IN SHORT: Cabot football team began practice Monday with a few players in new positions and several new faces working with the varsity squad.
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers got right to business Monday morning, the first day of two-a-days football practice for the 2005 high school season. The Panthers had a good total of about 80 kids participating in the first day of summer practice.
Cabot’s first official practice took place with several question marks concerning personnel, but the coaching staff took steps right away to answer those questions.
With the almost the entire starting offensive backfield from last year gone, the Panthers went right to work looking at quarterbacks and running backs. In spring practice, all of the potential backs were on the small side, so Clayton Goshien, 5-feet, 11 inches, 210 pounds, was moved from the offensive line to the fullback position. It was just one of several potential moves the coaching staff is making to try and shore up the holes.
“We’re just experimenting right now and trying to see what will work out,” Cabot head coach Mike Malham said. “We won’t know for sure until we put the pads on, but we’re trying a lot of different things right now.”
Goshien’s move to fullback doesn’t come without its consequences. What was thought to be an experienced offensive line returning this year, now only has three starters back.
Goshien’s move to the backfield coincides with another starter quitting before two-a-days began.
“Now we’re down to (Jason) Aist, Colton Roberts and Joe Schotts coming back on the line,
we didn’t think we were going to have,” Malham said.
The good news is that there are players available to fill those spots that Malham says have potential.
“We’ve got the Trammel kid who has some size and he’s a pretty good athlete; we hope to be able to get him on the field and play that guard spot,” Malham said. “We’ve also got Scott Bayes, who’s 277 pounds, he’s really improved.
“He didn’t play a lot last year because he was so slow, but he’s worked hard and showed a lot of improvement. He’s not there yet, but he wants to play and he’s working hard. He could jump in there at tackle.
“If we can solidify that spot I think we stand a chance to still have a pretty good offensive line.”
Corey Wade figures to be the starting quarterback this season. John Flynn started several games last year in place of in-jured Ryan Cotroneo. He also started at cornerback, and will begin the season focusing on defense.
“We’re still working him at quarterback,” Malham said. “He’s there if we need him, but Wade is the one we’re looking at starting right now. He’s a little stronger throwing the ball when we need to throw it.”
The defense is very inexperienced, with as many as four sophomores figuring into the mix.
Richard Williams stepped up as a fullback prospect in the spring, but will start practice working at defensive back with Goshien’s move.
“He probably runs as good as anyone on our team, so moving him to defense will help us with some speed on that side,” Malham said. “We’re very, very inexperienced pretty much everywhere. We’ve got three down lineman back, so we should be alright there, but we’re green everywhere else. We’re going to make a lot of mistakes, but if they work hard, they’ll get those corrected.” So far, Malham says the work ethic has been good.
“They’ve looked good the first two days. They’re paying attention and responding pretty well. We’ll see for sure how hard they want to work when we put the pads on. We can’t really answer any of this until we get after it.”
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
SPORTS>> Devils introduced to all-new system
IN SHORT: New Jacksonville head coach Mark Whatley used the first day of two-a-day football practice to introduce new drills and routine to his players.
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The high-school football season officially got underway Tuesday. The Jacksonville Red Devils got their first official two-a-day workout under new coach Mark Whatley in the books. The focus for the first practice was a lot of teaching, but little actual football.
“There was just lots of organizational work going on,” Whatley said of the morning session, which began at 8 a.m. “We met early and laid the foundation of what we expect from them and what they can expect from us. We introduced our drills and worked a little on conditioning and that was about the sum of it.”
Whatley summed up the details of the meeting on expectations with few words.
“Like I said, it was about what we expect from them and what they can expect from us, and it basically boiled down to all you got,” Whatley said. “We want everything they’ve got all the time, and in turn that’s what they can expect to see from us. That’s the only way you can go in this sport.”
After taking the practice field, he showed the team the drills he would be running. Some were already familiar to the players and some weren’t, but he felt good about what the staff got in on Monday.
“We ran some excitement drills and pursuit drills, but mostly we just wanted to show them the drills so they’ll know them,” Whatley said. “We don’t want to spend a whole lot of time from here on out explaining what we’re talking about. We want to yell out the name they go to it. I think they picked it up pretty good. I hope they did, we’ll see.”
The evening session, which began at 6 p.m., consisted of a little more teaching of football and the system the Red Devils will be running under Whatley.
The skill position players ran 7-on-7 drills while the linemen practiced and lifted weights inside the field house.
The new head coach said it would be that way consistently the first three days.
On Thursday, the first day of pads, the Red Devils will get down to serious business.
“That’s how we’re going about this,” Whatley said. “The mornings will be drills and conditioning, and the nights will be a lot more football. We’re going to come back here and throw it a little bit. We didn’t get a whole lot of either done the first day, but we’re looking forward to getting back to it.”
Only 55 players were on hand the first day, but Whatley expects several more.
“We had 55, but we have a few out of pocket. We have a couple of key guys that we know where they are and why they’re not here, and we have a few that still have to get physicals.”
Assistant coach Jerry Wilson said he expects around 70 once everyone arrives.
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The high-school football season officially got underway Tuesday. The Jacksonville Red Devils got their first official two-a-day workout under new coach Mark Whatley in the books. The focus for the first practice was a lot of teaching, but little actual football.
“There was just lots of organizational work going on,” Whatley said of the morning session, which began at 8 a.m. “We met early and laid the foundation of what we expect from them and what they can expect from us. We introduced our drills and worked a little on conditioning and that was about the sum of it.”
Whatley summed up the details of the meeting on expectations with few words.
“Like I said, it was about what we expect from them and what they can expect from us, and it basically boiled down to all you got,” Whatley said. “We want everything they’ve got all the time, and in turn that’s what they can expect to see from us. That’s the only way you can go in this sport.”
After taking the practice field, he showed the team the drills he would be running. Some were already familiar to the players and some weren’t, but he felt good about what the staff got in on Monday.
“We ran some excitement drills and pursuit drills, but mostly we just wanted to show them the drills so they’ll know them,” Whatley said. “We don’t want to spend a whole lot of time from here on out explaining what we’re talking about. We want to yell out the name they go to it. I think they picked it up pretty good. I hope they did, we’ll see.”
The evening session, which began at 6 p.m., consisted of a little more teaching of football and the system the Red Devils will be running under Whatley.
The skill position players ran 7-on-7 drills while the linemen practiced and lifted weights inside the field house.
The new head coach said it would be that way consistently the first three days.
On Thursday, the first day of pads, the Red Devils will get down to serious business.
“That’s how we’re going about this,” Whatley said. “The mornings will be drills and conditioning, and the nights will be a lot more football. We’re going to come back here and throw it a little bit. We didn’t get a whole lot of either done the first day, but we’re looking forward to getting back to it.”
Only 55 players were on hand the first day, but Whatley expects several more.
“We had 55, but we have a few out of pocket. We have a couple of key guys that we know where they are and why they’re not here, and we have a few that still have to get physicals.”
Assistant coach Jerry Wilson said he expects around 70 once everyone arrives.
NEIGHBORS>> Preserving Lonoke's history
IN SHORT: After seven years, museum finds a permanent home.
By John Hofheimer
Leader staff writer
When Dorothy Jackson Deats and eight other family members piled all over each other into a one-seat Chevy in Lonoke in the 1950s and lit out for Oklahoma, members of this share-cropping family thought they had it made, she told Sherryl Miller, executive director of the Lonoke County Museum Board.
Her father had gotten a job at Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla., making $150 a month.
“We thought we were bad rich,” she remembered.
Deats, visiting relatives, huddled with Linda Acrey and Miller in Miller’s Lonoke Library office sharing history and patching holes in her geneology.
A year from now, this meeting might have taken place two blocks away in the old Scott Chevrolet building, which the museum board hopes to renovate in stages until they have a permanent facility for the many papers and artifacts that have been assembled.
After more than a year of frustrating negotiations with the Lonoke City Council, which always sounded supportive but never quite got around to making the museum board the asked-for, long-term lease for land upon which to construct a museum, unnamed benefactors came to the rescue this spring.
The building has been renovated many times, but it will be a great asset to our community and the county of Lonoke, Miller said.
She said an architect is assessing the needed fixes and changes. Miller, who refused to name the people who donated the property, said that soon, after years of looking and waiting, the museum would finally have a permanent home.
She said it was the perfect example of the difference that one big-hearted family can make to a community.
Miller said the only stipulation to the gift was that it be used as a museum.
Deats, the visitor from Oklahoma, said she was excited and hoped to find some way to help with the big task ahead—converting an old, historic home and auto dealership into the 9,000 sq. foot museum it can be.
The building sits on lots on Hwy. 70 in downtown Lonoke, across the road from the old railroad right-of-way the board had once hoped to lease from the city.
The museum board is busy writing grants to fix the building’s roof and began making the other needed repairs and upgrades necessary to house its collection in a watertight, temperature controlled home with modern lighting, wiring and plumbing.
“We need $30,000 for the roof,” said Miller.
“We might can get a 50-50 grant through central Arkansas Planning and Development,” she said.
After the first of the year we can apply for Arkansas Humanities and other grants.”
Deats was a child when she Arkansas. As the three women pored over books and documents, helping her fill out her history, Acrey said.
“This is the kind of thing Sherryl does. Her good deeds are the stars in her crown,” she added.
Miller is employed 10 hours a week at the Lonoke library and often works 30 or 40 additional hours a week, helping with historical projects.
In the renovated museum, Miller will have an office adjoining the room designated for the geneology materials. The kitchen will be torn out, leaving about three rooms plus the very large attached building behind it.
“We need committed souls,” said Acrey. “We need someone who’s on fire for the museum. Sherryl eats and sleeps museum,” she added.
Miller said the museum is in need of sports memorabilia, local Indian artifacts and artifacts of pioneer life, the Civil War, local politicians, Eberts Air Field, the world wars, old businesses, old county maps and old family pictures.
Miller can be reached at (501) 676-6635.
By John Hofheimer
Leader staff writer
When Dorothy Jackson Deats and eight other family members piled all over each other into a one-seat Chevy in Lonoke in the 1950s and lit out for Oklahoma, members of this share-cropping family thought they had it made, she told Sherryl Miller, executive director of the Lonoke County Museum Board.
Her father had gotten a job at Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla., making $150 a month.
“We thought we were bad rich,” she remembered.
Deats, visiting relatives, huddled with Linda Acrey and Miller in Miller’s Lonoke Library office sharing history and patching holes in her geneology.
A year from now, this meeting might have taken place two blocks away in the old Scott Chevrolet building, which the museum board hopes to renovate in stages until they have a permanent facility for the many papers and artifacts that have been assembled.
After more than a year of frustrating negotiations with the Lonoke City Council, which always sounded supportive but never quite got around to making the museum board the asked-for, long-term lease for land upon which to construct a museum, unnamed benefactors came to the rescue this spring.
The building has been renovated many times, but it will be a great asset to our community and the county of Lonoke, Miller said.
She said an architect is assessing the needed fixes and changes. Miller, who refused to name the people who donated the property, said that soon, after years of looking and waiting, the museum would finally have a permanent home.
She said it was the perfect example of the difference that one big-hearted family can make to a community.
Miller said the only stipulation to the gift was that it be used as a museum.
Deats, the visitor from Oklahoma, said she was excited and hoped to find some way to help with the big task ahead—converting an old, historic home and auto dealership into the 9,000 sq. foot museum it can be.
The building sits on lots on Hwy. 70 in downtown Lonoke, across the road from the old railroad right-of-way the board had once hoped to lease from the city.
The museum board is busy writing grants to fix the building’s roof and began making the other needed repairs and upgrades necessary to house its collection in a watertight, temperature controlled home with modern lighting, wiring and plumbing.
“We need $30,000 for the roof,” said Miller.
“We might can get a 50-50 grant through central Arkansas Planning and Development,” she said.
After the first of the year we can apply for Arkansas Humanities and other grants.”
Deats was a child when she Arkansas. As the three women pored over books and documents, helping her fill out her history, Acrey said.
“This is the kind of thing Sherryl does. Her good deeds are the stars in her crown,” she added.
Miller is employed 10 hours a week at the Lonoke library and often works 30 or 40 additional hours a week, helping with historical projects.
In the renovated museum, Miller will have an office adjoining the room designated for the geneology materials. The kitchen will be torn out, leaving about three rooms plus the very large attached building behind it.
“We need committed souls,” said Acrey. “We need someone who’s on fire for the museum. Sherryl eats and sleeps museum,” she added.
Miller said the museum is in need of sports memorabilia, local Indian artifacts and artifacts of pioneer life, the Civil War, local politicians, Eberts Air Field, the world wars, old businesses, old county maps and old family pictures.
Miller can be reached at (501) 676-6635.
EDITORIAL>> Another giveaway
Congress last week finally passed an energy bill that has been four years in gestation, and there seemed to be general relief and celebration that the government finally did something about the nation’s energy problems. Gasoline prices that exceeded $2.50 a gallon in some places drove both houses finally to action.
We can restrain our joy. Congress in the end took out the worst features of the Bush administration’s bill — opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and liability protection for gasoline additive companies — but the massive bill that passed will do nothing to lower fuel prices, now or ever. Even President Bush acknowledges as much. The bill is a Christmas tree of tax breaks and subsidies for scores of energy companies, which finally put aside their competition to lobby for its passage.
Absent from the bill were any of the measures that might have produced for the nation a more abundant energy supply. Raising the corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) standards, which have been static for more than a decade, would dramatically reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil supplies.
The CAFE standards instituted in the Carter administration did just that, but the big oil companies and carmakers scotched the movement once Republicans took control of both houses of Congress in 1995.
We and our grandchildren will pay an awful price for the dereliction. The people of almost no state will pay a bigger price than Arkansas, where the average number of miles driven per person is about the highest in the United States. Nothing in the bill will benefit Arkansas except a provision directing the cleanup of the old nuclear site in Washington County once operated by the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR).
It is not enough.
We can restrain our joy. Congress in the end took out the worst features of the Bush administration’s bill — opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and liability protection for gasoline additive companies — but the massive bill that passed will do nothing to lower fuel prices, now or ever. Even President Bush acknowledges as much. The bill is a Christmas tree of tax breaks and subsidies for scores of energy companies, which finally put aside their competition to lobby for its passage.
Absent from the bill were any of the measures that might have produced for the nation a more abundant energy supply. Raising the corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) standards, which have been static for more than a decade, would dramatically reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil supplies.
The CAFE standards instituted in the Carter administration did just that, but the big oil companies and carmakers scotched the movement once Republicans took control of both houses of Congress in 1995.
We and our grandchildren will pay an awful price for the dereliction. The people of almost no state will pay a bigger price than Arkansas, where the average number of miles driven per person is about the highest in the United States. Nothing in the bill will benefit Arkansas except a provision directing the cleanup of the old nuclear site in Washington County once operated by the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR).
It is not enough.
OBITUARIES
Tamara Waddell
Tamara Diane Waddell, 34, of Cabot, passed away July 31. She was born Dec. 27, 1970, in Long Beach, Calif., to Carl and Diana Allen. Tamara was employed with Mitchell, Williams Law Firm in Little Rock.
She is survived by her parents, husband, Shawn Waddell of Cabot; two children, Landon Waddell and Carrington Rose, both of Cabot; one sister, Kristy Christensen; brother-in-law, John Christensen; sister-in-law, Jennifer Sanders; grandmother, Wanda Sears; uncles and aunts, Dean and Kay Nakken, Milton H. and Margie Edwards, Chuck Edwards, Larry and Marcia Wofford; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Wally and Bobbie Waddell; nieces, Kylee and husband Aaron Henry, Brook Christensen, Courtnie Christensen; cousins, Jason and Juston Nakken, Jeff Edwards, Jody Edwards and Mendi Cook, Mark Wofford and Joy Wofford; great-nephew, Blane Henry; great-niece, Breelyn Christensen.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Cabot Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m., Thursday at Country Chapel in Sylvania with Rev. Steve Zumalt officiating.
Burial will follow at Old Austin Cemetery in Ward. Arrangements are by Cabot Funeral Home.
Girtha Taylor
Girtha Deloris Taylor passed away July 30.
She leaves behind her husband, William “Bill” Taylor; three daughters, Annette McGarity of Walnut Ridge, Delois Kemp and Theresa Flowers of Lonoke; two sons, Howard Joseph Bradford of Searcy and Mike Taylor of Lonoke; stepdaughters, Susan Phelphs and Rose Ann Fogleman, both of Kansas; a brother, Eugene Stinson of Wynne; 18 grandchildren; 28 great grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Boyd Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow in Lonoke Cemetery. Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.
Patrick Page
Patrick Glenn Page, 19, of Beebe, died Aug. 1. He is survived by his parents, Larry and Gail Page; one son, Dylan Patrick Page; one daughter, Madison Brooke Page, all of Beebe; two sisters, Sarah Morrison and husband Alan of Cordova, Tenn., and Anna Page of Beebe; his maternal grandparents, Ruby and Ross Jackson of Georgia, Ronald and Becky Gardner of Crossett; and paternal grandparents Patrick and Olga Page of Louisiana.
Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Funeral will be 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Union Valley Baptist Church, with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens.
Roy McCollum
Roy Glen McCollum, 76, of Cabot, passed away July 29. He was born May 8, 1929, in Violet Hill to the late Lee and Martha McCollum.
Also preceding him in death are three sisters and four brothers. Survivors include his wife of 56 years Dorothy McCollum; daughter Pat Taylor of Cabot; sons Larry and Dewayne McCollum of Jonesboro; sister Bunice Bookout of Wiseman; six grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren.
Graveside services were held Sunday at Morriston Cemetery in Morriston. Arrangements were by Thomas Funeral Service, Cabot.
Earnest Justice
Earnest Patton Justice died on July 29. He was born July 14, 1920 in Lonoke County.
He was a World War II veteran, a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church and a self-employed poultry farmer. He was preceded in death by his parents Charlie Patton Justice and Ada Bell Trickey; brothers Luther Justice, Monroe Justice, and Otha Justice.
He is survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Almeda and Dale Sullivan; sister, Lizzy Underwood; sister-in-law, Mary Justice, and a host of nieces and nephews.
Graveside services were held July 30 at Glover Cemetery, with arrangements by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
The family would like to give special thanks to the staff of Spring Creek Living Center, Cabot.
Carl White
Carl Sidney White, 66, of Beebe, died Monday, Aug. 1.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; daughters Carla Choate and Connie Choate; son Walt White and his wife, Pam; and his grandchildren, Laura Nick, Chris Nick, Will Choate, Guy Choate, John Choate, Zac White, Jacob White, and Sarah White; his sister, Beverly Darwin; brother, Richard White; and his mother-in-law, Maxine Walters. His parents, V.C. and Irene White, his sister, Katherine Card-well, and his father-in-law, Guy Walters, predeceased him.
Sidney was a life-long member of the Beebe First United Methodist Church, a Mason, a board member of the Beebe Shepherd Center, an automobile dealer and cattle farmer.
He graduated from Beebe High School and served on the Beebe School Board.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Beebe First United Methodist Church with burial at Meadowbrook Memorial Gar-dens. The family asks that memorials be made to the Beebe First United Methodist Church Building Fund or to the Beebe Public Education Foundation.
June Seymour
June Angela Seymour, 52, of Lonoke, passed away July 30.
She is survived by her husband Richard Seymour of the home.
Private memorial services will be held at a later date. Cremation arrangements are by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
Tamara Diane Waddell, 34, of Cabot, passed away July 31. She was born Dec. 27, 1970, in Long Beach, Calif., to Carl and Diana Allen. Tamara was employed with Mitchell, Williams Law Firm in Little Rock.
She is survived by her parents, husband, Shawn Waddell of Cabot; two children, Landon Waddell and Carrington Rose, both of Cabot; one sister, Kristy Christensen; brother-in-law, John Christensen; sister-in-law, Jennifer Sanders; grandmother, Wanda Sears; uncles and aunts, Dean and Kay Nakken, Milton H. and Margie Edwards, Chuck Edwards, Larry and Marcia Wofford; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Wally and Bobbie Waddell; nieces, Kylee and husband Aaron Henry, Brook Christensen, Courtnie Christensen; cousins, Jason and Juston Nakken, Jeff Edwards, Jody Edwards and Mendi Cook, Mark Wofford and Joy Wofford; great-nephew, Blane Henry; great-niece, Breelyn Christensen.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Cabot Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m., Thursday at Country Chapel in Sylvania with Rev. Steve Zumalt officiating.
Burial will follow at Old Austin Cemetery in Ward. Arrangements are by Cabot Funeral Home.
Girtha Taylor
Girtha Deloris Taylor passed away July 30.
She leaves behind her husband, William “Bill” Taylor; three daughters, Annette McGarity of Walnut Ridge, Delois Kemp and Theresa Flowers of Lonoke; two sons, Howard Joseph Bradford of Searcy and Mike Taylor of Lonoke; stepdaughters, Susan Phelphs and Rose Ann Fogleman, both of Kansas; a brother, Eugene Stinson of Wynne; 18 grandchildren; 28 great grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Boyd Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow in Lonoke Cemetery. Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.
Patrick Page
Patrick Glenn Page, 19, of Beebe, died Aug. 1. He is survived by his parents, Larry and Gail Page; one son, Dylan Patrick Page; one daughter, Madison Brooke Page, all of Beebe; two sisters, Sarah Morrison and husband Alan of Cordova, Tenn., and Anna Page of Beebe; his maternal grandparents, Ruby and Ross Jackson of Georgia, Ronald and Becky Gardner of Crossett; and paternal grandparents Patrick and Olga Page of Louisiana.
Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Funeral will be 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Union Valley Baptist Church, with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens.
Roy McCollum
Roy Glen McCollum, 76, of Cabot, passed away July 29. He was born May 8, 1929, in Violet Hill to the late Lee and Martha McCollum.
Also preceding him in death are three sisters and four brothers. Survivors include his wife of 56 years Dorothy McCollum; daughter Pat Taylor of Cabot; sons Larry and Dewayne McCollum of Jonesboro; sister Bunice Bookout of Wiseman; six grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren.
Graveside services were held Sunday at Morriston Cemetery in Morriston. Arrangements were by Thomas Funeral Service, Cabot.
Earnest Justice
Earnest Patton Justice died on July 29. He was born July 14, 1920 in Lonoke County.
He was a World War II veteran, a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church and a self-employed poultry farmer. He was preceded in death by his parents Charlie Patton Justice and Ada Bell Trickey; brothers Luther Justice, Monroe Justice, and Otha Justice.
He is survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Almeda and Dale Sullivan; sister, Lizzy Underwood; sister-in-law, Mary Justice, and a host of nieces and nephews.
Graveside services were held July 30 at Glover Cemetery, with arrangements by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
The family would like to give special thanks to the staff of Spring Creek Living Center, Cabot.
Carl White
Carl Sidney White, 66, of Beebe, died Monday, Aug. 1.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; daughters Carla Choate and Connie Choate; son Walt White and his wife, Pam; and his grandchildren, Laura Nick, Chris Nick, Will Choate, Guy Choate, John Choate, Zac White, Jacob White, and Sarah White; his sister, Beverly Darwin; brother, Richard White; and his mother-in-law, Maxine Walters. His parents, V.C. and Irene White, his sister, Katherine Card-well, and his father-in-law, Guy Walters, predeceased him.
Sidney was a life-long member of the Beebe First United Methodist Church, a Mason, a board member of the Beebe Shepherd Center, an automobile dealer and cattle farmer.
He graduated from Beebe High School and served on the Beebe School Board.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Beebe First United Methodist Church with burial at Meadowbrook Memorial Gar-dens. The family asks that memorials be made to the Beebe First United Methodist Church Building Fund or to the Beebe Public Education Foundation.
June Seymour
June Angela Seymour, 52, of Lonoke, passed away July 30.
She is survived by her husband Richard Seymour of the home.
Private memorial services will be held at a later date. Cremation arrangements are by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
TOP STORY>> District is awaiting report on facilities
IN SHORT: Teams from the Department of Education are halfway through evaluating school districts applying for immediate repair funding.
The Cabot School District will find out in mid-September if it gets any of the $1,559,945 million requested for facilities repair, including asbestos removal at Westside Elementary and the high school.
Five evaluation teams of architects and engineers are fanning out across the state to examine buildings of the 142 school districts applying for part of $20 million in state funding. The money was set aside by the General Assembly this spring to fix facilities in immediate need of repair as part of the first round of facilities funding.
Cabot was one of the first schools visited by an evaluation team in early July.
Westside Elementary and Champs Hall on the high school campus have asbestos floor tiles that need removal.
Additionally, Champs Hall needs a new roof, new wiring and a new heating, ventilation and cooling system.
Buildings “C” and “D” on the high school campus are scheduled for demolition in 2006 after the new high school construction is completed.
The buildings require asbestos removal before they are torn down.
The district is also requesting new roofs at Cabot Middle School South and Ward Central Elementary.
The evaluation teams are checking the repairs listed on the funding applications against the deficiencies listed in the facilities study conducted last year by the Arkansas Task Force to Joint Committee on Educational Facilities.
“Our survey teams are roughly halfway through,” said Dave Floyd, director of the Arkansas Department of Education Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Division.
“They’ve evaluated 70 schools so far. We have a target date of the first week in September to make recommendations to the commission for funding of projects.
The evaluation team surveys are expected to be complete by Aug. 22.
“The teams are all Arkansas-based firms,” said Dave Floyd, director of school facilities.
“The team sizes vary depending on how large the surveyed buildings are.”
The three Little Rock-based architectural firms include Taggart Foster Currence Gray, Steelman Connell Mosley and Woods Carradine.
The teams have divided the schools up by regional sections.
Little Rock based TME Consulting Engineers is providing all the engineering evaluations for the surveys except for northwest Arkansas.
Harrison French Architecture in Bentonville is doing both the architectural and engineering surveys for the schools in the northwest corner of the state.
The four firms were selected for not being heavily involved in school district construction.
Firms will be allowed to work for the districts they did not evaluate.
The three-member Public School Commission will review the recommendations. Schools that receive funding will be announced in mid-September.
The commission consists of Ken James, state Department of Education commissioner; Richard Weiss, state Department of Finance and Administration director, and Mac Dobson, president of the Arkansas Finance Development Authority.
The Beebe School District did not apply for funding because it was earmarked for schools with immediate safety needs.
Beebe Superintendent Belinda Shook the district will apply for funding during the next round to offset the cost of adding on to the junior high building.
The Cabot School District will find out in mid-September if it gets any of the $1,559,945 million requested for facilities repair, including asbestos removal at Westside Elementary and the high school.
Five evaluation teams of architects and engineers are fanning out across the state to examine buildings of the 142 school districts applying for part of $20 million in state funding. The money was set aside by the General Assembly this spring to fix facilities in immediate need of repair as part of the first round of facilities funding.
Cabot was one of the first schools visited by an evaluation team in early July.
Westside Elementary and Champs Hall on the high school campus have asbestos floor tiles that need removal.
Additionally, Champs Hall needs a new roof, new wiring and a new heating, ventilation and cooling system.
Buildings “C” and “D” on the high school campus are scheduled for demolition in 2006 after the new high school construction is completed.
The buildings require asbestos removal before they are torn down.
The district is also requesting new roofs at Cabot Middle School South and Ward Central Elementary.
The evaluation teams are checking the repairs listed on the funding applications against the deficiencies listed in the facilities study conducted last year by the Arkansas Task Force to Joint Committee on Educational Facilities.
“Our survey teams are roughly halfway through,” said Dave Floyd, director of the Arkansas Department of Education Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Division.
“They’ve evaluated 70 schools so far. We have a target date of the first week in September to make recommendations to the commission for funding of projects.
The evaluation team surveys are expected to be complete by Aug. 22.
“The teams are all Arkansas-based firms,” said Dave Floyd, director of school facilities.
“The team sizes vary depending on how large the surveyed buildings are.”
The three Little Rock-based architectural firms include Taggart Foster Currence Gray, Steelman Connell Mosley and Woods Carradine.
The teams have divided the schools up by regional sections.
Little Rock based TME Consulting Engineers is providing all the engineering evaluations for the surveys except for northwest Arkansas.
Harrison French Architecture in Bentonville is doing both the architectural and engineering surveys for the schools in the northwest corner of the state.
The four firms were selected for not being heavily involved in school district construction.
Firms will be allowed to work for the districts they did not evaluate.
The three-member Public School Commission will review the recommendations. Schools that receive funding will be announced in mid-September.
The commission consists of Ken James, state Department of Education commissioner; Richard Weiss, state Department of Finance and Administration director, and Mac Dobson, president of the Arkansas Finance Development Authority.
The Beebe School District did not apply for funding because it was earmarked for schools with immediate safety needs.
Beebe Superintendent Belinda Shook the district will apply for funding during the next round to offset the cost of adding on to the junior high building.
FROM THE PUBLISHER>> Couple still fighting for Russian kids
The Jacksonville couple who couldn’t bring home the two Russian kids they had recently adopted will go back soon to fight for the right to fly their children to Arkansas.
Monica and David Kraus are hoping they’ll return soon to Russia and bring back the children, Emma, who is 3 years old, and Alex, who is 11 months. The couple adopted the children a few weeks ago, but then ran into a bureaucratic wall that they’re still fighting to tear down.
The Russians have stopped all foreign adoptions for the time being after two American women killed the Russian children they had adopted, apparently in fits of rage.
“We should be traveling the beginning of August to bring the children home,” Monica Kraus told us last week. “We are silently praying nothing else happens to delay the process.”
The Russians have passed new legislation to screen out undesirables who want to adopt children, but the Krauses insist they’re qualified people who will raise the kids right.
Because of the killings, the Russians want to do psychological testing of prospective parents and offer them parenting training.
“While there seems to be no thought given to halting all adoptions permanently, there is talk of requiring some sort of psychological evaluation of all prospective adoptive parents. There is also talk of investigating to see if the adoption was done legally according to Russian law. No one knows how long we will be delayed,” she said.
“We are not certain if new legislation regarding adoptions as a result of this last case will affect us. It is definitely needed. If the death of even one child can be avoided, then it is beneficial,” Mrs. Kraus said.
The couple will appear at an administrative hearing, where they’ll hope to convince the authorities to let them bring home Emma and Alex, who both have their own rooms waiting for them in Jacksonville.
“We will not need a Russian attorney, only a translator at our hearing,” Mrs. Kraus says. “Once a judge finalizes our adoption and we receive our birth certificates and passports in Moscow, the adoption is official and recognized throughout the world. We may go through an American attorney when we return home in order to legalize the adoption according to United States law, but it is not necessary.”
In the meantime, the Russian media keep lashing out at foreign adoptions.
“It’s not the first time this has happened,” Mrs. Kraus says, referring to this latest freeze on foreign adoptions, “and it is more of a result of anti-American sentiment in the Russian media than anything else. We are not alone in this as there are hundreds of other expecting parents across the United States who are facing this same crisis.”
“The Russia media have been all up in arms and have been pushing for the end of international adoptions,” she continued.
She said the children need good, loving homes, where they can eat right and get a good education. She knows there will be an “adjustment period, especially for the toddler. Although they adjust quickly and thrive with a loving family, they are far behind American children in developmental and learning ability.”
“In an orphanage, they do not receive one-on-one attention like they would in a family.
“There are also significant health concerns with malnutrition and different ailments related to poor living conditions. Almost all of the children are anemic and far behind their normal growth rate. However, parents who have adopted from Russia confirm that the children catch up quickly, often surpassing their peers.
“Our next step is to wait. It’s the hardest step of all. We are involved in a support group with similar couples to help us through the waiting process.
“We can only pray that nothing happens to further inflame an already sensitive situation.”
Monica and David Kraus are hoping they’ll return soon to Russia and bring back the children, Emma, who is 3 years old, and Alex, who is 11 months. The couple adopted the children a few weeks ago, but then ran into a bureaucratic wall that they’re still fighting to tear down.
The Russians have stopped all foreign adoptions for the time being after two American women killed the Russian children they had adopted, apparently in fits of rage.
“We should be traveling the beginning of August to bring the children home,” Monica Kraus told us last week. “We are silently praying nothing else happens to delay the process.”
The Russians have passed new legislation to screen out undesirables who want to adopt children, but the Krauses insist they’re qualified people who will raise the kids right.
Because of the killings, the Russians want to do psychological testing of prospective parents and offer them parenting training.
“While there seems to be no thought given to halting all adoptions permanently, there is talk of requiring some sort of psychological evaluation of all prospective adoptive parents. There is also talk of investigating to see if the adoption was done legally according to Russian law. No one knows how long we will be delayed,” she said.
“We are not certain if new legislation regarding adoptions as a result of this last case will affect us. It is definitely needed. If the death of even one child can be avoided, then it is beneficial,” Mrs. Kraus said.
The couple will appear at an administrative hearing, where they’ll hope to convince the authorities to let them bring home Emma and Alex, who both have their own rooms waiting for them in Jacksonville.
“We will not need a Russian attorney, only a translator at our hearing,” Mrs. Kraus says. “Once a judge finalizes our adoption and we receive our birth certificates and passports in Moscow, the adoption is official and recognized throughout the world. We may go through an American attorney when we return home in order to legalize the adoption according to United States law, but it is not necessary.”
In the meantime, the Russian media keep lashing out at foreign adoptions.
“It’s not the first time this has happened,” Mrs. Kraus says, referring to this latest freeze on foreign adoptions, “and it is more of a result of anti-American sentiment in the Russian media than anything else. We are not alone in this as there are hundreds of other expecting parents across the United States who are facing this same crisis.”
“The Russia media have been all up in arms and have been pushing for the end of international adoptions,” she continued.
She said the children need good, loving homes, where they can eat right and get a good education. She knows there will be an “adjustment period, especially for the toddler. Although they adjust quickly and thrive with a loving family, they are far behind American children in developmental and learning ability.”
“In an orphanage, they do not receive one-on-one attention like they would in a family.
“There are also significant health concerns with malnutrition and different ailments related to poor living conditions. Almost all of the children are anemic and far behind their normal growth rate. However, parents who have adopted from Russia confirm that the children catch up quickly, often surpassing their peers.
“Our next step is to wait. It’s the hardest step of all. We are involved in a support group with similar couples to help us through the waiting process.
“We can only pray that nothing happens to further inflame an already sensitive situation.”
TOP STORY>> Austin gets ready for boom
IN SHORT: Town sees 25 percent population growth, could see much more as developers hope to build 850 new homes and 40 duplexes.
By Joan McCoy
Leader staff writer
Austin, which lies between Ward and Cabot and has for years been threatened with annexation by its neighbors, is on the verge of growing large enough to put an end to all that talk.
Austin Mayor Bernie Chamberlain estimates the city’s population at 800, up about 200 from the 2000 census. But now, developers have moved in with plans to build more than 850 houses and 40 duplexes. When they are all completed and sold, Austin’s population could theoretically grow from 800 to more than 2,500, three times its current size.
“I knew Austin would grow, but I never thought it would grow this fast,” said Chamberlain, who admits the city has growing pains. The city’s water and sewer systems are too small to accommodate some of the subdivisions, but those problems are being addressed now.
The city will need more police officers, she said. A fire station is being planned for across the freeway and the city has applied for a grant for a new fire truck.
The land where Carriage Court and Weathering Heights subdivisions are to be built was already inside the city, off Ed Haymes Road. But three subdivisions, Quapaw, Shadow Creek and Orchard Estates, were annexed into the city this week.
Those three could just have easily gone to Cabot, which builds about 500 new homes a year. But developers chose Austin after a disagreement with Cabot over how much they should pay for sewer improvements.
Those annexations effectively ended Cabot’s growth on High-way 38, because the two cities are now adjacent.
Cabot Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh has said he doesn’t necessarily see the loss of the subdivisions as a negative for Cabot. Instead, he says the people who move there without adequate fire protection should be worried.
Chamberlain says it is simply time for Austin to grow. Cabot is running out of room, she said. And while Cabot’s fire rating is better, making insurance rates lower, property tax is lower in Austin, she said.
Chamberlain said any talk of being swallowed up by Ward and Cabot is just talk as far as she is concerned. But some of the older people take it seriously, and they don’t like it.
“Austin has been here too long to be taken over,” she said. “The people here have stayed because they wanted to live in Austin. You don’t want to lose a town like that.”
By Joan McCoy
Leader staff writer
Austin, which lies between Ward and Cabot and has for years been threatened with annexation by its neighbors, is on the verge of growing large enough to put an end to all that talk.
Austin Mayor Bernie Chamberlain estimates the city’s population at 800, up about 200 from the 2000 census. But now, developers have moved in with plans to build more than 850 houses and 40 duplexes. When they are all completed and sold, Austin’s population could theoretically grow from 800 to more than 2,500, three times its current size.
“I knew Austin would grow, but I never thought it would grow this fast,” said Chamberlain, who admits the city has growing pains. The city’s water and sewer systems are too small to accommodate some of the subdivisions, but those problems are being addressed now.
The city will need more police officers, she said. A fire station is being planned for across the freeway and the city has applied for a grant for a new fire truck.
The land where Carriage Court and Weathering Heights subdivisions are to be built was already inside the city, off Ed Haymes Road. But three subdivisions, Quapaw, Shadow Creek and Orchard Estates, were annexed into the city this week.
Those three could just have easily gone to Cabot, which builds about 500 new homes a year. But developers chose Austin after a disagreement with Cabot over how much they should pay for sewer improvements.
Those annexations effectively ended Cabot’s growth on High-way 38, because the two cities are now adjacent.
Cabot Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh has said he doesn’t necessarily see the loss of the subdivisions as a negative for Cabot. Instead, he says the people who move there without adequate fire protection should be worried.
Chamberlain says it is simply time for Austin to grow. Cabot is running out of room, she said. And while Cabot’s fire rating is better, making insurance rates lower, property tax is lower in Austin, she said.
Chamberlain said any talk of being swallowed up by Ward and Cabot is just talk as far as she is concerned. But some of the older people take it seriously, and they don’t like it.
“Austin has been here too long to be taken over,” she said. “The people here have stayed because they wanted to live in Austin. You don’t want to lose a town like that.”
TOP STORY>> Sales tax vote seen as crucial in Cabot
IN SHORT: Balloting would not only fund sewer plant but also other improvement projects.
By Joan McCoy
Leader staff writer
It’s official. Cabot voters will get to decide Sept. 13 if they want to pay for a new sewer treatment plant with a rate increase or with an existing one-cent sales tax.
At the same time, voters will decide if they want to use the existing tax to pay for other projects in the city – a community center, railroad overpass, street improvements and an animal shelter.
Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, who opposes extending the sales tax to pay for the projects and held the power to veto the election ordinance the council passed last week, decided over the weekend he would not use that power.
“While it’s against what I believe, I thought it best to let it move forward,” Stumbaugh said Tuesday.
Besides, he said, he had to be realistic. There was no guarantee that the council didn’t have the six votes needed to override a veto.
Although Alderman David Polantz favors ending the tax because that was the promise made to city voters in 1999 when the tax was passed, and he voted against it last week, Stumbaugh pointed out that Polantz voted to allow the ordinance to be passed in one night instead of three nights and he voted for the emergency clause that would make it take effect immediately.
Therefore, it is conceivable that Polantz might have voted with the five who supported the ordinance to override a veto.
Stumbaugh agrees with Polantz, Jerry Stephens and Patrick Hutton, the three council members who voted against the ordinance, that the sales tax should sunset after the water bonds it supports are paid off and that sewer customers should pay for improvements to the system, not Cabot shoppers.
The sewer treatment plant has not worked properly since it was built, he said. And the city council should have taken steps to correct its problems years ago.
The council could have raised rates last year to begin the process of building a new plant but wouldn’t do it, he said.
And while they wait, the cost of materials keeps going up. Also, the city will be fined (probably less than $10,000) for failing to bring the existing plant into compliance with state standards.
“I will not be a part of those who let this thing continue on and on and cost the taxpayers thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars,” he said. “Since they can’t make a decision, I decided it was best to let the people make the decision.”
Alderman Eddie Cook, who along with Alderman Odis Waymack sponsored the ordinance calling for the election, said he intends to make the rounds of local civic organizations to build support for continuing the sales tax to pay for the sewer plant and other projects.
“You can’t argue with common sense,” Cook said. “You’re going to save $7.4 million in interest alone [compared to paying for the new plant with a rate increase]. It’s going to pay off so much earlier.”
Besides, he said, with a sales tax more people will help pay off the debt.
“We’re going to be asking the 70,000 people who live in a 30-mile radius to help pay for our facilities,” Cook said.
“And I hope everyone would realize that these projects we’ve tacked on will not add any significant time to the payoff of the loan,” he said.
Voters will be asked to approve about $28 million in debt to be supported by the existing one-cent tax: $7 million to pay off the existing bonds for improvement to the city’s water system which are supported by the tax; $16.5 million for the sewer treatment plant and repairs to the collection system; $800,000 for the railroad overpass; $1.5 million to build the community center that came in over budget; $1.8 million for street improvements and $200,000 to build at one time an animal shelter that was supposed to be built in stages.
Last month, Cabot voters turned down a millage increase that would have added about $20 to the property tax on a $100,000 home to pay for the overpass and community center.
Before that election, the Cabot School Board passed a resolution in support of the city’s efforts to raise money for those projects since both would benefit the school district.
The school’s swimming team will use the community center and the overpass would keep almost 30 buses a day from having to cross the tracks. The board has not yet spoken about support for continuing the sales tax.
But before the mayor had decided to not exercise his veto power, the new Cabot Water and Wastewater Commission was already making plans to inform voters about the good and bad points of both possible sources of paying for a new sewer plant.
“Conceptually, we’re going to put together a fact sheet of the pros and cons of the sales tax versus the rate increase, said Bill Cypert, one of the three members of the commission who also served for about six months as a member of its predecessor, the Cabot Public Utilities Commission.
The former commission went before the city council twice with ordinances calling for an election to continue the sales tax to pay for the plant. But it didn’t pass until Cook and Waymack added the additional projects.
Don Keesee, who along with Cypert and J.M. Park served on the first commission, said during a recent meeting that it should be clear to the public where they stand on paying for the plant with the sales tax, but Cypert said Tuesday the commission will try to remain non-political.
The first draft of the fact sheet should be ready for the commission to go over by the Thursday commission meeting, Cypert said.
Patti Patrick, a member of the city’s park commission which supports extending the sales tax to help build the community center, said the commission waited to see whether Stumbaugh would veto the ordinance.
Since he didn’t, the commission will have to get to work telling voters what it’s all about.
“The main thing now is to get out there and let the voters know what they’re voting on,” Patrick said.
By Joan McCoy
Leader staff writer
It’s official. Cabot voters will get to decide Sept. 13 if they want to pay for a new sewer treatment plant with a rate increase or with an existing one-cent sales tax.
At the same time, voters will decide if they want to use the existing tax to pay for other projects in the city – a community center, railroad overpass, street improvements and an animal shelter.
Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, who opposes extending the sales tax to pay for the projects and held the power to veto the election ordinance the council passed last week, decided over the weekend he would not use that power.
“While it’s against what I believe, I thought it best to let it move forward,” Stumbaugh said Tuesday.
Besides, he said, he had to be realistic. There was no guarantee that the council didn’t have the six votes needed to override a veto.
Although Alderman David Polantz favors ending the tax because that was the promise made to city voters in 1999 when the tax was passed, and he voted against it last week, Stumbaugh pointed out that Polantz voted to allow the ordinance to be passed in one night instead of three nights and he voted for the emergency clause that would make it take effect immediately.
Therefore, it is conceivable that Polantz might have voted with the five who supported the ordinance to override a veto.
Stumbaugh agrees with Polantz, Jerry Stephens and Patrick Hutton, the three council members who voted against the ordinance, that the sales tax should sunset after the water bonds it supports are paid off and that sewer customers should pay for improvements to the system, not Cabot shoppers.
The sewer treatment plant has not worked properly since it was built, he said. And the city council should have taken steps to correct its problems years ago.
The council could have raised rates last year to begin the process of building a new plant but wouldn’t do it, he said.
And while they wait, the cost of materials keeps going up. Also, the city will be fined (probably less than $10,000) for failing to bring the existing plant into compliance with state standards.
“I will not be a part of those who let this thing continue on and on and cost the taxpayers thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars,” he said. “Since they can’t make a decision, I decided it was best to let the people make the decision.”
Alderman Eddie Cook, who along with Alderman Odis Waymack sponsored the ordinance calling for the election, said he intends to make the rounds of local civic organizations to build support for continuing the sales tax to pay for the sewer plant and other projects.
“You can’t argue with common sense,” Cook said. “You’re going to save $7.4 million in interest alone [compared to paying for the new plant with a rate increase]. It’s going to pay off so much earlier.”
Besides, he said, with a sales tax more people will help pay off the debt.
“We’re going to be asking the 70,000 people who live in a 30-mile radius to help pay for our facilities,” Cook said.
“And I hope everyone would realize that these projects we’ve tacked on will not add any significant time to the payoff of the loan,” he said.
Voters will be asked to approve about $28 million in debt to be supported by the existing one-cent tax: $7 million to pay off the existing bonds for improvement to the city’s water system which are supported by the tax; $16.5 million for the sewer treatment plant and repairs to the collection system; $800,000 for the railroad overpass; $1.5 million to build the community center that came in over budget; $1.8 million for street improvements and $200,000 to build at one time an animal shelter that was supposed to be built in stages.
Last month, Cabot voters turned down a millage increase that would have added about $20 to the property tax on a $100,000 home to pay for the overpass and community center.
Before that election, the Cabot School Board passed a resolution in support of the city’s efforts to raise money for those projects since both would benefit the school district.
The school’s swimming team will use the community center and the overpass would keep almost 30 buses a day from having to cross the tracks. The board has not yet spoken about support for continuing the sales tax.
But before the mayor had decided to not exercise his veto power, the new Cabot Water and Wastewater Commission was already making plans to inform voters about the good and bad points of both possible sources of paying for a new sewer plant.
“Conceptually, we’re going to put together a fact sheet of the pros and cons of the sales tax versus the rate increase, said Bill Cypert, one of the three members of the commission who also served for about six months as a member of its predecessor, the Cabot Public Utilities Commission.
The former commission went before the city council twice with ordinances calling for an election to continue the sales tax to pay for the plant. But it didn’t pass until Cook and Waymack added the additional projects.
Don Keesee, who along with Cypert and J.M. Park served on the first commission, said during a recent meeting that it should be clear to the public where they stand on paying for the plant with the sales tax, but Cypert said Tuesday the commission will try to remain non-political.
The first draft of the fact sheet should be ready for the commission to go over by the Thursday commission meeting, Cypert said.
Patti Patrick, a member of the city’s park commission which supports extending the sales tax to help build the community center, said the commission waited to see whether Stumbaugh would veto the ordinance.
Since he didn’t, the commission will have to get to work telling voters what it’s all about.
“The main thing now is to get out there and let the voters know what they’re voting on,” Patrick said.
TOP STORY>> BRAC finishes evaluation of bases
IN SHORT: Pentagon probes cost of C-130Js, asks Lockheed for documentation
By John Hofheimer
Leader staff writer
With the future of Little Rock Air Force Base and scores of other installations hanging in the balance, the Base Relocation and Closure (BRAC) commission will wind up its site visits next week, ending three months of hearings throughout the U.S.
While many installations are fighting for their very survival, the Little Rock base is in line to expand its C-130 fleet by 60 aircraft and the number of on-base jobs by as many as 3,898, according to Defense Department recommendations.
North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole wants to keep the 43rd Airlift Wing at Pope Air Force Base or else in a joint force at Ft. Bragg, also in her state. Under the Pentagon’s proposal, the 43rd Airlift Wing now at Pope would be shifted to Little Rock. About 4,300 airmen would be involved.
“While we continue to receive written data throughout the remainder of the process, it is critical that our review and analysis team is allowed the necessary time to thoroughly read, evaluate and incorporate the data that has, to date, been provided,” according to Anthony Principi, the panel chairman.
Commissioners are slated to meet with Air Force and Air Guard leaders Aug. 11 on Capital Hill to resolve lingering issues surrounding the Pentagon’s recommendation to take all aircraft from several Air National Guard bases.
The Arkansas Air National Guard, which is likely to lose its F-16 fighter wing at Ft. Smith, is expected to receive several state-of-the-art C-130Js at the Little Rock base it shares with the active Air Force, including those currently assigned to the Air Force at Little Rock AFB.
The commission’s recommendations are due to the White House by Sept. 8. President Bush has said he would sign those recommendations and forward them to Congress. Neither Congress nor the president can change the recommendations, but may only accept or reject them as a whole.
Meanwhile, although the C-130J may be back in the defense budget, at least three Defense Department investigations are underway regarding the price the government paid Lockheed Martin and the nature of the contract.
The Defense Department’s $4 billion contract for 60 planes was on the verge of extinction earlier this year, when the plane was reported to be too expensive with a spotty record of performing the functions for which it was designed.
To speed the acquisition pro-cess, the Air Force declared the C-130J to be a commercial item even though no commercial market for it exists. This meant that the Air Force was able to bypass federal truth-in-negotiating rules that require a contractor to give the government complete cost and pricing data.
In 1995, a basic C-130J cost $33.9 million. By 1998, it had risen to $49.7 million. Today, the cost is $66.5 million a plane, with some versions edging close to $90 million.
Watchdog groups lobbied for discontinuation of the program, while congressmen from Georgia, Arkansas, Indiana and some other states with a financial stake in the C-130J program, argued that the plane had overcome its flaws.
They added the plane was needed in the war on terrorism and in the future to replace the aging C-130 cargo fleet that plays such a large role in transporting and supplying troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other places.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been critical of the commercial-style contract between the Air Force and Lockheed, and has been active in investigating that relationship.
The Pentagon expects to complete the conversion of Lockheed Martin’s $4.1 billion C-130J cargo aircraft contract into a more highly regulated defense contract by Nov. 15, new chief weapons buyer Kenneth Krieg said in mid- July.
This is significant to central Arkansas residents because Little Rock Air Force Base is considered the premier C-130 base in the world, and C-130 crews and maintainers from the U.S. and abroad are trained there.
Those conducting reviews and investigators are the Defense Department’s Inspector General, the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency.
To critics of the plane, Air Force officials have announced that this summer the C-130J made its first combat airdrop successfully, and the weather version of the plane has performed properly in tropical storms and hurricanes.
By John Hofheimer
Leader staff writer
With the future of Little Rock Air Force Base and scores of other installations hanging in the balance, the Base Relocation and Closure (BRAC) commission will wind up its site visits next week, ending three months of hearings throughout the U.S.
While many installations are fighting for their very survival, the Little Rock base is in line to expand its C-130 fleet by 60 aircraft and the number of on-base jobs by as many as 3,898, according to Defense Department recommendations.
North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole wants to keep the 43rd Airlift Wing at Pope Air Force Base or else in a joint force at Ft. Bragg, also in her state. Under the Pentagon’s proposal, the 43rd Airlift Wing now at Pope would be shifted to Little Rock. About 4,300 airmen would be involved.
“While we continue to receive written data throughout the remainder of the process, it is critical that our review and analysis team is allowed the necessary time to thoroughly read, evaluate and incorporate the data that has, to date, been provided,” according to Anthony Principi, the panel chairman.
Commissioners are slated to meet with Air Force and Air Guard leaders Aug. 11 on Capital Hill to resolve lingering issues surrounding the Pentagon’s recommendation to take all aircraft from several Air National Guard bases.
The Arkansas Air National Guard, which is likely to lose its F-16 fighter wing at Ft. Smith, is expected to receive several state-of-the-art C-130Js at the Little Rock base it shares with the active Air Force, including those currently assigned to the Air Force at Little Rock AFB.
The commission’s recommendations are due to the White House by Sept. 8. President Bush has said he would sign those recommendations and forward them to Congress. Neither Congress nor the president can change the recommendations, but may only accept or reject them as a whole.
Meanwhile, although the C-130J may be back in the defense budget, at least three Defense Department investigations are underway regarding the price the government paid Lockheed Martin and the nature of the contract.
The Defense Department’s $4 billion contract for 60 planes was on the verge of extinction earlier this year, when the plane was reported to be too expensive with a spotty record of performing the functions for which it was designed.
To speed the acquisition pro-cess, the Air Force declared the C-130J to be a commercial item even though no commercial market for it exists. This meant that the Air Force was able to bypass federal truth-in-negotiating rules that require a contractor to give the government complete cost and pricing data.
In 1995, a basic C-130J cost $33.9 million. By 1998, it had risen to $49.7 million. Today, the cost is $66.5 million a plane, with some versions edging close to $90 million.
Watchdog groups lobbied for discontinuation of the program, while congressmen from Georgia, Arkansas, Indiana and some other states with a financial stake in the C-130J program, argued that the plane had overcome its flaws.
They added the plane was needed in the war on terrorism and in the future to replace the aging C-130 cargo fleet that plays such a large role in transporting and supplying troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other places.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been critical of the commercial-style contract between the Air Force and Lockheed, and has been active in investigating that relationship.
The Pentagon expects to complete the conversion of Lockheed Martin’s $4.1 billion C-130J cargo aircraft contract into a more highly regulated defense contract by Nov. 15, new chief weapons buyer Kenneth Krieg said in mid- July.
This is significant to central Arkansas residents because Little Rock Air Force Base is considered the premier C-130 base in the world, and C-130 crews and maintainers from the U.S. and abroad are trained there.
Those conducting reviews and investigators are the Defense Department’s Inspector General, the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency.
To critics of the plane, Air Force officials have announced that this summer the C-130J made its first combat airdrop successfully, and the weather version of the plane has performed properly in tropical storms and hurricanes.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
FROM THE PUBLISHER>> Death of a tenor giant
Stubblefield passes after long illness; Big George Brock on CD
BY GARRICK FELDMAN
PUBLISHER
John Stubblefield, a great tenor saxophone player who was born in Little Rock and worked as a jazz musician in New York with some of the most talented people in the business, died on the Fourth of July at the age of 60 after battling prostate cancer.
Stubblefield’s death has hardly been noted in Arkansas — the Little Rock paper published only a small paid obituary announcing his passing — although former Presi-dent Bill Clinton and comedian Bill Cosby visited him a few weeks ago at the hospital. Clinton told him he hadn’t played his saxophone in three years because he’d been busy writing his autobiography, and then his heart surgery made it difficult to play. Clinton also visited other patients before he left the hospital.
Stories about Stubble-field and his music appeared on the Internet as soon as his death was announced.
The New York Times ran an article that was placed prominently on the top left-hand corner of its obituary page, and deservedly so.
Stubblefield played and composed for the Charles Mingus Big Band and also played with Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Mary Lou Williams and other stellar musicians. He was among a small group of brilliant saxophone players who grew up in the Little Rock area — the others are Pharoah Sanders and Sam Rivers (both still going strong) — and all three are admired by both fans and fellow musicians for their powerful sound and sweetness of spirit.
It figures that Arkansas would produce three first-class musicians who could play ferocious jazz and still sound lyrical when they wanted to, and be as down-to-earth once they put their instruments down.
Stubblefield appeared with Rivers a couple of years ago at UALR when Rivers returned here for the first time in more than 50 years. Sanders, who was known as “Little Rock” when he lived in New York, also made a rare appearance here last fall when he was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.
“Family Portrait” (Audioquest) is one of Stubblefield’s best CDs and includes Eduardo Simon on piano, Cecil McBee on bass and Victor Lewis on drums. Stubblefield dominates the CD with his rich, full-throttle sound.
He is also heard on McCoy Tyner’s Big Band CD, “Journey” (Verve) with an all-star cast: Tyner on piano, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Steve Turre and Frank Lacy on trombones and others.
Friends and family held a celebration of Stubblefield’s life on Thursday in Little Rock. Funeral services were held Friday. He’s gone, but his music lives on.
Roger Stolle, who owns Cat Head music shop down in Clarksdale, Miss., has started a record label so the whole world can hear the Mississippi-born harp player Big George Brock, a 73-year-old bluesman with a sound as big as a freight train hurtling through the cotton fields in the Delta.
Cat Head has just released Brock’s “Club Caravan,” featuring the Houserockers for 50 raucous minutes of classic blues that will take you back to 1950s Chicago, although Brock, a former boxer who was born in Grenada, Miss., has lived in St. Louis for most of his life.
Big George composed most of the music on “Club Caravan” (named after one of the blues clubs he ran in St. Louis), with some Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters tossed in to spice things up. But this is Brock’s show, which sounds like one of his marathon juke joint performances.
All you have to do is hit replay and keep listening to a genuine master of the Delta blues.
Big George is one of the last of the authentic Southern bluesmen. Most people don’t even know they’re still around. When they’re gone, their music will only be heard on CDs and LPs. Stolle has recorded one of the best.
“Club Caravan” is available from www.cathead.biz.
BY GARRICK FELDMAN
PUBLISHER
John Stubblefield, a great tenor saxophone player who was born in Little Rock and worked as a jazz musician in New York with some of the most talented people in the business, died on the Fourth of July at the age of 60 after battling prostate cancer.
Stubblefield’s death has hardly been noted in Arkansas — the Little Rock paper published only a small paid obituary announcing his passing — although former Presi-dent Bill Clinton and comedian Bill Cosby visited him a few weeks ago at the hospital. Clinton told him he hadn’t played his saxophone in three years because he’d been busy writing his autobiography, and then his heart surgery made it difficult to play. Clinton also visited other patients before he left the hospital.
Stories about Stubble-field and his music appeared on the Internet as soon as his death was announced.
The New York Times ran an article that was placed prominently on the top left-hand corner of its obituary page, and deservedly so.
Stubblefield played and composed for the Charles Mingus Big Band and also played with Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Mary Lou Williams and other stellar musicians. He was among a small group of brilliant saxophone players who grew up in the Little Rock area — the others are Pharoah Sanders and Sam Rivers (both still going strong) — and all three are admired by both fans and fellow musicians for their powerful sound and sweetness of spirit.
It figures that Arkansas would produce three first-class musicians who could play ferocious jazz and still sound lyrical when they wanted to, and be as down-to-earth once they put their instruments down.
Stubblefield appeared with Rivers a couple of years ago at UALR when Rivers returned here for the first time in more than 50 years. Sanders, who was known as “Little Rock” when he lived in New York, also made a rare appearance here last fall when he was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.
“Family Portrait” (Audioquest) is one of Stubblefield’s best CDs and includes Eduardo Simon on piano, Cecil McBee on bass and Victor Lewis on drums. Stubblefield dominates the CD with his rich, full-throttle sound.
He is also heard on McCoy Tyner’s Big Band CD, “Journey” (Verve) with an all-star cast: Tyner on piano, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Steve Turre and Frank Lacy on trombones and others.
Friends and family held a celebration of Stubblefield’s life on Thursday in Little Rock. Funeral services were held Friday. He’s gone, but his music lives on.
Roger Stolle, who owns Cat Head music shop down in Clarksdale, Miss., has started a record label so the whole world can hear the Mississippi-born harp player Big George Brock, a 73-year-old bluesman with a sound as big as a freight train hurtling through the cotton fields in the Delta.
Cat Head has just released Brock’s “Club Caravan,” featuring the Houserockers for 50 raucous minutes of classic blues that will take you back to 1950s Chicago, although Brock, a former boxer who was born in Grenada, Miss., has lived in St. Louis for most of his life.
Big George composed most of the music on “Club Caravan” (named after one of the blues clubs he ran in St. Louis), with some Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters tossed in to spice things up. But this is Brock’s show, which sounds like one of his marathon juke joint performances.
All you have to do is hit replay and keep listening to a genuine master of the Delta blues.
Big George is one of the last of the authentic Southern bluesmen. Most people don’t even know they’re still around. When they’re gone, their music will only be heard on CDs and LPs. Stolle has recorded one of the best.
“Club Caravan” is available from www.cathead.biz.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
SPORTS>>Sharks win second CASL title
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Sherwood Sharks won their sixth and final meet of the season, and clinched their second straight Central Arkansas Swim League championship with a closer-than-expected 768-730 win over the Maumelle/YMCA consolidated team.
Despite the close score, it was one of the most remarkable meets for the Sharks in the team’s history. A total of 103 Sherwood swimmers posted best times in at least one sport, and a stunning 26 swimmers recorded their best times in all five events.
Those swimmer were Presley Austin, Allie Blenden, Sean Brocious, Richard Buzzitta, Chelsea Churchill, Erica Denny, Kalynn Fisher, Jessie Garrison, Nimit Gandhi, Hannah Gray, Ashley Harris, Hannah Jones, Ashley Lewis, Mary Kate McNulty, Amanda Moore, Andrew Moore, Megan Moore, Aaron Ngo, Seven Powers, Jeremy Smith, Brooke Smothers, Lee Smothers, Calvin Spellman, Alisa Staton, Tina Thompson and Greer Williams.
A total of 19 Sharks broke their previous best times and swam fast enough to move up in category in Saturday’s meet.
For the girls, 6-year-old Seven Powers won the silver division 25-yard backstroke with a gold division time of 32.07. In 7-8 year-olds, it was Patelyn Bailey, Maddie Young and Christy Hawking all improving to silver time in their events. Bailey won the bronze 25-yard backstroke with a silver time of 26.49. Young and Hawking took the top two spots in the 25-yard bronze division breaststroke, both improving to silver division.
Nikki Sanders took the 9-10 year-old 50 yard freestyle, Sanders won the silver event with a gold time of 36.13.
The most records were broke in the 11-12 year-old girls, as five Sharks met new best times. Kris O’Connell won the silver division 50 yard freestyle with a gold time of 33.78. Savannah Lancaster improved to gold in the 50 yard backstroke, winning the silver division event over Meg O’Connell, who also swam to a gold division time. Meg also had a gold time in the 100 yard IM. O’Connell won the silver event at 1:26.92.
For the girls, 6-year-old Seven Powers won the silver division 25-yard backstroke with a gold division time of 32.07. In 7-8 year-olds, it was Patelyn Bailey, Maddie Young and Christy Hawking all improving to silver time in their events. Bailey won the bronze 25 yard backstroke with a silver time of 26.49. Young and Hawking took the top two spots in the 25-yard bronze division breaststroke, both improving to silver division. Lindsay Taylor also improved to a silver division time in the 25-yard freestyle, Taylor took second in the bronze division event, with a time of 22.87.
Nikki Sanders took the 9-10 year-old 50-yard freestyle, Sanders won the silver event with a gold time of 36.13.
The most records were broke in the 11-12 year-old girls, as five Sharks met new best times. Kris O’Connell won the silver division 50-yard freestyle with a gold time of 33.78. Savannah Lancaster improved to gold in the 50-yard backstroke, winning the silver division event over Meg O’Connell, who also swam to a gold division time. Meg also had a gold time in the 100 yard IM. O’Connell won the silver event at 1:26.92.
Allie Blendon won the bronze division 50-yard freestyle, with a silver time of 34.89. Ashley Lewis took second place in the 50-yard butterfly in the bronze division, scoring a silver division time of 44.53.
There were also several other wins for the lady Sharks on Saturday. For the 9-10 year-olds, it was Tayler Jones winning the silver division 50-yard breaststroke and 50-yard butterfly.
Savannah Lancaster took a pair of silver division wins in the 11-12 year-old age group, winning the 50-yard breaststroke and the 50-yard butterfly. Lauren Qualls won the 50- yard backstroke in the silver division with a time of 39.81.
In the older age groups, it was Kelsey Lancaster taking a silver division win in the 100-yard IM for 13-14 year-olds. Ashley Lee won the IM for the bronze division with a time of 1:31.34.
For the 15-16 year-olds, it was Alana Brunke winning the bronze division 50-yard freestyle. Brunke also took the win in the silver division 50-yard backstroke, and the silver 50-yard butterfly. In all, Brunke won four events and had one second place finish for the Sharks.
Chelsea Churchill won four gold division events on Saturday for the 17-18 year-olds. Churchill took wins in the 50-yard freestyle, 50-yard backstroke, 50-yard Breaststroke, and 100-yard IM. Ashley Harris also won the bronze division 50-yard breaststroke for the 17-18 year-olds.
There were several records broken on the boys’ side as well. For the 6 and under group, Andrew Williams took gold time in the 25-yard backstroke. Williams took the silver event wih a time of 28.94. David Price won the silver division 25-yard butterfly in the 7-8 year-old group with a silver time of 26.12. Lee Smothers also improved from bronze to silver time in the butterfly event.
Jummy Esola and Nicolas Williams both won in the 25-yard freestyle. Esola won the silver event in gold time, and Williams won the bronze event with a silver time of 21.65
Ian Kerr won the 50-yard breaststroke for the 9-10 year-olds. Kerr won the bronze event with a silver time of 56.62. Jake Schlag moved from bronze to silver in the 100-yard IM.
Schlag won the event with a time of 1:54.48.
Leader sports editor
The Sherwood Sharks won their sixth and final meet of the season, and clinched their second straight Central Arkansas Swim League championship with a closer-than-expected 768-730 win over the Maumelle/YMCA consolidated team.
Despite the close score, it was one of the most remarkable meets for the Sharks in the team’s history. A total of 103 Sherwood swimmers posted best times in at least one sport, and a stunning 26 swimmers recorded their best times in all five events.
Those swimmer were Presley Austin, Allie Blenden, Sean Brocious, Richard Buzzitta, Chelsea Churchill, Erica Denny, Kalynn Fisher, Jessie Garrison, Nimit Gandhi, Hannah Gray, Ashley Harris, Hannah Jones, Ashley Lewis, Mary Kate McNulty, Amanda Moore, Andrew Moore, Megan Moore, Aaron Ngo, Seven Powers, Jeremy Smith, Brooke Smothers, Lee Smothers, Calvin Spellman, Alisa Staton, Tina Thompson and Greer Williams.
A total of 19 Sharks broke their previous best times and swam fast enough to move up in category in Saturday’s meet.
For the girls, 6-year-old Seven Powers won the silver division 25-yard backstroke with a gold division time of 32.07. In 7-8 year-olds, it was Patelyn Bailey, Maddie Young and Christy Hawking all improving to silver time in their events. Bailey won the bronze 25-yard backstroke with a silver time of 26.49. Young and Hawking took the top two spots in the 25-yard bronze division breaststroke, both improving to silver division.
Nikki Sanders took the 9-10 year-old 50 yard freestyle, Sanders won the silver event with a gold time of 36.13.
The most records were broke in the 11-12 year-old girls, as five Sharks met new best times. Kris O’Connell won the silver division 50 yard freestyle with a gold time of 33.78. Savannah Lancaster improved to gold in the 50 yard backstroke, winning the silver division event over Meg O’Connell, who also swam to a gold division time. Meg also had a gold time in the 100 yard IM. O’Connell won the silver event at 1:26.92.
For the girls, 6-year-old Seven Powers won the silver division 25-yard backstroke with a gold division time of 32.07. In 7-8 year-olds, it was Patelyn Bailey, Maddie Young and Christy Hawking all improving to silver time in their events. Bailey won the bronze 25 yard backstroke with a silver time of 26.49. Young and Hawking took the top two spots in the 25-yard bronze division breaststroke, both improving to silver division. Lindsay Taylor also improved to a silver division time in the 25-yard freestyle, Taylor took second in the bronze division event, with a time of 22.87.
Nikki Sanders took the 9-10 year-old 50-yard freestyle, Sanders won the silver event with a gold time of 36.13.
The most records were broke in the 11-12 year-old girls, as five Sharks met new best times. Kris O’Connell won the silver division 50-yard freestyle with a gold time of 33.78. Savannah Lancaster improved to gold in the 50-yard backstroke, winning the silver division event over Meg O’Connell, who also swam to a gold division time. Meg also had a gold time in the 100 yard IM. O’Connell won the silver event at 1:26.92.
Allie Blendon won the bronze division 50-yard freestyle, with a silver time of 34.89. Ashley Lewis took second place in the 50-yard butterfly in the bronze division, scoring a silver division time of 44.53.
There were also several other wins for the lady Sharks on Saturday. For the 9-10 year-olds, it was Tayler Jones winning the silver division 50-yard breaststroke and 50-yard butterfly.
Savannah Lancaster took a pair of silver division wins in the 11-12 year-old age group, winning the 50-yard breaststroke and the 50-yard butterfly. Lauren Qualls won the 50- yard backstroke in the silver division with a time of 39.81.
In the older age groups, it was Kelsey Lancaster taking a silver division win in the 100-yard IM for 13-14 year-olds. Ashley Lee won the IM for the bronze division with a time of 1:31.34.
For the 15-16 year-olds, it was Alana Brunke winning the bronze division 50-yard freestyle. Brunke also took the win in the silver division 50-yard backstroke, and the silver 50-yard butterfly. In all, Brunke won four events and had one second place finish for the Sharks.
Chelsea Churchill won four gold division events on Saturday for the 17-18 year-olds. Churchill took wins in the 50-yard freestyle, 50-yard backstroke, 50-yard Breaststroke, and 100-yard IM. Ashley Harris also won the bronze division 50-yard breaststroke for the 17-18 year-olds.
There were several records broken on the boys’ side as well. For the 6 and under group, Andrew Williams took gold time in the 25-yard backstroke. Williams took the silver event wih a time of 28.94. David Price won the silver division 25-yard butterfly in the 7-8 year-old group with a silver time of 26.12. Lee Smothers also improved from bronze to silver time in the butterfly event.
Jummy Esola and Nicolas Williams both won in the 25-yard freestyle. Esola won the silver event in gold time, and Williams won the bronze event with a silver time of 21.65
Ian Kerr won the 50-yard breaststroke for the 9-10 year-olds. Kerr won the bronze event with a silver time of 56.62. Jake Schlag moved from bronze to silver in the 100-yard IM.
Schlag won the event with a time of 1:54.48.
FROM THE PUBLISHER>> Editor wins prize for column
(This column from last December won first place in the National Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.)
The state Supreme Court could put the so-called payday lenders out of business in Arkansas.
Consumer advocates are challenging Act 1216 of 1999 that allows predatory lending in the state with rates as high as 650 percent.
The victims are the working poor and the military.
Arkansas should follow the example of several other states and ban storefront payday lenders. This outrage must not continue.
Business has never been better, thanks to our state Legislature that almost unanimously exempted payday lenders from limits on interest rates, which are disguised as fees and supposedly legal, although the Supreme Court may have other ideas about that.
Eager to attract new industries to Arkansas and even more eager for campaign contributions, the Legislature rolled out the red carpet for these out-of-state loan sharks at the expense of the working poor and folks in the military.
Let’s hope the Supreme Court rolls the red carpet back up and sends the payday lenders packing. This is one new industry we can do without.
It’s a $40 billion business that started a decade ago in rural Tennessee and grew an estimated 12 to 18 percent this year. Profit margins are 15 percent — far higher than what banks earn — or about $6 billion a year.
You can see the young airmen entering storefronts with signs advertising cash advances, where they get loans against their next paychecks at outlandish rates.
These businesses are not far from the main entrance to Little Rock Air Force Base, which is how payday lenders like it.
They set up shop near military bases all over the country — sometimes 100 or more in one community — and prey on young military people desperate for a few hundred dollars so they can make a car payment and put food on the table for their families.
Leader reporter John Hof-heimer has written a series of articles highlighting the abuses in the payday industry, whose owners are often shadowy figures with headquarters in states like Nebraska, which allows lenders to charge whatever interest rates they can get away with.
This is how the scheme works: Payday lenders all across the country will let young recruits borrow, say, $300.
They’ll make a check out for $375, which they hope to cover on their next payday.
But they realize they can’t pay their other bills if they repay the loan in a couple of weeks, so they go back and extend the loan, and before they know it, they owe the loan sharks twice what they borrowed a few weeks ago.
Many states have banned payday lenders, including Georgia and New York, but not Arkansas, where politicians encourage the fleecing of America.
It’s estimated that nearly 15 percent of America’s 105 million households borrow from payday lenders, and that figure is even higher in the military, about 25 percent, or some 180,000 service families who fall victim to these sharks at rates only the Mafia can surpass.
That kind of rip-off would land the average banker in prison, but the payday lenders get away with it because politicians let them charge whatever rates they want.
These payday lenders wouldn’t exist without the support of big banks that loan them money, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan, Wachovia and other behemoths, who prosper at the expense of the least fortunate.
It’s a shame that military people, who often make the ultimate sacrifice for their country, are the payday lenders’ easiest targets because enlisted people are underpaid and overworked.
It doesn’t bother the politicians that the victims are often the same people who protect us from our enemies. While serving abroad they must worry if their spouses can make the interest payment on the 600 percent loan they took out before they shipped to Iraq.
It’s time to pull the plug on these unscrupulous lenders in Arkansas and across the nation.
Until these payday lenders are kicked out of Arkansas, the Pentagon should make these lenders off-limits for service members.
Stressed out and often unsophisticated, these military folks need basic financial counseling. They should know, for example, that they can borrow for a lot less from their own credit union.
When they do get in trouble, they can turn to military services’ relief societies, which often make interest-free loans to members to pay off the payday lenders.
You don’t want a service member fighting for his country while he owes the local loan shark thousands of dollars.
The patriots in the state Legislature should have thought about that when they invited the payday lenders into Arkansas.
Let’s hope the state Supreme Court rights this wrong during this holiday season, even if the lenders say, bah, humbug.
(Postscript: The Arkansas Supreme Court has remanded a lawsuit against payday lenders to Circuit Judge Barry Sims’ court.)
The state Supreme Court could put the so-called payday lenders out of business in Arkansas.
Consumer advocates are challenging Act 1216 of 1999 that allows predatory lending in the state with rates as high as 650 percent.
The victims are the working poor and the military.
Arkansas should follow the example of several other states and ban storefront payday lenders. This outrage must not continue.
Business has never been better, thanks to our state Legislature that almost unanimously exempted payday lenders from limits on interest rates, which are disguised as fees and supposedly legal, although the Supreme Court may have other ideas about that.
Eager to attract new industries to Arkansas and even more eager for campaign contributions, the Legislature rolled out the red carpet for these out-of-state loan sharks at the expense of the working poor and folks in the military.
Let’s hope the Supreme Court rolls the red carpet back up and sends the payday lenders packing. This is one new industry we can do without.
It’s a $40 billion business that started a decade ago in rural Tennessee and grew an estimated 12 to 18 percent this year. Profit margins are 15 percent — far higher than what banks earn — or about $6 billion a year.
You can see the young airmen entering storefronts with signs advertising cash advances, where they get loans against their next paychecks at outlandish rates.
These businesses are not far from the main entrance to Little Rock Air Force Base, which is how payday lenders like it.
They set up shop near military bases all over the country — sometimes 100 or more in one community — and prey on young military people desperate for a few hundred dollars so they can make a car payment and put food on the table for their families.
Leader reporter John Hof-heimer has written a series of articles highlighting the abuses in the payday industry, whose owners are often shadowy figures with headquarters in states like Nebraska, which allows lenders to charge whatever interest rates they can get away with.
This is how the scheme works: Payday lenders all across the country will let young recruits borrow, say, $300.
They’ll make a check out for $375, which they hope to cover on their next payday.
But they realize they can’t pay their other bills if they repay the loan in a couple of weeks, so they go back and extend the loan, and before they know it, they owe the loan sharks twice what they borrowed a few weeks ago.
Many states have banned payday lenders, including Georgia and New York, but not Arkansas, where politicians encourage the fleecing of America.
It’s estimated that nearly 15 percent of America’s 105 million households borrow from payday lenders, and that figure is even higher in the military, about 25 percent, or some 180,000 service families who fall victim to these sharks at rates only the Mafia can surpass.
That kind of rip-off would land the average banker in prison, but the payday lenders get away with it because politicians let them charge whatever rates they want.
These payday lenders wouldn’t exist without the support of big banks that loan them money, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan, Wachovia and other behemoths, who prosper at the expense of the least fortunate.
It’s a shame that military people, who often make the ultimate sacrifice for their country, are the payday lenders’ easiest targets because enlisted people are underpaid and overworked.
It doesn’t bother the politicians that the victims are often the same people who protect us from our enemies. While serving abroad they must worry if their spouses can make the interest payment on the 600 percent loan they took out before they shipped to Iraq.
It’s time to pull the plug on these unscrupulous lenders in Arkansas and across the nation.
Until these payday lenders are kicked out of Arkansas, the Pentagon should make these lenders off-limits for service members.
Stressed out and often unsophisticated, these military folks need basic financial counseling. They should know, for example, that they can borrow for a lot less from their own credit union.
When they do get in trouble, they can turn to military services’ relief societies, which often make interest-free loans to members to pay off the payday lenders.
You don’t want a service member fighting for his country while he owes the local loan shark thousands of dollars.
The patriots in the state Legislature should have thought about that when they invited the payday lenders into Arkansas.
Let’s hope the state Supreme Court rights this wrong during this holiday season, even if the lenders say, bah, humbug.
(Postscript: The Arkansas Supreme Court has remanded a lawsuit against payday lenders to Circuit Judge Barry Sims’ court.)
EDITORIALS>> Gold in them thar hills
“What was all that about?” a few of you may have been wondering when Deltic Timber Corp. moved the heavens this spring to get legislation from the General Assembly to prevent the Central Arkansas Water utility from condemning some of Deltic’s land on the south shore of Lake Maumelle, the region’s principal source of water.
Central Arkansas Water, you will remember, thought the 220 luxury homes that the timber and land development company plans to build on the slopes above the lovely lake would contaminate the water and cost water users (that’s the rest of us peons) tens of millions of dollars to counteract. A big citizen campaign, along with House Speaker Bill Stovall of Quitman, scotched the bill. It almost certainly will reappear when the legislature meets again.
Why would Deltic spend so much money on one of the most intense lobbying campaigns in recent times and risk so much ill will among 360,000 water users? And then why would it turn down Central Arkansas Water’s offer of $3.8 million for the land, which lies just above the water system’s intake?
If the answer was not obvious, Forbes magazine clarified it last week, although not in the course of explaining the dispute over the development. It was a business story about this highly profitable development company, which started as a wood-products subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado.
Here’s a little of the Forbes article:
“Deltic also peddles plots to home builders from its large (60,000 acres) holding west of Little Rock. Since 2001 the development, called Chenal, has sold an average 206 lots annually for $76,000 each. This year’s target: 300 lots. For every $1 the company spends clearing the lots, laying down water pipes and building roads, it gets $2 back from the buyers.”
An average of $76,000 for a lot! And many lots go for several times that amount.
Until utilities are laid to the lots, all the speculative land owned by Deltic and other developers in the Maumelle and Chenal region is assessed for tax purposes at a tiny fraction of those values. The owners assess them as timber or pasture land, although the land is held for upscale development.
Typically, developers pay taxes of about $1.65 an acre a year to your county government and schools. Contemplate how much you pay for your little plot and house.
Although its board of directors are getting cold feet, Central Arkansas Water should proceed with condemnation with all deliberate haste and send a message that it will protect our water supply for our lifetimes.
Surely, the developers will not raise the usual cry about public condemnation: that you’re taking the land off the tax rolls and robbing the schools.
They wouldn’t dare.
Would they?
Central Arkansas Water, you will remember, thought the 220 luxury homes that the timber and land development company plans to build on the slopes above the lovely lake would contaminate the water and cost water users (that’s the rest of us peons) tens of millions of dollars to counteract. A big citizen campaign, along with House Speaker Bill Stovall of Quitman, scotched the bill. It almost certainly will reappear when the legislature meets again.
Why would Deltic spend so much money on one of the most intense lobbying campaigns in recent times and risk so much ill will among 360,000 water users? And then why would it turn down Central Arkansas Water’s offer of $3.8 million for the land, which lies just above the water system’s intake?
If the answer was not obvious, Forbes magazine clarified it last week, although not in the course of explaining the dispute over the development. It was a business story about this highly profitable development company, which started as a wood-products subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado.
Here’s a little of the Forbes article:
“Deltic also peddles plots to home builders from its large (60,000 acres) holding west of Little Rock. Since 2001 the development, called Chenal, has sold an average 206 lots annually for $76,000 each. This year’s target: 300 lots. For every $1 the company spends clearing the lots, laying down water pipes and building roads, it gets $2 back from the buyers.”
An average of $76,000 for a lot! And many lots go for several times that amount.
Until utilities are laid to the lots, all the speculative land owned by Deltic and other developers in the Maumelle and Chenal region is assessed for tax purposes at a tiny fraction of those values. The owners assess them as timber or pasture land, although the land is held for upscale development.
Typically, developers pay taxes of about $1.65 an acre a year to your county government and schools. Contemplate how much you pay for your little plot and house.
Although its board of directors are getting cold feet, Central Arkansas Water should proceed with condemnation with all deliberate haste and send a message that it will protect our water supply for our lifetimes.
Surely, the developers will not raise the usual cry about public condemnation: that you’re taking the land off the tax rolls and robbing the schools.
They wouldn’t dare.
Would they?
EDITORIAL>> The virtue of inaction on budget surplus
Deficits are orphans unclaimed even by the parents, but no one can avoid fondling a surplus. The state government ended the fiscal year with leftover cash of a little more than $100 million, about 2 percent of the state budget, and every day’s news brings more proposals for handling it.
Gov. Huckabee talked about a tax cut, but actually, if we divine his purposes accurately, he seemed to prefer doing nothing. For once, that familiar impulse of Mike Huckabee is exactly the right one. “Rainy day fund” is the popular phrase that he used, but it means hold on to the money and see when it comes in handy.
A few Republican lawmakers and pundits talk about calling the legislature into session and cutting taxes. One GOP legislator said the state should use the occasion to slash business taxes and make Arkansas a more attractive place for big corporations. That is the easy, popular and wrong thing to do.
Arkansas, like nearly every state in the union, and the federal government, has experienced unusually healthy revenue growth the past 18 months, owing mainly to the continuing housing boom, low interest rates, whopping corporate profits and solid stock profits. Like other narrow economic boomlets, it will not last.
Employment and wages are stagnant nearly four years after the last short and mild recession ended.
Cut taxes and the state will face a fiscal crisis in short order. The state will be back to raising taxes and cutting services. You will remember (actually, you probably don’t because most people hardly felt them) the tax cuts the legislature engineered at Gov. Huckabee’s behest in the late 1990s. They were followed in short order by an income surtax, increases in motor fuels taxes, several hikes in sales and use taxes and alcoholic beverage taxes.
Why lead the taxpayers through such artifices again? The governor and lawmakers could go home and claim to be tax cutters, not big spenders, but not many voters would fall for it. The experience of the past few years, in Arkansas and in Washington, D.C., is that tax cuts go to corporations and high-income people and the tax increases that follow settle on working families.
If we had to guess, Gov. Huckabee is thinking about the Arkansas Supreme Court. The attorney general is having to defend the governor and the legislature’s appropriation of only about one-twentieth of the money that they had concluded needed to be spent on school facilities to comply with the Supreme Court’s mandate and their refusal to allow one more dime the next school year on teacher salaries and equalization aid to schools — the heart of the constitutional issue before the court.
The attorney general now must stand before the Supreme Court masters and argue that the legislature and governor did all they could reasonably do to bring schools up to constitutional standards while more than $100 million has already been left on the table. His best argument this month may be that what the judges read in the paper was all just the lyin’ press — there is no surplus.
In a way, he would be right. The surplus is a mirage. Every dime of it, and much more, will be needed — and soon. Huckabee knows that.
Our neighbor, Sen. Tracy Steele of North Little Rock, proposed giving half the surplus (roughly $50 million) back to taxpayers in a rebate. It would be, we presume, a one-time check of a few dollars to those who file income tax returns. The poor, who earn too little to pay income taxes but pay plenty in consumption taxes, would get nothing.
Stick to your guns, governor. Do nothing.
Gov. Huckabee talked about a tax cut, but actually, if we divine his purposes accurately, he seemed to prefer doing nothing. For once, that familiar impulse of Mike Huckabee is exactly the right one. “Rainy day fund” is the popular phrase that he used, but it means hold on to the money and see when it comes in handy.
A few Republican lawmakers and pundits talk about calling the legislature into session and cutting taxes. One GOP legislator said the state should use the occasion to slash business taxes and make Arkansas a more attractive place for big corporations. That is the easy, popular and wrong thing to do.
Arkansas, like nearly every state in the union, and the federal government, has experienced unusually healthy revenue growth the past 18 months, owing mainly to the continuing housing boom, low interest rates, whopping corporate profits and solid stock profits. Like other narrow economic boomlets, it will not last.
Employment and wages are stagnant nearly four years after the last short and mild recession ended.
Cut taxes and the state will face a fiscal crisis in short order. The state will be back to raising taxes and cutting services. You will remember (actually, you probably don’t because most people hardly felt them) the tax cuts the legislature engineered at Gov. Huckabee’s behest in the late 1990s. They were followed in short order by an income surtax, increases in motor fuels taxes, several hikes in sales and use taxes and alcoholic beverage taxes.
Why lead the taxpayers through such artifices again? The governor and lawmakers could go home and claim to be tax cutters, not big spenders, but not many voters would fall for it. The experience of the past few years, in Arkansas and in Washington, D.C., is that tax cuts go to corporations and high-income people and the tax increases that follow settle on working families.
If we had to guess, Gov. Huckabee is thinking about the Arkansas Supreme Court. The attorney general is having to defend the governor and the legislature’s appropriation of only about one-twentieth of the money that they had concluded needed to be spent on school facilities to comply with the Supreme Court’s mandate and their refusal to allow one more dime the next school year on teacher salaries and equalization aid to schools — the heart of the constitutional issue before the court.
The attorney general now must stand before the Supreme Court masters and argue that the legislature and governor did all they could reasonably do to bring schools up to constitutional standards while more than $100 million has already been left on the table. His best argument this month may be that what the judges read in the paper was all just the lyin’ press — there is no surplus.
In a way, he would be right. The surplus is a mirage. Every dime of it, and much more, will be needed — and soon. Huckabee knows that.
Our neighbor, Sen. Tracy Steele of North Little Rock, proposed giving half the surplus (roughly $50 million) back to taxpayers in a rebate. It would be, we presume, a one-time check of a few dollars to those who file income tax returns. The poor, who earn too little to pay income taxes but pay plenty in consumption taxes, would get nothing.
Stick to your guns, governor. Do nothing.
FROM THE PUBLISHER>> Music still fills the air over area
BY GARRICK FELDMAN
You can create your own endless summer festival if you travel far enough to find your favorite musicians.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, fans traveled to Mississippi hill country north of Greenwood, where near the community of Avalon, off Hwy. 7, relatives and fans of Mississippi John Hurt honored the memory of the great country blues artist.
The lyrics to one of old his songs, “Coffee Blues,” asking for “just a lovin’ spoonful,” inspired the name of a 1960s rock group, whose leader, John Sebastian, will perform Mon-day near Hurt’s shack off a winding dirt road outside of town.
Sometimes you get lucky, and you’ll find good music in your backyard.
Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson appeared July 2 at Ray Winder Field. Dylan has been called the best white blues singer of all time, and if country is white blues, Nelson isn’t far behind.
Arkansans have heard some great music in recent weeks, including B.B. King at Little Rock’s Riverfest, the Holmes Brothers at Sticky Fingerz and, farther up the road in Eureka Springs, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Mavis Staples and Shemekia Copeland at the Eureka Springs Blues Festival, which attracted hundreds of bikers who came to town to show off their Harleys.
The Holmes Brothers — Wendell on electric guitar and Sherman on bass — are a gifted pair of musicians who play gospel-tinged blues with a drummer to round out their trio.
They played to a smallish crowd on a recent Tuesday night, but they were as enthusiastic as they were at last year’s King Biscuit Festival and at last May’s Handy Awards in Memphis, where they were named best blues group.
The Holmes Brother grew up in church and have moved beyond gospel into the secular world of the blues.
Their gospel-flavored CDs include the award-winning “Simple Truths” (Alligator), as well as “Promised Land” (Rounder), both a pleasure to listen to, especially on a rainy day.
The Blind Boys of Alabama never left the church. Dressed in long blue coats, they sang gospel for more than an hour in the old Eureka Springs Auditorium with their leader Clarence Fountain, along with Jimmy Carter, both original members of the group. (George Scott, another original member, passed away this spring.)
More than halfway through the show, Carter was led off stage and walked up and down the aisles, still singing and calling for a church service right then and there.
You haven’t lived till you’ve heard the Blind Boys of Alabama sing “Amazing Grace” like no one else can. Music in Heaven must sound something like the Blind Boys.
Their CDs include the Grammy Award-winning “Higher Ground” (Real World) with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, as well as “Oh, Lord, Stand by Me” and “Marching up to Zion,” which are two early LPs on one CD, and “The Sermon” (all from Specialty).
Three weekends ago, B.B. King returned to his home town of Indianola, Miss., where he helped break ground for a $10 million blues museum and performed at the city park. He played at the Club Ebony after 1 a.m. and didn’t stop till almost 3 a.m. He said he could have played all night, but the band looked tired, so he stopped.
Chris Thomas King (no relation), who acted in the movies “Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Ray,” played a couple of numbers at the club, including “What’d I Say?,” before B.B. showed up. The next evening at the club before a small crowd, Chris, a gifted musician, put on a great show for a couple of hours.
The lucky few who were there caught a great performance.
Most blues fans had headed out of town that night, down to Pickens, Miss., where B.B. King played for two nights at the 42nd Medgar Evers Homecoming, a fundraiser in honor of the slain civil rights leader.
Charles Evers, his older brother, gave a moving address about the long struggle to achieve equality for black people, including the right to vote, and at one point, Evers held back tears, and King reminded the white people in the audience that 40 years ago it was against the law for blacks and whites to sit together.
Then it was back to more music.
B.B. gave the band the cue to play Brinkley native Louis Jordan’s “Let the Good Times Roll,” reminding us once again that the blues is not always sad. You’ve got to leave the hard times behind as much as you can and have some fun.
Enjoy the music.
You can create your own endless summer festival if you travel far enough to find your favorite musicians.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, fans traveled to Mississippi hill country north of Greenwood, where near the community of Avalon, off Hwy. 7, relatives and fans of Mississippi John Hurt honored the memory of the great country blues artist.
The lyrics to one of old his songs, “Coffee Blues,” asking for “just a lovin’ spoonful,” inspired the name of a 1960s rock group, whose leader, John Sebastian, will perform Mon-day near Hurt’s shack off a winding dirt road outside of town.
Sometimes you get lucky, and you’ll find good music in your backyard.
Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson appeared July 2 at Ray Winder Field. Dylan has been called the best white blues singer of all time, and if country is white blues, Nelson isn’t far behind.
Arkansans have heard some great music in recent weeks, including B.B. King at Little Rock’s Riverfest, the Holmes Brothers at Sticky Fingerz and, farther up the road in Eureka Springs, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Mavis Staples and Shemekia Copeland at the Eureka Springs Blues Festival, which attracted hundreds of bikers who came to town to show off their Harleys.
The Holmes Brothers — Wendell on electric guitar and Sherman on bass — are a gifted pair of musicians who play gospel-tinged blues with a drummer to round out their trio.
They played to a smallish crowd on a recent Tuesday night, but they were as enthusiastic as they were at last year’s King Biscuit Festival and at last May’s Handy Awards in Memphis, where they were named best blues group.
The Holmes Brother grew up in church and have moved beyond gospel into the secular world of the blues.
Their gospel-flavored CDs include the award-winning “Simple Truths” (Alligator), as well as “Promised Land” (Rounder), both a pleasure to listen to, especially on a rainy day.
The Blind Boys of Alabama never left the church. Dressed in long blue coats, they sang gospel for more than an hour in the old Eureka Springs Auditorium with their leader Clarence Fountain, along with Jimmy Carter, both original members of the group. (George Scott, another original member, passed away this spring.)
More than halfway through the show, Carter was led off stage and walked up and down the aisles, still singing and calling for a church service right then and there.
You haven’t lived till you’ve heard the Blind Boys of Alabama sing “Amazing Grace” like no one else can. Music in Heaven must sound something like the Blind Boys.
Their CDs include the Grammy Award-winning “Higher Ground” (Real World) with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, as well as “Oh, Lord, Stand by Me” and “Marching up to Zion,” which are two early LPs on one CD, and “The Sermon” (all from Specialty).
Three weekends ago, B.B. King returned to his home town of Indianola, Miss., where he helped break ground for a $10 million blues museum and performed at the city park. He played at the Club Ebony after 1 a.m. and didn’t stop till almost 3 a.m. He said he could have played all night, but the band looked tired, so he stopped.
Chris Thomas King (no relation), who acted in the movies “Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Ray,” played a couple of numbers at the club, including “What’d I Say?,” before B.B. showed up. The next evening at the club before a small crowd, Chris, a gifted musician, put on a great show for a couple of hours.
The lucky few who were there caught a great performance.
Most blues fans had headed out of town that night, down to Pickens, Miss., where B.B. King played for two nights at the 42nd Medgar Evers Homecoming, a fundraiser in honor of the slain civil rights leader.
Charles Evers, his older brother, gave a moving address about the long struggle to achieve equality for black people, including the right to vote, and at one point, Evers held back tears, and King reminded the white people in the audience that 40 years ago it was against the law for blacks and whites to sit together.
Then it was back to more music.
B.B. gave the band the cue to play Brinkley native Louis Jordan’s “Let the Good Times Roll,” reminding us once again that the blues is not always sad. You’ve got to leave the hard times behind as much as you can and have some fun.
Enjoy the music.
OBITUARIES
Wilma Burrow
Wilma Jewel Burrow, 92, of Jacksonville, passed away July 16.
She worked in sales at Sterling Dept. Stores of Little Rock and was a seamstress for Fort Roots for 15 years until her retirement.
She is survived by one son, Bill W. Burrow, Sr., of Cabot; two sisters, Louise Henderson of Cabot and Cleo McConkey of Little Rock; grandchildren, Bill W. Burrow Jr., Kenneth Allen Burrow, Bryan Burrow, Jenny Parker and Carie Anne Ebrahimi; three great- grandchildren and friends of Baring Cross of North Little Rock and Second Baptist Church of Jacksonville. She was preceded in death by her husband, Harvey Dozier Burrow, her parents, Benjamin E. and Eva Georgiana (Galbreath) Edwards, three sisters and two brothers.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at North Little Rock Funeral Home chapel. Burial will be in Rest Hills Memorial Park.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Arkansas Hospice, 2200 Fort Roots Dr., North Little Rock, Ark. 72114.
Elizabeth Edmondson
Elizabeth Marie Ball Edmondson, 57, of Lonoke passed away July 15. She was a member of Cabot First United Methodist Church, a school teacher with Cabot Schools, a farmer and rancher.
She was preceded in death by her infant daughter, Melissa Marie Edmondson, and her parents, Ethel and Baxley Ball.
Survivors include her son, Baxley Glyn “B.G.” Edmondson of Lonoke; daughter, Gynger Edmondson of Cabot; sister-in-law and brother, D’Arylan and John Ball of Scott, and many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
Funeral services were held July 18 at Cabot First United Methodist Church with Bro. Richard Lancas-ter officiating. Interment followed at Lonoke Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Elizabeth Edmondson Memorial Fund at Cabot First United Methodist Church.
Hazel strickland
Hazel Strickland, 71, of Jacksonville passed away July 16.
She is survived by four sons, Victor Strickland, Jr., and wife Cecelia, Rev. Jerry Strickland, and wife Barbara, and David Strickland, all of Jacksonville, and Danny Strickland and wife Sandra of Venus, Fla.; seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren; five sisters, Ollie Fay Berdeaux of Cleveland, Ala., Nancy Brown and Patsy Curran, both of Crossett, and JoAnn Aguillard and Linda Harri-son, both of Port Allen, La.
Her husband, Victor B. Strickland, Sr. and her parents, David and Bonnie Sledge, preceded her in death.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at First United Pentecostal Church in north Crossett. Burial will be in Montrose Cemetery in Montrose.
Family will receive friends from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at First United Pentecostal Church in North Crossett. Arrangements are by North Little Rock Funeral Home, 1921 Main St., 758-1170.
Kenneth Spease
Kenneth F. Spease, 82, passed away July 15 in his Jacksonville home following a lengthy illness.
Born Oct. 20, 1922, in Aurora, Ill., he was a son of the late Frederick and Bertha Hartman Spease. He was also preceded in death by a sister, Doris Skaggs; brother, Robert H. Spease; daughter, Anna Marie Spease; grandson, Ronald Dirks, Jr., and nephew Ward Skaggs. He moved to Rock Falls, Ill., shortly after birth. He met and married Charlotte J. McNinch on Sept. 15, 1941.
Spease served in the Army and was a World War II veteran. He retired from Parris Alford in 1979. Shortly after retirement, Mr. and Mrs. Spease moved to Jacksonville.
He is survived by three sons; Charles F. Spease of Ward, Kenneth M. Spease and Robert J. Spease of Jacksonville; one daughter, Judith Martinez of Marion; six grandsons, Michael J. Spease of Jacksonville, Matthew Spease of Ward, Timothy Spease of North Little Rock, Rodney K. Duncan of Blytheville, Paul Martinez of Marion and Phillip Martinez of North Carolina; four granddaughters, Roxanne Long of Beebe, Melissa Telford and Sherie Swagarthy of Jacksonville and Lindsay Martinez of Florida, eight great-grandsons and four great-granddaughters.
Funeral services are under the direction of McDonald Funeral Home, Rock Falls, Ill. Local arrangements are by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Russell Drake
Russell Kenneth Drake, 60, of Princeton, Ill., died July 16 in Blessings Hospital in Quincy, Ill.
He was born in Bureau County, Ill., the son of Kenneth and Nelda Drake. In addition to his parents, he is survived by his daughter, Dana and her husband, Greg Rozenski of Jacksonville; a son, Ashley Drake of Jonesboro; two sisters, Martha and her husband, Albert Flaherty of Princeton, Ill., and Linda and her husband, Jim Marlowe of Wyanet, Ill.; three brothers, Leroy and wife Edith Drake of Princeton, Ill., Howard and his wife Alice Drake of Granville, Ill., and Douglas and wife Cheryl Drake of Princeton, Ill., and several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents.
His remains were cremated and a private family service will be held at a later date.
Louise Cazer
Louise Cazer, a member of the Lonoke United Methodist Church, born March 2, 1912, passed from this life to eternity on July 15.
She is survived by loving cousins; nephew Larry Cazer of Brinkley; niece, Sharon Rushin of Ward, and many great-nieces and nephews.
Graveside services were held July 17 at Lonoke Cemetery by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
Arrangements by Norberg Memorial Home in Princeton, Ill.
Wilma Jewel Burrow, 92, of Jacksonville, passed away July 16.
She worked in sales at Sterling Dept. Stores of Little Rock and was a seamstress for Fort Roots for 15 years until her retirement.
She is survived by one son, Bill W. Burrow, Sr., of Cabot; two sisters, Louise Henderson of Cabot and Cleo McConkey of Little Rock; grandchildren, Bill W. Burrow Jr., Kenneth Allen Burrow, Bryan Burrow, Jenny Parker and Carie Anne Ebrahimi; three great- grandchildren and friends of Baring Cross of North Little Rock and Second Baptist Church of Jacksonville. She was preceded in death by her husband, Harvey Dozier Burrow, her parents, Benjamin E. and Eva Georgiana (Galbreath) Edwards, three sisters and two brothers.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at North Little Rock Funeral Home chapel. Burial will be in Rest Hills Memorial Park.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Arkansas Hospice, 2200 Fort Roots Dr., North Little Rock, Ark. 72114.
Elizabeth Edmondson
Elizabeth Marie Ball Edmondson, 57, of Lonoke passed away July 15. She was a member of Cabot First United Methodist Church, a school teacher with Cabot Schools, a farmer and rancher.
She was preceded in death by her infant daughter, Melissa Marie Edmondson, and her parents, Ethel and Baxley Ball.
Survivors include her son, Baxley Glyn “B.G.” Edmondson of Lonoke; daughter, Gynger Edmondson of Cabot; sister-in-law and brother, D’Arylan and John Ball of Scott, and many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
Funeral services were held July 18 at Cabot First United Methodist Church with Bro. Richard Lancas-ter officiating. Interment followed at Lonoke Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Elizabeth Edmondson Memorial Fund at Cabot First United Methodist Church.
Hazel strickland
Hazel Strickland, 71, of Jacksonville passed away July 16.
She is survived by four sons, Victor Strickland, Jr., and wife Cecelia, Rev. Jerry Strickland, and wife Barbara, and David Strickland, all of Jacksonville, and Danny Strickland and wife Sandra of Venus, Fla.; seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren; five sisters, Ollie Fay Berdeaux of Cleveland, Ala., Nancy Brown and Patsy Curran, both of Crossett, and JoAnn Aguillard and Linda Harri-son, both of Port Allen, La.
Her husband, Victor B. Strickland, Sr. and her parents, David and Bonnie Sledge, preceded her in death.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at First United Pentecostal Church in north Crossett. Burial will be in Montrose Cemetery in Montrose.
Family will receive friends from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at First United Pentecostal Church in North Crossett. Arrangements are by North Little Rock Funeral Home, 1921 Main St., 758-1170.
Kenneth Spease
Kenneth F. Spease, 82, passed away July 15 in his Jacksonville home following a lengthy illness.
Born Oct. 20, 1922, in Aurora, Ill., he was a son of the late Frederick and Bertha Hartman Spease. He was also preceded in death by a sister, Doris Skaggs; brother, Robert H. Spease; daughter, Anna Marie Spease; grandson, Ronald Dirks, Jr., and nephew Ward Skaggs. He moved to Rock Falls, Ill., shortly after birth. He met and married Charlotte J. McNinch on Sept. 15, 1941.
Spease served in the Army and was a World War II veteran. He retired from Parris Alford in 1979. Shortly after retirement, Mr. and Mrs. Spease moved to Jacksonville.
He is survived by three sons; Charles F. Spease of Ward, Kenneth M. Spease and Robert J. Spease of Jacksonville; one daughter, Judith Martinez of Marion; six grandsons, Michael J. Spease of Jacksonville, Matthew Spease of Ward, Timothy Spease of North Little Rock, Rodney K. Duncan of Blytheville, Paul Martinez of Marion and Phillip Martinez of North Carolina; four granddaughters, Roxanne Long of Beebe, Melissa Telford and Sherie Swagarthy of Jacksonville and Lindsay Martinez of Florida, eight great-grandsons and four great-granddaughters.
Funeral services are under the direction of McDonald Funeral Home, Rock Falls, Ill. Local arrangements are by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Russell Drake
Russell Kenneth Drake, 60, of Princeton, Ill., died July 16 in Blessings Hospital in Quincy, Ill.
He was born in Bureau County, Ill., the son of Kenneth and Nelda Drake. In addition to his parents, he is survived by his daughter, Dana and her husband, Greg Rozenski of Jacksonville; a son, Ashley Drake of Jonesboro; two sisters, Martha and her husband, Albert Flaherty of Princeton, Ill., and Linda and her husband, Jim Marlowe of Wyanet, Ill.; three brothers, Leroy and wife Edith Drake of Princeton, Ill., Howard and his wife Alice Drake of Granville, Ill., and Douglas and wife Cheryl Drake of Princeton, Ill., and several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents.
His remains were cremated and a private family service will be held at a later date.
Louise Cazer
Louise Cazer, a member of the Lonoke United Methodist Church, born March 2, 1912, passed from this life to eternity on July 15.
She is survived by loving cousins; nephew Larry Cazer of Brinkley; niece, Sharon Rushin of Ward, and many great-nieces and nephews.
Graveside services were held July 17 at Lonoke Cemetery by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
Arrangements by Norberg Memorial Home in Princeton, Ill.
SPORTS>> Piranhas place 65 swimmers into meet
IN SHORT: Cabot swim team finishes season 1-5.
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Piranhas fell to the Otter Creek Otters Saturday in the final regular season meet of the Central Arkansas Swim League, and finished 1-5 in the six-week season.
Despite the record, it was still a great season for Cabot, as 65 Piranhas qualified for the CASL Meet of Champions that will be held this Saturday at UALR.
“I think it was a good season considering we have so many disadvantages to the other teams,” Cabot head coach Debbie Skidmore said. “We’re the only team in the league that doesn’t have an indoor pool. Everyone else has a great facility with a full-size (50-yards) pools, and we have to practice in a 20-yard outdoor pool. It’s just too small and too crowded to really teach the kids everything they need. If we had the advantages everyone else has, we would have done a lot better. The commitment is there from everyone except the outside people. The swimmers, the coaches and the parents all do a wonderful job, but the proposal to build a pool didn’t pass. We’re going to start having off-season practices in Jacksonville.”
The score in Saturday’s meet against the league runners up wasn’t close. The Otters won the meet 826-464, but it wasn’t without some Piranha highlights.
Several Cabot swimmers recorded their best times and moved up in classification.
Six-year-old Caitlin Cunningham won the silver division backstroke, and her 31.56 time in the event moved her up to gold level.
In the same event, Emily Harness won the bronze division race and moved up to silver with a time of 38.72.
Otter Creek’s Kara Moser won four of the five gold events in the 6-under age group, but Elaine Helpenstill won the 25-yard kickboard race.
Darby Harmon won the 8-under gold backstroke with a time of 24.44, but teammate Riley Young joined her at the gold level by winning the silver race with a 24.03.
Alex Caple moved up to silver in the breaststroke by winning the bronze race with a time of 31.50.
Ten-year old Piranha Micah Odom won all five top-level events in the 10-under girls division. In the 12-under girls category, where Cabot is deepest with talent, Megan Owens won three events while teammate Stephenie Odom took first in the breaststroke.
Otter Creek’s Erin Moser won the 12-under butterfly to stop a Cabot sweep of the age group.
Otter Creek dominated the girls 14-under age group, but Cabot’s Vicki Lovelette won four of the five gold events in the 16-under division.
Only Lauren Mesker of the Otters stopped a Lovelette sweep by taking the butterfly race.
Otter Creek dominated al-most all of the boys action. 14-year old Piranha Michael Rakoski, however, dominated his age group.
Rakoski was the only Cabot swimmer to win all five gold-level events in his age group.
The MOC will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday morning at UALR’s Donaghey Center.
Skidmore believes she has a few swimmers that are capable of breaking league records this Saturday.
“We’ve got several kids I think can do it.
“I know we’ve got some that are already close, and have already beaten the record times. You have to do it in the Meet of Champs for it to count though.”
Owens, Ashley Baird and Rakoski are among the potential record breakers.
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Piranhas fell to the Otter Creek Otters Saturday in the final regular season meet of the Central Arkansas Swim League, and finished 1-5 in the six-week season.
Despite the record, it was still a great season for Cabot, as 65 Piranhas qualified for the CASL Meet of Champions that will be held this Saturday at UALR.
“I think it was a good season considering we have so many disadvantages to the other teams,” Cabot head coach Debbie Skidmore said. “We’re the only team in the league that doesn’t have an indoor pool. Everyone else has a great facility with a full-size (50-yards) pools, and we have to practice in a 20-yard outdoor pool. It’s just too small and too crowded to really teach the kids everything they need. If we had the advantages everyone else has, we would have done a lot better. The commitment is there from everyone except the outside people. The swimmers, the coaches and the parents all do a wonderful job, but the proposal to build a pool didn’t pass. We’re going to start having off-season practices in Jacksonville.”
The score in Saturday’s meet against the league runners up wasn’t close. The Otters won the meet 826-464, but it wasn’t without some Piranha highlights.
Several Cabot swimmers recorded their best times and moved up in classification.
Six-year-old Caitlin Cunningham won the silver division backstroke, and her 31.56 time in the event moved her up to gold level.
In the same event, Emily Harness won the bronze division race and moved up to silver with a time of 38.72.
Otter Creek’s Kara Moser won four of the five gold events in the 6-under age group, but Elaine Helpenstill won the 25-yard kickboard race.
Darby Harmon won the 8-under gold backstroke with a time of 24.44, but teammate Riley Young joined her at the gold level by winning the silver race with a 24.03.
Alex Caple moved up to silver in the breaststroke by winning the bronze race with a time of 31.50.
Ten-year old Piranha Micah Odom won all five top-level events in the 10-under girls division. In the 12-under girls category, where Cabot is deepest with talent, Megan Owens won three events while teammate Stephenie Odom took first in the breaststroke.
Otter Creek’s Erin Moser won the 12-under butterfly to stop a Cabot sweep of the age group.
Otter Creek dominated the girls 14-under age group, but Cabot’s Vicki Lovelette won four of the five gold events in the 16-under division.
Only Lauren Mesker of the Otters stopped a Lovelette sweep by taking the butterfly race.
Otter Creek dominated al-most all of the boys action. 14-year old Piranha Michael Rakoski, however, dominated his age group.
Rakoski was the only Cabot swimmer to win all five gold-level events in his age group.
The MOC will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday morning at UALR’s Donaghey Center.
Skidmore believes she has a few swimmers that are capable of breaking league records this Saturday.
“We’ve got several kids I think can do it.
“I know we’ve got some that are already close, and have already beaten the record times. You have to do it in the Meet of Champs for it to count though.”
Owens, Ashley Baird and Rakoski are among the potential record breakers.
SPORTS>> Joyner to coach Red Devils
IN SHORT: Former North Pulaski coach moving across town to lead Red Devils
By Ray Benton
Leader sports writer
Former North Pulaski head boys basketball coach Victor Joyner accepted the boys head coaching job at Jacksonville High School Monday night. The selection of Joyner ends a search to fill the position that began back in May with the resignation of former head coach Jerry Wilson.
Wilson was on the search committee that interviewed five applicants, and said Joyner was the best fit.
“He’s a guy with lots of success at the high school level, and he’s already a member of this community. He does a lot of stuff with the kids in Jacksonville outside of school. I think it will be a good fit.”
Joyner had many words to describe his feelings when he was informed he got the job.
“I was relieved, excited, a little scared maybe. It’s a new challenge and there are high expectations at Jacksonville. But that’s what makes me go. I love a challenge.”
Jacksonville principal Kenneth Clarke made the final decision on the hire, and said that experience was a major issue among those interviewed.
“He’s the only one (who interviewed) who was a head coach,” Clarke said. “He’s been a head coach for a long time and he’s been very successful. You can’t overlook that kind of experience.”
Experience wasn’t the only contributing factor to Clarke’s decision.
“He a member of this community and he’s very involved. Plus he seemed very focused on the kids. He stressed in his interview that he has always worked hard for his kids as far as helping them make it to the next level, and that he would continue to do so. That was very impressive to me. That’s what we’re here for. He seemed just as much concerned with helping his players get into
college and become better young men, as he did with wins.”
Joyner also expressed a sincere sadness at leaving the site of his first head-coaching job. He even sneaked in at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to clean out his office, saying he wasn’t ready to say goodbye to anyone just yet.
“I just don’t think I could have handled it at this point,” Joyner said. “I had too many things going through my mind, and there are some people over there that are just like my family. I’ve been there 11 years, and I’ve grown to love those people.”
Joyner reflected on his first day at NP, and shared a spiritual moment that paralleled his first and last day on the job.
“When I first got to NP 11 years ago, I did the same thing and brought everything in here late, late at night,” Joyner said. “I turned the clock on, and it was the only light in the gym. I sat down in the middle of that floor and prayed that I would be able to do what’s right by all the kids that would be coming through here.
“I did the same thing last night. I turned the clock on and sat down in the middle of the floor and prayed. But when I turned the clock on, it was running. It was running down from eight minutes. And then when I looked over, the direction arrow was on. There’s a short in it and it doesn’t come on sometimes, but it came on, and it was pointing to the visitors bench, and it was turned and pointing towards Jacksonville. It might have been nothing, but it made me feel like it was okay to leave. Because I was really struggling to walk out of there.”
Joyner brings an impressive resume from NP, including a streak of about 13 straight wins over JHS. He won eight conference titles, including four straight from 2000 through 2003.
His teams advanced to three state tournament semifinals and made appearances in nine straight state tournaments.
Most of those state tournament appearances came in class AAAA, where NP is one of the largest schools in the classification. He’ll now be taking over one of the smallest schools in the state’s largest classification.
Joyner simply looks at it as another challenge.
“This is without a doubt the toughest conference, but like I said, it’s a new challenge and that’s what I love,” Joyner said. “I couldn’t sleep all night thinking about Jonesboro and West Memphis and those guys. I’m taking over a program in a tough conference that hasn’t been winning. I’m going to have to teach a whole new system, but we’ll get there. I want to get Jacksonville High School to No. 1 in the state and keep ‘em in the top five of the rankings all the time. That’s my dream for this school.”
North Pulaski and Jacksonville are natural rivals, and the two schools gear up for each other in every sport, but Joyner says he never looked at it as a rivalry game.
“I’ve always considered myself a Jacksonville coach,” Joyner said. “It’s not been at Jacksonville High School, but it was still Jacksonville kids, and that’s who I’m here for. I never really looked at the kids at Jacksonville as rivals, and I won’t look at the NP kids that way now. I realize some people don’t look at North Pulaski as a Jacksonville school, but I always have and I’ll continue to do so.”
By Ray Benton
Leader sports writer
Former North Pulaski head boys basketball coach Victor Joyner accepted the boys head coaching job at Jacksonville High School Monday night. The selection of Joyner ends a search to fill the position that began back in May with the resignation of former head coach Jerry Wilson.
Wilson was on the search committee that interviewed five applicants, and said Joyner was the best fit.
“He’s a guy with lots of success at the high school level, and he’s already a member of this community. He does a lot of stuff with the kids in Jacksonville outside of school. I think it will be a good fit.”
Joyner had many words to describe his feelings when he was informed he got the job.
“I was relieved, excited, a little scared maybe. It’s a new challenge and there are high expectations at Jacksonville. But that’s what makes me go. I love a challenge.”
Jacksonville principal Kenneth Clarke made the final decision on the hire, and said that experience was a major issue among those interviewed.
“He’s the only one (who interviewed) who was a head coach,” Clarke said. “He’s been a head coach for a long time and he’s been very successful. You can’t overlook that kind of experience.”
Experience wasn’t the only contributing factor to Clarke’s decision.
“He a member of this community and he’s very involved. Plus he seemed very focused on the kids. He stressed in his interview that he has always worked hard for his kids as far as helping them make it to the next level, and that he would continue to do so. That was very impressive to me. That’s what we’re here for. He seemed just as much concerned with helping his players get into
college and become better young men, as he did with wins.”
Joyner also expressed a sincere sadness at leaving the site of his first head-coaching job. He even sneaked in at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to clean out his office, saying he wasn’t ready to say goodbye to anyone just yet.
“I just don’t think I could have handled it at this point,” Joyner said. “I had too many things going through my mind, and there are some people over there that are just like my family. I’ve been there 11 years, and I’ve grown to love those people.”
Joyner reflected on his first day at NP, and shared a spiritual moment that paralleled his first and last day on the job.
“When I first got to NP 11 years ago, I did the same thing and brought everything in here late, late at night,” Joyner said. “I turned the clock on, and it was the only light in the gym. I sat down in the middle of that floor and prayed that I would be able to do what’s right by all the kids that would be coming through here.
“I did the same thing last night. I turned the clock on and sat down in the middle of the floor and prayed. But when I turned the clock on, it was running. It was running down from eight minutes. And then when I looked over, the direction arrow was on. There’s a short in it and it doesn’t come on sometimes, but it came on, and it was pointing to the visitors bench, and it was turned and pointing towards Jacksonville. It might have been nothing, but it made me feel like it was okay to leave. Because I was really struggling to walk out of there.”
Joyner brings an impressive resume from NP, including a streak of about 13 straight wins over JHS. He won eight conference titles, including four straight from 2000 through 2003.
His teams advanced to three state tournament semifinals and made appearances in nine straight state tournaments.
Most of those state tournament appearances came in class AAAA, where NP is one of the largest schools in the classification. He’ll now be taking over one of the smallest schools in the state’s largest classification.
Joyner simply looks at it as another challenge.
“This is without a doubt the toughest conference, but like I said, it’s a new challenge and that’s what I love,” Joyner said. “I couldn’t sleep all night thinking about Jonesboro and West Memphis and those guys. I’m taking over a program in a tough conference that hasn’t been winning. I’m going to have to teach a whole new system, but we’ll get there. I want to get Jacksonville High School to No. 1 in the state and keep ‘em in the top five of the rankings all the time. That’s my dream for this school.”
North Pulaski and Jacksonville are natural rivals, and the two schools gear up for each other in every sport, but Joyner says he never looked at it as a rivalry game.
“I’ve always considered myself a Jacksonville coach,” Joyner said. “It’s not been at Jacksonville High School, but it was still Jacksonville kids, and that’s who I’m here for. I never really looked at the kids at Jacksonville as rivals, and I won’t look at the NP kids that way now. I realize some people don’t look at North Pulaski as a Jacksonville school, but I always have and I’ll continue to do so.”
NEIGHBORS>> Having a blast
IN SHORT: It’s not just rocket science at cabot space camp.
By Sara Greene
Leader staff writer
With a jubilant countdown to each blast off, about 40 Junior Space Camp students watched MSgt. Bobby Coe of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps launch model rockets last week at Southside Elementary in Cabot.
The weeklong camp is an enrichment program where students can learn about planets, constellations, life in space and the history of flight through a variety of hand-on activities.
Junior Space Camp has been at Southside Elementary for the past two years. Before that it was held at the Arlene Cherry Memorial Library.
“Today we made space suits,” said kindergarten teacher Jane Shafer, as students displayed their paper bag space suits with empty plastic bottles on the back.
“Those are the rocket packs,” explained Ally Bevis, 5.
One of the highlights of space camp, for teachers as well as students is Rocket Day, when the classes watch members of the Cabot JROTC launch model rockets over the playground.
“This is my first year to launch rockets for Space Camp,” Coe said.
“I’ve been launching these for four years for the ROTC student’s Rocketry class.”
About 20 students watched the morning launch with Shafer and kindergarten teachers Christy Cavin and Terry Donham.
The foot-long model rockets are launched using a battery-powered ignition Coe explained.
The motors are lipstick-sized cardboard tubes of wadding and a small amount of sulfur propellant, less than in most fireworks.
The motors do not get hot enough to damage the rockets. Coe carefully set up each rocket and then pressed a button to launch.
Although each rocket contains a parachute, out of five launches that morning, only one parachute successfully opened.
Students shouted the count down for each launch, sometimes prematurely.
They eagerly informed Coe when the parachutes didn’t open and asked about the lingering smell of sulfur in the air after each launch.
“I do this for these little guys,” Coe said as the students marched back to the classroom to get ready for their parents to pick them up.
Susan Stephens’ daughters Samantha, 6, and Ashley, 9, both attend space camp.
“Ashley’s attended space camp every year,” Stephens said. “They’re teaching me things I didn’t know.”
By Sara Greene
Leader staff writer
With a jubilant countdown to each blast off, about 40 Junior Space Camp students watched MSgt. Bobby Coe of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps launch model rockets last week at Southside Elementary in Cabot.
The weeklong camp is an enrichment program where students can learn about planets, constellations, life in space and the history of flight through a variety of hand-on activities.
Junior Space Camp has been at Southside Elementary for the past two years. Before that it was held at the Arlene Cherry Memorial Library.
“Today we made space suits,” said kindergarten teacher Jane Shafer, as students displayed their paper bag space suits with empty plastic bottles on the back.
“Those are the rocket packs,” explained Ally Bevis, 5.
One of the highlights of space camp, for teachers as well as students is Rocket Day, when the classes watch members of the Cabot JROTC launch model rockets over the playground.
“This is my first year to launch rockets for Space Camp,” Coe said.
“I’ve been launching these for four years for the ROTC student’s Rocketry class.”
About 20 students watched the morning launch with Shafer and kindergarten teachers Christy Cavin and Terry Donham.
The foot-long model rockets are launched using a battery-powered ignition Coe explained.
The motors are lipstick-sized cardboard tubes of wadding and a small amount of sulfur propellant, less than in most fireworks.
The motors do not get hot enough to damage the rockets. Coe carefully set up each rocket and then pressed a button to launch.
Although each rocket contains a parachute, out of five launches that morning, only one parachute successfully opened.
Students shouted the count down for each launch, sometimes prematurely.
They eagerly informed Coe when the parachutes didn’t open and asked about the lingering smell of sulfur in the air after each launch.
“I do this for these little guys,” Coe said as the students marched back to the classroom to get ready for their parents to pick them up.
Susan Stephens’ daughters Samantha, 6, and Ashley, 9, both attend space camp.
“Ashley’s attended space camp every year,” Stephens said. “They’re teaching me things I didn’t know.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)