By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
A long standing rivalry between The Lady Red Devils of Jacksonville and the Lady Bears of Sylvan Hills picked right back up where it left off on Tuesday, and resulted in the third-straight 6A-East Conference win for Hillside. The Lady Bears downed the Lady Devils in straight games, 29-27, 25-22 and 25-23.
The capacity crowd on hand at the Devils Den signified that this was no ordinary conference matchup. Both teams came into the contest with strategies that seemed very similar in appearance. For Jacksonville, it was shutting down top SH scorer Megan Gwatney, for the Lady Bears, it was containing senior hitter Vanessa Brown. Both strategies were successful in their singular pragmatic purpose, but the details of how to stop the other five players on each side were not ironed out quite as well.
Junior Courtney Luth became the Lady Bears’ biggest threat at the front, while Lady Devils junior Paula Burr gave Sylvan Hills fits both at the net and the service line.
“Because of the games with Jacksonville over the years, if someone would have said we could come in here and win in three games, I would have said ‘no way,’” Sylvan Hills coach Harold Treadway said. “I know how tough we always play each other.
Jacksonville has a good team; I think we were able to frustrate them a little defensively. Our passing game was as good as it’s been all year, and I think that had a little bit to do with it too.”
The overall match score of 3-0 is perhaps the most misleading statistic of the entire season. The Lady Red Devils played Sylvan Hills to within three points in every game, even after what appeared to be a hopeless start to game three. Sylvan Hills rushed out to an 11-3 lead in the last frame, after half-hearted Jacksonville returns put them in a hole. Coach Melissa Reeves took a timeout to motivate the troops, and the comeback would be on once again.
Jacksonville would proceed to outscore Sylvan Hills 12-4 over the next 16 points to tie the game at 15-15. A pair of kills by Luth put the Lady Bears back out in front, but out errors kept the Lady Devils in the game.
A hit out of bounds on a kill attempt by Luth made it 24-23, and gave serve to Jacksonville. The amazing comeback would end there, however, as sophomore Baylee Herlacher hit the ensuing serve out, handing the win to Sylvan Hills.
Luth earned her biggest points for Sylvan Hills in game two. The southpaw’s cross-court kills found a rare open spot in the Jacksonville defense, and allowed the Lady Bears to rally from a 16-13 deficit to tie the game at 20-20. Sylvan Hills would finally take the lead moments later at 23-22, and senior Joanna Persson would put the game away for the Lady Bears with two straight kills.
“That’s a natural hit for her,” Treadway said of Luth’s tricky kills. “It’s not something that we spend a whole lot of time on, but it’s something she can do when some of our other strategies aren’t working. I thought she played a good game. I also thought Jodi Perrson played a smart game, and Kaci Willis was a force at the net for us tonight.”
As for All-Conference standout Gwatney, Treadway said she would have been the first to admit that Tuesday was not a career day for her.
“She spoke up during one of the timeouts,” Treadway said. “She apologized and told everyone she was having a terrible game. It wasn’t a pretty game for her, knowing what she is capable of doing.”
Extra pressure on Gwatney by the front row Jacksonville team of Jessica Lanier and Tyra Terry was a big cause of the SH senior’s frustrations early on. The Lady Bears rushed out to a 10-5 lead in game one, but they would need four extra points to finally come away with the win.
It didn’t take long for the old rivalry to kick in to full gear in the opening game, when a Raven Pickett serve for Jacksonville was disputed by Treadway. Treadway initially sent a player to the net judge to ask of a possible line infraction, but when that went unanswered, Treadway approached the line judge himself. Jacksonville assistant coach Tanya Ganey soon joined the conversation to state the opposing side, and the Lady Devils kept the point.
The lead got as big as 19-11 for Sylvan Hills, but Burr’s service game would spark a rally of eight straight points for Jacksonville, including four no-returns and an ace.
Terry and Lanier played solidly at the front for the Lady Red Devils, but their performances were equaled on the other side of the net by the SH duo of Persson and Brittany Hutchins.
Luth led the Lady Bears with 10 kills on five errors. Gwatney added six kills on six errors, and Joanna Persson added four kills and an ace. For Jacksonville, Lanier led all hitters with eight kills and two blocks on four errors. Brown added four kills, one block and one tip on three errors. Terry added four kills on one error, and Burr had two kills, a block and three aces.
The Lady Bears are now 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the 6A-East Conference. Jacksonville fell to?? . Sylvan Hills will host Jonesboro on Tuesday, while Jacksonville hosts West Memphis.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
SPORTS >>Big Rockets stun Panthers
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Catholic Rockets were underdogs, but they were tailor made to give the Cabot Panthers fits, and that’s exactly what they did Friday night at War Memorial Stadium. The Panthers outgained their hosts, but the Rockets were much more steady and opportunistic, cruising to a 30-12 win over Cabot.
Cabot lost three fumbles, threw one interception and committed three personal-foul penalties that helped stall good drives.
The Panthers have struggled with turnovers in other games this year, but couldn’t overcome them against a gigantic Catholic team that could match them physically.
“They’re a big, strong team and we helped ‘em out a bunch,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said. “You don’t help yourself any when you turn it over four times. We have a lot of sophomores out there and they’re making some mistakes. Catholic’s a good team and we didn’t play very smart. You can see how that turns out.”
The two offensive lines controlled the line of scrimmage in the first half, but Catholic got a few more stops and a few more breaks in taking a 17-6 lead into intermission.
The Rockets started their second possession of the game after stopping Cabot halfback Wesley Sowell on fourth and one.
The ensuing Rocket drive, which started at the Cabot 38, was easy. Tailback Chris Rose got 25 of it on the first two carries. Three plays later, Taylor Bartlett found receiver Tate Seachris at the 1-yard line for a first and goal. Two plays later, Bartlett made his way into the end zone. The extra point was good, giving Catholic a 7-0 lead with 6:11 remaining in the first quarter.
Cabot drove from its own 20 to the Catholic 12 on its next drive, but things stalled on downs again. The Panthers went for it on fourth and sxi from the 12, but Bloomberg was topped after picking up just one yard on an option keeper.
Catholic started at its own 11 with 10 second left in the first quarter, and put together a Cabot-esque drive, marching 85 yards in 16 plays. 42 of those yards came through the air, including a 28-yard pass and catch from Bartlett to Paul Drake on third and 15 that gave Catholic first and goal at the 6.
The Cabot defense held from there, and forced Catholic to attempt a field goal, which was good from 21 yards out and gave the home team a 10-0 lead with 5:51 left in the first half.
Cabot failed to convert another fourth down on its next possession and gave Catholic the ball with good field postion, but the defense again held and forced a punt.
That’s when disaster struck for the first time. A busted play on second 10 got Bloomberg drilled behind the line of scrimmage. He fumbled the ball, and Catholic’s Andrew Coppola scooped it up and scampered 40 yards for an easy touchdown.
The extra point made it 17-0 Rockets with 1:59 left in the half.
Cabot answered with a badley-needed score. The two teams traded personal fouls on the ensuing drive. Cabot’s negated a 24-yard pickup by Bloomberg, but Catholics gave that yardage back, and gave the Panthers first and goal at the 9.
Carries of 14 and 13 yards by James also aided the top downfield, and Les McGregor caught a 4-yard pass from Bloomberg with 13 seconds left in the half to make it 17-6.
The Panthers were driving on the opening possession of the second half, but a Bloomberg pass was picked off by John Ukadike at the 10-yard line to put an end to a 70-yard drive.
Cabot almost scored three plays earlier on a throwback pass from Bloomberg to Blake Carter. Carter and teammate LJ Tarrant were the only two players on the left side of the field when Carter caught the pass near midfield. But Carter out-ran his blocker and was brought down by John Ukadike at the 15-yard line.
The Rockets were forced to punt from near midfield, and Cabot again took over on its own 20.
This time the Panthers weren’t stopped, and didn’t stop themselves. The drive covered the 80 yards in 15 plays, that included two big fourth-down conversions. The first was a 9-yard gain by Bloomberg on fourth and six, the second a 4-yard gain by James on fourth and two from the 16-yard line.
Three plays later, James scored from four yards out. A two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score 17-12 with 10:31 remaining in the game.
Cabot gave up one first down, but put Catholic into a third and short situation when the Rockets struck lightning. Scatback Maybom Peters took a wraparound handoff 60 yards for a touchdown. A failed extra point made it 23-12 with 7:56 left.
Cabot again drove the length of the field only to fumble inside the Catholic 20-yard line. This time James coughed it up while struggling for extra yardage on the Rocket 14.
Catholic iced the game a few plays later when tailback Chris Rose broke loose for 52 yards with 1:46 remaining.
Cabot got the ball back, but fumbled it for the final time with 10 seconds to go.
Cabot finished with 431 total yards to 352 for Catholic.
James led all rushers with 245 yards on 33 carries. Chris Rose led the Rockets with 20 carries for 140 yards.
The loss drops Cabot to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in league play, while Catholic improves to 3-2 and 1-1.
The Panthers stay on the road next week when the travel to North Little Rock to take on the Wildcats, which lost 10-7 to Conway.
Leader sports editor
The Catholic Rockets were underdogs, but they were tailor made to give the Cabot Panthers fits, and that’s exactly what they did Friday night at War Memorial Stadium. The Panthers outgained their hosts, but the Rockets were much more steady and opportunistic, cruising to a 30-12 win over Cabot.
Cabot lost three fumbles, threw one interception and committed three personal-foul penalties that helped stall good drives.
The Panthers have struggled with turnovers in other games this year, but couldn’t overcome them against a gigantic Catholic team that could match them physically.
“They’re a big, strong team and we helped ‘em out a bunch,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said. “You don’t help yourself any when you turn it over four times. We have a lot of sophomores out there and they’re making some mistakes. Catholic’s a good team and we didn’t play very smart. You can see how that turns out.”
The two offensive lines controlled the line of scrimmage in the first half, but Catholic got a few more stops and a few more breaks in taking a 17-6 lead into intermission.
The Rockets started their second possession of the game after stopping Cabot halfback Wesley Sowell on fourth and one.
The ensuing Rocket drive, which started at the Cabot 38, was easy. Tailback Chris Rose got 25 of it on the first two carries. Three plays later, Taylor Bartlett found receiver Tate Seachris at the 1-yard line for a first and goal. Two plays later, Bartlett made his way into the end zone. The extra point was good, giving Catholic a 7-0 lead with 6:11 remaining in the first quarter.
Cabot drove from its own 20 to the Catholic 12 on its next drive, but things stalled on downs again. The Panthers went for it on fourth and sxi from the 12, but Bloomberg was topped after picking up just one yard on an option keeper.
Catholic started at its own 11 with 10 second left in the first quarter, and put together a Cabot-esque drive, marching 85 yards in 16 plays. 42 of those yards came through the air, including a 28-yard pass and catch from Bartlett to Paul Drake on third and 15 that gave Catholic first and goal at the 6.
The Cabot defense held from there, and forced Catholic to attempt a field goal, which was good from 21 yards out and gave the home team a 10-0 lead with 5:51 left in the first half.
Cabot failed to convert another fourth down on its next possession and gave Catholic the ball with good field postion, but the defense again held and forced a punt.
That’s when disaster struck for the first time. A busted play on second 10 got Bloomberg drilled behind the line of scrimmage. He fumbled the ball, and Catholic’s Andrew Coppola scooped it up and scampered 40 yards for an easy touchdown.
The extra point made it 17-0 Rockets with 1:59 left in the half.
Cabot answered with a badley-needed score. The two teams traded personal fouls on the ensuing drive. Cabot’s negated a 24-yard pickup by Bloomberg, but Catholics gave that yardage back, and gave the Panthers first and goal at the 9.
Carries of 14 and 13 yards by James also aided the top downfield, and Les McGregor caught a 4-yard pass from Bloomberg with 13 seconds left in the half to make it 17-6.
The Panthers were driving on the opening possession of the second half, but a Bloomberg pass was picked off by John Ukadike at the 10-yard line to put an end to a 70-yard drive.
Cabot almost scored three plays earlier on a throwback pass from Bloomberg to Blake Carter. Carter and teammate LJ Tarrant were the only two players on the left side of the field when Carter caught the pass near midfield. But Carter out-ran his blocker and was brought down by John Ukadike at the 15-yard line.
The Rockets were forced to punt from near midfield, and Cabot again took over on its own 20.
This time the Panthers weren’t stopped, and didn’t stop themselves. The drive covered the 80 yards in 15 plays, that included two big fourth-down conversions. The first was a 9-yard gain by Bloomberg on fourth and six, the second a 4-yard gain by James on fourth and two from the 16-yard line.
Three plays later, James scored from four yards out. A two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score 17-12 with 10:31 remaining in the game.
Cabot gave up one first down, but put Catholic into a third and short situation when the Rockets struck lightning. Scatback Maybom Peters took a wraparound handoff 60 yards for a touchdown. A failed extra point made it 23-12 with 7:56 left.
Cabot again drove the length of the field only to fumble inside the Catholic 20-yard line. This time James coughed it up while struggling for extra yardage on the Rocket 14.
Catholic iced the game a few plays later when tailback Chris Rose broke loose for 52 yards with 1:46 remaining.
Cabot got the ball back, but fumbled it for the final time with 10 seconds to go.
Cabot finished with 431 total yards to 352 for Catholic.
James led all rushers with 245 yards on 33 carries. Chris Rose led the Rockets with 20 carries for 140 yards.
The loss drops Cabot to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in league play, while Catholic improves to 3-2 and 1-1.
The Panthers stay on the road next week when the travel to North Little Rock to take on the Wildcats, which lost 10-7 to Conway.
EDITORIALS>>TIFs make bad policy
There are enough lawsuits without our demanding more, but the public interest cries out for one more, to halt the theft of public school funds for private developers. North Little Rock provides a ready defendant.
Mayor Patrick Henry Hays and the North Little Rock City Council this week approved four new tax-increment financing districts, which will take thousands of dollars away from the city’s financially distressed schools for many years, maybe a quarter century. The North Little Rock School Board expressed its unhappiness.
We’ll try again to explain this crazyquilt problem. Tax-increment-financing (TIF) districts, which were sneaked into the Constitution by an initiative amendment in 2002, take the annual growth in property tax revenues in a designated TIF district and use it to pay off bonds issued for capital improvements that help commercial developments. The theory is that the commercial improvements increase property values and real-estate taxes so those extra taxes should be used to finance the improvements. TIFs originally were supposed to combat urban blight, although they can be used in a country club subdivision in Arkansas.
The Arkansas Supreme Court last year ruled that TIF districts could not get their hands on the revenue growth from the first 25 mills levied by a school district because those taxes were actually a state tax, which was remitted to the state government and redistributed among the 250 or so school districts in Arkansas. But the court did not rule whether the tax growth on a school district’s millage above 25 mills could be taken away from the schools and used by the city to help private developers.
That question needs to be decided for the sake of school children. The Constitution says that taxes levied by the voters for the schools cannot be used for other purposes. We do not think the 2002 amendment repealed that law, which was put into the Constitution to reassure voters that if they voted to tax themselves for schools then state or local lawmakers could never confiscate the taxes and use them for another purpose.
TIFs are popular with city and county officials everywhere, and why not? They take credit for capital improvements but do not have to take the heat for raising taxes or diverting money from other city and county programs to do it. The school people already took the heat. It’s every politician’s dream. But it is terrible public policy, and we think the courts will stop if the issue is presented to them squarely.
Mayor Patrick Henry Hays and the North Little Rock City Council this week approved four new tax-increment financing districts, which will take thousands of dollars away from the city’s financially distressed schools for many years, maybe a quarter century. The North Little Rock School Board expressed its unhappiness.
We’ll try again to explain this crazyquilt problem. Tax-increment-financing (TIF) districts, which were sneaked into the Constitution by an initiative amendment in 2002, take the annual growth in property tax revenues in a designated TIF district and use it to pay off bonds issued for capital improvements that help commercial developments. The theory is that the commercial improvements increase property values and real-estate taxes so those extra taxes should be used to finance the improvements. TIFs originally were supposed to combat urban blight, although they can be used in a country club subdivision in Arkansas.
The Arkansas Supreme Court last year ruled that TIF districts could not get their hands on the revenue growth from the first 25 mills levied by a school district because those taxes were actually a state tax, which was remitted to the state government and redistributed among the 250 or so school districts in Arkansas. But the court did not rule whether the tax growth on a school district’s millage above 25 mills could be taken away from the schools and used by the city to help private developers.
That question needs to be decided for the sake of school children. The Constitution says that taxes levied by the voters for the schools cannot be used for other purposes. We do not think the 2002 amendment repealed that law, which was put into the Constitution to reassure voters that if they voted to tax themselves for schools then state or local lawmakers could never confiscate the taxes and use them for another purpose.
TIFs are popular with city and county officials everywhere, and why not? They take credit for capital improvements but do not have to take the heat for raising taxes or diverting money from other city and county programs to do it. The school people already took the heat. It’s every politician’s dream. But it is terrible public policy, and we think the courts will stop if the issue is presented to them squarely.
EDITORIALS>>Judge Griffen is exonerated
After wasting two years, thousands of dollars and much good will, the state Judicial Disability and Discipline Commission exonerated Judge Wendell Griffen of the Arkansas Court of Appeals of charges that he disgraced the judiciary. The judge, who is also a Baptist minister, had commented on matters of public concern on four or five occasions in recent years in church and other settings and a few of his remarks had got into the media. The full commission finally acknowledged, as one of its panels had concluded during the summer, that the U. S. Constitution protected his right to do that.
The commission, or at least its former director, had been pursuing Griffen for five years — ever since he was quoted as criticizing the University of Arkansas after its firing of Nolan Richardson, the black basketball coach, at a meeting of African-American legislators at Fayetteville. The commission had slapped Griffen’s wrist for that comment but the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed that mild but official rebuke because the government could not punish him for exercising his right of free speech. Then other comments, including one at a Baptist ministerial conference in South Carolina, made their way to critics and more charges were filed with the commission.
It is reassuring that the commission did not repeat its first mistake and declared that Griffen indeed could express himself on questions that were not before the court. None of the matters on which Griffen had been quoted — the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush’s judicial appointments, the political absorption with homosexuals — were before the Arkansas Court of Appeals or were ever likely to arrive there.
What remains is for the Arkansas Supreme Court to clean up the code of judicial ethics, which still contains language that seems to restrict the right of judges and candidates for judge to talk in public about matters of public concern. The U. S. Supreme Court ruled years ago that such restrictions violated the First Amendment.
Like other people, even aliens, who dwell on American soil, judges can say what is on their mind as long as it does not complicate their decisions on cases before them. The Arkansas Bar Association recognized that the code is unconstitutional and has a committee studying it.
That is an hour of thoughtful work, at most. Judge Griffen has asked the federal district court to strike the language, but since he no longer is a defendant he may not have standing to force the issue. No one now is apt to be charged with violating the neutered code, but the Supreme Court needs to get it off the books. Useless, unenforceable or unconstitutional law simply should not be on the books.
The commission, or at least its former director, had been pursuing Griffen for five years — ever since he was quoted as criticizing the University of Arkansas after its firing of Nolan Richardson, the black basketball coach, at a meeting of African-American legislators at Fayetteville. The commission had slapped Griffen’s wrist for that comment but the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed that mild but official rebuke because the government could not punish him for exercising his right of free speech. Then other comments, including one at a Baptist ministerial conference in South Carolina, made their way to critics and more charges were filed with the commission.
It is reassuring that the commission did not repeat its first mistake and declared that Griffen indeed could express himself on questions that were not before the court. None of the matters on which Griffen had been quoted — the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush’s judicial appointments, the political absorption with homosexuals — were before the Arkansas Court of Appeals or were ever likely to arrive there.
What remains is for the Arkansas Supreme Court to clean up the code of judicial ethics, which still contains language that seems to restrict the right of judges and candidates for judge to talk in public about matters of public concern. The U. S. Supreme Court ruled years ago that such restrictions violated the First Amendment.
Like other people, even aliens, who dwell on American soil, judges can say what is on their mind as long as it does not complicate their decisions on cases before them. The Arkansas Bar Association recognized that the code is unconstitutional and has a committee studying it.
That is an hour of thoughtful work, at most. Judge Griffen has asked the federal district court to strike the language, but since he no longer is a defendant he may not have standing to force the issue. No one now is apt to be charged with violating the neutered code, but the Supreme Court needs to get it off the books. Useless, unenforceable or unconstitutional law simply should not be on the books.
EDITORIALS>>LR paper rewrites history
The long commemoration of the desegregation of Central High School in 1957 should not recede into history without some notice of the sustained effort to rewrite the earlier history.
If you have followed the events in the state’s daily newspaper each day you will have detected the not-so-subtle effort by the paper to shade those events of 50 years ago in a way that is favorable to the governor who set the catastrophe into motion — but unfavorable to the facts.
A new book on the Little Rock crisis, “Turn Away Thy Son” by Elizabeth Jacoway, treats Gov. Orval E. Faubus as a victim of conniving moderates in Little Rock who drove him into a corner and left him no choice but to use the National Guard to keep black children from going to classes at the school.
The book seems to be factual enough; Jacoway simply wants Faubus, whom she liked, to be treated better by history. Her facts do not support her theory but she does not allow the factual disconnect to prevent her from advancing it.
The Democrat-Gazette’s “facts” are just wrong — indisputably, provably wrong.
The father of the newspaper’s executive editor, Griffin Smith, was an attorney for the segregationists allied with Faubus to halt school desegregation and a supporter of the governor. That may have nothing to do with the newspaper’s strange editorial conduct, but we mention it for whatever probative value it may have.
Starting soon after Smith’s hiring as editor, the paper began to insert a paragraph into every article mentioning the school crisis of 1957 that capsuled the events into three or four sentences.
This was the essential history, as told by the Democrat Gazette: Faubus sent National Guardsmen to the school to preserve peace, a federal judge ordered him to remove them, a mob then threatened the safety of the children, so President Eisenhower sent airborne troops to the school to protect the children.
The upshot was that Faubus was merely trying to protect people, and the violence and intimidation that eventually occurred was the fault of a federal judge.
The boilerplate paragraph — now it’s three paragraphs — changed from time to time as people called attention to the errors. The insertion began to include the important fact that Faubus’ order to the Guard was to prevent the black children from entering school. But this spring, Smith — or someone in charge at the paper — settled on wording that has not changed despite repeated citation of the official record.
Now the insertion always includes these words: On Sept. 20, complying with the order of a federal judge, Faubus removed the guardsmen. When the black students went to Central three days later on Sept. 23, a violent crowd gathered.
The students were removed for their protection. President Eisenhower then federalized the National Guard and sent 101st Airborne Division troops to the school the next day to enforce the school’s desegregation. The black students attended school the rest of the year under federal protection.
That is true, as far as it goes, except for the statement that Faubus removed the guardsmen to comply with the order of a federal judge, which seems to absolve the governor of any blame for what followed.
The judge gave no such order. The judge, Ronald N. Davies, issued an order to Faubus not to prevent the black students from attending Central High.
He said the governor should use any means he thought necessary, including the National Guard, to preserve peace and order at the school as long as the soldiers did not block children from attending classes. Faubus took the soldiers away on his own volition, and the mob that he had emboldened streamed in.
A hundred repetitions of the same sugary error do not change the truth. People pay a price when they try to sanitize unpleasant history. Let us leave it to tyrants.
Ernie Dumas writes editorials for The Leader.
If you have followed the events in the state’s daily newspaper each day you will have detected the not-so-subtle effort by the paper to shade those events of 50 years ago in a way that is favorable to the governor who set the catastrophe into motion — but unfavorable to the facts.
A new book on the Little Rock crisis, “Turn Away Thy Son” by Elizabeth Jacoway, treats Gov. Orval E. Faubus as a victim of conniving moderates in Little Rock who drove him into a corner and left him no choice but to use the National Guard to keep black children from going to classes at the school.
The book seems to be factual enough; Jacoway simply wants Faubus, whom she liked, to be treated better by history. Her facts do not support her theory but she does not allow the factual disconnect to prevent her from advancing it.
The Democrat-Gazette’s “facts” are just wrong — indisputably, provably wrong.
The father of the newspaper’s executive editor, Griffin Smith, was an attorney for the segregationists allied with Faubus to halt school desegregation and a supporter of the governor. That may have nothing to do with the newspaper’s strange editorial conduct, but we mention it for whatever probative value it may have.
Starting soon after Smith’s hiring as editor, the paper began to insert a paragraph into every article mentioning the school crisis of 1957 that capsuled the events into three or four sentences.
This was the essential history, as told by the Democrat Gazette: Faubus sent National Guardsmen to the school to preserve peace, a federal judge ordered him to remove them, a mob then threatened the safety of the children, so President Eisenhower sent airborne troops to the school to protect the children.
The upshot was that Faubus was merely trying to protect people, and the violence and intimidation that eventually occurred was the fault of a federal judge.
The boilerplate paragraph — now it’s three paragraphs — changed from time to time as people called attention to the errors. The insertion began to include the important fact that Faubus’ order to the Guard was to prevent the black children from entering school. But this spring, Smith — or someone in charge at the paper — settled on wording that has not changed despite repeated citation of the official record.
Now the insertion always includes these words: On Sept. 20, complying with the order of a federal judge, Faubus removed the guardsmen. When the black students went to Central three days later on Sept. 23, a violent crowd gathered.
The students were removed for their protection. President Eisenhower then federalized the National Guard and sent 101st Airborne Division troops to the school the next day to enforce the school’s desegregation. The black students attended school the rest of the year under federal protection.
That is true, as far as it goes, except for the statement that Faubus removed the guardsmen to comply with the order of a federal judge, which seems to absolve the governor of any blame for what followed.
The judge gave no such order. The judge, Ronald N. Davies, issued an order to Faubus not to prevent the black students from attending Central High.
He said the governor should use any means he thought necessary, including the National Guard, to preserve peace and order at the school as long as the soldiers did not block children from attending classes. Faubus took the soldiers away on his own volition, and the mob that he had emboldened streamed in.
A hundred repetitions of the same sugary error do not change the truth. People pay a price when they try to sanitize unpleasant history. Let us leave it to tyrants.
Ernie Dumas writes editorials for The Leader.
OBITUARIES >> 09-29-07
Martha Ewing
Martha Ewing, 82, of Jacksonville passed away, Sept. 26.
She was a member of McArthur Assembly of God Church in Jacksonville.
She is survived by her son, Thomas and wife Nancy Ezell of Tenn.; son, John and wife Pat Ewing of North Little Rock; daughter, Martha and Chuck Biggerstaff of Missouri; son, James and wife Joanie Ewing of Oklahoma; daughters, Sherry and husband Mel Garvin, of Cabot, Virginia and husband Marty Richey of Jacksonville, Debra and husband Mike Woodyard of Cabot and numerous grandchildren; and sisters, Juanita Buck of Tennessee and Mary Lou Leone of Texas.
She was preceded in death by her husband, J.R. Ewing.
The family wishes to express a special thanks to Arkansas Hospice.
Memorials may be made to Arkansas Hospice, 5600 W. 12th St., Little Rock, Ark. 72204.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, Oct. 1 at McArthur Assembly of God Church. Burial will be in the Chapel Hill Memorial Park. Funeral arrangements will be by North Little Rock Funeral Home.
Billy Coleman
Billy J. Coleman, 73, of Alexander passed away Sept. 22.
He was born Feb. 22, 1934 to the late George S. and Ada P. Downs Coleman in Bald Knob.
He was also preceded in death by his loving wife, Rosemary Wright Coleman; his son, John D. Coleman and a brother, Bobby Joe Coleman.
He proudly served his country in the Air Force for 20 years, retiring as a techsergeant.
Survivors include his sons, Billy Glenn Coleman and wife Lou of Van Buren, George S. Coleman and wife Adrienne of Little Rock and Michael W. Coleman of Alexander; one brother, Randy Coleman of Little Rock and three grandchildren.
Memorial services will be at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1 at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock with Jack Diers officiating.
Funeral arrangements are by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Flora Rogers
Flora B. Rogers, 99, of Jacksonville went to be with the Lord Sept. 27 in Kaufman, Texas.
She was born Sept. 18, 1908 in Hornersville, Mo., to the late Mr. and Mrs. John Hester.
Rogers was also preceded in death by her loving husband, Ted Rogers; her son, David E. Rogers; brother, Otto Hester; half-sister, Myrtle Hester and stepsister, Daisy Stevens.
She was a member of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville.
Survivors include her grandsons, David Rogers and his wife Cheryl of Oak Point, Texas and Mark Rogers of Jacksonville as well as two great-grandchildren, Mark Rogers, II and Sarah Rogers.
Graveside funeral services will be at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 2 in Chapel Hill Memorial Park in Jacksonville with Rev. Cliff Hutchins officiating.
Funeral arrangements are under direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Johnny Leon Fraley
March 13, 1959 – September 3, 2007
We would like to thank everyone for their love and support during our family’s loss of a dear father, husband, brother, grandfather, uncle and friend. Your friendship and encouragement have kept us going during this most difficult time in our lives. We will always remember your kindness and caring words and actions. May you rest in peace, Johnny. We will always love you.
The Fraley Family
Martha Ewing, 82, of Jacksonville passed away, Sept. 26.
She was a member of McArthur Assembly of God Church in Jacksonville.
She is survived by her son, Thomas and wife Nancy Ezell of Tenn.; son, John and wife Pat Ewing of North Little Rock; daughter, Martha and Chuck Biggerstaff of Missouri; son, James and wife Joanie Ewing of Oklahoma; daughters, Sherry and husband Mel Garvin, of Cabot, Virginia and husband Marty Richey of Jacksonville, Debra and husband Mike Woodyard of Cabot and numerous grandchildren; and sisters, Juanita Buck of Tennessee and Mary Lou Leone of Texas.
She was preceded in death by her husband, J.R. Ewing.
The family wishes to express a special thanks to Arkansas Hospice.
Memorials may be made to Arkansas Hospice, 5600 W. 12th St., Little Rock, Ark. 72204.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, Oct. 1 at McArthur Assembly of God Church. Burial will be in the Chapel Hill Memorial Park. Funeral arrangements will be by North Little Rock Funeral Home.
Billy Coleman
Billy J. Coleman, 73, of Alexander passed away Sept. 22.
He was born Feb. 22, 1934 to the late George S. and Ada P. Downs Coleman in Bald Knob.
He was also preceded in death by his loving wife, Rosemary Wright Coleman; his son, John D. Coleman and a brother, Bobby Joe Coleman.
He proudly served his country in the Air Force for 20 years, retiring as a techsergeant.
Survivors include his sons, Billy Glenn Coleman and wife Lou of Van Buren, George S. Coleman and wife Adrienne of Little Rock and Michael W. Coleman of Alexander; one brother, Randy Coleman of Little Rock and three grandchildren.
Memorial services will be at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1 at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock with Jack Diers officiating.
Funeral arrangements are by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Flora Rogers
Flora B. Rogers, 99, of Jacksonville went to be with the Lord Sept. 27 in Kaufman, Texas.
She was born Sept. 18, 1908 in Hornersville, Mo., to the late Mr. and Mrs. John Hester.
Rogers was also preceded in death by her loving husband, Ted Rogers; her son, David E. Rogers; brother, Otto Hester; half-sister, Myrtle Hester and stepsister, Daisy Stevens.
She was a member of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville.
Survivors include her grandsons, David Rogers and his wife Cheryl of Oak Point, Texas and Mark Rogers of Jacksonville as well as two great-grandchildren, Mark Rogers, II and Sarah Rogers.
Graveside funeral services will be at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 2 in Chapel Hill Memorial Park in Jacksonville with Rev. Cliff Hutchins officiating.
Funeral arrangements are under direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Johnny Leon Fraley
March 13, 1959 – September 3, 2007
We would like to thank everyone for their love and support during our family’s loss of a dear father, husband, brother, grandfather, uncle and friend. Your friendship and encouragement have kept us going during this most difficult time in our lives. We will always remember your kindness and caring words and actions. May you rest in peace, Johnny. We will always love you.
The Fraley Family
TOP STORY >>Wal-Mart meets with residents
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
“You can just take your crap and move it a mile and a half down to North Hills,” said Sherwood resident Jim Ball at a meeting Thursday night with Wal-Mart officials.
Mayor Virginia Hillman had asked for the meeting, held at the Bill Harmon Recreation Center, because of the number of complaints and concerns about the construction of the new supercenter at Maryland Avenue and Hwy. 107.
Ball and his wife Jean live in a small neighborhood on Tiffany Circle and their backyard adjoins the Wal-Mart property. They have spent most of the summer staring at dirt and more dirt.
Most of the 50-plus residents left the meeting early when their requests for a wall to be built between the Wal-Mart and their residential property fell on deaf years. Once people started to leave, Wal-Mart spokesman, Laurie Smalling and other company officials backed off and said they would see what could be done.
Smalling started the meeting by telling the crowd she understands that they have been inconvenienced “by a little dust and noise.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” shouted a concerned resident from the back of the room.
Ben Rounsaville tried to explain to Smalling, two lawyers, a market manager, the construction manager and the engineer that residents want a wall for security and privacy. “We’ve endured the dirt, the blasting, the noise and all we are asking for is this wall,” he said.
Engineer Casey Wilder said the approved plan called for a buffer of trees for part of the area that residents were concerned about. The other portion, he said, was not owned by Wal-Mart, but by Doyle Roger Co., and Wal-Mart could not do anything to property that wasn’t theirs, even though they have cleared and leveled all the Doyle Roger’s land.
“You have totally destroyed the value of our property,” said Pres Brailsford. “Do you want to buy our homes? I know you don’t want to listen.”
Smalling told the group that Wal-Mart was not going to be able to put up a wall. “I know that doesn’t make you happy. But we cannot do that,” she said.
One resident responded, “You have no respect, no concern for anyone out there. You are spending millions to widen the road, but you can’t afford a wall?”
JoAnna St. Clair, who moved into the area just before the construction crews cut down all the trees behind her property, said, “I can wash a lot of cars, and we can raise the money and build our own wall. We’ll die waiting for Wal-Mart to do something.”
As the meeting progressed, people grumbled “boycott” and began to leave, the Wal-Mart team softened and said that a wall could be built, but something else on the project would have to be scaled back or eliminated to cover the cost.
“This is one of the most expensive properties we are working on,” Smalling said, adding that the cost of rock removal and upgrading the facade of the building at the request of the residents had added to the cost already.
Clay Moore, the construction manager, explained that at this point the cost of the project was locked in and could not be changed, adding a wall would mean something has to be subtracted.
The team promised to work with city officials to determine the cost of different types of walls and project components that could be eliminated to cover the cost. The team said they should have suggestions ready in about three weeks.
Moore also told the audience that the blasting work was completed and said a lot of the problems would lessen as the project nears completion.
Leader staff writer
“You can just take your crap and move it a mile and a half down to North Hills,” said Sherwood resident Jim Ball at a meeting Thursday night with Wal-Mart officials.
Mayor Virginia Hillman had asked for the meeting, held at the Bill Harmon Recreation Center, because of the number of complaints and concerns about the construction of the new supercenter at Maryland Avenue and Hwy. 107.
Ball and his wife Jean live in a small neighborhood on Tiffany Circle and their backyard adjoins the Wal-Mart property. They have spent most of the summer staring at dirt and more dirt.
Most of the 50-plus residents left the meeting early when their requests for a wall to be built between the Wal-Mart and their residential property fell on deaf years. Once people started to leave, Wal-Mart spokesman, Laurie Smalling and other company officials backed off and said they would see what could be done.
Smalling started the meeting by telling the crowd she understands that they have been inconvenienced “by a little dust and noise.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” shouted a concerned resident from the back of the room.
Ben Rounsaville tried to explain to Smalling, two lawyers, a market manager, the construction manager and the engineer that residents want a wall for security and privacy. “We’ve endured the dirt, the blasting, the noise and all we are asking for is this wall,” he said.
Engineer Casey Wilder said the approved plan called for a buffer of trees for part of the area that residents were concerned about. The other portion, he said, was not owned by Wal-Mart, but by Doyle Roger Co., and Wal-Mart could not do anything to property that wasn’t theirs, even though they have cleared and leveled all the Doyle Roger’s land.
“You have totally destroyed the value of our property,” said Pres Brailsford. “Do you want to buy our homes? I know you don’t want to listen.”
Smalling told the group that Wal-Mart was not going to be able to put up a wall. “I know that doesn’t make you happy. But we cannot do that,” she said.
One resident responded, “You have no respect, no concern for anyone out there. You are spending millions to widen the road, but you can’t afford a wall?”
JoAnna St. Clair, who moved into the area just before the construction crews cut down all the trees behind her property, said, “I can wash a lot of cars, and we can raise the money and build our own wall. We’ll die waiting for Wal-Mart to do something.”
As the meeting progressed, people grumbled “boycott” and began to leave, the Wal-Mart team softened and said that a wall could be built, but something else on the project would have to be scaled back or eliminated to cover the cost.
“This is one of the most expensive properties we are working on,” Smalling said, adding that the cost of rock removal and upgrading the facade of the building at the request of the residents had added to the cost already.
Clay Moore, the construction manager, explained that at this point the cost of the project was locked in and could not be changed, adding a wall would mean something has to be subtracted.
The team promised to work with city officials to determine the cost of different types of walls and project components that could be eliminated to cover the cost. The team said they should have suggestions ready in about three weeks.
Moore also told the audience that the blasting work was completed and said a lot of the problems would lessen as the project nears completion.
TOP STORY >>North Belt changes sought
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
The ink was hardly dry on Metroplan’s July approval of the state Highway Department’s new preferred route through Sherwood for the North Belt Loop, when new Mayor Virginia Hillman and City Engineer Michael Clayton began lobbying to tweak the alignment.
What unsettles them is the amount of the property that would be unavailable for commercial development at the planned I-440/Brockington Road interchange, Hillman said Wednesday, following the September board meeting.
“We don’t want to kill the project,” said Hillman, the former Sherwood City Clerk elected mayor in July after Danny Stedman stepped down for health reasons. “We were blamed for that in 1995. We just want the (interchange) loops a little tighter.”
She said the interchange loops are on the northeast and northwest quadrants of the intersections of Hwy. 107 and Brockington Road and also Hwy. 107 and Oakdale.
“They are willing to work with us,” she said of the state Highway Department.
“We’re pushing on with the survey and trying to get a record of decision (from the Federal Highway Administration),” said Scott Bennett, the department’s representative on the Metroplan board of directors.
Bennett said Sherwood had a couple of planned developments that conflicted with the preferred alignment, but that the changes Sherwood wanted wouldn’t necessarily require an amended environmental assessment.
He said if it could be done, “it’s fine with us.”
The North Belt Loop, a three-decades-old concept, has suffered setbacks through the years over the issue of the Sherwood alignment. It is intended to complete a northern loop around Little Rock to alleviate some congestion, primarily on I-40.
To be designated when completed as I-440, the completed section runs from I-40 east of Little Rock to Hwy. 67-167 in south Jacksonville.
When finished, it will continue through north Sherwood and Camp Robinson and meet up with I-40 and I-430 near Crystal Hill at a cost of about $200 million.
Design work and purchase of some important right-of-way could begin by the end of the year, but no money is available to begin construction at least through 2011, according to Glenn Bolick, department spokesman.
At Wednesday’s Metroplan board meeting, a proposal to amend the long-range transportation plan to add the proposed $130 million I-630/I-430 interchange and highway widening in West Little Rock was tabled upon a motion by North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays, so there could be more public comment about the project.
The project has a $4 million earmark in the U.S. Senate’s 2008 federal highway appropriation, but to be considered for construction money, it would have to be included in that long-range, financially constrained, highway and transportation plan by December 11.
Hays said he wanted to know whether or not Little Rock was going to have its share of the $10 million to $15 million needed for road work—particularly on University Avenue—to accommodate increased traffic.
The city’s share would be about $2 million to $3 million.
“I want to have feedback from the citizens,” said Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola. “Let them know what’s coming down the pike.”
Bennett told board members that a “fax blitz” circulated earlier this month was incorrect when it said money for the interchange would be diverted from money available for the North Belt Loop or for completion of the widening of Hwy. 67/167.
“We’re not going to get into funds currently available,” he said.
“I’m comfortable with the assurances of the Highway Department,” said Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim.
Leader senior staff writer
The ink was hardly dry on Metroplan’s July approval of the state Highway Department’s new preferred route through Sherwood for the North Belt Loop, when new Mayor Virginia Hillman and City Engineer Michael Clayton began lobbying to tweak the alignment.
What unsettles them is the amount of the property that would be unavailable for commercial development at the planned I-440/Brockington Road interchange, Hillman said Wednesday, following the September board meeting.
“We don’t want to kill the project,” said Hillman, the former Sherwood City Clerk elected mayor in July after Danny Stedman stepped down for health reasons. “We were blamed for that in 1995. We just want the (interchange) loops a little tighter.”
She said the interchange loops are on the northeast and northwest quadrants of the intersections of Hwy. 107 and Brockington Road and also Hwy. 107 and Oakdale.
“They are willing to work with us,” she said of the state Highway Department.
“We’re pushing on with the survey and trying to get a record of decision (from the Federal Highway Administration),” said Scott Bennett, the department’s representative on the Metroplan board of directors.
Bennett said Sherwood had a couple of planned developments that conflicted with the preferred alignment, but that the changes Sherwood wanted wouldn’t necessarily require an amended environmental assessment.
He said if it could be done, “it’s fine with us.”
The North Belt Loop, a three-decades-old concept, has suffered setbacks through the years over the issue of the Sherwood alignment. It is intended to complete a northern loop around Little Rock to alleviate some congestion, primarily on I-40.
To be designated when completed as I-440, the completed section runs from I-40 east of Little Rock to Hwy. 67-167 in south Jacksonville.
When finished, it will continue through north Sherwood and Camp Robinson and meet up with I-40 and I-430 near Crystal Hill at a cost of about $200 million.
Design work and purchase of some important right-of-way could begin by the end of the year, but no money is available to begin construction at least through 2011, according to Glenn Bolick, department spokesman.
At Wednesday’s Metroplan board meeting, a proposal to amend the long-range transportation plan to add the proposed $130 million I-630/I-430 interchange and highway widening in West Little Rock was tabled upon a motion by North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays, so there could be more public comment about the project.
The project has a $4 million earmark in the U.S. Senate’s 2008 federal highway appropriation, but to be considered for construction money, it would have to be included in that long-range, financially constrained, highway and transportation plan by December 11.
Hays said he wanted to know whether or not Little Rock was going to have its share of the $10 million to $15 million needed for road work—particularly on University Avenue—to accommodate increased traffic.
The city’s share would be about $2 million to $3 million.
“I want to have feedback from the citizens,” said Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola. “Let them know what’s coming down the pike.”
Bennett told board members that a “fax blitz” circulated earlier this month was incorrect when it said money for the interchange would be diverted from money available for the North Belt Loop or for completion of the widening of Hwy. 67/167.
“We’re not going to get into funds currently available,” he said.
“I’m comfortable with the assurances of the Highway Department,” said Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim.
TOP STORY >>Bayou Meto irrigation approved
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
With only minor changes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week approved the $555 million Bayou Meto Water Project, designed to pump millions of gallons of water a day from the Arkansas River primarily to irrigate crops on 300,000 acres of croplands in Lonoke, Prairie, Arkansas, Pulaski and Jefferson counties and for flood-control purposes.
Assistant Secretary of the Army John Paul Woodley Jr. last Monday signed a record of decision and announced that he had determined that the addition of agricultural water supply and waterfowl management components should be authorized in addition to the previously authorized flood control component of the Bayou Meto Basin Project, according to Gary Canada of England, chairman of the Bayou Meto Water Management District.
That means the project is now eligible to compete for federal funds, according to Gene Sullivan, project director.
The project should alleviate agricultural flooding, loss of environmental resources and irrigation water to alleviate the demand placed upon the ever-decreasing, subsurface aquifers.
We could build it in seven years, if we get the funding, Sullivan says.
That means that by 2015, six giant pumps just above Lock and Dam 6 near Scott could be sucking 1,750 cubic feet (13,090 gallons) of water a second or 47 million gallons of water per hour from the Arkansas River.
It would be diverted through a system of canals, pipes and ditches largely to the benefit of farmers in Lonoke, Jefferson and to a lesser degree, Prairie and Arkansas counties, but also to the benefit of thousands of acres of duck and wildlife habitat.
Sullivan had been hoping for about $25 million in construction funds for the ’08 fiscal year beginning in October, but Cong. Marion Berry, a long-time champion of the project, said Thursday that he didn’t expect construction money to be available until October 2009.
There is pretty much a moratorium on so-called “new-start” construction projects, Berry said.
He said there could be about $2.5 million available for additional engineering this year.
Of the $555 million price tag, the federal portion is $356 million, with another $199 million from the sale of water and a tax the farmers have assessed themselves, Sullivan said.
The first phase will include preparing a channel to bring the water from the river south of Scott, to the pumping plant where six huge pumps will lift it into a reservoir from which it will flow by gravity through a series of canals and pipes to farms throughout the region.
Work also would begin on the outlet pump to lift floodwater back into the river at the low end of the basin.
A second set of pumps, to be located where the Little Bayou Meto meets the Arkansas River Levee in Jefferson County, will be available for flood and habitat control, able to move 1,000 cu. ft. a second back into the river.
Sullivan said the project could be complete within seven years.
“This project has no enemies,” said Berry.
“That’s why it only took 20 years to authorize,” he said.
The Corps would construct a network including 465 miles of pipeline, 107 miles of new canals and tie into 132 miles of existing streams and ditches, moving water to the farms.
The on-farm part includes construction of ditches to collect runoff from farm fields, including the water they use to flood their rice fields. Water from those ditches would be pumped into large on-farm reservoirs.
From the reservoir, the farmers can direct the water, usually through underground pipes, to any of their fields.
Leader senior staff writer
With only minor changes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week approved the $555 million Bayou Meto Water Project, designed to pump millions of gallons of water a day from the Arkansas River primarily to irrigate crops on 300,000 acres of croplands in Lonoke, Prairie, Arkansas, Pulaski and Jefferson counties and for flood-control purposes.
Assistant Secretary of the Army John Paul Woodley Jr. last Monday signed a record of decision and announced that he had determined that the addition of agricultural water supply and waterfowl management components should be authorized in addition to the previously authorized flood control component of the Bayou Meto Basin Project, according to Gary Canada of England, chairman of the Bayou Meto Water Management District.
That means the project is now eligible to compete for federal funds, according to Gene Sullivan, project director.
The project should alleviate agricultural flooding, loss of environmental resources and irrigation water to alleviate the demand placed upon the ever-decreasing, subsurface aquifers.
We could build it in seven years, if we get the funding, Sullivan says.
That means that by 2015, six giant pumps just above Lock and Dam 6 near Scott could be sucking 1,750 cubic feet (13,090 gallons) of water a second or 47 million gallons of water per hour from the Arkansas River.
It would be diverted through a system of canals, pipes and ditches largely to the benefit of farmers in Lonoke, Jefferson and to a lesser degree, Prairie and Arkansas counties, but also to the benefit of thousands of acres of duck and wildlife habitat.
Sullivan had been hoping for about $25 million in construction funds for the ’08 fiscal year beginning in October, but Cong. Marion Berry, a long-time champion of the project, said Thursday that he didn’t expect construction money to be available until October 2009.
There is pretty much a moratorium on so-called “new-start” construction projects, Berry said.
He said there could be about $2.5 million available for additional engineering this year.
Of the $555 million price tag, the federal portion is $356 million, with another $199 million from the sale of water and a tax the farmers have assessed themselves, Sullivan said.
The first phase will include preparing a channel to bring the water from the river south of Scott, to the pumping plant where six huge pumps will lift it into a reservoir from which it will flow by gravity through a series of canals and pipes to farms throughout the region.
Work also would begin on the outlet pump to lift floodwater back into the river at the low end of the basin.
A second set of pumps, to be located where the Little Bayou Meto meets the Arkansas River Levee in Jefferson County, will be available for flood and habitat control, able to move 1,000 cu. ft. a second back into the river.
Sullivan said the project could be complete within seven years.
“This project has no enemies,” said Berry.
“That’s why it only took 20 years to authorize,” he said.
The Corps would construct a network including 465 miles of pipeline, 107 miles of new canals and tie into 132 miles of existing streams and ditches, moving water to the farms.
The on-farm part includes construction of ditches to collect runoff from farm fields, including the water they use to flood their rice fields. Water from those ditches would be pumped into large on-farm reservoirs.
From the reservoir, the farmers can direct the water, usually through underground pipes, to any of their fields.
TOP STORY >>Cabot schools see 2,000 jump
By HEATHER HARTSELL
Leader staff writer
Cabot schools have seen an increase of nearly 2,000 students since 2002, Superintendent Dr. Tony Thurman said Tuesday during the annual report to the public.
As of Sept. 19, 327 new students have entered the district, making the district total 9,300 strong for kindergarten through 12th-grade. There are also 260 students participating in the district’s pre-kindergarten program.
With all that growth and the prospect of even more students in years to come as the city’s population climbs towards 25,000, Cabot schools must look to the future to decide where to house all the students.
The district’s next big building project is rebuilding Cabot Junior High North, lost to an electrical fire last August.
Bid openings for the 134,000 square-foot campus will be held Oct. 4; construction is scheduled to take 18 months to complete.
The new two-story CJHN, at a total projected cost of $18.5 million, of which the district must pay about $3 million, will be capable of holding 1,200 students; there are currently 1,134 Junior High North students attending classes on the Cabot High School campus, mostly in portable buildings.
Although the design has places available to add more space down the road if needed, it doesn’t have that much, according to assistant superintendent Jim Dalton.
In order to plan for additional space, the district must update its facilities master plan to “allow for the long-term and not the here and now,” Thurman said.
“What new construction do we want to see? What do we want to see in the district in the next five, 10 or 15 years? What existing renovations can take place at our facilities?” he said as he addressed those in attendance Tuesday.
Additional classrooms are on the drawing board at the elementary and junior high school level to accommodate the expected growth.
The idea of reconfiguring the schools 10-15 years down the road to use existing facilities is also a possible option, Thurman said.
The district is also planning for new technology in the classrooms.
“Technology continues to progress and we want to stay as current and up-to-date as possible,” he said.
But before the district makes any decisions relating to the master plan, Thurman has asked for the public’s involvement through a task force made up of community members, city council members or anyone interested in the future of the Cabot schools.
Gathering members for the task force is ongoing; the first meeting is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Oct. 26.
“The patrons need to be involved because these plans will be way down the road and everyone needs to be on-board as we make these changes in the district,” he said.
As Thurman said, there are many issues facing the Cabot district and, instead of working in isolation, the district needs to partner with the patrons in the decision making process.
“It is much easier to move forward and deal with issues when a cross section of the community has had the opportunity to provide feedback to the board,” Thurman said. “It is also important for the public to understand that while we’d like to make everyone happy with every decision that is made, this will be impossible. We will work together to ensure that our district remains very successful.”
In other business:
• Sheriff Jim Roberson swore in Jim Coy and Ken Kincade, winners of the Sept. 18 school board election.
This is the first term on the Cabot School Board for Kincade and Coy’s second term.
Kincade, 35, is a 1990 Cabot High School honor graduate and is an executive vice-president at Pinnacle Structures, Inc. A resident of Cabot since he was eight years old, he is married and has three boys – a six year old, a four year old and a seven-and-a-half month old.
Coy, 45, has lived in the Cabot district for 13 years and is a sales executive for Acxiom Corporation. He is the father of a Cabot High School junior. During his previous five-years on the board, he has served as chairman of the policies, personnel, and curriculum and instruction committees.
Leader staff writer
Cabot schools have seen an increase of nearly 2,000 students since 2002, Superintendent Dr. Tony Thurman said Tuesday during the annual report to the public.
As of Sept. 19, 327 new students have entered the district, making the district total 9,300 strong for kindergarten through 12th-grade. There are also 260 students participating in the district’s pre-kindergarten program.
With all that growth and the prospect of even more students in years to come as the city’s population climbs towards 25,000, Cabot schools must look to the future to decide where to house all the students.
The district’s next big building project is rebuilding Cabot Junior High North, lost to an electrical fire last August.
Bid openings for the 134,000 square-foot campus will be held Oct. 4; construction is scheduled to take 18 months to complete.
The new two-story CJHN, at a total projected cost of $18.5 million, of which the district must pay about $3 million, will be capable of holding 1,200 students; there are currently 1,134 Junior High North students attending classes on the Cabot High School campus, mostly in portable buildings.
Although the design has places available to add more space down the road if needed, it doesn’t have that much, according to assistant superintendent Jim Dalton.
In order to plan for additional space, the district must update its facilities master plan to “allow for the long-term and not the here and now,” Thurman said.
“What new construction do we want to see? What do we want to see in the district in the next five, 10 or 15 years? What existing renovations can take place at our facilities?” he said as he addressed those in attendance Tuesday.
Additional classrooms are on the drawing board at the elementary and junior high school level to accommodate the expected growth.
The idea of reconfiguring the schools 10-15 years down the road to use existing facilities is also a possible option, Thurman said.
The district is also planning for new technology in the classrooms.
“Technology continues to progress and we want to stay as current and up-to-date as possible,” he said.
But before the district makes any decisions relating to the master plan, Thurman has asked for the public’s involvement through a task force made up of community members, city council members or anyone interested in the future of the Cabot schools.
Gathering members for the task force is ongoing; the first meeting is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Oct. 26.
“The patrons need to be involved because these plans will be way down the road and everyone needs to be on-board as we make these changes in the district,” he said.
As Thurman said, there are many issues facing the Cabot district and, instead of working in isolation, the district needs to partner with the patrons in the decision making process.
“It is much easier to move forward and deal with issues when a cross section of the community has had the opportunity to provide feedback to the board,” Thurman said. “It is also important for the public to understand that while we’d like to make everyone happy with every decision that is made, this will be impossible. We will work together to ensure that our district remains very successful.”
In other business:
• Sheriff Jim Roberson swore in Jim Coy and Ken Kincade, winners of the Sept. 18 school board election.
This is the first term on the Cabot School Board for Kincade and Coy’s second term.
Kincade, 35, is a 1990 Cabot High School honor graduate and is an executive vice-president at Pinnacle Structures, Inc. A resident of Cabot since he was eight years old, he is married and has three boys – a six year old, a four year old and a seven-and-a-half month old.
Coy, 45, has lived in the Cabot district for 13 years and is a sales executive for Acxiom Corporation. He is the father of a Cabot High School junior. During his previous five-years on the board, he has served as chairman of the policies, personnel, and curriculum and instruction committees.
TOP STORY >>Feds to look at housing on air base
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Unhappy with the performance of at least one developer contracted to build, remodel, own and manage thousands of Air Force housing units including those at Little Rock Air Force Base, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) has passed a resolution giving the U.S. comptroller general 180 days to find out what went wrong and suggest ways to straighten it out.
The comptroller general will look into American Eagle Communities’ housing privatization contracts at Little Rock Air Force Base and elsewhere, the extent of the problem and options open to the federal government and to subcontractors hurt by American Eagle, thanks to a resolution sponsored by Pryor and Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. Moody Air Force Base, where American Eagle has defaulted on a similar project, reportedly leaving subcontractors out of work and owed millions of dollars, is in Georgia.
American Eagle, already two years behind on its LRAFB Family Housing project, stopped work in May with only 25 new homes built out of the 468 required and the 732 additional base homes required to be remodeled by 2011.
Meanwhile, the Air Force says American Eagle and its managing partner, Carabetta Enterprises, are “actively pursuing a sale of (their) ownership interest in the project,” according to a spokesman for the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, based at Brooks, Texas.
Neither American Eagle nor the Carabetta family is mentioned by name in the resolution, but according to the Air Force, they are the only privatization developers experiencing such problems.
“The housing delay adversely affects the quality of life we want for our airmen and women and their families. We must get to the bottom of the problem, fix it and make sure it never happens again,” Pryor said. “This investigation will do just that.”
“It’s critically important to our nation’s war-fighting capability for our airmen who are deployed fighting the Global War on Terror to know that their families back home are living in quality housing,” according to Brig. Gen. (Select) Wayne Schatz, 314th Airlift Wing commander.
“This project’s failure has not only adversely affected quality of life for our airmen and their families, but there are also subcontractors and others in the local community who were adversely affected by this stoppage.
“I wholeheartedly welcome Sen. Pryor’s inquiry into the housing situation here and appreciate his continued support of our Airman and the military community,” Schatz said.
“Given the current project’s financial conditions, it is unlikely that American Eagle will be able to resume work (on them),” according to an Air Force spokesman. The report will include a list of the current Defense Department housing privatization contracts behind schedule or in default, the reasons for delays and cost overruns, how the DOD solicited for bids, financing, what entities are at risk financially, and determination of what remedies are available to the government and subcontractors.
The comptroller is charged with determining the developers’ histories of previous defaults or bankruptcies and finally, with recommending opportunities for the government to ensure that all terms of the transaction are completed according to schedule and budget.
Leader senior staff writer
Unhappy with the performance of at least one developer contracted to build, remodel, own and manage thousands of Air Force housing units including those at Little Rock Air Force Base, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) has passed a resolution giving the U.S. comptroller general 180 days to find out what went wrong and suggest ways to straighten it out.
The comptroller general will look into American Eagle Communities’ housing privatization contracts at Little Rock Air Force Base and elsewhere, the extent of the problem and options open to the federal government and to subcontractors hurt by American Eagle, thanks to a resolution sponsored by Pryor and Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. Moody Air Force Base, where American Eagle has defaulted on a similar project, reportedly leaving subcontractors out of work and owed millions of dollars, is in Georgia.
American Eagle, already two years behind on its LRAFB Family Housing project, stopped work in May with only 25 new homes built out of the 468 required and the 732 additional base homes required to be remodeled by 2011.
Meanwhile, the Air Force says American Eagle and its managing partner, Carabetta Enterprises, are “actively pursuing a sale of (their) ownership interest in the project,” according to a spokesman for the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, based at Brooks, Texas.
Neither American Eagle nor the Carabetta family is mentioned by name in the resolution, but according to the Air Force, they are the only privatization developers experiencing such problems.
“The housing delay adversely affects the quality of life we want for our airmen and women and their families. We must get to the bottom of the problem, fix it and make sure it never happens again,” Pryor said. “This investigation will do just that.”
“It’s critically important to our nation’s war-fighting capability for our airmen who are deployed fighting the Global War on Terror to know that their families back home are living in quality housing,” according to Brig. Gen. (Select) Wayne Schatz, 314th Airlift Wing commander.
“This project’s failure has not only adversely affected quality of life for our airmen and their families, but there are also subcontractors and others in the local community who were adversely affected by this stoppage.
“I wholeheartedly welcome Sen. Pryor’s inquiry into the housing situation here and appreciate his continued support of our Airman and the military community,” Schatz said.
“Given the current project’s financial conditions, it is unlikely that American Eagle will be able to resume work (on them),” according to an Air Force spokesman. The report will include a list of the current Defense Department housing privatization contracts behind schedule or in default, the reasons for delays and cost overruns, how the DOD solicited for bids, financing, what entities are at risk financially, and determination of what remedies are available to the government and subcontractors.
The comptroller is charged with determining the developers’ histories of previous defaults or bankruptcies and finally, with recommending opportunities for the government to ensure that all terms of the transaction are completed according to schedule and budget.
Monday, October 01, 2007
TOP STORY >>It’s Gen. Schatz after ceremony
By HEATHER HARTSELL
Leader staff writer
The list of family and friends in attendance at the promotion ceremony Friday afternoon honoring Little Rock Air Force Base commander Col. Rowayne A. Schatz, Jr., as he was promoted to brigadier general, was as long as the list of local dignitaries and government officials present during the standing-room-only ceremony.
Four-star Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, commander of U.S. Transportation Command at Scott AFB, Ill. and a previous LRAFB squadron commander, was the host of Friday’s event at the conference center, something he described as “a treat” that he gets to do from time to time.
“What we do today is unique and special, because in our country, it is the civilian leadership that decides the who, what and why of our military operations. It is an obligation and responsibility called upon those who serve in the senior ranks of our services to assist our civilian leaders with the when and how,” Schwartz said.
“This is a profound obligation and today is certainly Suzie’s and my pleasure to be part of a ceremony that recognizes Kim and Wayne as he pins on brigadier general in the Air Force,” he said.
Schwartz was referring to his wife Suzie, a Jacksonville High School graduate, and Schatz’s wife Kim, who started dating after they met at a Burger King at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines.
Schwartz added it was a wonderful day for Schatz’s family and a great day for the armed forces, especially having a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, Cong. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, in attendance, proving the pin-on ceremony was “no trivial deal.”
“It’s a meaningful moment to come and pin Wayne Schatz to rank of brigadier general in the Air Force. What a thrill it is to be a part of this lovely moment,” Schwartz said.
After the reading of the promotion orders, Schatz’s wife and his mother Evelyn pinned on his new rank insignia worn on his service dress jacket. His children, Marissa and Wayne, then replaced the epaulets (shoulder insignia) worn on his shirt.
Army Reserve Lt. Col. (retired) Don LaBrie, Schatz’s uncle, readministered the oath of commissioning to his nephew. LaBrie commissioned second lieutenant Schatz on June 1, 1983.
The newly promoted brigadier general said he was deeply honored by those in attendance for his promotion as he thanked the men and women of Little Rock Air Force Base and the surrounding communities for their support, as well as everyone else who helped him become a general.
“We have just tremendous community support here at Little Rock Air Force Base. It is so much of a blessing. You all shower your love and support in the local communities on our airmen here,” Schatz said.
Turning to Schwartz, the new general said it was special to have him at the ceremony. “There is no one else I would prefer to do this for us (than Schwartz),” he said.
And because “it takes a village to make a flag officer,” Schatz took time to thank his family, both immediate and extended, for their support and help in making it happen.
To Team Little Rock, Schatz said working every day with all of them is a great experience.
“We get a chance to come to work every day and serve with the greatest group of people, I think, the world has ever seen. As I look around the room and I look at all of you, I hope you get the same sense of awe and the same sense of love when you go see the people at work and get to spend time with all of you. That is really what it’s all about and what makes it special for us. That is why we have stayed and have answered the call of service and do what we do,” Schatz said in closing.
Leader staff writer
The list of family and friends in attendance at the promotion ceremony Friday afternoon honoring Little Rock Air Force Base commander Col. Rowayne A. Schatz, Jr., as he was promoted to brigadier general, was as long as the list of local dignitaries and government officials present during the standing-room-only ceremony.
Four-star Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, commander of U.S. Transportation Command at Scott AFB, Ill. and a previous LRAFB squadron commander, was the host of Friday’s event at the conference center, something he described as “a treat” that he gets to do from time to time.
“What we do today is unique and special, because in our country, it is the civilian leadership that decides the who, what and why of our military operations. It is an obligation and responsibility called upon those who serve in the senior ranks of our services to assist our civilian leaders with the when and how,” Schwartz said.
“This is a profound obligation and today is certainly Suzie’s and my pleasure to be part of a ceremony that recognizes Kim and Wayne as he pins on brigadier general in the Air Force,” he said.
Schwartz was referring to his wife Suzie, a Jacksonville High School graduate, and Schatz’s wife Kim, who started dating after they met at a Burger King at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines.
Schwartz added it was a wonderful day for Schatz’s family and a great day for the armed forces, especially having a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, Cong. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, in attendance, proving the pin-on ceremony was “no trivial deal.”
“It’s a meaningful moment to come and pin Wayne Schatz to rank of brigadier general in the Air Force. What a thrill it is to be a part of this lovely moment,” Schwartz said.
After the reading of the promotion orders, Schatz’s wife and his mother Evelyn pinned on his new rank insignia worn on his service dress jacket. His children, Marissa and Wayne, then replaced the epaulets (shoulder insignia) worn on his shirt.
Army Reserve Lt. Col. (retired) Don LaBrie, Schatz’s uncle, readministered the oath of commissioning to his nephew. LaBrie commissioned second lieutenant Schatz on June 1, 1983.
The newly promoted brigadier general said he was deeply honored by those in attendance for his promotion as he thanked the men and women of Little Rock Air Force Base and the surrounding communities for their support, as well as everyone else who helped him become a general.
“We have just tremendous community support here at Little Rock Air Force Base. It is so much of a blessing. You all shower your love and support in the local communities on our airmen here,” Schatz said.
Turning to Schwartz, the new general said it was special to have him at the ceremony. “There is no one else I would prefer to do this for us (than Schwartz),” he said.
And because “it takes a village to make a flag officer,” Schatz took time to thank his family, both immediate and extended, for their support and help in making it happen.
To Team Little Rock, Schatz said working every day with all of them is a great experience.
“We get a chance to come to work every day and serve with the greatest group of people, I think, the world has ever seen. As I look around the room and I look at all of you, I hope you get the same sense of awe and the same sense of love when you go see the people at work and get to spend time with all of you. That is really what it’s all about and what makes it special for us. That is why we have stayed and have answered the call of service and do what we do,” Schatz said in closing.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
SPORTS >>Panthers, Devils in weekend tourneys
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Only two points separated the Jacksonville Lady Red Devils from the finals of the Greenbrier invitational over the weekend. A second-round loss to Vilonia in a close 2-1 decision prevented the Lady Devils from a championship-round appearance, but the third-place consolation game did manage to bring a rare meeting with cross-town rivals North Pulaski.
Despite a short bench after losing junior Chastity Robinson to an ankle injury during last week’s game against Jonesboro, and two more players out for personal reasons over the weekend, the Lady Devils fared very well in their three matches at the tourney. They easily handled Batesville in their opening match to advance to the semifinals in two games, but would find the Lady Eagles of Vilonia a little more difficult to overcome.
Vilonia took the first game 25-18, but Jacksonville rallied back to win game two 25-23. This would set up a shootout in the final game of the best two-out-of-three tournament, and the Lady Eagles would need one extra point to claim the win, taking the semifinal round with a 16-14 win.
This would bump Jacksonville into the consolation bracket, to play in the third-place match against none other than the North Pulaski Lady Falcons. The Amanda Hill coached team made its way into the consolation game with a win over ? and a loss to?, to set up the classic showdown.
The Lady Falcons made a statement early in the match, taking game one by a score of 25-23. The Lady Red Devils, somewhat disheartened over not making the finals, had to dig deep to take game two, but came out swinging to tie the match at one game each with a dominating 25-15 win. The final game would decide it all, and Jacksonville would pull out the win 15-11.
Lady Red Devils coach Melissa Reeves says the last week has been somewhat unpredictable, but that the team continues to improve.
“I’m really proud of the way they played on Saturday,” Reeves said. “Despite everything that has been going on, they want to play their very best. They have been playing like I know they can play, we just need to get everyone back and on the same page.”
Lady Red Devils sophomore Crystal Washington stepped in for the injured Robinson on the front row, and played solidly throughout the tournament. Paula Burr was moved from the outside to the middle of the front row during the tournament. Reeves said that while their opponents got a lot in on Burr in the middle, it is hard to expect a player that has trained for the outside all season to step in to a different area of the court on a moment’s notice.
“They were really diffused after losing to Vilonia,” Reeves said. “We were at a bare minimum of players anyway, so we had to fight to get up for North Pulaski. We haven’t been fully prepared these last few games, and we have had a couple of disciplinary issues lately, but hopefully that is all worked out now.”
The Lady Red Devils hosted the Sylvan Hills Lady Bears last night after Leader deadlines.
The Cabot Lady Panthers ended up with a win and a loss at the ASU Invitational Tournament in Jonesboro over the weekend. After a solid tournament performance one weekend prior in Harrison, the Lady Panthers could not get past 5A powerhouse Nettleton in the second round of the ASU tourney, ending their day early after an up-and-down performance during morning pool play.
Cabot coach Terry Williams said the tournament was somewhat of a letdown, especially after a solid showing the weekend before and Harrison, and two conference wins during the week.
“We just couldn’t get in sync,” Williams said. “We never could get anything going it seemed like; we were just flat.” Williams was hard at work Tuesday morning trying to arrange a new lineup for a match that afternoon with Mt. Saint Mary, after three players were forced to sit out the contest with various ailments.
Cabot started out pool play with a two-game split with Hutchinson, Tenn., followed by a loss to Valley View. The Lady Panthers would not come up empty handed in the pool matches, however, beating Piggott in two games to set up a first round bracket match with the dreaded and enormous Lady Raiders.
Nettleton took both games easily, winning game one 14-25 before dominating in the second game to take an 11-25 win over the Lady Panthers. This would pit the Lady Panthers against Collierville, Tenn., in the consolation game. Cabot would take that game in straight games, 25-19 and 25-14 to finish in the top half.
Leader sportswriter
Only two points separated the Jacksonville Lady Red Devils from the finals of the Greenbrier invitational over the weekend. A second-round loss to Vilonia in a close 2-1 decision prevented the Lady Devils from a championship-round appearance, but the third-place consolation game did manage to bring a rare meeting with cross-town rivals North Pulaski.
Despite a short bench after losing junior Chastity Robinson to an ankle injury during last week’s game against Jonesboro, and two more players out for personal reasons over the weekend, the Lady Devils fared very well in their three matches at the tourney. They easily handled Batesville in their opening match to advance to the semifinals in two games, but would find the Lady Eagles of Vilonia a little more difficult to overcome.
Vilonia took the first game 25-18, but Jacksonville rallied back to win game two 25-23. This would set up a shootout in the final game of the best two-out-of-three tournament, and the Lady Eagles would need one extra point to claim the win, taking the semifinal round with a 16-14 win.
This would bump Jacksonville into the consolation bracket, to play in the third-place match against none other than the North Pulaski Lady Falcons. The Amanda Hill coached team made its way into the consolation game with a win over ? and a loss to?, to set up the classic showdown.
The Lady Falcons made a statement early in the match, taking game one by a score of 25-23. The Lady Red Devils, somewhat disheartened over not making the finals, had to dig deep to take game two, but came out swinging to tie the match at one game each with a dominating 25-15 win. The final game would decide it all, and Jacksonville would pull out the win 15-11.
Lady Red Devils coach Melissa Reeves says the last week has been somewhat unpredictable, but that the team continues to improve.
“I’m really proud of the way they played on Saturday,” Reeves said. “Despite everything that has been going on, they want to play their very best. They have been playing like I know they can play, we just need to get everyone back and on the same page.”
Lady Red Devils sophomore Crystal Washington stepped in for the injured Robinson on the front row, and played solidly throughout the tournament. Paula Burr was moved from the outside to the middle of the front row during the tournament. Reeves said that while their opponents got a lot in on Burr in the middle, it is hard to expect a player that has trained for the outside all season to step in to a different area of the court on a moment’s notice.
“They were really diffused after losing to Vilonia,” Reeves said. “We were at a bare minimum of players anyway, so we had to fight to get up for North Pulaski. We haven’t been fully prepared these last few games, and we have had a couple of disciplinary issues lately, but hopefully that is all worked out now.”
The Lady Red Devils hosted the Sylvan Hills Lady Bears last night after Leader deadlines.
The Cabot Lady Panthers ended up with a win and a loss at the ASU Invitational Tournament in Jonesboro over the weekend. After a solid tournament performance one weekend prior in Harrison, the Lady Panthers could not get past 5A powerhouse Nettleton in the second round of the ASU tourney, ending their day early after an up-and-down performance during morning pool play.
Cabot coach Terry Williams said the tournament was somewhat of a letdown, especially after a solid showing the weekend before and Harrison, and two conference wins during the week.
“We just couldn’t get in sync,” Williams said. “We never could get anything going it seemed like; we were just flat.” Williams was hard at work Tuesday morning trying to arrange a new lineup for a match that afternoon with Mt. Saint Mary, after three players were forced to sit out the contest with various ailments.
Cabot started out pool play with a two-game split with Hutchinson, Tenn., followed by a loss to Valley View. The Lady Panthers would not come up empty handed in the pool matches, however, beating Piggott in two games to set up a first round bracket match with the dreaded and enormous Lady Raiders.
Nettleton took both games easily, winning game one 14-25 before dominating in the second game to take an 11-25 win over the Lady Panthers. This would pit the Lady Panthers against Collierville, Tenn., in the consolation game. Cabot would take that game in straight games, 25-19 and 25-14 to finish in the top half.
SPORTS >>Story lines collide at Beebe
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers have likely their toughest test to date when they travel to Little Rock to take on Catholic High Friday night in War Memorial Stadium. The 4-0 Panthers will be the favorites against the 2-2 Rockets, but than .500 record could be deceiving.
Catholic has played a tougher schedule that Cabot so far, and both of its losses have been against 7A teams that are currently undefeated. After starting 2-0 against 6A teams Sylvan Hills and Benton, Catholic dropped a very close game to Fort Smith Northside, then lost its conference opener 35-14 to top-ranked Bryant last week.
Cabot hopes to leave the Rockets with an 0-3 record against the undefeated, but head Panther Mike Malham isn’t expecting anything easy.
“This is just another one of those games you have to get ready to play or you could end up beat,” Malham said. “They’re playing a lot better than they did last year. They were playing a lot of young kids last year and they’ve got a lot of kids back, so we’d better get ready to play.”
The Panthers and Rockets played to a 7-7 tie in regulation last year. Both teams scored a touchdown in the first overtime, but Catholic missed its extra point, giving Cabot a 14-13 overtime win.
The Rockets lost their best offensive player from that team to graduation, but still has some good hands that should have Cabot’s attention come Friday.
“That quarterback they’ve got is a good hand,” Malham says. “They do a few different things on offense and he’s pretty good at all of them. He can run a little bit and he can throw it pretty well.”
Catholic runs mostly out of the power-I formation, and will be the first team to do so that Cabot has played. Their new look isn’t something that concerns Malham as much as making sure his team sticks with the fundamentals of its own defensive scheme.
“I think our defense has done a good job for the most part,” Malham said. “They just have to keep playing proper technique and they should be ok.”
The injury bug finally crept up on the group of Panthers that started the season. Starting halfback Chris Bayles will be out indefinitely with a cracked bone in his leg.
His injury, though, comes just as Vince Aguilar, last year’s starter at fullback, returns from a knee injury. He played sparingly last week against Conway for the first time this season. He played mostly defensive end, but did line up at running back a few times and got a few carries late.
Junior Wesley Sowell will also see lots of time at halfback. He has carried a few times this year as well with good results.
“Sowell is the quicker of the two,” Malham said. “He’ll probably start back there.”
There were no major areas of concern after last week’s performance against Conway. Late in the game there was a fumble on an option play and a bad punt snap, but Malham was pleased with the team’s overall effort.
“(Sophomore quarterback Seth) Bloomberg is getting more comfortable and you can see that,” Malham said. “He hasn’t had to do much passing, but he’s running the option well and making good decisions. We just can’t put the ball on the ground and give up the big play. Overall I was pretty pleased with things last week. We’re just trying to get better at everything we do, a lot of repetition and make sure we have the fundamentals down.”
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers have likely their toughest test to date when they travel to Little Rock to take on Catholic High Friday night in War Memorial Stadium. The 4-0 Panthers will be the favorites against the 2-2 Rockets, but than .500 record could be deceiving.
Catholic has played a tougher schedule that Cabot so far, and both of its losses have been against 7A teams that are currently undefeated. After starting 2-0 against 6A teams Sylvan Hills and Benton, Catholic dropped a very close game to Fort Smith Northside, then lost its conference opener 35-14 to top-ranked Bryant last week.
Cabot hopes to leave the Rockets with an 0-3 record against the undefeated, but head Panther Mike Malham isn’t expecting anything easy.
“This is just another one of those games you have to get ready to play or you could end up beat,” Malham said. “They’re playing a lot better than they did last year. They were playing a lot of young kids last year and they’ve got a lot of kids back, so we’d better get ready to play.”
The Panthers and Rockets played to a 7-7 tie in regulation last year. Both teams scored a touchdown in the first overtime, but Catholic missed its extra point, giving Cabot a 14-13 overtime win.
The Rockets lost their best offensive player from that team to graduation, but still has some good hands that should have Cabot’s attention come Friday.
“That quarterback they’ve got is a good hand,” Malham says. “They do a few different things on offense and he’s pretty good at all of them. He can run a little bit and he can throw it pretty well.”
Catholic runs mostly out of the power-I formation, and will be the first team to do so that Cabot has played. Their new look isn’t something that concerns Malham as much as making sure his team sticks with the fundamentals of its own defensive scheme.
“I think our defense has done a good job for the most part,” Malham said. “They just have to keep playing proper technique and they should be ok.”
The injury bug finally crept up on the group of Panthers that started the season. Starting halfback Chris Bayles will be out indefinitely with a cracked bone in his leg.
His injury, though, comes just as Vince Aguilar, last year’s starter at fullback, returns from a knee injury. He played sparingly last week against Conway for the first time this season. He played mostly defensive end, but did line up at running back a few times and got a few carries late.
Junior Wesley Sowell will also see lots of time at halfback. He has carried a few times this year as well with good results.
“Sowell is the quicker of the two,” Malham said. “He’ll probably start back there.”
There were no major areas of concern after last week’s performance against Conway. Late in the game there was a fumble on an option play and a bad punt snap, but Malham was pleased with the team’s overall effort.
“(Sophomore quarterback Seth) Bloomberg is getting more comfortable and you can see that,” Malham said. “He hasn’t had to do much passing, but he’s running the option well and making good decisions. We just can’t put the ball on the ground and give up the big play. Overall I was pretty pleased with things last week. We’re just trying to get better at everything we do, a lot of repetition and make sure we have the fundamentals down.”
SPORTS >>Opponents get tougher
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers have likely their toughest test to date when they travel to Little Rock to take on Catholic High Friday night in War Memorial Stadium. The 4-0 Panthers will be the favorites against the 2-2 Rockets, but than .500 record could be deceiving.
Catholic has played a tougher schedule that Cabot so far, and both of its losses have been against 7A teams that are currently undefeated. After starting 2-0 against 6A teams Sylvan Hills and Benton, Catholic dropped a very close game to Fort Smith Northside, then lost its conference opener 35-14 to top-ranked Bryant last week.
Cabot hopes to leave the Rockets with an 0-3 record against the undefeated, but head Panther Mike Malham isn’t expecting anything easy.
“This is just another one of those games you have to get ready to play or you could end up beat,” Malham said. “They’re playing a lot better than they did last year. They were playing a lot of young kids last year and they’ve got a lot of kids back, so we’d better get ready to play.”
The Panthers and Rockets played to a 7-7 tie in regulation last year. Both teams scored a touchdown in the first overtime, but Catholic missed its extra point, giving Cabot a 14-13 overtime win.
The Rockets lost their best offensive player from that team to graduation, but still has some good hands that should have Cabot’s attention come Friday.
“That quarterback they’ve got is a good hand,” Malham says. “They do a few different things on offense and he’s pretty good at all of them. He can run a little bit and he can throw it pretty well.”
Catholic runs mostly out of the power-I formation, and will be the first team to do so that Cabot has played. Their new look isn’t something that concerns Malham as much as making sure his team sticks with the fundamentals of its own defensive scheme.
“I think our defense has done a good job for the most part,” Malham said. “They just have keep playing good angles and proper technique and they should be ok.”
The injury bug finally crept up on the group of Panthers that started the season. Starting halfback Chris Bayles will be out indefinitely with a cracked bone in his leg. His injury, though, comes just as Vince Aguilar, last year’s starter at fullback, returns from a knee injury. He played sparingly last week against Conway for the first time this season. He played mostly defensive end, but did line up at running back a few times and got a few carries late.
Junior?? Sowell will also see lots of time at halfback. He has carried a few times this year as well with good results.
“Sowell is the quicker of the two,” Malham said. “He’ll probably start back there.”
There were no major areas of concern after last week’s performance against Conway. Late in the game there was a fumble on an option play and a bad punt snap, but Malham was pleased with the team’s overall effort.
“(Sophomore quarterback Seth) Bloomber is getting more comfortable and you can see that,” Malham said. “He hasn’t had to do much passing, but he’s running the option well and making good decisions. We just can’t put the ball on the ground and give up the big play. Overall I was pretty pleased with things last week. We’re just trying to get better at everything we do, a lot of repetition and make sure we have the fundamentals down.”
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers have likely their toughest test to date when they travel to Little Rock to take on Catholic High Friday night in War Memorial Stadium. The 4-0 Panthers will be the favorites against the 2-2 Rockets, but than .500 record could be deceiving.
Catholic has played a tougher schedule that Cabot so far, and both of its losses have been against 7A teams that are currently undefeated. After starting 2-0 against 6A teams Sylvan Hills and Benton, Catholic dropped a very close game to Fort Smith Northside, then lost its conference opener 35-14 to top-ranked Bryant last week.
Cabot hopes to leave the Rockets with an 0-3 record against the undefeated, but head Panther Mike Malham isn’t expecting anything easy.
“This is just another one of those games you have to get ready to play or you could end up beat,” Malham said. “They’re playing a lot better than they did last year. They were playing a lot of young kids last year and they’ve got a lot of kids back, so we’d better get ready to play.”
The Panthers and Rockets played to a 7-7 tie in regulation last year. Both teams scored a touchdown in the first overtime, but Catholic missed its extra point, giving Cabot a 14-13 overtime win.
The Rockets lost their best offensive player from that team to graduation, but still has some good hands that should have Cabot’s attention come Friday.
“That quarterback they’ve got is a good hand,” Malham says. “They do a few different things on offense and he’s pretty good at all of them. He can run a little bit and he can throw it pretty well.”
Catholic runs mostly out of the power-I formation, and will be the first team to do so that Cabot has played. Their new look isn’t something that concerns Malham as much as making sure his team sticks with the fundamentals of its own defensive scheme.
“I think our defense has done a good job for the most part,” Malham said. “They just have keep playing good angles and proper technique and they should be ok.”
The injury bug finally crept up on the group of Panthers that started the season. Starting halfback Chris Bayles will be out indefinitely with a cracked bone in his leg. His injury, though, comes just as Vince Aguilar, last year’s starter at fullback, returns from a knee injury. He played sparingly last week against Conway for the first time this season. He played mostly defensive end, but did line up at running back a few times and got a few carries late.
Junior?? Sowell will also see lots of time at halfback. He has carried a few times this year as well with good results.
“Sowell is the quicker of the two,” Malham said. “He’ll probably start back there.”
There were no major areas of concern after last week’s performance against Conway. Late in the game there was a fumble on an option play and a bad punt snap, but Malham was pleased with the team’s overall effort.
“(Sophomore quarterback Seth) Bloomber is getting more comfortable and you can see that,” Malham said. “He hasn’t had to do much passing, but he’s running the option well and making good decisions. We just can’t put the ball on the ground and give up the big play. Overall I was pretty pleased with things last week. We’re just trying to get better at everything we do, a lot of repetition and make sure we have the fundamentals down.”
EDITORIALS>>The real face of Arkansas
“This is a tragic day in the history of the republic — and Little Rock, Arkansas, is the scene of the tragedy,” began an editorial in the Arkansas Gazette 50 years ago yesterday morning. “In one sense we rolled back our history to the Reconstruction era when federal troops moved into position at Central High to uphold the law and preserve the peace.”
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne had rolled into the city the previous day, and that morning they escorted nine black students past the sullen crowds and through the portals of that magnificent building. Every school day for the rest of the year the soldiers would protect those youngsters — so skinny and scared and vulnerable when we see those old photographs and TV footage now.
That day and particularly the two school days immediately preceding it, the whole world got a visage of what they assumed was Little Rock and Arkansas, the twisted and demented faces of the mob that gathered at the school to scream racial epithets at the nine youngsters and to beat black adults who showed up, including a Memphis photographer who was crippled by a thrashing across the street from the school at the hands of a band of white men and never recovered.
The pictures, some of the most famous being those by Will Counts, a young photographer for the Arkansas Democrat, flashed around the world, appearing on the front pages of newspapers from St. Louis to Tokyo. They made history books and anthologies, documentary films and movies, and in the past week many of them surfaced again in the media on the occasion of the 50th anniversary, to horrify another generation.
The pictures from Little Rock were a galvanizing force in the civil rights movement. The country and the rest of the world saw the frightening face of bigotry and ignorance and thus the pictures may have done more than all the court decisions and the legislation at the federal and state levels to advance the civil rights cause.
As that Gazette editorial on Sept. 25, 1957, observed prophetically, Gov. Orval E. Faubus had dealt “a major and perhaps lethal blow to the cause of segregation which he purported to uphold.” Three weeks earlier, defying orders of the federal courts, Faubus had used Arkansas National Guard soldiers to prevent the black students from entering the school and gave impetus to the mob impulses of hundreds of men and women who would pour into town to support the governor.
But what a profoundly different picture went out from Central High yesterday morning. If that could only have been us 50 years ago. . . A thoroughly integrated and ebullient crowd of thousands — children and adults, seemingly about even black and white — stood and cheered lustily as each of the Little Rock Nine, some now stooped or in a wheelchair but every one vibrant, made a short talk from a platform in front of the famous portals of still the handsomest school in America.
Yes, Bill Clinton, the former president, made still another good speech. His wife and the odds-on favorite to be the next president was there, too, though she did not speak.
Little Rock’s new mayor, Mark Stodola, made a stirring and visionary talk about the need to destroy still more social and economic barriers in his city. Gov. Mike Beebe was thoughtful and appropriate. The president of the 2007 senior class at Central gave a remarkable speech that actually overshadowed the talks of the big politicians. There were other talks by notables.
But none approached the brief remarks of any of the nine. They seemed not to speak from text or notes, but the occasion brought from each a few moments of unsurpassed eloquence.
They told funny stories, they expressed gratitude to each other and to the parents who saw them through the ordeal, and they were optimistic and they were forgiving.
All but one had fled Little Rock after school, never to return except for these occasions.
Speaking at a breakfast Monday morning in the Great Hall of the Governor’s Mansion, Ernest Green, the first black graduate of Central, recounted the successful and beneficent lives of the nine after their rendezvous with history at Central.
Referring to those who blocked their paths at Central in 1957 and the silent ones who wanted them to fail, he asked, “What could they have been afraid of?”
Seeing and hearing these intelligent, cheerful and reassuring men and women in the twilight of their lives at the place that transformed their own lives as well as the country, everyone in the international audience surely wondered the same thing. What could people have been afraid of?
The whole extraordinary week of ceremonies and dialogues about what it all meant was redemptive for the city and the state, we would like to think. Arkansas got to show the world its better nature.
Now if they could apply the lessons to their continuing divisiveness. Starting with the Little Rock schools, and all our schools.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne had rolled into the city the previous day, and that morning they escorted nine black students past the sullen crowds and through the portals of that magnificent building. Every school day for the rest of the year the soldiers would protect those youngsters — so skinny and scared and vulnerable when we see those old photographs and TV footage now.
That day and particularly the two school days immediately preceding it, the whole world got a visage of what they assumed was Little Rock and Arkansas, the twisted and demented faces of the mob that gathered at the school to scream racial epithets at the nine youngsters and to beat black adults who showed up, including a Memphis photographer who was crippled by a thrashing across the street from the school at the hands of a band of white men and never recovered.
The pictures, some of the most famous being those by Will Counts, a young photographer for the Arkansas Democrat, flashed around the world, appearing on the front pages of newspapers from St. Louis to Tokyo. They made history books and anthologies, documentary films and movies, and in the past week many of them surfaced again in the media on the occasion of the 50th anniversary, to horrify another generation.
The pictures from Little Rock were a galvanizing force in the civil rights movement. The country and the rest of the world saw the frightening face of bigotry and ignorance and thus the pictures may have done more than all the court decisions and the legislation at the federal and state levels to advance the civil rights cause.
As that Gazette editorial on Sept. 25, 1957, observed prophetically, Gov. Orval E. Faubus had dealt “a major and perhaps lethal blow to the cause of segregation which he purported to uphold.” Three weeks earlier, defying orders of the federal courts, Faubus had used Arkansas National Guard soldiers to prevent the black students from entering the school and gave impetus to the mob impulses of hundreds of men and women who would pour into town to support the governor.
But what a profoundly different picture went out from Central High yesterday morning. If that could only have been us 50 years ago. . . A thoroughly integrated and ebullient crowd of thousands — children and adults, seemingly about even black and white — stood and cheered lustily as each of the Little Rock Nine, some now stooped or in a wheelchair but every one vibrant, made a short talk from a platform in front of the famous portals of still the handsomest school in America.
Yes, Bill Clinton, the former president, made still another good speech. His wife and the odds-on favorite to be the next president was there, too, though she did not speak.
Little Rock’s new mayor, Mark Stodola, made a stirring and visionary talk about the need to destroy still more social and economic barriers in his city. Gov. Mike Beebe was thoughtful and appropriate. The president of the 2007 senior class at Central gave a remarkable speech that actually overshadowed the talks of the big politicians. There were other talks by notables.
But none approached the brief remarks of any of the nine. They seemed not to speak from text or notes, but the occasion brought from each a few moments of unsurpassed eloquence.
They told funny stories, they expressed gratitude to each other and to the parents who saw them through the ordeal, and they were optimistic and they were forgiving.
All but one had fled Little Rock after school, never to return except for these occasions.
Speaking at a breakfast Monday morning in the Great Hall of the Governor’s Mansion, Ernest Green, the first black graduate of Central, recounted the successful and beneficent lives of the nine after their rendezvous with history at Central.
Referring to those who blocked their paths at Central in 1957 and the silent ones who wanted them to fail, he asked, “What could they have been afraid of?”
Seeing and hearing these intelligent, cheerful and reassuring men and women in the twilight of their lives at the place that transformed their own lives as well as the country, everyone in the international audience surely wondered the same thing. What could people have been afraid of?
The whole extraordinary week of ceremonies and dialogues about what it all meant was redemptive for the city and the state, we would like to think. Arkansas got to show the world its better nature.
Now if they could apply the lessons to their continuing divisiveness. Starting with the Little Rock schools, and all our schools.
OBITUARIES >> 09-28-07
Tristan Six
Tristan Wyatt Six, 10, of Garner went to be with the Lord Sept.23, as a result of a four-wheeler accident.
He was born Feb. 20, 1997.
He was preceded in death by great-grandparents, Luther Six of Garner, Bud and Ellen Jones of Beebe, Robert and Eva Schoonover of Hunter, Gene Gamble of Little Rock and D. L. Holmes of Beebe.
He is survived by his father and mother, Larry “Bucky” and Michele Six; two brothers, Larey Six and Tommy King; one sister, Megan Six, all of Garner; grandparents, Dr. Larey and Rita Six of Garner, Jerry and Vicki Davis of Cabot, Jerry and Vickie Whittenburg of El Paso, Ronnie and Margaret Schoonover of Brinkley, and Gerald “Pawpaw” and Tonya “Mawpaw” Mathis of Beebe; two great-grandmothers, Freda Six of Garner and Maxine Holmes of Beebe; aunts and uncles, Charles and DeAnna Renneker, Casey Six, Brittany Whittenburg, Tonya and Michael Todd, Jeremy and Christy Ramsey, Matt Whittenburg, Jeremy and Deidre Whittenburg; and a host of cousins, friends and family.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26 at Union Valley Baptist Church, with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens.
Funeral arrangements are by Westbrook Funeral Home of Beebe.
Carrie Wood
Carrie Lee Wood, 48, of Cabot passed away Sept. 23.
She was born April 20, 1959 in Little Rock.
She was preceded in death by her father, Henry Howell, mother, Donna Howell and stepfather Carlee Howell.
Survivors include daughters, Terrie Billings and husband Albert and Linda Williams and husband Jimmy; son, Phillip Wood and wife Melissa, all of Ward; grandchildren, Samantha Wood, Justin Billings, Zacary Williams, Hunter Williams, Makinzee Wood and Little Wood to be; sisters, Pam Miley and Melissa Eldrid; and brothers, Gene Howell and John Howell; along with many other family members and friends.
Graveside services will be at 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 26, at Sylvania Cemetery in Ward with Pastor Aaron Hill officiating and Mike Myers, Rance Hill, Johnny Garrianger, Jason Howell, Jimmy Williams and Brad Howell as pallbearers. Funeral arrangement will be by Thomas Funeral Service.
Mandi Amos
Mandi Amos, 28, loving daughter and granddaughter, of Jacksonville, passed away Sept. 24.
She is survived by her mother and step-father, Benita and Sammy Crook III of Jacksonville; her father, Lesley Amos; two brothers, Greg Rogers and Bryan Amos; one sister, Leigha Crook Garrity; and one grandfather, Vernon Ford.
Family requests memorials be made to the American Diabetes Association or the Arkansas Kidney Foundation. Graveside services were held Sept. 25 at Serenity Garden Cemetery in Jacksonville.
Graveside service arrangements were made by Wood Funeral Home of Jacksonville.
Tristan Wyatt Six, 10, of Garner went to be with the Lord Sept.23, as a result of a four-wheeler accident.
He was born Feb. 20, 1997.
He was preceded in death by great-grandparents, Luther Six of Garner, Bud and Ellen Jones of Beebe, Robert and Eva Schoonover of Hunter, Gene Gamble of Little Rock and D. L. Holmes of Beebe.
He is survived by his father and mother, Larry “Bucky” and Michele Six; two brothers, Larey Six and Tommy King; one sister, Megan Six, all of Garner; grandparents, Dr. Larey and Rita Six of Garner, Jerry and Vicki Davis of Cabot, Jerry and Vickie Whittenburg of El Paso, Ronnie and Margaret Schoonover of Brinkley, and Gerald “Pawpaw” and Tonya “Mawpaw” Mathis of Beebe; two great-grandmothers, Freda Six of Garner and Maxine Holmes of Beebe; aunts and uncles, Charles and DeAnna Renneker, Casey Six, Brittany Whittenburg, Tonya and Michael Todd, Jeremy and Christy Ramsey, Matt Whittenburg, Jeremy and Deidre Whittenburg; and a host of cousins, friends and family.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26 at Union Valley Baptist Church, with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens.
Funeral arrangements are by Westbrook Funeral Home of Beebe.
Carrie Wood
Carrie Lee Wood, 48, of Cabot passed away Sept. 23.
She was born April 20, 1959 in Little Rock.
She was preceded in death by her father, Henry Howell, mother, Donna Howell and stepfather Carlee Howell.
Survivors include daughters, Terrie Billings and husband Albert and Linda Williams and husband Jimmy; son, Phillip Wood and wife Melissa, all of Ward; grandchildren, Samantha Wood, Justin Billings, Zacary Williams, Hunter Williams, Makinzee Wood and Little Wood to be; sisters, Pam Miley and Melissa Eldrid; and brothers, Gene Howell and John Howell; along with many other family members and friends.
Graveside services will be at 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 26, at Sylvania Cemetery in Ward with Pastor Aaron Hill officiating and Mike Myers, Rance Hill, Johnny Garrianger, Jason Howell, Jimmy Williams and Brad Howell as pallbearers. Funeral arrangement will be by Thomas Funeral Service.
Mandi Amos
Mandi Amos, 28, loving daughter and granddaughter, of Jacksonville, passed away Sept. 24.
She is survived by her mother and step-father, Benita and Sammy Crook III of Jacksonville; her father, Lesley Amos; two brothers, Greg Rogers and Bryan Amos; one sister, Leigha Crook Garrity; and one grandfather, Vernon Ford.
Family requests memorials be made to the American Diabetes Association or the Arkansas Kidney Foundation. Graveside services were held Sept. 25 at Serenity Garden Cemetery in Jacksonville.
Graveside service arrangements were made by Wood Funeral Home of Jacksonville.
FROM THE PUBLISHER >>Classmates meet, recall friendship
Ernest Green, perhaps the best known of the Little Rock Nine, was walking up a couple of flights of stairs at Central High School after Tuesday’s ceremony marking the integration of Central 50 years ago this week.
Green was walking quickly up the stairs as if he were still 17, and he was heading for the physics class where three white students had befriended him.
The floors were shiny and the walls clean. Even if they’d been spruced up for the anniversary, the old school was holding up well. Central is perhaps the most famous high school in the world, where history was made and American society changed forever.
Green had been back at the school several times before, he told me when I caught up with him, but this was his first reunion with the three students in the physics lab.
“I first came back to Central in 1977 or 1978, when I was assistant secretary of labor,” Green told us when we were on the third floor, still walking toward the physics lab.
He’d given the commencement address back then, but the reunions with other classmates and anniversary celebrations weren’t held for another decade.
The 50th anniversary was a sure thing as students approached old age and perhaps wounds were finally healing.
We arrived at Room 309, Mr. Barnes’ old physics class. Inside were Green’s former classmates — Glynnys Oakes Johns, Charles Oakley and Steve Swafford, the students who had helped Green with physics.
No one remembered Mr. Barnes’ first name, and his students thought he was long dead, but they didn’t think it was a big deal to have a black student in their class and were eager to make friends with him.
Green had missed three weeks of classes, because the mob outside wouldn’t let the Little Rock Nine in, except for a few hours, until federal troops escorted the Little Rock Nine into the school on Sept. 23, 1957.
Green, now an investment banker in Washington, sounded bitter when he recalled Barnes’ refusal to help him catch up with three weeks of lessons.
“Physics is a difficult subject,” Green said as the group stood near a lab table not far from where they’d do their lab assignments.
Swafford, an engineer from Houston, said they were building radios or other electronic gadgets and did their best to ignore the noisy mob outside.
Johns, a retired math and algebra teacher from Dallas, had invited Green to sit with her group at lunch, even if some of the white kids resented it.
She told Green, “We thought you were the best dressed boy in the school.”
Green, wearing a suit and a tie but with a small paunch hanging over his belt, smiled and said, “With all those cameras, we wanted to make sure we were well dressed.”
Oakley, Swafford and Johns insisted that they had no problems with blacks going to their school.
Green, too, thought integration wouldn’t be a problem at Central. He said he’d worked at a country club the summer before and talked to some Central students, and he didn’t think there’d be any problems.
“We were shocked” when the troubles started, he said.
But the Little Rock Nine weren’t harassed in the classroom, he added.
“The problem was in the hall and physical ed and the showers, and they’d steam up the locker room,” Green recalled.
Through the physics classroom’s windows, you could see the front of the school and the street out front where the mob screamed and threatened the Little Rock Nine.
A half-century later, you could tell the four former classmates in the physics lab were among the brightest kids at Central. Oakley, a lawyer from Sunnyvale, Calif., said the troublemakers were the less intelligent kids who did not succeed later in life. One could infer they did not grow up to be lawyers, teachers, engineers and investment bankers.
Oakley thought the troublemakers “would get over it” and leave the nine black students alone.
Green, Central’s first black graduate, and the other civil rights pioneers had been honored by former President Clinton and other luminaries earlier that morning. The national and worldwide media covered the anniversary as a milestone that pushed the civil rights movement forward.
Many of the participants are now in the history books. There are many villains — the angry mob, the hysterical students and, above all, Gov. Faubus — and there are the heroes — the Little Rock Nine, President Eisenhower, who made sure they could enter the school, and all the decent people of Arkansas, including the three students in physics who reached out to Ernest Green.
Yesterday, Arkansas celebrated the Little Rock Nine but also other great Americans like Glynnys Oak Johns, Charles Oakley and Steve Swafford, who can hold their heads high because they did what was right back in 1957.
Green was walking quickly up the stairs as if he were still 17, and he was heading for the physics class where three white students had befriended him.
The floors were shiny and the walls clean. Even if they’d been spruced up for the anniversary, the old school was holding up well. Central is perhaps the most famous high school in the world, where history was made and American society changed forever.
Green had been back at the school several times before, he told me when I caught up with him, but this was his first reunion with the three students in the physics lab.
“I first came back to Central in 1977 or 1978, when I was assistant secretary of labor,” Green told us when we were on the third floor, still walking toward the physics lab.
He’d given the commencement address back then, but the reunions with other classmates and anniversary celebrations weren’t held for another decade.
The 50th anniversary was a sure thing as students approached old age and perhaps wounds were finally healing.
We arrived at Room 309, Mr. Barnes’ old physics class. Inside were Green’s former classmates — Glynnys Oakes Johns, Charles Oakley and Steve Swafford, the students who had helped Green with physics.
No one remembered Mr. Barnes’ first name, and his students thought he was long dead, but they didn’t think it was a big deal to have a black student in their class and were eager to make friends with him.
Green had missed three weeks of classes, because the mob outside wouldn’t let the Little Rock Nine in, except for a few hours, until federal troops escorted the Little Rock Nine into the school on Sept. 23, 1957.
Green, now an investment banker in Washington, sounded bitter when he recalled Barnes’ refusal to help him catch up with three weeks of lessons.
“Physics is a difficult subject,” Green said as the group stood near a lab table not far from where they’d do their lab assignments.
Swafford, an engineer from Houston, said they were building radios or other electronic gadgets and did their best to ignore the noisy mob outside.
Johns, a retired math and algebra teacher from Dallas, had invited Green to sit with her group at lunch, even if some of the white kids resented it.
She told Green, “We thought you were the best dressed boy in the school.”
Green, wearing a suit and a tie but with a small paunch hanging over his belt, smiled and said, “With all those cameras, we wanted to make sure we were well dressed.”
Oakley, Swafford and Johns insisted that they had no problems with blacks going to their school.
Green, too, thought integration wouldn’t be a problem at Central. He said he’d worked at a country club the summer before and talked to some Central students, and he didn’t think there’d be any problems.
“We were shocked” when the troubles started, he said.
But the Little Rock Nine weren’t harassed in the classroom, he added.
“The problem was in the hall and physical ed and the showers, and they’d steam up the locker room,” Green recalled.
Through the physics classroom’s windows, you could see the front of the school and the street out front where the mob screamed and threatened the Little Rock Nine.
A half-century later, you could tell the four former classmates in the physics lab were among the brightest kids at Central. Oakley, a lawyer from Sunnyvale, Calif., said the troublemakers were the less intelligent kids who did not succeed later in life. One could infer they did not grow up to be lawyers, teachers, engineers and investment bankers.
Oakley thought the troublemakers “would get over it” and leave the nine black students alone.
Green, Central’s first black graduate, and the other civil rights pioneers had been honored by former President Clinton and other luminaries earlier that morning. The national and worldwide media covered the anniversary as a milestone that pushed the civil rights movement forward.
Many of the participants are now in the history books. There are many villains — the angry mob, the hysterical students and, above all, Gov. Faubus — and there are the heroes — the Little Rock Nine, President Eisenhower, who made sure they could enter the school, and all the decent people of Arkansas, including the three students in physics who reached out to Ernest Green.
Yesterday, Arkansas celebrated the Little Rock Nine but also other great Americans like Glynnys Oak Johns, Charles Oakley and Steve Swafford, who can hold their heads high because they did what was right back in 1957.
TOP STORY >>Traffic issue big concern for district
By HEATHER HARTSELL
Leader staff writer
With Cabot’s population expected to be pushing 25,000 in the coming years, traffic congestion around Cabot’s 14 schools is a problem district officials are working on fixing.
“The traffic flow around the schools seems to be better,” Superinten-dent Dr. Tony Thurman said recently. “There is still a lot of congestion but this is due to the large number of vehicles around our school sites during drop-off and pick-up times.”
Last Wednesday morning at Cabot Junior High South, a ninth-grader was hit by a vehicle during student drop-off as she crossed Panther Trail in front of the school.
She exited a vehicle on the passenger side, walked behind the car, and was hit by an SUV as she crossed the street, not in a crosswalk. She was released from the hospital the same day and is doing fine, Thurman said.
According to witness statements, it appeared the 14-year-old stepped out between cars to cross the road, and not seeing the Chevy Blazer on her right, walked into the path of the SUV, which was moving at a slow rate of speed.
CJHS Principal Henry Hawkins said she was back at school the next day and besides from a few bumps and bruises, the accident scared her more than anything.
Occurring in front of the school, Hawkins said the accident has made student drop-off a bit better.
“The parents are more aware of what they need to do and our resource officer is now on that side of the school to monitor traffic,” Hawkins said. There are also new crosswalks on the west end of the campus, which Hawkins said were put in before the accident occurred, for students to get to the shopping center at Hwy. 89 and Panther Trail after school lets out.
He said they do have a crosswalk guard at that location now too. They are also in the process of brainstorming ideas of what else needs to be done in order to make sure an accident like this one, or worse, doesn’t happen again.
“We’re trying to decide if we need barriers to keep students from walking across the street or is there another viable solution,” Hawkins said.
Aside from last week’s accident, Hawkins said traffic congestion during drop-off and pick-up is doing better, especially compared to the first week or two of school.
“Parents have a routine now and they don’t all bombard us at the same time,” he said, adding some parents arrive earlier or later to try and avoid the congestion.
Before school started in August, the city and district worked together to alleviate the traffic congestion during the morning and afternoon when parents are dropping off and picking up children at school. However, the changes only worked at two of the three schools experiencing the worst congestion.
“We did work with the city on two locations, Southside Elementary and Cabot Middle School South, this summer, and those plans have worked well,” Thurman said. “We had more difficulty with Northside Elementary and continue to consider options.”
At Northside, city officials hoped to stack cars on E. Mountain Springs Road to keep them off Locust, but parents were told to go back to the old way until the city and district have built a loading area on the campus.
“Our pick-up times in the afternoon have improved steadily since the beginning of the school year,” Thurman said. “It’s also important to remember that congestion is worse and there are more vehicles dropping-off and picking-up when we have poor weather conditions, like rain,” he said. Jerrel Maxwell, Cabot’s director of public works, said E. Mountain Springs Road isn’t wide enough to have cars stopped on the shoulders while waiting to get on campus. Cabot schools worked with the city to build a new parking lot for about 40 employees, which took them out of the mix during rush hour.
The district also has approved building a loading area for 100 cars (the city will provide the labor and equipment and the district the materials), but work has not been started yet.
Leader staff writer
With Cabot’s population expected to be pushing 25,000 in the coming years, traffic congestion around Cabot’s 14 schools is a problem district officials are working on fixing.
“The traffic flow around the schools seems to be better,” Superinten-dent Dr. Tony Thurman said recently. “There is still a lot of congestion but this is due to the large number of vehicles around our school sites during drop-off and pick-up times.”
Last Wednesday morning at Cabot Junior High South, a ninth-grader was hit by a vehicle during student drop-off as she crossed Panther Trail in front of the school.
She exited a vehicle on the passenger side, walked behind the car, and was hit by an SUV as she crossed the street, not in a crosswalk. She was released from the hospital the same day and is doing fine, Thurman said.
According to witness statements, it appeared the 14-year-old stepped out between cars to cross the road, and not seeing the Chevy Blazer on her right, walked into the path of the SUV, which was moving at a slow rate of speed.
CJHS Principal Henry Hawkins said she was back at school the next day and besides from a few bumps and bruises, the accident scared her more than anything.
Occurring in front of the school, Hawkins said the accident has made student drop-off a bit better.
“The parents are more aware of what they need to do and our resource officer is now on that side of the school to monitor traffic,” Hawkins said. There are also new crosswalks on the west end of the campus, which Hawkins said were put in before the accident occurred, for students to get to the shopping center at Hwy. 89 and Panther Trail after school lets out.
He said they do have a crosswalk guard at that location now too. They are also in the process of brainstorming ideas of what else needs to be done in order to make sure an accident like this one, or worse, doesn’t happen again.
“We’re trying to decide if we need barriers to keep students from walking across the street or is there another viable solution,” Hawkins said.
Aside from last week’s accident, Hawkins said traffic congestion during drop-off and pick-up is doing better, especially compared to the first week or two of school.
“Parents have a routine now and they don’t all bombard us at the same time,” he said, adding some parents arrive earlier or later to try and avoid the congestion.
Before school started in August, the city and district worked together to alleviate the traffic congestion during the morning and afternoon when parents are dropping off and picking up children at school. However, the changes only worked at two of the three schools experiencing the worst congestion.
“We did work with the city on two locations, Southside Elementary and Cabot Middle School South, this summer, and those plans have worked well,” Thurman said. “We had more difficulty with Northside Elementary and continue to consider options.”
At Northside, city officials hoped to stack cars on E. Mountain Springs Road to keep them off Locust, but parents were told to go back to the old way until the city and district have built a loading area on the campus.
“Our pick-up times in the afternoon have improved steadily since the beginning of the school year,” Thurman said. “It’s also important to remember that congestion is worse and there are more vehicles dropping-off and picking-up when we have poor weather conditions, like rain,” he said. Jerrel Maxwell, Cabot’s director of public works, said E. Mountain Springs Road isn’t wide enough to have cars stopped on the shoulders while waiting to get on campus. Cabot schools worked with the city to build a new parking lot for about 40 employees, which took them out of the mix during rush hour.
The district also has approved building a loading area for 100 cars (the city will provide the labor and equipment and the district the materials), but work has not been started yet.
TOP STORY >>PCSSD seeking judicial release
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
He is awaiting feedback from the district’s two new school board members and from the desegregation consultant hired by the state before proceeding with efforts to extricate the district from decades of court desegregation oversight, Pulaski County Special School District Attorney Sam Jones said Tuesday.
At least one of the two new members favors an independent Jacksonville district.
Bishop James E. Bolden III, a vigorous and outspoken advocate for Jacksonville-area schools and for a stand-alone school district, was unseated in the Sept. 18 school board election by Bill Vasquez, who says he also strongly favors a Jacksonville district.
“Our children will be best served and educated when the citizens of Jacksonville have local control over the schools our children attend and not before,” according to Vasquez. I call upon the PCSSD to seek full unitary status immediately and stop playing semantics at our school board meetings.”
Unitary status for PCSSD is a prerequisite for any possible Jacksonville district.
PCSSD, the Little Rock School District and the North Little Rock School District have been conjoined by a 25-year-old desegregation agreement that has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars—more than $62 million this year alone — and currently impedes a stand-alone Jacksonville school district favored by many residents.
District Judge Bill Wilson has released the Little Rock District from the agreement, ruling it had met the desegregation objectives, and the North Little Rock District filed for unitary status on Friday.
Like the other two districts, PCSSD will have until October 31 to file for unitary or partial unitary status and to file for compensation for attorney costs, according to state Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, who wrote the enabling legislation.
Unitary status would mean the district could stand on its own as a desegregated entity.
“In my opinion, North Little Rock is fully unitary,” according to Bond, and “I think (PCSSD) is too, particularly in student assignment.”
He said PCSSD secondary schools are 46 percent black and primary schools are 43 percent black.
Jones said PCSSD had directed him early last summer to petition for partial unitary status based upon student assignment.
He said whether or not the district would seek wider unitary status was not yet decided.
Armor, a professor at the George Mason (Virginia) School of Public Policy, has researched and written about desegregating schools and related civil rights issues, according to a George Mason website.
He has consulted on and testified as an expert witness in more than 40 school desegregation and educational adequacy cases.
“If I get wind of an opinion that (Armor) thinks PCSSD is unitary in other areas, such as staffing, I will report to board at the appropriate time in October to see if the newly constituted board wants to expand the petition to include other areas,” Jones said.
Armor will spend time doing research and interviews and look at which elements seem to be in compliance with desegregation plans, according to Julie Thompson, spokesman for the state Education Department. She said his report would be given to the state Legislature, which authorized the hiring of a consultant and as much as $250,000 to reimburse school districts for legal fees in pursing unitary status.
Leader senior staff writer
He is awaiting feedback from the district’s two new school board members and from the desegregation consultant hired by the state before proceeding with efforts to extricate the district from decades of court desegregation oversight, Pulaski County Special School District Attorney Sam Jones said Tuesday.
At least one of the two new members favors an independent Jacksonville district.
Bishop James E. Bolden III, a vigorous and outspoken advocate for Jacksonville-area schools and for a stand-alone school district, was unseated in the Sept. 18 school board election by Bill Vasquez, who says he also strongly favors a Jacksonville district.
“Our children will be best served and educated when the citizens of Jacksonville have local control over the schools our children attend and not before,” according to Vasquez. I call upon the PCSSD to seek full unitary status immediately and stop playing semantics at our school board meetings.”
Unitary status for PCSSD is a prerequisite for any possible Jacksonville district.
PCSSD, the Little Rock School District and the North Little Rock School District have been conjoined by a 25-year-old desegregation agreement that has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars—more than $62 million this year alone — and currently impedes a stand-alone Jacksonville school district favored by many residents.
District Judge Bill Wilson has released the Little Rock District from the agreement, ruling it had met the desegregation objectives, and the North Little Rock District filed for unitary status on Friday.
Like the other two districts, PCSSD will have until October 31 to file for unitary or partial unitary status and to file for compensation for attorney costs, according to state Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, who wrote the enabling legislation.
Unitary status would mean the district could stand on its own as a desegregated entity.
“In my opinion, North Little Rock is fully unitary,” according to Bond, and “I think (PCSSD) is too, particularly in student assignment.”
He said PCSSD secondary schools are 46 percent black and primary schools are 43 percent black.
Jones said PCSSD had directed him early last summer to petition for partial unitary status based upon student assignment.
He said whether or not the district would seek wider unitary status was not yet decided.
Armor, a professor at the George Mason (Virginia) School of Public Policy, has researched and written about desegregating schools and related civil rights issues, according to a George Mason website.
He has consulted on and testified as an expert witness in more than 40 school desegregation and educational adequacy cases.
“If I get wind of an opinion that (Armor) thinks PCSSD is unitary in other areas, such as staffing, I will report to board at the appropriate time in October to see if the newly constituted board wants to expand the petition to include other areas,” Jones said.
Armor will spend time doing research and interviews and look at which elements seem to be in compliance with desegregation plans, according to Julie Thompson, spokesman for the state Education Department. She said his report would be given to the state Legislature, which authorized the hiring of a consultant and as much as $250,000 to reimburse school districts for legal fees in pursing unitary status.
TOP STORY >>Growth in Cabot at 25,000 by 2010
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Cabot, already the largest town in Lonoke County, could have 25,000 residents by the regular 2010 census, according to Jonathan Lupton, a Metroplan urban planner.
“If I were a bettin’ man, based on Metroplan’s track record, they’ll hit it right on the head,” said Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams. “The housing slowdown is temporary. When interest rates slow down, the growth will continue. Forty percent of the base population lands here.”
Based upon regular census data, projections and the special November 2006 census, Cabot could have 25,290 residents by then. The town already has doubled in population since 1995, according to figures provided by Lupton.
The town has increased by an average of 1,003 people per year since 2000.
Meanwhile, Ward has applied to the Census Bureau for its own special census and is awaiting an official reply, according to Deborah Staley, Ward’s administrative assistant.
There are some indications that Ward now has nearly 4,450 residents, rather than the 2,580 found in the 2000 census. At about $60 a head in state turnback money, the difference in population could amount to about $112,000 a year, according to Mayor Art Brooke.
“Right now we have 2,580 people paying the way for about 4,000 or more,” the mayor said.
Using building permits and water customer records, the census bureau estimated in 2005 that Ward had 3,271 residents.
“We got a population estimate from Metroplan of about 3,489,” he said, “about a 35 percent growth rate.”
If his in-house estimate is correct, the population has pretty much doubled in seven years, the mayor said. Staley said the growth was attributable in part to the appeal of the Cabot School System. She said people liked having the big city amenities without the hassle of traffic and crime. She said much of new residents were young families. Brooke said development in the subdivisions continued unabated and that much of the appeal was the homes, which average only about $150,000.
Ward is a bedroom community from which people could easily commute to Conway, Cabot, Little Rock and Beebe.
If the special census verifies his estimates, Ward would surpass Lonoke to become the second largest town in Lonoke County.
Since the 2000 census, Cabot has grown an estimated 46 percent, Ward 35 percent, Austin 20 percent and the unincorporated communities 16 percent. Lonoke, the county seat, grew by just 3 percent and the county as a hole grew 22 percent from 52,828 to an estimated 64,470.
Carlisle grew by 1.5 percent, while England lost 9 percent of its population and the conglomeration of other small communities lost 3 percent.
Pulaski County grew 5 percent from 361,474 in 2000 to an estimated 378,491 in 2007, according to Metroplan analysis. Maumelle grew 48 percent, Wrightsville 18 percent and Sherwood 15 percent, while Jacksonville grew 5 percent from 29,916 in 2000 to an estimated 31,349 this year.
Migration to Lonoke County increased by 9,460 residents and grew by 38,938 in Pulaski County.
In the Central Arkansas area—now officially the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan area, the Median household income for 2005—the most recent available data—was $42,089, more than $4,000 a year less than the national average.
The median value of the owner occupied unit locally was $108,700, nearly $60,000 less than the median cost and value a home nationwide.
Perhaps because the houses cost less, sub-prime loans—high interest loans to marginal borrowers—in the Metropolitan area accounted for about 15 percent of mortgages, while nationally, sub-prime loans accounted for nearly one in five mortgages.
In area towns with populations greater than 5,000 in Lonoke, Pulaski, Saline and Faulkner counties, the number of single family housing permits issued in 2006 was 2,899, down from 3,412 in 2005. Single-family building permits in Cabot, which hit a high of 499 in 2004, declined to 387 in 2005 and rebounded to 416 for 2006. New starts in Jacksonville have increased every year since 1999, when there were 63 starts through 2005, when there were 186. In 2006, the number dropped to 126. Sherwood experienced a decline from 287 in 2004 to 259 in 2005 and 218 in 2006.
The multi-family housing permits in the metropolitan area, which are less consistent than single-family permits, saw only 969 units in 2006, down from 2,162 two years earlier. Of those 2006 permits, Cabot had 152, Jacksonville 34 and Sherwood four.
Leader senior staff writer
Cabot, already the largest town in Lonoke County, could have 25,000 residents by the regular 2010 census, according to Jonathan Lupton, a Metroplan urban planner.
“If I were a bettin’ man, based on Metroplan’s track record, they’ll hit it right on the head,” said Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams. “The housing slowdown is temporary. When interest rates slow down, the growth will continue. Forty percent of the base population lands here.”
Based upon regular census data, projections and the special November 2006 census, Cabot could have 25,290 residents by then. The town already has doubled in population since 1995, according to figures provided by Lupton.
The town has increased by an average of 1,003 people per year since 2000.
Meanwhile, Ward has applied to the Census Bureau for its own special census and is awaiting an official reply, according to Deborah Staley, Ward’s administrative assistant.
There are some indications that Ward now has nearly 4,450 residents, rather than the 2,580 found in the 2000 census. At about $60 a head in state turnback money, the difference in population could amount to about $112,000 a year, according to Mayor Art Brooke.
“Right now we have 2,580 people paying the way for about 4,000 or more,” the mayor said.
Using building permits and water customer records, the census bureau estimated in 2005 that Ward had 3,271 residents.
“We got a population estimate from Metroplan of about 3,489,” he said, “about a 35 percent growth rate.”
If his in-house estimate is correct, the population has pretty much doubled in seven years, the mayor said. Staley said the growth was attributable in part to the appeal of the Cabot School System. She said people liked having the big city amenities without the hassle of traffic and crime. She said much of new residents were young families. Brooke said development in the subdivisions continued unabated and that much of the appeal was the homes, which average only about $150,000.
Ward is a bedroom community from which people could easily commute to Conway, Cabot, Little Rock and Beebe.
If the special census verifies his estimates, Ward would surpass Lonoke to become the second largest town in Lonoke County.
Since the 2000 census, Cabot has grown an estimated 46 percent, Ward 35 percent, Austin 20 percent and the unincorporated communities 16 percent. Lonoke, the county seat, grew by just 3 percent and the county as a hole grew 22 percent from 52,828 to an estimated 64,470.
Carlisle grew by 1.5 percent, while England lost 9 percent of its population and the conglomeration of other small communities lost 3 percent.
Pulaski County grew 5 percent from 361,474 in 2000 to an estimated 378,491 in 2007, according to Metroplan analysis. Maumelle grew 48 percent, Wrightsville 18 percent and Sherwood 15 percent, while Jacksonville grew 5 percent from 29,916 in 2000 to an estimated 31,349 this year.
Migration to Lonoke County increased by 9,460 residents and grew by 38,938 in Pulaski County.
In the Central Arkansas area—now officially the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan area, the Median household income for 2005—the most recent available data—was $42,089, more than $4,000 a year less than the national average.
The median value of the owner occupied unit locally was $108,700, nearly $60,000 less than the median cost and value a home nationwide.
Perhaps because the houses cost less, sub-prime loans—high interest loans to marginal borrowers—in the Metropolitan area accounted for about 15 percent of mortgages, while nationally, sub-prime loans accounted for nearly one in five mortgages.
In area towns with populations greater than 5,000 in Lonoke, Pulaski, Saline and Faulkner counties, the number of single family housing permits issued in 2006 was 2,899, down from 3,412 in 2005. Single-family building permits in Cabot, which hit a high of 499 in 2004, declined to 387 in 2005 and rebounded to 416 for 2006. New starts in Jacksonville have increased every year since 1999, when there were 63 starts through 2005, when there were 186. In 2006, the number dropped to 126. Sherwood experienced a decline from 287 in 2004 to 259 in 2005 and 218 in 2006.
The multi-family housing permits in the metropolitan area, which are less consistent than single-family permits, saw only 969 units in 2006, down from 2,162 two years earlier. Of those 2006 permits, Cabot had 152, Jacksonville 34 and Sherwood four.
TOP STORY >>A 4-star general stars at events
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Air Force Gen. Norton A. Schwartz arrived Saturday at the Jacksonville Museum of Military History with a six-member security detail as a special guest at the 10th anniversary luncheon of the Eaker Chapter of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society.
The four-star general is commander of the Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. The command manages air, land and sea transportation for the Department of Defense. He was accompanied by Brig. Gen. (Select) Rowayne Schatz, Little Rock Air Force Base commander.
Besides visiting the museum, Schwartz honored the DFCS members by attending their luncheon. A Flying Cross medal is awarded for actions a serviceman makes beyond normal duty during a flight. It can be an act of heroism or a rescue, said Gary George, a DFCS member who lives in Jacksonville.
“The people here today are pure Americana. These are the people who mustered the courage to do what was necessary,” Schwartz said about the DFCS members after the meeting.
After the luncheon, Schwartz spoke to the group about the importance of the Air Force transporting MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles to the Middle East. The vehicles have a v-shaped underside to deflect the explosions from mines and improvised explosive devices.
He mentioned the veterans hospitals are important to the servicemen in the military. “The VA is important in a huge way. If we don’t keep our contract (with the servicemen), there would not be a volunteer force.”
He added many of the VA hospitals in the nation, “have not been blessed with Fisher houses, similar to the Ronald McDonald houses.” The houses let family members stay near a serviceman during hospitalization. There are more Fisher houses to be built near the veterans hospitals in the future.
Schwartz was able to visit the museum and with the 22 DFCS members through the intervention of Schatz and the Air Force Base.
“We were aware the general was in town. It was serendipity, because he was here for the 60th anniversary ball, and it was the 10th anniversary of the DFCS. We asked Schatz to make it happen,” said retired Col. Bill Kehler, museum board member and DFCS member, “We also sweetened the pot with catfish from Grampa’s Catfish House, Gen. Schwartz’s favorite restaurant.”
Schwartz said it is important for children to know about history and to keep a place like the museum alive so kids can understand the past.
He attended the meeting with his wife, the former Suzie Ptak, who graduated from Jacksonville High School. Her parents Pat and Jerry reside in Jacksonville.
Earlier in Schwartz’s military career, he was stationed at the Little Rock Air Force Base. He was a student of C-130 qualification training in 1974 to 1975. Then from 1977 to 1979, he was a C-130 E and H flight examiner for the 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron.
“Jacksonville is a place where you can be comfortable, (where) people in uniform are respected,” Schwartz said.
George said, “Rick Ivbar, a chapter member who lives in Gravel Ridge, was the general’s loadmaster when they were stationed in Taiwan during the Vietnam War. The general was a captain at the time.”
Museum workers spoke highly of the general’s visit. “I thought it was fantastic that he took the time out of his busy schedule to visit the museum,” museum volunteer Pam Biernacki said.
She continued, “It was a privilege for him to show respect and to honor his predecessors, who served before him.”
“He was very personable. He was impressed with the museum and the extent of the contributions the ordinance plant had on Jacksonville,” said DannaKay Dugger, museum coordinator.
She added, “He was pleased with museum efforts on working with the Decatur Tuskegee Airman chapter to build a black military history exhibit.”
The Distinguished Flying Cross Society meets on the first Saturday of the month at the Flight Deck Restaurant at Central Flying Service at Little Rock National Airport.
Nationally, the DFCS has 5,000 members. The local chapter was founded in 1997 by Jim Farrar, with 13 members. The chapter has grown to 110 members, according to George.
Leader staff writer
Air Force Gen. Norton A. Schwartz arrived Saturday at the Jacksonville Museum of Military History with a six-member security detail as a special guest at the 10th anniversary luncheon of the Eaker Chapter of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society.
The four-star general is commander of the Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. The command manages air, land and sea transportation for the Department of Defense. He was accompanied by Brig. Gen. (Select) Rowayne Schatz, Little Rock Air Force Base commander.
Besides visiting the museum, Schwartz honored the DFCS members by attending their luncheon. A Flying Cross medal is awarded for actions a serviceman makes beyond normal duty during a flight. It can be an act of heroism or a rescue, said Gary George, a DFCS member who lives in Jacksonville.
“The people here today are pure Americana. These are the people who mustered the courage to do what was necessary,” Schwartz said about the DFCS members after the meeting.
After the luncheon, Schwartz spoke to the group about the importance of the Air Force transporting MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles to the Middle East. The vehicles have a v-shaped underside to deflect the explosions from mines and improvised explosive devices.
He mentioned the veterans hospitals are important to the servicemen in the military. “The VA is important in a huge way. If we don’t keep our contract (with the servicemen), there would not be a volunteer force.”
He added many of the VA hospitals in the nation, “have not been blessed with Fisher houses, similar to the Ronald McDonald houses.” The houses let family members stay near a serviceman during hospitalization. There are more Fisher houses to be built near the veterans hospitals in the future.
Schwartz was able to visit the museum and with the 22 DFCS members through the intervention of Schatz and the Air Force Base.
“We were aware the general was in town. It was serendipity, because he was here for the 60th anniversary ball, and it was the 10th anniversary of the DFCS. We asked Schatz to make it happen,” said retired Col. Bill Kehler, museum board member and DFCS member, “We also sweetened the pot with catfish from Grampa’s Catfish House, Gen. Schwartz’s favorite restaurant.”
Schwartz said it is important for children to know about history and to keep a place like the museum alive so kids can understand the past.
He attended the meeting with his wife, the former Suzie Ptak, who graduated from Jacksonville High School. Her parents Pat and Jerry reside in Jacksonville.
Earlier in Schwartz’s military career, he was stationed at the Little Rock Air Force Base. He was a student of C-130 qualification training in 1974 to 1975. Then from 1977 to 1979, he was a C-130 E and H flight examiner for the 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron.
“Jacksonville is a place where you can be comfortable, (where) people in uniform are respected,” Schwartz said.
George said, “Rick Ivbar, a chapter member who lives in Gravel Ridge, was the general’s loadmaster when they were stationed in Taiwan during the Vietnam War. The general was a captain at the time.”
Museum workers spoke highly of the general’s visit. “I thought it was fantastic that he took the time out of his busy schedule to visit the museum,” museum volunteer Pam Biernacki said.
She continued, “It was a privilege for him to show respect and to honor his predecessors, who served before him.”
“He was very personable. He was impressed with the museum and the extent of the contributions the ordinance plant had on Jacksonville,” said DannaKay Dugger, museum coordinator.
She added, “He was pleased with museum efforts on working with the Decatur Tuskegee Airman chapter to build a black military history exhibit.”
The Distinguished Flying Cross Society meets on the first Saturday of the month at the Flight Deck Restaurant at Central Flying Service at Little Rock National Airport.
Nationally, the DFCS has 5,000 members. The local chapter was founded in 1997 by Jim Farrar, with 13 members. The chapter has grown to 110 members, according to George.
TOP STORY >>Air Force celebration
By SHERRY HALL
Leader staff writer
Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, commander of the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, III., received a warm welcome home Saturday night during the Air Force’s 60th anniversary ball at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
Schwartz, who was guest speaker for the event, manages global air, land and sea transportation for the Pentagon.
A command pilot for 4,200 hours of flight hours, he served at Little Rock Air Force Base twice during his early career, from October 1974 to January 1975, as a student during C-130 initial qualification training and from December 1977 to October 1979 as a C-130E/H flight examiner with the 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron.
His wife, the former Suzie Ptak, is a Jacksonville native who graduated from Jacksonville High School.
Brigadier Gen. (Select) Rowayne A. Schatz Jr., commander of the 314th Airlift Wing and installation commander for LRAFB, introduced Schwartz.
Schwartz talked about community involvement and pointed out that LRAFB would not be where it is today without the support it’s received from community supporters.
“I see a lot of familiar faces out there and I sincerely hope you accept our thanks for all you do,” Schwartz said. “You, sitting out there tonight, are a textbook example of what an Air Force, Central Arkansas, Jacksonville, Lonoke community can do together. This is also what makes us feel at home.”
Those in attendance included Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim; Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams; Larry Wilson, chief executive officer of First Arkansas Bank and Trust; Arkansas Federal Credit Union president Larry Biernacke, along with their wives, as well as many other local executives, community and civic leaders, military personnel from all branches and many civilians.
Each person in attendance was there with one purpose — to show support for the Air Force’s local mission and its mission as a whole. Schwartz praised Jacksonville for raising $1 million to purchase the land for the air base.
“That set a standard back then,” Schwartz said. “Community involvement. Tonight we continue to follow in those community-involvement steps. Suzie and I salute you.”
He stressed the importance of air, space and land services coming together but he said that was not always the case.
“The Wright brothers had problems trying to get the contract for their flying machine and they failed the first few times but through persistence and community involvement they finally got the contract,” Schwartz said.
In the last 60 years, Schwartz noted that the country has seen a lot of new technology.
“My job lets Susie and me travel and we see it over and over again,” he said. “We cannot deploy and redeploy without civilian patrons who allow us to do it effectively. It takes all of us working together.”
With that Schwartz thanked the supporters for coming out to the ball and showing their support.
“Keep up the good work and keep working together to accomplish the same goal,” he said. “You support us to do our jobs. You are the good people who persuade and support those to do the good job. You enable us to serve and do what we can for you. We are all of a joint team. Continue in the fight, we are all essential to the success of the tasks before us.”
He said that in his current position, he knows all too well how important it is to work together.
Schwartz received a standing ovation from the crowd for his words of encouragement.
Capt. Anthony Cooper, chief of public affairs for Schwartz, later called Schwartz a very accomplished commander. Cooper, a Navy officer with TRANSCOM, the formal name of the organization — the United States Transportation Command which Schwartz commands — was at the ball to show his support to the commander, TRANSCOM and the Air Force.
“Responding to the needs of the Department of Defense’s war-fighting commanders is TRANSCOM’s number-one priority,” Cooper said. “This is what Schwartz does.”
Schwartz coordinates transportation worldwide using both military and commercial transportation resources.
USTRANSCOM is made up of the three military components which handle military transportation efforts across the world. These include the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, located at Scott AFB, the Navy’s Sealift Command in Washington and the Army’s Surface Deployment and Distribution Command in Alexandria, Va.
Before being stationed at Scott, Schwartz traveled all over the world in his career with the Air Force.
After first being stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, he was stationed at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines with the 776th and 21st Tactical Airlift Squadrons as a C-130E aircraft commander. He was there until October 1977 and re-stationed to Maxwell AFB in Alabama as a student in the squadron officer school until December 1977, when he was then assigned to the 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron at LRAFB as a C-130E/H flight examiner until October 1979.
From October 2002 to October 2004, he was director for operations for the Joint Staff in Washington, and from October 2004 – August 2005 he was director for the Joint Staff in Washington before being assigned in September 2005 as commander of U. S. Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Ill.
Leader staff writer
Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, commander of the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, III., received a warm welcome home Saturday night during the Air Force’s 60th anniversary ball at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
Schwartz, who was guest speaker for the event, manages global air, land and sea transportation for the Pentagon.
A command pilot for 4,200 hours of flight hours, he served at Little Rock Air Force Base twice during his early career, from October 1974 to January 1975, as a student during C-130 initial qualification training and from December 1977 to October 1979 as a C-130E/H flight examiner with the 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron.
His wife, the former Suzie Ptak, is a Jacksonville native who graduated from Jacksonville High School.
Brigadier Gen. (Select) Rowayne A. Schatz Jr., commander of the 314th Airlift Wing and installation commander for LRAFB, introduced Schwartz.
Schwartz talked about community involvement and pointed out that LRAFB would not be where it is today without the support it’s received from community supporters.
“I see a lot of familiar faces out there and I sincerely hope you accept our thanks for all you do,” Schwartz said. “You, sitting out there tonight, are a textbook example of what an Air Force, Central Arkansas, Jacksonville, Lonoke community can do together. This is also what makes us feel at home.”
Those in attendance included Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim; Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams; Larry Wilson, chief executive officer of First Arkansas Bank and Trust; Arkansas Federal Credit Union president Larry Biernacke, along with their wives, as well as many other local executives, community and civic leaders, military personnel from all branches and many civilians.
Each person in attendance was there with one purpose — to show support for the Air Force’s local mission and its mission as a whole. Schwartz praised Jacksonville for raising $1 million to purchase the land for the air base.
“That set a standard back then,” Schwartz said. “Community involvement. Tonight we continue to follow in those community-involvement steps. Suzie and I salute you.”
He stressed the importance of air, space and land services coming together but he said that was not always the case.
“The Wright brothers had problems trying to get the contract for their flying machine and they failed the first few times but through persistence and community involvement they finally got the contract,” Schwartz said.
In the last 60 years, Schwartz noted that the country has seen a lot of new technology.
“My job lets Susie and me travel and we see it over and over again,” he said. “We cannot deploy and redeploy without civilian patrons who allow us to do it effectively. It takes all of us working together.”
With that Schwartz thanked the supporters for coming out to the ball and showing their support.
“Keep up the good work and keep working together to accomplish the same goal,” he said. “You support us to do our jobs. You are the good people who persuade and support those to do the good job. You enable us to serve and do what we can for you. We are all of a joint team. Continue in the fight, we are all essential to the success of the tasks before us.”
He said that in his current position, he knows all too well how important it is to work together.
Schwartz received a standing ovation from the crowd for his words of encouragement.
Capt. Anthony Cooper, chief of public affairs for Schwartz, later called Schwartz a very accomplished commander. Cooper, a Navy officer with TRANSCOM, the formal name of the organization — the United States Transportation Command which Schwartz commands — was at the ball to show his support to the commander, TRANSCOM and the Air Force.
“Responding to the needs of the Department of Defense’s war-fighting commanders is TRANSCOM’s number-one priority,” Cooper said. “This is what Schwartz does.”
Schwartz coordinates transportation worldwide using both military and commercial transportation resources.
USTRANSCOM is made up of the three military components which handle military transportation efforts across the world. These include the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, located at Scott AFB, the Navy’s Sealift Command in Washington and the Army’s Surface Deployment and Distribution Command in Alexandria, Va.
Before being stationed at Scott, Schwartz traveled all over the world in his career with the Air Force.
After first being stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, he was stationed at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines with the 776th and 21st Tactical Airlift Squadrons as a C-130E aircraft commander. He was there until October 1977 and re-stationed to Maxwell AFB in Alabama as a student in the squadron officer school until December 1977, when he was then assigned to the 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron at LRAFB as a C-130E/H flight examiner until October 1979.
From October 2002 to October 2004, he was director for operations for the Joint Staff in Washington, and from October 2004 – August 2005 he was director for the Joint Staff in Washington before being assigned in September 2005 as commander of U. S. Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Ill.
Monday, September 24, 2007
SPORTS >>Cabot dominates Conway
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers had little trouble getting their foot on Conway’s neck Friday night at Panther Stadium, but there was a little trouble finishing the kill. In the end, it was still a sound Cabot victory, as the Panthers came away with a 28-9 win over the rival Wampus Cats in the 7A-Central opener for both teams.
When Cabot fullback Michael James scampered 44 yards for a touchdown just one minute into the second quarter, it put the Panthers up by three touchdowns and Conway never really threatened to make a game of it.
“The defense did a pretty good job of keeping everything in front of them,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said. “The Jackson kid scared me every time he touched it. With him you just hold your breath. We did a good job containing him. When you run it sideways we have a chance. It’s when they tried to pop him up there through the middle that scared me most, but the defense did a good job.”
After stopping Conway and forcing a punt, Cabot was marching for a fourth score first-half score when a fumble at the Conway 9-yard line was picked up by Dustin Hopper and returned to Cabot’s 39-yard line, where the Wampus Cats took over with 2:55 left in the first half.
Two rushes and two passes got Conway a first down at the Cabot 9-yard line. A seven-yard reception by Isaiah Jackson made it second and goal at the 2, and an off-sides penalty offset a two-yard loss by Jackson to make it third and goal at the 2.
Cabot pushed Conway backwards from there. Quarterback Ryan Kotch tried a keeper to the left side, but was brought down by a host of Panthers for a three-yard loss. Out of timeouts and the clock ticking down to zero, Conway lined up quickly and got the snap off just in time. Kotch rolled left and hit tight end Chris Harris in the end zone, but Cabot’s Zach Coy jarred the ball loose with a big hit before Harris came down. That preserved Cabot’s lead heading into the lockeroom at 21-0.
Conway’s best drive of the game opened the second half, but even it needed some help from Cabot.
Facing third and seven at their own 48-yard line, Conway’s Kotch threw hastily under heavy pressure. His pass, intended for Jackson, was picked off by sophomore Joe Bryant at the 22 yards to the Conway 43. But the play was nullified by a penalty for roughing the passer, which also gave the Wampus Cats 15 yards and an automatic first down at the Cabot 37.
Seven plays later, Jackson ran up middle for the final six yards. The extra point made it 21-7 with 4:30 left in the third quarter.
When Cabot finally got the ball back – Conway held it for the final three minutes of the first half and first eight of the second – it was back to business as usual. The Panthers plowed through the Conway defense for 67 yards on 11 plays. The big play of the drive was a 24-yard run by James on third and four. James also got the final carry, a five yarder that made it 28-7 with 10:34 left in the game.
Conway’s next drove got to the Cabot 25, but was taking too much time. Facing fourth and 15 from the Cabot 30, Kotch hit receiver Mike Askew, but for only eight yards. Cabot took over with five minutes left in the game, and gave Conway two more points.
A fumbled pitch lost 15 yards on third and seven. A high punt snap sailed out of the back of the end zone for a safety with 2:59 left.
Conway committed its first turnover on the first play of the next drive, and Cabot ran out the clock for the win.
Conway coach Kenny Smith was worried most about Cabot’s front line on offense, and his worries were realized last night.
“the difference in the whole deal is Cabot’s offensive line,” Smith said. “They have a tremendous offensive line. We knew that all week long. They did a fantastic job tonight. Defensively, they’re going to send 11 red helmets to the football. That’s coach (Randall) Black’s style, and they really were all over us in the first half. We made some adjustments in the second half and moved the football a little bit. But they’re a good football team. Their interior is just some big strong kids and they made the difference.”
Senior halfback Jordan Carlisle led the attack in the first half. He carried 11 times for 93 yards in the first two quarters, including one for a touchdown.
The Panthers took the ball to start the game and marched 79 yards in 13 plays to go up 7-0 with 6:43 left in the opening quarter. The key play of the drive was a fourth and three conversion. Sophomore quarterback Seth Bloomberg kept on an option for 10 yards to keep the drive alive.
Michael James got the final carry, the first of his three touchdowns in the game.
Cabot forced a three and out, then bulled its way 55 yards on nine plays to go up 14-0 with 1:16 left in the first.
The first seven plays covered 23 yards, the last two were 16 apiece by James, and then Carlisle for the touchdown.
After forcing a second three and out, Cabot wasted little time with what amounted to the kill shot. Spencery Neuman returned the punt to the Conway 47-yard line. Junior halfback Chris Bayles ran three yards, and James did the rest. He bounced off one tackler, put his hand on the ground, popped back up and outran the Conway defense the rest of the way for a 44-yard touchdown run. Kicker Steve Lamb hit the third of his four extra points to make it 21-0 with 10:59 left in the half.
Cabot finished with 312 total yards to 159 for Conway. Cabot had 246 total yards in the first half.
James led all rushers with 119 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries. Carlisle added 117 yards on 17 carries and one score.
The win lifts Cabot to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Conway dropped to 1-3 and 0-1.
The Panthers will travel to Catholic next week while Conway will host North Little Rock.
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers had little trouble getting their foot on Conway’s neck Friday night at Panther Stadium, but there was a little trouble finishing the kill. In the end, it was still a sound Cabot victory, as the Panthers came away with a 28-9 win over the rival Wampus Cats in the 7A-Central opener for both teams.
When Cabot fullback Michael James scampered 44 yards for a touchdown just one minute into the second quarter, it put the Panthers up by three touchdowns and Conway never really threatened to make a game of it.
“The defense did a pretty good job of keeping everything in front of them,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said. “The Jackson kid scared me every time he touched it. With him you just hold your breath. We did a good job containing him. When you run it sideways we have a chance. It’s when they tried to pop him up there through the middle that scared me most, but the defense did a good job.”
After stopping Conway and forcing a punt, Cabot was marching for a fourth score first-half score when a fumble at the Conway 9-yard line was picked up by Dustin Hopper and returned to Cabot’s 39-yard line, where the Wampus Cats took over with 2:55 left in the first half.
Two rushes and two passes got Conway a first down at the Cabot 9-yard line. A seven-yard reception by Isaiah Jackson made it second and goal at the 2, and an off-sides penalty offset a two-yard loss by Jackson to make it third and goal at the 2.
Cabot pushed Conway backwards from there. Quarterback Ryan Kotch tried a keeper to the left side, but was brought down by a host of Panthers for a three-yard loss. Out of timeouts and the clock ticking down to zero, Conway lined up quickly and got the snap off just in time. Kotch rolled left and hit tight end Chris Harris in the end zone, but Cabot’s Zach Coy jarred the ball loose with a big hit before Harris came down. That preserved Cabot’s lead heading into the lockeroom at 21-0.
Conway’s best drive of the game opened the second half, but even it needed some help from Cabot.
Facing third and seven at their own 48-yard line, Conway’s Kotch threw hastily under heavy pressure. His pass, intended for Jackson, was picked off by sophomore Joe Bryant at the 22 yards to the Conway 43. But the play was nullified by a penalty for roughing the passer, which also gave the Wampus Cats 15 yards and an automatic first down at the Cabot 37.
Seven plays later, Jackson ran up middle for the final six yards. The extra point made it 21-7 with 4:30 left in the third quarter.
When Cabot finally got the ball back – Conway held it for the final three minutes of the first half and first eight of the second – it was back to business as usual. The Panthers plowed through the Conway defense for 67 yards on 11 plays. The big play of the drive was a 24-yard run by James on third and four. James also got the final carry, a five yarder that made it 28-7 with 10:34 left in the game.
Conway’s next drove got to the Cabot 25, but was taking too much time. Facing fourth and 15 from the Cabot 30, Kotch hit receiver Mike Askew, but for only eight yards. Cabot took over with five minutes left in the game, and gave Conway two more points.
A fumbled pitch lost 15 yards on third and seven. A high punt snap sailed out of the back of the end zone for a safety with 2:59 left.
Conway committed its first turnover on the first play of the next drive, and Cabot ran out the clock for the win.
Conway coach Kenny Smith was worried most about Cabot’s front line on offense, and his worries were realized last night.
“the difference in the whole deal is Cabot’s offensive line,” Smith said. “They have a tremendous offensive line. We knew that all week long. They did a fantastic job tonight. Defensively, they’re going to send 11 red helmets to the football. That’s coach (Randall) Black’s style, and they really were all over us in the first half. We made some adjustments in the second half and moved the football a little bit. But they’re a good football team. Their interior is just some big strong kids and they made the difference.”
Senior halfback Jordan Carlisle led the attack in the first half. He carried 11 times for 93 yards in the first two quarters, including one for a touchdown.
The Panthers took the ball to start the game and marched 79 yards in 13 plays to go up 7-0 with 6:43 left in the opening quarter. The key play of the drive was a fourth and three conversion. Sophomore quarterback Seth Bloomberg kept on an option for 10 yards to keep the drive alive.
Michael James got the final carry, the first of his three touchdowns in the game.
Cabot forced a three and out, then bulled its way 55 yards on nine plays to go up 14-0 with 1:16 left in the first.
The first seven plays covered 23 yards, the last two were 16 apiece by James, and then Carlisle for the touchdown.
After forcing a second three and out, Cabot wasted little time with what amounted to the kill shot. Spencery Neuman returned the punt to the Conway 47-yard line. Junior halfback Chris Bayles ran three yards, and James did the rest. He bounced off one tackler, put his hand on the ground, popped back up and outran the Conway defense the rest of the way for a 44-yard touchdown run. Kicker Steve Lamb hit the third of his four extra points to make it 21-0 with 10:59 left in the half.
Cabot finished with 312 total yards to 159 for Conway. Cabot had 246 total yards in the first half.
James led all rushers with 119 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries. Carlisle added 117 yards on 17 carries and one score.
The win lifts Cabot to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Conway dropped to 1-3 and 0-1.
The Panthers will travel to Catholic next week while Conway will host North Little Rock.
SPORTS >>Big plays lift Beebe to rout of Paragould
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Paragould High School Rams knew that the Beebe Badgers liked to run the ball. They focused all week on stopping the run in practice. However, stopping the run in practice and doing it in the game are two different things. On Friday night, the Badgers ran all over the Rams in a 35-0 rout at Ram Stadium.
“We couldn’t get anything going offensively to give our defense a break,” Paragould coach Brian Carter said. “We’ve got to find a way to get first downs and we’ve got to find a way to move the football.”
The Rams are now 1-3, (0-1) as they were shut out for the first time this season. The Badgers did not throw one pass in the game as they moved to 4-0, (1-0).
After such a great performance last week against Trumann, running back Kelsey Reely was shut down for most of the game on Friday.
Reely did break off a big kickoff return for nearly 50 yards which put the Rams into good field position.
“We’ve got to find a way to be consistent. If we can do that, then sometime down the road we can be a good football team,” Carter said.
All week long, Carter talked about having to score when in the red zone. The Rams only reached the red zone once and were stuffed by the intense defense of Beebe.
“We couldn’t knock them off the football,” Carter said. “Right now, we are just not a very good offensive team. That’s my fault.”
The first Beebe score came on a one-yard run by Sammy Williams with 6:53 left in the first half. Roger Glaude added the point after to put the Badgers up 7-0, and the lead would only increase as the game continued.
It would be Kyle Williams that struck on the next two touchdowns in the second quarter. The first touchdown run would come at the 8:55 mark in the second quarter from five yards out, and the second one was a buzzer-beater from two-yards out with only 10 seconds left until the intermission. Glaude successfully converted both extra points to give the Badgers a 21-0 halftime lead.
Offensively the Rams looked sluggish against the tough Badger defense as they had problems moving the ball down the field. Nothing was consistent for the Rams, but junior quarterback Tyler Arnold did fairly well compared to the rest of the team. Arnold did throw two interceptions which killed the Rams momentum but Arnold looked good running the ball. Arnold had 10 carries for about 20 yards.
It would be the Williams and Williams connection for the Badgers again in the second half, but instead of nickel and dime runs, the duo opened up the field in the third quarter to put the game out of reach for the Rams.
Sammy struck early in the third with a 49-yard rumble with 10:22 left in the third quarter, and Kyle would set the final interval moments later on a 3-yard zip for the end zone at the 4:06 mark.
“We’ve got some weapons offensively, we just got to find a better way to move the football,” Carter said.
Sammy Williams finished the game with 15 carries for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Luke Gardener had two carries for 74 yards, and Brandon Parcel had six carries for 72 yards.
The Badgers finished the game with 304 total yards of offense.
Defensively, the Badgers were dangerous as they caused two turnovers and held the Rams to very few yards of offense.
“They are the best defensive team we have seen by far,” Carter said. “They do a nice job, and they are faster than what we thought and that showed tonight.”
The Badgers are now 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the 54A-East Conference. They will host North Pulaski, a 39-13 winner over Greene County Tech on Friday, at Bro Erwin Stadium next week.
Leader sportswriter
The Paragould High School Rams knew that the Beebe Badgers liked to run the ball. They focused all week on stopping the run in practice. However, stopping the run in practice and doing it in the game are two different things. On Friday night, the Badgers ran all over the Rams in a 35-0 rout at Ram Stadium.
“We couldn’t get anything going offensively to give our defense a break,” Paragould coach Brian Carter said. “We’ve got to find a way to get first downs and we’ve got to find a way to move the football.”
The Rams are now 1-3, (0-1) as they were shut out for the first time this season. The Badgers did not throw one pass in the game as they moved to 4-0, (1-0).
After such a great performance last week against Trumann, running back Kelsey Reely was shut down for most of the game on Friday.
Reely did break off a big kickoff return for nearly 50 yards which put the Rams into good field position.
“We’ve got to find a way to be consistent. If we can do that, then sometime down the road we can be a good football team,” Carter said.
All week long, Carter talked about having to score when in the red zone. The Rams only reached the red zone once and were stuffed by the intense defense of Beebe.
“We couldn’t knock them off the football,” Carter said. “Right now, we are just not a very good offensive team. That’s my fault.”
The first Beebe score came on a one-yard run by Sammy Williams with 6:53 left in the first half. Roger Glaude added the point after to put the Badgers up 7-0, and the lead would only increase as the game continued.
It would be Kyle Williams that struck on the next two touchdowns in the second quarter. The first touchdown run would come at the 8:55 mark in the second quarter from five yards out, and the second one was a buzzer-beater from two-yards out with only 10 seconds left until the intermission. Glaude successfully converted both extra points to give the Badgers a 21-0 halftime lead.
Offensively the Rams looked sluggish against the tough Badger defense as they had problems moving the ball down the field. Nothing was consistent for the Rams, but junior quarterback Tyler Arnold did fairly well compared to the rest of the team. Arnold did throw two interceptions which killed the Rams momentum but Arnold looked good running the ball. Arnold had 10 carries for about 20 yards.
It would be the Williams and Williams connection for the Badgers again in the second half, but instead of nickel and dime runs, the duo opened up the field in the third quarter to put the game out of reach for the Rams.
Sammy struck early in the third with a 49-yard rumble with 10:22 left in the third quarter, and Kyle would set the final interval moments later on a 3-yard zip for the end zone at the 4:06 mark.
“We’ve got some weapons offensively, we just got to find a better way to move the football,” Carter said.
Sammy Williams finished the game with 15 carries for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Luke Gardener had two carries for 74 yards, and Brandon Parcel had six carries for 72 yards.
The Badgers finished the game with 304 total yards of offense.
Defensively, the Badgers were dangerous as they caused two turnovers and held the Rams to very few yards of offense.
“They are the best defensive team we have seen by far,” Carter said. “They do a nice job, and they are faster than what we thought and that showed tonight.”
The Badgers are now 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the 54A-East Conference. They will host North Pulaski, a 39-13 winner over Greene County Tech on Friday, at Bro Erwin Stadium next week.
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