Emmett Reeves
After a long and prosperous life, Emmett Clayton Reeves of Jack-sonville went home to be with the Lord he dearly loved on April 23.
He was born Sept. 23, 1929, in Lonoke to John Emmett and Hazel Leona Reeves. He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Barbara Reeves.
For several summers before his 1949 graduation from Lonoke High School, he worked in the construction industry with his father.
In the early and mid-1950’s, Reeves worked on projects such as the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion during Gov. Orval Faubus’ term, housing at Little Rock Air Force Base, the Pine Bluff Arsenal and the Pine Bluff Pulp Mill.
He built many homes in the central Arkansas area and was a self-employed contractor for much of his career.
He ventured to Anchorage, Alaska, in 1968 to work on the Alaskan Airline terminal. In 1980, he and wife JoAnn semi-retired to manage their rental properties, but took on special projects occasionally. Reeves attended Bethel Chapel in Little Rock for eight years, where he built the church’s youth building, worshipped at Indian Hills Baptist Church for a decade, then moved to MacArthur Assembly of God Church where he had assisted with the construction of the original church building.
Through a long battle with cancer, he maintained his cheerfulness and was an inspiration to the people around him.
He leaves behind his loving wife of 38 years whom he married on Jan. 12, 1967, in Lonoke, JoAnn Treat MacDonald Reeves; four children, Leta Haggard and her husband John of Gravel Ridge, Bonita Rownd of Jacksonville, Vicki Reeves of Jacksonville, David Reeves and his wife Robbie of Gravel Ridge; three stepchildren, Fred MacDon-ald and his wife Sally of Higden, John MacDonald and his wife Joy of Jacksonville, and Randy MacDonald and his wife Karen of Hot Springs; four sisters, Marcia Parker of Dallas, Texas, Patsy Bounds of San Antonio, Texas, Hazel Wirt and Betty Meloon, both of North Little Rock; two brothers, Dr. John R. Reeves of California and Tommy Reeves of North Little Rock; 12 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren and many well-loved friends.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at MacArthur Assembly of God Church with Rev. Larry Burton officiating.
Entombment will follow at Chapel Hill Mausoleum. Funeral arrangements are by Moore’s Jack-sonville Funeral Home.
John Coleman
John David Coleman, 44, of Alexander died April 21 at his home. He was born Oct. 17, 1960, in San Antonio to Billy and Rosemary Wright Coleman.
He graduated from Duncan High School in Duncan, Okla. He served in the Navy and attended UALR, where he was majoring in history and French.
He is survived by a son, Ian Coleman of Arlington, Texas; parents, Billy and Rosemary Coleman of Alexander; three brothers, Glenn Coleman of Van Buren, Steve Coleman of Little Rock, Michael Coleman of Bryant.
Graveside services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock with Pastor Jack Diers officiating. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Jackson-ville Funeral Home.
Tolbert Balding
Tolbert G. Balding, 97, of Ward, died April 24. He was a retired farmer and worked at the Ward Co-op.
He was an avid hunter and a member of the Beebe Church of Christ. He is survived by four sons, Gerald Balding of Michigan, George Balding, Mack Balding and Carrol Balding, all of Ward; seven grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Evielea Balding, and one grandchild. Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe with burial in Apple Hill Cemetery.
Elizabeth Petty
Elizabeth M. Petty, 40, of Cabot died Monday.
She is the daughter of Erwin Stanley and the late Mary Ann Wilson Stanley. Petty is survived by her husband Mark Petty, one son, Matthew Petty and one daughter Kayla Petty. A brother, Austin Stanley and a sister, Shirley Gregory, also survive her.
She is a graduate of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and a field compliance officer for the IRS. She is a member of the National Federal Employees Union and of the Episcopal faith.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Cabot Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 3822, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or the charity of the donor’s choice.
Ralph Hanner
Ralph Allen Hanner, 51, of McRae, passed away April 24 in Searcy.
Born March 8, 1954, to Oscar and Ola Weldon Hanner in Downey, Calif. Survivors include three sisters: Joe Staley of Austin, Hazel Thomas (Nelson Walls) of Beebe, Linda and Bob Britton of McRae; one brother Butch Hanner of McRae and numerous nieces, nephews friends and loved ones. Memorial services will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday at Thomas Funeral Service.
Theodore Snellenberger
Theodore Snellenberger, 70, of Cabot, passed away April 24 at Arkansas Hospice, Fort Roots in North Little Rock.
He was born March 19, 1935 in Elkhardt, Ind., to Charles and Veronica Carlin Snellenberger. Mr. Snellenberger was a retired police officer, owner/operator of Corral CB Center and past president of the Moose Lodge in Cahokia, Ill.
He is preceded in death by his parents; wife Helen; three daughters, Margie Parker, Carolyn and Jean Snellenberger; one sister and four brothers.
He is survived by his daughter, Patsy and son-in-law Dennis Halverson of Cabot; three brothers, Don and Richard Snellenberger both of Illinois and Jim Snellen-berger of Indiana; sister-in-law Mildred and husband Donnie Hasty of Beebe; three grandchildren, Nikki Halverson of Cabot, Lisa and husband John Franklin Hice of Judsonia and Scott Robin-son of Cabot; five great-grandchildren, Stephen, Jamie, Kylah, Cody and Annalise.
Memorial services will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Lenny Brewer officiating.
Arrangements by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Jean Bissell
Jean Leslie Bissell, 80, of Cabot, passed away April 25. She was born in Little Rock. She attended school in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Draughin’s Business School.
She was a housewife, a Baptist and the mother of four sons and one daughter; Robert of Chester, Conn., Rick of Guilford, Conn., Eugene of Walkerton, Ind., Michael of Bowling Green, Ky., Kathleen of Jacksonville. Also surviving her is one adopted son, Dan; 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at noon Thursday in the Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home Chapel. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
She will be cremated. Memorials may be made to Aplastic Anemia Foundation.
Arrangements are by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
FROM THE PUBLISHER>> Reactions to series on predators
We’re getting plenty of comments about our series on sexual predators. Many readers are sending their comments to our Web site, www.arkansasleader.com.
Not all the comments are favorable. Here’s one reader who thinks we could have done better:
“As a retired journalist and grandparent, I was both disappointed and shocked by your story, ‘Predators in Our Midst’” (April 13). “My disappointment with The Leader starts with the writer focusing on the 1997 Jack Walls case; that’s hardly news, and certainly not above-the-fold, front-page news.
“Walls is locked up, people are dead, and space that could have been more constructively used with current information was wasted.
“...the narrative contained no comments from public officials, and no information citizens can use to protect themselves against sexual predators who may be lurking just around the corner, possibly near my grandchildren.
“Rehashing the Walls case and jumping from it back and forth between current cases was confusing and useless. That’s not to mention one of the weakest leads I’ve ever read:
“This area has had several high-profile sexual-abuse cases in recent years.”
“Not everyone has access to the Internet to check the whereabouts of these creeps within our communities.
“If The Leader is attempting a public service by providing any real information, it would NAME the offenders, their crimes, and their addresses.
“It’s a shame your otherwise wonderful newspaper dropped the ball with this amateurish, useless story. Do your readers a favor and let a more competent writer handle the big issues. Was the editor off this week?”
Here’s more e-mail:
“As the mother of two of Jack Walls’ victims, I think his name should be published in the paper every day for the rest of his life. I think every sex offender in Lonoke County should be listed in the paper at least once a year, so the public will know who they are and where they live, including the level ones and twos that they won’t list on the internet. Even though they may have only been caught once doesn’t mean that your child may not be the next.
“My family suffers every day of our lives because of the abuse of our boys, and I just pray that the ones that don’t want to hear or read the stories never have to go through the pain and sadness that we have had to live with for the past twenty years of our lives.”
Here’s another e-mail:
“Readers should realize that there are many, many men out there that wish they could erase, lock up or kill all memory of Jack Walls III and what he did to them. Rehashing this case useless? Wasted news space?
“Try telling that to those that have suffered. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Never, ever forget how easily a pedophile infiltrated a community and raped the minds of the adults ‘in control.’”
We’ll keep you informed about upcoming trials of accused sexual predators.
Unfortunately, there are many, many more on the courts dockets.
Not all the comments are favorable. Here’s one reader who thinks we could have done better:
“As a retired journalist and grandparent, I was both disappointed and shocked by your story, ‘Predators in Our Midst’” (April 13). “My disappointment with The Leader starts with the writer focusing on the 1997 Jack Walls case; that’s hardly news, and certainly not above-the-fold, front-page news.
“Walls is locked up, people are dead, and space that could have been more constructively used with current information was wasted.
“...the narrative contained no comments from public officials, and no information citizens can use to protect themselves against sexual predators who may be lurking just around the corner, possibly near my grandchildren.
“Rehashing the Walls case and jumping from it back and forth between current cases was confusing and useless. That’s not to mention one of the weakest leads I’ve ever read:
“This area has had several high-profile sexual-abuse cases in recent years.”
“Not everyone has access to the Internet to check the whereabouts of these creeps within our communities.
“If The Leader is attempting a public service by providing any real information, it would NAME the offenders, their crimes, and their addresses.
“It’s a shame your otherwise wonderful newspaper dropped the ball with this amateurish, useless story. Do your readers a favor and let a more competent writer handle the big issues. Was the editor off this week?”
Here’s more e-mail:
“As the mother of two of Jack Walls’ victims, I think his name should be published in the paper every day for the rest of his life. I think every sex offender in Lonoke County should be listed in the paper at least once a year, so the public will know who they are and where they live, including the level ones and twos that they won’t list on the internet. Even though they may have only been caught once doesn’t mean that your child may not be the next.
“My family suffers every day of our lives because of the abuse of our boys, and I just pray that the ones that don’t want to hear or read the stories never have to go through the pain and sadness that we have had to live with for the past twenty years of our lives.”
Here’s another e-mail:
“Readers should realize that there are many, many men out there that wish they could erase, lock up or kill all memory of Jack Walls III and what he did to them. Rehashing this case useless? Wasted news space?
“Try telling that to those that have suffered. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Never, ever forget how easily a pedophile infiltrated a community and raped the minds of the adults ‘in control.’”
We’ll keep you informed about upcoming trials of accused sexual predators.
Unfortunately, there are many, many more on the courts dockets.
TOP STORY>> CAW buys land, protects source
IN SHORT: Central Arkansas Water gathers steam in its move to protect the area’s drinking water with victories in the state legislature and in Pulaski County court.
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Central Arkansas Water has both the existing authority to condemn the land Deltic Timber planned to develop on the Lake Maumelle drinking-water reservoir and the money with which to pay for it, according to Jim Harvey, chief executive officer of the utility.
That authority was reaffirmed this month, letting CAW condemn about 300 acres owner Rick Ferguson had hoped to develop as Waterview Estates.
Right now, the water utility is getting a formal appraisal of Ferguson’s land and will establish a value and make him an offer before letting a jury decide on its value, according to Dale Russom, CAW’s chief operating officer.
The utility believes his land is worth about $750,000—Ferguson reportedly believes it’s worth about $16 million or more.
There’s been speculation that North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays feared that buying the land would require a water rate increase and was lobbying CAW board members against condemnation.
Harvey said he was unaware of any such action on Hays’ part. Hays denied he was helping CAW.
“I am talking to the commissioners,” Hays said Friday, “but it doesn’t have to do with suggesting how they protect the watershed. I’m staying consistent with the resolution the city council passed. If there are alternatives, pick the least costly, whether it’s monitoring and pretreatment, or acquisition of land or perhaps some other way.”
Hays said that when the issue first came up, he asked Harvey if condemnation could cost ratepayers and he was told it could.
“I’m on the ratepayers’ side,” the mayor said.
The Pulaski County Quorum Court last week approved a resolution supporting CAW and its efforts to keep the area’s drinking water at the highest possible quality.
County Judge Floyd (Buddy) Villines said Hays’ real concern was the cost to ratepayers, while his own perspective was first to determine what’s necessary to protect the watershed, then worry about the cost.
“I’ve been directed to condemn and purchase the land,” Villines said, citing a September 2003 resolution by the board and an April, 2004 board vote to condemn the land.
“I have not heard of anything in the works to overturn that,” Harvey said.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” he added.
The land in question is 1,000 acres, most of it owned by Deltic Timber, the balance by Ferguson.
A jury will decide what that land is worth in September, according to CAW’s Russom.
As for the cost of purchasing the condemned land, Harvey said the utility had budgeted and set aside about $5 million for this year and Russom said the total was $9 million over two years.
“That would not require a rate increase,” Harvey said. “That’s part of the last bond issue. It’s covered in the existing rate structure.”
CAW will meet again Thursday to review plans for the watershed.
Hays and Little Rock Mayor Jim Daily showed up and spoke in favor of protecting the water, but didn’t directly address the condemnation issue, said Russom. “They wanted us to explore all options.”
CAW commissioners will be interviewing three finalists Thurs-day in the process of selecting a firm to plan Lake Maumelle watershed management, Russom said.
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Central Arkansas Water has both the existing authority to condemn the land Deltic Timber planned to develop on the Lake Maumelle drinking-water reservoir and the money with which to pay for it, according to Jim Harvey, chief executive officer of the utility.
That authority was reaffirmed this month, letting CAW condemn about 300 acres owner Rick Ferguson had hoped to develop as Waterview Estates.
Right now, the water utility is getting a formal appraisal of Ferguson’s land and will establish a value and make him an offer before letting a jury decide on its value, according to Dale Russom, CAW’s chief operating officer.
The utility believes his land is worth about $750,000—Ferguson reportedly believes it’s worth about $16 million or more.
There’s been speculation that North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays feared that buying the land would require a water rate increase and was lobbying CAW board members against condemnation.
Harvey said he was unaware of any such action on Hays’ part. Hays denied he was helping CAW.
“I am talking to the commissioners,” Hays said Friday, “but it doesn’t have to do with suggesting how they protect the watershed. I’m staying consistent with the resolution the city council passed. If there are alternatives, pick the least costly, whether it’s monitoring and pretreatment, or acquisition of land or perhaps some other way.”
Hays said that when the issue first came up, he asked Harvey if condemnation could cost ratepayers and he was told it could.
“I’m on the ratepayers’ side,” the mayor said.
The Pulaski County Quorum Court last week approved a resolution supporting CAW and its efforts to keep the area’s drinking water at the highest possible quality.
County Judge Floyd (Buddy) Villines said Hays’ real concern was the cost to ratepayers, while his own perspective was first to determine what’s necessary to protect the watershed, then worry about the cost.
“I’ve been directed to condemn and purchase the land,” Villines said, citing a September 2003 resolution by the board and an April, 2004 board vote to condemn the land.
“I have not heard of anything in the works to overturn that,” Harvey said.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” he added.
The land in question is 1,000 acres, most of it owned by Deltic Timber, the balance by Ferguson.
A jury will decide what that land is worth in September, according to CAW’s Russom.
As for the cost of purchasing the condemned land, Harvey said the utility had budgeted and set aside about $5 million for this year and Russom said the total was $9 million over two years.
“That would not require a rate increase,” Harvey said. “That’s part of the last bond issue. It’s covered in the existing rate structure.”
CAW will meet again Thursday to review plans for the watershed.
Hays and Little Rock Mayor Jim Daily showed up and spoke in favor of protecting the water, but didn’t directly address the condemnation issue, said Russom. “They wanted us to explore all options.”
CAW commissioners will be interviewing three finalists Thurs-day in the process of selecting a firm to plan Lake Maumelle watershed management, Russom said.
TOP STORY>> Cabot to pay for fee study
IN SHORT: But the city council’s finance committee still doesn’t know how to pay for a study that recommends putting levies on construction.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The finance committee of the Cabot City Council met briefly Monday even-ing to discuss paying for the second phase of an impact fee study that will eventually be used to determine how much to add to the cost of new homes and other construction to offset the cost the city incurs because of growth.
The impact study bill from Duncan Associates of Austin, Texas, was for $51,000. The city council voted last week to pay the bill, then called for the committee meeting to determine how.
Most of that money will have to come from the general fund.
The study has determined so far that wastewater, streets, parks and the fire department should benefit from any fee that the city approves.
So those departments are re-sponsible for paying for the study. But of that group, only the fire department has funds available to pay its part of the study, $7,460.
Wastewater, streets and parks, which owe $15,040, $15,550 and $9,950 respectively, don’t have enough in the budget to pay the bill.
The committee also discussed the city budget to allow Peggy Moss, personnel director, to pay the members of the planning commission.
The 2005 budget includes enough to pay the commissioners $100 a month to cover their expenses.
But Alderman David Polantz, the committee chairman, said Moss lacks information to actually cut the checks, so they haven’t been paid.
The committee discussed adding the commissioners’ names and the amount they are to be paid to the budget as a remedy to Moss’ problem, but city attorney Ken Williams advised against it saying the commissioners are not city employees and he didn’t want to turn them into city employees.
“Cut them a check. You’ve already put them in the budget,” Williams said.
Finance director Dale Walker said he believed the problem is that the salaries are included in the budget as an operating expense and the solution is to move them to payroll. The quandary was left unresolved with the commissioners still not paid the $400 they are now owed. Walker said he would talk to Moss to determine what information she needs and the committee agreed to take the matter up when the full council meets.
The 2005 budget is the first to contain salaries for the members of the planning commission.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The finance committee of the Cabot City Council met briefly Monday even-ing to discuss paying for the second phase of an impact fee study that will eventually be used to determine how much to add to the cost of new homes and other construction to offset the cost the city incurs because of growth.
The impact study bill from Duncan Associates of Austin, Texas, was for $51,000. The city council voted last week to pay the bill, then called for the committee meeting to determine how.
Most of that money will have to come from the general fund.
The study has determined so far that wastewater, streets, parks and the fire department should benefit from any fee that the city approves.
So those departments are re-sponsible for paying for the study. But of that group, only the fire department has funds available to pay its part of the study, $7,460.
Wastewater, streets and parks, which owe $15,040, $15,550 and $9,950 respectively, don’t have enough in the budget to pay the bill.
The committee also discussed the city budget to allow Peggy Moss, personnel director, to pay the members of the planning commission.
The 2005 budget includes enough to pay the commissioners $100 a month to cover their expenses.
But Alderman David Polantz, the committee chairman, said Moss lacks information to actually cut the checks, so they haven’t been paid.
The committee discussed adding the commissioners’ names and the amount they are to be paid to the budget as a remedy to Moss’ problem, but city attorney Ken Williams advised against it saying the commissioners are not city employees and he didn’t want to turn them into city employees.
“Cut them a check. You’ve already put them in the budget,” Williams said.
Finance director Dale Walker said he believed the problem is that the salaries are included in the budget as an operating expense and the solution is to move them to payroll. The quandary was left unresolved with the commissioners still not paid the $400 they are now owed. Walker said he would talk to Moss to determine what information she needs and the committee agreed to take the matter up when the full council meets.
The 2005 budget is the first to contain salaries for the members of the planning commission.
TOP STORY>> Zoning causes concern in Beebe
IN SHORT: Underdeveloped property in proposed annexation area will be zoned commercial if voters approve idea in August.
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
Although Beebe residents were told in previous public meetings that proposed annexation areas would be zoned residential, the city council decided Monday night that all undeveloped property along Highway 64 and 31 and DeWitt Henry Drive will be zoned commercial.
The exception will be land that has been previously zoned industrial. The council agreed to add Davidson Road to the annexation area.
“If it’s along a highway right-of-way, rightfully it should be commercial property,” Alderman Mike Robertson said.
“Living beside commercial property is not all that bad. I live beside Beebe Trailer Sales, and it’s quiet at night. It’s not all bad.”
The city council was poised to pass the ordinance and put it before voters in a July 12 special election. The changes propose Monday night will likely cause the special election’s date be moved to August.
“How do we object to this? If we have property that’s not developed but we don’t want it commercial?” asked a distraught Beebe resident.
“My sisters own property on each side of me and plan to use it as residential.”
Scheel said any resident can petition the council to have property rezoned at any time but doubted residential rezoning would be approved.
“If you decided to rezone it, unless there was a convincing argument, it would be directly opposed to what the council is deciding tonight,” Scheel said.
Robertson added the city’s land-use plan is bound to change some.
The council will add Davidson Road to the annexation area in response to a request by Kelton Keathley. He said he owns about 60 usable acres on Davidson Road. He described the city’s annexation proposal as ‘piecemeal.’
“Let’s face it, the city is looking for area and the city is looking for revenue. You’re not getting 26 homes in your annexation out there,” Keathley said. He supported the council’s decision to zone undeveloped property as commercial.
“I’m going to be honest with you. You bring my land in as residential, I’m going to put in a subdivision. It’s the last piece of good industrial property around Beebe. You know it and I know it,” he said.
Jason Scheel, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, told the council they have a one-year window to address zoning after the ordinance passes to have the areas match the city’s land-use plan.
In the Economic Development Commission report, Marjorie Armstrong discussed a meeting with Stuart Dalrymple, developer of the southeast corner of the new Pecan Street exit. He would like to develop about two acres of the property into multi-family housing.
“I asked him to get me more information on what they would look like and what the rental price would be. I don’t think any of us want to see low-rent apartment buildings right there in view of the interstate. But if it’s a good development, it might be in Beebe’s best interest,” Armstrong said.
Robertson begged to differ.
“I disagree with any multi-family housing out next to the exits. Retail outlets is the route we need to help our tax base,” Robertson said.
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
Although Beebe residents were told in previous public meetings that proposed annexation areas would be zoned residential, the city council decided Monday night that all undeveloped property along Highway 64 and 31 and DeWitt Henry Drive will be zoned commercial.
The exception will be land that has been previously zoned industrial. The council agreed to add Davidson Road to the annexation area.
“If it’s along a highway right-of-way, rightfully it should be commercial property,” Alderman Mike Robertson said.
“Living beside commercial property is not all that bad. I live beside Beebe Trailer Sales, and it’s quiet at night. It’s not all bad.”
The city council was poised to pass the ordinance and put it before voters in a July 12 special election. The changes propose Monday night will likely cause the special election’s date be moved to August.
“How do we object to this? If we have property that’s not developed but we don’t want it commercial?” asked a distraught Beebe resident.
“My sisters own property on each side of me and plan to use it as residential.”
Scheel said any resident can petition the council to have property rezoned at any time but doubted residential rezoning would be approved.
“If you decided to rezone it, unless there was a convincing argument, it would be directly opposed to what the council is deciding tonight,” Scheel said.
Robertson added the city’s land-use plan is bound to change some.
The council will add Davidson Road to the annexation area in response to a request by Kelton Keathley. He said he owns about 60 usable acres on Davidson Road. He described the city’s annexation proposal as ‘piecemeal.’
“Let’s face it, the city is looking for area and the city is looking for revenue. You’re not getting 26 homes in your annexation out there,” Keathley said. He supported the council’s decision to zone undeveloped property as commercial.
“I’m going to be honest with you. You bring my land in as residential, I’m going to put in a subdivision. It’s the last piece of good industrial property around Beebe. You know it and I know it,” he said.
Jason Scheel, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, told the council they have a one-year window to address zoning after the ordinance passes to have the areas match the city’s land-use plan.
In the Economic Development Commission report, Marjorie Armstrong discussed a meeting with Stuart Dalrymple, developer of the southeast corner of the new Pecan Street exit. He would like to develop about two acres of the property into multi-family housing.
“I asked him to get me more information on what they would look like and what the rental price would be. I don’t think any of us want to see low-rent apartment buildings right there in view of the interstate. But if it’s a good development, it might be in Beebe’s best interest,” Armstrong said.
Robertson begged to differ.
“I disagree with any multi-family housing out next to the exits. Retail outlets is the route we need to help our tax base,” Robertson said.
TOP STORY>> Governor offers reward in fires
IN SHORT: The reward would come from Huckabee's emergency fund for information on fires at Sherwood Elementary School and Hope High School.
By BRIAN RODRIGUEZ
Leader staff writer
Gov. Mike Huckabee an-nounced Tuesday he is offering two rewards of $10,000 each from his emergency fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people responsible for setting fires at Sher-wood Elementary School and at Hope High School.
“We’re doing everything in our power to solve these crimes, which are truly crimes against children of Arkansas,” he said at a press conference at the Governor’s Mansion.
“The public schools are among the most important places in any Arkan-sas community.”
Besides the property damage they caused, the fires interfered with classroom instruction and robbed both communities of an important symbol in their communities.
“We know someone out there knows something,” he said. “Holding information in, if they have any, doesn’t do anyone any good.”
Huckabee also has a personal interest in the matter: Huckabee, his wife and his parents had all attended Hope High School.
The first fire was set in the Sherwood Elementary School cafeteria on April 9.
Investigators said the fire was started in three different places in the cafeteria and caused about $500,000 to the school. The cafeteria, kitchen and stage were damaged in the blaze, and smoke filled the entire first and second floors of the school during the fire.
Sherwood Elementary students went to First Assembly of God in North Little Rock for eight days while the school was cleaned up.
“I want to publicly thank the First Assembly of God for helping house our students,” said Don Henderson, superintendent of Pulaski County Special School District. “Otherwise, those students would have had to stay home and miss out on their education.”
Huckabee, along with the Sherwood and Hope police chiefs, seemed hopeful that the reward would bring results.
“I hope that we can make an announcement soon that the award money will be awarded,” Huckabee said.
“Our school is vital to our community,” said Sherwood Police Chief Kelvin Nicholson. “As the investigation goes on, I hope that every day we’re closer to making an arrest.”
“I’m an optimistic person and I hope we bring this case to an end in an expedient manner,” said Hope Police Chief J.R. Wilson.
The second fire was started in the old cafeteria of Hope High School on April 17.
The fire spread upward to the library on the second floor and to the book room on the third floor, destroying numerous books and a new computer lab. The school had just finished a $2.6 million renovation.
“We were proud to finally have something new, and they just took it,” said Hope assistant principal Juneanne Brown.
Cleanup efforts alone are estimated at $1 million. School officials expect the total damage to exceed $2 million.
Anyone with information about either fire should contact:
Arkansas State Police Crime Tip Hotline at 800-553-3820.
Sherwood Police Department at 835-1425.
Hope Police Department at 755-2552.
By BRIAN RODRIGUEZ
Leader staff writer
Gov. Mike Huckabee an-nounced Tuesday he is offering two rewards of $10,000 each from his emergency fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people responsible for setting fires at Sher-wood Elementary School and at Hope High School.
“We’re doing everything in our power to solve these crimes, which are truly crimes against children of Arkansas,” he said at a press conference at the Governor’s Mansion.
“The public schools are among the most important places in any Arkan-sas community.”
Besides the property damage they caused, the fires interfered with classroom instruction and robbed both communities of an important symbol in their communities.
“We know someone out there knows something,” he said. “Holding information in, if they have any, doesn’t do anyone any good.”
Huckabee also has a personal interest in the matter: Huckabee, his wife and his parents had all attended Hope High School.
The first fire was set in the Sherwood Elementary School cafeteria on April 9.
Investigators said the fire was started in three different places in the cafeteria and caused about $500,000 to the school. The cafeteria, kitchen and stage were damaged in the blaze, and smoke filled the entire first and second floors of the school during the fire.
Sherwood Elementary students went to First Assembly of God in North Little Rock for eight days while the school was cleaned up.
“I want to publicly thank the First Assembly of God for helping house our students,” said Don Henderson, superintendent of Pulaski County Special School District. “Otherwise, those students would have had to stay home and miss out on their education.”
Huckabee, along with the Sherwood and Hope police chiefs, seemed hopeful that the reward would bring results.
“I hope that we can make an announcement soon that the award money will be awarded,” Huckabee said.
“Our school is vital to our community,” said Sherwood Police Chief Kelvin Nicholson. “As the investigation goes on, I hope that every day we’re closer to making an arrest.”
“I’m an optimistic person and I hope we bring this case to an end in an expedient manner,” said Hope Police Chief J.R. Wilson.
The second fire was started in the old cafeteria of Hope High School on April 17.
The fire spread upward to the library on the second floor and to the book room on the third floor, destroying numerous books and a new computer lab. The school had just finished a $2.6 million renovation.
“We were proud to finally have something new, and they just took it,” said Hope assistant principal Juneanne Brown.
Cleanup efforts alone are estimated at $1 million. School officials expect the total damage to exceed $2 million.
Anyone with information about either fire should contact:
Arkansas State Police Crime Tip Hotline at 800-553-3820.
Sherwood Police Department at 835-1425.
Hope Police Department at 755-2552.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
OPINION>> School prayer falters
BY ERNIE DUMAS
Adjournment of the 2005 General Assembly was a blessed event, coming as it did not a moment too soon. The legislature gets us into the worst trouble when it tries to transform religious doctrine into civil law and adjournment, or what we hope will be adjournment sine die, saved us from one more such folly.
Whether it simply ran out of time or it found the bill unacceptable, the Education Committee of the Senate let this session’s school prayer bill die at its last hasty meeting before adjournment. Sen. Jim Argue observed that the bill seemed to go too far, and no senator made a motion that it be endorsed.
The House of Representatives had approved the bill and rushed it to the Senate eight days ago.
Thus the state averts a certain lawsuit and a decision just as certainly unfavorable.
The bill purported to authorize voluntary student-led prayer at public school functions. Now, the U. S. Supreme Court, a court dominated by Republican-appointed justices, as recently as 2000 ruled that student-led prayer at school-sponsored assemblies and functions violated the Constitution as surely as did prayer officially sponsored by the government.
Students already may pray singly or in groups anywhere on school grounds any time as long as other students are not coerced into participating, the court said in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe. But where students are assembled for school-sponsored functions, student-led prayer to a captive student audience is still de facto a government-enforced prayer.
The sponsor and backers of the bill said it got around that problem by saying that school officials were forbidden to prevent a student from leading a prayer over the public-address system at a football game or graduation. The premise was that since the hands of the principal, superintendent or school board would be tied, it would be clear that it was not a government prayer and was wholly initiated by a student, even though students of a different faith would be forced to listen or else get up and leave the stadium or the assembly.
But Rep. Bill Pritchard, the sponsor, gave it away in the House debate. He said: “This just gives those principals and administrators the cover they need to say, ‘I can’t interfere and I can’t stop this.”
It would be, in other words, just a ruse, “cover” for administrators who want to have a prayer to mollify the local Baptists, or Catholics, or whatever sect is dominant in any community. That seemed to mollify lawmakers who were worried about the state having to defend against another costly lawsuit.
Rep. Steve Harrelson of Texarkana, a lawyer, got to the heart of the problem. He said he had concluded that the bill might evade the church-state separation problem by staying the hands of administrators, but he was bothered nonetheless.
He pondered what would happen if a satan-worshiping student wanted to take over the public-address system at graduation or the homecoming football game to call upon the devil for dispensation.
Or someone who wanted to espouse another alien faith?
What about an atheist, a nature worshiper, who demanded province at every game, every function, to enlist followers?
Under Pritchard’s bill, the student would have to be given the mike. But, of course, you know that school officials would not let it happen. Only prayer and homilies meeting the standards of permissible religious views would be acceptable.
Let the kids continue to pray around the flagpole, as Rep. Buddy Blair said students did at the school in his town each day, or in private precincts where the Bible says they should pray but don’t make a federal case out of it.
And thanks, senators, for saving us from the cost and embarrassment of another suit.
Adjournment of the 2005 General Assembly was a blessed event, coming as it did not a moment too soon. The legislature gets us into the worst trouble when it tries to transform religious doctrine into civil law and adjournment, or what we hope will be adjournment sine die, saved us from one more such folly.
Whether it simply ran out of time or it found the bill unacceptable, the Education Committee of the Senate let this session’s school prayer bill die at its last hasty meeting before adjournment. Sen. Jim Argue observed that the bill seemed to go too far, and no senator made a motion that it be endorsed.
The House of Representatives had approved the bill and rushed it to the Senate eight days ago.
Thus the state averts a certain lawsuit and a decision just as certainly unfavorable.
The bill purported to authorize voluntary student-led prayer at public school functions. Now, the U. S. Supreme Court, a court dominated by Republican-appointed justices, as recently as 2000 ruled that student-led prayer at school-sponsored assemblies and functions violated the Constitution as surely as did prayer officially sponsored by the government.
Students already may pray singly or in groups anywhere on school grounds any time as long as other students are not coerced into participating, the court said in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe. But where students are assembled for school-sponsored functions, student-led prayer to a captive student audience is still de facto a government-enforced prayer.
The sponsor and backers of the bill said it got around that problem by saying that school officials were forbidden to prevent a student from leading a prayer over the public-address system at a football game or graduation. The premise was that since the hands of the principal, superintendent or school board would be tied, it would be clear that it was not a government prayer and was wholly initiated by a student, even though students of a different faith would be forced to listen or else get up and leave the stadium or the assembly.
But Rep. Bill Pritchard, the sponsor, gave it away in the House debate. He said: “This just gives those principals and administrators the cover they need to say, ‘I can’t interfere and I can’t stop this.”
It would be, in other words, just a ruse, “cover” for administrators who want to have a prayer to mollify the local Baptists, or Catholics, or whatever sect is dominant in any community. That seemed to mollify lawmakers who were worried about the state having to defend against another costly lawsuit.
Rep. Steve Harrelson of Texarkana, a lawyer, got to the heart of the problem. He said he had concluded that the bill might evade the church-state separation problem by staying the hands of administrators, but he was bothered nonetheless.
He pondered what would happen if a satan-worshiping student wanted to take over the public-address system at graduation or the homecoming football game to call upon the devil for dispensation.
Or someone who wanted to espouse another alien faith?
What about an atheist, a nature worshiper, who demanded province at every game, every function, to enlist followers?
Under Pritchard’s bill, the student would have to be given the mike. But, of course, you know that school officials would not let it happen. Only prayer and homilies meeting the standards of permissible religious views would be acceptable.
Let the kids continue to pray around the flagpole, as Rep. Buddy Blair said students did at the school in his town each day, or in private precincts where the Bible says they should pray but don’t make a federal case out of it.
And thanks, senators, for saving us from the cost and embarrassment of another suit.
EDITORIAL>> Schools left floundering
However briefly, Arkansas is again a defendant in its courts, where we are expected to explain why, through the medium of our elected lawmakers, we have not provided our children the education that our Constitution promises them.
The attorney for the Rogers School District asked the Supreme Court to reopen the Lake View school case, which the court had closed last year. Rogers says it can’t progress toward a suitable school program with the money and the tools that the legislature gave it in the recently disbanded session. If Rogers, with all its wealth, can’t do it, the rest of the state is in real trouble.
We say “briefly” because the Supreme Court is not apt to give Rogers much of a hearing, not right away. The court — or at least the four-member majority in the last Lake View decision — put itself in an intolerable bind. It issued a mandate in the case and said further litigation would need to be a fresh case. That means a lawsuit will need to be filed in Pulaski Chancery Court, where the Lake View case began many years ago. Three dissenting justices wanted to hold the mandate in abeyance until the legislature had actually fulfilled their oaths and met their constitutional duty. Those justices were frank about the need to keep the pressure on while the goal of an adequate educational program for all was in sight.
Lest state officials be encouraged to think they could slack off because the case was being closed, the court’s majority inserted some tough language in its decision, which Rogers attorney David Matthews seized upon in his petition to the court Thursday to withdraw the mandate and order new review of the legislature’s work.
This is what the court said: “Make no mistake, this court will exercise the power and authority of the judiciary at any time to assure that the students of our state will not fall short of the goal set forth by this court. We will assure its attainment.”
What does that mean? Unless one of the four prevailing justices joins the dissenters it apparently means the court will be very tough, but only when a fresh lawsuit reaches it in three or four years.
We shall see.
The court has already reversed itself once, when it withdrew its mandate in January 2004 and ordered a review of the legislature’s inaction. The lawmakers promptly shaped up and enacted some sweeping educational reform.
If the court reverses itself again and appoints masters to evaluate this legislature’s work, they can hardly miss the failings. Per-pupil spending from basic operating aid allocated by the legislature will not increase a dime next year, and given rising energy costs and new students that amounts to a reduction.
Of some $2 billion in needed capital costs to bring school facilities up to par, which the court had ordered, only about $104 million will be forthcoming. The bond-issue financing that was bruited about as the permanent remedy for school facilities never materialized.
In its 2002 order holding the public education system to be unconstitutional, the Supreme Court said the legislature could no longer allocate money to the schools by simply dividing the pie among the state’s many needs.
Since education was a constitutional mandate and most other services were not, the legislature was expected to determine the schools’ needs first, provide for them and then divide the remainder of the state’s resources among the various government services. The legislature in 2004, under the court’s watchful eye, did that.
But no legislator will argue that it did that this spring. Assembly leaders concluded that taxes could not be raised and, moreover, the legislature sharply lowered available revenues by enacting numerous special tax exemptions and repealing a surcharge on income taxes. Then lawmakers concluded that schools would have to take a hit in the budget next year so that Medicaid, prisons, higher education and the State Police could be funded adequately.
Even state Sen. Jim Argue of Little Rock, the legislature’s fiercest advocate for education, argued that under hard circumstances the lawmakers had done about the best that they could for education, except for facilities. Over his objections, legislators ran away with much of the state’s general improvement fund to spend on local pork projects to help their re-elections.
With any luck, Argue won’t suffer the embarrassment of having his defense tested in a court of law anytime soon.
For the children, there’s always 2007.
The attorney for the Rogers School District asked the Supreme Court to reopen the Lake View school case, which the court had closed last year. Rogers says it can’t progress toward a suitable school program with the money and the tools that the legislature gave it in the recently disbanded session. If Rogers, with all its wealth, can’t do it, the rest of the state is in real trouble.
We say “briefly” because the Supreme Court is not apt to give Rogers much of a hearing, not right away. The court — or at least the four-member majority in the last Lake View decision — put itself in an intolerable bind. It issued a mandate in the case and said further litigation would need to be a fresh case. That means a lawsuit will need to be filed in Pulaski Chancery Court, where the Lake View case began many years ago. Three dissenting justices wanted to hold the mandate in abeyance until the legislature had actually fulfilled their oaths and met their constitutional duty. Those justices were frank about the need to keep the pressure on while the goal of an adequate educational program for all was in sight.
Lest state officials be encouraged to think they could slack off because the case was being closed, the court’s majority inserted some tough language in its decision, which Rogers attorney David Matthews seized upon in his petition to the court Thursday to withdraw the mandate and order new review of the legislature’s work.
This is what the court said: “Make no mistake, this court will exercise the power and authority of the judiciary at any time to assure that the students of our state will not fall short of the goal set forth by this court. We will assure its attainment.”
What does that mean? Unless one of the four prevailing justices joins the dissenters it apparently means the court will be very tough, but only when a fresh lawsuit reaches it in three or four years.
We shall see.
The court has already reversed itself once, when it withdrew its mandate in January 2004 and ordered a review of the legislature’s inaction. The lawmakers promptly shaped up and enacted some sweeping educational reform.
If the court reverses itself again and appoints masters to evaluate this legislature’s work, they can hardly miss the failings. Per-pupil spending from basic operating aid allocated by the legislature will not increase a dime next year, and given rising energy costs and new students that amounts to a reduction.
Of some $2 billion in needed capital costs to bring school facilities up to par, which the court had ordered, only about $104 million will be forthcoming. The bond-issue financing that was bruited about as the permanent remedy for school facilities never materialized.
In its 2002 order holding the public education system to be unconstitutional, the Supreme Court said the legislature could no longer allocate money to the schools by simply dividing the pie among the state’s many needs.
Since education was a constitutional mandate and most other services were not, the legislature was expected to determine the schools’ needs first, provide for them and then divide the remainder of the state’s resources among the various government services. The legislature in 2004, under the court’s watchful eye, did that.
But no legislator will argue that it did that this spring. Assembly leaders concluded that taxes could not be raised and, moreover, the legislature sharply lowered available revenues by enacting numerous special tax exemptions and repealing a surcharge on income taxes. Then lawmakers concluded that schools would have to take a hit in the budget next year so that Medicaid, prisons, higher education and the State Police could be funded adequately.
Even state Sen. Jim Argue of Little Rock, the legislature’s fiercest advocate for education, argued that under hard circumstances the lawmakers had done about the best that they could for education, except for facilities. Over his objections, legislators ran away with much of the state’s general improvement fund to spend on local pork projects to help their re-elections.
With any luck, Argue won’t suffer the embarrassment of having his defense tested in a court of law anytime soon.
For the children, there’s always 2007.
EDITORIAL>> Schools left floundering
However briefly, Arkansas is again a defendant in its courts, where we are expected to explain why, through the medium of our elected lawmakers, we have not provided our children the education that our Constitution promises them.
The attorney for the Rogers School District asked the Supreme Court to reopen the Lake View school case, which the court had closed last year. Rogers says it can’t progress toward a suitable school program with the money and the tools that the legislature gave it in the recently disbanded session. If Rogers, with all its wealth, can’t do it, the rest of the state is in real trouble.
We say “briefly” because the Supreme Court is not apt to give Rogers much of a hearing, not right away. The court — or at least the four-member majority in the last Lake View decision — put itself in an intolerable bind. It issued a mandate in the case and said further litigation would need to be a fresh case. That means a lawsuit will need to be filed in Pulaski Chancery Court, where the Lake View case began many years ago. Three dissenting justices wanted to hold the mandate in abeyance until the legislature had actually fulfilled their oaths and met their constitutional duty. Those justices were frank about the need to keep the pressure on while the goal of an adequate educational program for all was in sight.
Lest state officials be encouraged to think they could slack off because the case was being closed, the court’s majority inserted some tough language in its decision, which Rogers attorney David Matthews seized upon in his petition to the court Thursday to withdraw the mandate and order new review of the legislature’s work.
This is what the court said: “Make no mistake, this court will exercise the power and authority of the judiciary at any time to assure that the students of our state will not fall short of the goal set forth by this court. We will assure its attainment.”
What does that mean? Unless one of the four prevailing justices joins the dissenters it apparently means the court will be very tough, but only when a fresh lawsuit reaches it in three or four years.
We shall see.
The court has already reversed itself once, when it withdrew its mandate in January 2004 and ordered a review of the legislature’s inaction. The lawmakers promptly shaped up and enacted some sweeping educational reform.
If the court reverses itself again and appoints masters to evaluate this legislature’s work, they can hardly miss the failings. Per-pupil spending from basic operating aid allocated by the legislature will not increase a dime next year, and given rising energy costs and new students that amounts to a reduction.
Of some $2 billion in needed capital costs to bring school facilities up to par, which the court had ordered, only about $104 million will be forthcoming. The bond-issue financing that was bruited about as the permanent remedy for school facilities never materialized.
In its 2002 order holding the public education system to be unconstitutional, the Supreme Court said the legislature could no longer allocate money to the schools by simply dividing the pie among the state’s many needs.
Since education was a constitutional mandate and most other services were not, the legislature was expected to determine the schools’ needs first, provide for them and then divide the remainder of the state’s resources among the various government services. The legislature in 2004, under the court’s watchful eye, did that.
But no legislator will argue that it did that this spring. Assembly leaders concluded that taxes could not be raised and, moreover, the legislature sharply lowered available revenues by enacting numerous special tax exemptions and repealing a surcharge on income taxes. Then lawmakers concluded that schools would have to take a hit in the budget next year so that Medicaid, prisons, higher education and the State Police could be funded adequately.
Even state Sen. Jim Argue of Little Rock, the legislature’s fiercest advocate for education, argued that under hard circumstances the lawmakers had done about the best that they could for education, except for facilities. Over his objections, legislators ran away with much of the state’s general improvement fund to spend on local pork projects to help their re-elections.
With any luck, Argue won’t suffer the embarrassment of having his defense tested in a court of law anytime soon.
For the children, there’s always 2007.
The attorney for the Rogers School District asked the Supreme Court to reopen the Lake View school case, which the court had closed last year. Rogers says it can’t progress toward a suitable school program with the money and the tools that the legislature gave it in the recently disbanded session. If Rogers, with all its wealth, can’t do it, the rest of the state is in real trouble.
We say “briefly” because the Supreme Court is not apt to give Rogers much of a hearing, not right away. The court — or at least the four-member majority in the last Lake View decision — put itself in an intolerable bind. It issued a mandate in the case and said further litigation would need to be a fresh case. That means a lawsuit will need to be filed in Pulaski Chancery Court, where the Lake View case began many years ago. Three dissenting justices wanted to hold the mandate in abeyance until the legislature had actually fulfilled their oaths and met their constitutional duty. Those justices were frank about the need to keep the pressure on while the goal of an adequate educational program for all was in sight.
Lest state officials be encouraged to think they could slack off because the case was being closed, the court’s majority inserted some tough language in its decision, which Rogers attorney David Matthews seized upon in his petition to the court Thursday to withdraw the mandate and order new review of the legislature’s work.
This is what the court said: “Make no mistake, this court will exercise the power and authority of the judiciary at any time to assure that the students of our state will not fall short of the goal set forth by this court. We will assure its attainment.”
What does that mean? Unless one of the four prevailing justices joins the dissenters it apparently means the court will be very tough, but only when a fresh lawsuit reaches it in three or four years.
We shall see.
The court has already reversed itself once, when it withdrew its mandate in January 2004 and ordered a review of the legislature’s inaction. The lawmakers promptly shaped up and enacted some sweeping educational reform.
If the court reverses itself again and appoints masters to evaluate this legislature’s work, they can hardly miss the failings. Per-pupil spending from basic operating aid allocated by the legislature will not increase a dime next year, and given rising energy costs and new students that amounts to a reduction.
Of some $2 billion in needed capital costs to bring school facilities up to par, which the court had ordered, only about $104 million will be forthcoming. The bond-issue financing that was bruited about as the permanent remedy for school facilities never materialized.
In its 2002 order holding the public education system to be unconstitutional, the Supreme Court said the legislature could no longer allocate money to the schools by simply dividing the pie among the state’s many needs.
Since education was a constitutional mandate and most other services were not, the legislature was expected to determine the schools’ needs first, provide for them and then divide the remainder of the state’s resources among the various government services. The legislature in 2004, under the court’s watchful eye, did that.
But no legislator will argue that it did that this spring. Assembly leaders concluded that taxes could not be raised and, moreover, the legislature sharply lowered available revenues by enacting numerous special tax exemptions and repealing a surcharge on income taxes. Then lawmakers concluded that schools would have to take a hit in the budget next year so that Medicaid, prisons, higher education and the State Police could be funded adequately.
Even state Sen. Jim Argue of Little Rock, the legislature’s fiercest advocate for education, argued that under hard circumstances the lawmakers had done about the best that they could for education, except for facilities. Over his objections, legislators ran away with much of the state’s general improvement fund to spend on local pork projects to help their re-elections.
With any luck, Argue won’t suffer the embarrassment of having his defense tested in a court of law anytime soon.
For the children, there’s always 2007.
TOP STORY>> He's upbeat on C-130Js, Berry says
IN SHORT: Ignoring the White House, Congress is pushing for more transport planes to help fight wars, although Berry complains of rising deficits without saying how they could be cut.
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader editor
Cong. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, told a citizens group on Friday that Congress will provide funding to build more C-130Js, even though the Bush administration wants to kill the program to save money.
“We need more C-130Js,” Berry told members of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council. “We’re in the middle of a war requiring more of them.”
He said that after members of the Arkansas congressional delegation had contacted the leadership of the appropriations and defense committees, “we were assured they’ll make more of them. We’ll get a fair share of them at Little Rock Air Force Base.”
The base has two C-130Js and five more will be assigned to the base this year. The third C-130J is scheduled to arrive here next month.
The updated cargo plane costs $66 million each, far higher than previous estimates of what the new planes would cost and nearly twice what the old Hercules cost.
The Bush administration is trying to eliminate the C-130J to control spending, Berry said, but there’s enough support for the plane in Congress to save the program.
“The White House wanted low numbers in the budget, but they knew we were going to put them back in,” the congressman said.
The military has bought about 50 C-130Js, and the Pentagon had planned on purchasing more than twice that many planes until the administration put the brakes on buying more planes besides those coming off the assembly line. According to recent reports, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has reconsidered his opposition to the program, at least partially.
Berry did complain about rising deficits, calling it “the greatest threat to our national security.”
He said the $424 billion deficit “doesn’t include money taken from the Social Security, Medicare and veterans trust funds,” and he accused the administration of “taking every dime out of” those trust funds. “If you did away with all government spending, except entitlements and cut military spending in half, you still couldn’t balance the budget,” Berry said.
“We’ll have an $8 trillion to $10 trillion national debt at the end of the decade,” he continued. “The next generation won’t be able to handle it.”
This is a problem that weighs heavily on Berry’s mind because he said, “I wake up at 2 o’clock in the morning worrying about it.”
He didn’t offer a solution on how to balance the budget, other than to say, “It will take an effort we made in the Second World War to fix our problems.”
On a brighter note, Berry predicted the air base would survive the latest round of base realignments and closures. Rumsfeld will have a list next month that will include bases that the Pentagon wants to eliminate. Congress will have to accept the list or reject it.
“We’ll do just fine regardless of what they do with BRAC because of the great job you’re doing here,” Berry said.
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader editor
Cong. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, told a citizens group on Friday that Congress will provide funding to build more C-130Js, even though the Bush administration wants to kill the program to save money.
“We need more C-130Js,” Berry told members of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council. “We’re in the middle of a war requiring more of them.”
He said that after members of the Arkansas congressional delegation had contacted the leadership of the appropriations and defense committees, “we were assured they’ll make more of them. We’ll get a fair share of them at Little Rock Air Force Base.”
The base has two C-130Js and five more will be assigned to the base this year. The third C-130J is scheduled to arrive here next month.
The updated cargo plane costs $66 million each, far higher than previous estimates of what the new planes would cost and nearly twice what the old Hercules cost.
The Bush administration is trying to eliminate the C-130J to control spending, Berry said, but there’s enough support for the plane in Congress to save the program.
“The White House wanted low numbers in the budget, but they knew we were going to put them back in,” the congressman said.
The military has bought about 50 C-130Js, and the Pentagon had planned on purchasing more than twice that many planes until the administration put the brakes on buying more planes besides those coming off the assembly line. According to recent reports, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has reconsidered his opposition to the program, at least partially.
Berry did complain about rising deficits, calling it “the greatest threat to our national security.”
He said the $424 billion deficit “doesn’t include money taken from the Social Security, Medicare and veterans trust funds,” and he accused the administration of “taking every dime out of” those trust funds. “If you did away with all government spending, except entitlements and cut military spending in half, you still couldn’t balance the budget,” Berry said.
“We’ll have an $8 trillion to $10 trillion national debt at the end of the decade,” he continued. “The next generation won’t be able to handle it.”
This is a problem that weighs heavily on Berry’s mind because he said, “I wake up at 2 o’clock in the morning worrying about it.”
He didn’t offer a solution on how to balance the budget, other than to say, “It will take an effort we made in the Second World War to fix our problems.”
On a brighter note, Berry predicted the air base would survive the latest round of base realignments and closures. Rumsfeld will have a list next month that will include bases that the Pentagon wants to eliminate. Congress will have to accept the list or reject it.
“We’ll do just fine regardless of what they do with BRAC because of the great job you’re doing here,” Berry said.
SPORTS>> Falcons inch closer to state playoff berth
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The North Pulaski boys soccer team played itself to within one win of qualifying for the state tournament last week with a 3-1 win over Crowley’s Ridge Academy in Paragould.
Earlier in the week, the Falcons suffered a big loss to Mills 7-0, but rebounded with the win over CRA to move to 3-2 in league play.
The Fal-cons played their final conference match last night against Greene County Tech after Leader deadlines. They entered that match needing a win to qualify for the state tournament.
Against Crowley’s Ridge Academy, who is also known as the Falcons, North Pulaski fell behind early when CRA scored in the eighth minute of the game.
It didn’t last long, however, as NP’s Greg West scored just three minutes later.
The visiting Falcons took the lead for good late in the first half. Chris Tate scored the go-ahead goal after stealing the ball from a CRA player and getting loose into the open field. He went one-on-one with the CRA goalkeeper and beat him to tie the match.
The final goal of the match came early in the second half and featured one of North Pulaski’s most dramatic plays of the season.
Sergio Lopez’s first shot on goal was blocked by the CRA goalkeeper, but bounced back out into play. Lopez got another shot that the keeper partially deflec-ted. The ball rolled slowly past the keeper, but did not have enough momentum left to make it into the net. Lopez, still on the run following his own shot, hurdled the CRA goalkeeper and scored an uncontested goal to set the final margin.
“That was really an outstanding play,” North Pulaski coach Tony Buzzitta said. “He just stuck with it and never gave up on the play.”
The Falcons are just 3-10 overall, but their 3-2 conference mark leaves them within reach of the state tournament. If North Pulaski won last night, it guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, and could go in as high as the No. 3 seed from the AAAA-East, depending on how the rest of the league finishes out the season.
The Lady Falcons beat Mills 3-1 last week and have already qualified for the state tournament. They could go as high as No. 2, and there’s a slim chance of going in as the top seed from the East. For that to happen, however, NP must win out and Valley View must lose twice since the Lady Blazers are currently undefeated and own the tiebreaker against NP.
Buzzitta says his boys team has shown much better teamwork recently, and says that is the main reason for the recent success.
“Even in the Mills game we didn’t play that badly overall,” Buzzitta said. “The score looks terrible, but I don’t think we were dominated at all.
“We just took some bad shots, and when we got shots, we didn’t make them quality ones. We created lots of opportunities, we just didn’t capitalize on them.
“Against Crowley’s Ridge, we did a much better job of taking advantage of our opportunities. We’re playing better and with more unity. It’s been tough because we’ve been so inactive since spring break. But I feel like we’re starting to come around a little bit.”
Leader sports editor
The North Pulaski boys soccer team played itself to within one win of qualifying for the state tournament last week with a 3-1 win over Crowley’s Ridge Academy in Paragould.
Earlier in the week, the Falcons suffered a big loss to Mills 7-0, but rebounded with the win over CRA to move to 3-2 in league play.
The Fal-cons played their final conference match last night against Greene County Tech after Leader deadlines. They entered that match needing a win to qualify for the state tournament.
Against Crowley’s Ridge Academy, who is also known as the Falcons, North Pulaski fell behind early when CRA scored in the eighth minute of the game.
It didn’t last long, however, as NP’s Greg West scored just three minutes later.
The visiting Falcons took the lead for good late in the first half. Chris Tate scored the go-ahead goal after stealing the ball from a CRA player and getting loose into the open field. He went one-on-one with the CRA goalkeeper and beat him to tie the match.
The final goal of the match came early in the second half and featured one of North Pulaski’s most dramatic plays of the season.
Sergio Lopez’s first shot on goal was blocked by the CRA goalkeeper, but bounced back out into play. Lopez got another shot that the keeper partially deflec-ted. The ball rolled slowly past the keeper, but did not have enough momentum left to make it into the net. Lopez, still on the run following his own shot, hurdled the CRA goalkeeper and scored an uncontested goal to set the final margin.
“That was really an outstanding play,” North Pulaski coach Tony Buzzitta said. “He just stuck with it and never gave up on the play.”
The Falcons are just 3-10 overall, but their 3-2 conference mark leaves them within reach of the state tournament. If North Pulaski won last night, it guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, and could go in as high as the No. 3 seed from the AAAA-East, depending on how the rest of the league finishes out the season.
The Lady Falcons beat Mills 3-1 last week and have already qualified for the state tournament. They could go as high as No. 2, and there’s a slim chance of going in as the top seed from the East. For that to happen, however, NP must win out and Valley View must lose twice since the Lady Blazers are currently undefeated and own the tiebreaker against NP.
Buzzitta says his boys team has shown much better teamwork recently, and says that is the main reason for the recent success.
“Even in the Mills game we didn’t play that badly overall,” Buzzitta said. “The score looks terrible, but I don’t think we were dominated at all.
“We just took some bad shots, and when we got shots, we didn’t make them quality ones. We created lots of opportunities, we just didn’t capitalize on them.
“Against Crowley’s Ridge, we did a much better job of taking advantage of our opportunities. We’re playing better and with more unity. It’s been tough because we’ve been so inactive since spring break. But I feel like we’re starting to come around a little bit.”
SPORTS>> Lady Devils win twice in twin-bill
IN SHORT: Jacksonville handles Forrest City with two shutout wins Monday
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Lady Red Devils stayed on pace as co-league leaders with Cabot in the AAAAA-East race Monday with a doubleheader sweep of Forrest City.
The Lady Devils won the opening game of the afternoon 9-0 in seven innings, and then run ruled the Lady Mustangs 11-0 in five in the nightcap.
Sophomore hurler Jessica Bock allowed just two hits in both games combined, both coming in game one.
The Lady Devils only committed one error in the evening too, something Jacksonville coach Phil Bradley was glad to see after his team’s error-filled performance in the Lady Devil Classic over the weekend.
“I’ve said all along that if we play defense, we’re pretty tough to beat,” Bradley said. “We’ve got the pitching and we’ve got the hitters, we just give too much away sometimes.”
Forrest City hung tough throughout the first half of game one. The Lady Mustangs trailed just 1-0 after four innings and made their most serious threat in the bottom of that frame.
Junior Rishondra Deans led off with a bunt single, then an error by Bock left Leigh Anna Taylor on first base. A groundout by pitcher Stacey Gracey moved both runners into scoring position with one out. Bock then thwarted the threat by fanning Ashley Shaw and Chari Agnew in order to end the inning.
Jacksonville’s bats finally started making some noise in the fifth. Bock singled to left field to lead off the frame, and freshman Taylor Norsworthy tripled to left-center to bring in Bock. Senior catcher Somer Grimes then laid down a bunt single that scored Norsworthy. Grimes stole second then advanced all the way home when Megan Peeples’ grounder was mishandled at first base. Freshman Monica Fletcher then hit a sacrifice grounder to second base to score Peeples and give Jacksonville a 5-0 lead.
The Lady Devils got five more in the sixth to set the final margin. Five of the first six batters reached base safely on four hits and a walk. Whitney Belew drew a walk to start things off and Bock singled to left field. Norsworthy popped out, but the next three batters, Grimes, Whitney Conrade and Peeples, hit consecutive singles to set the final margin.
Bock struck out 12 in the game.
Jacksonville grabbed the lead early in game two with a single run in the first inning. In the bottom of the second, Bock and Norsworthy led off with back-to-back triples to start a five-run rally.
The lead grew to 8-0 over the next two innings. The twinbill came to an end in the bottom of the fifth when senior Terrica Hinton hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run down the right-field line.
The two wins lift Jacksonville’s overall record to 11-5 and their conference record to 7-1.
Forrest City falls to 3-9 overall. The Lady Devils have a huge home matchup with Cabot (9-1 conference) on Thursday. The Lady Panthers’ only conference loss this season came at home to Jacksonville.
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Lady Red Devils stayed on pace as co-league leaders with Cabot in the AAAAA-East race Monday with a doubleheader sweep of Forrest City.
The Lady Devils won the opening game of the afternoon 9-0 in seven innings, and then run ruled the Lady Mustangs 11-0 in five in the nightcap.
Sophomore hurler Jessica Bock allowed just two hits in both games combined, both coming in game one.
The Lady Devils only committed one error in the evening too, something Jacksonville coach Phil Bradley was glad to see after his team’s error-filled performance in the Lady Devil Classic over the weekend.
“I’ve said all along that if we play defense, we’re pretty tough to beat,” Bradley said. “We’ve got the pitching and we’ve got the hitters, we just give too much away sometimes.”
Forrest City hung tough throughout the first half of game one. The Lady Mustangs trailed just 1-0 after four innings and made their most serious threat in the bottom of that frame.
Junior Rishondra Deans led off with a bunt single, then an error by Bock left Leigh Anna Taylor on first base. A groundout by pitcher Stacey Gracey moved both runners into scoring position with one out. Bock then thwarted the threat by fanning Ashley Shaw and Chari Agnew in order to end the inning.
Jacksonville’s bats finally started making some noise in the fifth. Bock singled to left field to lead off the frame, and freshman Taylor Norsworthy tripled to left-center to bring in Bock. Senior catcher Somer Grimes then laid down a bunt single that scored Norsworthy. Grimes stole second then advanced all the way home when Megan Peeples’ grounder was mishandled at first base. Freshman Monica Fletcher then hit a sacrifice grounder to second base to score Peeples and give Jacksonville a 5-0 lead.
The Lady Devils got five more in the sixth to set the final margin. Five of the first six batters reached base safely on four hits and a walk. Whitney Belew drew a walk to start things off and Bock singled to left field. Norsworthy popped out, but the next three batters, Grimes, Whitney Conrade and Peeples, hit consecutive singles to set the final margin.
Bock struck out 12 in the game.
Jacksonville grabbed the lead early in game two with a single run in the first inning. In the bottom of the second, Bock and Norsworthy led off with back-to-back triples to start a five-run rally.
The lead grew to 8-0 over the next two innings. The twinbill came to an end in the bottom of the fifth when senior Terrica Hinton hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run down the right-field line.
The two wins lift Jacksonville’s overall record to 11-5 and their conference record to 7-1.
Forrest City falls to 3-9 overall. The Lady Devils have a huge home matchup with Cabot (9-1 conference) on Thursday. The Lady Panthers’ only conference loss this season came at home to Jacksonville.
EDITORIAL>> More serious than bingo
Arkansas faces a single constitutional problem worthy of the voters’ ministrations, if you can believe the legislature. It is the prospect that Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley will raid a parish hall and arrest a priest and his parishioners for practicing bingo or engaging in a raffle.
A joint legislative committee wrestled with a raft of constitutional resolutions for 90 days, but the lawmakers could agree on only one to refer to voters in 2006. It would allow nonprofit organizations to have bingo and raffles provided that the money will not be used to compensate anyone affiliated with the organizations.
Bingo and raffles run afoul of the Constitution’s general prohibition of gambling. Many churches have been operating them anyway for years, but fears of arrests have lately shut a couple of the games down.
The legislature came to their rescue and so next year, no doubt, will voters. But bingo anxiety does not rank among the top 100 issues that engage our crazyquilt Constitution. Arkansas has real crises that constitutional reforms might help us solve. Every legislator was well aware of them, the Supreme Court having so often and recently reminded them. One is the virtual destruction of the ad-valorem tax system and local school support by a patchwork of amendments the past quarter-century.
House Speaker Bill Stovall, Rep. Jodie Mahony and Sen. Shane Broadway proposed three amendments to correct abuses of the property tax, any of which might improve the fairness and stability of real and personal property taxes, which are a mainstay of our unconstitutional public school system.
We particularly liked Mahony’s amendment to retroactively collect taxes on the current value of timber and agricultural land held for speculative purposes. The brouhaha over Deltic Timber Corp.’s effort to build a luxury subdivision on the slopes above Lake Maumelle, the central Arkansas water supply, should have made everyone keenly aware of the problem. Deltic and other developers have been paying a few bits an acre in taxes on land they sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars an acre.
Other states have corrected such practices. When land is sold for development, the land is assessed at the current value and taxes are collected backward for three to seven years on the land. Mahony proposed to tax the high-value real estate back three years at the market value.
Voters, we believe, would approve the amendment. Texas, California, Oregon and Utah have adopted more far-reaching provisions to correct similar abuses.
It would mean a significant amount of new revenue for schools, cities and counties but more than that, it would introduce a measure of fairness to a tax system that unjustly burdens homeowners.
But the legislature has recessed, not to consider any more of the people’s business before its formal adjournment, unless, as Speaker Stovall said, the joint committee can get together and agree on something more than the sanctity of bingo.
Exhausted by the trivia of its labors, the lawmakers seem in no mood to think about anything so serious.
A joint legislative committee wrestled with a raft of constitutional resolutions for 90 days, but the lawmakers could agree on only one to refer to voters in 2006. It would allow nonprofit organizations to have bingo and raffles provided that the money will not be used to compensate anyone affiliated with the organizations.
Bingo and raffles run afoul of the Constitution’s general prohibition of gambling. Many churches have been operating them anyway for years, but fears of arrests have lately shut a couple of the games down.
The legislature came to their rescue and so next year, no doubt, will voters. But bingo anxiety does not rank among the top 100 issues that engage our crazyquilt Constitution. Arkansas has real crises that constitutional reforms might help us solve. Every legislator was well aware of them, the Supreme Court having so often and recently reminded them. One is the virtual destruction of the ad-valorem tax system and local school support by a patchwork of amendments the past quarter-century.
House Speaker Bill Stovall, Rep. Jodie Mahony and Sen. Shane Broadway proposed three amendments to correct abuses of the property tax, any of which might improve the fairness and stability of real and personal property taxes, which are a mainstay of our unconstitutional public school system.
We particularly liked Mahony’s amendment to retroactively collect taxes on the current value of timber and agricultural land held for speculative purposes. The brouhaha over Deltic Timber Corp.’s effort to build a luxury subdivision on the slopes above Lake Maumelle, the central Arkansas water supply, should have made everyone keenly aware of the problem. Deltic and other developers have been paying a few bits an acre in taxes on land they sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars an acre.
Other states have corrected such practices. When land is sold for development, the land is assessed at the current value and taxes are collected backward for three to seven years on the land. Mahony proposed to tax the high-value real estate back three years at the market value.
Voters, we believe, would approve the amendment. Texas, California, Oregon and Utah have adopted more far-reaching provisions to correct similar abuses.
It would mean a significant amount of new revenue for schools, cities and counties but more than that, it would introduce a measure of fairness to a tax system that unjustly burdens homeowners.
But the legislature has recessed, not to consider any more of the people’s business before its formal adjournment, unless, as Speaker Stovall said, the joint committee can get together and agree on something more than the sanctity of bingo.
Exhausted by the trivia of its labors, the lawmakers seem in no mood to think about anything so serious.
TOP STORY>> City council wont' settle with official
IN SHORT: Clerk-treasurer’s discrimination lawsuit against Cabot goes to trial in July.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
A federal lawsuit filed by the clerk-treasurer against the city of Cabot and the mayor more than a year ago will continue for trial in July as scheduled. The council voted Monday night to turn down an offer to settle out of court.
Clerk-Treasurer Marva Verkler claims in her suit that she was discriminated against because she is a woman and because she supported former Mayor Joe Allman in the last mayoral race.
She wants the court to return the duties taken from her at the urging of Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, including her bookkeeping and check writing duties.
Those duties and most of Verkler’s staff were reassigned to Dale Walker, who was hired as the city’s first finance director after Stumbaugh took office in 2003.
Alderman David Polantz, who chairs the city’s finance committee and keeps a close eye on the budget, sponsored the resolution to settle the suit with the provision that the city admit no wrongdoing.
Polantz told the council he wanted to settle for financial reasons. Verkler is suing for an unspecified amount, but she was willing to settle for $25,000 and the promise that she will retire at the end of 2006.
The 2005 budget contains $10,000 to cover the cost of depositions in the case and that amount might not be enough he said. So $25,000, split into two payments of $12,500, would almost certainly be in the city’s best interest.
Alderman Patrick Hutton spoke against the resolution saying the suit implied that he (as well as the other council members) is guilty of wrongdoing and he would rather be vindicated in court than settle.
He didn’t want to be held at fault when he did nothing wrong, Hutton told Polantz.
“The problem is, Patrick, we always lose,” Polantz said.
“This one, we just might win,” Hutton countered.
The resolution was voted down 4-3, with one abstention. Polantz, Alderman Bob Duke and Alder-man Tom Armstrong voted to settle. Aldermen Hutton, James Glenn, Eddie Cook and Jerry Stephens voted against the settlement.
Alderman Odis Waymack, who actually favored settling out of court, abstained, saying he did so because some city officials had implied that he was helping Verkler with the suit.
Contacted Tuesday, Verkler said she is ready for the suit to end and that she is disappointed with the council’s decision. She would not comment on whether she will seek re-election.
Although the council stripped her of most of her duties, her salary was not decreased, and she is paid more than Walker, $44,462 compared to his $38,422 salary.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
A federal lawsuit filed by the clerk-treasurer against the city of Cabot and the mayor more than a year ago will continue for trial in July as scheduled. The council voted Monday night to turn down an offer to settle out of court.
Clerk-Treasurer Marva Verkler claims in her suit that she was discriminated against because she is a woman and because she supported former Mayor Joe Allman in the last mayoral race.
She wants the court to return the duties taken from her at the urging of Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, including her bookkeeping and check writing duties.
Those duties and most of Verkler’s staff were reassigned to Dale Walker, who was hired as the city’s first finance director after Stumbaugh took office in 2003.
Alderman David Polantz, who chairs the city’s finance committee and keeps a close eye on the budget, sponsored the resolution to settle the suit with the provision that the city admit no wrongdoing.
Polantz told the council he wanted to settle for financial reasons. Verkler is suing for an unspecified amount, but she was willing to settle for $25,000 and the promise that she will retire at the end of 2006.
The 2005 budget contains $10,000 to cover the cost of depositions in the case and that amount might not be enough he said. So $25,000, split into two payments of $12,500, would almost certainly be in the city’s best interest.
Alderman Patrick Hutton spoke against the resolution saying the suit implied that he (as well as the other council members) is guilty of wrongdoing and he would rather be vindicated in court than settle.
He didn’t want to be held at fault when he did nothing wrong, Hutton told Polantz.
“The problem is, Patrick, we always lose,” Polantz said.
“This one, we just might win,” Hutton countered.
The resolution was voted down 4-3, with one abstention. Polantz, Alderman Bob Duke and Alder-man Tom Armstrong voted to settle. Aldermen Hutton, James Glenn, Eddie Cook and Jerry Stephens voted against the settlement.
Alderman Odis Waymack, who actually favored settling out of court, abstained, saying he did so because some city officials had implied that he was helping Verkler with the suit.
Contacted Tuesday, Verkler said she is ready for the suit to end and that she is disappointed with the council’s decision. She would not comment on whether she will seek re-election.
Although the council stripped her of most of her duties, her salary was not decreased, and she is paid more than Walker, $44,462 compared to his $38,422 salary.
TOP STORY>> PCSSD looking for big savings
IN SHORT: In preparation for a special Wednesday board meeting called to cut millions from the school board budget, the financial officer sees real savings from each proposed cut.
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Pulaski County Special School District administrators and the board will meet in special session at 6 p.m. Wednesday in an effort to lop $9 million from the 2005-2006 budget, expected to run about $143 million otherwise.
The cuts are necessary because the district—the second largest in the state—has been placed on the financial distress list by the state Board of Education.
That designation can have dire consequences, in-cluding forced consolidation, replacement of the superintendent or the board and even a state takeover of the district.
The district is one of 11 designated as in financial distress.
The administration wants to cut $9 million from the budget to begin the process of getting the district off the financial distress list.
In response to an invitation to outgoing Superintendent Donald Henderson, three groups and one board member had submitted suggested cuts and prioritized the cuts in preparation for the meeting, according to John Archetko, interim assistant superintendent for business and chief financial officer.
In recent years, the district has spent millions more each year than it receives, depleting its savings to cover the difference. It even spends $10 million a year originally designated to retire school construction bonds and another $14 million dollars in desegregation money from the state.
Archetko said there was “nothing startling” in the proposals from the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers, the elementary school principals, an administrators group including secondary school principals or from Carol Burgett, a board member.
Archetko has projected the ending fund balance for the current fiscal year is $4.9 million, down from about $20 million three years ago, according to one board member.
Without carrying the fund balance over and without making cuts, the year-end fund balance next year is projected to be $5.3 million in the red.
Henderson and his cabinet have proposed cuts, most noticeably a $3.4 million savings from foregoing what has become an annual teachers’ raise in the 3 percent range.
At the regular April 12 board meeting, the teachers in turn suggested decimating the ranks of district principals, leaving just seven of 51, according to a proposal by Deen Minton, president of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers.
Minton said that would reduce the principal-to-student ratio to the state minimum.
Either proposal would save roughly $3 million a year.
Antagonism between the teachers and principals has been a badly kept secret in recent years.
Although board member Pam Roberts warned various factions not to use the designation and the need for cuts as an excuse to promote their own agendas, it was clear at Tuesday’s meeting that the administration would freeze teacher salaries and the teachers would cut the number of principals in the district from 51 to 7.
At the Wednesday night meeting, the board will weigh its options as it struggles to not only balance budget, but to reverse its fortune by taking steps to graduate from the school financial distress list and the scrutiny that goes with that dubious distinction.
The easy cuts were made years ago. Proposed cuts this time around could affect the ability to attract and keep good teachers, security, counseling and the gifted and talented program.
Principals would be pressed into services as lunchroom monitors, and the central office would lose one custodian, the director of accountability, an accountant, director of student services and athletics, the director of support staff personnel and one secretary from the superintendent’s office.
Next to the salary freeze, the largest savings would be from finishing payments on the early retirement incentive program, $1 million; eliminating the buying of new textbooks, $1 million; eliminating nine home school counselors, $498,000; cutting eight secondary school counselors, $449,172; eminating lunchroom monitors, $500,000; cutting 4.4 elementary counselors, $230,403 and seven gifted and talented teachers, $325,513.
The teachers’ proposal to have only the number of principals required by the state would save about $3 million, they say.
“In three years, we’ve gone from $17 million down to zero,” said past board pre-sident Jeff Shaneyfelt, a certified public accountant. “Only way to explain it is our labor costs.”
He said the board has failed to understand the future impact of raises it granted in the past.
Even without annual cost-of-living raises, teachers receive raises for longevity and increased education, he said.
“That’s not to say employees aren’t valuable and worth what we play them, it’s just, like a household, we get a certain amount of revenue to run the school,” Shaneyfelt said.
“We have a lot of expenses we have to incur each year, transportation, utilities, textbooks and supplies. There’s only a certain amount left after that. We have to do the best we can.”
With payroll and benefits accounting for about three-quarters of the budget, there aren’t going to be any easy or painless ways to cut expenses, he said.
Payroll raises don’t go away, he said. Once you establish a certain rate, you live with that.
The district’s construction bond millage raises $14 million each year for capital improvements. In recent years, only $4 million a year has been used to service debt, with the other $10 million diverted used to pay salaries, gasoline and utility bills and any other expenses—which is legal, but not what the voters understood—Shaneyfelt said.
The other districts designated as in financial distress were Altheimer Unified School District, Dierks, Dollarway, Eudora, Flippin, Helena – West Helena, Lead Hill, Midland, Waldo and Western Yell County School District.
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Pulaski County Special School District administrators and the board will meet in special session at 6 p.m. Wednesday in an effort to lop $9 million from the 2005-2006 budget, expected to run about $143 million otherwise.
The cuts are necessary because the district—the second largest in the state—has been placed on the financial distress list by the state Board of Education.
That designation can have dire consequences, in-cluding forced consolidation, replacement of the superintendent or the board and even a state takeover of the district.
The district is one of 11 designated as in financial distress.
The administration wants to cut $9 million from the budget to begin the process of getting the district off the financial distress list.
In response to an invitation to outgoing Superintendent Donald Henderson, three groups and one board member had submitted suggested cuts and prioritized the cuts in preparation for the meeting, according to John Archetko, interim assistant superintendent for business and chief financial officer.
In recent years, the district has spent millions more each year than it receives, depleting its savings to cover the difference. It even spends $10 million a year originally designated to retire school construction bonds and another $14 million dollars in desegregation money from the state.
Archetko said there was “nothing startling” in the proposals from the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers, the elementary school principals, an administrators group including secondary school principals or from Carol Burgett, a board member.
Archetko has projected the ending fund balance for the current fiscal year is $4.9 million, down from about $20 million three years ago, according to one board member.
Without carrying the fund balance over and without making cuts, the year-end fund balance next year is projected to be $5.3 million in the red.
Henderson and his cabinet have proposed cuts, most noticeably a $3.4 million savings from foregoing what has become an annual teachers’ raise in the 3 percent range.
At the regular April 12 board meeting, the teachers in turn suggested decimating the ranks of district principals, leaving just seven of 51, according to a proposal by Deen Minton, president of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers.
Minton said that would reduce the principal-to-student ratio to the state minimum.
Either proposal would save roughly $3 million a year.
Antagonism between the teachers and principals has been a badly kept secret in recent years.
Although board member Pam Roberts warned various factions not to use the designation and the need for cuts as an excuse to promote their own agendas, it was clear at Tuesday’s meeting that the administration would freeze teacher salaries and the teachers would cut the number of principals in the district from 51 to 7.
At the Wednesday night meeting, the board will weigh its options as it struggles to not only balance budget, but to reverse its fortune by taking steps to graduate from the school financial distress list and the scrutiny that goes with that dubious distinction.
The easy cuts were made years ago. Proposed cuts this time around could affect the ability to attract and keep good teachers, security, counseling and the gifted and talented program.
Principals would be pressed into services as lunchroom monitors, and the central office would lose one custodian, the director of accountability, an accountant, director of student services and athletics, the director of support staff personnel and one secretary from the superintendent’s office.
Next to the salary freeze, the largest savings would be from finishing payments on the early retirement incentive program, $1 million; eliminating the buying of new textbooks, $1 million; eliminating nine home school counselors, $498,000; cutting eight secondary school counselors, $449,172; eminating lunchroom monitors, $500,000; cutting 4.4 elementary counselors, $230,403 and seven gifted and talented teachers, $325,513.
The teachers’ proposal to have only the number of principals required by the state would save about $3 million, they say.
“In three years, we’ve gone from $17 million down to zero,” said past board pre-sident Jeff Shaneyfelt, a certified public accountant. “Only way to explain it is our labor costs.”
He said the board has failed to understand the future impact of raises it granted in the past.
Even without annual cost-of-living raises, teachers receive raises for longevity and increased education, he said.
“That’s not to say employees aren’t valuable and worth what we play them, it’s just, like a household, we get a certain amount of revenue to run the school,” Shaneyfelt said.
“We have a lot of expenses we have to incur each year, transportation, utilities, textbooks and supplies. There’s only a certain amount left after that. We have to do the best we can.”
With payroll and benefits accounting for about three-quarters of the budget, there aren’t going to be any easy or painless ways to cut expenses, he said.
Payroll raises don’t go away, he said. Once you establish a certain rate, you live with that.
The district’s construction bond millage raises $14 million each year for capital improvements. In recent years, only $4 million a year has been used to service debt, with the other $10 million diverted used to pay salaries, gasoline and utility bills and any other expenses—which is legal, but not what the voters understood—Shaneyfelt said.
The other districts designated as in financial distress were Altheimer Unified School District, Dierks, Dollarway, Eudora, Flippin, Helena – West Helena, Lead Hill, Midland, Waldo and Western Yell County School District.
TOP STORY>> Cabot will decide on funding for overpass and center
IN SHORT: Bridge would be built early if millage passes, but center in limbo if measure fails.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Just as they said they would earlier this month, the Cabot City Council approved an ordinance Monday night to ask voters on July 12 to increase their city property tax by one mill and ap-prove $2 million in bonds to help build the community center and a railroad overpass on Polk Street.
If voters turn down the millage increase, the overpass will still likely be built in 2008, the original construction date set by the Highway Department. But Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh says there is no plan B for building the under-funded community center.
Stumbaugh has looked for grants to help pay for the project and has promised to name the center for any benefactor willing to contribute the $1.2 million or more needed to add to the $3 million the city has set aside, all without success.
That is not the case in Carlisle, however, where state Sen. Bobby Glover has obtained $1 million from the state General Improvement Fund to pay for a community center.
So with no state or private help forthcoming, the council is left with no recourse except to ask city residents to tax themselves to build the 34,000 square-foot community center that has been planned for about two years and to help pay the city’s $1 million match on a $5 million overpass that has been planned for more than five years.
If Cabot voters decide to tax themselves to pay for the new center as well as the overpass, owners of homes costing $100,000 can expect to pay an additional $20 in taxes every year.
The council also voted to seek a general contractor as a project manager for the community center, which could cost about $4.4 million, according to Alderman David Polantz, who sponsored the ordinance calling for requests for qualifications for the job.
Polantz also asked for the millage election ordinance, which was cosponsored by the mayor and all the council members except Alderman Jerry Stephens who made good on his promise to not support any increase in taxes.
Stumbaugh said on Tuesday morning that since the low bid of $4.2 million for the community center was turned in late last fall, the project would have to be re-bid before construction could begin.
The center was expected to cost $3 million.
Since the low bid came in $1.2 million above the amount available to pay for it, the city has been getting advice from the school district on how to save money on construction.
Parks Director Carroll Astin told the council that one way the school saves money is by using a project manager who is paid to find subcontractors to do the work.
Increasing the city millage from 3.5 to 4.5 would bring in about $180,000 a year, said Dale Walker, city finance director, more than enough to pay back 20-yearbonds for $2 million.
Ordinance No. 16 of 2005, submitting the proposed millage increase and bond issue to the voters, sets a July 12 election date.
Voters will be asked to approve bond issues of $700,000 for the railroad overpass and $1.3 million for the community center.
Although it is still not certain whether $4 million in federal money for the overpass will be available this year, Stumbaugh said Monday that he believes it will be made available.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Just as they said they would earlier this month, the Cabot City Council approved an ordinance Monday night to ask voters on July 12 to increase their city property tax by one mill and ap-prove $2 million in bonds to help build the community center and a railroad overpass on Polk Street.
If voters turn down the millage increase, the overpass will still likely be built in 2008, the original construction date set by the Highway Department. But Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh says there is no plan B for building the under-funded community center.
Stumbaugh has looked for grants to help pay for the project and has promised to name the center for any benefactor willing to contribute the $1.2 million or more needed to add to the $3 million the city has set aside, all without success.
That is not the case in Carlisle, however, where state Sen. Bobby Glover has obtained $1 million from the state General Improvement Fund to pay for a community center.
So with no state or private help forthcoming, the council is left with no recourse except to ask city residents to tax themselves to build the 34,000 square-foot community center that has been planned for about two years and to help pay the city’s $1 million match on a $5 million overpass that has been planned for more than five years.
If Cabot voters decide to tax themselves to pay for the new center as well as the overpass, owners of homes costing $100,000 can expect to pay an additional $20 in taxes every year.
The council also voted to seek a general contractor as a project manager for the community center, which could cost about $4.4 million, according to Alderman David Polantz, who sponsored the ordinance calling for requests for qualifications for the job.
Polantz also asked for the millage election ordinance, which was cosponsored by the mayor and all the council members except Alderman Jerry Stephens who made good on his promise to not support any increase in taxes.
Stumbaugh said on Tuesday morning that since the low bid of $4.2 million for the community center was turned in late last fall, the project would have to be re-bid before construction could begin.
The center was expected to cost $3 million.
Since the low bid came in $1.2 million above the amount available to pay for it, the city has been getting advice from the school district on how to save money on construction.
Parks Director Carroll Astin told the council that one way the school saves money is by using a project manager who is paid to find subcontractors to do the work.
Increasing the city millage from 3.5 to 4.5 would bring in about $180,000 a year, said Dale Walker, city finance director, more than enough to pay back 20-yearbonds for $2 million.
Ordinance No. 16 of 2005, submitting the proposed millage increase and bond issue to the voters, sets a July 12 election date.
Voters will be asked to approve bond issues of $700,000 for the railroad overpass and $1.3 million for the community center.
Although it is still not certain whether $4 million in federal money for the overpass will be available this year, Stumbaugh said Monday that he believes it will be made available.
TOP STORY>> Where money would go
Area legislators have secured millions of dollars from the General Improvement Fund for local projects.
Rep. Will Bond
- Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club $50,000
- Jacksonville Senior Center $50,000
- Jacksonville Museum of Military History $10,000
- Reed’s Bridge Preservation Society, Inc. $10,000
- Jacksonville for construction, renovation and equipping of a library $300,000
- Camp Pfeiffer in Little Rock for operating and programmatic expenses $100,000
- Pathfinders, Inc. in Jacksonville, for a pilot jobs program for developmentally disabled adults, including the purchase of equipment program, construction and improvements $100,000
- Jacksonville, $20,000
Sen. John Paul Capps
- Institutional facilities ASU-Beebe $500,000
- Jacksonville Senior Center $20,000
- Jacksonville Museum of Military History $20,000
- North Pulaski Community Com-plex $20,000
- Arkansas Community Foundation (Three Cheerleaders Fund) $10,000
- North Pulaski Fire Department $10,000
- White County Aging Program (Lightle Senior Center) $50,000
- White County Regional Library System $50,000
- White County Fair $15,000
- White County United Way for any improvements or office lease rent or purchase costs $50,000
- Beebe for improvements for city streets, water, sewer, new projects, improvements and maintenance $20,000
- Judsonia for improvements for city streets, water, sewer, new projects, improvements and maintenance $20,000
- McRae for improvements for city streets, water, sewer, new projects, improvements and maintenance $20,000
- Garner for improvements for city streets, water, sewer, new projects, improvements and maintenance $15,000
- Higginson for construction and improvements to City Hall $25,000
- Kensett for costs associated with water, sewer, street repairs, new projects and or maintenance $40,000
- Little Red River Irrigation Water District $30,000
- Searcy Fire Department for operating expenses or building fund $50,000
- East Cypress Fire Department in Faulkner County, $5,000 Rep. Mark Pate (D-Bald Knob)
Rep. Lenville Evans
- Butlerville Volunteer Fire Department $5,000
- Carlisle Fire Department $5,000
- Coy Fire Department $5,000
- Crossroads Fire Department $5,000
- England Fire Depart-ment $5,000
- Hum-noke Fire Department $5,000
- Keo Fire Department $5,000
- Lonoke Fire Department $5,000
- Scott Fire Protection District #18 $5,000
- Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department $5,000
- South Bend Volunteer Fire Department $5,000
- East Pulaski Fire Department $5,000
- Lonoke County Council on Aging $10,000
- Lonoke Exceptional School $10,000
- Open Arms Shelter $10,000
- Bayou Meto Water District in Lonoke County, $113,000
- Martin Park in Lonoke County, purchase renovation of equipment $5,000
Sen. Bobby Glover
- Carlisle, for construction, equipping and associated costs of a civic center $1,000,000
- Stuttgart Chamber of Com-merce to build a stage for Wings Over the Prairie Festival $200,000
- Cabot Fire Department $5,000
- Austin Fire Department $5,000
- Ward Fire Department $5,000
- C & S Fire Department $5,000
- Mountain Springs Fire Department $5,000
- Lonoke County Jail Fund for construction and equipping $300,000
- Stuttgart for purchase, renovation and equipment for an administration building $20,000
- Arkansas County Radio Tower for fire departments in Arkansas County $25,000
Rep. Mark Pate (D-Bald Knob)
- Various improvements – ASU-Beebe $50,000
- White County Library System for maintenance and operation $20,000
- White County chapter of the American Red Cross purposes of obtaining a new or different facility either by lease or purchase and or purchase of a new or used vehicle or trailer for emergency disaster services $60,000
- North White County Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Georgetown Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Antioch Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Judsonia Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- West Point Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Rocky Point Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Floyd Romance Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Southeast White County Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- McRae Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- El Paso Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Bald Knob Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Beebe Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Gum Springs Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Joy Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $3,000
- Garner Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $10,000
- Center Hill Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Bald Knob, for water, sewer and street maintenance $25,000
- Beebe, for water, sewer and street maintenance $25,000
- Judsonia for water, sewer and street maintenance $20,000
- McRae for water, sewer and street maintenance $20,000
- Garner for water, sewer and street maintenance $15,000
- Georgetown for water, sewer and street maintenance $15,000
- Griffithville for water, sewer and street maintenance $15,000
- West Point, for water, sewer and street maintenance $15,000
- White County Fair Association for construction of or maintenance of new or existing facilities $20,000
- Little Red River Irrigation District $10,000
- Bald Knob Fine Arts Council promotion of Musical and Art programs Bald Knob Community $2,500
- White County Battered Women’s Shelter $2,500
- White County Senior Citizen Center $25,000
Rep. Sandra Prater (D-Jacksonville)
- Maumelle Police Department $20,000
- North Pulaski Fire Department $10,000
- Oak Grove Fire Department $10,000
- Maumelle Volunteer Fire Department for upgrades $10,000
- Highway 286 East Volunteer Fire De-partment $10,000
- Beaverfork Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Cato Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Liberty Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Mayflower Volunteer Fire De-partment $10,000
- Saltillo Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department Oak Grove Substation $10,000
- Arkansas Community Foundation3 Cheerleader Scholarship Fund $20,000
- Oak Grove Community Organization $30,000
- Our Club Program $10,000
- North Pulaski Community Complex $40,000
- Veterans Memorial in Maumelle, $25,000
- North Pulaski Recreation Ball Park for improvements $2,500
- Mayflower, Mayflower Parks Department $10,000
- Mayflower, $20,000
Rep. Susan Schulte
- Mt. Springs Fire Department $10,000
- Ward Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Austin Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- CSZ Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Arlene Cherry Library $5,000
- Ward Li-brary $5,000
- Cabot Senior Center $5,000
- Open Arms Shelter $5,000
Rep. Jeff Wood
- Grants for Certified Teachers – Arkansas National Guard and C-Step Programs $62,701
- Runyan Acres Property Owners Associa-tion in Pulaski County $20,000
- Runyan Acres Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Gravel Ridge Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Sherwood Fire Depart-ment in Sherwood $10,000
- Sherwood Rotary Club Veterans Memorial Centennial Project $40,000
- Jack Evans Senior Center $40,000
- Sylvan Hills Optimist Club $5,000
- Bill Harmon Recreation Center $15,000
- Sylvan Hills Volunteer Fire Department in Sherwood, $10,000
Rep. Will Bond
- Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club $50,000
- Jacksonville Senior Center $50,000
- Jacksonville Museum of Military History $10,000
- Reed’s Bridge Preservation Society, Inc. $10,000
- Jacksonville for construction, renovation and equipping of a library $300,000
- Camp Pfeiffer in Little Rock for operating and programmatic expenses $100,000
- Pathfinders, Inc. in Jacksonville, for a pilot jobs program for developmentally disabled adults, including the purchase of equipment program, construction and improvements $100,000
- Jacksonville, $20,000
Sen. John Paul Capps
- Institutional facilities ASU-Beebe $500,000
- Jacksonville Senior Center $20,000
- Jacksonville Museum of Military History $20,000
- North Pulaski Community Com-plex $20,000
- Arkansas Community Foundation (Three Cheerleaders Fund) $10,000
- North Pulaski Fire Department $10,000
- White County Aging Program (Lightle Senior Center) $50,000
- White County Regional Library System $50,000
- White County Fair $15,000
- White County United Way for any improvements or office lease rent or purchase costs $50,000
- Beebe for improvements for city streets, water, sewer, new projects, improvements and maintenance $20,000
- Judsonia for improvements for city streets, water, sewer, new projects, improvements and maintenance $20,000
- McRae for improvements for city streets, water, sewer, new projects, improvements and maintenance $20,000
- Garner for improvements for city streets, water, sewer, new projects, improvements and maintenance $15,000
- Higginson for construction and improvements to City Hall $25,000
- Kensett for costs associated with water, sewer, street repairs, new projects and or maintenance $40,000
- Little Red River Irrigation Water District $30,000
- Searcy Fire Department for operating expenses or building fund $50,000
- East Cypress Fire Department in Faulkner County, $5,000 Rep. Mark Pate (D-Bald Knob)
Rep. Lenville Evans
- Butlerville Volunteer Fire Department $5,000
- Carlisle Fire Department $5,000
- Coy Fire Department $5,000
- Crossroads Fire Department $5,000
- England Fire Depart-ment $5,000
- Hum-noke Fire Department $5,000
- Keo Fire Department $5,000
- Lonoke Fire Department $5,000
- Scott Fire Protection District #18 $5,000
- Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department $5,000
- South Bend Volunteer Fire Department $5,000
- East Pulaski Fire Department $5,000
- Lonoke County Council on Aging $10,000
- Lonoke Exceptional School $10,000
- Open Arms Shelter $10,000
- Bayou Meto Water District in Lonoke County, $113,000
- Martin Park in Lonoke County, purchase renovation of equipment $5,000
Sen. Bobby Glover
- Carlisle, for construction, equipping and associated costs of a civic center $1,000,000
- Stuttgart Chamber of Com-merce to build a stage for Wings Over the Prairie Festival $200,000
- Cabot Fire Department $5,000
- Austin Fire Department $5,000
- Ward Fire Department $5,000
- C & S Fire Department $5,000
- Mountain Springs Fire Department $5,000
- Lonoke County Jail Fund for construction and equipping $300,000
- Stuttgart for purchase, renovation and equipment for an administration building $20,000
- Arkansas County Radio Tower for fire departments in Arkansas County $25,000
Rep. Mark Pate (D-Bald Knob)
- Various improvements – ASU-Beebe $50,000
- White County Library System for maintenance and operation $20,000
- White County chapter of the American Red Cross purposes of obtaining a new or different facility either by lease or purchase and or purchase of a new or used vehicle or trailer for emergency disaster services $60,000
- North White County Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Georgetown Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Antioch Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Judsonia Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- West Point Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Rocky Point Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Floyd Romance Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Southeast White County Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- McRae Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- El Paso Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Bald Knob Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Beebe Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Gum Springs Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Joy Volunteer Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $3,000
- Garner Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $10,000
- Center Hill Fire Department for purchase or maintenance of new or existing equipment or facilities $6,000
- Bald Knob, for water, sewer and street maintenance $25,000
- Beebe, for water, sewer and street maintenance $25,000
- Judsonia for water, sewer and street maintenance $20,000
- McRae for water, sewer and street maintenance $20,000
- Garner for water, sewer and street maintenance $15,000
- Georgetown for water, sewer and street maintenance $15,000
- Griffithville for water, sewer and street maintenance $15,000
- West Point, for water, sewer and street maintenance $15,000
- White County Fair Association for construction of or maintenance of new or existing facilities $20,000
- Little Red River Irrigation District $10,000
- Bald Knob Fine Arts Council promotion of Musical and Art programs Bald Knob Community $2,500
- White County Battered Women’s Shelter $2,500
- White County Senior Citizen Center $25,000
Rep. Sandra Prater (D-Jacksonville)
- Maumelle Police Department $20,000
- North Pulaski Fire Department $10,000
- Oak Grove Fire Department $10,000
- Maumelle Volunteer Fire Department for upgrades $10,000
- Highway 286 East Volunteer Fire De-partment $10,000
- Beaverfork Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Cato Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Liberty Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Mayflower Volunteer Fire De-partment $10,000
- Saltillo Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department Oak Grove Substation $10,000
- Arkansas Community Foundation3 Cheerleader Scholarship Fund $20,000
- Oak Grove Community Organization $30,000
- Our Club Program $10,000
- North Pulaski Community Complex $40,000
- Veterans Memorial in Maumelle, $25,000
- North Pulaski Recreation Ball Park for improvements $2,500
- Mayflower, Mayflower Parks Department $10,000
- Mayflower, $20,000
Rep. Susan Schulte
- Mt. Springs Fire Department $10,000
- Ward Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Austin Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- CSZ Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Arlene Cherry Library $5,000
- Ward Li-brary $5,000
- Cabot Senior Center $5,000
- Open Arms Shelter $5,000
Rep. Jeff Wood
- Grants for Certified Teachers – Arkansas National Guard and C-Step Programs $62,701
- Runyan Acres Property Owners Associa-tion in Pulaski County $20,000
- Runyan Acres Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Gravel Ridge Volunteer Fire Department $10,000
- Sherwood Fire Depart-ment in Sherwood $10,000
- Sherwood Rotary Club Veterans Memorial Centennial Project $40,000
- Jack Evans Senior Center $40,000
- Sylvan Hills Optimist Club $5,000
- Bill Harmon Recreation Center $15,000
- Sylvan Hills Volunteer Fire Department in Sherwood, $10,000
TOP STORY>> Improvement fund helps area
I SHORT: Sen. Glover leads in lining up money for his pet projects, although Sen. Capps, Reps. Bond, Evans, Pate, Prater, Schulte and Wood also do well for their districts.
Leader staff report
Whether they love general improvement funds or hate them, local legislators lined up to bring tax money back to their homefolks at the end of the recently concluded 85th General Assembly.
Some, like state Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, say they would rather have seen much or all of the $231 million in the General Improvement Fund (GIF) earmarked instead for improving school facilities, but failing that, Bond said he wanted to support important local projects, such as improving the Jacksonville library.
Senators each were allotted $750,000.
Depending on their tenure, House members were allowed to earmark $104,000, $158,000 or $212,000.
The Associated Press released a list of GIF requests by primary sponsor, including the amount of the request, which is not generally the amount that will ultimately be funded.
For instance, state Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, sponsored a bill asking for $1 million toward construction of a Carlisle Civic Center—an appropriation that will actually be about $350,000, he said Friday.
As a senator, he was entitled to fund $750,000 worth of projects requested in three of the four counties in his district.
Glover said that in more than 20 years in the General Assembly, the civic center appropriation would be the first time he’s brought money back to his hometown.
Glover said the amounts listed in the AP account were misleading. For instance, it says he got $300,000 for badly needed improvement of the Lonoke County Jail. Glover, state Rep. Susan Schulte, R-Cabot; and state Rep. Lenville Evans, D-Lonoke, each earmarked about $100,000 toward the jail, but as primary sponsor, it shows up in Glover’s list as $300,000 and makes it look like Schulte funded nothing but a handful of volunteer fire departments and community projects to the tune of $60,000.
In a breakdown, if all are fully funded, the fire departments at Mountain Springs, Ward, Austin, and CSZ will receive $10,000 each. The libraries in Cabot and Ward will each receive $5,000 and the remaining $10,000 will be divided equally between the Cabot Senior Center and the Open Arms Shelter in Lonoke.
Neither is Evans credited with his share of the jail money, but he gets full credit for the $113,000 earmarked for the Bayou Meto Water District—which Glover contributed to without credit on the AP list.
Evans, himself a farmer, said he was gratified to be able to contribute to the Bayou Meto irrigation project.
“It’s so important with our ground water and getting irrigation over here,” he said.
“We have to get out of this aquifer, need an alternative to the ground water. We can’t produce products without water.”
Of the list of GIF project sponsors and amounts, Bond said “It’s hard to look at those (amounts) and figure out who did what for whom.”
Bond noted that although he received credit for the $300,000 earmarked for construction, renovation and equipping of a library in Jacksonville, although other’s contributed and the project is only going to receive $190,000.
Bond’s share of the GIF money is about $160,000, so he’s not the only one kicking in for the library.
“I have never been a big fan of the fund, but that is the current way business is done with one time money and as representative of Jacksonville, it would not be in the best interest of the district to turn it down,” Bond said.
“We fought hard to hold the money down to about $19 million on a side. We were desperate to keep them from dipping into adequacy trust fund.”
State Rep. Sandra Prater, D-Jacksonville, was in on the appropriation for the Jacksonville Senior Center.
Prater said she asked for about $270,000 but got about $175,000. She and state Sen. Mary Ann Salmon together got $40,000 for a new North Pulaski community center complex slated for 15 donated acres on Republican Road.
General Improvement Fund requests were Rep. Jeff Wood’s favorite legislation although not the biggest challenge facing the 85th General Assembly, said the Sherwood Democrat.
“The biggest challenge facing us was balancing the budget. Meeting everyone’s needs as best we could without raising taxes. It took a lot of sacrifice,” Wood said.
“You really have to fight for your district to get its share.”
Wood sponsored $62,700 in grants for certified teachers, Arkansas National Guard and C-Step programs.
He requested $40,000 each for the Sherwood Rotary Club Veterans Memorial and the Jack Evans Senior Center. Additionally Wood requested $10,000 for the fire departments in Gravel Ridge, Sherwood, Runyan Acres and Sylvan Hills.
Rep. Mark Pate, D-Bald Knob, agreed in addition to the education facilities funding legislation, creating a balanced budget while meeting needs was the biggest challenge legislators faced as a whole.
The largest GIF requests he sponsored were for $50,000 for Arkansas State University-Beebe and $60,000 for the White County Chapter of the American Red Cross.
The White County Chapter requested the money to help them buy or lease a different facility and purchase an additional vehicle and possibly a trailer for emergency disaster services.
Pate sponsored requests for 16 volunteer fire departments in communities like Antioch, Floyd, Gum Springs and Center Hill. The requests ranged from $3,000 for the Joy Volunteer Fire Department to $10,000 for the Garner Fire Department.
“I represent an area with a lot of rural territory and that’s why I try hard to help volunteer fire departments because they’re so limited with their income. They can struggle by with pie auctions, barbecues and fish fries. They know how to stretch a dollar and this funding goes a long way with them,” Pate said.
In this session, Pate was able to get funding for water, sewer and street maintenance for several of the towns he serves.
He requested $15,000 for West Point, Griffithville, Georgetown and Garner, $20,000 for Judsonia and McRae and $25,000 for Bald Knob and Beebe.
Sen. John Paul Capps, D-Searcy, sponsored a request for $500,000 for Arkansas State University-Beebe and $50,000 each for the White County Aging Program/Lightle Senior Center, the White County Regional Library System and White County United Way.
He also sponsored requests for $20,000 for water, sewer and street improvements in Beebe, Judsonia and McRae.
Leader staff report
Whether they love general improvement funds or hate them, local legislators lined up to bring tax money back to their homefolks at the end of the recently concluded 85th General Assembly.
Some, like state Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, say they would rather have seen much or all of the $231 million in the General Improvement Fund (GIF) earmarked instead for improving school facilities, but failing that, Bond said he wanted to support important local projects, such as improving the Jacksonville library.
Senators each were allotted $750,000.
Depending on their tenure, House members were allowed to earmark $104,000, $158,000 or $212,000.
The Associated Press released a list of GIF requests by primary sponsor, including the amount of the request, which is not generally the amount that will ultimately be funded.
For instance, state Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, sponsored a bill asking for $1 million toward construction of a Carlisle Civic Center—an appropriation that will actually be about $350,000, he said Friday.
As a senator, he was entitled to fund $750,000 worth of projects requested in three of the four counties in his district.
Glover said that in more than 20 years in the General Assembly, the civic center appropriation would be the first time he’s brought money back to his hometown.
Glover said the amounts listed in the AP account were misleading. For instance, it says he got $300,000 for badly needed improvement of the Lonoke County Jail. Glover, state Rep. Susan Schulte, R-Cabot; and state Rep. Lenville Evans, D-Lonoke, each earmarked about $100,000 toward the jail, but as primary sponsor, it shows up in Glover’s list as $300,000 and makes it look like Schulte funded nothing but a handful of volunteer fire departments and community projects to the tune of $60,000.
In a breakdown, if all are fully funded, the fire departments at Mountain Springs, Ward, Austin, and CSZ will receive $10,000 each. The libraries in Cabot and Ward will each receive $5,000 and the remaining $10,000 will be divided equally between the Cabot Senior Center and the Open Arms Shelter in Lonoke.
Neither is Evans credited with his share of the jail money, but he gets full credit for the $113,000 earmarked for the Bayou Meto Water District—which Glover contributed to without credit on the AP list.
Evans, himself a farmer, said he was gratified to be able to contribute to the Bayou Meto irrigation project.
“It’s so important with our ground water and getting irrigation over here,” he said.
“We have to get out of this aquifer, need an alternative to the ground water. We can’t produce products without water.”
Of the list of GIF project sponsors and amounts, Bond said “It’s hard to look at those (amounts) and figure out who did what for whom.”
Bond noted that although he received credit for the $300,000 earmarked for construction, renovation and equipping of a library in Jacksonville, although other’s contributed and the project is only going to receive $190,000.
Bond’s share of the GIF money is about $160,000, so he’s not the only one kicking in for the library.
“I have never been a big fan of the fund, but that is the current way business is done with one time money and as representative of Jacksonville, it would not be in the best interest of the district to turn it down,” Bond said.
“We fought hard to hold the money down to about $19 million on a side. We were desperate to keep them from dipping into adequacy trust fund.”
State Rep. Sandra Prater, D-Jacksonville, was in on the appropriation for the Jacksonville Senior Center.
Prater said she asked for about $270,000 but got about $175,000. She and state Sen. Mary Ann Salmon together got $40,000 for a new North Pulaski community center complex slated for 15 donated acres on Republican Road.
General Improvement Fund requests were Rep. Jeff Wood’s favorite legislation although not the biggest challenge facing the 85th General Assembly, said the Sherwood Democrat.
“The biggest challenge facing us was balancing the budget. Meeting everyone’s needs as best we could without raising taxes. It took a lot of sacrifice,” Wood said.
“You really have to fight for your district to get its share.”
Wood sponsored $62,700 in grants for certified teachers, Arkansas National Guard and C-Step programs.
He requested $40,000 each for the Sherwood Rotary Club Veterans Memorial and the Jack Evans Senior Center. Additionally Wood requested $10,000 for the fire departments in Gravel Ridge, Sherwood, Runyan Acres and Sylvan Hills.
Rep. Mark Pate, D-Bald Knob, agreed in addition to the education facilities funding legislation, creating a balanced budget while meeting needs was the biggest challenge legislators faced as a whole.
The largest GIF requests he sponsored were for $50,000 for Arkansas State University-Beebe and $60,000 for the White County Chapter of the American Red Cross.
The White County Chapter requested the money to help them buy or lease a different facility and purchase an additional vehicle and possibly a trailer for emergency disaster services.
Pate sponsored requests for 16 volunteer fire departments in communities like Antioch, Floyd, Gum Springs and Center Hill. The requests ranged from $3,000 for the Joy Volunteer Fire Department to $10,000 for the Garner Fire Department.
“I represent an area with a lot of rural territory and that’s why I try hard to help volunteer fire departments because they’re so limited with their income. They can struggle by with pie auctions, barbecues and fish fries. They know how to stretch a dollar and this funding goes a long way with them,” Pate said.
In this session, Pate was able to get funding for water, sewer and street maintenance for several of the towns he serves.
He requested $15,000 for West Point, Griffithville, Georgetown and Garner, $20,000 for Judsonia and McRae and $25,000 for Bald Knob and Beebe.
Sen. John Paul Capps, D-Searcy, sponsored a request for $500,000 for Arkansas State University-Beebe and $50,000 each for the White County Aging Program/Lightle Senior Center, the White County Regional Library System and White County United Way.
He also sponsored requests for $20,000 for water, sewer and street improvements in Beebe, Judsonia and McRae.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
EDITORIAL>> Gathering at the trough
Tax-increment financing, the commercial developer’s fantasy, has given new meaning to the term “feeding frenzy.” Since the legislature moved to put teeth into the constitutional amendment that allowed the creation of the TIF districts, developers in every booming city in Arkansas have put on the feed bag.
Arkansas Business recounts plans by the city of Paragould to create a TIF district to build a new movie theater complex.
The three Malco theaters up there seem not to have kept pace with moviegoers’ needs, so your schools at Jacksonville, Cabot, Beebe — wherever — will hand over some of their local property tax money for the next 25 years to enhance the moviegoing experience of the people in Greene County.
They will surrender the money, that is, if Gov. Huckabee signs the new TIF legislation into law.
That seems now to be foregone. One of the big proponents and beneficiaries of the TIF law is Bruce Burrow, a major developer who wants to use it to build shopping malls. His real estate company also has a hand in the Paragould development.
Burrow, a major supporter of the governor, serves on the state Economic Development Commission under appointment by Huckabee, and his wife is a Huckabee appointee to the state Board of Education.
With the critical support of Jonesboro lawmakers, the bill specifying how cities can take advantage of the TIF option sailed through the legislature in its final days. The House of Representatives put the finishing touches on it Tuesday by a vote of 74-16.
TIF works this way: A city council or a county quorum court creates a special development district and issues bonds to pay for improvements paving the way for a shopping mall, restaurants, an office building or, in Paragould’s case, a theater complex.
Revenues from property taxes in the district will then be frozen for the life of the bonds, typically 25 years, and all the year-to-year growth in tax receipts from rising real estate values and new property will be siphoned from the schools and libraries to pay off the bonds.
The bill exempts certain tax recipients — community colleges and police and firemen’s pension funds, notably — from losing their rising tax receipts.
There is special perversity to this special-interest act. The original premise of TIF, when it was presented to voters in 2002, was that it would stimulate economic development in depressed communities.
The local schools might suffer flat revenues for a year or two, the theory went, but the economic growth from the investment would erase the deficit soon enough.
It really made little sense then but it turns out to have precisely the opposite effect.
No one should be surprised that the only places where TIF is being proposed are the prosperous cities, where there is a ready and even booming market for investment. So the big users at the outset will be Rogers, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Jonesboro, Paragould and perhaps North Little Rock, which wants to make it easy for an out-of-state sporting goods giant to build in the wetlands off Interstate 40 and drive out existing merchants, who won’t get the big public subsidy.
Yet the poor regions — the starved school districts of the Delta and south Arkansas — will get to pay for the improvements.
They are the schools that the Arkansas Supreme Court says the state is obliged to help if it is to meet its obligation under the state Constitution to provide a good and equal education to every child.
Owing to the strange twists of our Constitution, the money coming out of a local school’s budget to pay for the local development will be reimbursed from the state Public School Fund.
It means that every school child in Arkansas and every property owner will be tapped to subsidize the developers’ dreams.
Do we have a great government or what?
Arkansas Business recounts plans by the city of Paragould to create a TIF district to build a new movie theater complex.
The three Malco theaters up there seem not to have kept pace with moviegoers’ needs, so your schools at Jacksonville, Cabot, Beebe — wherever — will hand over some of their local property tax money for the next 25 years to enhance the moviegoing experience of the people in Greene County.
They will surrender the money, that is, if Gov. Huckabee signs the new TIF legislation into law.
That seems now to be foregone. One of the big proponents and beneficiaries of the TIF law is Bruce Burrow, a major developer who wants to use it to build shopping malls. His real estate company also has a hand in the Paragould development.
Burrow, a major supporter of the governor, serves on the state Economic Development Commission under appointment by Huckabee, and his wife is a Huckabee appointee to the state Board of Education.
With the critical support of Jonesboro lawmakers, the bill specifying how cities can take advantage of the TIF option sailed through the legislature in its final days. The House of Representatives put the finishing touches on it Tuesday by a vote of 74-16.
TIF works this way: A city council or a county quorum court creates a special development district and issues bonds to pay for improvements paving the way for a shopping mall, restaurants, an office building or, in Paragould’s case, a theater complex.
Revenues from property taxes in the district will then be frozen for the life of the bonds, typically 25 years, and all the year-to-year growth in tax receipts from rising real estate values and new property will be siphoned from the schools and libraries to pay off the bonds.
The bill exempts certain tax recipients — community colleges and police and firemen’s pension funds, notably — from losing their rising tax receipts.
There is special perversity to this special-interest act. The original premise of TIF, when it was presented to voters in 2002, was that it would stimulate economic development in depressed communities.
The local schools might suffer flat revenues for a year or two, the theory went, but the economic growth from the investment would erase the deficit soon enough.
It really made little sense then but it turns out to have precisely the opposite effect.
No one should be surprised that the only places where TIF is being proposed are the prosperous cities, where there is a ready and even booming market for investment. So the big users at the outset will be Rogers, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Jonesboro, Paragould and perhaps North Little Rock, which wants to make it easy for an out-of-state sporting goods giant to build in the wetlands off Interstate 40 and drive out existing merchants, who won’t get the big public subsidy.
Yet the poor regions — the starved school districts of the Delta and south Arkansas — will get to pay for the improvements.
They are the schools that the Arkansas Supreme Court says the state is obliged to help if it is to meet its obligation under the state Constitution to provide a good and equal education to every child.
Owing to the strange twists of our Constitution, the money coming out of a local school’s budget to pay for the local development will be reimbursed from the state Public School Fund.
It means that every school child in Arkansas and every property owner will be tapped to subsidize the developers’ dreams.
Do we have a great government or what?
SPORTS>> Lady Devils on two game losing streak
IN SHORT: Jacksonville softball team loses to Searcy and Greenbrier last week. It was the team’s first back-to-back losses this season.
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Lady Red Devils are now in the midst of a losing streak after dropping their second game in a row Friday to class AAAA powerhouse Greenbrier.
The Lady Devils handed the Lady Panthers their first loss of the season a week earlier in the Harrison tournament, but fell 3-1 Friday at Greenbrier.
“Amanda Burgess did a great job pitching and we didn’t have any errors,” Greenbrier coach Tommy Reed said. “You feel like you give yourself a chance to win when you get both of those things.”
Greenbrier took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Jan McCollum was hit by a Jessica Bock pitch and scored on the next at bat when Shannon Pickard doubled off the wall in left-centerfield.
It became a pitchers’ duel after that, with Jacksonville getting the only run over the next four innings.
That run came in the top of the third when freshman Lady Devil Taylor Norsworthy doubled to drive in Jacksonville’s only run of the game.
Greenbrier scored the game-winning runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Burgess singled to start things off, but it appeared that Jacksonville would thwart the threat. With two outs, however, Amy Allen doubled to drive in Burgess for the winning run. The Lady Panthers added an unearned run on the next at bat when a line drive into left field bounced off the outfielder’s glove to score Allen.
The loss to Greenbrier comes on the heels of a shocking, 10-inning loss to big underdog Searcy in a AAAAA-East conference game. The Lady Lions scored four runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to prevail 5-4 after Jacksonville had taken a 4-1 lead.
Searcy was Jacksonville’s first victim of the season. In that game, Bock threw a perfect game over seven innings and struck out 19 of the 21 batters she faced.
That wasn’t the case last week, as Searcy picked up five base hits and took advantage of a few Lady Devil mistakes to get the upset victory.
“That was a huge win for us,” Searcy coach Mike McCain said. “It puts us right back in the playoff race and really may have given us an upper hand.”
Jacksonville, Cabot and West Memphis all have one conference loss and stand tied at the top of the league standings.
Searcy, Mountain Home and Jonesboro are battling for the final playoff spot while Forrest City has just one win, it coming against winless Sylvan Hills.
The Lady Lions are now 5-2 in league play and 6-7 overall.
Jacksonville’s losses dropped the Lady Devils to 9-3 on the season.
The Lady Devils’ next game is a conference doubleheader at Mountain Home.
Jacksonville will host its annual Lady Devil Classic this weekend, which features several of the state’s top teams from around the state in all classifications.
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Lady Red Devils are now in the midst of a losing streak after dropping their second game in a row Friday to class AAAA powerhouse Greenbrier.
The Lady Devils handed the Lady Panthers their first loss of the season a week earlier in the Harrison tournament, but fell 3-1 Friday at Greenbrier.
“Amanda Burgess did a great job pitching and we didn’t have any errors,” Greenbrier coach Tommy Reed said. “You feel like you give yourself a chance to win when you get both of those things.”
Greenbrier took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Jan McCollum was hit by a Jessica Bock pitch and scored on the next at bat when Shannon Pickard doubled off the wall in left-centerfield.
It became a pitchers’ duel after that, with Jacksonville getting the only run over the next four innings.
That run came in the top of the third when freshman Lady Devil Taylor Norsworthy doubled to drive in Jacksonville’s only run of the game.
Greenbrier scored the game-winning runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Burgess singled to start things off, but it appeared that Jacksonville would thwart the threat. With two outs, however, Amy Allen doubled to drive in Burgess for the winning run. The Lady Panthers added an unearned run on the next at bat when a line drive into left field bounced off the outfielder’s glove to score Allen.
The loss to Greenbrier comes on the heels of a shocking, 10-inning loss to big underdog Searcy in a AAAAA-East conference game. The Lady Lions scored four runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to prevail 5-4 after Jacksonville had taken a 4-1 lead.
Searcy was Jacksonville’s first victim of the season. In that game, Bock threw a perfect game over seven innings and struck out 19 of the 21 batters she faced.
That wasn’t the case last week, as Searcy picked up five base hits and took advantage of a few Lady Devil mistakes to get the upset victory.
“That was a huge win for us,” Searcy coach Mike McCain said. “It puts us right back in the playoff race and really may have given us an upper hand.”
Jacksonville, Cabot and West Memphis all have one conference loss and stand tied at the top of the league standings.
Searcy, Mountain Home and Jonesboro are battling for the final playoff spot while Forrest City has just one win, it coming against winless Sylvan Hills.
The Lady Lions are now 5-2 in league play and 6-7 overall.
Jacksonville’s losses dropped the Lady Devils to 9-3 on the season.
The Lady Devils’ next game is a conference doubleheader at Mountain Home.
Jacksonville will host its annual Lady Devil Classic this weekend, which features several of the state’s top teams from around the state in all classifications.
SPORTS>> Lady Badgers battle swarm
IN SHORT: Beebe High School’s softball team beat Sheridan in a non-conference game last Friday, moves to within one game of a 20-win season at 19-4.
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The Beebe Lady Badgers faced a sawrm of Yellowjackets last week, and ended it by beating the swarm from Sheridan Friday night outside of conference play. The Beebe ladies defeated the Sheridan Lady Yellowjackets 8-3 on a slightly soggy field in Sheridan.
The win Friday followed a conference doubleheader split with the Wynne Lady Yellowjackets on Tuesday at home.
Lady Badger leadoff hitter Brandi Burkhalter got only one hit in five at bats, but reached base three times and scored three runs.
The sophomore Burkhalter’s base rap came on the first at bat of the day. She singled to left field and moved to second on a base hit by freshman Emily Bass. Senior Crystal Robinson moved the runners up with a fly out. That set up a two-RBI base hit by freshman Chelsea Sanders.
Beebe made it 4-0 in the next inning after putting Sheridan down in order in the bottom of the first.
Sophomore Sara Flenor and freshman Bailey Thomas singled to leadoff the inning. Senior Heather Stroud and freshman Mykia Cox followed with two more singles with Cox’s hit scoring Flenor.
Three batters later, Robinson singled to drive in the final run of the inning.
Neither team scored in the third, but Beebe extended its lead to 6-0 in the top of the fourth with two more runs.
Again it was the two leadoff hitters that scored, but this time with a little help from Sheridan. Burkhalter reached on an error at first base while Bass got on via a mistake at second. That set up another RBI single by Robinson that scored Burkhalter. Two batters later Flenor got another base hit that scored Bass to extend Beebe’s margin to plus 6.
Trailing 6-0, the home team finally got on the board with a single run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Lady Badgers kept scoring in the fifth.
Cox walked to start things off and Burkhalter got on due to an error by the Lady Yellowjacket pitcher. Bass was hit by a pitch and Robinson walked to drive in one run.
The final run came two batters later on a base hit by sophomore Callie Mahoney.
Sheridan got two more hits and two more runs in the sixth inning, but never seriously threatened the Lady Badgers.
Beebe compiled 12 base hits, but left a dozen base runners stranded over the course of the game. Sheridan was held to just three hits over seven innings by Robinson.
The senior hurler also went 2 for 3 at the plate and drove in two runs. Sanders went 2 for 4 and also had two RBIs.
Mahoney and Flenor each had two hits and an RBI while Cox, Burkhalter and Bass each had one base hit in the contest.
The win lifts the Lady Badgers to 19-4 overall on the season. They played a conference doubleheader last night against Paragould after Leader deadlines, and will play another non-conference game at Lonoke Thursday. Look for details from both of those games in Saturday’s edition of the Leader.
By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The Beebe Lady Badgers faced a sawrm of Yellowjackets last week, and ended it by beating the swarm from Sheridan Friday night outside of conference play. The Beebe ladies defeated the Sheridan Lady Yellowjackets 8-3 on a slightly soggy field in Sheridan.
The win Friday followed a conference doubleheader split with the Wynne Lady Yellowjackets on Tuesday at home.
Lady Badger leadoff hitter Brandi Burkhalter got only one hit in five at bats, but reached base three times and scored three runs.
The sophomore Burkhalter’s base rap came on the first at bat of the day. She singled to left field and moved to second on a base hit by freshman Emily Bass. Senior Crystal Robinson moved the runners up with a fly out. That set up a two-RBI base hit by freshman Chelsea Sanders.
Beebe made it 4-0 in the next inning after putting Sheridan down in order in the bottom of the first.
Sophomore Sara Flenor and freshman Bailey Thomas singled to leadoff the inning. Senior Heather Stroud and freshman Mykia Cox followed with two more singles with Cox’s hit scoring Flenor.
Three batters later, Robinson singled to drive in the final run of the inning.
Neither team scored in the third, but Beebe extended its lead to 6-0 in the top of the fourth with two more runs.
Again it was the two leadoff hitters that scored, but this time with a little help from Sheridan. Burkhalter reached on an error at first base while Bass got on via a mistake at second. That set up another RBI single by Robinson that scored Burkhalter. Two batters later Flenor got another base hit that scored Bass to extend Beebe’s margin to plus 6.
Trailing 6-0, the home team finally got on the board with a single run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Lady Badgers kept scoring in the fifth.
Cox walked to start things off and Burkhalter got on due to an error by the Lady Yellowjacket pitcher. Bass was hit by a pitch and Robinson walked to drive in one run.
The final run came two batters later on a base hit by sophomore Callie Mahoney.
Sheridan got two more hits and two more runs in the sixth inning, but never seriously threatened the Lady Badgers.
Beebe compiled 12 base hits, but left a dozen base runners stranded over the course of the game. Sheridan was held to just three hits over seven innings by Robinson.
The senior hurler also went 2 for 3 at the plate and drove in two runs. Sanders went 2 for 4 and also had two RBIs.
Mahoney and Flenor each had two hits and an RBI while Cox, Burkhalter and Bass each had one base hit in the contest.
The win lifts the Lady Badgers to 19-4 overall on the season. They played a conference doubleheader last night against Paragould after Leader deadlines, and will play another non-conference game at Lonoke Thursday. Look for details from both of those games in Saturday’s edition of the Leader.
OBITUARIES>> April 13, 2005
LA VAUN JAMES
Col. LaVaun “Buddy” M. James, 84, of North Little Rock passed away April 8. He was born in Belleville to William and Katie Payne James. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Jacksonville. He retired as a property and fiscal officer for the Arkansas National Guard in 1980. He was a World War II Army Air Corps veteran, served as deputy brigade commander of 39thInfantry Brigade and was a member of the Arkansas Field Trial Hall of Fame. His photo hangs in the Field Trial Hall of Fame in Grand Junction, Tenn.
He is survived by his wife, Betty Jo James of North Little Rock; a son, Larry James of Jonesboro; three sisters, Violet Roberts of Dardanelle, Velda Seese of Buffalo, N.Y., and Viva Oakes of Pensacola, Fla.; two grandsons, Seth James and Sloan James, and a great-grandson, Rush James.
Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church with Rev. David Fleming officiating. A graveside service will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Brearly Cemetery in Dardanelle. Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association or the First United Methodist Church of Jacksonville. Arrangements by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Norman Jeffery
Norman Joe Jeffery, 54, of Romance died April 10. Survivors are sons Aaron Standfield, Josh and wife Deanna Jeffery; daughter Kayle and husband Clint Kelly; grandson Levi Kelly; brother, Rick Cook and niece Megan. Visitation is 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Funeral is at 11 a.m. Friday at Westbrook Funeral Home, with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens.
LINDA JENKINS
Linda Jenkins, 64, died April 10. She is survived by her husband, Robert Jenkins; a son, Amos Owen Jenkins of Lonoke; a daughter, Robbie Wakefield and her husband, Ricky of Carlisle; four grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; three brothers, T.O. Ford, Jr. of Lonoke, William Ford of Arizona and Daniel Ford of Pine Bluff; three sisters, Josephine Cotton and Joyce Marie Bevil of Helena and Betty Jean Reynolds of Texas; numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.
Graveside services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at Old Carlisle Cemetery, arrangements by Boyd Funeral Home, Lonoke.
RACHEL PAUL
Rachel Marie Paul, 21, of Texarkana, formerly of Cabot. Taken too soon in her prime, on March 29, a band of angels escorted Rachel Marie Paul to rest in God’s arms and to join with Jesus Christ and the following beloved late family members: her sister, Alicia Marie Garner, her beloved Uncle Donald Wesley Noll and her cherished grandmother, Golda Orene Davis.
She was also joined one hour later by her cat “Angel.”
Rachel was born July 3, 1983 in Bellflower, Calif., to Stephanie Ann Garner. She was a 2001 graduate from Cabot High School.
Rachel was a volunteer cheerleader coach for Cabot Youth Pee Wee football for three years. She loved Taekwondo and was a second degree black belt. She was very athletic and she enjoyed swimming and was one of the first of just a few African American female members on the Cabot Panther track team.
Rachel leaves behind to cherish her memory, her mother, Stephanie Ann Paul of the home, great aunt Barbara Davis, great uncle Johnny, great aunt and uncle Vic and Linda Davis, cousins Cindy, Johnny, Dru and Alicia and their families of California.
She also leaves behind members of her extended family, including her second mother, Michalle Moss and her husband Russell and their children, Stephen and Caleb of Cabot; another second mother Carmen Mason and children Jarred and Luis of California; Jason Dwayne Absher of North Little Rock who was just like the brother she never had since the age of 7; sister of her heart Crystal Caldwell, goddaughter Jayden, Morgan Carver, Nikki and Terry and Terry and Gary and several other friends who are too numerous to mention.
The family would like to express a special thanks to the nurses and doctors at Baylor University Medical Center for their loving care during her two liver transplant surgeries, several rejections and her foray into the field of experimental rejection medications.
Further, the family would like to offer a warm and sincere thanks to Serenity Hospice for the exceptional care they provided for Rachel in her last days. Memorial services will be held 2 p.m. Saturday at Living Waters Church in Cabot with Rev. James Charlton officiating.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Twice Blessed, 2732 Gaston Ave., Suite 119, Dallas, Texas 75246. Arrangements are by Thomas Funeral Service.
R.L. PRICE
R.L. Price, 76, of Jacksonville, passed away April 10. He was born Dec. 10, 1928 in Bonham, Texas, to Rowland and Hudie Bramlett Price. He was a member of the Second Baptist Church in Jackson-ville. He was a veteran of the Korean War and retired from the Air Force after 22 years of service. He was a life member of the VFW Post 4548 and the Jacksonville Senior Citizens Center.
He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters, Hattie, Ruby and Annie and brothers, William and Delbert. He is survived by his children, Vickie Word of Evansville, Ind., Lydia Schmidt of Coon Rapids, Minn., Charles Price of Jacksonville and James Price of North Little Rock; nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be 5 p.m. Wednesday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Ron Raines officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 1132, Fairfax, Va. 22038-1132.
Arrangements by Moore’s Jack-sonville Funeral Home.
LONNIE COX
Lonnie L. Cox, 78, of Searcy, died April 11. He was a retired building contractor, a Navy veteran and a Baptist. He is survived by his wife, Mary L. Cox of Searcy; two sons, Ron Cox of Butlerville and Don Cox of Hale, Missouri; three daughters, Jeanette Martindale of Waverly, Mo., Anita Singer and Linda Judy, both of Hale, Mo.i; three stepchildren, Patricia Warner of House Springs, Mo., Lynne Prenzel of Collinsville, Ill. and Jay Rivera of California; 17 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; two brothers, Odis Cox of Searcy and M. L. Cox of Paragould; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Shade and Mary Jane Cox; a sister, Marie Bedwell and a brother, James Cox. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Funeral will be 2 p.m. Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, with burial in Lebanon Cemetery.
MICHAEL PENNINGTON
Michael Wayne “Pinky” Pennington passed away April 8. He was born May 24, 1957.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Bonnie Pennington and brother, Gene Pennington. He leaves behind two children he adored, Chase Michael Pennington and Malissa Sue Pennington both of Lonoke; his father and stepmother, Muriel and Jean Pennington; a sister and a brother-in-law, Beth and Kerry Jacks; a niece and nephew he adored Kara and Preston Jacks of Lonoke and his wife Rhonda Swaffar of Little Rock. The family will be receiving friends from 6 to 8 p.m. at West Academy in Lonoke. Memorial services will be 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Boyd Funeral Home in Lonoke.
Col. LaVaun “Buddy” M. James, 84, of North Little Rock passed away April 8. He was born in Belleville to William and Katie Payne James. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Jacksonville. He retired as a property and fiscal officer for the Arkansas National Guard in 1980. He was a World War II Army Air Corps veteran, served as deputy brigade commander of 39thInfantry Brigade and was a member of the Arkansas Field Trial Hall of Fame. His photo hangs in the Field Trial Hall of Fame in Grand Junction, Tenn.
He is survived by his wife, Betty Jo James of North Little Rock; a son, Larry James of Jonesboro; three sisters, Violet Roberts of Dardanelle, Velda Seese of Buffalo, N.Y., and Viva Oakes of Pensacola, Fla.; two grandsons, Seth James and Sloan James, and a great-grandson, Rush James.
Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church with Rev. David Fleming officiating. A graveside service will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Brearly Cemetery in Dardanelle. Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association or the First United Methodist Church of Jacksonville. Arrangements by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Norman Jeffery
Norman Joe Jeffery, 54, of Romance died April 10. Survivors are sons Aaron Standfield, Josh and wife Deanna Jeffery; daughter Kayle and husband Clint Kelly; grandson Levi Kelly; brother, Rick Cook and niece Megan. Visitation is 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Funeral is at 11 a.m. Friday at Westbrook Funeral Home, with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens.
LINDA JENKINS
Linda Jenkins, 64, died April 10. She is survived by her husband, Robert Jenkins; a son, Amos Owen Jenkins of Lonoke; a daughter, Robbie Wakefield and her husband, Ricky of Carlisle; four grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; three brothers, T.O. Ford, Jr. of Lonoke, William Ford of Arizona and Daniel Ford of Pine Bluff; three sisters, Josephine Cotton and Joyce Marie Bevil of Helena and Betty Jean Reynolds of Texas; numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.
Graveside services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at Old Carlisle Cemetery, arrangements by Boyd Funeral Home, Lonoke.
RACHEL PAUL
Rachel Marie Paul, 21, of Texarkana, formerly of Cabot. Taken too soon in her prime, on March 29, a band of angels escorted Rachel Marie Paul to rest in God’s arms and to join with Jesus Christ and the following beloved late family members: her sister, Alicia Marie Garner, her beloved Uncle Donald Wesley Noll and her cherished grandmother, Golda Orene Davis.
She was also joined one hour later by her cat “Angel.”
Rachel was born July 3, 1983 in Bellflower, Calif., to Stephanie Ann Garner. She was a 2001 graduate from Cabot High School.
Rachel was a volunteer cheerleader coach for Cabot Youth Pee Wee football for three years. She loved Taekwondo and was a second degree black belt. She was very athletic and she enjoyed swimming and was one of the first of just a few African American female members on the Cabot Panther track team.
Rachel leaves behind to cherish her memory, her mother, Stephanie Ann Paul of the home, great aunt Barbara Davis, great uncle Johnny, great aunt and uncle Vic and Linda Davis, cousins Cindy, Johnny, Dru and Alicia and their families of California.
She also leaves behind members of her extended family, including her second mother, Michalle Moss and her husband Russell and their children, Stephen and Caleb of Cabot; another second mother Carmen Mason and children Jarred and Luis of California; Jason Dwayne Absher of North Little Rock who was just like the brother she never had since the age of 7; sister of her heart Crystal Caldwell, goddaughter Jayden, Morgan Carver, Nikki and Terry and Terry and Gary and several other friends who are too numerous to mention.
The family would like to express a special thanks to the nurses and doctors at Baylor University Medical Center for their loving care during her two liver transplant surgeries, several rejections and her foray into the field of experimental rejection medications.
Further, the family would like to offer a warm and sincere thanks to Serenity Hospice for the exceptional care they provided for Rachel in her last days. Memorial services will be held 2 p.m. Saturday at Living Waters Church in Cabot with Rev. James Charlton officiating.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Twice Blessed, 2732 Gaston Ave., Suite 119, Dallas, Texas 75246. Arrangements are by Thomas Funeral Service.
R.L. PRICE
R.L. Price, 76, of Jacksonville, passed away April 10. He was born Dec. 10, 1928 in Bonham, Texas, to Rowland and Hudie Bramlett Price. He was a member of the Second Baptist Church in Jackson-ville. He was a veteran of the Korean War and retired from the Air Force after 22 years of service. He was a life member of the VFW Post 4548 and the Jacksonville Senior Citizens Center.
He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters, Hattie, Ruby and Annie and brothers, William and Delbert. He is survived by his children, Vickie Word of Evansville, Ind., Lydia Schmidt of Coon Rapids, Minn., Charles Price of Jacksonville and James Price of North Little Rock; nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be 5 p.m. Wednesday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Ron Raines officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 1132, Fairfax, Va. 22038-1132.
Arrangements by Moore’s Jack-sonville Funeral Home.
LONNIE COX
Lonnie L. Cox, 78, of Searcy, died April 11. He was a retired building contractor, a Navy veteran and a Baptist. He is survived by his wife, Mary L. Cox of Searcy; two sons, Ron Cox of Butlerville and Don Cox of Hale, Missouri; three daughters, Jeanette Martindale of Waverly, Mo., Anita Singer and Linda Judy, both of Hale, Mo.i; three stepchildren, Patricia Warner of House Springs, Mo., Lynne Prenzel of Collinsville, Ill. and Jay Rivera of California; 17 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; two brothers, Odis Cox of Searcy and M. L. Cox of Paragould; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Shade and Mary Jane Cox; a sister, Marie Bedwell and a brother, James Cox. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Funeral will be 2 p.m. Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, with burial in Lebanon Cemetery.
MICHAEL PENNINGTON
Michael Wayne “Pinky” Pennington passed away April 8. He was born May 24, 1957.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Bonnie Pennington and brother, Gene Pennington. He leaves behind two children he adored, Chase Michael Pennington and Malissa Sue Pennington both of Lonoke; his father and stepmother, Muriel and Jean Pennington; a sister and a brother-in-law, Beth and Kerry Jacks; a niece and nephew he adored Kara and Preston Jacks of Lonoke and his wife Rhonda Swaffar of Little Rock. The family will be receiving friends from 6 to 8 p.m. at West Academy in Lonoke. Memorial services will be 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Boyd Funeral Home in Lonoke.
Several consider running for mayor in Cabot in ’06
IN SHORT: As Stumbaugh considers a race for Congress, former Mayor Allman and others ponder a mayoral race.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The race for Cabot mayor in 2006 could prove interesting if all the politicians who say they are being asked to run actually do.
According to coffeeshop talk, the former mayor and at least two others are possible candidates against Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh. But so far, no one has announced, not even the mayor.
At press time, Stumbaugh was working on a press release about a possible candidacy for Congress against Marion Berry, but he said as soon as he announces for any office, (mayor or Congress), Federal Communications Commission rules will prohibit him from speaking on the radio unless his opponent is given equal time.
So which one is he running for? He isn’t saying.
Former Mayor Joe Allman also isn’t saying much either just yet.
“I haven’t made up my mind, but I have had a lot of encouragement to run,” Allman said last week.
Allman says he’s concerned that the sidewalk project started during his administration has not kept going. He’s concerned about drainage and about the fund for the railroad overpass that has not been added to since Stumbaugh took office.
The overpass will cost about $5 million with the city being responsible for about $1 million.
The council is working on a plan to finance the city’s part but if the project moves forward as anticipated, the state will need the full amount later this year.
Allman also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for city council to replace longtime Alderman Bob Duke, who says he doesn’t intend to run again.
“I feel like 30 years is enough,” Duke said Tuesday.
“I feel like some of the younger generation can do a better job than I can. I’ll finish out this term and then hang it up.”
So will Allman take that path rather than try to win back the office he lost to Stumbaugh more than two years ago?
“I haven’t made my mind up about that,” he said.
Former Alderman Eddie Joe Williams doesn’t hesitate to talk about his intentions, especially since the Leader reminded its readers last month that he actually announced shortly after Stumbaugh took office.
“I’m running,” Williams said Tuesday.
Williams, who worked toward getting the railroad overpass on the highway department schedule for construction, addressed the council recently to spur them into attempting to fund it three years ahead of schedule.
If the federal money is available this year instead of in 2008, the city shouldn’t let the opportunity slip by, Williams said.
Alderman David Polantz, serving his fifth term on the city council, has taken a leading role in recent years. Currently, he is the chairman of several council committees.
He has asked the council to put before voters a millage increase to pay for the overpass and to help pay for the community center, which is under-funded by $1.2 million.
Once a political ally of the mayor, the two have been at odds lately, and Stumbaugh says Polantz intends to run for his job.
“I’m praying about it,” Polantz said. “I’ll decide in the fall. It’s a very big decision.”
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The race for Cabot mayor in 2006 could prove interesting if all the politicians who say they are being asked to run actually do.
According to coffeeshop talk, the former mayor and at least two others are possible candidates against Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh. But so far, no one has announced, not even the mayor.
At press time, Stumbaugh was working on a press release about a possible candidacy for Congress against Marion Berry, but he said as soon as he announces for any office, (mayor or Congress), Federal Communications Commission rules will prohibit him from speaking on the radio unless his opponent is given equal time.
So which one is he running for? He isn’t saying.
Former Mayor Joe Allman also isn’t saying much either just yet.
“I haven’t made up my mind, but I have had a lot of encouragement to run,” Allman said last week.
Allman says he’s concerned that the sidewalk project started during his administration has not kept going. He’s concerned about drainage and about the fund for the railroad overpass that has not been added to since Stumbaugh took office.
The overpass will cost about $5 million with the city being responsible for about $1 million.
The council is working on a plan to finance the city’s part but if the project moves forward as anticipated, the state will need the full amount later this year.
Allman also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for city council to replace longtime Alderman Bob Duke, who says he doesn’t intend to run again.
“I feel like 30 years is enough,” Duke said Tuesday.
“I feel like some of the younger generation can do a better job than I can. I’ll finish out this term and then hang it up.”
So will Allman take that path rather than try to win back the office he lost to Stumbaugh more than two years ago?
“I haven’t made my mind up about that,” he said.
Former Alderman Eddie Joe Williams doesn’t hesitate to talk about his intentions, especially since the Leader reminded its readers last month that he actually announced shortly after Stumbaugh took office.
“I’m running,” Williams said Tuesday.
Williams, who worked toward getting the railroad overpass on the highway department schedule for construction, addressed the council recently to spur them into attempting to fund it three years ahead of schedule.
If the federal money is available this year instead of in 2008, the city shouldn’t let the opportunity slip by, Williams said.
Alderman David Polantz, serving his fifth term on the city council, has taken a leading role in recent years. Currently, he is the chairman of several council committees.
He has asked the council to put before voters a millage increase to pay for the overpass and to help pay for the community center, which is under-funded by $1.2 million.
Once a political ally of the mayor, the two have been at odds lately, and Stumbaugh says Polantz intends to run for his job.
“I’m praying about it,” Polantz said. “I’ll decide in the fall. It’s a very big decision.”
TOP STORY>> Legislators put schools in tight spot
IN SHORT: Senators approve facilities bill, but many districts are unhappy, will file lawsuits.
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
In a school board meeting Tuesday night, Cabot Superinten-dent Frank Holman said his district would lose $630,988 in incentive funding and $188,060 in general facility funding from the state over the next 10 years.
But the news was not all bleak. “We’re going to get 62 percent of our future educational facilities funded. I think it can work. We’re a growing district,” Holman said.
Kieth Williams, superintendent of Beebe Public Schools, said Tuesday, “This coming year will be a difficult year for public schools because there will be no additional funding to pay for a litany of unfunded mandates from the legislators for staffing and program requirements.”
State schools are facing $168 million in new costs and unfunded mandates generated this legislative session. In addition, the facilities funding bill, which passed the Senate Tuesday afternoon 29-3, will alter the way districts are getting state assistance and many districts worry it won’t be enough. Some have threatened to go to court over the funding issue.
“Finances are a major challenge for any public school superintendent. Even though the emphasis is on student achievement, superintendents can’t separate themselves from the issues surrounding funding,” Williams said.
The state will now rank its 253 school districts from richest to poorest and will provide building subsidies for future facilities construction and improvements. For example, Wealthier districts in areas with high property values will receive less subsidized funding.
Pre-January 2005 facilities assistance and incentive funding will be phased out over a ten-year period.
The money from both phased-out funding formulas will be re-distributed to districts through the Educational Facilities Partnership Fund Account.
“I think everybody was just resigned to the fact that’s the best we’re going to get in facility funding in regards to existing debt,” said Sen. Shane Broadway.
“Some wanted it one way and some wanted it another and we just had to meet somewhere in the middle,” Broadway said.
The House passed Broadway’s education adequacy bill Tuesday afternoon with 79 for and 21 against.
“Sen. Broadway and myself, we’re elated. The work we’re doing is going to be really good in the long run,” said Rep. Jodie Mahony of El Dorado.
The foundation funding for the 2006-07 school year in Broadway’s bill is $5,497 per student. Last year it was $5,400 per student. For the year 2005-2006, it will remain at $5,400.
“Schools will lose money if they lose students and that’s fair,” Mahony said.
The 84th General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Educational Adequacy adopted the Educational Adequacy Report in August 2003.
Each General Assembly is required to reassess the educational adequacy in Arkansas and recommend changes to maintain it as an ongoing priority for the state.
The report recommended spending $847 million to bring education in all Arkansas school districts up to an adequate standard back in 2003.
“Next year, we’re going to focus on teacher salaries. There’s a big discrepancy statewide. Schools in Springdale are starting teachers at $44,000 a year. The state average is $27,000. Something will have to be done,” Mahony said.
By SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
In a school board meeting Tuesday night, Cabot Superinten-dent Frank Holman said his district would lose $630,988 in incentive funding and $188,060 in general facility funding from the state over the next 10 years.
But the news was not all bleak. “We’re going to get 62 percent of our future educational facilities funded. I think it can work. We’re a growing district,” Holman said.
Kieth Williams, superintendent of Beebe Public Schools, said Tuesday, “This coming year will be a difficult year for public schools because there will be no additional funding to pay for a litany of unfunded mandates from the legislators for staffing and program requirements.”
State schools are facing $168 million in new costs and unfunded mandates generated this legislative session. In addition, the facilities funding bill, which passed the Senate Tuesday afternoon 29-3, will alter the way districts are getting state assistance and many districts worry it won’t be enough. Some have threatened to go to court over the funding issue.
“Finances are a major challenge for any public school superintendent. Even though the emphasis is on student achievement, superintendents can’t separate themselves from the issues surrounding funding,” Williams said.
The state will now rank its 253 school districts from richest to poorest and will provide building subsidies for future facilities construction and improvements. For example, Wealthier districts in areas with high property values will receive less subsidized funding.
Pre-January 2005 facilities assistance and incentive funding will be phased out over a ten-year period.
The money from both phased-out funding formulas will be re-distributed to districts through the Educational Facilities Partnership Fund Account.
“I think everybody was just resigned to the fact that’s the best we’re going to get in facility funding in regards to existing debt,” said Sen. Shane Broadway.
“Some wanted it one way and some wanted it another and we just had to meet somewhere in the middle,” Broadway said.
The House passed Broadway’s education adequacy bill Tuesday afternoon with 79 for and 21 against.
“Sen. Broadway and myself, we’re elated. The work we’re doing is going to be really good in the long run,” said Rep. Jodie Mahony of El Dorado.
The foundation funding for the 2006-07 school year in Broadway’s bill is $5,497 per student. Last year it was $5,400 per student. For the year 2005-2006, it will remain at $5,400.
“Schools will lose money if they lose students and that’s fair,” Mahony said.
The 84th General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Educational Adequacy adopted the Educational Adequacy Report in August 2003.
Each General Assembly is required to reassess the educational adequacy in Arkansas and recommend changes to maintain it as an ongoing priority for the state.
The report recommended spending $847 million to bring education in all Arkansas school districts up to an adequate standard back in 2003.
“Next year, we’re going to focus on teacher salaries. There’s a big discrepancy statewide. Schools in Springdale are starting teachers at $44,000 a year. The state average is $27,000. Something will have to be done,” Mahony said.
TOP STORY>>Teachers want cuts elsewhere
IN SHORT>> PCSSD board is divided over reductions that must be made in order to balance the district’s budget.
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Under the duress of not only financial distress but emotional distress, frustrations boiled over at Tuesday night’s Pulaski County Special School District board meeting, with teachers and administrators nominating each other to bear the brunt of cuts to balance the budget and satisfy the state.
Freezing teacher salaries would save $3.4 million, more than a third of the $9 million in savings proposed by Superintendent Donald Henderson and his cabinet, cuts intended to pull the district out of the precipitous three-year financial plunge that has drawn scrutiny from the state Department of Education and a designation as one of 11 Arkansas school districts in financial distress.
That didn’t include another $1 million in proposed savings from cutting seven gifted and talented teachers, and 12.5 elementary and secondary counselors.
The Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers (PACT), countered with a proposal that would cut the number of principals and assistants district wide from the current allocation of 51 to the state mandated minimum of seven for a $3 million savings.
Failure to turn around the school’s financial situation could result in forced consolidation. The state Education Department could force a superintendent to give up control or could suspend and replace the school board.
Making $9 million worth of cuts would leave the district with a projected fund balance of about $10 million at the end of the 2005-2006 school year instead of a projected deficiency of about $5.3 million, according to John Archetko, interim assistant superintendent for business.
As Archetko listed 27 categories for reductions and Henderson explained that only the southwestern part of the district would keep its home school counselors as required by the desegregation agreement, Bishop James Bolden III, Jacksonville’s representative loudly interrupted.
“I understand about the desegregation, but we’ve got kids that need help.”
“The children are suffering,” Bolden said, his rising voice shaking with apparent emotion.
“If it seems like I’m frustrated, I am,” he said, taking off his glasses and slapping his hand on the table.
“I appreciate the teachers, but sometimes we can’t afford raises.” He said he objected to keeping the counselors at the southwest schools, but not in Jacksonville or at Harris. “If you’re going to cut, cut across the board,” he said.
The floodgates opened, and all board members in turn expressed their frustrations.
Board president Mildred Tatum — whose district includes those southwest schools—assured Bolden that no action would be taken until the special April 20 board meeting.
Board member Carol Burgett put some of the district’s financial blame on the state legislature and Congress for unfunded mandates, including the so-called No-Child-Left-Behind mandate.
Past board president Jeff Shaneyfelt, still on the board, assured her that the legislature provided the district with an additional $13 million last year, which the district spent.
“This is a tragic situation. We had a $20 million fund balance three years ago,” he said. He then blamed poor management by the board, including himself.
“I predicted three years ago we would have this catastrophe,” Shaneyfelt said.
Board member Pam Roberts said that increasing tension had grown over the past few years between teachers and administrators.
“This is being used,” she said, “and the kids get caught in the middle.”
“Everybody is going to take some cuts,” she said.
Board member Don Baker said the Chinese character for a crises was the same as the character for an opportunity and urged the board to look on the financial distress designation as an opportunity.
Deen Minton, PACT president, said salary negotiations are due to begin this week and the district wouldn’t be conceding increases in pay and benefits, at least now.
She presented the association’s ideas for saving money and coming out of financial distress as well as a number of questions about the administration’s proposed cuts.
Shaneyfelt, a CPA, has long forecast financial woes as the district gave teacher raises, complied with unfunded mandates and looted money originally earmarked for school construction and improvement projects.
“I’ve been saying all along that I don’t think we’ve had a real handle on our budget,” he said in a Tuesday afternoon interview.
“This is probably the third time in three years we’ve gone through major cuts,” said Shaneyfelt. “Each time, phones light up like a Christmas tree. We’ve peeled down to the core and we’re getting down to the blood.”
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Under the duress of not only financial distress but emotional distress, frustrations boiled over at Tuesday night’s Pulaski County Special School District board meeting, with teachers and administrators nominating each other to bear the brunt of cuts to balance the budget and satisfy the state.
Freezing teacher salaries would save $3.4 million, more than a third of the $9 million in savings proposed by Superintendent Donald Henderson and his cabinet, cuts intended to pull the district out of the precipitous three-year financial plunge that has drawn scrutiny from the state Department of Education and a designation as one of 11 Arkansas school districts in financial distress.
That didn’t include another $1 million in proposed savings from cutting seven gifted and talented teachers, and 12.5 elementary and secondary counselors.
The Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers (PACT), countered with a proposal that would cut the number of principals and assistants district wide from the current allocation of 51 to the state mandated minimum of seven for a $3 million savings.
Failure to turn around the school’s financial situation could result in forced consolidation. The state Education Department could force a superintendent to give up control or could suspend and replace the school board.
Making $9 million worth of cuts would leave the district with a projected fund balance of about $10 million at the end of the 2005-2006 school year instead of a projected deficiency of about $5.3 million, according to John Archetko, interim assistant superintendent for business.
As Archetko listed 27 categories for reductions and Henderson explained that only the southwestern part of the district would keep its home school counselors as required by the desegregation agreement, Bishop James Bolden III, Jacksonville’s representative loudly interrupted.
“I understand about the desegregation, but we’ve got kids that need help.”
“The children are suffering,” Bolden said, his rising voice shaking with apparent emotion.
“If it seems like I’m frustrated, I am,” he said, taking off his glasses and slapping his hand on the table.
“I appreciate the teachers, but sometimes we can’t afford raises.” He said he objected to keeping the counselors at the southwest schools, but not in Jacksonville or at Harris. “If you’re going to cut, cut across the board,” he said.
The floodgates opened, and all board members in turn expressed their frustrations.
Board president Mildred Tatum — whose district includes those southwest schools—assured Bolden that no action would be taken until the special April 20 board meeting.
Board member Carol Burgett put some of the district’s financial blame on the state legislature and Congress for unfunded mandates, including the so-called No-Child-Left-Behind mandate.
Past board president Jeff Shaneyfelt, still on the board, assured her that the legislature provided the district with an additional $13 million last year, which the district spent.
“This is a tragic situation. We had a $20 million fund balance three years ago,” he said. He then blamed poor management by the board, including himself.
“I predicted three years ago we would have this catastrophe,” Shaneyfelt said.
Board member Pam Roberts said that increasing tension had grown over the past few years between teachers and administrators.
“This is being used,” she said, “and the kids get caught in the middle.”
“Everybody is going to take some cuts,” she said.
Board member Don Baker said the Chinese character for a crises was the same as the character for an opportunity and urged the board to look on the financial distress designation as an opportunity.
Deen Minton, PACT president, said salary negotiations are due to begin this week and the district wouldn’t be conceding increases in pay and benefits, at least now.
She presented the association’s ideas for saving money and coming out of financial distress as well as a number of questions about the administration’s proposed cuts.
Shaneyfelt, a CPA, has long forecast financial woes as the district gave teacher raises, complied with unfunded mandates and looted money originally earmarked for school construction and improvement projects.
“I’ve been saying all along that I don’t think we’ve had a real handle on our budget,” he said in a Tuesday afternoon interview.
“This is probably the third time in three years we’ve gone through major cuts,” said Shaneyfelt. “Each time, phones light up like a Christmas tree. We’ve peeled down to the core and we’re getting down to the blood.”
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