By JOHN HOFHEIMER AND JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writers
Money to reimburse counties for housing prisoners sentenced to state facilities will run out at the end of December, which would mean counties would bear the entire cost until July 2010, the beginning of the next fiscal year.
Prison officials are expected to ask the state legislature to increase the reimbursement fund by allowing them to carry forward $2 million they have in last year’s budget. They also want a supplemental appropriation of $6 million for reimbursements through the end of the fiscal year.
If they don’t get it, White County Sheriff Ricky Shourd says he has money built into his budget to continue caring for state prisoners even without reimbursement. Letting those state prisoners go free is not an option, he said.
What concerns him, he said, is the state’s plan not to open more than 300 beds because that could potentially increase the number of state inmates he must house.
If crowding became a problem, misdemeanor and nonviolent offenders could be released from the jail in White County, said Capt. Clayton Edwards, administrator at the White County Detention Center.
But that isn’t likely to happen because the three-year-old jail has 285 beds, not counting room for 40 prisoners in intake.
“The sheriff has authority to relieve overcrowding, but overcrowding is not an issue here,” Edwards said.
The issue is the reimbursement rate that has not been raised since 2001 and is only about two-thirds of the actual cost of keeping prisoners.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Edwards said he was holding 200 prisoners. Of that number, 58 had been convicted of felonies and sentenced to prison, but the number has been as high as 80. And they often wait for space in a state facility for eight or nine months.
The cost per day for each inmate is $42.80, he said. The state reimburses $28 a day for its prisoners and if that money stops in December as expected then the whole cost of taking care of the state prisoners will have to come out of the half-cent sales tax voters approved in 2004 for law enforcement, not just part of it as it does now.
But the county will pay because it has no choice. The state requires counties to house prisoners waiting for a bed in prison.
The only problem possible with the number of beds available is an imbalance of gender and type of offense, he said. Women must be separated from men and misdemeanor offenders must be separated from felons.
The Pulaski County Detention Center held about 215 inmates for the state this week, down about 100 from a month ago, according to Sheriff’s spokesman John Rehrauer. “They’ve been paying very regularly.”
He said he didn’t think delayed payment for the state inmates would create a big problem for the county. “We’re coming down to the end of the budget year. We have to watch every penny and this is another obstacle to making ends meet,” Rehrauer said.
“State inmates usually account for about half of my population,” said Lonoke County Sheriff Jim Roberson. Right now I have about 25.”
Roberson said the county would take the state inmates on to the state Correction Department if it can’t pay toward their upkeep.
“We go through this quite often,” said Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman. “In the past the Arkansas Department of Correction has been a little late paying. Right now there are probably 1,500 state inmates backed up in county jails.”
He said that in the past, the Association of County Judges has asked the state Legislature to come up with some money to pay the counties.
“If it doesn’t get too far, we could cover (the added expense for a while,)” Troutman said. “We had 18 state inmates when (Jerry Dale Luker) got hurt and died. Luker was a state inmate temporarily housed at Lonoke County Detention Center awaiting transfer when he was injured, transported to UAMS and later died.
The state medical examiner has called his death a homicide, and the State Police are investigating. His family has announced its intention to file a lawsuit.
Lonoke County is currently advertising for bids for a new, 136-bed detention center, Troutman said. Bids will be opened Dec. 8 and Troutman estimated it would take about 10 months to build.
The city of Lonoke usually has about three or four state inmates in its jail, according to Mayor Wayne McGee. The city is more likely to have a number of holds for the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service.
“I don’t look for it to affect us much,” he said.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
TOP STORY >> Family saves elderly woman in flood, starts rebuilding life
The family of Bertha Figley managed to get her out of a flooded mobile home.By ALIYA FELDMAN
Leader editor
Even more admirable than her family’s rescue of Bertha Figley, 84, from her trailer when it was surrounded by floodwaters is their humility after having lost so much early in the morning on Oct. 30.
Figley has stayed with her son, Glenn, and his wife, Adylyn, in a motel since their trailer also flooded during the relentless downpour.
Adylyn said their losses don’t seem like a lot compared to her mother-in-law’s.
“She lost everything,” Adylyn said.
Four to five feet of water covered Bertha’s trailer in Hillside Bayou Mobile Home Park on Old Tom Box Road in Macon.
“It’s been kind of like a nightmare,” she said.
Glenn brought his mother from Little Rock to live near him in the trailer park about a year ago.
He gave her his trailer to live in and he and Adylyn bought a new one. Bertha’s trailer was full of furniture that is now ruined, including a 100-year-old antique bed, an armoire, clothing, a china cabinet, a television, pots and pans.
“Her refrigerator slid into the water and was on its back,” Adylyn said.
The couple lived in the park for nine years and never expected this kind of flooding would be possible there. They bought a new trailer just 15 months ago.
“We don’t know what we’re going to do,” Adylyn said. “We’re shocked.”
This was the third or fourth flood at the park, but the first time water went into the trailers.
“It’s the first time it flooded in the house…Even with (Hurricane) Gustav it didn’t come into the house,” she said.
Now the carpet in the couple’s home is wet and the hardwood floors are buckled.
They haven’t turned the power back on yet in their trailer even though it’s been restored in the park.
Water came through the vents and the walls and they fear turning the power on could cause more damage.
“At 9:30 or 10 Thursday night, she called and said she was fine,” Adylyn said. But her mother-in-law called back in the middle of the night to tell the couple they needed to come get her.
“When we got (to her), the water was almost at the back door,” she said.
“When we got back to our trailer, it had risen more (there).” They were evacuated with other residents of the trailer park by the fire department at about 8 a.m. Friday.
“You see it on TV but you don’t expect it to happen to you,” she said, remembering scenes from Hurricane Katrina. The couple left without being able to collect any of their belongings except Glenn’s medications.
The couple’s church, Cornerstone Assembly in Ward, paid for them to stay at the Best Western in Jacksonville for three nights.
Members of Bertha’s church, First Baptist Church of Gravel Ridge, helped clean out her trailer.
The family has found another trailer that they will rent, near the ones that flooded, where all three will live. They are waiting for an insurance inspector to record the damage at their new trailer. They aren’t sure what will be covered. Bertha’s trailer wasn’t covered by flood insurance. Adylyn said she thinks both trailers are worth about $75,000 together.
“We’re hanging in there, waiting on the Lord,” she said.
The couple says they would rather not receive donations to help them get back on their feet. They would like to see the Red Cross receive help.
The Red Cross helped other families who had to be evacuated from Hillside Bayou Mobile Home Park but had nowhere to go.
TOP STORY >> Prosecutor mulls Campbell retrial
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
and JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writers
“We’re still in research mode,” Lonoke County Prosecutor Will Feland said Monday when asked if he thought his office would retry former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell.
The state Supreme Court on Thursday overturned Campbell’s 2007 conviction on charges of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine and numerous charges of theft and theft by receiving, and remanded the cases back to Lonoke County.
Feland said he would confer with those who prosecuted the case — with the attorney general’s office and with the State Police’s lead investigator Charles McLemore, since retired — before deciding. Campbell had served about 30 months of a 40-year sentence.
He will have a hearing in two weeks to determine his future.
Jay Campbell was sentenced to 40 years as the kingpin of a continuing criminal enterprise, 30 years for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, 20 years for each of six counts of residential burglary, 10 years for each of seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and various other drug or theft related charges.
To retry Campbell on the continuing criminal-enterprise charge would constitute double jeopardy, according to his attorney, Patrick Benca.
None of the evidence seized at his home can be used because the Supreme Court ruled it was obtained by use of an improper search warrant. Benca said there was no probable cause to issue that warrant.
As to whether or not the former chief should be retried, county residents are divided.
“If he was in the wrong, he should be punished,” said Wilma Ray of Cabot.
A Lonoke County resident formerly from Hot Springs who did not want to be named said, “I was very much surprised when he was charged and convicted. I would be in favor of him being released. I knew him and his mother and I’m decidedly in favor for him getting another chance. He was a very nice boy in high school.”
“I have a lot of respect for Judge Cole. He’s been on the bench a long time,” said Pat Howell, a Lonoke alderman who was critical of Campbell back when the story was unfolding. “But if he made the mistakes (the Supreme Court said), Jay ought to be set free.”
“I figure he was probably guilty and they found a loop hole. It is politics,” said Jimmy Hall of Austin.
Cecil Bayless of Ward said, “I think part of it was true and part of it was not true. They just wanted to get rid of them. Some people in other towns do the same things. They didn’t get charged or accused.”
and JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writers
“We’re still in research mode,” Lonoke County Prosecutor Will Feland said Monday when asked if he thought his office would retry former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell.
The state Supreme Court on Thursday overturned Campbell’s 2007 conviction on charges of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine and numerous charges of theft and theft by receiving, and remanded the cases back to Lonoke County.
Feland said he would confer with those who prosecuted the case — with the attorney general’s office and with the State Police’s lead investigator Charles McLemore, since retired — before deciding. Campbell had served about 30 months of a 40-year sentence.
He will have a hearing in two weeks to determine his future.
Jay Campbell was sentenced to 40 years as the kingpin of a continuing criminal enterprise, 30 years for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, 20 years for each of six counts of residential burglary, 10 years for each of seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and various other drug or theft related charges.
To retry Campbell on the continuing criminal-enterprise charge would constitute double jeopardy, according to his attorney, Patrick Benca.
None of the evidence seized at his home can be used because the Supreme Court ruled it was obtained by use of an improper search warrant. Benca said there was no probable cause to issue that warrant.
As to whether or not the former chief should be retried, county residents are divided.
“If he was in the wrong, he should be punished,” said Wilma Ray of Cabot.
A Lonoke County resident formerly from Hot Springs who did not want to be named said, “I was very much surprised when he was charged and convicted. I would be in favor of him being released. I knew him and his mother and I’m decidedly in favor for him getting another chance. He was a very nice boy in high school.”
“I have a lot of respect for Judge Cole. He’s been on the bench a long time,” said Pat Howell, a Lonoke alderman who was critical of Campbell back when the story was unfolding. “But if he made the mistakes (the Supreme Court said), Jay ought to be set free.”
“I figure he was probably guilty and they found a loop hole. It is politics,” said Jimmy Hall of Austin.
Cecil Bayless of Ward said, “I think part of it was true and part of it was not true. They just wanted to get rid of them. Some people in other towns do the same things. They didn’t get charged or accused.”
TOP STORY >> Communities salute our vets
Hank Lambert, an 11-year Marine veteran who served in the Korean War, receives an award Wednesday from veterans service officer Sam High during a Veterans Day ceremony held at Spring Creek Living Center in Cabot. 
Members of the Little Rock Air Force Base honor guard were on hand to give a rifle salute during the Veterans Day ceremony at the Sherwood Veterans Memorial.By JEFFREY SMITH and JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writers
Sherwood was the first area city to recognize veterans for their contribution to our nation’s freedom. Members of the Sherwood Rotary Club, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, along with elected officials, participated Nov. 8 in a special recognition at the Sherwood Veterans Memorial.
The audience included veterans from the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Mayor Virginia Hillman and incoming Sherwood Rotary president Marcia Cook placed a wreath on the memorial wall. The Little Rock Air Force Base honor guard presented the colors, fired a gun salute and played Taps during the ceremony.
Alderman Butch Davis said after the ceremony, “It is important to remember the veterans and the ones who served before us.
They are the ones who made us free, and today soldiers are the ones who keep us free. I always thank them for their service.”
“It is important for soldiers to hear thank you. Sherwood should have a parade for veterans,” Davis said.
During the Vietnam War Davis was a platoon sergeant in the Army. He was shot in July 1969. Davis received multiple shrapnel wounds. He was struck in the neck, back, shoulders, buttocks and leg.
Davis was paralyzed from his neck down for a year. Davis was awarded the Purple Heart and is a Bronze Star recipient.
Attending the veterans ceremony was 87-year-old James Chappell of North Little Rock. During the Second World War, Chappell joined the Navy at age 19. He was a gunner on the light cruiser the USS St. Louis in the Pacific Ocean.
Later in the war, Chappell went to the Navy hospital corps in San Diego. He was a pharmacist mate first class on the USS Pastores.
He said the Pastores was a refrigerated ship that carried frozen goods and delivered supplies to troops on islands in the Pacific.
Chappell said, “We took turkeys to MacArthur in the Philippines for Thanksgiving.
“After the war was over, we decommissioned the medical unit in landing ship tanks in San Francisco,” he said.
When Chappell got out of the service, he earned a pharmacy degree from the University of Tennessee in Memphis.
Chappell’s pharmaceutical career spanned 40 years in North Little Rock and Little Rock until he retired at age 72.
The Veterans Day assembly at Northwood Middle School may have had special significance for about one-sixth of the approximately 600 students who gathered in the gym Nov.10 for a program officiated over by Little Rock Air Force Base personnel.
Study hard and behave, Lt. Col. Jerome Osurman told students, many of whom have military parents.
“Freedom isn’t free,” said Osurman, commander of the 19th Equipment Maintenance Squadron at the nearby base. “It’s paid for by sacrifice. For some, it’s the ultimate sacrifice that we may live in freedom.”
He said their parents and others in the military are the tip of the spear. Osurman said he grew up in Hawaii, where his parents, Pearl Harbor survivors, were headed for church when the bombs began falling. “On Sept. 11, our nation answered another call to duty. We need your support,” he said. “Our enemy wants to take us down.”
The focal point of the assembly was a prisoner-of-war, missing-in-action table ceremony. A white table cloth was surrounded by five empty chairs symbolizing those missing, captured or dead from the five branches of the military.
The base honor guard assisted in the ceremonies and the pledge of allegiance. Students Diana Reiss and Maddie Turcotte sang the Star Spangled Banner, harmonizing in places and hitting the high notes.
Chief Master Sgt. Frankie McGriff narrated the event. He said the World War I Armistice, when all sides agreed to formally stop the war, took effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
After the Second World War, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day, according to McGriff. He told students that 340,000 Americans did not return home safely from World War I and World War II. In the Korean War, 23,300 Americans died and another 57,000 died in Vietnam.
He said 246 more died during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and so far, 5,278 Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those attending from Pulaski County Special School District were interim Superintendent Rob McGill, board member Danny Gilliland and chief financial officer Anita Farver.
TOP STORY >> Top doctor: Must pass health bill
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader editor-in-chief
Arkansas’ top physician says the nation’s health-care system is “a mess” and needs an overhaul to ensure health care for all citizens.
Dr. Joe Thompson, the state’s surgeon general since 2005, says as insurance premiums skyrocket and health-care expenses take up one-sixth of the nation’s gross domestic product, it is time to rein in costs while providing near-universal care.
Thompson, a Huckabee appointee and a pediatrician, spoke Monday to the Jacksonville Rotary Club, where he gave a history of health care since the Second World War, when many workers received health insurance benefits instead of pay increases because there was a wage freeze.
Thompson believes the health-care bill that passed in the House and is before the Senate could lead to improvements in the system, which is very expensive while 50 million people remain uninsured.
“Our system couldn’t be more messed up if we sat down at a table and tried to mess it up,” he said.
Thompson said he hoped “we’ll wind up with legislation that will move health care forward.” He also favors tort reform that would limit malpractice awards and bring down costs.
“I’m excited and I’m a little scared,” Thompson said. “It will not be completely fixed, but we’ll never get to that point.”
The doctor said after his speech that he would support a public option if insurance remains unavailable to those without coverage.
“If private insurance can’t do it, there should be a trigger for a public option. That will give the private sector an incentive to deliver,” he told The Leader.
“We’re ethically obligated to make certain that all citizens have access to insurance,” he said.
He reminded Rotarians that the system has worked well for most workers, retirees and young people, but still leaves many uninsured and often puts them deep in debt after a health crisis.
The system is often wasteful, he said, with too many expensive medical tests, such as MRIs and CAT scans, which are not always needed. Patients expect such tests, and doctors often order them to protect themselves from malpractice suits.
Health care in the U.S. costs at least twice what other countries spend on health care because of wasteful spending, Thompson said.
“The Arkansas Medical Society will run me out for saying that,” he said.
To provide equal coverage for everyone, insurance companies must stop discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, he told the Rotary Club.
Thompson has pushed for more insurance coverage for poor children, campaigned against obesity, as well as encouraged more exercise and preventive care.
He also spoke about the swine flu, which looks like an epidemic from 60 years ago, which may explain why the elderly are not as affected by it since they may have been exposed to it once before.
He urged Rotarians to get vaccinated. The vaccine is fatal in one in a million cases, while there have been 18 deaths from swine flu in the state since August.
The best way to avoid the flu is to wash hands often with soap.
Leader editor-in-chief
Arkansas’ top physician says the nation’s health-care system is “a mess” and needs an overhaul to ensure health care for all citizens.
Dr. Joe Thompson, the state’s surgeon general since 2005, says as insurance premiums skyrocket and health-care expenses take up one-sixth of the nation’s gross domestic product, it is time to rein in costs while providing near-universal care.
Thompson, a Huckabee appointee and a pediatrician, spoke Monday to the Jacksonville Rotary Club, where he gave a history of health care since the Second World War, when many workers received health insurance benefits instead of pay increases because there was a wage freeze.
Thompson believes the health-care bill that passed in the House and is before the Senate could lead to improvements in the system, which is very expensive while 50 million people remain uninsured.
“Our system couldn’t be more messed up if we sat down at a table and tried to mess it up,” he said.
Thompson said he hoped “we’ll wind up with legislation that will move health care forward.” He also favors tort reform that would limit malpractice awards and bring down costs.
“I’m excited and I’m a little scared,” Thompson said. “It will not be completely fixed, but we’ll never get to that point.”
The doctor said after his speech that he would support a public option if insurance remains unavailable to those without coverage.
“If private insurance can’t do it, there should be a trigger for a public option. That will give the private sector an incentive to deliver,” he told The Leader.
“We’re ethically obligated to make certain that all citizens have access to insurance,” he said.
He reminded Rotarians that the system has worked well for most workers, retirees and young people, but still leaves many uninsured and often puts them deep in debt after a health crisis.
The system is often wasteful, he said, with too many expensive medical tests, such as MRIs and CAT scans, which are not always needed. Patients expect such tests, and doctors often order them to protect themselves from malpractice suits.
Health care in the U.S. costs at least twice what other countries spend on health care because of wasteful spending, Thompson said.
“The Arkansas Medical Society will run me out for saying that,” he said.
To provide equal coverage for everyone, insurance companies must stop discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, he told the Rotary Club.
Thompson has pushed for more insurance coverage for poor children, campaigned against obesity, as well as encouraged more exercise and preventive care.
He also spoke about the swine flu, which looks like an epidemic from 60 years ago, which may explain why the elderly are not as affected by it since they may have been exposed to it once before.
He urged Rotarians to get vaccinated. The vaccine is fatal in one in a million cases, while there have been 18 deaths from swine flu in the state since August.
The best way to avoid the flu is to wash hands often with soap.
EDITORIAL >> Don’t call it philanthropy
Every few days the Arkansas Lottery makes another breathless announcement about how many people are betting. From late Saturday night, when the first Powerball tickets were sold, through Wednesday — that’s only four days — Arkansas people invested $1.1 million in jackpot tickets.
The lottery office reported the development with the same exhilaration that it has announced the magnitude of lottery purchases regularly since the lottery began two months ago. It is a sign of marvelous things for the state, or that is the message.
But should we celebrate? Remember, half of the Power-ball sales — something over $500,000 for those four days — leaves the state instantly for the multistate jackpot treasury. That is $500,000 that will not be spent in the Arkansas economy. In the context of the current environment, that is the equivalent of losing a small plant and 20 jobs every four days. Sure, some day, maybe right away, an Arkansan will win the big jackpot and some of that money will trickle back.
Perhaps a tenth of the bets will stay in Arkansas for small prizes. Some of it will pay the big lottery staff and Ernie Passailaigue’s $325,000 salary.
And, as Lt. Gov. Bill Halter will tell you, endlessly, part of the $1.1 million will stay around to give a few youngsters scholarships in 2011 and beyond.
But not needy youngsters as Halter and the lottery promoters proclaim. Arkansas already appropriates money from your sales and income taxes to provide tuition to youngsters from poor and middle-class families who meet the low eligibility requirements — basically a solid C average in high school.
The state carried forward a huge surplus from last year because the appropriation was more than enough to meet the demand.
The lottery amendment that voters ratified last year prohibits the state from ever reducing the taxpayer-financed scholarships.
So to spend all the new money earmarked for scholarships by the lottery, the legislature had to expand the scholarship program. It took off the income limits so that from now on the children of billionaires qualify for the same scholarships to public or private universities. Then it lowered the eligibility standard so that any aimless youngster who decides to try college for a year can get the money.
A college scholarship is now an entitlement. If the lottery and the earmarked share of state taxes still produce more money than the kids need in 2011, the state can raise the scholarships to include some walking-around money. The Constitution now says neither lottery proceeds nor the earmarked tax receipts can ever be spent for anything else.
Perhaps a college entitlement is a good thing, but only if the government is meeting all the other manifold needs of a poor state, like good schools, public health, prisons and law enforcement.
The chief effect of the lottery, other than draining money from the productive economy, is a big transfer of wealth — upwards, from the poor to the well to do.
So, enjoy the thrill of betting on an $80 million jackpot when you buy a Powerball ticket, but don’t feel noble. It is entertainment, not philanthropy.
Ernie Dumas writes editorials for The Leader.
The lottery office reported the development with the same exhilaration that it has announced the magnitude of lottery purchases regularly since the lottery began two months ago. It is a sign of marvelous things for the state, or that is the message.
But should we celebrate? Remember, half of the Power-ball sales — something over $500,000 for those four days — leaves the state instantly for the multistate jackpot treasury. That is $500,000 that will not be spent in the Arkansas economy. In the context of the current environment, that is the equivalent of losing a small plant and 20 jobs every four days. Sure, some day, maybe right away, an Arkansan will win the big jackpot and some of that money will trickle back.
Perhaps a tenth of the bets will stay in Arkansas for small prizes. Some of it will pay the big lottery staff and Ernie Passailaigue’s $325,000 salary.
And, as Lt. Gov. Bill Halter will tell you, endlessly, part of the $1.1 million will stay around to give a few youngsters scholarships in 2011 and beyond.
But not needy youngsters as Halter and the lottery promoters proclaim. Arkansas already appropriates money from your sales and income taxes to provide tuition to youngsters from poor and middle-class families who meet the low eligibility requirements — basically a solid C average in high school.
The state carried forward a huge surplus from last year because the appropriation was more than enough to meet the demand.
The lottery amendment that voters ratified last year prohibits the state from ever reducing the taxpayer-financed scholarships.
So to spend all the new money earmarked for scholarships by the lottery, the legislature had to expand the scholarship program. It took off the income limits so that from now on the children of billionaires qualify for the same scholarships to public or private universities. Then it lowered the eligibility standard so that any aimless youngster who decides to try college for a year can get the money.
A college scholarship is now an entitlement. If the lottery and the earmarked share of state taxes still produce more money than the kids need in 2011, the state can raise the scholarships to include some walking-around money. The Constitution now says neither lottery proceeds nor the earmarked tax receipts can ever be spent for anything else.
Perhaps a college entitlement is a good thing, but only if the government is meeting all the other manifold needs of a poor state, like good schools, public health, prisons and law enforcement.
The chief effect of the lottery, other than draining money from the productive economy, is a big transfer of wealth — upwards, from the poor to the well to do.
So, enjoy the thrill of betting on an $80 million jackpot when you buy a Powerball ticket, but don’t feel noble. It is entertainment, not philanthropy.
Ernie Dumas writes editorials for The Leader.
EDITORIAL >> Health bill goes forward
The U. S. House of Representatives passed a far-reaching health-reform bill Saturday, but by the dismaying margin of only two votes. Only one Republican, a freshman from New Orleans, voted for the bill, but the surprise was that even one left the cave.
For the first time, no Arkansan had a leading role in passing landmark social insurance, nor is it likely that this will change as the battle shifts to the Senate, where Senator Blanche Lincoln is holding out for a sweeter deal for insurance companies.
Let us remember that Senator Joe T. Robinson of Lonoke, the majority leader at the time, led the way on old-age, disability and unemployment insurance in 1935, Rep. Wilbur D. Mills of Kensett crafted the legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, and President Bill Clinton pushed through children’s health insurance in 1997 with help from Senator Dale Bumpers of Charleston. When President Ronald Reagan raised payroll and employer taxes to shore up Social Security and unemployment insurance during the great recession of 1982-83, the entire Arkansas delegation voted with him, unapologetically.
Yes, half of Arkansas’ House delegation voted for the health bill, which will bring insurance to 35 million Americans, the poorer, working variety, and begin to tamp down the skyrocketing cost of medical care and insurance, but they seemed just a trifle apologetic. They said they would have preferred something a little different than the bill hammered out over nearly a year of dickering, but that health reform was too important for them to stand in the way. No one ever likes every provision of a bill. If everyone waited for their notion of the perfect, we would have no laws — and no country.
The two congressmen from our parts, Vic Snyder and Marion Berry, voted for the bill, though meekly, and they deserve our gratitude. Berry thought, correctly we think, that the legislation went too easy on the pharmaceutical industry, but he will reserve that fight for another day.
To no one’s surprise, Rep. John Boozman of Springdale and Rep. Mike Ross of Prescott voted no. Boozman votes in lockstep with the Republican leadership, which wants to deny the president and the Democratic Party the achievement of a promise that every Democratic candidate for president and a few Republicans made in 2008 and across decades. Ross has proclaimed himself a champion of universal health insurance since going to the House of Representatives in 2001, but it long ago became clear that there would never be a circumstance where he would actually vote to do it. Ross satisfies the hundreds of thousands in his district who need help with nice words but satisfies the special interests and wingnuts opposed to health reform with his vote.
He did the same thing six years ago with the prescription drug program for seniors. He voted against the bill that provided some insurance for drugs under Medicare because he said the bill gave the role to insurance companies and he preferred to have the government do it as a defined benefit for all seniors under Medicare. Now, his stance is just the opposite. He does not want the government to offer a policy in competition with the insurance companies.
But Ross offered his constituents all sorts of reasons for voting against their interests, even though the House had weakened the bill in many ways to meet the objections of Ross and some of the other Southern “Blue Dogs,” as they call themselves. He feared that there might be a way under the bill that an immigrant without legal papers could buy an insurance policy or be treated for illness or injury. They can now; it’s guaranteed by the equal-protection clause of the U. S. Constitution. No civilized country in the world denies medical treatment to immigrants. The health reform bill goes as far as it can to prevent it, but even that is not enough for Ross.
Ross repeated the mantra that Republicans raised throughout the long debate. We should not undertake a major initiative that would raise some taxes and impose new mandates on businesses and people when the country is in a recession and has a huge budget deficit and high unemployment. In a statement to his constituents after the vote, Ross said the country should focus on lowering the deficit and unemployment instead of starting a new program. Let’s wait for the good times, he suggested.
Would it help to remind him that he voted for all the initiatives that created the $1.2 trillion deficit except one, the unfunded prescription drug program? That includes the giant tax cut for the wealthy in 2001, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and every one of their appropriations, George W. Bush’s mammoth bailout of the financial industry, both the Bush and Obama bailouts of automakers and the economic stimulus package.
If a recession and high joblessness are the wrong times to solve big problems, would he have voted against Social Security and unemployment insurance and their taxes in 1935, when unemployment was more than twice today’s levels? Would he and all the Republicans who predict doom if health reform becomes law have voted against President Ronald Reagan’s big taxes on workers and employers to shore up Social Security and unemployment insurance in 1983, when joblessness was running higher than today?
People in the Fourth District sooner or later will get the point. Ignore his lofty talk about the terrible health crisis. The bright day when he will vote to actually solve their problems will never come.
For the first time, no Arkansan had a leading role in passing landmark social insurance, nor is it likely that this will change as the battle shifts to the Senate, where Senator Blanche Lincoln is holding out for a sweeter deal for insurance companies.
Let us remember that Senator Joe T. Robinson of Lonoke, the majority leader at the time, led the way on old-age, disability and unemployment insurance in 1935, Rep. Wilbur D. Mills of Kensett crafted the legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, and President Bill Clinton pushed through children’s health insurance in 1997 with help from Senator Dale Bumpers of Charleston. When President Ronald Reagan raised payroll and employer taxes to shore up Social Security and unemployment insurance during the great recession of 1982-83, the entire Arkansas delegation voted with him, unapologetically.
Yes, half of Arkansas’ House delegation voted for the health bill, which will bring insurance to 35 million Americans, the poorer, working variety, and begin to tamp down the skyrocketing cost of medical care and insurance, but they seemed just a trifle apologetic. They said they would have preferred something a little different than the bill hammered out over nearly a year of dickering, but that health reform was too important for them to stand in the way. No one ever likes every provision of a bill. If everyone waited for their notion of the perfect, we would have no laws — and no country.
The two congressmen from our parts, Vic Snyder and Marion Berry, voted for the bill, though meekly, and they deserve our gratitude. Berry thought, correctly we think, that the legislation went too easy on the pharmaceutical industry, but he will reserve that fight for another day.
To no one’s surprise, Rep. John Boozman of Springdale and Rep. Mike Ross of Prescott voted no. Boozman votes in lockstep with the Republican leadership, which wants to deny the president and the Democratic Party the achievement of a promise that every Democratic candidate for president and a few Republicans made in 2008 and across decades. Ross has proclaimed himself a champion of universal health insurance since going to the House of Representatives in 2001, but it long ago became clear that there would never be a circumstance where he would actually vote to do it. Ross satisfies the hundreds of thousands in his district who need help with nice words but satisfies the special interests and wingnuts opposed to health reform with his vote.
He did the same thing six years ago with the prescription drug program for seniors. He voted against the bill that provided some insurance for drugs under Medicare because he said the bill gave the role to insurance companies and he preferred to have the government do it as a defined benefit for all seniors under Medicare. Now, his stance is just the opposite. He does not want the government to offer a policy in competition with the insurance companies.
But Ross offered his constituents all sorts of reasons for voting against their interests, even though the House had weakened the bill in many ways to meet the objections of Ross and some of the other Southern “Blue Dogs,” as they call themselves. He feared that there might be a way under the bill that an immigrant without legal papers could buy an insurance policy or be treated for illness or injury. They can now; it’s guaranteed by the equal-protection clause of the U. S. Constitution. No civilized country in the world denies medical treatment to immigrants. The health reform bill goes as far as it can to prevent it, but even that is not enough for Ross.
Ross repeated the mantra that Republicans raised throughout the long debate. We should not undertake a major initiative that would raise some taxes and impose new mandates on businesses and people when the country is in a recession and has a huge budget deficit and high unemployment. In a statement to his constituents after the vote, Ross said the country should focus on lowering the deficit and unemployment instead of starting a new program. Let’s wait for the good times, he suggested.
Would it help to remind him that he voted for all the initiatives that created the $1.2 trillion deficit except one, the unfunded prescription drug program? That includes the giant tax cut for the wealthy in 2001, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and every one of their appropriations, George W. Bush’s mammoth bailout of the financial industry, both the Bush and Obama bailouts of automakers and the economic stimulus package.
If a recession and high joblessness are the wrong times to solve big problems, would he have voted against Social Security and unemployment insurance and their taxes in 1935, when unemployment was more than twice today’s levels? Would he and all the Republicans who predict doom if health reform becomes law have voted against President Ronald Reagan’s big taxes on workers and employers to shore up Social Security and unemployment insurance in 1983, when joblessness was running higher than today?
People in the Fourth District sooner or later will get the point. Ignore his lofty talk about the terrible health crisis. The bright day when he will vote to actually solve their problems will never come.
SPORTS >> Panthers, Wildcats savoring down time
Cabot’s Spencer Smith (3) and teammates will get needed rest this week.By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers and Harding Academy Wildcats will sit out the first round of the state high school football playoffs thanks to their conference championships.
Cabot (9-1) beat Russellville 26-24 in the season finale at Cyclone Stadium to repeat as the 7A-Central champion with a 6-1 record and earn a first-round bye. North Little Rock also finished 6-1 in conference, but the Panthers beat the Charging Wildcats earlier this season.
Cabot’s only loss was to Bryant, 35-7, over two weeks ago, but North Little Rock knocked off Bryant the following week.
“Two weeks ago I didn’t know if we could beat anybody,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said of the stunning loss on the muddy ground at Bryant. “But I know one thing, we’re on the turf so we don’t have to worry about the mud anymore. If we play three more games it will all be on turf. Cabot, Cabot and War Memorial.”
Led by standout junior quarterback Seth Keese, Harding Academy beat Rose Bud 46-20 to remain perfect and return to the top of the 2-3A Conference under second-year coach Roddy Mote. The Wildcats reached the playoffs in Mote’s first year last season but fell short of a conference championship, something to which Harding Academy fans had become accustomed under former coach Tommy Shoemaker.
Cabot will play its second-round playoff game at Panther Stadium on Nov. 20 against the winner of the Fayetteville-Conway game. Harding Academy awaits its home matchup against the winner of the first-round Yellville-Summit-Cave City game.
“We’re going to catch our breath and see what happens,” Malham said.
The time off probably comes at a good time for Cabot.
Senior fullback Michael James has nursed injuries all year. James, who rushed for close to 3,000 yards combined in his sophomore and junior seasons, injured his shoulder in pre-season practice, and continues to rebound from a high-ankle sprain.
He limped through his 174-yard, two-touchdown performance at Russellville last Thursday.
Spencer Smith had been the workhorse in Cabot’s dead T with James out, but Smith is suffering from a bad ankle as well.
“We’ve got some bad ankles. We’ve got two or three,” Malham said of the Russellville game. “You watch James limp on and Spencer Smith limp off.
“I was rotating them at fullback and both of them looked like they couldn’t run a lick the way they’re limping. So this will give us a couple weeks.”
James gained over 1,300 yards last year and was expected to have another big season, as well as making his varsity debut as a linebacker after he last played the position in ninth grade.
James has shown flashes of his ability in limited time this year, as he did against the Cyclones, and Malham said James is probably as healthy as he is going to get and he is confident he will get the senior’s best effort, even when banged up.
“It does help to have two good ones,” Malham said of James and Smith.
Cabot earned a bye last year then suffered a 21-17, first-round loss when Springdale Har-Ber intercepted a pass in the end zone with 53 seconds left at Panther Stadium.
“Hopefully we’ll get ready to play,” Malham said. “Last year was a disappointment. We thought we let Har-Ber slip by us last year. But that’s football; you’ve only got one chance when you get in the playoffs.”
Har-Ber is on Cabot’s side of the bracket again this season, along with Springdale and Russellville.
But first there is the matter of playing the Conway-Fayetteville winner, Malham said.
“We’ll sit back and see who’s going to come to our place and if we win we get to play at our place again,” Malham said. “We set ourselves up. Of course, we’ve got to produce now but it’s a good feeling right now anyway.”
SPORTS >> Lions get it done, looking for more
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Some might not have expected it, but first-year Searcy coach Tim Harper and the Lions are right where Harper figured to be: the postseason.
After a multi-year drought, Searcy has returned to the playoffs as the No. 6 seed from the 6A-East Conference and will play at Watson Chapel in the first round of the state playoffs Friday night.
“I think our kids deserve to play an extra week,” Harper said. “We’re excited about that. I think that sets us up well for the future. I think we have 95 percent of our team coming back.”
Harper left Des Arc to take over a Searcy program that had won three games the previous four seasons. The Lions weren’t that far removed from the stretch in 2000-2004 when they won 30 games and earned a playoff victory in 2001, and Harper’s plan was to reinstate a sense of program.
Searcy scored some upsets this season, threw a scare into a few other teams, reduced its points allowed from 370 to 182 and has produced 40 letterman out of a 50-player roster who will return next year.
But the best part for the Lions is that this year is still going on.
“Our goal since January was to make it to Week 11 and we did that,” Harper said. “We didn’t do it in the fashion we wanted to. We had some setbacks. We lost Friday night and that was a game we felt we should have won.”
Mountain Home overtook Searcy 16-12 last week after the Lions had come back from a 10-0 halftime deficit to claim the lead on a pair of touchdown passes by Desmond Stegall.
A critical moment occurred when B.J. Slaughter returned a second-half Mountain Home punt to the 3, but had the play called back because of a block in the back by the Lions.
“What’s sad is we have a 12-10 lead and if we score from the 3 we probably win the ballgame,” Harper said. “That’s part of it. On film, according to us, we didn’t see the block in the back but that’s part of the game. We’ve got to get better than having to rely on the official not to make a call to beat us.”
Harper said the Lions’ second-half rally was indicative of his team’s slow starts this year, but he felt Searcy was in every game but the 40-3 loss to 6A power West Memphis.
And even then, Harper said the Lions had chances.
“We had it four times in the red zone on them,” Harper said.
Searcy was dominant in three of its four victories, beating Fair 44-0, Jacksonville 40-14 and Little Rock Hall 45-0. The Lions edged the Parkview Patriots 21-20 in Week 5.
Harper said he hoped the victories and near misses — Searcy hung with Jonesboro in a 21-14, Week 8 loss — don’t leave fans satisfied but rather, expecting more next season.
“Who wants to coach a football program where there’s no expectations?” Harper said. “If you’re coaching a team with no expectations, that means something isn’t going right. I won’t be happy with 4-6 I can assure you.
“We’ve got to create an atmosphere that expects success. That does mean the community too. I think they’ll get there.”
Before Searcy can think about next year, there is the little matter of this year and Friday’s opponent Watson Chapel.
“I don’t want to overlook this game because I guarantee you we’re going to give them everything we’ve got,” Harper said.
“We’re going down to Watson Chapel hoping to win the ballgame.”
Harper sees a team similar offensively to his own in the Wildcats. Watson Chapel, led by senior quarterback C.J. Branch, favors multiple looks and can jump from the wishbone to the spread.
“He may be the best quarterback we’ve seen all season,” Harper said of Branch, 6-3, 215 pounds.
“He’s really a special athlete. He runs the ball very well. They run a lot of power football when they’re in the wishbone and then they run the spread stuff and try to beat you with their speed.”
Leader sports editor
Some might not have expected it, but first-year Searcy coach Tim Harper and the Lions are right where Harper figured to be: the postseason.
After a multi-year drought, Searcy has returned to the playoffs as the No. 6 seed from the 6A-East Conference and will play at Watson Chapel in the first round of the state playoffs Friday night.
“I think our kids deserve to play an extra week,” Harper said. “We’re excited about that. I think that sets us up well for the future. I think we have 95 percent of our team coming back.”
Harper left Des Arc to take over a Searcy program that had won three games the previous four seasons. The Lions weren’t that far removed from the stretch in 2000-2004 when they won 30 games and earned a playoff victory in 2001, and Harper’s plan was to reinstate a sense of program.
Searcy scored some upsets this season, threw a scare into a few other teams, reduced its points allowed from 370 to 182 and has produced 40 letterman out of a 50-player roster who will return next year.
But the best part for the Lions is that this year is still going on.
“Our goal since January was to make it to Week 11 and we did that,” Harper said. “We didn’t do it in the fashion we wanted to. We had some setbacks. We lost Friday night and that was a game we felt we should have won.”
Mountain Home overtook Searcy 16-12 last week after the Lions had come back from a 10-0 halftime deficit to claim the lead on a pair of touchdown passes by Desmond Stegall.
A critical moment occurred when B.J. Slaughter returned a second-half Mountain Home punt to the 3, but had the play called back because of a block in the back by the Lions.
“What’s sad is we have a 12-10 lead and if we score from the 3 we probably win the ballgame,” Harper said. “That’s part of it. On film, according to us, we didn’t see the block in the back but that’s part of the game. We’ve got to get better than having to rely on the official not to make a call to beat us.”
Harper said the Lions’ second-half rally was indicative of his team’s slow starts this year, but he felt Searcy was in every game but the 40-3 loss to 6A power West Memphis.
And even then, Harper said the Lions had chances.
“We had it four times in the red zone on them,” Harper said.
Searcy was dominant in three of its four victories, beating Fair 44-0, Jacksonville 40-14 and Little Rock Hall 45-0. The Lions edged the Parkview Patriots 21-20 in Week 5.
Harper said he hoped the victories and near misses — Searcy hung with Jonesboro in a 21-14, Week 8 loss — don’t leave fans satisfied but rather, expecting more next season.
“Who wants to coach a football program where there’s no expectations?” Harper said. “If you’re coaching a team with no expectations, that means something isn’t going right. I won’t be happy with 4-6 I can assure you.
“We’ve got to create an atmosphere that expects success. That does mean the community too. I think they’ll get there.”
Before Searcy can think about next year, there is the little matter of this year and Friday’s opponent Watson Chapel.
“I don’t want to overlook this game because I guarantee you we’re going to give them everything we’ve got,” Harper said.
“We’re going down to Watson Chapel hoping to win the ballgame.”
Harper sees a team similar offensively to his own in the Wildcats. Watson Chapel, led by senior quarterback C.J. Branch, favors multiple looks and can jump from the wishbone to the spread.
“He may be the best quarterback we’ve seen all season,” Harper said of Branch, 6-3, 215 pounds.
“He’s really a special athlete. He runs the ball very well. They run a lot of power football when they’re in the wishbone and then they run the spread stuff and try to beat you with their speed.”
SPORTS >> ’Rabbits ready for first round
Lonoke senior receiver Todd Hobson pulls down a reception against 2-4A champion Bald Knob.By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Last week’s 48-13 victory over Clinton solidified the 2-4A No. 3 seed for the Lonoke Jackrabbits and sent them to the state playoffs for the third straight season, and also earned them a home playoff game against Clarksville on Friday at James B. Abraham Stadium.
The Jackrabbits (7-3 overall) finished with a 5-2 record in the 2-4A Conference after a rocky, 0-2 start.
“We’ve had a good five weeks,” Lonoke coach Doug Bost said. “We’ve done some good things. We’ve protected the ball on offense, and defensively, we’ve had guys stepping up and making big plays. We’ve had some fumbles and quite a few interceptions. So we’ve played about as well as we can play heading into this week.”
With the ’Rabbits’ playoff berth, Bost also becomes the first Lonoke football coach this decade to reach the postseason in his first year.
Friday’s triumph over Clinton came with a balanced effort on offense.
Senior tailback Brandon Smith turned in his usual solid performance with 16 carries for 158 yards and two touchdowns.
Classmate and quarterback Michael Nelson had a good night through the air, completing 20 of 27 pass attempts for 253 yards, and also carried 11 times for 51 yards and a touchdown.
Fullback Morgan Linton rushed for a pair of scores, and Todd Hobson led the receivers with 7 catches for 82 yards. Darius Scott had 4 receptions for 73 yards, and Blake Dill had 4 catches for 53 yards.
Lonoke finished with 518 total yards. The numbers on the ground and through the air ended up close, with 253 passing yards and 265 passing.
Defensively, Brandon O’Bannon led the way with 10 tackles while sophomore standout Tommy Scott finished with eight.
“We knew we needed to win to get that No. 3 seed and be at home,” Bost said. “We took care of business and got the win. I was real proud of our balance on offense. Anytime you’re able to run and throw within 12 yards of each other, that’s something to be proud of.”
The Panthers (6-4, 4-3 4-4) are the No. 4 seed out of the 4-4A Conference. They are also a spread-based team with good balance, starting with junior quarterback Trey Schucker, who averages 144.9 yards passing per game.
But Clarksville’s biggest threat on offense is junior running back Wesleigh Foster, who averages 115.3 yards rushing per game. Foster is also a conference 100-meter champion.
“If he gets out in open space, he will outrun you,” Bost said. “He’s by far the fastest one they have, but we’re comfortable as long as we can get 11 helmets after him. He’s definitely one that we will have to focus our efforts on.”
The Panthers also have senior leadership on defense with linebacker Thomas Plugge, who averages close to 17 tackles a game out of their linebacker-heavy set.
“They use a 3-5-3, which means at any time, they are sending two to three guys,” said Bost, who last saw such a formation against Central Arkansas Christian in a non-conference game in Week 3. “We haven’t really seen that since we played CAC.
That kind of defense can give you problems if you’re a spread team. It’s something we will have to work on this week.”
Clarksville also has momentum after winning three of its last four games. The Panthers suffered a 26-21 loss to Dover in Week 9, but finished out the regular season last week with a 23-17 victory over Dardanelle.
Their worst loss of the season came at the hands of eventual 4-4A champion Booneville, 56-7, in Week 4. They also lost to league No. 3 seed West Fork 19-7 in Week 6.
The last time Lonoke and Clarksville met was in the first round of the 4A state playoffs two years ago, when the host Jackrabbits moved on to the second round with a 48-20 victory.
Lonoke also won its home playoff game last year against Warren.
“Anytime you get to play at home, it’s a great thing to have,” Bost said. “We know the fans will come out and support our kids, so we’re just glad to have it at home.”
SPORTS >> Bears at full strength for Bulldogs
Sylvan Hills senior quarterback Jordan Spears is dragged down by Beebe defenders Dalton Wallace, 43, Jordan Brockway, 19, and Brandon Bailey during the Bears’ 13-12 victory over the Badgers on Friday at Bill Blackwood Field.By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
If Greenwood was looking for a willing underdog in the first round of the 5A state playoffs, Sylvan Hills was probably not what it had in mind.
The Bulldogs (9-1) swept the 5A-West Conference to earn the league title and No. 1 playoff seed with a 7-0 mark. They clinched the title last week on the road in a 25-21 victory over second-place Alma.
Sylvan Hills (4-6) ended the 5A-Southeast season at 4-3. The Bears have won four of their last five games after starting the
season 0-5.
They clinched the No. 4 seed out of the Southeast with a 13-12 victory over Beebe last week at Bill Blackwood Field in their season and conference finale.
That set up the first-round playoff game at Greenwood’s Smith-Robinson Stadium in Greenwood on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The numbers stack up in Greenwood’s favor, but Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow isn’t buying.
“I think it’s all in how you look at it,” Withrow said. “We’re playing a very good football team, but it’s not like we’re going in and facing the New England Patriots either. If you go out, play well and think you can win, that’s the biggest part of the battle.
“If you think you can win, you have a good chance. At the high school level, the psychological aspect is one of the biggest parts, and that’s the approach we’re taking. We’re going in thinking we can win. We’re not going up there just happy to be in the show and go out and have pizza afterward. If we don’t compete, I’m going to be very disappointed.”
Withrow was also quick to point out his team has already faced elite competition this season in the form of Cabot and North Little Rock in Week 2 and 3, as well 5A-Southeast Conference champion Monticello two weeks ago.
“If you’re intimidated now, you must have been asleep the past couple of months,” Withrow said. “I think we’ve also looked at it and realized how we could have approached those games better from a players’ perspective. Like in the Monticello game, they were up 14-0 before the game ever started, and it ended up 35-7. It could just as easily been 21-7.
“We can’t wait until we go halfway into the second quarter and then say, ‘Hey, wecan play with these guys.’ ”
The Bears and Badgers went scoreless last week until the fourth quarter, when both teams found the end zone twice. But a pair of missed two-point conversions by Beebe handed the victory and the playoff spot to Sylvan Hills.
“It was kind of the way I thought it would be,” Withrow said. “It was pretty evenly matched. We had some opportunities to score early on but didn’t cash them in — the same stuff we’ve been doing. But we had two big stops on two-point conversions.”
The Bears came full circle last week with the return of senior running back Juliean Broner. Broner has been back on defense for a number of weeks after recovering from a leg injury he sustained earlier in the year, but finally got a full release from the training staff to play offense.
“I thought we threw the ball pretty good,” Withrow said. “We got to using Broner more at tailback and got a little too one dimensional. It was good to have him back, but we’ve got to find that balance.”
With their final regular season game against Beebe played on Thursday, Withrow and his Bears had a chance to visit Alma to see the Airedales and White Hall face off.
“That’s what high school football should be,” Withrow said. “Both towns were there watching the game. I even got to meet the Alma superintendent — these people understand that academics and activities go hand in hand.”
What Withrow saw on the field was not a bunch of 300-pound gorillas, but rather well coached high school kids.
“One thing was their passing game was real precise,” Withrow said. “They made changes at the line of scrimmage; they would look at the coverage, check it off and go to something else.”
The Bulldogs are also multiple on defense. Withrow said that is something Bears senior quarterback Jordan Spears will have to be ready to deal with.
“Defensively, they disguise their coverages well,” Withrow said. “They have a lot of movement in their backfield.
“They will move up in the middle of the cadence. For Jordan, he’s going to have to be patient and wait and see what the coverage is.”
Friday, November 06, 2009
EDITORIAL >> Prosecution gets slammed
Back in April 2007, when Lonoke County Prosecutor Lona McCastlain and her deputies charged former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell with running a continuing criminal enterprise and propped her case up with a slew of seemingly unrelated criminal allegations, we thought she was overreaching.
That’s not how the jury saw it and neither did special Judge John Cole.
Campbell’s trial attorney, Patrick Benca, challenged McCastlain at every turn, asking for a directed verdict of not guilty and holding that there was no probable cause for the search warrant that garnered much of the physical evidence against Campbell and his wife.
Cole denied Benca and Campbell at each instance.
The jury found the Campbells guilty of a combined 49 criminal counts and recommended that the former chief be sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The Campbells asked to remain free on bond pending appeal. McCastlain argued successfully to lock them up immediately.
That was nearly 30 months ago.
Chief Justice Jim Hannah of the Arkansas Supreme Court, writing for the majority, on Thursday overturned the former chief’s convictions and remanded the case back to the prosecutor, now Will Feland, who is serving until McCastlain’s term expires next year.
The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence of a continuing criminal enterprise, said the judge erred in not dismissing the CCE charge and that there was, in fact, no probable cause for a search warrant of the Campbells’ home.
Kelly Campbell, the chief’s wife and co-defendant, was convicted of lesser offenses and received a 20-year sentence. She is eligible for parole next year but could be released sooner if her conviction is also overturned.
Here was a case of an energetic prosecutor overreaching. Who cannot understand the prosecution’s zealousness in the presence of rascality on such a large scale by a man hired by the people to protect them? It is a common failing of prosecutors, the impulse to throw everything at a crook in hopes that enough will stick that no jury would acquit him. But seasoned prosecutors learn that playing scrupulously by the rulebook is nearly always wise. It is certainly the safest. You don’t have outcomes like this.
The prosecutor introduced days of testimony about the sexual peccadilloes of the police chief’s wife, who used inmates and public facilities for her gratification. It made fascinating reading but, as the Supreme Court observed, it seemed to have nothing to do with the chief’s criminal labors and could have prejudiced the jury against him. The fruits of an illegal search were used against the chief, which the prosecutor should have known would produce a reversal.
Finally, there is the conspiracy statute, which produced the chief’s 40-year sentence. Conspiracy laws became popular in the 1970s because they gave federal and state prosecutors a new tool to nail underworld and public figures. You could round up a number of offenses and show that together they constituted a conspiracy, a “criminal enterprise,” which is worthy of a much longer sentence. The trouble is that conspiracies are hard to prove. The Supreme Court said Campbell’s trial fell far short of proving that all his crimes constituted a gang conspiracy controlled by the chief of police.
If the prosecution decides Campbell needs to be retried, it should be with discretion and care for the rules of jurisprudence.
There’s no doubt that the Campbells violated the public trust and the trust of friends, but defense attorney Benca says Campbell has served long enough and shouldn’t be retried, and we think maybe he’s right.
That’s not how the jury saw it and neither did special Judge John Cole.
Campbell’s trial attorney, Patrick Benca, challenged McCastlain at every turn, asking for a directed verdict of not guilty and holding that there was no probable cause for the search warrant that garnered much of the physical evidence against Campbell and his wife.
Cole denied Benca and Campbell at each instance.
The jury found the Campbells guilty of a combined 49 criminal counts and recommended that the former chief be sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The Campbells asked to remain free on bond pending appeal. McCastlain argued successfully to lock them up immediately.
That was nearly 30 months ago.
Chief Justice Jim Hannah of the Arkansas Supreme Court, writing for the majority, on Thursday overturned the former chief’s convictions and remanded the case back to the prosecutor, now Will Feland, who is serving until McCastlain’s term expires next year.
The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence of a continuing criminal enterprise, said the judge erred in not dismissing the CCE charge and that there was, in fact, no probable cause for a search warrant of the Campbells’ home.
Kelly Campbell, the chief’s wife and co-defendant, was convicted of lesser offenses and received a 20-year sentence. She is eligible for parole next year but could be released sooner if her conviction is also overturned.
Here was a case of an energetic prosecutor overreaching. Who cannot understand the prosecution’s zealousness in the presence of rascality on such a large scale by a man hired by the people to protect them? It is a common failing of prosecutors, the impulse to throw everything at a crook in hopes that enough will stick that no jury would acquit him. But seasoned prosecutors learn that playing scrupulously by the rulebook is nearly always wise. It is certainly the safest. You don’t have outcomes like this.
The prosecutor introduced days of testimony about the sexual peccadilloes of the police chief’s wife, who used inmates and public facilities for her gratification. It made fascinating reading but, as the Supreme Court observed, it seemed to have nothing to do with the chief’s criminal labors and could have prejudiced the jury against him. The fruits of an illegal search were used against the chief, which the prosecutor should have known would produce a reversal.
Finally, there is the conspiracy statute, which produced the chief’s 40-year sentence. Conspiracy laws became popular in the 1970s because they gave federal and state prosecutors a new tool to nail underworld and public figures. You could round up a number of offenses and show that together they constituted a conspiracy, a “criminal enterprise,” which is worthy of a much longer sentence. The trouble is that conspiracies are hard to prove. The Supreme Court said Campbell’s trial fell far short of proving that all his crimes constituted a gang conspiracy controlled by the chief of police.
If the prosecution decides Campbell needs to be retried, it should be with discretion and care for the rules of jurisprudence.
There’s no doubt that the Campbells violated the public trust and the trust of friends, but defense attorney Benca says Campbell has served long enough and shouldn’t be retried, and we think maybe he’s right.
TOP STORY >> Library has full schedule for November
Jacksonville’s Esther Dewitt Nixon Library has a number of events scheduled during November as temperatures become cooler and people start moving inside.
Tyke Tales for the little ones, ages 3-5, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays. Storytime for ages 6-8, called the Book Bunch, is held at 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Merry Moppets, for the littlest ones, 18 months to 3 years old, will be held each Friday at 10:30 a.m.
Merry Moppets requires advance registration.
Thanksgiving dinner recipe cards will be given out at the front desk until Saturday, Nov. 21. Pick up recipe cards and share recipes with the rest of the community.
Other library offerings include Family Wii Sports Time at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7.
Knit and Crochet Day will be held at noon Thursday.
Those who wish to participate should bring a bag lunch and a knitting or crochet project.
A Thanksgiving puppet show with Jonathan and Amanda will be held at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16.
Native American Cookery: Thanksgiving Flipside will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18. Native American expert Valerie Goetz will prepare traditional tribal dishes and discuss Thanksgiving from a Native American perspective.
Book chat will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19. This is an opportunity for adults to discuss the books they’ve read over the past month.
YA and Teens will discuss books they have read over the past month during Book Yaks with Snacks at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Book Club Divas will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24 to discuss “Unaccustomed Earth,” by Jhumpa Lahiri. The library has copies of Lahiri’s novel at the front desk.
Tyke Tales for the little ones, ages 3-5, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays. Storytime for ages 6-8, called the Book Bunch, is held at 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Merry Moppets, for the littlest ones, 18 months to 3 years old, will be held each Friday at 10:30 a.m.
Merry Moppets requires advance registration.
Thanksgiving dinner recipe cards will be given out at the front desk until Saturday, Nov. 21. Pick up recipe cards and share recipes with the rest of the community.
Other library offerings include Family Wii Sports Time at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7.
Knit and Crochet Day will be held at noon Thursday.
Those who wish to participate should bring a bag lunch and a knitting or crochet project.
A Thanksgiving puppet show with Jonathan and Amanda will be held at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16.
Native American Cookery: Thanksgiving Flipside will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18. Native American expert Valerie Goetz will prepare traditional tribal dishes and discuss Thanksgiving from a Native American perspective.
Book chat will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19. This is an opportunity for adults to discuss the books they’ve read over the past month.
YA and Teens will discuss books they have read over the past month during Book Yaks with Snacks at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Book Club Divas will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24 to discuss “Unaccustomed Earth,” by Jhumpa Lahiri. The library has copies of Lahiri’s novel at the front desk.
TOP STORY >> Education center ceremony Monday
Little Rock Air Force Base and Jacksonville officials will hold a groundbreaking for the joint-education center on Monday.By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Site preparation has begun on the long-awaited $10.6 million Joint Education Center at Little Rock Air Force Base, with the official groundbreaking ceremony set for 9 a.m. Monday.
For years, Jacksonville community leaders in conjunction with base brass, have worked to realize a new college facility on the base but outside the security wire. It has been cited as a unique example of military-civilian cooperation.
So new is the idea that the Air Force had to figure out how to legally accept the city’s $5 million share of the project.
Because the existing center is “inside the wire,” it is difficult for Jacksonville-area residents to attend classes offered by six different colleges. That’s been particularly true since security concerns increased after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Currently, classes are held in a converted dormitory building, according to Nancy Shefflette, director of the ASU/Beebe school at the Joint Education Center.
The contractor, W.G. Yates and Sons Construction of Philadelphia, Miss., will build the new cooperative college at the corner of Vandenberg Boulevard and John Harden Drive.
That’s the same company that built the base’s $9.2 million, 68,000 square foot physical fitness center, which opened six years ago.
The Air Force’s contribution is $9.8 million and Jacksonville’s is $5 million, raised by local residents who approved a dedicated tax for that purpose in 2003.
Although the money available for the building totals $14.8 million, the contract is for about $4 million less.
“This is going to be a tremendous asset for the base populace and the north Pulaski communities,” said Shefflette. “We will have easier access to college level courses, freshman through graduate. We’ll be able to assist many, many more students.”
Although the building, reportedly to be 44,000 square feet, is about half the size of the original 80,000-square-foot proposal, it is designed specifically as an educational facility, with state-of-the-art communications capability, high-speed Internet and is also designed to accommodate students with disabilities.”
The contract includes all electrical work, mechanical work including installation of HVAC systems, plumbing work, site preparation, excavation and backfill and drainage. It also includes foundation construction and building erection.
TOP STORY >> First charter school dedicated
Lighthouse Academy principal Nigena Livingston addresses students, staff and guests at Thursday’s dedication.By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
Parents, students, teachers and staff, along with community leaders, helped dedicate Jacksonville’s new charter school Thursday — the first new school built in the city in almost three decades.
“Thank you, Jacksonville, for letting us move into our new home,” principal Nigena Livingston said during the dedication ceremony. “This is the school that was built for a better tomorrow.”
Some 340 students moved into the Lighthouse Academy, 251 N. First St., last week from temporary quarters at Second Baptist Church. Construction of the $4 million school got off to a late start in March, in part due to spring rains, followed by frequent torrential downpours through October.
The 28,425-square-foot building has classes from kindergarten through sixth grade. It is the city’s first new school since Murrell Taylor Elementary was built in 1981.
During a ceremony inside the school following a ribbon-cutting, pupils walked up to the microphone and discussed their hopes and goals for the school year.
“I want to get straight A’s,” one student said.
Said another, “I want everyone to pass and keep the school clean.”
“I want to live up to high expectations,” said a third.
“Today is a new beginning for the city of Jacksonville,” said Mayor Gary Fletcher. “You truly are chartering the course of our community for years to come.”
Fletcher compared the innovative school to the space program, when astronauts reached for the moon when he was still in school.
“Today is the beginning of a new frontier for Jacksonville,” the mayor said. He said the new school was another step toward “establishing our own school district.”
“You never took your eyes off the stars,” Fletcher said.
Mike Ronan, president and chief executive officer of Lighthouse Academies, based in Farmingham, Mass., called the school “a tremendous accomplishment, made possible by the individuals in this room.”
“Nov. 5 is a special day,” he continued. “One year ago, a charter was granted.
“The hard part is really in front of us,” Ronan said. “To fulfill the mission of this school. For Jacksonville, this really is a historic day.
“Someone else doesn’t make things happen,” Ronan said. “Someone else doesn’t solve our problems.
“We’re expecting nothing but the best,” he said. “Jacksonville has a bright future.
“All children must have access to free, high-quality education,” Ronan said. “I look forward to the day when this first group of scholars graduates from college and comes back to Jacksonville.”
“What a happy day for Jacksonville,” Alderman Kevin McCleary, a school board member, told The Leader.
“One thing I know for sure is that inside these walls, great things will happen,” said Phillip Carlisle, Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce president.
He praised the efforts of city fathers and leaders who worked for the creation of the charter school.
Among those who were thanked for making the school possible were former state Rep. Mike Wilson, who helped organize the effort to bring a charter school to Jacksonville; the architect Chad Young and builder Jim Green.
Plans are to add classes through high school. There is undeveloped land nearby, as well as empty buildings across the street.
One organizer said the opening of the Lighthouse Academy was historic because for the first time in 80 years, Jacksonville residents have made their own decision about the future of the children’s education.
The Pulaski County Special School District, which includes Jacksonville, is headquartered in south Little Rock.
Trinity Mize, 8, of Cabot is a scholar in Nerinda Elliott’s third-grade class. “It was good,” she said after the dedication. “I liked the people that spoke. The song that the older scholars sang was good.”
Mize says of the school, “there’s a lot more stuff we do” than at her previous school. “It’s fun,” she said. “It’s more fun because you get to do a lot more fun stuff.”
Trinity wants to be a teacher when she grows up. She is the daughter of Craig and Kelly Mize of Cabot.
The school day lasts from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Although recess is longer, “there’s a lot more work. I like doing it (class work) because it’s fun and I usually help people learn how to do what we’re doing if I know how. Like homophones and homographs and sometimes reading,” she said.
Her classmates use instruments in music class, she said. “We’re going to start painting in art,” Trinity added.
“Now that we’re in our big school, we get a lot more fun coloring work,” she said. “Like in math work, a number is a certain color.”
Leader staff writer Christy Hendricks contributed to this report.
TOP STORY >> Cabot’s Silver Screen now in 3D
Silver Screen Theater manager Joe Creamer (from left), concession worker Jera Self and projectionist Chris Rodriguez try out the movie house’s new 3D glasses. The theater showed its first 3D movie, “A Christmas Carol,” on Friday.
Silver Screen theater has undergone renovations, including a new facade.By CHRISTY HENDRICKS
Leader staff writer
Theatergoers in Cabot got an early Christmas present Friday – in the form of “A Christmas Carol,” starring Jim Carey, in 3D.
Silver Screen Theater in Cabot will be joining the 1 percent of the 27,000 theaters in North America that use the Dolby 3D Digital Light Projection System.
“We’ve done some renovations,” said owner Matt Smith. “All the seating is new.” Smith says that both the theater in Cabot and Searcy Cinema 8 will have new carpet, seats, signs, neon and facades, as well as the new 3D technology, once the renovations are finished. The Cabot theater renovations are finished and Searcy’s are still in progress.
The 3D Dolby Digital Light Projection System is “cutting edge technology, it’s the best 3D out there,” according to Smith.
“Dolby (newest 3D technology) has just hit theaters,” said Smith. “It’s come out since this past spring.”
The new generation of 3D glasses, made by Dolby, can be considered “green” because they are reusable. “These are not the old school 3D glasses,” Smith told The Leader.
He says the eyewear is sturdy and made to last. When purchasing a ticket, consumers will receive a pair of glasses that will be turned in to an usher when leaving the theater.
According to Arkansas law, films must be screened before theaters in the state can book a movie; so upcoming 3D showings have yet to be scheduled. Fifteen major motion pictures, featuring 3D, are slated for release in 2010. Among those are
“Avatar,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Piranha,” Shrek: Forever After,” “Toy Story 3,” “Cats and Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore” and “Alice in Wonderland.”
Smith says the new seats in the theaters are high-back rockers and are also a bit wider. The seats also have popup arm rests with cup holders. When raised, the armrests allow the single seats to become a love seat.
Smith says the theaters have season specials, such as free popcorn on Thursdays in the fall and spring. Matinees are held at 2 p.m. anytime school is out. During summer months, the theater shows family films for $1 admission one or two mornings a week.
Ticket and concession prices will remain the same, Smith says. However, ticket prices for 3D showings will have a surcharge added. Smith says plans for the Cabot and Searcy theaters include adding four screens to each.
For times and ticket prices, visit www.silverscreencabot.com or www.searcycinema.com.
TOP STORY >> Holiday harvests: gleaners fill food-pantry needs
Volunteers participated in a gleaning in August at a pear orchard owned by Oscar and Marisue Jones of El Paso.By NANCY DOCKTER
Leader staff writer
Ever-changing weather and economic conditions that make farming one of the most challenging occupations also result in huge volumes of food going to waste in this country every year.
Weather extremes can cut into a farmer’s profits. Perfectly timed rains and idyllic temperatures can make for bumper crops which glut the market and depress prices, making harvest unprofitable.
Excessive rains, like the ones plaguing farmers this year, leave fields waterlogged, delaying harvests and damaging crops.
Unsold, weather-blemished food, though often still edible, is plowed under.
“The amount of food left in fields is beyond our imagination,” said Rhonda Sanders, executive director of Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, which is building a network of farmers and volunteer gleaners during a time when some food pantries are having difficulty keeping their shelves stocked, especially with fresh fruits and vegetables. “We need to access food at every point we can, and this is a great way to do that.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 27 percent of all food produced in this country is wasted, about 1.5 tons per year for every person, while more than 17 percent of Americans live in poverty and are at risk of going hungry.
GETTING FOOD TO THE NEEDY
So far this year, Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance has distributed 285,000 pounds of gleaned vegetables and fruit to Arkansas feeding agencies. The Society of St. Andrew, a national food recovery organization, has provided assistance in developing the Arkansas program, now in its second year.
Farmers who participate in gleaning programs are able to offset their losses – or even realize a modest profit – by claiming half the fair market value of donated food as a tax write-off.
Educating farmers about gleaning’s potential advantages can be slow work. Finding volunteers who can be available on short notice can be even harder. Their reward is getting to take the gleaned food back to a food pantry or soup kitchen in their community.
“The challenge is to work within the time frame of a farmer,” Sanders said. “Volunteers have got to be really ready. The best match is to pair a farmer with volunteers nearby.”
Some farmers have concerns about liability associated with gleaning, but according to Jackie Usey, program coordinator for Society of St. Andrew, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects them. “We’ve have never had so much as a complaint from a bee sting in 30 years.”
GLEANERS WORK IN EL PASO, SCOTT
Oscar Jones and his wife, Marisue, of El Paso, who are no longer able to work their apple and pear orchard, decided to give gleaning a try again this year after having problems with an earlier volunteer group.
This time, all went well with a crew from Stallion Transportation in Beebe. In fact, it went so well that the volunteers may partner with the Joneses to care for the aging orchard and improve its productivity.
It is not about the tax advantage, Jones said. “We just don’t like to see it fall on the ground and donated just because some people could get some good out of it.”
Dale O’Neal, 53, who farms 250 acres in Scott, picked 2009 as the year to get back into growing vegetables, along with his mainstays, soybeans, wheat and rice. He has always raised a big vegetable garden for his family and enjoys sharing the bounty with relatives and friends.
Growing up in the ’60s and ’70s, O’Neal had worked alongside his father tending acres of vegetables, which they sold at a roadside stand. It was a boom time for Arkansas row croppers, because grocery store chains with their international, year-round bazaar of every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable had not yet made it to small towns.
Produce was mainly what was available in season locally. The O’Neals couldn’t grow enough to meet the demand from customers hungry for their summer crops such as sweet corn, peas and melons. They even tilled up their front yard, he recalled. “They would be waiting for us; we’d be sold out by noon.”
When gas prices spiked to $5 a gallon in mid-2008, O’Neal read a news article about the high cost of trucking fresh produce from California to Arkansas. It convinced him that growing vegetables could once again be lucrative, especially with the resurging consumer demand for fresh, local produce. He was sure he could grow those same crops, save on transportation, cut out the middle man and beat the grocery store prices by selling direct at a local farmers market.
Looking back, O’Neal now says, “This has been the worst year to restart and get into this again.”
The record-setting rains brought him both abundance and ruin.
“At one time we had 7,000 watermelons on the ground averaging 25 pounds apiece,” O’Neal said. But four Tuesdays in a row, thunderstorms kept customers away at the Little Rock Farmers Market. “It was devastating to everyone there,” he recalled.
“We’d trade out among the other vendors for things we needed.” The rest, he hauled back home. Another time, he lined up what looked like a sure sale of a semi-trailer load of 1,000 watermelons to a Memphis distributor only to be turned away because three other deliveries had come in ahead of his that day.
It had been difficult enough even getting the crops out of the fields. Six laborers who helped with spring plantings disappeared at the time of a big watermelon harvest. O’Neal harvested what he could with a hurriedly assembled crew.
One rainy Tuesday at the Little Rock Farmers Market, O’Neal had so many watermelons left over that he was mentally preparing for a “watermelon giveaway” that weekend back home, when Michelle Shope, director of food sourcing and logistics for Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, stopped by to talk with him about the gleaning program. She explained about the tax incentive and how he would be linked with a crew of volunteers to do the gleaning and distribute the food.
FOOD PANTRY IN SHERWOOD HELPS OUT
Shope asked Dale Prater, who for 10 years has run Central Baptist Church’s food pantry in Sherwood, if he would be interested.
“They were looking for one food pantry that would take this project on and not mind a lot of hard work,” Prater recalled.
Since mid-June, Prater and volunteers have gone as often as three times a week to O’Neal’s and have gathered more than 56,000 pounds of vegetables that otherwise would have been wasted – watermelon, cantaloupe, peas, squash, okra, corn, peppers, cucumbers and pumpkins.
The food went to Fish Net Ministries in Jacksonville and Gloryland Church food pantry in Lonoke and several other programs in North Little Rock and Conway, including two transitional homes for former drug addicts. Prater and volunteers also make home deliveries to shut-ins at a North Little Rock housing project.
For Prater, O’Neal’s crops were an answer to his prayers.
“The demand for food is increasing at the same time that the amount of (donated) food is decreasing,” Prater said. “This is such a blessing to everyone. The O’Neals have been so giving. They’ve said, ‘Here it is – we want to share it with everyone.’”
About 50 families each month count on the Central Baptist Church food pantry for help. Since the economy went into recession, Prater has seen a difference in the people who line up each Wednesday afternoon at the food pantry door. There are more middle-class folks, homeowners and professional people who say they have never before been on public assistance of any kind. Layoffs are throwing more families into crisis, he said.
“Last week, there was a couple with three kids, both had lost their jobs that Monday,” Prater said.
On a recent Wednesday, Prater and volunteer Fred Davidson distributed food baskets containing summer squash from O’Neal’s farm along with spring onions, canned goods, and tilapia from Arkansas Food Bank. One North Little Rock grandmother has been coming there for about a year to get food for herself and her grandchild who lives with her.
“I am on disability; this place surely helps out,” she said, as she paused to inventory the sack full of groceries. “Got onions, that’s good. At the store, they’re high. Back in the summer there was watermelon, cucumbers and squash. It was delicious.
Today, there’s squash. I like to put that with my fried potatoes.”
Several others getting food that day were single moms or grandmothers who provide a home for their children and grandchildren. They were there because a crisis – a layoff or medical bills – had wrecked an already fragile family economy.
A woman who identified herself only as “Juanita” says the food is for herself, a son and his three children, who live with her.
“It doesn’t carry us very far, but it sure does help. I cook at my neighbor’s house because I don’t have electricity or gas. I am trying to get my disability started.”
Juanita is thin with short-cropped hair. “I am a stage 1 brain cancer survivor.” She pivots and touches a lump on her shoulder, then points to her arm. “I have two more tumors that need surgery. I am kind of surviving right now.”
A woman from Jacksonville explained that she turned to the food pantry after getting laid off in January from her job as a retail manager. She cares for her daughter, who “has been in and out of the hospital,” and two grandchildren, who all live with her.
In all its years of operation, the food pantry has never turned anyone away for lack of food. But it has been touch and go, at times lately. “We have been scraping and scrapping for nonperishable goods and it isn’t even the busy season yet,” Prater said.
A SILVER LINING FOR ONE FARMER
Without the gleaning program, O’Neal says more than half of his crops would have gone to waste. Instead, he made money. With the federal tax write-off, he will be able to claim 50 cents on the dollar of fair-market value for the gleaned food.
O’Neal says he may even come out better growing vegetables than soybeans grown on the same land last year – despite the weather.
“I won’t know until my tax people gather up all the numbers, but I am a pretty good estimator,” he said, “I’ll probably do this again next year. You always plant a whole lot more than you can harvest, so this worked out good for everybody.”
He understands some farmers’ reluctance to let outsiders come on their land. “I’m old school. I don’t worry about everything that could happen. If I’ve got it, I want to share it.”
SPORTS >> Marion squeaks by Jacksonville with late interception
Jacksonville defensive back Kenny Cummings tackles Marion running back DeKendrick Smith at Jan Crow Stadium.By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Marion earned its No. 4 seed out of the 6A-East Conference the hard way, and got all it wanted from Jacksonville in the process in its 43-36 victory at Jan Crow Stadium on Thursday night.
In fact, the Patriots were 12 yards and 28 seconds away from a potential overtime that would have put their playoff berth in jeopardy.
But Marion junior linebacker DeKendrick Smith intercepted a Jacksonville pass at his 3 with 13 seconds left to secure the victory for the Patriots in a game that featured eight lead changes in the second half.
The Patriots (6-4, 4-3) took the lead for the final time with 3:12 left when junior Michael Snipes broke free for a 65-yard touchdown run, his second long score of the night. Justin Carlow ran in the two-point conversion to set the final score, but the
Red Devils took it to the wire with their final drive.
Jacksonville (2-8, 1-6) went 68 yards in nine plays and reached the Patriots’ 12 in the final three minutes.
But Smith sniffed out Red Devil junior quarterback Logan Perry’s pass attempt to senior receiver Devin Featherston in the end zone and pulled down the interception, returning it to the Marion 47 with 13 seconds left.
“It’s been like that all year,” Jacksonville coach Mark Whatley said. “We came out and battled. You can’t question the fight in these kids. There’s no quit in them. It seemed like the younger players were trying to send our seniors out on a good note.”
The defensive struggle of the first half gave way to a shootout in the final two quarters.
Marion finished with 469 yards, 254 of which came in the second half, while Jacksonville had 503 total yards with 310 in the second half.
Marion’s 14-7 lead at halftime quickly evaporated at the start of the third quarter, when Jacksonville junior running back John Johnson scored on a 90-yard run on the first play. Johnson hit the right sideline and accelerated to go untouched for the score.
The Red Devils then used gadgetry on their extra-point attempt. Price Eubanks lined up for his kick, but holder Featherston picked up the snap and threw to Perry, who found Nick Nowden in the end zone to put Jacksonville up 15-14.
Johnson’s 90-yard touchdown run was only one of many big plays by the fleet junior, who rushed for 201 yards on 12 carries and added two receptions for another 115 yards, picking up 69 yards and a touchdown on a catch for Jacksonville’s first score with 7:09 left in the second quarter.
“He can do some things when he gets in the open,” Whatley said of Johnson. “I thought the whole line did a good job up front as well. When he gets in space, he can make things happen.”
Johnson had a 3-yard touchdown run with 7:10 left in the third quarter to give the Red Devils a 22-21 lead after Eubanks’ successful extra-point kick.
Marion answered quickly with a 41-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jonathan Millikin, and threatened to stop Jacksonville’s momentum when it recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. But Featherston stopped a potential Patriot touchdown with an interception at the Red Devils’ 11.
Then Johnson went back to work, mostly on a sweep right play the Patriots struggled to stop. He racked up two straight 10-yard runs to move the ball to the Jacksonville 31 before fullback Antwon Mosby ran for 11 yards to put the Red Devils close to midfield three plays later.
Jacksonville moved near the Marion red zone on the ground, but it was a 26-yard touchdown pass from Perry to Featherston that finished the drive. Perry scrambled and found room near the line of scrimmage and zipped the ball to Featherston in the back of the end zone.
Featherston dragged his feet to stay within the back boundary to put Jacksonville back on top, 29-28.
Brandon Brownlee’s 56-yard touchdown run with 7:20 left to play put Marion ahead, 35-29, but Jacksonville answered again.
It took six plays and 2:19 for the Red Devils to go 80 yards.
D’Vone McClure got things rolling with a 23-yard gain on a double reverse that began with a handoff from Perry to Johnson, who took it 26 yards on the following play to the Marion 31.
Mosby had runs of 17 and 3 yards, and Perry finished the drive with an 11-yard pass to McClure with 5:01 left. Eubanks nailed the point-after, his fourth of the night, to give Jacksonville a 36-35 lead.
SPORTS >> Second-half rally lifts Cabot to title
Cabot defender Logan Spry grabs an end-zone interception to end Russellville’s first possession in Cabot’s victory that clinched the 7A-Central title on Thursday night.By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
RUSSELLVILLE — The season didn’t start the way Michael James planned, but it could end up the way he hoped.
Cabot’s senior fullback rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns as the Panthers held off Russellville 26-24 and clinched the 7A-Central Conference championship at Cyclone Stadium on Thursday night.
“It’s awesome man,” James said of this year’s title. “There’s nothing worse than being a senior and sitting out, not playing. I’m pumped up being back.”
James has dealt with injuries that kept him from significant action until midway through the season. But with his help Thursday the Panthers overcame the Cyclones in the second half, locked up a first-round bye in the playoffs and possible home-field advantage throughout.
“That was a heck of a ballgame,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said. “If you just wanted to watch a good ballgame, back and forth, they were ahead, we came back. A lot of momentum shifts.”
James rushed for more than 1,300 yards last year and was expected to have a banner 2009. But he missed the first two games with a shoulder injury, and then he suffered an ankle sprain that forced him to miss more action and still causes him pain.
But it hasn’t been enough to keep James off the field in the late going. As part of a group of seniors who have never won a playoff game, James is looking forward to this year’s return trip.
Cabot won the 7A-Central last year then, after its bye, was eliminated at home by Springdale Har-Ber.
“State championship, I want it bad. We’re going for it,” James said.
Russellville led 17-11 at halftime after Cyclones kicker Zach Hocker set a new single-season state record with his 18th field goal, a 48-yarder, in the closing seconds.
Cabot opened the second half with an 80-yard drive that included a 43-yard run up the middle by James and Spencer Smith’s 1-yard scoring run for the 18-17 lead with 8:41 left in the third quarter.
Russellville was forced to punt when a crowd of Panthers led by T.J. Bertrand sacked Barrett Hughes, and Cabot went 64 yards and scored on James’ 4-yard run. Malham then chose to go for two, and James scored on a pitchout to make it a two-score lead, 26-17, with 10:30 left in the game.
Russellville cut the lead when Hughes passed 10 yards to DeMarius Neal to make it 26-24 with 4:30 to go.
Cabot was forced to punt, but Panthers defensive lineman Jay Turpin hurried Hughes into an incompletion to bring up fourth an 7 at the Cyclones’ 31. Bertrand then turned in another sack, for a 9-yard loss, to get the ball back for the Panthers with 2:04 remaining.
“It was all the plays we didn’t make in the first half,” Malham said of the defensive stops.
From there, Cabot ran out the clock, with James getting three straight carries and the final first down that allowed quarterback Seth Bloomberg to take a knee in the victory formation.
“We started him at linebacker and then I had him at fullback,” Malham said of James. “When you have him for three years, I just have so much confidence in him.”
Malham was waiting on Friday night’s results to see who Cabot’s second-round opponent will be and was looking forward to the weekend off.
“It’s just nice to win a conference championship and say ‘Hey I don’t have to work next week, or I don’t have to work this weekend anyway,’ ” Malham said. “And then we’ll sit back and see who’s going to come to our place.”
Cabot pulled within 14-11 on Logan Spry’s 40-yard field goal with 30 seconds left in the first half.
But Spry skied the ensuing kickoff down the middle instead of to the sideline, where Malham wanted it, and Andrew Tryon returned it 42 yards to the Panthers’ 37.
A 6-yard completion and a spike to stop the clock with 5 seconds left brought on Hocker, who made his 48-yard attempt with room to spare to set his field goal record.
Spry ended a promising first possession by Russellville when he intercepted receiver Averian Collins’ pass on a reverse to Cole Smith in the end zone.
Cabot went 80 yards on 15 plays and scored when James went off tackle on a 4-yard run with 2:24 left in the first quarter.
“He’s as good as he’s going to get so there’s no reason to hold him back any longer,” Malham said of James. “It’s do or die now.”
James had long gains of 10 and 11 yards on the drive, and Cabot ran him in from the 4 on the conversion after a Russellville encroachment penalty halved the distance.
Russellville responded with an 80-yard drive of its own and scored when Hughes passed 7 yards to Neal to pull the Cyclones within 8-7 with 8:24 left.
Hughes was 7 for 8 on the drive with long completions of 11 and 16 yards, plus the 17-yarder to Neal to bring up first and goal at the 7.
Cabot fumbled and recovered to stall its next drive and Russellville went 67 yards to score on Jacob Sparks’ 1-yard run and take the 14-8 lead with 2:54 left in the half. Hughes had 13-yard completions to Sparks and Averian Collins — who also had a tackle-breaking carry of 22 yards — and 11 yards to Smith.
Two officiating calls went Cabot’s way on the Panthers’ final possession of the half.
Cabot was forced to punt and Russellville was called for a block below the knees, with the yardage measured from the spot of the foul instead of the line of scrimmage to give the Panthers a first down at the Cyclones’ 36.
On second and 8 at the 23, Bloomberg attempted a pass to Joe Bryant in the right flat, but the pass was behind Bryant and looked like a fumbled lateral recovered by Russellville’s Logan Pruitt.
The officials called it an incomplete pass to give the Panthers new life, and a play later, Spry kicked his 40-yarder.
SPORTS >> She’s got next
Jessica Jackson has received major-college scholarship offers without a minute of varsity experience.
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
It starts innocently enough.
A young girl picks up a basketball and joins a team. She develops her game and then, as predictably as sunshine follows rain, the college recruiters eventually come calling.
That’s how it happened for Jacksonville’s Jessica Jackson, but at a pace unheard of around these parts.
Without playing a minute of varsity basketball, Jackson, a freshman, has become a recruiting darling with offers from two major colleges, including Arkansas. That’s a first for the Jacksonville program, coach Katrina Mimms said, but it’s a first Jackson deserves.
“She’s legit,” Mimms said.
It doesn’t matter that NCAA rules keep Jackson from accepting the offers — the other came from Texas A&M — until she is a
junior. What has impressed local observers is that she is being recruited at all at her age.
“You hear about it in boys but you don’t hear about it in girls as much,” Mimms said. “Both coaches told me that they had never offered a ninth-grader.”
Jackson, 6-2, is an inside-outside threat who can handle the ball and projects as a strong forward for Mimms. At the major college level she is being recruited as a guard.
“She just brings a person that the other team is going to have to defend because she’s so versatile,” Mimms said.
“I dribble a lot and shoot,” Jackson said.
Jackson took up basketball as a sixth-grader wanting to emulate her older sisters Jennifer and Kailyn. By most accounts her initial tryout, with the Arkansas Select winter program at North Little Rock’s Glenview Community Center, did not go well.
“There was a couple comments made that she couldn’t make it,” Jackson’s father, Jeff, said. “A couple said she wasn’t going to do anything and that’s when I went to work with her.”
Countless hours under Jeff’s supervision at the Jacksonville Community Center began to have an effect and Jessica blossomed into a standout with the AAU Arkansas Mavericks.
“She’s a type of kid that works tremendously,” said Jeff, a former center/forward at Carlisle High School. “She does the repetitions. She’s a hard-working kid.”
“I enjoy it,” Jessica said. “I don’t, like, practice every single day but I practice a lot. I get breaks but I practice pretty hard.”
Jackson has been to the Nike Invitational Top 80 camp in College Station, Texas; played in the AAU 13-and-under nationals near Cincinnati and was among renowned trainer Ganon Baker’s featured top 200.
With Jackson, the Mavericks 12-and-under team reached the national final four at Westchester, Minn. Last year, Jackson’s 13-and-under team finished third in the nationals at King Island, Ohio.
“I teach on advancement,” Mavericks coach Ed Durham said. “And she is very tuned in mentally and she understands the aspects of the game. She loves to work. I can’t work her hard enough. She’s one of those kids who wants to learn more about the game.”
Durham said he toughened Jackson and his teammates by working them against his 15-and-under national champions.
Apparently, Jackson was one who rose to the challenge.
“She might be an All-American type kid,” Durham said.
But as soon as he makes such statements, Durham throws up a flag of caution.
In his position, Durham has seen numerous players come and go and seen the stands full of major-college recruiters.
He knows that for every phenom like Jackson, there are numerous others whose careers hit a plateau or bottomed out.
“Just look at the NBA and tell me if the No. 1 lottery pick is still playing from the 2000 lottery class,” Durham said. “Those players vanish away very quickly.”
It remains to be seen if Jackson will be the player she is projected to be in high school, let alone college. Durham said Jackson must develop her strength, and Jackson admits her outside game and left-handed dribble still need work.
With Jacksonville, 10-16 and seventh in the 6A-East last year, Jackson won’t have to be the central figure and assume all the pressure of getting the Lady Red Devils to the state tournament.
Multi-sport standout Jessica Lanier, a 6-1 senior post, is finished with volleyball and Jacksonville should have solid guard play with Sherice Randell while senior Apollonia Sims returns at one forward.
“She’ll start outside,” Mimms said of Jackson. “We’re going to let her start outside because we have Lanier and another girl who can handle the inside.”
But if Jackson continues to progress, her ability will show and the heat from the recruiting spotlight will intensify. That means Jackson and her family can expect more offers though which they will have to sift.
Such attention can be notoriously hard on young athletes.
Wynne football player DeAngelo Williams was the centerpiece of a tug of war between Arkansas and Memphis and earned the wrath of many of the Razorback faithful when he rejected the Hogs for the Tigers before going on to run the ball with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
Little Rock Central’s Joe Johnson, now with the Atlanta Hawks, was THE recruit from the state when he signed with Arkansas and played two years, from 2000-01, before leaving for the NBA.
Perhaps women’s basketball doesn’t quite command the attention of the men’s game, but if one believes everything being said about Jackson, she could wind up as a female counterpart to Johnson among statewide recruits.
“She has a chance to be very special but it’s very early,” Durham said. “Don’t get me wrong. I try and let her dad and her know that. But if she applies herself she can be one of the most special girls players to come out of the state of Arkansas.
“But once again, it’s still early and I like to tell everybody that.”
So many things still have to happen for Jackson to meet expectations.
Beginning this season, she must consistently improve and live up to the hype; she must stay injury free; two years from now she must pick the school that best suits her; she must arrive on campus and again live up to expectations; she must stay eligible and keep her passion for the game even while dealing with all the factors that could burn her out.
Jeff Jackson said he expects to be hearing from close to 50 schools next year, if all goes well. And he wants Jessica to sign early to get her out of the recruiting spotlight as quickly as possible.
Jessica herself seems to have already learned the first rule of being a sought-after recruit: keep your plans close to the vest.
“I like to wait and see what kind of offers I get,” she said.
Perhaps the most important thing anyone can do for Jackson right now, with her horizons so inviting yet so wide and uncertain, is to simply let her enjoy being a high school freshman.
An admitted stage parent, Jeff Jackson nonetheless said that is exactly what he wants to do.
“We’re just concentrating on grades right now, to be honest with you,” he said. “We’re just concentrating on getting her out of the ninth grade and letting her be a 14-year-old girl.”
SPORTS >> Bears edge Badgers
Beebe’s Colby Taylor tries to dodge a tackle against Sylvan Hills on Thursday.By MIKE GARRITY
Special to The Leader
After three quarters it became apparent the team that made the first big mistake was the one that was going to see its season end at Sylvan Hills’ Bill Blackwood Field on Thursday night.
That big mistake came early in the fourth quarter, when Sylvan Hills capitalized and beat the Beebe Badgers 13-12 and grabbed the final playoff berth from the 5A-Southeast.
On a fourth down, Sylvan Hills (4-6, 4-3) punted from its 40-yard line. The Badgers fumbled the punt and Stephan Kettle recovered at the Beebe 20.
Three consecutive incomplete passes and an illegal motion penalty forced the Bears into another fourth-down situation from the 25. Jordan Spears found Devonte Britt open down the middle at the 10, and Britt took it in for the first score of the game with 11:16 to play.
“That was a huge play,” Bears coach Jim Withrow said. “You get in these games and it comes down to one or two plays, I am glad that we made one.”
Britt had six passes thrown his way during the game, but didn’t make his first reception until the final play of the third quarter, and he fumbled that one after the catch, but the Bears retained possession.
“Devonte Britt struggled early and then came out and made the big plays late,” Withrow said. “That is what seniors do.”
The Badgers (3-7, 3-4) responded with a seven-play drive that covered 72 yards and was capped by Colby Taylor’s 16-yard scoring run. Beebe missed a two-point conversion attempt when Nick Brewer and Michael Robinson stopped Adam Griffis at the goal line.
“We should have been doing that the whole game, but for whatever reason we didn’t,” Beebe coach John Shannon said of the scoring drive. “When we finally woke up, I thought that we were in good shape, but our two-point conversions really hurt us.”
Sylvan Hills’ Julian Broner fumbled on the first carry of the next possession, and the Badgers’ Spencer Forte recovered at the Bears’ 35. Six consecutive running plays, including the last five by Griffis, led to Griffis’ 1-yard scoring run.
Another missed two-point conversion left the Badgers with a 12-7 lead with 6:07 to play. Griffis finished the night with 123 yards on 29 carries.
Sylvan Hills started the next possession on its own 45. After a 20-yard pickup on the first play of the drive, the Bears ended up facing another fourth-down play from the Beebe 27.
After a timeout, Spears found Ahmad Scott on the right sideline and Scott made his way to the 6. A 3-yard run by Broner gave the Bears second and goal from the 3 and Spears took it in over the right side for the final score.
Sylvan Hills tried a conversion to make it a three-point game, but Spears’ pass attempt to Scott was incomplete.
After attempting just five passes in the first half, the Bears attempted 19 in the second.
“Our plan was to go to that all week, but we just kind of got away from it,” Withrow said. “We knew we needed to do that, so at the half we made a commitment to it, no matter what.”
Spears was 7 of 19 in the second half for 82 yards. Many of his incompletions were because of drops.
“I think our guys were just a little excited,” Withrow said. “We have guys that have caught a lot of passes for us this season, but they were just a little too excited.”
The Badgers began their final possession of the game on their 1-yard line with 54 seconds left after Spears’ punt was downed just outside the goal line. Beebe couldn’t move the ball past the 24, and Scott intercepted a final pass attempt as time ran out.
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