By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
Citing health problems, Rep. Marion Berry (D-Gillett), who has represented the First District since 1997, announced Monday morning that he will not run for re-election.
Another Democrat, Second District Rep. Vic Snyder of Little Rock, also announced recently he would not seek re-election this fall.
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams, who has been a frequent visitor to Berry’s Washington office in the past three years trying to get money for various projects in the city, says the congressman has been very helpful.
The new railroad overpass in Cabot is supposed to be the first step toward building a north interchange. Williams said Berry promised him the interchange would be started before he leaves office, and if all goes as planned it will be.
Williams said Tuesday that $1.1 million for right-of-way acquisition and engineering for the north interchange is “in the pipeline” and should be appropriated in February.
Berry was also instrumental in getting the $10 million to build a National Guard armory in Cabot and in getting a contract post office across the railroad tracks on Main Street.
Although Berry said his staff got the official word on his retirement at 4 p.m. Sunday, a list of possible candidates was posted online before then.
On the Republican side, state Rep. Davy Carter has already quashed rumors that he will run. Carter, a banker in Cabot, grew up on a farm in Lee County and has strong ties there, which could have made him a viable candidate in the district that has not elected a Republican since 1875.
But he said in a written statement Monday afternoon that his other commitments would not allow him to run.
“I will not be entering the 2010 race for Congress. Although I sincerely appreciate the encouragement, I am committed to my role at Home Bancshares (Centennial Bank), raising my young children, and serving my constituents in the Arkansas House of Representatives,” Carter wrote.
Former Cabot Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, who ran against Berry in 2006, said Tuesday that he had received about 150 calls about running again but he is not running. His commitment is to Cabot.
“I’m running for mayor,” Stumbaugh said. “I appreciate Marion for the work he has done for our district but I think he is a wise man to step down.”
On the Democratic side, Chad Causey, Berry’s chief of staff, has confirmed that he is definitely considering a race for his boss’ job.
“I have prayed about this and continue to discuss it with family and friends,” Causey said Tuesday.
Causey, from Jonesboro, has worked for Berry for nine years, the last four as chief of staff.
“I know how to avoid the potholes,” he said of his experience in Washington.
During a press conference, in which he refused to elaborate on his ailments, Berry, 67, said he wasn’t leaving because he thought he couldn’t win. Polls showed he was well ahead. Neither was he leaving because of frustration with President Barack Obama over health-care reform and climate change legislation, issues for which he has criticized the president.
“All White Houses are frustrating for Congress, and it doesn’t matter who the president is,” Berry said, adding he has been frustrated with Obama, but he was more so with President George W. Bush.
Berry, a pharmacist by training and a farmer by heritage, said by following his doctor’s orders he will be able to complete this term in office, but that spending his youth working with a shovel had taken a toll on his health.
Gabe Holmstrom, the Cabot native who is now working to get Sen. Blanche Lincoln re-elected, called Berry a mentor. Holmstrom was Berry’s campaign manager in 2006, and he also worked for Berry in Washington.
“Right out of college, I put 90,000 miles on a car with him riding shotgun,” Holmstrom said. “I learned more from that experience than from any college course. I’ll always be in his debt.”
Accolades and best wishes for the congressman followed close on the heels of the announcement that he would not run for an eighth term.
“I want to thank Marion Berry for his outstanding leadership and service to the First District of Arkansas. His many accomplishments will stand as a testament to his dedication to the working families he represents,” wrote Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.
McDaniel, a Democrat, has also said he will not run.
Other possible Democratic candidates are former state Rep. Scott Ferguson of West Memphis; Sen. Steve Bryles of Blytheville; former Sen. Paul Bookout of Jonesboro; Rep. Keith Ingram of West Memphis; state Treasurer Martha Shoffner; former Sen. Henry Boyce; Prosecuting Attorney Tim Wooldridge of Newport.
Also former Democratic Party chairman Jason Willett,; Sen. Robert Thompson of Paragould; former House Speaker Benny Petrus of Stuttgart; former Sen. Kevin Smith of Hot Springs; former Rep. Chris Thyer of Jonesboro; Rep. David Dunn of Forrest City, and former Rep. Becky Lynn of Heber Springs.
Possible Republican candidates include Sen. Johnny Key of Mountain Home; former Cong. Tommy Robinson of Brinkley; GOP congressional staffer and Wynne native Princella Smith; former Rep. Shawn Womack of Mountain Home, and Woody Freeman of Jonesboro, former GOP candidate for governor.
Rick Crawford, a farmer and agriculture reporter from Jonesboro, announced in August that he would run.
Berry is known for his support of farmers. He said during the Monday news conference that he was proud of the 2002 farm bill and disappointed with the 2008 farm bill.
He said he regretted his vote to allow the president to send troops into Iraq and his vote for the first Patriot Act.
He is disappointed that his attempts over the past 13 years to lower the cost of prescription drugs have failed.
To help agriculture, he said attitudes about trade agreements need to be reassessed. He called the embargo against Cuba “foolish.”
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
TOP STORY >> School probes railroad-bus wreck
This bus belonging to the Lonoke Exceptional Development Center had $30,000 damage along the tracks, while the train that hit it had $10,000 damage.By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
A Union Pacific train slammed into a Lonoke Exceptional School bus at 6:40 a.m. Monday in Jacksonville.
The five passengers and bus driver got out of the bus before impact.
Bus driver Charles Grady, 68, of Lonoke was picking up a rider in Jacksonville to take to the Lonoke Exceptional Development Center in Lonoke.
On board were a bus aide, three children ages 2, 3, and 5 years old and an adult client who attends the program.
In a police report, Grady told officers he had just picked up a bus rider on Hickory Street. He pulled into a gravel parking lot at the corner of East Hickory and North Spring streets, so he could pull through the parking lot onto North Spring Street to turn around.
As Grady was making a right turn, he said he was blinded by a streetlight. He drove off the road and onto the railroad tracks.
Grady then called 911. He unloaded the passengers and got them to a safe location away from the bus.
Train engineer Timothy Jones told police he was headed north on Track 2 and saw the vehicle on the tracks. Jones applied the brakes but the train hit the vehicle. The train came to a stop after impact.
The school’s executive director, Janie Sexton, said Grady did not have any accidents before. He has worked for the school for several years.
Sexton said, “It is an ongoing investigation. We are waiting on the police report. We did an internal investigation as well and we have a safety committee.
“Anytime there is a serious incident with a driver, we suspend them until the investigation is complete.,” Sexton said. “The driver is immediately taken for a drug and breathalyzer test.”
Jacksonville Police Department spokeswoman April Kiser said state law does not require law enforcement to test bus drivers for drugs or alcohol after an accident unless the officers believe that intoxication was a factor.
The bus aide immediately helped with the evacuation, Sexton said.
A parent of one of the children on the bus also helped get the students off the bus. Sexton said they were off the bus and far from the debris when the train hit the bus.
“We are very grateful no one was injured, that the bus aide responded so quickly and thankful to the parent that assisted and made things go faster,” Sexton said.
No citations were issued.
Damage to the 2001 Chevy bus was estimated at $30,000. Damage to the train was estimated at $10,000.
Sexton said bus drivers are required to have a physical, and Grady had a current physical.
The Exceptional School practices emergency exits from buses.
“We regularly train our drivers and bus aides for evacuations. We practice those on a regular basis,” Sexton said.
TOP STORY >> Beebe says Arkansans moving up
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
“Thank God for Mississippi” shouldn’t be in our vocabulary any longer, Gov. Mike Beebe told a packed house at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce annual banquet Tuesday night.
He admitted there was a time he was guilty of saying that, and knew that most people in the room had said it, too.
“We are lapping so many states in so many categories,” the governor said.
He told the crowd that recently a television station in Fort Smith did a report bragging that Oklahoma was 22nd in education.
“As if that was something to brag about,” Beebe quipped. “That same study showed Arkansas was 10th. Not 10th from the bottom, but 10th from the top.”
“That’s not my doing,” Beebe added. “I give some of the credit to former Gov. Mike Huckabee, some to the state Supreme Court and a ton of credit to our state legislature for banding together to do what was best for the state.”
“So let Alabama worry about Mississippi. We should be irritated that Connecticut still has a higher per capita income than us,” Beebe said.
Arkansas, which had been mired 49th in per capita income, has moved past two states in the last two years and is about to pass South Carolina, the governor pointed out. “Most states take 10 years to move up one notch on the per capita ranking,” Beebe said.
“Thank God for Mississippi” shouldn’t be in our vocabulary any longer, Gov. Mike Beebe told a packed house at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce annual banquet Tuesday night.
He admitted there was a time he was guilty of saying that, and knew that most people in the room had said it, too.
“We are lapping so many states in so many categories,” the governor said.
He told the crowd that recently a television station in Fort Smith did a report bragging that Oklahoma was 22nd in education.
“As if that was something to brag about,” Beebe quipped. “That same study showed Arkansas was 10th. Not 10th from the bottom, but 10th from the top.”
“That’s not my doing,” Beebe added. “I give some of the credit to former Gov. Mike Huckabee, some to the state Supreme Court and a ton of credit to our state legislature for banding together to do what was best for the state.”
“So let Alabama worry about Mississippi. We should be irritated that Connecticut still has a higher per capita income than us,” Beebe said.
Arkansas, which had been mired 49th in per capita income, has moved past two states in the last two years and is about to pass South Carolina, the governor pointed out. “Most states take 10 years to move up one notch on the per capita ranking,” Beebe said.
Leader staff writer
“Thank God for Mississippi” shouldn’t be in our vocabulary any longer, Gov. Mike Beebe told a packed house at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce annual banquet Tuesday night.
He admitted there was a time he was guilty of saying that, and knew that most people in the room had said it, too.
“We are lapping so many states in so many categories,” the governor said.
He told the crowd that recently a television station in Fort Smith did a report bragging that Oklahoma was 22nd in education.
“As if that was something to brag about,” Beebe quipped. “That same study showed Arkansas was 10th. Not 10th from the bottom, but 10th from the top.”
“That’s not my doing,” Beebe added. “I give some of the credit to former Gov. Mike Huckabee, some to the state Supreme Court and a ton of credit to our state legislature for banding together to do what was best for the state.”
“So let Alabama worry about Mississippi. We should be irritated that Connecticut still has a higher per capita income than us,” Beebe said.
Arkansas, which had been mired 49th in per capita income, has moved past two states in the last two years and is about to pass South Carolina, the governor pointed out. “Most states take 10 years to move up one notch on the per capita ranking,” Beebe said.
“Thank God for Mississippi” shouldn’t be in our vocabulary any longer, Gov. Mike Beebe told a packed house at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce annual banquet Tuesday night.
He admitted there was a time he was guilty of saying that, and knew that most people in the room had said it, too.
“We are lapping so many states in so many categories,” the governor said.
He told the crowd that recently a television station in Fort Smith did a report bragging that Oklahoma was 22nd in education.
“As if that was something to brag about,” Beebe quipped. “That same study showed Arkansas was 10th. Not 10th from the bottom, but 10th from the top.”
“That’s not my doing,” Beebe added. “I give some of the credit to former Gov. Mike Huckabee, some to the state Supreme Court and a ton of credit to our state legislature for banding together to do what was best for the state.”
“So let Alabama worry about Mississippi. We should be irritated that Connecticut still has a higher per capita income than us,” Beebe said.
Arkansas, which had been mired 49th in per capita income, has moved past two states in the last two years and is about to pass South Carolina, the governor pointed out. “Most states take 10 years to move up one notch on the per capita ranking,” Beebe said.
EDITORIAL >> Democrats fear tsunami
Both congressmen from our parts picked one frosty week in January to announce that they had had enough and would not run for re-election. Marion Berry of the First District and Vic Snyder of the Second started their congressional careers together in 1997 and now will go together into that good night of private repose.
Two men could not be further apart in style and personality — Berry the inveterate hayseed, outspoken and unabashedly partisan, Snyder the courtly loner, reserved and always solicitous of even his meanest critics. They were not so far apart on matters of substance, both breaking ranks with Southerners last fall to vote for the controversial health insurance reform. In a sharp break with form last summer Snyder voted for a clean-air bill opposed by Berry and the other four members of the Arkansas delegation and then badgered all the rest to debate him on the subject, five on one, on the public television network.
Berry told him, in effect, to get lost.
Their sudden, consensual and simultaneous leave-taking of politics, immediately after the high-profile election of a Republican to the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, had all the pundits wondering this week if a political tsunami is in store for Arkansas this year. If polls are good evidence, the state’s senior senator, Blanche Lincoln, is in deep trouble and the sitting Republican congressman from North Arkansas, John Boozman, is emboldened to surrender his safe seat and run against her and the nine other Republicans who are after the seat.
Is Arkansas, the purest Democratic state in the nation in terms of political offices, about to become a Republican state like the rest of the South?
That could be, although we don’t read the signs quite that way, yet. But 2010 will bring the biggest shakeup in the state’s representation in the national councils since 1992, when voters replaced three of Arkansas’ four members of the U. S. House of Representatives. The other had been elected only two years earlier, so Arkansas, which had lived for a century by seniority in the Congress, suddenly had the least influence of any state in the House of Representatives.
Both Berry and Snyder said the timing of their announcements was only coincidental with the tumult over the Massachusetts election. Snyder at 62 has four infant boys and a fragile wife at home at Little Rock, and he said he could not be an absentee father at such a critical juncture in their lives. He probably would have had a tough race for re-election, but he had never seemed fazed by the prospect of electoral defeat. Berry, whose polls showed him winning re-election overwhelmingly, was said to be agitated over the appearance that he might be running from a fight. At 68, his health and energy are flagging. He said he wanted to go back to his farm at Gillett and relax. Let’s take them at their word.
But it is hard to believe that the hateful political climate did not play some role in their decisions. If the time is approaching to retire, what better time than right now? We remember Sen. Dale Bumpers’ retirement in 1998, although there was no sign of an opponent. He said bitter partisanship had transformed the Senate into a far unhappier place than it was when he went there in 1975 and found himself working closely with Republicans from Illinois, Vermont, Rhode Island, Iowa and Oregon. He couldn’t abide the hatred, and he didn’t want to be there anymore.
Every member of the delegation had been besieged by wrathful and sometimes threatening telephone calls, e-mails and letters. Snyder and his wife were famously set upon at dinner one night by a gaggle of Republican women and denounced for his vote to extend health insurance to poor Arkansans.
Part of that wrath was engendered by the great tide of advertising and propaganda from industries whose profits were threatened by elements of the health bills and that accused Democrats and the president of plotting a “government takeover” of medicine and of trying to take away their health coverage. But much of the unhappiness is deeper and almost unavoidable.
The nation is into the third year of the worst recession since the 1930s. People knew whom to blame in 2008 and they turned out Republicans in droves, and while the economy was in a freefall of the magnitude of 1929-30, they gave the White House to a Democrat.
President Obama did not contribute in any way to the recession, nor is the mammoth and ballooning national debt much of his making. He did not deregulate financial institutions or encourage the reckless risk-taking and abuse that undermined the global financial system. He did not start the wars or fatten insurance and pharmaceutical profits from Medicare, which sent budget deficits soaring after 2003. It was not his idea to bail out the commercial and investment banks or the carmakers with tax dollars, although as a senator and presidential nominee he acquiesced.
Regardless of their genesis, all those problems are now his — and Democrats’. They may fault voters’ short memories, but that is a fact of political life. Of course, the vast majority of Arkansas voters never cottoned to Barack Obama, so he has not had a reservoir of good will to squander. They are willing to believe the worst about him.
The disquiet, suspicion and wrath of ordinary people are portable, too. Vic Snyder, Marion Berry, Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor and, yes, even Rep. Mike Ross in the Fourth District carry the unfortunate baggage of being part of the team that was supposed to fix things and couldn’t, at least not in one year. You don’t ask a man who has lost his job and can’t find one or who lives in fear of that predicament to be patient.
It is better this year to be just not in charge of anything. A Republican, in other words. But in Arkansas that still may not be quite enough.
Two men could not be further apart in style and personality — Berry the inveterate hayseed, outspoken and unabashedly partisan, Snyder the courtly loner, reserved and always solicitous of even his meanest critics. They were not so far apart on matters of substance, both breaking ranks with Southerners last fall to vote for the controversial health insurance reform. In a sharp break with form last summer Snyder voted for a clean-air bill opposed by Berry and the other four members of the Arkansas delegation and then badgered all the rest to debate him on the subject, five on one, on the public television network.
Berry told him, in effect, to get lost.
Their sudden, consensual and simultaneous leave-taking of politics, immediately after the high-profile election of a Republican to the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, had all the pundits wondering this week if a political tsunami is in store for Arkansas this year. If polls are good evidence, the state’s senior senator, Blanche Lincoln, is in deep trouble and the sitting Republican congressman from North Arkansas, John Boozman, is emboldened to surrender his safe seat and run against her and the nine other Republicans who are after the seat.
Is Arkansas, the purest Democratic state in the nation in terms of political offices, about to become a Republican state like the rest of the South?
That could be, although we don’t read the signs quite that way, yet. But 2010 will bring the biggest shakeup in the state’s representation in the national councils since 1992, when voters replaced three of Arkansas’ four members of the U. S. House of Representatives. The other had been elected only two years earlier, so Arkansas, which had lived for a century by seniority in the Congress, suddenly had the least influence of any state in the House of Representatives.
Both Berry and Snyder said the timing of their announcements was only coincidental with the tumult over the Massachusetts election. Snyder at 62 has four infant boys and a fragile wife at home at Little Rock, and he said he could not be an absentee father at such a critical juncture in their lives. He probably would have had a tough race for re-election, but he had never seemed fazed by the prospect of electoral defeat. Berry, whose polls showed him winning re-election overwhelmingly, was said to be agitated over the appearance that he might be running from a fight. At 68, his health and energy are flagging. He said he wanted to go back to his farm at Gillett and relax. Let’s take them at their word.
But it is hard to believe that the hateful political climate did not play some role in their decisions. If the time is approaching to retire, what better time than right now? We remember Sen. Dale Bumpers’ retirement in 1998, although there was no sign of an opponent. He said bitter partisanship had transformed the Senate into a far unhappier place than it was when he went there in 1975 and found himself working closely with Republicans from Illinois, Vermont, Rhode Island, Iowa and Oregon. He couldn’t abide the hatred, and he didn’t want to be there anymore.
Every member of the delegation had been besieged by wrathful and sometimes threatening telephone calls, e-mails and letters. Snyder and his wife were famously set upon at dinner one night by a gaggle of Republican women and denounced for his vote to extend health insurance to poor Arkansans.
Part of that wrath was engendered by the great tide of advertising and propaganda from industries whose profits were threatened by elements of the health bills and that accused Democrats and the president of plotting a “government takeover” of medicine and of trying to take away their health coverage. But much of the unhappiness is deeper and almost unavoidable.
The nation is into the third year of the worst recession since the 1930s. People knew whom to blame in 2008 and they turned out Republicans in droves, and while the economy was in a freefall of the magnitude of 1929-30, they gave the White House to a Democrat.
President Obama did not contribute in any way to the recession, nor is the mammoth and ballooning national debt much of his making. He did not deregulate financial institutions or encourage the reckless risk-taking and abuse that undermined the global financial system. He did not start the wars or fatten insurance and pharmaceutical profits from Medicare, which sent budget deficits soaring after 2003. It was not his idea to bail out the commercial and investment banks or the carmakers with tax dollars, although as a senator and presidential nominee he acquiesced.
Regardless of their genesis, all those problems are now his — and Democrats’. They may fault voters’ short memories, but that is a fact of political life. Of course, the vast majority of Arkansas voters never cottoned to Barack Obama, so he has not had a reservoir of good will to squander. They are willing to believe the worst about him.
The disquiet, suspicion and wrath of ordinary people are portable, too. Vic Snyder, Marion Berry, Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor and, yes, even Rep. Mike Ross in the Fourth District carry the unfortunate baggage of being part of the team that was supposed to fix things and couldn’t, at least not in one year. You don’t ask a man who has lost his job and can’t find one or who lives in fear of that predicament to be patient.
It is better this year to be just not in charge of anything. A Republican, in other words. But in Arkansas that still may not be quite enough.
SPORTS >> Few locals are named as coaches for all-stars
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Area coaches were largely absent from the staffs of 2010 Arkansas High School Coaches Association all-star games announced Tuesday.
The staffs were released at a news conference at the Arkansas Activities Association’s North Little Rock offices.
Sylvan Hills’ Melissa Duncan was named to the East all-star cheer staff headed by Jonesboro’s Caroline Crawford.
No other Leader-area coaches were named to the football, volleyball or dance staffs named Tuesday.
The football game, which pits a squad of East all-stars against a squad from the West, is in its 55th year and will be played at 7 p.m. on June 25 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
The all-star volleyball game, in its ninth year, will be held at 7 p.m. on June 23 at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville.
Cheer and dance squads, also in their ninth year of all-star participation, will perform during the all-star festivities.
Paul Johnston of Bald Knob is the head coach for the East football team.
The staff will consist of Brad Bolding of North Little Rock, Van Paschal of Monticello, Jon Bradley of Cave City, David Carpenter of Junction City, William Hardiman of Little Rock Parkview and Mason Moody of Bald Knob.
Fountain Lake’s Tommy Gilleran, whose team won the 3A state championship, is head coach for the West football team. His staff includes Randy Tribble of Greenbrier, Josh Jones of Magazine, Chris Wood of Springdale Har-Ber, Bill Harrelson of Gravette, George Shelton of Watson Chapel and David DeArmon of Fountain Lake.
Head coach for the East volleyball squad is Lisa Beasley of Marion. She will be assisted by Kelly O’Rourke of Mount St. Mary, Vickie Gatewood of Nettleton and Melissa Williams of Piggott.
West head coach is Huntsville’s Angie Baker. Her assistants are Brandy Chumley of Benton, Jessica Phelan of Fayetteville and Brent Reeves of Mansfield.
Morrilton’s Trent Tipton, president of the Arkansas High School Coaches Association, made the staff announcements at Tuesday’s news conference.
No Leader area volleyball players were named to the all-star roster.
The football roster was not set by late Tuesday.
Leader sports editor
Area coaches were largely absent from the staffs of 2010 Arkansas High School Coaches Association all-star games announced Tuesday.
The staffs were released at a news conference at the Arkansas Activities Association’s North Little Rock offices.
Sylvan Hills’ Melissa Duncan was named to the East all-star cheer staff headed by Jonesboro’s Caroline Crawford.
No other Leader-area coaches were named to the football, volleyball or dance staffs named Tuesday.
The football game, which pits a squad of East all-stars against a squad from the West, is in its 55th year and will be played at 7 p.m. on June 25 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
The all-star volleyball game, in its ninth year, will be held at 7 p.m. on June 23 at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville.
Cheer and dance squads, also in their ninth year of all-star participation, will perform during the all-star festivities.
Paul Johnston of Bald Knob is the head coach for the East football team.
The staff will consist of Brad Bolding of North Little Rock, Van Paschal of Monticello, Jon Bradley of Cave City, David Carpenter of Junction City, William Hardiman of Little Rock Parkview and Mason Moody of Bald Knob.
Fountain Lake’s Tommy Gilleran, whose team won the 3A state championship, is head coach for the West football team. His staff includes Randy Tribble of Greenbrier, Josh Jones of Magazine, Chris Wood of Springdale Har-Ber, Bill Harrelson of Gravette, George Shelton of Watson Chapel and David DeArmon of Fountain Lake.
Head coach for the East volleyball squad is Lisa Beasley of Marion. She will be assisted by Kelly O’Rourke of Mount St. Mary, Vickie Gatewood of Nettleton and Melissa Williams of Piggott.
West head coach is Huntsville’s Angie Baker. Her assistants are Brandy Chumley of Benton, Jessica Phelan of Fayetteville and Brent Reeves of Mansfield.
Morrilton’s Trent Tipton, president of the Arkansas High School Coaches Association, made the staff announcements at Tuesday’s news conference.
No Leader area volleyball players were named to the all-star roster.
The football roster was not set by late Tuesday.
SPORTS >> Harding Academy stands tall in win
Harding Academy guard Anna Bangs tries to shake defender Ashanti Baker.By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Old number 12 would have been proud.
The Harding Academy Lady Wildcats responded to the pressure of a packed house and an emotional jersey-retirement ceremony and beat cross-town and 2-3A Conference rival Riverview 50-26 on Friday night at Harris Gym.
Lady Wildcat coaches Rusty Garner and assistant Darren Matthews presented the jersey of former player Micah Rine-Pate to be retired after the game.
Pate’s No. 12 jersey will no longer be worn by any Lady Wildcats basketball player. It was the first such jersey retirement in the school’s 86-year history.
The Lady Wildcats (12-5, 6-1) had difficulty establishing their inside game early on despite an overwhelming size advantage, but once the Lady Raiders’ early adrenaline wore off, Harding Academy took control and outscored Riverview 15-2 in the final period.
“Every time we get together it’s ugly, and the kids play hard against each other,” Harding Academy coach Rusty Garner said.
“That one was as ugly as they come. We’re fortunate that we were able to get a 20-point win in an ugly game against a rival. We’ll sure take it.”
Riverview guards Ashanti Baker and Queen Banks helped the Lady Raiders (2-7, 2-4) hold the lead for most of the first quarter, but both got in foul trouble as the second half progressed. Baker picked up her fifth foul with 3:56 left to play, but Banks was able to avoid fouling out.
“Our girls played really hard,” Riverview coach Russell Stumpenhous said. “They outsized us at almost every position and that’s really hard to account for in a game. I thought they played their hearts out. They hustled so well. If a few shots fall a little different in the third quarter, it’s a different game.”
There was little contribution inside from Harding Academy posts Megan Pack and Ariel English in the first half, but both began to take more shots to begin the third quarter. Pack established the inside game in the third quarter with a basket with 5:37 left to give the Lady Wildcats a 23-16 lead before closing the period with a free throw that made it 35-24.
“They did a good job of keeping the post game out of it,” Garner said. “We did a bad job of forcing the issue with the post too early in our possessions. Second half, I felt like we kind of wore on them and got them in some foul trouble. We were able to keep going to the inside.
“We were more patient in our attempt to get it into the inside. I thought post play was probably the difference in the ballgame.”
English hit three of four free throws early in the fourth quarter after drawing contact on shot attempts and finally got a shot to fall with 4:35 left to give the Lady Wildcats a 44-24 lead.
“It’s hard to guard someone who outweighs you 60 for that long,” Stumpenhous said. “I’m trying to get them to guard them for about three seconds and hopefully our guard pressure will eliminate that option. But if they stay with it, that’s a hard guard for somebody that outweighed.
“Give Harding Academy credit, they did exactly what they needed to do; he did exactly what I would have done if I had his team.”
Harding Academy relied heavily on the perimeter play of standout Anna Bangs in the first half, and Bangs continued to attack in the third quarter even as the inside game began to gel.
Bangs hit a baseline runner with 3:37 left in the third quarter to extend the Lady Wildcats’ lead to 27-18, and she got a steal and another basket with 32 seconds left in the period to make it 34-22. Bangs went on to lead all scorers with 14 points, while Pack scored nine and English and point guard Molly Koch scored seven each.
“Our kids felt a lot of pressure to perform well tonight under the circumstances,” Garner said. “We felt like we just had to win tonight. I hate that pressure was on them, but they responded in the second half. We tried to get them to relax a little bit.”
Baker led the Lady Raiders with 12 points and Banks added six.
SPORTS >> Raiders on pace to victory
Jordan Smith pulls down a rebound.By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Riverview’s key to victory was controlling the tempo, both fast and slow, against Harding Academy on Friday.
The Raiders beat the Wildcats 61-40 at Harris gym and stayed unbeaten in the 2-3A Conference.
The Raiders got off to a fast start, and once they had established that pace they slowed it down.
Way down.
But after imposing a range of paces on the host Wildcats, and surviving a frantic Harding Academy press in the fourth quarter, the Raiders (14-4, 7-0) put it all together with perfect free-throw shooting down the stretch.
“It’s always a joy; a joy and a battle,” Raiders coach Russell Stumpenhous said of the cross-town Searcy rivalry. “We wanted to keep the pace in our favor. We got lucky and we hit some shots. We executed well in the first quarter. I thought we got the looks that we wanted, and we knocked them down.”
Riverview was shaky at the free-throw line to start the final period, going two of six in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. But when Harding Academy got to the double bonus and began to foul in an effort to control the clock during the final 3:09, the Raiders went 10 of 10.
The Raiders began on a more frantic note with 4:38 left in the first quarter, when junior post player D.J. Teague converted a basket and free throw to put Riverview up 7-3. Tyler Colvin made a three-pointer with 3:40 left in the quarter to give the Raiders a 10-9 lead after a brief Wildcat rally, and the Raiders never trailed again.
Jordan Perry gave the Raiders their first double-digit lead with a three-pointer with 56 seconds left in the first to make it 15-5. Perry hit a transition shot moments later with an assist from Teague to improve the lead to 17-5 before Will Francis cut Harding Academy’s deficit to 10 just before the end of the quarter.
The Raiders showed a completely different look to begin the second quarter. In fact, they showed virtually no look at all for the first 4:20, as guard Taylor Smith kept the ball at mid court most of that time watching the clock count down.
The Wildcats did not contest, and the Raiders burned over half the quarter before finding Teague inside for the first of his three dunks with 3:40 left until the half. That raised Riverview’s lead to 19-7, and gave Teague two of his game-leading 17 points.
“It was more for legs than anything else,” Stumpenhous said. “It wasn’t necessarily a planned thing to slow it down, but we saw they were pretty tight. We didn’t want to force a three. So we decided we would hold it out there and see if they would come get us. They didn’t, so we ran off a few minutes and got back into it.”
Teague used his 6-9 frame to his advantage against the smaller Wildcats, and inside help from reserve Rodney White gave Harding Academy even more to worry about at the low post.
The addition of 6-5 guard Smith roaming the perimeter and the lane made it nearly impossible for the Wildcats to focus on any one area of the court and opened the door for a balanced scoring night for Riverview. Smith finished with 16 points, Colvin scored 10, Jordan Perry scored nine and point-guard Keinan Lee scored seven.
“Last time when we played, they did a really good job of playing the inside,” Stumpenhous said. “And we tried to make that a factor tonight. We really wanted to get our big guys involved and try to utilize that advantage.”
Riverview, leading by 10 at the break, pulled away to start the second half. Perry scored on a back-door assist from Smith to start the half, followed by two free throws for Smith and a three-pointer by Colvin to make it 28-13 with 4:53 left in the third quarter.
The Wildcats avoided being blown out with three-pointers from Lane Dailey and Francis before the end of the third to pull within 37-22.
The Wildcats tried to make up the difference in the fourth quarter with a full-court defensive attack, but the Raiders kept the ball in Smith’s hands for most of the final eight minutes. Smith went 4 of 4 at the free-throw line in the final minute.
“He played a great game,” Stumpenhous said. “He managed the court really well. He utilized his tools really well, and I felt like overall he managed a really good game.”
Post player Daniel Stevens led Harding Academy with 15 points while Francis finished with 14. The Wildcats are 5-2 in conference play.
The game was the first of two in a four-day stretch for the teams. At Riverview on Monday they made up their first 2-3A Conference game originally scheduled in December.
SPORTS >> Abundant Life zones in on success
Abundant Life’s Cameron Slayton handles the ball on Friday.By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Carlisle tried a zone but Abundant Life was in the zone Friday night.
Abundant Life overcame Carlisle’s zone defense and ran away to a 79-55, non-conference victory at Abundant Life.
Led by senior post Garrett Southerland, three Owls players scored 20 or more points in what could have been a postseason preview, or at least a postseason measuring stick, for Abundant Life.
Carlisle is in the 6-2A South and Abundant Life is in the 5-2A North and their shared classification means they could meet again in the postseason regionals at White Co. Central. At the very least, Abundant Life coach Tim Ballard got an idea of what the competition is like elsewhere in the 2A.
“I feel like we get a terrible draw in region and a terrible draw in state every year,” Ballard said. “You look at that region, you’ve got Carlisle, Hughes Palestine-Wheatley, Hazen. All of them are good but all of them play kind of a similar style as this so I think it will give us confidence when we get there that we’ll be ready to play.”
The preferred style in Carlisle’s neck of the woods is zone defense, but Abundant Life was able to break it down in the first half to take a 37-27 lead it extended to almost 30 points late in the closing minutes of the second half.
“We try to keep the floor balanced and use a lot of pump fakes to get them out of position and try to get some easy ones,” Ballard said. “My philosophy is if you score some easy ones against the pressure then you’ll make them do something different.
“So that’s what we were trying to do and luckly we had some shots go down at some key times.”
Carlisle coach William Rountree said the Bison did shake up their defense with some man-to-man, with pretty much the same result.
“We’re primarily a zone team,” Rountree said. “We played some man tonight, didn’t seem to do real good in it. We kind of switch it up. I’ll go back and watch the film and I’m going to bet I’ll see a lot of breakdowns.”
Southerland led Abundant Life with 26 points, Mike Stramiello had 21 and George Herring scored 20. D.J. Lowe led Carlisle with 20 points and Chris Larkin scored 14.
“They’re all averaging 15-20 points, all three of them,” Ballard said.”So if I can get four or six points form the other six guys that play then we’re usually okay.
“So that doesn’t surprise me those three leading us in scoring. They do it every game.”
Carlisle jumped to an 8-2 led thanks in part to early three-pointers by Malcolm Murray and Lowe.
Abundant Life went in front 9-8 when Ryan Johnson made a three-pointer from the right corner with 2:51 left in the first quarter.
The Owls led the rest of the game, but the Bison kept it close through most of the first half. Larkin scored to pull Carlisle within 20-17 and Murray made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 26-21 with 3:48 left in the half.
But Herring got a rebound and scored for the Owls to make it 28-21 and Southerland scored on a follow-up shot as the ball rolled around the rim before falling in to make it 32-23.
Stramiello got a steal and a layup for the first double-digit lead, 34-23, and Herring added a three-pointer for the Owls’ last points of the half, which ended with them in front 37-27.
SPORTS >> Remembering ‘True Wildcat’
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
SEARCY — Loving memories have a way of touching hearts and helping to ease the pain of tragic events.
For Searcy residents Dennis and Terri Rine, loving memories of their daughter Micah are also shared by the entire community.
So much so that Micah’s high school alma mater, Harding Academy, made the unprecedented gesture of retiring her varsity basketball jersey after a victory over Riverview on Friday night.
It was the first jersey retirement in the 26-year history of the Lady Wildcats basketball team, and the first in the school’s 86 years. The ceremony was held at Harris Gym, on the very court where Micah created so many of her basketball memories.
Micah Rine-Pate was a 2001 graduate of Harding Academy. She was a gifted athlete, loving daughter and beloved figure at her school.
She went on to graduate from Harding University before moving to the Memphis area to pursue nursing and start a life with her husband Thomas Pate.
But what was supposed to be a beautiful new beginning for Micah ended tragically, and Pate is now awaiting trial in August for her murder in April 2009. Micah was 26 years old.
Lady Wildcats head coach Rusty Garner and assistant Darren Matthews, who was Micah’s head coach when she was at Harding Academy, set up the jersey display near mid court following the game. The Rine family stood alongside while a tribute was read over the public-address system.
The display contains the jersey and a photo of Micah wearing her red-and-white number 12, along with passages of Bible verses from I Corinthians and II Timothy.
The tribute was especially touching for Micah’s father Dennis Rine, who has been a longtime faculty member at Harding Academy and head coach of the boys baseball team since its inception in 2002.
“She tried to do what was right,” Rine said. “And for the community and the school to see that enough to honor her this way tonight, it’s very touching and very humbling. It’s very emotional to have Micah honored this way.”
Matthews remembered Micah as a scrappy guard for the Lady Wildcats; a player who was not afraid to play physically.
“It’s fitting,” said Matthews. “Micah was a true Wildcat. She grew up watching girls basketball here at Harding Academy. She played so hard. Her knees were always bruised and cut because she was down on the floor hustling and giving incredible effort. That’s the way she lived her life.”
For current Lady Wildcats coach Rusty Garner, who was a classmate of Micah’s at Harding University, the decision to retire a jersey for the first time was one that was met with unanimous agreement.
“It’s never been done before, but she deserved it, and there wasn’t a doubt,” Garner said. “All former Lady Wildcat coaches were in agreement that it needed to be done. We’re glad that we had that opportunity.”
Rine said that among his fondest memories was when he baptized Micah at camp when she was 12 years old. The two also ran together frequently, and even participated in the Mississippi Coast Marathon together when Micah was in college.
But the most unique aspect of their relationship was that Micah spent time with her dad at Harding Academy while she was a student and he was an administrator.
“She would eat lunch with me in the cafeteria,” Rine said. “For a daughter to do that in front of her peers and not be embarrassed about eating lunch with dad even though he was on the faculty, that was pretty special.”
The motives for Thomas Pate’s actions on April 30 of last year are not known. Initially he reported his wife missing, then he later confessed to shooting her and led police to Micah’s body near the Loosahatchie River.
But, with Pate’s trial now a little more than seven months away, Rine and family choose to celebrate the life of a daughter who touched so many in such a short time.
“We just have to let the court sort those things out,” Rine said. “We know because of some things that she has written and some conversations we’ve had that she was faithful until the end. She maintained her faith all the way through, and we’re very thankful for that. That probably gives us the most peace.
“I hope it doesn’t sound cliché, but I know she’s in a better place.”
Saturday, January 23, 2010
EDITORIAL >> Politician flip-flops
Has there ever been a season richer with irony? Democrats write a national health-insurance bill closely modeled on the Republican health plan of 35 years ago. On the verge of enactment, it is torpedoed by the election of a Republican U. S. senator in Massachusetts who had voted proudly for a plan just about like it in that state’s legislature.
State Sen. Scott Brown, who was elected to the U. S. Senate in a special election Tuesday, voted four years ago for the Massachusetts health- reform bill of Mitt Romney, the Republican governor of the time. It required nearly every resident of the state to purchase health insurance and gave subsidies to people earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line to help them pay the premiums. People who refuse to buy insurance are subject to tax penalties.
That is the substance of the bill passed by the U. S. Senate last month, and it was modeled after the comprehensive health-insurance plan proposed by President Richard Nixon in 1974 and his successor, President Gerald Ford, but rejected that year by the Democratic Congress.
Although Brown says he is proud of his vote for the Massachusetts health plan, he will join all the Republicans in the U. S. Senate and block the national version of it.
He provides the 41st vote against any bill that comes out of a Senate-House conference on the health bills. Brown’s election effectively kills health reform for this season and perhaps for a generation.
It makes no sense other than the obvious political calculation: Democrats fail. Brown said he would vote against the national bill but assured the people of Massachusetts that they would still enjoy health coverage under the state plan.
Massachusetts people now have the coverage that the Democratic bill would provide to people in Arkansas and elsewhere, and many Massachusetts voters were afraid that the national bill would require them to help subsidize insurance for the rest of the country. About 97 percent of the people of the state now are insured.
The people of Massachusetts now know that even if they lose their jobs or if family members contract a terrible disease they still will be insured.
No one else in the United States, not even those who have good health insurance, have that guarantee and will not have it.
Thanks, Sen. Brown! Thanks, Massachusetts!
—Ernie Dumas
State Sen. Scott Brown, who was elected to the U. S. Senate in a special election Tuesday, voted four years ago for the Massachusetts health- reform bill of Mitt Romney, the Republican governor of the time. It required nearly every resident of the state to purchase health insurance and gave subsidies to people earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line to help them pay the premiums. People who refuse to buy insurance are subject to tax penalties.
That is the substance of the bill passed by the U. S. Senate last month, and it was modeled after the comprehensive health-insurance plan proposed by President Richard Nixon in 1974 and his successor, President Gerald Ford, but rejected that year by the Democratic Congress.
Although Brown says he is proud of his vote for the Massachusetts health plan, he will join all the Republicans in the U. S. Senate and block the national version of it.
He provides the 41st vote against any bill that comes out of a Senate-House conference on the health bills. Brown’s election effectively kills health reform for this season and perhaps for a generation.
It makes no sense other than the obvious political calculation: Democrats fail. Brown said he would vote against the national bill but assured the people of Massachusetts that they would still enjoy health coverage under the state plan.
Massachusetts people now have the coverage that the Democratic bill would provide to people in Arkansas and elsewhere, and many Massachusetts voters were afraid that the national bill would require them to help subsidize insurance for the rest of the country. About 97 percent of the people of the state now are insured.
The people of Massachusetts now know that even if they lose their jobs or if family members contract a terrible disease they still will be insured.
No one else in the United States, not even those who have good health insurance, have that guarantee and will not have it.
Thanks, Sen. Brown! Thanks, Massachusetts!
—Ernie Dumas
EDITORIAL >> Who wants clean air?
Our sympathies go out to Sen. Blanche Lincoln, whose poll numbers in this angry climate seem to require her to pander to the most powerful interests in the region, but we wish she had a stronger moral constitution.
Lincoln announced Thursday that she was signing on as a sponsor of a resolution to gut the federal Clean Air Act. She joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, 34 other Republicans and Senator Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat who represents a good segment of the nation’s oil refineries. The resolution would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere and cause the warming of the earth.
We need not worry that they will succeed. They won’t. They will not get the required majority in either house — even a handful of Republicans in both houses cannot stomach the idea of putting the government on the side of the biggest polluters in the land and against the public. In any case, President Obama would veto it should they achieve that miracle. Still, we wish that
Lincoln did not feel compelled to clutter her record with such an ugly but empty gesture.
Yes, we know she has some obligations. She and Sen. David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, have received more campaign contributions from the big energy industries than any of the other 98 senators — in Sen. Lincoln’s case, some $200,000 for her current re-election campaign as of late last year. (Sen. Murkowski, for the record, is third in energy money.) Lobbyists for the electric power industry wrote the legislation that they are sponsoring.
The U. S. Supreme Court ruled nearly three years ago that the EPA was bound by the Clean Air Act to issue regulations controlling the emission of greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide, from stationary sources unless it determined that they did not affect the climate and had no harmful effect on the public. The EPA under President George W. Bush stonewalled but finally the EPA last year issued its finding that the greenhouse gases were indeed air pollutants, preparatory to the long process of developing standards for the emissions. President Obama said he wanted Congress to do the job instead by enacting comprehensive energy and climate legislation, but that in case Congress could not act, the EPA was obliged to move ahead.
Sen. Lincoln says she wants Congress to do the job. That is the position of the Republican sponsors as well, but it is a deception. Congress — the Senate, at least — cannot act because the very sponsors of the Murkowski measure will not let it.
The House of Representatives passed a climate bill last year, but the Constitution has been changed effectively to require an extraordinary 60 percent vote in the Senate rather than a simple majority to pass serious Democratic measures. The Massachusetts Senate election Tuesday ended the slim possibility of achieving that vote on anything at least this year.
The resolution simply cancels EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases are harmful pollutants, which would end its authority to regulate them. Lincoln and all the other sponsors, except perhaps Oklahoma’s two senators, say they know that the gases are harmful and need to be regulated, but just not right now and not by the EPA. They parrot the argument by the electric utilities and the oil companies that regulating carbon emissions will eliminate jobs in those industries. Wait a few years until the economy is much stronger, they say. A more likely scenario is that it would create new jobs in clean-energy industries. There is another little byproduct: cleaner air. Is there anyone for that?
Lincoln announced Thursday that she was signing on as a sponsor of a resolution to gut the federal Clean Air Act. She joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, 34 other Republicans and Senator Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat who represents a good segment of the nation’s oil refineries. The resolution would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere and cause the warming of the earth.
We need not worry that they will succeed. They won’t. They will not get the required majority in either house — even a handful of Republicans in both houses cannot stomach the idea of putting the government on the side of the biggest polluters in the land and against the public. In any case, President Obama would veto it should they achieve that miracle. Still, we wish that
Lincoln did not feel compelled to clutter her record with such an ugly but empty gesture.
Yes, we know she has some obligations. She and Sen. David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, have received more campaign contributions from the big energy industries than any of the other 98 senators — in Sen. Lincoln’s case, some $200,000 for her current re-election campaign as of late last year. (Sen. Murkowski, for the record, is third in energy money.) Lobbyists for the electric power industry wrote the legislation that they are sponsoring.
The U. S. Supreme Court ruled nearly three years ago that the EPA was bound by the Clean Air Act to issue regulations controlling the emission of greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide, from stationary sources unless it determined that they did not affect the climate and had no harmful effect on the public. The EPA under President George W. Bush stonewalled but finally the EPA last year issued its finding that the greenhouse gases were indeed air pollutants, preparatory to the long process of developing standards for the emissions. President Obama said he wanted Congress to do the job instead by enacting comprehensive energy and climate legislation, but that in case Congress could not act, the EPA was obliged to move ahead.
Sen. Lincoln says she wants Congress to do the job. That is the position of the Republican sponsors as well, but it is a deception. Congress — the Senate, at least — cannot act because the very sponsors of the Murkowski measure will not let it.
The House of Representatives passed a climate bill last year, but the Constitution has been changed effectively to require an extraordinary 60 percent vote in the Senate rather than a simple majority to pass serious Democratic measures. The Massachusetts Senate election Tuesday ended the slim possibility of achieving that vote on anything at least this year.
The resolution simply cancels EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases are harmful pollutants, which would end its authority to regulate them. Lincoln and all the other sponsors, except perhaps Oklahoma’s two senators, say they know that the gases are harmful and need to be regulated, but just not right now and not by the EPA. They parrot the argument by the electric utilities and the oil companies that regulating carbon emissions will eliminate jobs in those industries. Wait a few years until the economy is much stronger, they say. A more likely scenario is that it would create new jobs in clean-energy industries. There is another little byproduct: cleaner air. Is there anyone for that?
TOP STORY >> Four finalists picked for PCSSD’s top spot
By NANCY DOCKTER
Leader staff writer
The Pulaski County Special School District school board on Thursday selected four finalists for the position of district superintendent. The four include acting superintendent Rob McGill and three other school superintendents from out of state.
There had been 12 applicants for the position, which will pay an annual salary in the range of $175,000 to $200,000. Besides McGill, two other Arkansans applied – James Best of Jonesboro and Bettye Wright of White Hall.
McGill has served as acting superintendent since last March when James Sharpe resigned under pressure by the school board.
PCSSD is the second largest school district in the state with 17,700 students.
The school board chose the four from among five candidates recommended by McPherson & Jacobsen, an Omaha,Neb.-based executive-recruitment firm that is being paid $20,000 to assist with the search for a superintendent.
The board plans to begin interviewing the candidates the first week in February and have the new superintendent on board no later than July 1, said Tom Cameron, chief officer of the search firm.
The four candidates are:
• Charles Hopson, who has been a teacher and principal in Portland, Ore., schools and currently serves as a deputy superintendent of the district, which has an enrollment of 46,000 students. He graduated from the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in elementary education and holds a doctorate in educational policy and management.
• Rob McGill, who has been a teacher, assistant principal and principal in PCSSD. In 2009, he left his post as principal at Pine Forest Elementary to serve as acting superintendent. He holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from UCA and a master’s degree in elementary school administration.
• Roy Pugh, who has served as superintendent of five Texas school districts, ranging in enrollment from 825 to 16,100 students. He holds a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education and a doctorate in educational administration and supervision.
• Vashti Washington, who has been a middle school teacher and principal and now serves as the associate superintendent for Charleston, S.C., public schools, which has an enrollment of 43,000 students.
Leader staff writer
The Pulaski County Special School District school board on Thursday selected four finalists for the position of district superintendent. The four include acting superintendent Rob McGill and three other school superintendents from out of state.
There had been 12 applicants for the position, which will pay an annual salary in the range of $175,000 to $200,000. Besides McGill, two other Arkansans applied – James Best of Jonesboro and Bettye Wright of White Hall.
McGill has served as acting superintendent since last March when James Sharpe resigned under pressure by the school board.
PCSSD is the second largest school district in the state with 17,700 students.
The school board chose the four from among five candidates recommended by McPherson & Jacobsen, an Omaha,Neb.-based executive-recruitment firm that is being paid $20,000 to assist with the search for a superintendent.
The board plans to begin interviewing the candidates the first week in February and have the new superintendent on board no later than July 1, said Tom Cameron, chief officer of the search firm.
The four candidates are:
• Charles Hopson, who has been a teacher and principal in Portland, Ore., schools and currently serves as a deputy superintendent of the district, which has an enrollment of 46,000 students. He graduated from the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in elementary education and holds a doctorate in educational policy and management.
• Rob McGill, who has been a teacher, assistant principal and principal in PCSSD. In 2009, he left his post as principal at Pine Forest Elementary to serve as acting superintendent. He holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from UCA and a master’s degree in elementary school administration.
• Roy Pugh, who has served as superintendent of five Texas school districts, ranging in enrollment from 825 to 16,100 students. He holds a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education and a doctorate in educational administration and supervision.
• Vashti Washington, who has been a middle school teacher and principal and now serves as the associate superintendent for Charleston, S.C., public schools, which has an enrollment of 43,000 students.
TOP STORY >> Bond considers race for open House seat
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Former state Rep. Will Bond, 39, a Jacksonville native, could decide by Tuesday whether or not he’ll run for the House of Representatives for the seat currently occupied by Cong. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock.
Snyder announced last week that had decided not to seek reelection for a ninth term, but would instead stay in Little Rock to devote more time and attention to his family, including young triplets and their slightly older brother.
Bond, now a Little Rock resident, represented Jacksonville for three terms in the General Assembly, but couldn’t run again because of term limits.
So far, state Senator Joyce Elliott of Little Rock, former House Speaker Robbie Wills of Conway, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter and Paul Suskie, chairman of the state Public Service Commission are said to be interested in the Democratic nomination.
Tim Griffin, a Republican associated with Karl Rove, has announced he is seeking the Republican nomination.
“I’ve been talking to my family members and putting pencils to the finances,” Bond said Thursday evening.
“I think I’ll make a final decision by Tuesday,” he said.
He said he thought it would take about $300,000 to run in the May primary.
“I don’t know anybody who wasn’t caught off guard,” Bond said of Snyder’s decision to not seek reelection.
Bond was named managing partner of the McMath law firm in Little Rock about a year ago, and said he would need the blessing of the partners before making a run.
“I was in Denver on work,” he said, when he heard Snyder’s announcement.
“It needs to be something I really want to do,” he said. “It’s a 24-hour-a-day job.”
Bond said between now and Tuesday, he would be talking to potential supporters.
He said the two big questions are whether or not he could win and raise enough money to mount a successful campaign.
While in the state Legislature, Bond was architect of the legislation that may soon lead to unitary status for the three Pulaski County school districts, and eventually to an independent Jacksonville School District.
Bond is a 1988 graduate of Jacksonville High School, a 1992 political science graduate from Vanderbilt University and a 1995 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Law School.
Bond and his wife have 4-year-old twin girls and a boy, 9.
Leader senior staff writer
Former state Rep. Will Bond, 39, a Jacksonville native, could decide by Tuesday whether or not he’ll run for the House of Representatives for the seat currently occupied by Cong. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock.
Snyder announced last week that had decided not to seek reelection for a ninth term, but would instead stay in Little Rock to devote more time and attention to his family, including young triplets and their slightly older brother.
Bond, now a Little Rock resident, represented Jacksonville for three terms in the General Assembly, but couldn’t run again because of term limits.
So far, state Senator Joyce Elliott of Little Rock, former House Speaker Robbie Wills of Conway, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter and Paul Suskie, chairman of the state Public Service Commission are said to be interested in the Democratic nomination.
Tim Griffin, a Republican associated with Karl Rove, has announced he is seeking the Republican nomination.
“I’ve been talking to my family members and putting pencils to the finances,” Bond said Thursday evening.
“I think I’ll make a final decision by Tuesday,” he said.
He said he thought it would take about $300,000 to run in the May primary.
“I don’t know anybody who wasn’t caught off guard,” Bond said of Snyder’s decision to not seek reelection.
Bond was named managing partner of the McMath law firm in Little Rock about a year ago, and said he would need the blessing of the partners before making a run.
“I was in Denver on work,” he said, when he heard Snyder’s announcement.
“It needs to be something I really want to do,” he said. “It’s a 24-hour-a-day job.”
Bond said between now and Tuesday, he would be talking to potential supporters.
He said the two big questions are whether or not he could win and raise enough money to mount a successful campaign.
While in the state Legislature, Bond was architect of the legislation that may soon lead to unitary status for the three Pulaski County school districts, and eventually to an independent Jacksonville School District.
Bond is a 1988 graduate of Jacksonville High School, a 1992 political science graduate from Vanderbilt University and a 1995 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Law School.
Bond and his wife have 4-year-old twin girls and a boy, 9.
TOP STORY >> More C-130s sent to Haiti
Eight C-130s and more than 40 airmen from four squadrons at Little Rock Air Force Base have flown 14 missions and delivered 111,000 pounds of relief supplies since last week as part of the massive Air Mobility Command airlift mission to support Haitian earthquake relief as part of Operation Unified Response.
According to the air base public affairs office, aircrews and C-130s from the 41st, 50th, 53rd and 61st Airlift Squadrons are flying missions to Haiti as part of an overall Air Force operation that has delivered approximately 2,250 tons of supplies to the region.
In addition, a C-130 from the Air National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing left Friday with an air-intelligence squadron to analyze conditions on the ground.
An aircrew from the 41st Airlift Squadron was one of the first called Jan. 13 to support the Haiti relief operation.
That crew loaded personnel and equipment before dawn Jan. 14 at Biloxi-Gulfport International Airport, Miss., and flew them to Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, the morning of Jan. 14.
That crew is still deployed as part of the Herculean airlift effort.
“This is what we train to do,” said Maj. Lewis Messick, 41st Airlift Squadron director of operations. “Any time we can be of assistance in cases like this, we’re ready to do our job.”
Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Brinkley, 19th Airlift Wing command chief, lauded the motivation of LRAFB aircrews and the impact they are having on Haiti relief operations.
“They feel that they can’t get in there enough. They are chomping at the bit to do what it takes to take care of people and save lives,” he said. “They all want to make a difference.”
“The aerial delivery they have provided is the difference between life and death,” he added. “Besides tangible food and water, we are providing hope.”
Seven members of the Air National Guard’s 123rd Intelligence Squadron left the air base on Friday morning on the first leg of their journey to Haiti to support the disaster-relief effort.
The squadron left in a C-130 from the Arkansas Air National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing at the base.
The team’s mission is to analyze imagery from full-motion video taken from fixed-wing aircraft conducting aerial reconnaissance over the affected areas
of Haiti.
The unit will assist with force protection for the troops on the ground through identification of areas with rioting or mass crowding of displaced Haitians.
The unit will also be responsible for analyzing infrastructure, such as roadways, sea and aerial ports to help identify their capabilities to accept incoming support.
This is the first mission for the Arkansas National Guard in support of operations in Haiti.
According to the air base public affairs office, aircrews and C-130s from the 41st, 50th, 53rd and 61st Airlift Squadrons are flying missions to Haiti as part of an overall Air Force operation that has delivered approximately 2,250 tons of supplies to the region.
In addition, a C-130 from the Air National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing left Friday with an air-intelligence squadron to analyze conditions on the ground.
An aircrew from the 41st Airlift Squadron was one of the first called Jan. 13 to support the Haiti relief operation.
That crew loaded personnel and equipment before dawn Jan. 14 at Biloxi-Gulfport International Airport, Miss., and flew them to Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, the morning of Jan. 14.
That crew is still deployed as part of the Herculean airlift effort.
“This is what we train to do,” said Maj. Lewis Messick, 41st Airlift Squadron director of operations. “Any time we can be of assistance in cases like this, we’re ready to do our job.”
Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Brinkley, 19th Airlift Wing command chief, lauded the motivation of LRAFB aircrews and the impact they are having on Haiti relief operations.
“They feel that they can’t get in there enough. They are chomping at the bit to do what it takes to take care of people and save lives,” he said. “They all want to make a difference.”
“The aerial delivery they have provided is the difference between life and death,” he added. “Besides tangible food and water, we are providing hope.”
Seven members of the Air National Guard’s 123rd Intelligence Squadron left the air base on Friday morning on the first leg of their journey to Haiti to support the disaster-relief effort.
The squadron left in a C-130 from the Arkansas Air National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing at the base.
The team’s mission is to analyze imagery from full-motion video taken from fixed-wing aircraft conducting aerial reconnaissance over the affected areas
of Haiti.
The unit will assist with force protection for the troops on the ground through identification of areas with rioting or mass crowding of displaced Haitians.
The unit will also be responsible for analyzing infrastructure, such as roadways, sea and aerial ports to help identify their capabilities to accept incoming support.
This is the first mission for the Arkansas National Guard in support of operations in Haiti.
TOP STORY >> Campbell trial is set for March
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell, whose convictions in April 2007 were remanded back to the Lonoke County Prosecutor’s Office, will be retried on 17 of the original 26 charges, Prosecutor Will Feland told Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore Friday.
Campbell appeared at the 10-minute hearing with several supporters.
Feland said the state Supreme Court had overturned several charges, including running a continuing criminal enterprise, the statute of limitations had expired on others and the time already served satisfied the misdemeanor convictions.
Campbell still faces other charges, including conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, five burglaries, theft of property, six or seven charges of obtaining drugs by fraud, two charges of hindering apprehension and one count of filing a false report.
Elmore set Feb. 5 for an omnibus hearing.
The actual trial is set for March 2-4, with pretrial hearing on March 1, Feland said.
Campbell’s wife, Kelly Harrison Campbell, was convicted of 23 crimes at the same time.
She was sentenced to 10 years in prison and recently dropped her appeal because she’s nearing her first parole eligibility.
She could be paroled in a few months.
Leader senior staff writer
Former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell, whose convictions in April 2007 were remanded back to the Lonoke County Prosecutor’s Office, will be retried on 17 of the original 26 charges, Prosecutor Will Feland told Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore Friday.
Campbell appeared at the 10-minute hearing with several supporters.
Feland said the state Supreme Court had overturned several charges, including running a continuing criminal enterprise, the statute of limitations had expired on others and the time already served satisfied the misdemeanor convictions.
Campbell still faces other charges, including conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, five burglaries, theft of property, six or seven charges of obtaining drugs by fraud, two charges of hindering apprehension and one count of filing a false report.
Elmore set Feb. 5 for an omnibus hearing.
The actual trial is set for March 2-4, with pretrial hearing on March 1, Feland said.
Campbell’s wife, Kelly Harrison Campbell, was convicted of 23 crimes at the same time.
She was sentenced to 10 years in prison and recently dropped her appeal because she’s nearing her first parole eligibility.
She could be paroled in a few months.
TOP STORY >> Smith, former Cabot mayor, dies at 89
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Norfleet Edward Smith, or Red as he was known to most, was 62 years old and retired from running his own business selling and delivering gas and diesel to farms and gas stations when several prominent Cabot businessmen asked him to run for mayor 28 years ago.
His daughter, Sharon Black, said she was surprised. He had served many years on the Cabot School Board, but Black said it never occurred to her that he was prepared for the job of mayor until he was elected. Then she saw him in action and knew the businessmen had been right.
Cabot Clerk-Treasurer Marva Verkler was court clerk back then and recalls the years under Smith’s leadership as good ones.
“We were in good financial shape when he was mayor,” Verkler said. “He was a conservative and he didn’t like to spend money unless he had to.”
A man of few words by all accounts, Verkler said Smith wasn’t one to dance around issues.
“He just told you what he thought and that was good,” she said.
“He was a good man. He was fair. He treated everyone the same,” she said.
Born Aug. 27, 1920, in the Sylvania Community, Smith was only known as Norfleet by the people who lived there. He was married for 62 years to Wilma Summers Smith, called the love of his life by his children. She died June 29, 2009, one day shy of 81. He died at home Tuesday from a lengthy illness, still deeply mourning her loss. He was 89.
Smith attended Beebe High School. His father had died when he was 12 and he had been forced to grow up faster than some.
“He never graduated high school, which he regretted,” Black said. “Nevertheless, he led a remarkable life.”
Smith joined the Coast Guard when World War II began and served with the Navy as a gunner’s mate second class, aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Mills. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean 18 times, escorting U.S. and allied merchant and troop ships carrying vital supplies for Great Britain.
After the war, during the boom years, Smith worked as DX distributor from the 1950s until the 1970s. He later ran Smith Oil Company until he retired — a total of 37 years in the oil business.
In the early years, he made several trips daily to North Little Rock to fill his tank truck, often accompanied by Cabot-area residents who needed a ride.
Black recalls that her father won the contract to sell gas to the air base in Jacksonville while it was under construction. The summer she was 12, he taught her to drive the tank truck and they would take back roads to Jacksonville to make deliveries.
“I felt like I owned the company,” she said.
Even though he was busy with work and spent a lot of time with family, Black said he also made time for crappie fishing and hunting. He was especially guarded with his favorite fishing hole somewhere around Des Arc. He wouldn’t tell anyone where it was and he had been known to stop reeling in a fish if he saw someone watching for fear they would see how deep he was fishing.
Smith served 10 years on the school board, holding the offices of treasurer, vice president and president.
He was elected to his first term as mayor of Cabot in 1982 and for a second term four years later. He resigned on Aug. 31, 1989, because of health concerns.
Smith was preceded in death by his parents, Noff and Mary Ginther Smith; his wife and two sisters, Bessie Lockard of Cabot and Vera Seaton of Sylvania.
Survivors include three children, Duane Smith, Sharon and her husband Jay Black, both of Cabot, and Jackie and her husband Pat Martin of Oklahoma, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
He was a member of the Cabot Masonic Lodge and the VFW. He was instrumental in getting the Veterans Memorial built at Veterans Park.
He served as a director on the board of the Central Arkansas Mental Health Services. He also served as the ex-officio director of the Cabot Chamber of Commerce and was its man of the year in 1983.
The funeral was Saturday at the Cabot United Methodist Church conducted by Pastor Stephen Coburn with Stubby Stumbaugh presenting the eulogy. Arrangements were by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
Leader staff writer
Norfleet Edward Smith, or Red as he was known to most, was 62 years old and retired from running his own business selling and delivering gas and diesel to farms and gas stations when several prominent Cabot businessmen asked him to run for mayor 28 years ago.
His daughter, Sharon Black, said she was surprised. He had served many years on the Cabot School Board, but Black said it never occurred to her that he was prepared for the job of mayor until he was elected. Then she saw him in action and knew the businessmen had been right.
Cabot Clerk-Treasurer Marva Verkler was court clerk back then and recalls the years under Smith’s leadership as good ones.
“We were in good financial shape when he was mayor,” Verkler said. “He was a conservative and he didn’t like to spend money unless he had to.”
A man of few words by all accounts, Verkler said Smith wasn’t one to dance around issues.
“He just told you what he thought and that was good,” she said.
“He was a good man. He was fair. He treated everyone the same,” she said.
Born Aug. 27, 1920, in the Sylvania Community, Smith was only known as Norfleet by the people who lived there. He was married for 62 years to Wilma Summers Smith, called the love of his life by his children. She died June 29, 2009, one day shy of 81. He died at home Tuesday from a lengthy illness, still deeply mourning her loss. He was 89.
Smith attended Beebe High School. His father had died when he was 12 and he had been forced to grow up faster than some.
“He never graduated high school, which he regretted,” Black said. “Nevertheless, he led a remarkable life.”
Smith joined the Coast Guard when World War II began and served with the Navy as a gunner’s mate second class, aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Mills. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean 18 times, escorting U.S. and allied merchant and troop ships carrying vital supplies for Great Britain.
After the war, during the boom years, Smith worked as DX distributor from the 1950s until the 1970s. He later ran Smith Oil Company until he retired — a total of 37 years in the oil business.
In the early years, he made several trips daily to North Little Rock to fill his tank truck, often accompanied by Cabot-area residents who needed a ride.
Black recalls that her father won the contract to sell gas to the air base in Jacksonville while it was under construction. The summer she was 12, he taught her to drive the tank truck and they would take back roads to Jacksonville to make deliveries.
“I felt like I owned the company,” she said.
Even though he was busy with work and spent a lot of time with family, Black said he also made time for crappie fishing and hunting. He was especially guarded with his favorite fishing hole somewhere around Des Arc. He wouldn’t tell anyone where it was and he had been known to stop reeling in a fish if he saw someone watching for fear they would see how deep he was fishing.
Smith served 10 years on the school board, holding the offices of treasurer, vice president and president.
He was elected to his first term as mayor of Cabot in 1982 and for a second term four years later. He resigned on Aug. 31, 1989, because of health concerns.
Smith was preceded in death by his parents, Noff and Mary Ginther Smith; his wife and two sisters, Bessie Lockard of Cabot and Vera Seaton of Sylvania.
Survivors include three children, Duane Smith, Sharon and her husband Jay Black, both of Cabot, and Jackie and her husband Pat Martin of Oklahoma, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
He was a member of the Cabot Masonic Lodge and the VFW. He was instrumental in getting the Veterans Memorial built at Veterans Park.
He served as a director on the board of the Central Arkansas Mental Health Services. He also served as the ex-officio director of the Cabot Chamber of Commerce and was its man of the year in 1983.
The funeral was Saturday at the Cabot United Methodist Church conducted by Pastor Stephen Coburn with Stubby Stumbaugh presenting the eulogy. Arrangements were by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
TOP STORY >> Lonoke JPs quiz land deal, ‘retirements’
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
The Lonoke County Quorum Court tabled until the February meeting consideration of an ordinance authorizing County Judge Charlie Troutman to pay a quorum court member and his wife $60,000 for about 1.6 acres of right-of-way for a state Highway Department project to improve the southbound Hwy. 67/167 exit in Cabot at Hwy. 5.
Troutman has offered JP Larry Odom and his wife, Sandra K. Odom, $60,000 for the land and the title had already been registered before the quorum court met. This prompted JP Mark Edwards to call it “a sweetheart deal” in an email sent to two other quorum court members and also to members of the media.
The purchase price would be about $1.15 a square foot. Troutman told the court of “comparables” in the area that were in the $3 to $4.50 a square-foot range.
The money, which would come from the county road and bridge budget, would be part of the county’s match for the $893,000 project.
By the end of the discussion, Odom withdrew an earlier offer to take the $60,000 or whatever the state Highway Department appraisal was, regardless of the amount. Instead, he said, he would take the amount of the Highway Department appraisal. Troutman said he knew the amount of the appraisal, but hadn’t told anyone.
Troutman, as county judge, has the authority to make such purchases, but because Odom is a quorum court member, the quorum court must approve the purchase.
In Edwards’ e-mail, he called Odom’s property swampland.
Both Odom and Troutman expressed anger at Edward’s accusations, and by the end of the conversation, Edwards had apologized for the harshness of his accusations and Troutman apologized for getting combative himself.
In the matter of the so-called “double dipping” by county treasurer Karol DePriest and Assessor Jerry Adams, the court tabled Edwards’ motion to declare a vacancy to exist in each of those offices. Only Edwards voted against tabling his motion.
In the absence of county attorney Jeff Sikes, the court asked county prosecutor Will Feland about declaring a vacancy to exist.
“Basically, you’d be making a judicial determination that this conduct constituted a resignation. I would advise you to talk to your counsel first.”
DePriest and Adams each quietly went 90 consecutive days without pay last year, qualifying under the rules then in place to begin collecting their state retirement from the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System.
Edwards and JP Alexis Malham said that meant they had resigned from their jobs, but Deborah Hoggard, Adams’ and DePriest’s attorney, said they never stopped performing their duties and that no vacancy existed.
“Resign or retire mean the same thing,” said JP Janette Minton.
“There’s nothing we can do,” said JP Henry Lang. “It’s a shame the term “double dipping” got used. They earned their retirement.”
In the matter of the $67,000 allegedly misappropriated by Cassandra Pitts in the sheriff’s office, Sheriff Jim Roberson told the court — Edwards in particular — that new, computerized procedures were now in place to assure against a similar problem in the future. The missing money was discovered by the state Bureau of Legislative Audit.
Leader senior staff writer
The Lonoke County Quorum Court tabled until the February meeting consideration of an ordinance authorizing County Judge Charlie Troutman to pay a quorum court member and his wife $60,000 for about 1.6 acres of right-of-way for a state Highway Department project to improve the southbound Hwy. 67/167 exit in Cabot at Hwy. 5.
Troutman has offered JP Larry Odom and his wife, Sandra K. Odom, $60,000 for the land and the title had already been registered before the quorum court met. This prompted JP Mark Edwards to call it “a sweetheart deal” in an email sent to two other quorum court members and also to members of the media.
The purchase price would be about $1.15 a square foot. Troutman told the court of “comparables” in the area that were in the $3 to $4.50 a square-foot range.
The money, which would come from the county road and bridge budget, would be part of the county’s match for the $893,000 project.
By the end of the discussion, Odom withdrew an earlier offer to take the $60,000 or whatever the state Highway Department appraisal was, regardless of the amount. Instead, he said, he would take the amount of the Highway Department appraisal. Troutman said he knew the amount of the appraisal, but hadn’t told anyone.
Troutman, as county judge, has the authority to make such purchases, but because Odom is a quorum court member, the quorum court must approve the purchase.
In Edwards’ e-mail, he called Odom’s property swampland.
Both Odom and Troutman expressed anger at Edward’s accusations, and by the end of the conversation, Edwards had apologized for the harshness of his accusations and Troutman apologized for getting combative himself.
In the matter of the so-called “double dipping” by county treasurer Karol DePriest and Assessor Jerry Adams, the court tabled Edwards’ motion to declare a vacancy to exist in each of those offices. Only Edwards voted against tabling his motion.
In the absence of county attorney Jeff Sikes, the court asked county prosecutor Will Feland about declaring a vacancy to exist.
“Basically, you’d be making a judicial determination that this conduct constituted a resignation. I would advise you to talk to your counsel first.”
DePriest and Adams each quietly went 90 consecutive days without pay last year, qualifying under the rules then in place to begin collecting their state retirement from the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System.
Edwards and JP Alexis Malham said that meant they had resigned from their jobs, but Deborah Hoggard, Adams’ and DePriest’s attorney, said they never stopped performing their duties and that no vacancy existed.
“Resign or retire mean the same thing,” said JP Janette Minton.
“There’s nothing we can do,” said JP Henry Lang. “It’s a shame the term “double dipping” got used. They earned their retirement.”
In the matter of the $67,000 allegedly misappropriated by Cassandra Pitts in the sheriff’s office, Sheriff Jim Roberson told the court — Edwards in particular — that new, computerized procedures were now in place to assure against a similar problem in the future. The missing money was discovered by the state Bureau of Legislative Audit.
TOP STORY >> O’Brien kicks off his campaign for secretary of state
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
Pulaski County Clerk Pat O’Brien of Jacksonville kicked off his campaign for secretary of state at the Capitol on Wednesday, promising to make the same improvements he brought to the county clerk’s office over the past five years.
O’Brien said he’ll campaign on his success as county clerk. Until his election in 2004, the office was seen as inefficient and outdated, lacking accurate voter registration records.
He cited the changes he made as county clerk. O’Brien said he put “a team together to clean up that mess.”
“I’m very proud to say that after five years in office, we have taken what was once a perennial embarrassment and a train wreck and turned it into a point of pride around Arkansas.”
“When I took over as county clerk, they had a 19th Century model,” he said. “Most employees didn’t have access to the Internet. In five years, we turned ourselves into a 21st Century model.”
He said he could do for the secretary of state’s office “what we have done in the clerk’s office.”
O’Brien said, “The secretary of state’s office is very important. He is the chief election official.”
The office is responsible for voter records and must be modernized to avoid election disputes.
“In 2000, we could easily have had what happened in Broward County (Florida),” he warned.
O’Brien wants redistricting done more in the open so that voters know who will represent them in the Arkansas Legislature when districts are redrawn.
He said he’s raised more than $100,000 for the campaign and asked his supporters to spread the word about the race.
Secretary of State Charlie Daniels is term-limited and is running for state auditor.
O’Brien faces two Democrats in the May 18 primary — Land Commissioner Mark Wilcox and Sebastian County Clerk Doris Tate. Rep. Mark Martin of Prairie Grove is running as a Republican.
“I’m really optimistic about what we can do,” O’Brien told cheering supporters at the Capitol rotunda.
“I can win this primary in May and win this election in November and take office in January,” he added.
He thought there might be a runoff between the two top Democratic candidates on June 9.
Several Jacksonville supporters were at the campaign event, including Rep. Mark Perry, former Rep. Pat Bond and her husband Tommy, Alderman Kenny Elliott, attorney Ben Rice, Ivory Tillman of the NAACP, builder Jim Green and others.
O’Brien also has several family members in attendance, including his mother, Gladys, and brother Jim.
The candidate said his family credits Jacksonville for the many opportunities they found after moving here from Iowa. The
O’Briens opened Jacksonville’s first McDonald’s on Main Street in 1973.
He worked there as a young man and graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1988, going on to the University of Arkansas and graduating from its law school in 1995.
O’Brien practiced law in Jacksonville and served on the Pulaski County Special School District’s school board and then ran as a reform candidate for Pulaski County clerk.
“My parents taught me to work hard and give back,” O’Brien said.
He was one of the first Democrats to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president and helped open his headquarters in downtown Little Rock.
O’Brien, who was a delegate to the Democratic convention in 2008, was the only elected Democratic official in the state to support Obama.
The delegation supported Hillary Clinton until they were released from backing her when Obama’s nomination became a foregone conclusion.
O’Brien campaigned for Obama in Iowa and Texas.
Leader executive editor
Pulaski County Clerk Pat O’Brien of Jacksonville kicked off his campaign for secretary of state at the Capitol on Wednesday, promising to make the same improvements he brought to the county clerk’s office over the past five years.
O’Brien said he’ll campaign on his success as county clerk. Until his election in 2004, the office was seen as inefficient and outdated, lacking accurate voter registration records.
He cited the changes he made as county clerk. O’Brien said he put “a team together to clean up that mess.”
“I’m very proud to say that after five years in office, we have taken what was once a perennial embarrassment and a train wreck and turned it into a point of pride around Arkansas.”
“When I took over as county clerk, they had a 19th Century model,” he said. “Most employees didn’t have access to the Internet. In five years, we turned ourselves into a 21st Century model.”
He said he could do for the secretary of state’s office “what we have done in the clerk’s office.”
O’Brien said, “The secretary of state’s office is very important. He is the chief election official.”
The office is responsible for voter records and must be modernized to avoid election disputes.
“In 2000, we could easily have had what happened in Broward County (Florida),” he warned.
O’Brien wants redistricting done more in the open so that voters know who will represent them in the Arkansas Legislature when districts are redrawn.
He said he’s raised more than $100,000 for the campaign and asked his supporters to spread the word about the race.
Secretary of State Charlie Daniels is term-limited and is running for state auditor.
O’Brien faces two Democrats in the May 18 primary — Land Commissioner Mark Wilcox and Sebastian County Clerk Doris Tate. Rep. Mark Martin of Prairie Grove is running as a Republican.
“I’m really optimistic about what we can do,” O’Brien told cheering supporters at the Capitol rotunda.
“I can win this primary in May and win this election in November and take office in January,” he added.
He thought there might be a runoff between the two top Democratic candidates on June 9.
Several Jacksonville supporters were at the campaign event, including Rep. Mark Perry, former Rep. Pat Bond and her husband Tommy, Alderman Kenny Elliott, attorney Ben Rice, Ivory Tillman of the NAACP, builder Jim Green and others.
O’Brien also has several family members in attendance, including his mother, Gladys, and brother Jim.
The candidate said his family credits Jacksonville for the many opportunities they found after moving here from Iowa. The
O’Briens opened Jacksonville’s first McDonald’s on Main Street in 1973.
He worked there as a young man and graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1988, going on to the University of Arkansas and graduating from its law school in 1995.
O’Brien practiced law in Jacksonville and served on the Pulaski County Special School District’s school board and then ran as a reform candidate for Pulaski County clerk.
“My parents taught me to work hard and give back,” O’Brien said.
He was one of the first Democrats to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president and helped open his headquarters in downtown Little Rock.
O’Brien, who was a delegate to the Democratic convention in 2008, was the only elected Democratic official in the state to support Obama.
The delegation supported Hillary Clinton until they were released from backing her when Obama’s nomination became a foregone conclusion.
O’Brien campaigned for Obama in Iowa and Texas.
TOP STORY >> Jacksonville mayor calls 2009 atypical
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
In presenting his 35-page state-of-the-city report to the Jacksonville City Council on Thursday evening, Mayor Gary Fletcher called 2009 an atypical year that started out with a surprise, but ended with a lot of potential.
The surprise was Jacksonville’s longest-serving mayor, Tommy Swaim, announcing his retirement after nearly 23 years in office.
A special election in May brought out six candidates and resulted in a run-off between Fletcher, an alderman at the time, and Alderman Kenny Elliott. Fletcher bested Elliott in a run-off.
“I would like to thank the great citizens of Jacksonville for this marvelous opportunity to serve in a most exciting time,” Fletcher said during his state-of-the-city report.
The potential he referred to in the report was the opportunity for the city to become home of the new state fairgrounds, moving closer to getting its own school district and the groundbreaking of the joint education center.
“In September,” the mayor said, “Jacksonville jumped out in front with a press conference submitting the first public proposal out of 16 for a new fairgrounds. The economic impact would be more than just the 10 days of the state fair. With a major complex on the site consisting of 125,000 square feet, we would have the opportunity to attract many national meetings, conventions and trade shows to the area.”
The mayor said the establishment of a Jacksonville-north Pulaski school district could become a reality in the very near future.
“We will be in federal court next month in hopes of and with the expectation of unitary status. With past commitments from Pulaski County Special School District to support our separation, we are confident as well as excited about the future of education in Jacksonville that will rival any system.”
The mayor was also excited about the opening of the Lighthouse Academy charter school, the first new school to be built in Jacksonville since Murrell Taylor Elementary in 1981.
“Ground was also broken and construction begun on the joint education center that the people of Jacksonville taxed themselves $5 million for. This unique partnership and close relationship between the city and Little Rock Air Force Base is a story told around the country,” Fletcher said.
The mayor said in between the surprise and the potential a lot happened in the city in 2009.
He cited the opening of the new 13,000-square-foot state-of-the-art library at a cost of $4 million, complete renovation of fire station four, a $300,000 lighting upgrade at Dupree Park, the groundbreaking for the new $2.8 million police and fire training facility and the city’s hospital, North Metro Medical Center, redefined its services to be more financially sound and still provide quality care for the community.
Fletcher was proud of hiring Rickey Hayes of Retail Attractions as an economic-development consultant for the city.
The mayor expects Hayes to recreate what he accomplished in cities across Oklahoma, especially in his hometown of Owasso where Hayes doubled the tax base with the addition of 4.2 million square feet of new commercial construction valued at $250 million.
In looking forward to this year and beyond the mayor expects a number of advancements, including:
• Construction of the 911 communication center, complete with police and fire classrooms and a community safe room.
• Beautification of Main and James streets and Dupree Drive to include new lighting and landscaping.
• Construction and opening of the Jacksonville Farmers Market.
• Acquisition and demolition of Manor House Apartments adjacent to Dupree Park to give more access to the park.
• Intersection improvement at Main Street and Harris Road.
• Construction of a fifth fire station.
• Widening of Graham Road.
• Extending Emma and Oneida streets.
• Additional improvements on the Dupree Park lights.
“These events will move Jacksonville forward from what I have called the ‘city of opportunity’ to more than just a phrase – it will become a reality,” the mayor told the council and audience members.
Highlights from the 35-page report include:
• The city council approved 38 ordinances and nine rezonings during 2009.
• City garage employees spent more than 2,500 hours in 2009 maintaining Jacksonville’s fleet of 250 vehicles.
• Jacksonville District Court saw a small increase in cases, going from 11,978 in 2008 to 12,056 in 2009, collecting more than $1.26 million in fines and forfeitures.
• In 2009, Jacksonville hired 73 new city employees with 44 of those as full-time workers. The employee turnover rate for the city was 39 percent. In 2009 the city had 94 voluntary employee terminations and 17 involuntary terminations. Returning to school was the top reason employees gave for quitting.
• The city’s animal shelter handled 2,325 animals in 2009, slightly down from the previous year. Shelter officials were able to adopt out 869 animals and returned 405 to owners.
• The fire department responded to 1,884 alarms and had 2,667 ambulance runs during the year. Fire loss for the city was estimated at $785,600 and fire savings, based on quick response, was placed at $1.8 million.
• The police department responded to 37,672 calls for service in 2009. There were 232 violent crimes reported in 2009, down slightly more than 20 percent from 2008. There were no homicides for the year.
• Property crimes were also down for the year going from 1,626 in 2008 to 1,492 in 2009. More than 4,300 people were arrested during the year.
• In 2009, the city issued 220 building permits with a total value of $14.3 million.
• After almost 40 years at 308 W. Main St., a new and improved library opened in February just down the road at 703 W. Main St. For the year, the library had 191,855 items checked out, an increase of 23 percent over 2008. More than 1,000 children and adults attended the library’s various programs and nearly 24,000 visitors used the library’s computers.
• Even with the year being the wettest on record, the Splash Zone still managed to bring in more than $172,000 in revenues.
• The community center was booked nearly solid all year and revenues from those meetings, conventions and receptions brought in $78,467.
• The city street sweeper cleaned the equivalent of 9,318 miles of streets during the year.
• Employees and volunteers with the beautification department picked up 4,357 bags of trash and 87 used tires from the city’s rights-of-way; planted 1,796 flowers, shrubs and trees; mowed 111 miles of city rights-of-way and spent about 80 hours on mosquito control.
• The sanitation department collected, processed and sold 1.2 million pounds of recyclable items, making $60,000 and saving the city almost $16,000 in landfill costs. More than 7,300 tons of garbage, 686 tons of bulky items and 33,633 cubic yards of yard waste were collected in 2009.
• The Jacksonville Senior Center served nearly 52,000 meals in 2009 and provided 10,014 rides for seniors.
Leader staff writer
In presenting his 35-page state-of-the-city report to the Jacksonville City Council on Thursday evening, Mayor Gary Fletcher called 2009 an atypical year that started out with a surprise, but ended with a lot of potential.
The surprise was Jacksonville’s longest-serving mayor, Tommy Swaim, announcing his retirement after nearly 23 years in office.
A special election in May brought out six candidates and resulted in a run-off between Fletcher, an alderman at the time, and Alderman Kenny Elliott. Fletcher bested Elliott in a run-off.
“I would like to thank the great citizens of Jacksonville for this marvelous opportunity to serve in a most exciting time,” Fletcher said during his state-of-the-city report.
The potential he referred to in the report was the opportunity for the city to become home of the new state fairgrounds, moving closer to getting its own school district and the groundbreaking of the joint education center.
“In September,” the mayor said, “Jacksonville jumped out in front with a press conference submitting the first public proposal out of 16 for a new fairgrounds. The economic impact would be more than just the 10 days of the state fair. With a major complex on the site consisting of 125,000 square feet, we would have the opportunity to attract many national meetings, conventions and trade shows to the area.”
The mayor said the establishment of a Jacksonville-north Pulaski school district could become a reality in the very near future.
“We will be in federal court next month in hopes of and with the expectation of unitary status. With past commitments from Pulaski County Special School District to support our separation, we are confident as well as excited about the future of education in Jacksonville that will rival any system.”
The mayor was also excited about the opening of the Lighthouse Academy charter school, the first new school to be built in Jacksonville since Murrell Taylor Elementary in 1981.
“Ground was also broken and construction begun on the joint education center that the people of Jacksonville taxed themselves $5 million for. This unique partnership and close relationship between the city and Little Rock Air Force Base is a story told around the country,” Fletcher said.
The mayor said in between the surprise and the potential a lot happened in the city in 2009.
He cited the opening of the new 13,000-square-foot state-of-the-art library at a cost of $4 million, complete renovation of fire station four, a $300,000 lighting upgrade at Dupree Park, the groundbreaking for the new $2.8 million police and fire training facility and the city’s hospital, North Metro Medical Center, redefined its services to be more financially sound and still provide quality care for the community.
Fletcher was proud of hiring Rickey Hayes of Retail Attractions as an economic-development consultant for the city.
The mayor expects Hayes to recreate what he accomplished in cities across Oklahoma, especially in his hometown of Owasso where Hayes doubled the tax base with the addition of 4.2 million square feet of new commercial construction valued at $250 million.
In looking forward to this year and beyond the mayor expects a number of advancements, including:
• Construction of the 911 communication center, complete with police and fire classrooms and a community safe room.
• Beautification of Main and James streets and Dupree Drive to include new lighting and landscaping.
• Construction and opening of the Jacksonville Farmers Market.
• Acquisition and demolition of Manor House Apartments adjacent to Dupree Park to give more access to the park.
• Intersection improvement at Main Street and Harris Road.
• Construction of a fifth fire station.
• Widening of Graham Road.
• Extending Emma and Oneida streets.
• Additional improvements on the Dupree Park lights.
“These events will move Jacksonville forward from what I have called the ‘city of opportunity’ to more than just a phrase – it will become a reality,” the mayor told the council and audience members.
Highlights from the 35-page report include:
• The city council approved 38 ordinances and nine rezonings during 2009.
• City garage employees spent more than 2,500 hours in 2009 maintaining Jacksonville’s fleet of 250 vehicles.
• Jacksonville District Court saw a small increase in cases, going from 11,978 in 2008 to 12,056 in 2009, collecting more than $1.26 million in fines and forfeitures.
• In 2009, Jacksonville hired 73 new city employees with 44 of those as full-time workers. The employee turnover rate for the city was 39 percent. In 2009 the city had 94 voluntary employee terminations and 17 involuntary terminations. Returning to school was the top reason employees gave for quitting.
• The city’s animal shelter handled 2,325 animals in 2009, slightly down from the previous year. Shelter officials were able to adopt out 869 animals and returned 405 to owners.
• The fire department responded to 1,884 alarms and had 2,667 ambulance runs during the year. Fire loss for the city was estimated at $785,600 and fire savings, based on quick response, was placed at $1.8 million.
• The police department responded to 37,672 calls for service in 2009. There were 232 violent crimes reported in 2009, down slightly more than 20 percent from 2008. There were no homicides for the year.
• Property crimes were also down for the year going from 1,626 in 2008 to 1,492 in 2009. More than 4,300 people were arrested during the year.
• In 2009, the city issued 220 building permits with a total value of $14.3 million.
• After almost 40 years at 308 W. Main St., a new and improved library opened in February just down the road at 703 W. Main St. For the year, the library had 191,855 items checked out, an increase of 23 percent over 2008. More than 1,000 children and adults attended the library’s various programs and nearly 24,000 visitors used the library’s computers.
• Even with the year being the wettest on record, the Splash Zone still managed to bring in more than $172,000 in revenues.
• The community center was booked nearly solid all year and revenues from those meetings, conventions and receptions brought in $78,467.
• The city street sweeper cleaned the equivalent of 9,318 miles of streets during the year.
• Employees and volunteers with the beautification department picked up 4,357 bags of trash and 87 used tires from the city’s rights-of-way; planted 1,796 flowers, shrubs and trees; mowed 111 miles of city rights-of-way and spent about 80 hours on mosquito control.
• The sanitation department collected, processed and sold 1.2 million pounds of recyclable items, making $60,000 and saving the city almost $16,000 in landfill costs. More than 7,300 tons of garbage, 686 tons of bulky items and 33,633 cubic yards of yard waste were collected in 2009.
• The Jacksonville Senior Center served nearly 52,000 meals in 2009 and provided 10,014 rides for seniors.
TOP STORY >> Lighthouse principal sees potential for growth here
By JONATHAN FELDMAN
Leader staff writer
After just five months in Jacksonville, Lighthouse Academy may build another school.
“We are looking at expanding at a site nearby,” Lighthouse principal Nigena Livingston told the Jacksonville Lions Club this week.
The new building on North First Street is not big enough to add middle school or high school grades. Now, the school is for kindergarten through sixth-grade students. It must add a grade each year just to keep up as its students progress.
Principal Livingston said that the school is looking at a site near Little Rock Air Force Base, but there are other sites under consideration.
She estimates that about a quarter of her school’s students live on the air base.
The new school would be for kindergarten through eighth grades.
The school has “344 students, so we are fully enrolled today. We have a long waiting list,” she said.
Parents as far away as Beebe are anxious to enroll their children in the charter school. Even children from Cabot commute to the school. But without a new building, there will be no more room to accommodate additional students, she said.
“It’s for people who want a different option for their child,” Livingston said.
The school’s emphasis on small classes, frequent professional development for teachers and eight-hour school days is attractive to parents. But the draw is surely not the playground, which the school still lacks.
She wants to build a playground and develop a full athletics program.
Lighthouse is conducting a fundraiser to help build the playground. So far, it has raised about $3,000 out of the required $25,000 needed to build it.
“Teachers do an extensive amount of professional development. They get frequent coaching with our director of instruction, and I also pop into classes and give them feedback,” she said.
Livingston said she is striving to shape her students into “self-disciplined scholars.”
“We want them to get the habits for what it takes to be a scholar. We believe that if we talk to them about college now, they will have that instilled in them” and ultimately lead them into college, she said.
“One of the reasons that Lighthouse exists is the achievement gap between students in affluent communities and those in less affluent areas,” she said.
Livingston said that it was important for the school not to start too big. “Our charter mandated that we start out at this size, but also we want to make sure that it’s working,” she said.
Lighthouse’s popularity seems to have gotten the attention of the Pulaski County Special School District, which has had a monopoly on public education in Jacksonville for decades.
PCSSD now wants to enter the charter school business. It recently asked the state board of education to allow Harris Elementary and Star Academy to be converted into charter schools.
If approved, the schools would remain part of PCSSD.
The state Board of Education “likes the concept,” according to Deborah McAfee, grants coordinator for PCSSD.
She said the board this week asked the district for revisions in the applications, with the Star Academy revision due for the Feb. 8 meeting and the Harris Elementary School revision will be presented in March.
“Once they are passed, then I can write grant applications for three annual increments of $150,000 each for each of the two schools,” she said Friday.
“I welcome the competition. If someone else wants to come in, I think that’s great. (Lighthouse) can only service so many children,” Livingston said.
Lighthouse operates independently of PCSSD, and is not subject to that school board’s policies. However, it is a public school and receives state funding. Additional funding comes from private donors and sponsors, she said.
But Livingston sees the school as one day having all the features of a regular public school but without the many problems.
Recently, the school built a second entrance to its driveway and paved another driveway, where twice a day approximately 200 cars pick up children at once. The new entrance and pavement have helped ease some of that congestion.
The Lions Club meeting also included a discussion of Lions Club International’s efforts to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.
The international group has raised $650,000 for relief aid.
The Jacksonville chapter donated $500 to the cause.
“Two Haitian Lions lost their lives,” president Bob Williams reminded members.
Leader staff writer John Hofheimer contributed to this report.
Leader staff writer
After just five months in Jacksonville, Lighthouse Academy may build another school.
“We are looking at expanding at a site nearby,” Lighthouse principal Nigena Livingston told the Jacksonville Lions Club this week.
The new building on North First Street is not big enough to add middle school or high school grades. Now, the school is for kindergarten through sixth-grade students. It must add a grade each year just to keep up as its students progress.
Principal Livingston said that the school is looking at a site near Little Rock Air Force Base, but there are other sites under consideration.
She estimates that about a quarter of her school’s students live on the air base.
The new school would be for kindergarten through eighth grades.
The school has “344 students, so we are fully enrolled today. We have a long waiting list,” she said.
Parents as far away as Beebe are anxious to enroll their children in the charter school. Even children from Cabot commute to the school. But without a new building, there will be no more room to accommodate additional students, she said.
“It’s for people who want a different option for their child,” Livingston said.
The school’s emphasis on small classes, frequent professional development for teachers and eight-hour school days is attractive to parents. But the draw is surely not the playground, which the school still lacks.
She wants to build a playground and develop a full athletics program.
Lighthouse is conducting a fundraiser to help build the playground. So far, it has raised about $3,000 out of the required $25,000 needed to build it.
“Teachers do an extensive amount of professional development. They get frequent coaching with our director of instruction, and I also pop into classes and give them feedback,” she said.
Livingston said she is striving to shape her students into “self-disciplined scholars.”
“We want them to get the habits for what it takes to be a scholar. We believe that if we talk to them about college now, they will have that instilled in them” and ultimately lead them into college, she said.
“One of the reasons that Lighthouse exists is the achievement gap between students in affluent communities and those in less affluent areas,” she said.
Livingston said that it was important for the school not to start too big. “Our charter mandated that we start out at this size, but also we want to make sure that it’s working,” she said.
Lighthouse’s popularity seems to have gotten the attention of the Pulaski County Special School District, which has had a monopoly on public education in Jacksonville for decades.
PCSSD now wants to enter the charter school business. It recently asked the state board of education to allow Harris Elementary and Star Academy to be converted into charter schools.
If approved, the schools would remain part of PCSSD.
The state Board of Education “likes the concept,” according to Deborah McAfee, grants coordinator for PCSSD.
She said the board this week asked the district for revisions in the applications, with the Star Academy revision due for the Feb. 8 meeting and the Harris Elementary School revision will be presented in March.
“Once they are passed, then I can write grant applications for three annual increments of $150,000 each for each of the two schools,” she said Friday.
“I welcome the competition. If someone else wants to come in, I think that’s great. (Lighthouse) can only service so many children,” Livingston said.
Lighthouse operates independently of PCSSD, and is not subject to that school board’s policies. However, it is a public school and receives state funding. Additional funding comes from private donors and sponsors, she said.
But Livingston sees the school as one day having all the features of a regular public school but without the many problems.
Recently, the school built a second entrance to its driveway and paved another driveway, where twice a day approximately 200 cars pick up children at once. The new entrance and pavement have helped ease some of that congestion.
The Lions Club meeting also included a discussion of Lions Club International’s efforts to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.
The international group has raised $650,000 for relief aid.
The Jacksonville chapter donated $500 to the cause.
“Two Haitian Lions lost their lives,” president Bob Williams reminded members.
Leader staff writer John Hofheimer contributed to this report.
TOP STORY >> Neighbors who save lives
A United Nations truck passes a C-130J at the Port-Au-Prince airport on Jan. 14 as more emergency supplies were delivered.
John Hofheimer, Leader senior staff writer, stands in front of a C-130J at the Port-au-Prince Airport in Haiti last weekend.By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Elvis and Eddie Joe go to church together.
No, really.
Tech Sgt. Evan “Elvis” Hendricks and Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams are Magness Creek neighbors and attend the same church. That’s what Hendricks, a Little Rock Air Force Base loadmaster, said Monday aboard a C-130J returning to Pope Air Force Base, N.C., after offloading soldiers and relief supplies at the airport in Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
Along with a reporter-photographer team from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, I was aboard the 41st Airlift Squadron’s second plane committed to making relief flights to Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake on Jan. 11.
Hendricks was one of three Cabot residents and a Sherwood resident comprising the four-man crew, plus an electrical and maintenance team.
Capt. Sean Callahan, the pilot, and Master Sgt. Patrick Drozd, a loadmaster, were the other Cabot residents, and 1st Lt. Kevin Bailey, the co-pilot, was the Sherwood resident.
I had flown on an older C-130 when the National Guard named it “City of Lonoke,” part of a public-relations campaign. It was a low-level flight and my main responsibility was to not throw up on Mayor Thomas Privett’s shoes. I was successful in that regard, but it left me concerned about several legs of a thousand-mile –plus flights to ferry aid to Haiti.
But the new state-of-the-art C-130J, flown at high altitude by this expert crew was a different story. The flight was as comfortable as it could be, packed shoulder to shoulder with members of the 82nd Airborne Division on canvas bench seats.
The plane had a modern, commercial airline-style toilet, if not the privacy of a commercial flight restroom.
Heating and cooling, which usually worked, were powerful, as was the plane, taking off with a heavy load.
The instrumentation was state-of-the-art computer controlled and electronic, with some displays on glass screens between the pilots and the front windshield.
I took airsickness medication, but the flights were so smooth that it probably wasn’t necessary.
HATIAN VACATION
They told us to be ready for anything as crew-rest restrictions pretty much turned night into day and day into night. But who could have been prepared for a relief flight to Haiti to be redirected to the airport at St. Croix, Virgin Islands, after there was too much air traffic to land at Port-au-Prince as planned Saturday?
“Only you could take off to cover a disaster and end up at a beach resort,” my brother Craig later quipped from his Brooklyn home.
And it was pretty strange, flying for several hours to Pope AFB, taking on passengers and relief supplies, flying on to Haiti only to be stacked up over the airport and then diverted to vacation mecca St. Croix, about 450 miles to the east.
Crew and media totaling 13 went by cab to a hotel on the bay, but not on the beach. Fishing charters, sail boards, rowboats, catamarans — loads of boats on a calm and beautiful day.
What I found on this trip were airmen who seemed well-trained, competent, confident and good-humored.
HERB-SEARED TUNA
I had a couple of local beers and herb-seared tuna, served on grilled squash slices on a bed of spinach. I don’t know if that’s irony or insensitivity or what, dining at a resort while people were starving and dying for a drink of water back in Haiti, but I swallowed my guilt along with my dinner.
We got up at about 2:30 a.m. Little Rock time Sunday morning and by 10 a.m., we had unloaded our cargo at Port-au-Prince and took off for St. Croix for fuel and another night’s sleep.
When the hotel had only 12 rooms for 13 people, instead of rolling the double-bunking duties downhill to airmen, Callahan and Bailey shared a room. We awoke again in the wee hours of the morning and this time deadheaded back to Pope Air Force Base, where Callahan’s crew awaited their next orders and I lost my computer and flew home on U.S. Air from Fayetteville, N.C.
Even those in the flight operations center at Little Rock Air Force Base were friendly, relaxed and helpful.
PERSONAL TOUCH
And folks at mission command at Pope Air Force Base helped find the laptop computer and bag I left behind, secured it and got it in the hands of Callahan the same day. But I had ended my four-day tour of duty and was boarding a commercial flight back to Little Rock by then.
Airman Vanessa Dale, of LRAFB public affairs, called to tell me Callahan had my computer and would bring it back when the C-130J returns to the base.
Also confidence-inspiring were the 46 soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division, young, strong rangy men packed into bench seats shoulder to shoulder. To reach the only bathroom on the C-130J, they had to scramble over the tops of relief pallets nearly five-feet high, which many did with the ease and agility of spider monkeys.
These are the kind of guys you want defending you in a difficult situation, observed Command Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Brinkley, who is the senior enlisted man for the 19th Airlift Wing at LRAFB.
Brinkley said, “I’m going (on this trip) to gain perspective on what my people are doing.”
Of the relief effort, “This is what we do, people need help,” the chief said.
In four days with Brinkley, he never met a stranger. He made friends with the cab drivers, reporters, soldiers and airmen he encountered. He said he was an introvert, but he seems to have more than compensated.
THE CREW
Hendricks, 35, is career military. The Checotah, Okla., native has been in the Air Force since he was 19.
At one of his first assignments, at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, a 7-year-old girl saw him and told her mother, “He looks like Elvis.”
Two weeks later, Elvis was on his name tag, and it has been ever since, he said.
Though he recently returned from a 130-day deployment at Kandahar, Afghanistan, he’s also done a lot of humanitarian work at Sarajevo.
He likes humanitarian work because “you get an instant sense of accomplishment.”
He, Bailey and Callahan were in Kandahar at the same time.
Part of the reason he agreed to join the crew for this trip was because of Callahan, he said.
“He doesn’t make you mad and he’s very intelligent. We have a lot of respect for him,” Hendricks said.
Hendricks chose to live in Cabot because he and his wife want to start a family and they liked the schools and the community, he said. “We’ll retire in Cabot.”
He’s only got four years left until he can retire and he’s hoping to get a civilian job on the base for Lockheed—manufacturer of the C-130—as a loadmaster instructor.
Currently he’s a standardization and quality evaluator at the base.
“I’ve been stationed many places, but I’ve never seen as much cohesion with a community as the base has with Jacksonville,” Hendricks said.
“Most places don’t offer discounts at businesses, most aren’t as welcoming. I don’t know how many times I’ve been eating and someone has picked up the tab,” he said.
Drozd, 36, is a tall, solid, fit-looking career airman, built like a college defensive end, born in Hallettsville, Texas.
“I’m superintendent of group training,” he said. “They called and I gladly obliged.”
Drozd said that the first day, the plane couldn’t get clearance to land. On the second day, “we flew straight in, the chaos had settled out and we got the pallets off pretty quick.”
Drozd, who had previously deployed to Kandahar, said flying relief supplies was nicer. “Over there, people don’t like you.
“It’s essentially the same, but it’s nice to know nobody’s shooting at you.”
He said he welcomed the opportunity to help and to get out from the office, where he’s usually doing paperwork.
“I was expecting more traffic,” Sunday,” when the C-130J was able to land.
“They knew we were coming and they were ready for us. The forklifts were ready. It took a while to get in gear, but it looks like the cogs are turning.”
He said the crew was pieced together for the job, because the 41st Airlift Squadron has a lot of airmen deployed right now.
Bailey is the youngster of the crew at 26.
He’s been in the Air Force for four years and has been flying C-130s for two years.
The Middletown, Pa., native lives in Sherwood.
Flying to Haiti is a lot like the flights in the desert, he said, referring to the war on terrorism in the Middle East.
He said they were still “working out the kinks” at the undersized airport at Port-au-Prince. “It’s so early in the mission.”
Callahan, 36, lives in Cabot, but he’ll be moving soon to a new duty assignment at Dyess Air Force Base, where he’ll help start a new C-130J squadron.
He’s been flying the C-130Js since they first came to the base. He was one of the first trained to fly the J-model, and as soon as his training was finished, he was one of the first C-130J instructors on the active-duty side of the base.
“It’s very rewarding to sit at home—one day you’re watching (the Haiti earthquake aftermath) on CNN, and three days later, you’re there,” he said.
“I’m career for sure,” said Callahan, who installed flooring for six years before joining the Air Force.
“It was hard on the knees,” he remembers.
Also on board from LRAFB were Senior Airman Travis Donaway, 21, an electronic environmental specialist, and Staff Sgt. Jordan Cote, who had his nose buried in technical manuals and in his laptop trying to figure out a problem with an alert system on the C-130J.
Friday, January 22, 2010
SPORTS >> Swift says conference is toughest in the state
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
There have been no surprises for former Lonoke coach Wes Swift at his new job in his new conference.
Unfortunately.
Swift left after eight years with Lonoke, of the 2-4A Conference, to take over at Jonesboro, of the fiercely competitive 6A-East.
In a return trip to central Arkansas with his new team Tuesday, Swift got a taste of that competitiveness as Jacksonville raced to a 59-44 victory at the Devils Den.
“Night in and night out, if you’re not ready, this is what happens,” Swift said. “And tonight they enforced their will on us and we didn’t have an answer for it and that’s what happens. When they come to our place, I expect it to be a different story.”
Swift began his career at Gillett in 1994 then took over at Hughes in 1997. He won 86 games in four seasons and in 2001 the Blue Devils went 35-1 and won the Class AAA state championship.
Swift originally left Hughes for Shiloh Christian but ended up taking the Lonoke job. Swift’s Jackrabbits went 30-5 and wonthe 4A state championship in 2008, were the state runners up in 2003, and made four semifinal appearances and eight trips to the quarterfinals.
But coaches like challenges, and Swift is no different. So he moved on to Jonesboro after last season.
“It’s just an unbelievable basketball tradition up there,” Swift said. “Northeast Arkansas really loves their basketball, just the support. The small schools up there love it, the big schools love it, so that was a big draw.
“Plus the fact that it was in the best conference in the state. If you want to challenge yourself just get in the 6A-East.”
Swift replaced long-time Jonesboro coach Barry Pruitt, who in 28 years won 521 games, two state and nine conference championships. Pruitt has continued to be a friend to the Hurricane, Swift said.
“He’s done a great job. He’s been a great help to me since I’ve gotten there,” Swift said.
Swift was reluctant to make comparisons between his style and Pruitt’s — Swift didn’t want anyone to think he would criticize the former coach.
Swift did say, with his current roster, there are things that must be fixed. He was unhappy Tuesday with continued, erratic play from his youthful guards and defensive breakdowns, especially against Jacksonville senior standout Deshone McClure, who scored 16 points.
“They win; they’re in contention almost every year,” Swift said of the Jonesboro tradition. “But honestly, what I’ve seen from the guys that are here right now, we’ve got to get mentally and we’ve got to get physically tougher. That’s what I see.
“I see the other guys that we’re playing right now really being stronger from a physical standpoint and I also see them being stronger mentally than our guys, and we’ve got to turn that around.”
The loss Tuesday dropped the Hurricane to 8-9, 1-3 and seventh in the 6A-East.
But the Hurricane has plenty of chances to stay in contention. It was playing host to Little Rock Parkview on Friday, then looking at trips to Searcy and Hall, with the rematch against Jacksonville scheduled at Jonesboro later in the season.
Swift recalled a recent conversation with Jacksonville athletic director, basketball assistant and former head coach Jerry Wilson in which they discussed how even the teams in the bottom half of the conference, which includes Jonesboro and Jacksonville right now, are tough.
“We’ve either got to step up or we’re going to get left behind,” Swift said.
Swift has tried to find the fine line between challenging his players and encouraging them. But Swift expects the Hurricane to make some noise before the season is over.
“I’m constantly challenging them but yet we can’t beat down either,” Swift said. “We have to keep the motivation part going too.
It’s going to happen. These kids want to win.”
Leader sports editor
There have been no surprises for former Lonoke coach Wes Swift at his new job in his new conference.
Unfortunately.
Swift left after eight years with Lonoke, of the 2-4A Conference, to take over at Jonesboro, of the fiercely competitive 6A-East.
In a return trip to central Arkansas with his new team Tuesday, Swift got a taste of that competitiveness as Jacksonville raced to a 59-44 victory at the Devils Den.
“Night in and night out, if you’re not ready, this is what happens,” Swift said. “And tonight they enforced their will on us and we didn’t have an answer for it and that’s what happens. When they come to our place, I expect it to be a different story.”
Swift began his career at Gillett in 1994 then took over at Hughes in 1997. He won 86 games in four seasons and in 2001 the Blue Devils went 35-1 and won the Class AAA state championship.
Swift originally left Hughes for Shiloh Christian but ended up taking the Lonoke job. Swift’s Jackrabbits went 30-5 and wonthe 4A state championship in 2008, were the state runners up in 2003, and made four semifinal appearances and eight trips to the quarterfinals.
But coaches like challenges, and Swift is no different. So he moved on to Jonesboro after last season.
“It’s just an unbelievable basketball tradition up there,” Swift said. “Northeast Arkansas really loves their basketball, just the support. The small schools up there love it, the big schools love it, so that was a big draw.
“Plus the fact that it was in the best conference in the state. If you want to challenge yourself just get in the 6A-East.”
Swift replaced long-time Jonesboro coach Barry Pruitt, who in 28 years won 521 games, two state and nine conference championships. Pruitt has continued to be a friend to the Hurricane, Swift said.
“He’s done a great job. He’s been a great help to me since I’ve gotten there,” Swift said.
Swift was reluctant to make comparisons between his style and Pruitt’s — Swift didn’t want anyone to think he would criticize the former coach.
Swift did say, with his current roster, there are things that must be fixed. He was unhappy Tuesday with continued, erratic play from his youthful guards and defensive breakdowns, especially against Jacksonville senior standout Deshone McClure, who scored 16 points.
“They win; they’re in contention almost every year,” Swift said of the Jonesboro tradition. “But honestly, what I’ve seen from the guys that are here right now, we’ve got to get mentally and we’ve got to get physically tougher. That’s what I see.
“I see the other guys that we’re playing right now really being stronger from a physical standpoint and I also see them being stronger mentally than our guys, and we’ve got to turn that around.”
The loss Tuesday dropped the Hurricane to 8-9, 1-3 and seventh in the 6A-East.
But the Hurricane has plenty of chances to stay in contention. It was playing host to Little Rock Parkview on Friday, then looking at trips to Searcy and Hall, with the rematch against Jacksonville scheduled at Jonesboro later in the season.
Swift recalled a recent conversation with Jacksonville athletic director, basketball assistant and former head coach Jerry Wilson in which they discussed how even the teams in the bottom half of the conference, which includes Jonesboro and Jacksonville right now, are tough.
“We’ve either got to step up or we’re going to get left behind,” Swift said.
Swift has tried to find the fine line between challenging his players and encouraging them. But Swift expects the Hurricane to make some noise before the season is over.
“I’m constantly challenging them but yet we can’t beat down either,” Swift said. “We have to keep the motivation part going too.
It’s going to happen. These kids want to win.”
SPORTS >> Red Devils muscle up to blow by Hurricane
Jacksonville senior T.J. Green shoots over a Jonesboro defender in the Red Devils’ 6A-East home victory. By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
It wasn’t just a victory for Jacksonville and coach Vic Joyner on Tuesday night.
It was an answer to a prayer.
Defending 6A state champion Jacksonville hustled and harassed its way to a 59-44, 6A-East Conference victory over the Jonesboro Hurricane at the Devils Den.
After seeing Jonesboro on film, Joyner jokingly said the key to victory might be divine intervention.
“Praying,” Joyner said of his game plan. “Praying to my God. Because we saw them; I saw them on tape and they were pretty long. It was going to be a battle.”
But Jacksonville helped itself with defense, speed and some patience on offense Tuesday.
Jacksonville outscored Jonesboro 17-8 in the third quarter, then kept Jonesboro at bay with the same defensive pressure that forced turnovers all night. For Joyner, who had criticized his team’s heart at times earlier this year, the intensity was good to see.
“We’ve got to force tempo, we’ve got to push that ball,” Joyner said. “We wanted to make their big men run the floor. So we wanted to push it out, get out in front of them and make them burn a little energy running the floor.”
It was a tough return to the central Arkansas area for Jonesboro coach Wes Swift, who was at nearby Lonoke the previous eight years, winning a state title and finishing as runner-up during almost perennial visits to the 4A state tournament.
“When they play here at home they’re going to try to pressure you, they’re going to turn you over, they’re so aggressive offensively,” Swift said of Jacksonville. “They have good shooters combined with guys that can really handle it and get it into the paint.”
Jonesboro’s early, 4-0 lead would be its only one. Jacksonville (6-9, 2-2), went ahead to stay when Tirrell Brown scored off a Justin McCleary assist to make it 7-5, and the Red Devils took an 18-9 lead at the end of the first quarter when James Aikens and Jamison Williams made consecutive three-pointers wrapped around a Jonesboro turnover.
Jonesboro, (8-9, 1-3) managed to stay within 29-20 at halftime, but the third quarter proved decisive as the Hurricane committed seven turnovers and Jacksonville controlled the rebounding to limit second-chance points.
Jonesboro got within 32-25 when Colby Inboden converted a three-point play with 5:35 left. But, beginning with a three-point play by Deshone McClure, the Red Devils outscored the Hurricane 14-3 the rest of the quarter.
“I think the effort is coming from the overall team spirit,” Joyner said of his roster, whose tallest player is McClure, 6-3. “They know they’ve got to come out being small and scrappy. People are still killing us on the boards and eventually they’re going to kill us but they’re battling. They’re jumping, they’re boxing out.”
Jacksonville led by 20 three times, the last when McCleary went the length of the floor and pulled up for a one-handed jumper to make it 52-32 with just over four minutes left.
Jonesboro got within 52-41 with 2:01 left, but could get no closer.
“We had a plan coming in tonight and we just didn’t execute it and that’s my fault,” Swift said. “I didn’t have our guys ready to play. That’s as unfocused of a game defensively as what we’ve played in a while and I apologize for that.”
Swift said he was unhappy with a persistent problem area — guard play — especially against Jacksonville’s pressure.
“I’m tired of saying they’re inexperienced; we’re in game no. 17 now,” Swift said. “That’s just an excuse. We just didn’t play well tonight at all.”
McClure, a senior, led Jacksonville with 16 points and Raheem Appleby scored 12. Terrance Walker led Jonesboro with 12 points.
Jacksonville moved past Jonesboro to sixth in the 6A-East.
“It’s brutal, it’s brutal man, but what a wonderful conference,” Joyner said. “The kids have got to be up every day.”
SPORTS >> ’Rabbits growing up on court
Junior Darius Scott led Lonoke with 16 points against DeWitt. By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Sometimes it takes a triumph in the most ugly of circumstances for a team to grow.
Just ask Lonoke coach Dean Campbell.
Those were precisely the circumstances Tuesday, when Campbell’s Jackrabbits overcame a four-point deficit to beat DeWitt 42-36 in overtime at Lonoke on Tuesday. DeWitt led 34-30 with less than a minute to go in regulation before Lonoke rallied.
It was an ugly, physical, sloppy game, but it was also a nice bounce-back for the Jackrabbits after they dropped 2-4A Conference games to Marianna-Lee and Heber Springs the week before.
Lonoke (8-6, 4-3) trailed for most of the contest but rallied late in regulation on a three-pointer by guard Darius Scott, who also went to the line and hit his second free throw to tie the game 34-34 with 38 seconds left.
Scott had two opportunities to win the game for the ’Rabbits in regulation, but could not get either shot attempt to fall.
Lonoke took over once overtime started, as a pair of big defensive rebounds by Mike Jones helped swing momentum in the Jackrabbits’ favor for the first time all night.
“We actually talked about that,” Campbell said. “We’ve done this so many times already this year. Let’s make a run — let’s come back and do what we’ve done so many times. And the kids found a way to dig down and get some defensive stops and finally get some points on the other end.”
The even flow of the game’s early minutes quickly faded at the start of the second quarter and the physical, mistake-prone play was especially apparent in the lane on both ends. That resulted in a quarter in which DeWitt outscored Lonoke 7-2.
“I think their guys were trying to do some things to agitate some of our guys, and we didn’t handle it very well,” Campbell said.
“A couple of our guys got some dumb fouls, and again, that’s just the maturing process that we need to continue to get better at.”
The Dragons held the Jackrabbits scoreless in the second quarter until Jones hit an inside jumper to cut DeWitt’s lead to 15-14 with 1:06 left in the half.
That was how it stayed until halftime.
Jones finished with eight points, but it was his two big defensive rebounds in overtime that made the biggest difference for the Jackrabbits. Both rebounds led to Lonoke points, and took the Jackrabbits from a 36-36 tie to a 40-36 lead with 40 seconds left.
“He had been sick all day,” Campbell said of Jones. “He played like he was sick until the end. He gathered it up and got some rebounds for us that we needed, and got active in the offense.
“He had kind of been sluggish, but sometimes, these kids really, really want to win, and they find a way even when they feel bad to step up.”
Lonoke bounced back in the third quarter and capitalized on a technical foul against DeWitt coach Justin Russell with 5:44 left in the period. That led to a free throw by Scott to make it 18-15 Lonoke, and a three-pointer by Damarcus Dodson with 2:38 left in the third gave the Jackrabbits a 21-17 lead.
DeWitt guard Tyler Leibrock, who paced the Dragons with 12 points, hit from the outside early but exploited the Jackrabbits’ inside defense for six points in the fourth quarter. His shot in the lane with 6:47 left in regulation helped the Dragons reclaim the lead at 27-26, and Leibrock drove the baseline and scored to give DeWitt its biggest lead, 34-30 with 1:12 left.
Scott led the Jackrabbits with 16 points, while Jones and Dodson added eight each.
“We were coming off the loss at Heber, and trying to bounce back,” Campbell said. “They did a good job; DeWitt played hard.
We did some good things — we did some not so good things. We’re still making mistakes that we should not be making.”
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