiting to see.

“We shot the ball extremely well,” Mimms said. “Sascha stepped up and hit two threes, Jackson hit three. Tiffany has been a little hesitant and when she hesitates she doesn’t shoot as well. She didn’t hesitant this time and she knocked most of hers down. Those are all things we needed.”

Jacksonville also hit all 13 of its free-throw attempts. But more than good outside or free-throw shooting, the Lady Devils got something else it needed badly.

“We needed all those things to happen for us, but we needed a good win like that more than anything,” Mimms said. “Our dampers were down a little bit after starting with those two losses. To go out and execute like we did, to shoot like we did, and for it to pay off with a big win was something we really needed to happen.”

Jacksonville was also solid on the inside. Post player Nicole Bennett tied Jackson for leading-scorer honors. They had 13 points each. Mercedes Whitley led Searcy (5-9, 1-2) with 14 points while McKenna Smith added 11 for the Lady Falcons.

The Lady Devils hosted Jonesboro on Tuesday and will host Marion on Friday.

SPORTS >> Red Devils pummel Searcy

2012-01-17T18:35:00.004-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Jacksonville coach Victor Joyner has battled his team’s lack of intensity most of the season. It appeared his message finally got across after a conference opening loss to Hall when his team pounded undefeated and nationally ranked Parkview.

What he saw in the next game wasn’t a lack of intensity, but more like downright lethargy, at least for a half. In the end, Jacksonville picked up the energy level and routed the Searcy Lions 62-31 at home, and that was good enough for Joyner.

“A win is a win in this league,” Joyner said. “This is not a rah, rah type team, but they know how to get out there and take care of business. I just don’t think they felt threatened by Searcy early on. We didn’t really change anything from one half to the other. They just finally realized they weren’t going to be able to go out there and give a half-hearted effort and blow them away. They picked it up in the second half and played like they’re capable of.”

The Lions’ clear intention was to slow the pace and try to keep the ball away from the Red Devils. On occasion, Searcy’s offense resembled a modified version of the age-old, five-man weave with Jacksonville defenders chasing the ball as it passed from one Lion to another without ever moving beyond the perimeter.

The main problem with Searcy’s offense early is that the Lions couldn’t make shots. Jacksonville wasn’t much better, but dominated the boards and got second-chance points. Jacksonville held a slim 11-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Red Devils’ defensive intensity improved dramatically in the second quarter, but this time it was the home team that couldn’t get anything to fall offensively.

Junior small forward Keith Charleston was the lone offensive threat for Jacksonville in the second period. He scored all six of his points in that frame, slashing inside and showing a nice touch from short and mid-range.

“We’ve been trying to get Keith to come on,” Joyner said. “He’s got potential he hasn’t unlocked yet.”

Charleston’s six was two-thirds of Jacksonville’s total in the period, but the defense held Searcy to just three, making it 20-12 at halftime.

The tempo is the second half was more to Jacksonville’s liking. The Red Devils more than doubled their offensive output from the first half, thanks mostly to better defense and shooting.

But Searcy kept pace for most of the third quarter. With two minutes left in the frame, Jacksonville had added just one point to its lead at 34-25, but that’s when the rout began.

Junior guard Justin McCleary led the charge. In the game’s final 10 minutes, Jacksonville got 12 of its 21 total steals, with McCleary picking up three of them.

Aaron Smith, Dewayne Waller, David Johnson and Tirrell Brown also got multiple steals in the game.

The steals created layups, which increased Jacksonville’s shooting percentage. Searcy, trailing and needing to play catchup, had to abandon the slow-down offense and try to score quickly. The Lions simply couldn’t keep up with Jacksonville in that type of game.

From late in the third to the final minute of play, Jacksonville put together a 28-4 run to blow the game wide open. The Red Devils’ lead peaked at 62-29 before Searcy added the last basket to set the final margin.

Jacksonville’s scoring was very balanced. Ten Red Devils scored in the game with McCleary leading the way with 12. He had an impressive game down the line. He also led the team in rebounds with six, and steals with five. Brown finished with 10 points, five rebounds and four steals. Xavier Huskey added nine points for Jacksonville.

The Red Devils (11-3, 2-1) hosted league-leading Jonesboro on Tuesday, and will play Marion at home on Friday.

EDITORIAL >> Griffin gets his wish

2012-01-13T22:00:00.001-06:00

Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Little Rock) has told constituents there are no sacred cows in the federal budget, and we believed him, until he started saying some of the cuts are going too far.

A fiscal conservative, he has proposed cutting social services, military spending, corporate welfare and other wasteful programs. He has said we must reduce spending without tax increases. But now that the first wave of cuts have been announced, Griffin is not too happy. Although he campaigned as a deficit hawk and a budget cutter in 2010, perhaps he was hoping the budget ax would bypass Arkansas.

Our freshman congressman is upset that the Air Force is canceling a $4.4 billion avionics contract for aging C-130s at Little Rock Air Force Base and elsewhere. He’s also unhappy that some 45 civilians are losing their jobs at the base. Sure it hurts, but where did he think the cuts would come from? From nutrition programs for poor mothers? From fuel subsidies in the Northeast? From cutting defense projects pushed by special interests in Washington? Who is and isn’t a special interest?

You can eliminate only so many fighter planes and nutrition programs before you have to start cutting across the board and going after sacred cows, including farm interests and rural post offices.

Members of the Arkansas congressional delegation have lashed out at the U.S. Agriculture Department for shutting down 16 Farm Services Agency offices in the state, including those in Pulaski and White counties, which happen to be in Griffin’s district. Arkansas will lose more of these farm offices than any other state.

The delegation also opposes closing up to one-third of Arkansas’ rural post offices, especially those in their districts. They’re quaint, all right, but when the postal service is losing $23 million day, post offices in Prim, Tilly, Ida and Fox can’t stay open much longer.

Griffin, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, can’t have it both ways. You can’t get rid of programs everywhere but spare Arkansas. Sen. John McClellan might have prevented the worst of these cuts. But how much clout does a freshman congressman have in Washington? The state’s delegation can’t even keep the farm offices open. Former Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who lost her re-election bid, chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee and might have spared some of those offices, but Sen. John Boozman, her successor, has no more influence than Griffin.

Griffin has told chamber of commerce banquets, tea party meetings and other forums that the cuts will hurt, but he says they’re a necessary first step toward economic recovery. At last year’s Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce dinner, he called for dramatic spending cuts to reduce the nation’s $1.5 trillion deficit.

Ruling out tax increases to close the deficit and reduce the national debt, he told The Leader several times he would look for waste in the Pentagon budget and elsewhere. Be careful what you wish for: A shrinking military means fewer jobs and planes for Little Rock Air Force Base.

Even one cut hurts, Col. Mike Minihan, the outgoing commander of the 19th Airlift Wing, noted in an interview with The Leader this week. It’s not easy telling civilian workers on base they’re no longer needed, especially after they’ve devoted 20 years or more to serving their country.

When Griffin tells his constituents that the federal budget is out of control and must be reduced dramatically, you can’t overlook the obvious: People will lose their jobs. Boeing and Lockheed will lay people off if the avionics modernization program for older C-130s is axed. The same will happen when fighter jets and battleships are eliminated, or road and bridge work is halted for lack of money.

Earlier this month, Boeing announced it would close its plant in Wichita, Kan., where it has produced planes for the military for 80 years. Boeing officials said Pentagon cuts make it impossible to keep the sprawling plant open as military contracts dry up. Some 2,000 people could lose their jobs.

Sure, we’re in a crisis, but it’s foolish to think this was going to be painless. The economy is still sputtering, and there will be more plant closings and layoffs.

So far we’ve been spared the worst cuts here: The air base has received four of the five upgraded C-130s, and another is scheduled for delivery. In these difficult times, five upgraded C-130s are better than none.

In addition, more modern C-130Js will arrive in the coming years, but don’t be surprised if those deliveries are slowed. President Obama said Friday that all defense contracts are under review.

Deficit reductions are serious business. To save a trillion dollars for defense in the next decade — that’s a thousand billion dollars, if you want to do the math — our military will shrink dramatically.

When Rep. Griffin says there are no sacred cows, even if he’s having second thoughts, we know exactly what he means.

TOP STORY >> Carlisle farmer dies in grain silo

2012-01-13T21:58:00.006-06:00

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

A Carlisle man died Friday in a farming accident after falling into a grain silo nearly full of rice at Parker Farms on Miller Road near Hwy. 381 five miles east of Lonoke.

The Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call around 11 a.m. Deputies and the Lonoke Fire Department responded to the accident.

Rescue workers found Jacques Parker, 56, at 12:16 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the sheriff’s office Parker’s death was an accident. He was inside the silo attempting to clear a blockage when he fell into the rice.

Marty Perkins, a close friend of the victim, said Parker was a hard worker who never married.

He graduated from college and re-joined his father’s and brothers’ farming operation.

“They are business people,” Perkins said.

Perkins said Parker was a Lonoke County Co-Op board member.

TOP STORY >> Relatives glad killer given life sentence

2012-01-13T21:58:00.005-06:00

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes Wednesday afternoon before they convicted Alonzo Watson Jr., 21, for the capital murder of Daniel Dewayne Harris, 23.

Watson will be behind bars for life without the possibility of parole.

Harris was beaten with a 15-pound rock at least 24 times on Sept. 3, 2010, and his body was found next to his car behind Wild West Auction Services on South Redmond Road in Jacksonville.

The Harris family seemed awash with relief.

“We waited so long, over a year for this, and justice is finally served.We want to thank our friends and family for all their support,” said the victim’s mother, Bernita Laster. She cried and hugged the prosecutors after court adjourned.

Harris’ father, Daniel Lewis, said, “I’m glad justice has prevailed in this case. Wrong is wrong, and God knows the truth. I’d like to thank the jurors, the prosecutors and the justice system.”

The family’s pastor, Walter Harris, who said he was at the trial to provide them moral support, said, “I think its very sad and tragic when a young life is taken away.”

Several other relatives gasped, “Thank you, Jesus,” after hearing the verdict.

But Watson’s mother said after the verdict, “He’s not guilty.”

Prosecutor Barbara Mariani told the jury during the closing arguments, “He (Watson) went to other people’s houses and opened his mouth to so many people. He ripped that cloak of innocence off his own body,” as she recounted the fact that four witnesses heard him confess to killing someone the night of the murder.

There were no other homicides in Jacksonville on the day Harris was killed.

The prosecution said the motive for the murder was jealousy and implied that the two might have had a homosexual relationship.

Harris’ “shorts were around his ankles. There was gravel on his knees. He was with someone he trusted. He was allowing himself to be intimate with (Watson) and vulnerable. He didn’t know what was about to happen to him,” the prosecutor said.

The defense rebutted the insinuation, saying there were no rectal swabs and Watson had even dated the victim’s sister for a number of years. They argued the two were like brothers and that the prosecution did not provide a motive for the slaying.

According to the prosecution, the victim’s younger brother, O’Tarvarious Sekeeno Harris, saw Watson with the victim at 2 a.m. Watson and Harris had been close friends but had become estranged over the victim’s friendship with another man.

They say Watson showed up in bloodied clothes at the Jacksonville home of Sarah Whipple, his then-girlfriend, around 3 a.m. and told her he had killed someone.

According to Mariani, Watson changed his story after he saw how Sarah reacted to the statement. He then said he was just joking and had been in a fight with someone, but the other man was alive when he left.

The prosecutor said Whipple fled to Texas after the homicide because she didn’t want to be caught up in the case, and she has no reason to lie because she is not connected to any of the other witnesses.

Watson then went to the Jacksonville home of Vicki Jones, knocked on her door asking to use the restroom. She didn’t let him in, and a bicycle was left in her yard.

Marcus Deshone Hildreth gave Watson a ride at 4 a.m. and he heard Watson say, “I burned someone,” according to Mariani. She said burned was a term that means murdered.

Hildreth and one of the other four people who heard Watson confess are convicted felons. Hildreth also said Watson talked to him about the murder when they were in jail together later that month.

Mariani told the jury that to find Watson guilty of capital murder they needed to be sure the act was premeditated, but premeditated does not mean he sat down and planned it out. There is no length of time prescribed to premeditation, Mariani said.

She said he was thinking about killing Harris each time he picked up that heavy rock, which was in the courtroom wrapped with thick yellow evidence paper and labeled with the biohazard symbol.

“It’s easy to forget the victim,” the prosecutor said as she showed the jurors crime scene and autopsy photos.

Defense attorney Tom Devine compared the confessions to campfire stories that occur in small towns. He also said the state wanted them to be inflamed by the photos, but he pleaded with them to consider facts.

The defense emphasized that there was no DNA evidence from Watson at the scene and police never investigated other suspects.

Devine said the only evidence the prosecution had connected to Watson was his palm print on the car’s window, but that could have happened at anytime.

He argued that witnesses had everything to gain by pointing a finger at his client. He said Hildreth kept adding pieces to his story in order to help himself out with the criminal cases that were pending against him.

Devine also said Whipple left town because she didn’t want to be associated with the reputation Watson had gotten from the campfire stories about the homicide.

Police went to her and she decided they were going to bring her back to Jacksonville anyway, so she’d better tell them something, Devine claimed during closing arguments.

The defense also said she lied about Watson having scratches on his arms because police didn’t notice any injuries when he came in to talk to them as the last person who saw Harris, not as a suspect.

“There are holes there. There are gaps. Without a doubt there is no physical evidence against my client,” Devine said.

He ended his statements with a quote from John Adams, “Better that many guilty go free than an innocent man suffer.”

Mariani responded that some people leave DNA, while others don’t. She said the handprint was on the outside of the window, and there was blood near it.

“Before DNA, all we had were fingerprints, and that was fantastic evidence. It is still fantastic evidence,” Mariani said.

She then picked up the rock and swung it downward, counting out the 24 blows.

The prosecution ran through the timeline again and reminded the jury that there were multiple, consistent accounts from witnesses to Watson’s confession.

“This murder is about his (Watson’s) horrible anger and rage. To top it all off, he left him humiliated in death,” Mariani said.

Harris was found with his shorts pulled down around his ankles and his genitals exposed.

“You must hold (Watson) accountable,” she concluded.

TOP STORY >> Avionics testing on hold at base

2012-01-13T21:57:00.001-06:00

By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer

The Air Force has postponed tests of the first updated C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) planes, set to have begun Tuesday at Little Rock Air Force Base, a Boeing spokesman confirmed Thursday. (See editorial, p. 6A.)

Postponement of the initial evaluation is the first concrete indication — in advance of the 2013 defense budget — that the Pentagon plans to postpone or scrap the $4.4 billion modernization of the nation’s aging 222-plane C-130H fleet.

FOURTH AMP DELIVERED

The test cancellation occurs just days after Warner Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia delivered the fourth such plane to the LRAFB, and with delivery of the fifth C-130 AMP due next month.

“The U.S. Air Force also notified Boeing that after the fifth C-130 AMP is delivered from Warner Robins to Little Rock in February 2012, future inductions are on hold,” said Boeing spokesman Jennifer Hogan. “We have been told that additional information will be shared after the President’s 2013 budget is published.”

Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg News broke the story earlier this week that the program will be one of the larger cuts in the Air Force budget, accounting for about $2.2 billion by 2016. With successful testing, the Defense Department had been expected to award contracts for 26 planes under an initial production contract.

EVALUATION SUSPENDED

“We have so far seen the notice from the Air Mobility Command, which says that pending the release of the president’s budget and subsequent congressional action, the current training and evaluation is suspended,” Lt. Col. Keith Moore said Friday. Moore is spokesman for the 189th Airlift Wing of the Arkansas National Guard, which is known as the C-130 schoolhouse.

“Until later this month or in February, we won’t know where we stand or the status of the (AMP) program for next year,” he said.

LRAFB is the premiere C-130 center in the world, training virtually all C-130 pilots, crews and maintainers for the United States armed forces and allies.

The Pentagon had ordered six avionics modernization program kits for older model C-130 H aircraft, dating back to the mid-1970s that would extend their lives and make them more compatible with the state-of-the-art C-130Js. But amidst a move to downsize the armed forces and the Defense Department budget, the program is reportedly headed for the chopping block.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has proposed a leaner, more modern rapid response armed forces, but proponents of the AMP program say that’s precisely why the C-130 AMP should be a high priority, able to deliver war fighters, weapons and material quickly around the world even to short, dirt landing strips.

DIGITAL COCKPIT

The AMP modifications replace analog controls and displays with digital, standardize the 30 different C-130 cockpit configurations and upgrade and standardize communication, navigation and air-traffic management, have a glass cockpit including so-called heads-up displays, night-vision imaging and will meet operational conditions.

They also reduce the size of the flight crew from five to four and make the cockpit compatible with that of the the state-of-the-art C-130J.

But C-130Js cost about $68 million each, while the AMP upgrade to the C-130H was expected to start at about $14 million and be reduced to about $7.5 million by the time the program reached full stride.

The Air Force moved to drop the troubled program in 2009, but was overruled by the Pentagon. This time around, the Pentagon apparently supports slowing or stopping the program.

OPPOSE CANCELLATION

“I oppose the cancellation of the C-130 AMP upgrades and will fight to ensure the men and women at LRAFB have the equipment they need to complete their mission,” Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Little Rock) said Friday.

Griffin, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, is co-founder of the bipartisan Congressional C-130 Modernization Caucus.

“LRAFB and its more than 80 C-130s provide our nation with critical combat and humanitarian airlift capabilities.,” Griffin said.

He said any decision to cancel future C-130 AMP upgrades was “shortsighted and ill-advised because these upgrades will extend the life of the C-130 fleet and save taxpayers money.”

SPORTS >> Bison earn road win at Augusta

2012-01-13T18:54:00.001-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

AUGUSTA – What appeared to be an early rout for Carlisle turned into a down-to-the-wire finish in a thrilling 59-58 road victory over Augusta to give the Bison their second 2A-6 Conference win of the season, and the week on Thursday at Red Devil Arena.

Carlisle senior guard Zac King scored on a putback of his own miss in the final five seconds for half of his points in the game as the Bison (4-6, 2-5) barely held on to win after leading 25-5 mid way through the second quarter.

But that was before Augusta forward Jordan Brown stunned the Bison in the final two minutes of the third quarter with a barrage of steals, dunks and dishes to teammates that quickly evaporated Carlisle’s lead from 42-29 to 43-38 heading into the final period.

“We’re a very young basketball team,” Bison coach William Rountree said. “I thought we played real well in the first half. I thought we missed some opportunities to continue to push that out in the third quarter. We weren’t quite as sharp. Give Augusta credit – they played real well in the fourth quarter. They had some guys hit some shots that we really hadn’t anticipated.”

Brown made it a three-point game to start the fourth quarter with a floater in the lane, but Braden Reed answered for Carlisle with a lay up to make it 45-40. Austin Reed then hit a lay up and drew a foul from L.J. Driver. He made the free throw to extend the Bison lead to 48-40 with 7:05 left to play.

The Bison extended their advantage back to 11, but a pair of three pointers by Anfernee Neal and another from Lorenzo Pryor that followed an inside basket by Carlisle post player Deron Ricks made it 57-55 with 42 seconds remaining.

“When we weren’t scoring and giving them some easies off turnovers, and then they hit some threes,” Rountree said. “And that’s what the three will do for you. And you can look back and say we have to get better at this and better at that, but thankfully, we got a win. I think anytime you come to Augusta Arkansas and win a ballgame, you’ve done something to be proud of.”

Jeremy Metcalf missed a jumper for Carlisle and Neal pulled down the rebound for Augusta. He took it to the other end and hit another three that gave the Red Devils their first and only lead of the game at 58-57 at the 20-second mark. Point guard Chris Hart brought the ball down for Carlisle and dished to Metcalf inside. That pulled the defense over to Metcalf, who lobbed it across the key to King. King went up and missed, but was able to fight for the rebound and go up again, this time finding net.

Neal launched one final desperate shot from midcourt as time expired but did not have enough on it as the Bison escaped by the narrowest of margins.

“The first half, we just couldn’t get a bucket to go in and missed a lot of free throws,” Augusta coach Ricky Edwards said. “The guys didn’t give up. They came out in the second half and just kept at it and fought their way back in the game.

“If we would have had a better first half, I think the outcome would have been different, but you can point to a number of things we could have been better at.”

In the first half, the Red Devils (8-8, 4-3) looked miles away from the dynamic they ultimately proved to be as Carlisle held them to five points from the 1:35 mark of the first quarter until the 3:46 mark of the second quarter when Neal hit the first of his five three-point baskets for the game. In that time, Braden Reed and post player Chris Edwards led the Bison to a 19-5 lead at the end of one, and early second-quarter baskets by Metcalf and Dathan Hill pushed the advantage to 21-5 with 7:10 left to go in the first half.

That led to a drought of over two minutes by both teams until Hill converted a transition lay up at the 4:51 mark, followed by a basket by King to make it 25-5. Hill converted an easy wide-open lay up with 4:05 remaining to give the Bison their biggest lead of the game at 27-5 before the Red Devils closed the gap to 33-16 at the break.

Edwards led the Bison with 12 points and eight rebounds while Ricks, Bo Weddle and Austin Reed each finished with eight points. For Augusta, Brown led with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven steals, six of which came in the final four minutes of the third quarter. Neal had 17 points including five three pointers while Pryor had 12 points.

“It’s going to be tough; it’s going to be a dog fight,” Edwards said of the 2A-6 Conference race. You look at Carlisle, look at Des Arc, look at Hughes – we’re going to be in the mix. But every night, we’ve got to come out ready to play.”

SPORTS >> Lady Bears use press to get first league win

2012-01-13T18:53:00.001-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Sylvan Hills pressed its way to a decisive 55-18 victory over Helena West-Helena Central at home on Tuesday to capture its first 5A-Southeast Conference triumph of the season.

The Lady Bears (3-9, 1-2) forced 20 turnovers by the Lady Cougars in the first half and 34 for the game, as senior guard Kashima Wright broke loose for a season-high 19 points, most of which came on easy transition baskets.

“The press was effective,” Lady Bears coach Shelly Davis said. “They didn’t have many ball handlers, so the press worked with them weaker in the guard division. Tonight, we put away all the stats. I have no idea who did what as far as assists or anything other than our rebounds.

“That’s cost us several games, because we’re not blocking out, not rebounding, so we just tried to emphasize one at a time tonight. We have to concentrate maybe in one area instead of the whole ball game.”

The Lady Cougars struggled immensely against the full-court defense of Sylvan Hills. Wright and Junior Val Jarrett led the assault, as Wright took it away from HWHC seven times and converted most of those while Jarrett had six steals, many of which led to more points for Wright. Sophomore forward Kali Milton and classmate K.K. Fulton each had two picks, as the Lady Bears rushed out to a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter and put the game away in the second quarter boasting an insurmountable 27-6 lead.

“They’re playing very unselfish,” Davis said. “We looked down the floor, and Kashima is one of the first down the floor. She can handle the ball, and we made our lay ups tonight. The girls have been wanting to win and playing hard enough to win, but they were wanting it bad tonight, and played very well.”

Junior Jalmedal Byrd-Hudson made it 12-3 to start the second quarter with a putback at the 7:29 mark before junior Naomi Gregory hit a three-point basket to increase the margin to 15-3 with 6:29 left to play in the first half. Wright then followed with a three pointer and converted a steal with a lay up to give the Lady Bears a 20-4 lead with 5:21 remaining in the first half.

Wright’s next transition score was set up by a steal and dish from Gregory, and Milton followed with a 15-foot jumper to make it 25-6. The Lady Cougars went on a brief 6-0 run before junior Michaela Pinegar closed out the half for Sylvan Hills by hitting both ends of a two-shot foul to set the halftime margin.

It was much of the same in the second half as the Lady Bears started the third quarter with an 8-0 run, and two straight lay ups by Wright midway through the period gave Sylvan Hills the necessary margin to enjoy a continuous clock for the final eight minutes.

“That’s what you play all season for is right now,” Davis said. “And the games we need to win, we have to win. We’re probably going to be that team that’s iffy. If we keep improving and doing little things better, then we should be one of the top teams.”

Gregory added 15 points for Sylvan Hills while Byrd-Hudson finished with six points and a game high nine rebounds, along with three steals. Jarrett also had six points for the Lady Bears.

For the Lady Cougars, Chaterian Dillard and Delana Bedford each had four points to lead the way.

SPORTS >> Sylvan Hills runs over Cougars

2012-01-13T18:52:00.005-06:00

By JASON KING

Leader sportswriter

Archie Goodwin’s 42-foot basket from half court at the first-quarter buzzer was a strong indicator that it was going to be a good night for the Sylvan Hills senior guard as he poured in 33 points to lead the Bears in a runaway 88-53 victory over Helena-West Helena Central at the Sylvan Hills High School gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Goodwin also dominated the boards with 13 rebounds and had five steals, all but one of which led to a patented show-stopping dunk for the University of Kentucky signee, as the Bears improved their season record to 10-3 and stayed unbeaten in 5A-Southeast Conference play at 3-0.

Sylvan Hills went 44 percent from the field (35 for 79), as Goodwin shook off his recent shooting woes by going 4 for 7 from three-point range in the first half. The Cougars (4-5, 0-2) had fewer opportunities due largely to a stifling Bears’ defensive attack that gave up just 19 buckets in 41 attempts for 46 percent from the floor for the entire game.

“We’ve had a tough schedule,” Bears coach Kevin Davis said. “And we’ve been right there and played well in a lot of big ballgames. So we really challenged our guys to bring something to the position they’re playing, and that’s why I was so proud of them, because everyone who came into the ballgame had positive moments and made things happen from their position.

“You really saw a collaborative effort tonight all the way up and down that lineup.”

Goodwin’s strong night was backed up by a number of good supporting performances, most notably senior point guard Deon Patten, who added 16 points and three first-half steals. Senior transfer Daylon Jones had nine points and added a few highlight-reel moves of his own in the paint against a HWHC defense which seemed completely overwhelmed at times.

“I think more than anything tonight, you have to say they didn’t let their foot off the accelerator,” Davis said. “The depth that came off the bench was adding to the pressure, and that’s what I was hoping we would see from this team earlier in the year. I knew it was going to take a while to get them going, but I felt like they could really contribute.”

The Bears have been successful early this season, but have not shown the domination many expected to see from the defending 5A state runner-up until now. Goodwin’s performance on Tuesday was one of his best this year for one of the nation’s top college prospects.

“Archie’s a teammate,” Davis said. “And he can elevate his game just as well as the 11th guy down there on the bench. I was not worried about the offensive end tonight, I really wasn’t. I called that timeout because we missed some early shots, and they were ugly, and I told them that’s okay, but there was going to be no excuses down there on the defensive end.”

Goodwin did not score until the 3:40 mark of the first quarter when he hit the front end of a two-shot foul, but he quickly made up for lost time with a three-pointer, three dunks and his buzzer-beater from midcourt for 13 points heading into the second quarter.

“This is one of the best games we’ve had this year,” Goodwin said. “We’ve been struggling a little bit early on. We’ve still been getting wins, but we haven’t been playing basketball like we did last year. It feels like we’re getting back into the groove of things now.”

Juwan Williams scored for the Cougars to make it 21-13 with 1.6 seconds left on the clock in the first quarter, but Goodwin got the last word when he ran down the left side and launched just as he crossed midcourt. His rush to get the shot off before the buzzer caused him to stumble, but as Goodwin went down, the shot went through.

“It felt good when I let it go,” Goodwin said. “It’s one of those things that I actually practice with my uncle when we go to the court. After my workout, I’ll take some half-court shots just in case something like that happens, and I swished it.”

The only thing that stood in the way of a near-perfect night for Goodwin was a 3-of-9 performance at the foul line.

“That was just one of those games,” Goodwin said. “Good shooting night, just a bad free-throw night. It happens to the best of them, so I’m not too much worried about it. I feel like when it’s crunch time, I can knock them down.”

Plenty of Bears saw ample playing time, including Kaylon Tappin and David Johnson, as well as soccer standout Jeremiah Persson, who set the final margin with a lay-in in the final 30 seconds to the delight of the home crowd.

Tappin finished with six points for the Bears while Anthony Lewis led Helena-West Helena Central with 14 points. Williams added 12 points and Ade Jones had 10 points for the Cougars.

SPORTS >> Cabot splits with Catholic, Mount

2012-01-13T18:52:00.004-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Cabot’s start to the season was unexpected as the Panthers went 9-0 in non conference play, but the 7A-Central Conference is proving to be tougher than expected.

The Panthers started league play with two-straight close losses, the most recent a 55-52 heartbreaker at Little Rock Catholic on Tuesday. It was just Catholic’s second win of the season.

Cabot (9-2, 0-2) shot 50 percent from the free-throw line, going 10 of 20, while the Rockets shot 49 free throws, making 29 of them.

“It’s hard to get in a flow when they’re taking that many trips to the free-throw line,” Panthers coach Jerry Bridges said. “It’s hard to wear a team down. We started the fourth quarter one for two, and then they get us on the other end, but I’m pleased with the kids’ effort.”

The Panthers had a chance to tie in the closing seconds when Arthur West found Clayton Vaught open from three-point range. Vaught had a good look, but the shot fell just short. Cabot scrambled for the rebound as the clock wound down, but it went out to Catholic.

“We had to make our free throws,” Bridges said. “If we do that, we win. We’ve played great, we just need to get out of that rut.”

After starting the year 9-0 and winning their own pre-holiday tournament at the new Panther Arena, Cabot is trying to cope with the disappointment of two close losses to start its league campaign. The Panthers opened Central play last Friday with a 45-43 home loss to Conway.

“We’re fragile right now – I’m not going to lie,” Bridges said. “We’ve got to put it behind us. If we had shot just 65 percent from the free-throw line in the first two games, we would be 2-0 in conference right now.

“We’ll get this thing; there’s lots of ball left to be played. They’re a fun group to watch, and they give great effort in the games and in our practices, we just have to learn to deal with these peaks and valleys.”

Vaught led the Panthers with 13 points while West finished with 10. Sophomore post player Josiah Wymer finished with eight points. J.D. Brunett and senior guard Adam Rock each had seven points for Cabot.

Given the tough competition the Panthers faced early on to go unbeaten through the non-conference portion of their schedule, Bridges acknowledged the 7A-Central could be a tougher conference than it is given credit. But with the state tournament coming to Cabot in early March, it will mark a change from recent years where the playoffs have been set in northwest Arkansas, which is welcomed news to the head Panther.

“I think maybe a little bit right now,” Bridges said of the Central conference being underestimated. “But let’s let them come down here. One good thing is the tournament’s here this year, and it makes a difference when you get to rest in your own bed.

“I think what you see out of our conference is not a lot of size, but maybe a little more athleticism and great guard play.”

The Lady Panthers got a 58-36 win at Catholic’s sister school Mount Saint Mary’s. Cabot (14-4, 2-0) enjoyed a size advantage in the game, and did most of its damage offensively with its post players. Melissa Wolff led the way with 17 points while Lacy Boyett added 15.

The Cabot boys and girls played at North Little Rock on Friday and will be at home on Tuesday against Little Rock Central.

SPORTS >> Devils take down No. 1

2012-01-13T18:50:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

The Jacksonville Red Devils were chastised by their coach for being too passive after their conference opening loss to Little Rock Hall. They were anything but passive in game two of league play, beating previously undefeated Little Rock Parkview 74-63 Tuesday in Little Rock.

Parkview entered the game 13-0, ranked No. 1 overall in the state, as well as sixth in the Southeast and 25th in the nation by ESPN.

The Patriots earned the national recognition by winning the hugely famous and nationwide Whattaburger Classic in Dallas, Texas, over the Christmas break.

Jacksonville apparently didn’t notice. The Red Devils took the floor and went after Parkview, who also beat the Red Devils in last year’s state championship, like a team unrecognizable from the one that played against Hall.

“They dug down and found something inside themselves,” Jacksonville coach Victor Joyner said. “This was not the same timid team that played last week. They were aggressive and they battled. Things got tight later on. I think we got a little tired. But they dug down and found some inner strength. This was big for us.”

The win was all the more impressive given the fact that Jacksonville’s two leading scorers so far this season, post player Tirrell Brown and guard Justin McCleary, were in foul trouble throughout the game and saw limited playing time. Both ended up fouling out early in the fourth quarter.

James Aikens and Dewayne Waller picked up the scoring slack in the first half. Waller had 10 of his game-high 18 in the first quarter. Aikens scored 11 of his 18 in the second. It was only Aikens’ second game this season, but he played like the seasoned senior he is, hitting three consecutive, progressively longer three pointers in the second quarter to lead the Red Devils to a 40-23 halftime lead.

Aikens was also a major menace to Parkview’s ability to get the ball up the floor. Five of his 11 second-quarter points came on the heels of thievery by Aikens.

Jacksonville led 18-9 at the end of the first quarter and led 23-16 with about six minutes left until halftime. That’s when the run started that put the Red Devils in control of the game.

Aikens hit two consecutive three pointers, then got a steal and reverse layup to quickly make it 31-16 and force a Parkview timeout.

The Patriots began fronting Jacksonville’s post players after the timeout and got two steals off entry passes into the lane, but the Red Devils defense didn’t allow Parkview to get back into the game.

Brown got a dunk after corralling a loose ball under the basket. Aikens then hit a 30-foot shot to make it 36-19. Each team added four more points to set the halftime score.

Jacksonville came out of the half ready for a Parkview run, and never let it happen in the ever-important first few minutes of the third quarter. In fact, Jacksonville’s lead maxed at 57-34 with 1:24 left in the third. But Parkview did finally make a furious rally.

The Patriots scored the final four points of the third quarter, then continued to rally until the margin was down to just eight at 59-51 with 4:44 left in the game.

Parkview sophomore Daryl Macon hit two three pointers. Senior Anton Macon got two layups and a free throw, and Imara Ready got a steal and layup to complete the 17-2 run before Joyner called timeout.

After the break, Jacksonville answered with an 8-1 to take a 68-52 lead with 2:12 left that all but ended the game.

Parkview made another run to get within 70-61, but was too spent from the energy involved in the previous comeback.

“We got tired but I think we got them a little tired too,” Joyner said. “They used up a lot of energy just to get back in it.”

Parkview had three chances to get closer by forcing turnovers before Jacksonville could get across the timeline. But the Devil defense didn’t give up a point after any of the turnovers.

“They were tired turnovers, but they overcame that fatigue on defense and got some stops when they had to,” Joyner said.

Aikens and Waller led Jacksonville (10-4, 1-1) with 18 points apiece. McCleary scored 11 and Brown 10 for the Red Devils. Xavier Huskey led Jacksonville in rebounding with eight and Aikens had five steals.

Beard led all scorers with 21 points. Ready, a senior who is bound for the University of Nebraska, added 14 for the Patriots. Post player Emmanuel Adoyi had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Parkview won the rebounding battle, but just barely. The Patriots had 32 boards while Jacksonville pulled down 31.

Jacksonville hit 22 of 31 free throws, including 11 of 15 in the fourth quarter when Parkview was forced to foul. The Patriots made 13 of 22 attempts.

The stat of the game was three-point shooting. The Red Devils made a remarkable 75 percent from three-point range, hitting six of eight attempts. Parkview made just three of 20 three point shots.

Jacksonville faced Searcy last night at home, and will take on Jonesboro at home on Tuesday.

EDITORIAL >> Evaluating skills test

2012-01-10T22:24:00.001-06:00

Here’s a salute to area students who did well on the recent Iowa Basic Test of Skills. The top schools here include Mountain Springs Elementary in Cabot and Arnold Drive Elementary on Little Rock Air Force Base, where students scored in the 74th percentile, higher than about three-fourths of the nation’s students.

Also scoring well were Lonoke Primary School in the 72nd percentile, Cabot’s Eastside Elementary was in the 71st percentile and Magness Creek Elementary scored in the 70th percentile.

According to the University of Arkansas, which recently released the report, Arkansas students from kindergarten through the ninth grade who took the Iowa Basic Test of Skills were in the 55th national percentile ranking, meaning they scored better than 54 percent of the students across the nation who took the test.

The overall percentile is based on what the students scored in the reading, math, language and science portions of the skills test. Only certain grades took the science portion.

A percentile score of 50 is considered average, with half the nation scoring worse than that and half scoring better. The tests are not easy and students who get encouragement at home do better. It’s worth noting that children of military dependents score well above average, which reinforces the importance of education to Air Force families serving at the base.

Among Cabot elementary schools, Stagecoach scored in the 68th percentile, Central Elementary was in the 66th percentile, Northside and Westside were in the 64th percentile and Ward Central was at 60.

At the secondary level, Cabot Middle School South scored in the 63rd percentile, Cabot Junior High North was at 61, followed by Cabot Junior High South and Cabot Middle School North, both at the 59th percentile. The Academic Center for Excellence scored in the 51st percentile.

While the state average was in the 57th percentile, most Pulaski County Special School District students scored substantially lower, while those in Cabot and Beebe did much better.

Besides Arnold Drive on base, three other PCSSD schools beat the state average and two tied the average. Clinton Elementary was in the 60th percentile, while Tolleson and Oakbrooke elementary schools were at the 58th percentile and Sherwood and Cato elementary schools matched the state at the 55th percentile.

Jacksonville’s Lighthouse Academy, a charter school, was also in the 54th percentile.

All Beebe schools scored higher than the state average, except for Beebe Middle School, which missed the mark by one. Beebe’s early childhood center scored in the 62nd percentile. Badger Elementary was in the 58th percentile, Beebe Elementary and Beebe Junior High were at the 57th percentile, Beebe High School was at 56 and Beebe Middle School came in with a percentile ranking of 54.

While the Lonoke primary school had an overall percentile of 72 and 77 in language (tops in the region), the other Lonoke schools fell below the state average.

Schools that did well are determined to stay on course, while those who fell behind must do better.

Unfortunately those that need to do better number close to a dozen and fall mostly around and in Jacksonville and Sherwood.

While Arnold Drive continues to perform well, imagine what it could do in a district that was also solidly focused on its kids like the school is.

Other schools in the district were in the 30 to 40th percentile range and that spells economic trouble for our future. If our kids are scoring below average in the state how can they compete nationwide or globally?

Let’s salute Arnold Drive and Mountain Springs and our other bright spots, but remember we must bring up the others, or pay for not doing so.

TOP STORY >> Drop-off recycling planned in Ward

2012-01-10T22:23:00.003-06:00

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

The Ward City Council on Monday discussed recycling, a permit to get rid of an eyesore in town and efforts to buy a portable building from the Cabot School District.

The city has been offering electronic recycling through Central Arkansas Waste Management for things like computers and cell phones, but soon it will get bins for other recyclables at no cost to taxpayers.

Mayor Art Brooke said Ward would be getting a container where residents can drop off plastics, paper, cardboard and aluminum cans. The city has not decided where the container will be placed yet.

Because Ward will not be requesting curbside service, Waste Management will only get whatever revenue is generated by what is recycled, Brooke said. He said the city could look into curbside service in a few years if growth continues, but he won’t consider instituting it until it is an affordable option for residents.

Brooke explained that the city is in the process of trying to remove a decrepit building without having to condemn it under the nuisance-abatement ordinance. He is asking state representatives and the city attorney about the best way to move forward on that project.

“The big thing is safety. We have kids playing all around this city,” Brooke said.

The parks and recreation commission submitted a bid on a portable building that is more than 1,000 square foot. The building is being sold by the Cabot School District.

It would be used as a concession stand and for bathrooms. The commission will find out next Wednesday if its bid was accepted.

Parks and recreation also reported to the council that the poles are set for dugouts and the spectators’ awning; 35 yards of concrete has been poured for the little field; a fence where spectators sit was extended by four inches; nine loads of commercial base has been hauled; poles and a cable were painted orange, and the awning should be done by the end of the month.

The commission has $7,657 in available funds and they are also submitting bids for two 8-by-28-foot job trailers, a 1994 Chevrolet pickup and a 2006 Kubota ZD21 60-inch cut diesel mower.

In other business:

• Improvements to the Peyton Street Fire Station driveway are complete, but there are a few items requiring the contractor’s attention. Final payment has been withheld for that reason.

• The city has not received formal approval to begin the Safe-Route-to-schools project from the right-of-way division at the state Highway and Transportation Department. Everything has been submitted and verbal approval was granted.

Until the formal approval is received, the Federal Highway Administration will not give its final release. This takes two to three weeks, and the project will advertise when the city gets that release.

Safe Routes to Schools is a federal program that makes funding available for things like safer street crossings and establishing programs that encourage children and their parents to walk and bicycle to school. The program’s purpose is to help communities make walking and bicycling to school a safe and routine activity.

• Additional information requested for a grant to fund Hwy. 367 improvements was submitted, and the city is awaiting a final decision on its application.

• Circle P Welding is supposed to be back on site within the next several days to continue the construction of the new water tank. The delay was caused by the contractor’s discovery that several steel and cast-iron items were stolen from the site. Those have been reordered and the contractor is waiting for them to be delivered.

• Lemons Engineering has begun developing plans for a disaster relief grants project, and those will be provided to the city this month.

• An application has been submitted to Delta Dental for funding to fluoridate the city’s water. The project is subject to receiving that grant, and Delta Dental will meet later this month to review the application. The mayor acknowledged that Ward may be further down in the pecking order, and it could be a while before the project gets under way.

TOP STORY >> Student has big heart for military

2012-01-10T22:22:00.005-06:00

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

Magness Creek Elementary fourth-grader Zach Wilmoth of Cabot has a big heart for the military. He hopes to become a naval officer one day.

Last month, the 10 year old visited several wounded servicemen recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., while he was in Washington to attend the Army Navy football game.

Wilmoth’s parents, Emily, who works in human resources for Snap-On Tools in Conway, and Tech Sgt. Scott Wilmoth, with the 19th Airlift Wing’s maintenance group at Little Rock Air Force Base, surprised their son with a weekend trip to Washington to see the military academies compete in the annual rivalry game.

His father returned in October from a six-month deployment in Southwest Asia.

While planning for the trip, Wilmoth said he wanted to go to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

“I wanted to let the soldiers know they are appreciated, and thank them for the sacrifices they make. They serve our county and help make us free. They do so much for us,” Wilmoth said.

Before leaving on his trip, Wilmoth asked his teacher, Joni Coats, and his classmates if they would get involved. They made Christmas cards for the service members in the hospital.

At the medical center, Wilmoth visited 15 wounded warriors in the trauma ward.

“A bunch of people did not have legs. They were badly hurt and could not get out of bed or anything. Most were hit by IEDs (improvised explosive devices),” he said.

Wilmoth gave the injured servicemen the handmade Christmas cards and gifts of soap, shampoo and lotion.

“They were very nice to me and thankful. They said they didn’t get very much from people,” Wilmoth said.

“I felt really good after giving the soldiers the gifts,” Wilmoth said.

Wilmoth plans to donate money to the Wounded Warrior Project. He said many of the injured soldiers have just come back from the war and didn’t have any clothes with them.

Wilmoth said the Wounded Warrior Project gives them clothes and helps them rehabilitate. It provides money for prosthetics and housing.

The other part of Wilmoth’s trip was going to the Army Navy football game at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., a dream of his. Wilmoth and his parents watched the game on the first row near the goal line close to the midshipmen’s cannon.

“It was cold and crowded but fun,” Wilmoth said.

Before kick-off, several fighter jets and four Apache helicopters flew over.

He said cadets marched into the stadium and formed squadrons. After each touchdown, they would shoot the cannon.

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus were at the game and were seen on the big screen, Wilmoth said

Wilmoth saw his favorite football player on Navy’s team, co-captain and fullback Alexander Teich, play in his last game going into Navy SEALs training.

Navy won the game 21-27. Last spring break, Wilmoth and his parents went to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. They toured the campus and sat in on a leadership class. Wilmoth met Teich and had pictures taken with him.

Wilmoth said he is keeping his grades up in school to be able to go to the Naval Academy. Last year he made a PowerPoint presentation about the Naval Academy.

In 2008, Wilmoth went on a summer trip to the Pentagon with his grandparents, Kaye and Jerry Burt of Brandon, Miss. Wilmoth met Mabus, the Navy secretary. Wilmoth’s grandmother had worked for Mabus when he was governor of Mississippi. Wilmoth said he made the Navy sound interesting.

During another summer vacation, Wilmoth, then 8 years old, visited San Diego and toured a Navy ship.

TOP STORY >> Fewer accidents with traffic lights

2012-01-10T22:22:00.004-06:00

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

Cabot Police Chief Jackie Davis reported to the city council’s fire and police committee last week that vehicle accidents decreased 9 percent in 2011 from the average of the three years before.

“The coordination of the (traffic) lights has helped us a lot,” Davis told the committee.

But 3,044 incident calls for 2011 were a 6 percent increase over the average for the three previous years, and the 19,397 calls for service were a 19 percent increase.

His department arrested 1,355 adult offenders in 2011 and 143 juveniles.

Of that number, 531 did time in the city lockup, an average of 3.4 a day.

Mayor Bill Cypert and Davis hope to work out an agreement with Lonoke County this year to house city prisoners in the new county jail. Doing so would eliminate the city’s liability for housing prisoners and free the dispatchers to do that job alone without also tending the prisoners as jailers.

Davis also reported 84 arrests in 2011 for driving while intoxicated and 88 felony and misdemeanor drug arrests.

To free up space in the state prisons, changes in drug laws now make some former felony offenses misdemeanors. For that reason, Davis said an accurate breakdown of last year’s drug arrests would be very difficult.

Those drug arrests also netted $6,804.95 in cash and three vehicles.

Fire Chief Phil Robinson reported an overall decrease in calls including calls to assist the police with traffic accidents. Like Davis, he said the coordination of traffic lights has helped.

Incidents were down from 2,523 in 2012 to 2,463 in 2011.

The total for 2011 included 18 building fires compared to 21 in 2010. And forget what you’ve heard about firefighters getting cats out of trees. They were called out for one animal rescue in 2010 and none in 2011.

But they did extricate three people from vehicles in 2011, down two from 2010. And during all the rain last year, they rescued three people from swift water.

They answered 27 unintentional false fire alarms. They worked 111 vehicle accidents with injuries and 56 without injuries as well as seven accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians.

Robinson gave committee members a handout showing 75 different categories of incidents that firefighters respond to. Only 11 were blank for 2011. For example, there were no collapsed structures, no fires in motor homes and no fires caused by lightning.

What kept the Cabot firefighters busier than anything else in 2011 was assisting with medical calls. In 2011, that number was 1,732 compared to 1,725 in 2010.

TOP STORY >> Minihan: Mission is never done

2012-01-10T22:21:00.001-06:00

By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor

Much has changed since Col. Mike Minihan, the outgoing commander of the 19th Airlift Wing, arrived at Little Rock Air Force Base in August 2010.

The U.S. was fighting two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where C-130s from LRAFB were making deliveries day and night. The wing had not had a break since 9/11.

American combat forces have left Iraq, and the war is winding down in Afghanistan. Yet Minihan says even if the tempo of overseas operations has slowed, C-130s continue to fly into Afghanistan as well as into the Middle East in support of troops in forward operations near Iraq.

“Tonight we’re sending some folks off to war,” he said in an interview in his office Tuesday afternoon. “The tempo has slowed, but it’s still significant.”

“The tempo has lightened up a bit, but we’re changing focus on operations in Afghanistan,” Minihan explained.

About a dozen C-130s and 500 airmen are in combat operations right now, he said. At the height of Iraq and Afghan operations, up to half of the wing’s 50 combat-ready planes and several hundred more airmen were going into war.

Minihan is getting ready to clear out his office — his personal belongings are spread out all around his desk — on Jan. 31 to make way for Col. Brian (Smokey) Robinson as the new 19th Airlift Wing commander.

Robinson is executive officer to Gen. Raymond Johns Jr., commander of Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, Ill.

Minihan will assume command of the 89th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Andrews, Md., from Brig. Gen. (Select) Jacqueline D. Van Ovost. She’s the officer who escorts President Obama to Air Force One.

The wing’s responsibilities include flying Air Force One and other planes assigned to top officials.

But in Tuesday’s interview, Minihan stayed focused on the 19th Airlift Wing, which he says is successful because of the character of its airmen and the community that supports them.

“The change of command is about the men and women of the 19th Airlift Wing,” Minihan said. “It’s a chance to say thanks to the airmen and their families and the community to celebrate the mission and the successes of the entire team. I can’t take credit for that.”

MILITARY CUTBACKS

Pressured by Congress, the Obama administration has announced dramatic reductions in defense spending, yet the Air Force and Navy have been spared the worst cuts, which will amount to $1 trillion in the next decade.

The Air Force, like other services, will have to work under “fiscal constraints for the next couple of years” and make “manpower and monetary adjustments,” he said.

The Army and Marines have taken the brunt of the cuts as Pentagon officials plan on relying more on reaching global targets with the Air Force and Navy.

“The new strategy is more Air Force and Navy-centric,” Minihan said.

“The President and Congress have determined that the Defense Department must downsize. It’s very painful on the local level.”

The Air Force enlistment could drop to just over 300,000, about half of what it was two decades ago. But that will make the C-130 more essential than ever, the commander said.

“The base is relevant in the current fighting and future fights that might emerge,” he said.

For Minihan, any cuts are painful. “Compared with the Army and Navy, we’re less affected,” he said.

But the base has started laying off dozens of civilian workers, and more layoffs are likely.

“When we start cutting back, it doesn’t matter if it’s one or 40. It’s still a big deal,” Minihan said.

TORNADO DAMAGE LONG LASTING

Minihan said the damage from last April’s tornado will take several years to repair.

He estimated 60 buildings, five planes, a hangar and other infrastructure suffered about $85 million in damage.

In addition, some 250 homes were also damaged.

He said the fire station still needs a new roof. One plane needs a new wing.

“It will be a long process,” he said of the repairs, which will take several years to complete. “Two planes will never fly again. Complete repairs are years away.”

The Pentagon has accepted a bid for $16.9 million for the first phase of the repairs, which will mean jobs for hundreds of local workers.

BITTERSWEET DEPARTURE

Minihan had hoped to stay here longer than 18 months.

His daughter, Adair, is a junior honors student at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs. He had hoped she would finish her year in the spring.

“To leave Team Little Rock six months earlier is devastating,” he said.

He said what makes it difficult to leave is the team work between the Air Force and the community.

“I understand the importance of the job,” he said. “It’s an absolute honor to command airmen and their families.”

“The challenges have been absolutely incredible,” Minihan continued. “We were promised a break in December 2010.”

But that didn’t last long. Two horrific snowstorms followed, then the tornado in April, and yet the base carried out thousands of combat sorties with thousands of airmen who were proud to call Little Rock Air Force Base their home.

Minihan was often on the flightline at 6 a.m. and watched families say goodbye to the airmen as they left on their three-day trip to combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The weekend before the tornado hit, he sent off 40 airmen and a couple of C-130s into combat.

“On Jan. 31, when I’m riding out of here, I’ll turn my attention to the 89th Airlift Wing,” he said of his new assignment.

“It’s an absolute honor to be offered a chance to lead again. Till then, I’m a Black Knight,” the 19th Airlift Wing’s insignia.

“It’s going to be hard to leave,” Minihan said. “My focus will be on Col. Robinson to make sure this wing goes on motoring.

“He’ll find out this place is amazing.”

SPORTS >> Beebe stifles Chicks in East opener

2012-01-10T18:38:00.003-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

The 5A-East Conference race became clearer after just one game as Beebe clobbered Blytheville 48-26 in a lopsided battle between two projected league frontrunners at Badger Sports Arena on Friday.

The Badgers (10-3, 1-0) dominated in all phases and held the Chickasaws (8-7, 0-1) to four points through the second and third quarters combined. Beebe led 35-13 after three quarters before easing up on defensive chokehold that kept the normally sharp-shooting Chicks mostly paralyzed.

Junior Austin Burroughs led the Badgers with 18 points after an offensive performance that seemed effortless, while guards Brandon Fuller and Tanner Chapman kept the ball out of Blytheville’s hands for the most part in the second half.

“I just thought we played with great focus tonight,” Badgers coach Ryan Marshall said. “I thought we really focused in on their personnel, and their execution offensively. I don’t know the rebounding stats right now, but I don’t remember them getting any offensive rebounds. I thought we did a good job of checking them off the boards and then taking care of the ball for the most part.”

Beebe won the rebounding battle just as decisively at 29-16 and forced 15 Chickasaw turnovers while committing just six of its own. Senior forward Dayton Scott led on the boards with eight rebounds, five of which were defensive, and also added nine points.

“To be honest, they have a great ball club, but any time you’ve got that many athletes, you never really know what’s going to happen with them,” Marshall said. “We scouted them on Tuesday night, and I honestly felt like if we could take care of the ball and keep them off the boards, we had a chance to beat them. I never thought it would be that comfortable at the end, and they had one of their post players who didn’t play until the second half. He’ll make a difference when he’s healthy, and they’re going to shoot the ball a little bit better at times, but I thought we just really had a great game as far as overall basketball.”

Burroughs hit from all points on the floor with a number of shots that barely touched cord on their way through, while senior Zach May proved he could score with more than just three pointers as he drove into the paint for the majority of his 14 points.

“His confidence is just at another level,” Marshall said of Burroughs. “I watched tape on him from last year, and it’s funny to see the improvement he’s made since then, and I thought he showed leadership tonight from the standpoint that he was ready to take shots and knock them down.”

Burroughs did not get on the scoreboard until the 2:14 mark of the first quarter when he hit both ends of a two-shot foul to give the Badgers a 9-6 lead, but he owned the second quarter with 10 of Beebe’s 16 points.

The Badgers were working a second-quarter shutout on the Chickasaws until their sub point-guard made a jumper in the paint with 17 seconds left until halftime to make the margin 25-11.

Beebe hit Blytheville with an all out Zach attack to start the second half as May scored on a lay in before Zach Baker hit a jumper in the paint to give the Badgers a 29-11 lead with 6:52 remaining in the third quarter. May then scored again on another lay in off the glass to make it 31-11, and Burroughs finished the period with a basket and free throw that put Beebe’s advantage at 35-13 with 3:41 still left on the clock.

Chapman and Fuller played keep away from the Chickasaws defense the rest of the way while demonstrating their ball-handling skills, as Chapman also led defensively for Beebe with three steals. For Blytheville, Keandre Diamond led with eight points.

The Badgers were off on Tuesday and will return to 5A-East play at Paragould on Friday.

SPORTS >> Madden becomes go-to guy

2012-01-10T18:37:00.005-06:00

By Nate Allen

For some teams, one basketball court might not be big enough for two freshman guards used to scoring like Arkansas’ B.J. Young of St. Louis and Ky Madden of Lepanto.

Turns out, not only is the court big enough for both, but so is the bench.

Their latest off the bench venture, last Saturday night’s 98-88 SEC opening upset over No. 15 Mississippi State, former East Poinsett County star Madden, scored 11 points in 21 minutes and grabbed a team-leading six rebounds.

Young surged off the bench to tie starting junior point guard Julysses Nobles with a team-high 24 points, including 18 in the second half after Nobles sparked the first half with 15.

For his 24 points against Mississippi State and his 17-point outing Jan. 3 in the 83-66 victory over Savannah State, Young was named the SEC Freshman of the Week by the SEC Office in Birmingham, Ala.

Young doled out more thanks than an Academy Award winner.

“I was just notified about SEC Freshman of the Week,” Young said before the Razorbacks’ Monday afternoon practice. “I’m very thankful for that. I want to thank all my coaches and teammates for putting me in a good position to make plays for my team against Mississippi State. I want to thank everybody in the Arkansas fan base for helping me get here.”

Madden was thankful for his fellow freshman.

“I am very excited for him,” Madden said. “He works hard every day and it’s something he deserves.”

First-year coach Mike Anderson’s Razorbacks are 12-3 and 1-0 despite losing their best and most experienced player, junior two-year letterman Marshawn Powell, to a season-ending knee injury back in November.

Powell’s absence would have been all the more reason for any of the four touted freshmen, Young, Madden and big men Hunter Mickelson and Devonta Abron, to become spotlight hogs more than basketball Hogs, but none have.

All the rookies and all the upperclassmen have done things other than score.

“You know that’s something we have got to do,” Madden said. “Everybody can’t go out there and score. Somebody has got to go out there and play defense. Somebody has got to rebound. There are some things we have to do in order to win. And the main goal is to win.”

And for Arkansas to win, it often has meant Young scoring most and doing some other things. It’s meant Abron, 6-8, 250 banging inside and doing some other things, and Mickelson blocking shots and doing some other things, and Madden, maybe more than all, doing a little bit of everything.

His 6-5 height and skill makes him that tweener big guard/small forward who can rebound, handle the ball, defend and shoot. He maybe doesn’t do any one of these better than the rest, but none are better than him at doing all of them.

“I think guys are understanding the roles they’re going to play,” Anderson said. “Let’s say a guy like Ky Madden, a guy that’ s got to come off the bench and give us a big lift. His versatility is important for our basketball team.”

Never playing off the bench at East Poinsett County or in AAU ball for the vaunted Arkansas Wings, Madden said he’s learned to observe from the bench what’s most needed when summoned.

“That’s what Coach A has been on me to do, a little bit of everything,” Madden said. “And that would do a lot to help our team win. So that’s what I feel I need to bring into the game.”

SPORTS >> Bears lose overtime game at Lexington

2012-01-10T18:37:00.004-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Sylvan Hills got everything it wanted out of its trip to Lexington, Ky., except a victory. The Bears traveled to the town of senior Archie Goodwin’s future college home to take on the host team Lexington-Catholic in the Dunkin Donuts National Shootout.

The Bears took the 13-3 Knights to overtime on their home floor, but were outscored in the extra period 14-10 and fell 75-71 despite a 37-point performance by Goodwin.

“We certainly enjoyed it,” Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis said. “It would’ve been a lot more enjoyable if we’d have come out of there with a win. But it was a great experience.”

The Bears played a night game in the eight-team event, so they, along with Clarksville-Northeast of Clarksville, Tenn., got to take in the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game that afternoon at Rupp Arena. Clarksville-Northeast features Goodwin’s future teammate at Kentucky, Alex Poythress.

Once in Catholic’s gym, the visiting team was surprised by the reception.

“It’s not often you’re the opposing team and you get cheered when they announce you,” Davis said. That was a neat experience. They definitely wanted to see their recruit and he answered the call for sure.”

The Bears played one of their better games of the season. Davis said of Lexington-Catholic, “besides probably Southwind out of Memphis, that’s the best team we’ve played this year.”

Davis’ squad dominated the stat sheet, but couldn’t overcome an extraordinary shooting night by the Knights. Catholic hit 10 three pointers, including six by Vanderbilt signee Jack Whitman, who finished with 25 points.

“We played really hard,” Davis said. “We out-rebounded them and we had a major size disadvantage. They had a 6-foot-9 and two at 6-6, and we beat them on the boards. We forced some turnovers and shot a higher percentage than they did at the free-throw line, which is something we’ve been waiting to happen.”

The Bears hit 15 of 17 foul shots, which is what Davis was used to.

“You look at our percentages this year and you’re thinking, this is not us,” Davis said. “We’re a 75-percent team and you just know that we’re not doing something right to be shooting that poorly from the line. We’ve worked hard on it. To come in here and shoot it like that is encouraging and hopefully we’ll keep that up.”

Free throws proved the difference in overtime. After four quarters, The Bears had taken 13 foul shots while the Knights had taken seven. In just the four minute overtime, the Knights’ free-throw total had tripled to 21.

“They cheered us but we were the visiting team,” Davis said. “That was a little odd for them to suddenly start getting to the line every trip, but you expect the home team to get most of the close calls in a game like that. We had some opportunities to put it away before the overtime.”

The Bears are now 10-4 overall and 2-0 in conference play. They take one more break from in-state play to travel to Springfield, Mo., this weekend to play in the 28th annual Bass Pro Shop Tournament of Champions. The Bears begin play in that tournament at 8 p.m. Thursday against Christ the King Academy of Queens, NY.

SPORTS >> Buzzer beater sinks Panthers

2012-01-10T18:34:00.001-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

No matter what happens the rest of the season, Cabot’s home conference opener against Conway on Friday will be remembered as the one, and hopefully for Cabot the only one, that got away. The Panthers blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead and fell 45-43 to the Wampus Cats for their first loss of the season.

“We missed the little bunnies (Cabot coach Jerry Bridges’ term for layups) and we missed free throws down the stretch,” Bridges said. “We gave this one away.”

While Cabot certainly played a role in giving up a double-digit lead, it wasn’t entirely a giveaway. Conway guard Tim Boyd, who nearly single-handedly kept his team in the game, swished a double-teamed three pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining that set the final margin. It was Conway’s first lead since 10-8 at the end of the first quarter.

“It was a very good player making a great play,” Bridges said of Boyd’s shot. “That was good defense. We knew they were probably going to him and we were on him. He just made a great play. But we’ve got to do a better job of putting teams away and not letting them be in position to win it when we have them down like that.”

Cabot made just one field goal in the fourth quarter and missed three of four free-throw attempts in the final 1:50 of the game. Leading 43-39, Sam Howe made one of two at the line. Seconds later, Conway’s Garan Davis nailed a three pointer to make it a one-point game. Conway fouled Adam Rock with 53 seconds to go and he missed both free throws. Conway lost it out of bounds on its next possession and Cabot called timeout with 14.7 seconds remaining.

On the inbounds play from underneath Conway’s basket, Cabot got Jordan Brunett loose on the runout, but Brunett missed a wide-open layup and Cabot knocked the ball out of bounds going for the rebound. The clock did not start on the play, and after the officials conferred, they put 14.3 seconds on the clock for Conway, setting up Boyd’s game winner.

Cabot got one final shot, and Arthur West barely missed a 30-plus-foot three pointer at the buzzer.

“They messed up on the clock,” Bridges said. “There’s no way that play only took four-tenths of a second, but there’s no excuses for this one. Like I said, we gave it away.”

Cabot (9-1, 0-1) got eight points from Howe and Josiah Wymer. Wymer also led the team in rebounds with nine. Boyd was the only player in the game to score in double figures. He finished with 21 points, including five three pointers in eight attempts.

Cabot was bad from the free-throw line. Conway was worse. The Panthers made six of 14 attempts while the Wampus Cats hit seven of 21. The Panthers won the rebounding battle 28-21.

Conway was better from three-point land than from two-point range. The Wampus Cats hit 41 percent of their three-point attempts (7 of 17), and were below 30 percent elsewhere (8 of 27).

Cabot was 18 of 44 from the field, including one of eight from three-point range.

The Panthers were at Catholic on Tuesday and travel to North Little Rock on Friday.

SPORTS >> Lady Panthers control Conway

2012-01-10T18:32:00.002-06:00

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Conway jumped out to a quick 8-4 lead on the Cabot Lady Panthers early in Friday’s 7A Central conference matchup, but the Lady Wampus Cats couldn’t handle Cabot’s early pressure and couldn’t contain their outside shooting as the Lady Panthers won 70-58 at Panther Arena.

With senior post player and leading scorer Melissa Wolff on the bench early with foul trouble, Cabot’s guards picked up the slack. Cabot forced eight Conway turnovers in the first quarter, including three steals by point guard Jaylin Bridges. Bridges also hit two three-pointers while guard Micah Odom came off the bench to nail another one as the Lady Panthers finished the first quarter with a 13-2 run and took a 17-10 lead into the second frame.

“We’ve had players step up all year when we’ve needed them to,” Cabot coach Carla Crowder said. “I thought we played really good defense and played pretty well overall tonight.”

Conway’s Claire Hobbs led the early assault that gave her squad the brief lead. She got back-to-back steals and layups and added a three pointer for a 7-0 streak on her own. McCall Wilkins scored the Lady Wampus Cats other three points in the quarter, but from that point, it was Enjonae Chambers that kept Conway in the game.

Chambers led a brief rally in the second quarter that gave the Wampus Cats a 26-24 lead with barely more than two minutes left in the half, but Cabot closed the half with another run and was in control the rest of the way.

Cabot got 10 of its 17 second-quarter points from the bench. Maddie Smith and Alexandra VanEnk contributed three pointers while Sarah Fowler and Smith added a basket apiece to the run. Elliot Taylor scored five, including an and-one play that gave Cabot back the lead for good at 29-26 with 1:50 left in the half.

VanEnk’s three pointer closed a 12-0 Cabot run at 36-26 with a minute left. Conway’s Madison Foster hit two free throws to make it 36-28 at halftime.

The pace dipped slightly in the third quarter, but three pointers from both teams kept it exciting. Bridges ripped off three more from behind the arc as Cabot’s lead grew to 49-36 by quarter’s end.

The Lady Panthers’ lead peaked at 55-39 with 5:02 remaining and Cabot threatened to run away with the win, but Chambers and Hobbs rallied again to keep the score respectable.

Bridges led Cabot (13-4, 1-0) with 17 points and seven steals and also had five rebounds. Wolff got back into the flow in the fourth quarter to finish with 13. She scored nine of those in the final frame. Taylor was a free throw away from a double-double. She finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Conway got all of its point production from the starting five, and all but 10 from Chambers, Hobbs and Foster. Chambers had a game-high 24 points while Hobbs scored 13 and Foster 11.

Cabot played at Mount St. Mary’s last night and go on the road again on Friday to face North Little Rock.

TOP STORY >> Skating rink owner faces felony charges

2012-01-09T10:07:00.001-06:00

By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer

Skateworld in Jacksonville will try to salvage its reputation after its owner was arrested last weekend for the second-degree assault of a 5-year-old girl.

Robert Allen Borders, 47, of Lonoke, who owns the business but not the property, was arrested at 9:05 p.m. Dec. 30 after police responded to a report of an incident at Skateworld, 521 J.P. Wright Loop Road.

Borders did not respond to a phone call from The Leader.

The business has a new sign promoting its new management. Borders’ 22-year-old son, Robert “Bob” Borders, is now in charge. The son said he did not want to talk about the incident or about taking over the business.

According to the police report, the victim told officers, “Robert tried to get me to go to the bathroom with him. He rubbed my butt and touched my neck. I climbed under the table when he touched my neck.”

One of several witnesses said, “He was standing by the bathroom trying to get her to go with him. When she said no, he shook his head yes,” according to the report.

Another witness said he saw Borders touch the girl, and he moved her away from him.

Borders said the night of his arrest that he didn’t know why the police were at the business. When police asked if he had been alone with any small children within the past hour, he told them he had been with a black girl inside the DJ booth, which is not fully enclosed. When asked if it was secluded from the rest of the rink, Borders said, “There were people around.”

Borders was released at 1 p.m. Dec. 31 on a $5,000 bond. The rink still held its annual New Year’s Eve lock-in from 6 p.m. that day to 7 a.m. Jan. 1. Admission to the lock-in was $20 and that included drinks and pizza.

If he is convicted of the felony charge, Borders could be sentenced to 5 to 20 years in prison, unless he receives a plea bargain.

According to the Jacksonville District Court, the Pulaski County District Court and the Pulaski County Circuit Court, Borders has not been on trial for any offenses other than traffic violations since 1993. Capt. Kenny Boyd of the Jacksonville Police Department said they have heard similar complaints about Borders, but he could not comment on whether he had been arrested before on similar charges.

Whether he is convicted or not, the business has been suffering financially, and the incident has not helped its image.

Fights have been a common occurrence at the hangout.

Robert Vogel of Vogel Enterprises in Little Rock, the owner of the property rented to run Skateworld, is out of town for the next four weeks, according to his office.
Borders will be in district court at the Jacksonville police station at 9 a.m Thursday.

Boyd added that police would like any other possible victims or witnesses to come forward.

“It tends to be a pattern. Most cases, the first time they’re caught is not the first time it’s occurred,” he said.

Reactions to the accusations against Borders are mixed.

“I know a different side of Mr. Borders. The man I met wouldn't harm a child in any way, form or fashion. You know that creepy feeling you get around creeps? I never felt that way around him, ever. I have been going to that rink since he has owned it, and I have had nothing but good things to say about the way things were done. I was shocked when I heard of his arrest. Flabbergasted,” said a frequent customer.

“I can't for sure tell you that he is innocent, but I can share the fact that every time that I was in there we found some way to talk about God or church or how drinking and smoking was bad. I have never even heard this man cuss now that I think about it. I have heard that he has been accused of this before and that the person that called the complaint this time was the same as the last. Personal vendetta?” she continued.

Others say that the accusation doesn’t surprise them.

Another frequent Skateworld customer said, “Anytime I have ever been around him I would watch him when he was around kids because I saw how he looked at them, and the way he would touch them was very inappropriate.”

The customer said, when asked what she would like to see happen with the business, “I would like it if he had nothing to do with it. New owners definitely!”

TOP STORY >> Middle school welcomes Crawford

2012-01-09T10:01:00.001-06:00

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

First District Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) toured Cabot Middle School North on Wednesday with state Sen. Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot).

They discussed plans to hold roundtable discussions with school districts on ways to help struggling schools in the congressional district.

Crawford said there is dissatisfaction with the No Child Left Behind Act, which is having an opposite effect of what it was supposed to do. Later this year legislators will be voting on re-authorization of the education bill.

The proposed meetings with school district administrators will be held at six to eight locations, including one in Cabot. Crawford said the discussions will allow for sharing ideas, voluntarily paring up schools that are achieving with struggling schools.

Last year Cabot Middle School North was re-designated as a Diamond School to Watch, a 19-state program developed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform.

As part of the Diamond School distinction, CMSN administrators were invited to Washington, visit Congress and tour the Capitol. While there, they invited Crawford to visit Cabot Middle School North.

The middle school was also honored last year with the Shannon Wright Award for the “Outstanding Middle Level Program in Arkansas.”

The award is presented to one middle school in the state each year during the Arkansas Association of Middle Level Educators Conference.

“The school is beautiful and state-of-the-art. What sticks in my mind the most is the enthusiasm of the students,” Crawford said.

The congressman said he noticed most of the children raised their hands when the teachers asked them questions.

Crawford said the classroom environments were soothing, not over-stimulating and did not let students’ attention wander.

CMSN Principal Tanya Spillane remarked that Crawford’s visit was very nice. She said the congressman appeared relaxed and comfortable while visiting the classrooms and meeting the students.

Spillane said Crawford displayed his human side when he played Nintendo Wii Tennis with the youngsters.

She said she was impressed on how Crawford listened to the students, making them view him as more approachable.

“I’m impressed with his concern with AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) status for our building. He seemed aware of the challenges we’re facing with the No Child Left Behind requirements,” Spillane said.

Superintendent Tony Thur-man said, “Congressman Craw-ford understands that there are concerns with the current accountability system and how schools are being labeled as “needing improvement” based on unreasonable criteria.

“Congressman Crawford has always been willing to listen when I've contacted him about concerns about education policy at the federal level and how it is impacting our local schools.

“We are appreciative that he took time from his busy schedule to visit with teachers and administrators and his willingness to consider options that we believe still provide the necessary accountability for every school in our state and nation,” Thurman said.

“I’m excited about the plan for roundtable discussions. It is a great honor for our building and the district,” Spillane added.

“Of all the schools in his district, (the congressman) chose us. It is an honor,” Assistant Principal Adam Koehler said.

TOP STORY >> LRAFB backs up traffic

2012-01-09T09:58:00.001-06:00

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

It wasn’t the billboard moratorium that took up most of the Jacksonville City Council’s time Thursday night. It was all the complaints the council and city received Wednesday morning when the air base initiated a new security-check system and had traffic blocked, stopped and parked from the front gate, down Vandenberg Boulevard, up the frontage road, back up Toneyville Road and Hwy. 67/167 almost to Cabot.

Delays for the same reason at the back gate had Hwy. 107 blocked north and south for most of the morning.
“
I live just a mile from work,” lamented Alderman Aaron Robinson, “and it took me an hour to get to work that morning.”

Mayor Gary Fletcher said the first complaint call came from his brother, who was stuck in the middle, and the mayor was inundated with calls once he got to the office.

He said the city’s director of administration, Jim Durham, took pictures of the stack up. “I wish we had a helicopter available to get a good aerial view of the backup,” the mayor said.

He plans to use the pictures and list of complaints when he meets with the Highway Department soon in his efforts to get an interchange at the nearby Coffelt Crossing.

“Even if we had just the exits and entrance ramps a lot of people would have been able to get on Hwy. 67/167 and bypass the base delays,” the mayor said.

Robinson asked for more communication and coordination and asked why more police weren’t out there. He was told they were there, but the traffic backed up so quickly and so densely that there wasn’t much they could do.

Col. Mike Minihan, 19th Airlift Wing commander, apologized to the mayor for the problems and modified the implementation of the system. The colonel also put a letter on the air base’s Facebook page.

“On Wednesday,” the colonel wrote, “we implemented a mandatory new security measure for entry onto the base. Despite our best efforts to make this as painless as possible, enormous delays occurred…please accept my apologies.”

He went on to write, “Please know my team has the best interests of the base and the community in mind. The last thing we want to do is cause delays. My priorities are to ensure the mission and security of the base, ensure the safety of those traveling onto and around the base, be a good neighbor to our community and expedite travel onto the base without compromising security.”

The mayor said he had a telephone conference call Friday afternoon with Police Chief Gary Sipes and base officials. “I believe all the kinks have been worked out, and there might be some minor delays and backups, but the worst is over,” Fletcher said.

Minihan, the mayor said, will be writing a letter for the mayor to take to the Highway Department explaining the backup issues and pushing for the Coffelt Crossing or other help.

TOP STORY >> Air base gets set for new commander

2012-01-09T09:55:00.002-06:00

Col. Brian (Smokey) Robinson will soon assume command of the 19th Airlift Wing from Col. Mike Minihan at Little Rock Air Force Base.

Robinson is executive officer to Gen. Raymond Johns Jr., commander of Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, Ill.

Minihan, who has been commander here since August 2010, will assume command of the 89th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Andrews, Md., whose responsibilities include Air Force One and other planes assigned to top officials.

Minihan’s new assignment will include worldwide special airlift missions, logistics and communications support for the president, vice president, cabinet members, combat commanders and other senior military and elected leaders.

Robinson was previously assigned to the Pentagon and was vice commander at the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston, S.C.

He graduated from Philadelphia University in 1987 with a bachelor’s of science degree in computer science and re- received his commission from Air Force Officer Training School in December 1987 at Lackland AFB, Texas.

His career as a pilot began in 1989 after earning his Air Force pilot wings at Vance AFB, Okla., followed by a position as a T-38B instructor pilot.

At LRAFB, Minihan leads the world’s largest fleet of C-130 aircraft and is responsible for providing worldwide deployable C-130 aircraft, aircrews, support personnel and equipment for Air Mobility Command and Air Expeditionary Force missions.

He ensures support for combat, contingency and humanitarian requirements with 12,000 personnel and families at LRAFB.

Minihan entered the Air Force in June 1989 after receiving his commission through the ROTC program at Auburn University. He completed undergraduate pilot training in 1991 and served as an aircraft commander, instructor pilot and evaluator pilot in the C-130 Hercules.

Minihan commanded an airlift squadron and four deployed expeditionary airlift squadrons. Most recently, Minihan served as vice commander, 60th Air Mobility Wing, Travis AFB, Calif.
Minihan is a command pilot with more than 3,200 flying hours in the C-130 and KC-10.

EDITORIAL >> Tamales for a new year

2012-01-09T09:49:00.000-06:00

Like most American adults, my New Year’s resolution will be to eat lighter and move more. But as I have for years, I don’t make that resolution for about two weeks, which is about how long the New Year’s tamales last.

Josh, my youngest son, gave me a galvanized tamale pot for Christmas about 10 years ago. Inside was a sack of masa, a package of corn shucks and a bag of large, dried peppers. Apparently, he wanted tamales and I was the one who would make them for him whether I had any idea how to do it or not.

Lucky for me, the recipe was on the sack of masa. So on New Year’s Day, I made tamales for the first time. I’d always heard they were time consuming and a lot of work. But as it turned out, they were only multi-stepped.

Boil the meat until it’s falling off the bone; mix the masa with lard, baking powder and salt and meat broth according to the recipe on the bag; take the seeds out of the peppers; fry them in hot oil and blend them with meat broth into a sauce; shred the meat; mix with the pepper; spread the masa dough on corn shucks that have been soaked to make them pliable; put dollops of meat on top of the dough; roll them up; place the tamales in the pot and steam them for about two hours until the dough is set.

Josh helped me the first few years. My kitchen was small and there was barely room for the two of us. But I looked forward to the time with him.

After a couple of years, we added other dishes – salsa, guacamole, rice, refried beans, white cheese dip with chips, enchiladas… Our menu can’t compete with the local Mexican restaurant, but it’s pretty adventurous for a family of Delta transplants who are much more accustomed to the traditional New Year’s fare of black-eyed peas and hog jowl.

In 2010, we made tamales in the new kitchen that is three times larger than the original because we knocked out walls and took in two more rooms. And for the first time, there was room for everyone to help make the tamales.

My niece Jenny Holmes and her husband, Jeremy, helped roll, while Josh and my oldest son Jim alternated between rolling and trying to perfect dipping sauces made from the leftover peppers. My son Jason breezed in and out, helping a little, making suggestions and, as always, looking good. Those who love him say Jason’s motto is, “It’s not how good you do it, but how good you look doing it.”

They talked about their jobs, movies I had never heard of and childhood adventures that I had been blessedly unaware of until then.

When we were done, we had filled the galvanized pot and the new larger aluminum pot that was a gift from my husband.

We had tamales to eat, give away and freeze. And they were good. But it should be obvious if you’ve stayed with me this long; it’s really not the tamales I like as much as making them with the 30-year-old-plus adults that I still call the kids.

New Year’s Day 2011 was a little different. My mother-in-law died on Christmas Day and was buried on New Year’s Eve. But tradition is called tradition because you keep it up. So on New Year’s Day, we rolled tamales with the help of relatives from Pennsylvania, down for the funeral.

For us, 2010 was a hard year from beginning to end. There was a cancer scare with my husband, the death of my daughter-in-law’s dad from cancer and Rosemary McCoy, my favorite sister-in-law, had surgery for a brain tumor on her 58th birthday just days before Christmas.

The Pennsylvania relatives seemed to really enjoy helping out with the tamales but for most of us, there was a sense of carrying on because it needed to be done.

In our family, 2011 rivaled 2010 in difficulty. My mother and Rosemary’s dad died, and our oldest children divorced.

But on New Year’s Day, Rosemary was standing at my kitchen island wearing a hat to keep her regrown hair out of the masa. And my son’s half-Mexican girlfriend, who speaks little Spanish and cooks no Mexican, was trying to make tamales for the first time.

As usual, many hands produced tamales of varying sizes while Josh chopped meat, chicken and shrimp for tacos. Jim worked on fajitas and Jason looked good while making his fruit salsa.

It felt right. It looks like 2012 might be the good year we all hope it will be.

—Joan McCoy

SPORTS >> Pressure lifts Cabot to win

2012-01-09T09:40:00.001-06:00

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Pressure and patience were the key ingredients in Cabot’s 52-32 victory over Greene County Tech at Panther Arena on Tuesday.

The Panthers (9-0) finished their non conference schedule with a perfect record and made a statement to 7A-Central competitors with a stout defensive performance that kept the visiting Golden Eagles on the run to try and avoid the pressure. Offensively, Cabot worked the ball thoroughly and waited for the perfect shot, resulting in good scoring nights for several Panther players, including senior guard Sam Howe, who had game-leading 13 points.

“I thought in the second half, we played much better,” Panthers coach Jerry Bridges said. “That’s why we put this game here with our break like it was to try and get this one before we start off for real Friday. To be 9-0, I don’t know who we’ve played, but they work hard for us every day.”

Tech kept things close in the first half with a series of well-timed three-point baskets, but when the outside dried up for the Eagles in the second half, the hard-nosed play of scrappy senior guard Andrew Ferguson was all they seemed to have left for Cabot. Ferguson led the Eagles with 12 points.

Cabot held the ball nearly two minutes on some possessions in the second half, which opened up lanes inside for dumps into the post. Sophomore Josiah Wymer was the biggest beneficiary for the Panthers, scoring eight of his 10 points in the second half.

“One thing we do well is executing our high-low,” Bridges said. “First half, I thought we did a poor job of hitting our big men on the block. They were open, and we weren’t getting it to them. I looked up there in the second half. We were up 20, and I didn’t know where it came from.”

Arthur West added 10 points for Cabot, though two of those points were disputed most of the first half. West stole the ball from Tony Valdez in the closing seconds of the first quarter and made his way to the basket for a lay-in at the buzzer. One official called for the basket and a foul while another referee waved off the shot.

That was the start of a five-minute debate at the scorers table, which resulted in the basket not being counted to leave the score at 6-4. The basket was eventually counted, however, as the halftime margin of 17-14 mysteriously went to 19-14 just before the start of the third quarter.

Wymer’s only first-half points came with 2:04 remaining until the break with an assist from West to give the Panthers a 15-9 lead. He scored again inside at the 2:39 mark of the third quarter to make it 32-20 in favor of Cabot. He then scored on a put back following a missed free throw by Clayton Vaught for a 35-21 Cabot lead.

“We keep telling him, ‘Josiah, if you catch the ball down on the block, make them stop you,’” Bridges said. “As big as he is, when he gets that momentum going one direction, you can’t stop the kid, but man, he’s a good lift for us. We feel like we’ve got 10 guys that we can play.”
Ferguson never quit battling for Tech, though sometimes it appeared as if he was in the fight alone.

He converted a basket and free throw with 4:24 left to play in the first half to cut Cabot’s lead to 28-20, only to watch as the Panthers picked up a turnover and scored on a lay up by Howe to begin a 7-1 run that put Cabot at a comfortable 35-23 margin heading into the final period.
Junior guard Kyle Thielemier showed little signs of rust in his first game back from injury as he added eight points for the Panthers.

“I don’t know; we didn’t expect this – they work hard,” Bridges said of his team’s early success. “There’s a lot of basketball left, but I never thought we would be 9-0 now. They’re very unselfish. I think we’ve had four or five different leading scorers in every game.

What I like about tonight’s win is, we can shoot the ball a lot better than what we did tonight.”
The Panthers began league play at home against Conway last night after Leader deadlines. Look for details of that game in Wednesday’s Leader.

SPORTS >> Red Devils roughed up by Warrirors

2012-01-09T09:34:00.001-06:00

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader Sportswriter

The Jacksonville Red Devils went into Thursday night’s game against the two-time defending state champion Little Rock Hall Warriors knowing they had to be the aggressor.

Unfortunately for the Red Devils, the Warriors were the more aggressive team from the start, and despite a late Jacksonville run in the third quarter, Hall managed to get the 65-52 win at Little Rock to win the 7A/6A East conference opener.

The Warriors’ basketball program has been beyond stellar over the past four years, winning three of the last four state championships in its class. The year they didn’t win state, they finished as the state’s runner-up in 2009, losing that championship game to Jacksonville.

Hall won the 6A state title the next year, and even though the Warriors moved up a class in 2011 and finished third in conference behind 6A Parkview and Jacksonville, they finished the season by winning the 7A state title.

Regardless of the Warriors’ elite reputation, Jacksonville coach Victor Joyner believes his team is on the same level and should’ve and could’ve played a lot better.

“They just came out and seemed to be more battle tested than we were,” Joyner said about the Warriors. “We didn’t come off of our screens tight. They pushed us away from screens. They were more aggressive than us early. It was obvious because of the point output.”

The Warriors out-rebounded the Red Devils 21-11 and had 12 steals to Jacksonville’s five. Hall was the dominant team early, scoring the first four points of the game with wide-open dunks that were the result of Jacksonville turnovers.

Hall was suddenly up 10-2 early in the first quarter, but Jacksonville regrouped and started to play defense. The Warriors only other point in the quarter came from the free-throw line, but the Red Devils could only manage four more points in the quarter, and Hall led 11-6 at the end of the first.

Hall dominated the second quarter, out-scoring Jacksonville 26-13 to take a 37-19 lead at the half.

“They were just more aggressive. We played timid, at least it looked like that to me,” Joyner said. “I wouldn’t say we were shell shocked, I just believe they were way more aggressive than our kids were.

“Even when we would drive to the bucket with open shots, they would come up and block it, because we weren’t attacking the bucket with any ferocity. We just weren’t aggressive.”

Jacksonville played with more aggression in the third quarter, and went on a 15-6 run to begin the quarter, cutting the Warriors’ to lead to single digits with 2:48 left in the third.

Hall out-scored Jacksonville 6-5 in the final minutes of the quarter to lead 49-39 going into the fourth. In the final quarter, Hall out-scored Jacksonville 16-13 to set the final margin.
Joyner was very disappointed with the team’s effort.

“Since I’ve been at Jacksonville, I’ve never had a team come out and be that passive, ever,” Joyner said. “Hall was just more physical and aggressive than our kids. That’s just the bottom line.”

Hall finished the night leading every statistical category, including free throw percentage. Hall shot 76 percent from the line as opposed to Jacksonville’s 61 percent. Both teams had more than 20 free throw attempts.

Jacksonville junior point guard Justin McCleary led the Red Devils with a game-high 17 points. 13 of those points came in the second half. Senior post player Tirrell Brown finished with 11 points and three blocks.

Senior guard Quan Jones and junior post player Bobby Portis led the Warriors with 15 points.
Jacksonville (10-3, 0-1) will try and earn its first conference win Tuesday, when the Red Devils face another aggressive and physical opponent in Little Rock Parkview.