By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Kyle Beard may be known as “The Silent Assassin,” but the Trumann driver is starting to make a lot of noise.
Beard won his second straight Comp Cams MSRA super late-model series race of the season with a flag-to-flag victory over strong-running veteran driver Bill Frye in action at Beebe Speedway on Friday.
Greenbrier’s Frye challenged Beard for the lead with a persistent charge on the low side entering almost every corner, but Beard kept his No. 86 GRT by Frye on the outside and rode the momentum the entire 30-lap distance to earn a $2,000, first-place payday.
“Every restart we had I think he pulled up beside me,” Beard said of Frye, a veteran car builder who constructed Beard’s winning car. “He had me pretty nervous. You get nervous every caution and then you finally get it out when you take off.
“And then another caution comes out and you get nervous all over again. I wish it could have just went green; I felt like I was better after I had run a few laps.”
Beard also led his heat race from start to finish and earned top qualifier for the feature. The 24-year-old used his good track position to claim the lead out of turn two on the first lap and survive a record seven caution flags for MSRA at Beebe.
He entered the event as the most recent series winner after dominating the field at NEA Speedway in Harrisburg to take over the season points lead two weeks earlier.
Frye also finished second to Beard in that race, a straightaway behind the leader at the finish, but he did not go as quietly at Beebe on Friday.
The five-time MARS series champion put his years on the national circuit to use with a fast, steady line around the bottom that prevented Beard from pulling away.
Frye pulled alongside Beard on lap six and again on lap 22, and worked his way right behind the leader after many of the late restarts only to have another caution slow his charge.
Russellville’s Jon Kirby was the only driver to interrupt the duel between Beard and Frye when he worked his way from a seventh-place starting position to overtake Frye for second on lap 19.
A caution was waved before Kirby could get his number 11 GRT up to Beard and contend for the lead, and Kirby’s chances ended when he became the reason for the next caution after his car got sideways on the front- stretch wall entering turn one and slid over 50 feet before bouncing violently back onto the track and coming to a stop.
Kirby was okay but his car appeared to be completely destroyed and needed a tow hook back to the pits.
Beard and Frye’s mostly clean battle up front was not indicative of the rest of the field, as series director and flagman Chris Ellis waved the caution flag seven times to break a streak of one caution or less in the previous four series events at Beebe’s quarter-mile, clay oval.
Several two-and-three-car incidents slowed the pace, but a seven-car melee with three laps left ruined the night for a number of competitive drivers, including local favorite Curtis Cook from Vilonia making his super late- model debut.
The close racing and more closely contested restarts finally backfired on lap 27 when Beard, Frye and third-place runner Shane Stephens bunched up at the front on a restart, causing a chain-reaction accident in turn four that involved five cars initially.
The carnage also spread to the front stretch where two-time MSRA champ Joey Mack was slowed because of a broken transmission and hit Cook’s 601 car.
That led Cook to an early exit from his impressive maiden voyage and left 11 cars on the track from the 20 that started.
The lineup went single file for the final restart as Beard and Frye duked it out over the final three laps. Frye made his strongest assault on Beard in that stretch, crossing the line for the white flag with his nose a few inches behind Beard’s and staying beside him for the entire final circuit.
Beard got the run he needed out of turn four of the final lap to hold off Frye by a just over a car length.
“He had a good car,” Frye said. “He was better than me around the top. I couldn’t even keep up with him on the top, but I really didn’t plan on running up there when the deal started, so, I think I just needed some more laps.”
The staff at Beebe went with a different approach to prepare the track for late-model racing. There was a flat area on the outside of turn one leading up to the pit entrance that allowed a deeper cushion of loose dirt to build and gave the racing surface a more competitive upper groove.
“The track was so much better than the last two times I was here, so I’ll take it,” Frye said. “It was good — you could race on it tonight. The last couple of times we’ve been here, it’s been one lane around the bottom, so they did a great job on the racetrack.”
With his second straight victory that helped him increase his margin in the championship standings, Beard said he was aware early in the night he could add even more momentum to his 2010 campaign.
“I had a pretty good feeling — the car felt good in the heat race,” Beard said. “The slicker it gets, the better this car gets. I had a good feeling about it.”
Stephens gained ground in the MSRA rookie points battle with a third-place run while Jon Mitchell of Texarkana, Texas, recovered from two early spins to finish fourth. Flora driver Brandon Smith completed the top five.
Mark Stephens, of Arlington, Tenn., was sixth while Eddie Provence of East End made the most of a 20th place provisional start to finish seventh and earn hard charger of the race. It was the highest finish this season for Provence in his first year back in a late model after six years of modified racing.
Jeff Floyd bounced back from a mid-race spin to finish eighth while DeWitt’s Clay Fisher and Daniel Waters of Hoxie filled out the top ten.
Mack and Cook were credited with 12th- and 13th-place finishes after running in the top five most of the way, while local driver Wade Johnson was 15th after retiring from the race early.
Kirby ended up 16th and North Little Rock’s Terry Henson was the first retiree from the race and listed 20th when his engine expired shortly after the start. Bryant’s Joseph Long, Wesley Crutchfield and Bobby Derryberry did not qualify for the feature.
Jeff Porterfield won the hobby feature while Lane Cullum took the checkers in the E-mod feature race. Paul Shackleford was the winner of the mini-stock feature and Beebe’s Ricky Wilhite won his second straight factory feature.
Randy Weaver added to his points lead in the modified division with a flag-to-flag victory over Curtis Cook and Donnie Stringfellow.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
SPORTS>>McClure has triumphant swan song in Fayetteville
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Deshone McClure got a second chance at a curtain call Thursday.
This one went his way.
McClure was named the East squad’s outstanding player in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Game at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The former Jacksonville High School standout had 14 points, five assists and three rebounds tohelp the East to an 89-62 victory over the West.
McClure was a junior when Jacksonville won its 6A state championship and his hopes for a return to the finals were squashed in the second round of this year’s state tournament.
“We didn’t have the kind of season we wanted to have this year so the all-star game kind of capped it off for me,” McClure said.
McClure was the only Jacksonville player on the East squad, but he was far from lonely. He was joined by several AAU teammates as well as several former opponents like game MVP Alandise Harris, of Little Rock Central; Daquan Bryant, of crosstown rival North Pulaski; Marcell Mosley, of Marion, and Wynne’s Jerome Weaver.
“I was used to going against them every time I stepped on the court,” McClure said. “I told them, ‘I hope you’re ready for this.’ ”
The East was down by five points at halftime but rallied to outscore the West 42-25 in the second half and hold it to 29 percent shooting.
“It was real fun until the second half because I don’t like losing,” McClure said. “Then it was for real. It was real fun. It was a real fun experience.”
Though he wore the blue jersey of the East, McClure said he still felt like a Red Devil on the court.
“I had to represent Jackson-ville,” McClure said. “I felt like I was carrying my city. I wanted my team to be there.”
McClure is headed to Seminole State Junior College in Seminole, Okla.
The school plays in the National Junior College Athletic Association and finished 21-10 this year and bowed out of the NJCAA Region 2 tournament with a loss to Western Oklahoma State in the final.
While McClure may be pointed toward Oklahoma, he is hoping to use Seminole as a springboard back to Fayetteville.
“My cousin Nick Smith went there,” McClure said of Seminole. “I was going to go to a prep school but now I’m going to try to go to Seminole and then go try to play for the Razorbacks or Ole Miss.”
Leader sports editor
Deshone McClure got a second chance at a curtain call Thursday.
This one went his way.
McClure was named the East squad’s outstanding player in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Game at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The former Jacksonville High School standout had 14 points, five assists and three rebounds tohelp the East to an 89-62 victory over the West.
McClure was a junior when Jacksonville won its 6A state championship and his hopes for a return to the finals were squashed in the second round of this year’s state tournament.
“We didn’t have the kind of season we wanted to have this year so the all-star game kind of capped it off for me,” McClure said.
McClure was the only Jacksonville player on the East squad, but he was far from lonely. He was joined by several AAU teammates as well as several former opponents like game MVP Alandise Harris, of Little Rock Central; Daquan Bryant, of crosstown rival North Pulaski; Marcell Mosley, of Marion, and Wynne’s Jerome Weaver.
“I was used to going against them every time I stepped on the court,” McClure said. “I told them, ‘I hope you’re ready for this.’ ”
The East was down by five points at halftime but rallied to outscore the West 42-25 in the second half and hold it to 29 percent shooting.
“It was real fun until the second half because I don’t like losing,” McClure said. “Then it was for real. It was real fun. It was a real fun experience.”
Though he wore the blue jersey of the East, McClure said he still felt like a Red Devil on the court.
“I had to represent Jackson-ville,” McClure said. “I felt like I was carrying my city. I wanted my team to be there.”
McClure is headed to Seminole State Junior College in Seminole, Okla.
The school plays in the National Junior College Athletic Association and finished 21-10 this year and bowed out of the NJCAA Region 2 tournament with a loss to Western Oklahoma State in the final.
While McClure may be pointed toward Oklahoma, he is hoping to use Seminole as a springboard back to Fayetteville.
“My cousin Nick Smith went there,” McClure said of Seminole. “I was going to go to a prep school but now I’m going to try to go to Seminole and then go try to play for the Razorbacks or Ole Miss.”
SPORTS>>Points leader hits his stride over summer
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
He might just be the friendliest assassin you’ll ever meet.
But that’s not to say that Kyle Beard of Trumann, nicknamed “The Silent Assassin,” is not a fierce competitor when it comes to racing.
Beard is the season points leader in the Beebe-based MSRA late-model series, and has won two of the last three series events.
His victory at Northeast Arkansas Speedway in Harrisburg on June 12 broke a dry spell that went back almost a year to the day, when he won his last MSRA event at Drew County Speedway in Monticello on June 15, 2009.
He also won this past Friday at Beebe Speedway by holding off a hard-charging Bill Frye, and ran third to veterans Frye and Jeff Floyd at Crawford County Speedway the following night.
“It started off a little slow but I think we’re starting to get in a little bit better groove than we havebeen,” Beard said. “We’re starting to run a little closer to the front, anyways. It’s starting to get a little better.”
The 2009 season was not the strongest of Beard’s career. He suffered through a number of accidents and part failures, which kept him out of contention for most of the season.
He still managed to finish third in the final MSRA standings, but with only one victory for the season, the worst of his six-year career behind the wheel of a super late model.
This season got off to a lukewarm start for Beard until unseasonably high temperatures started kicking in around the middle of May.
Beard had one top-five finish and two more top 10s through five events from early March into May, and also endured six rainouts.
That included a stretch of four straight MSRA events over two weekends at the end of April and first weekend of May, but since the rain has moved out, Beard has moved up.
Beard finished out of the top 10 only once in nine starts since May 7, with six finishes in the top five. His only bad finish came in a SUPR race at I-30 on June 18 when he was spun while moving up through the field and was forced to retire early.
“It just seems when the summer starts, I get a little better,” Beard said. “I guess it takes me a couple of months to get back in my groove. We’re already having a better year than we did last year. We had some motor problems last year, but it’s already a little better than it was then.”
The majority of Beard’s 13 career, super late-model victories have come on tracks with a dry-slick condition. When tracks are not able to retain moisture and become coated with rubber from racing tires, it becomes much harder to pull alongside another car and pass.
But for Beard, who cut his teeth in the weekly street-stock class at Harrisburg in the early 2000s, those slippery conditions have been more of a benefit.
“I was raised at Harrisburg, and it’s the slickest track around pretty much,” Beard said. “I’ve always been used to it, and I think that’s helped me because I grew up racing on a slick track.”
Beard plans on finishing out the MSRA schedule as well as competing in the annual Topless 100 at Batesville in August.
He will also race in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 in Columbus, Miss., in the fall along with a handful of events with the MSCCS and P.R.O. late-model series in that area.
The biggest change for Beard and his race team in 2010 will be a new chassis. They are waiting for the final touches to be put on a brand new Moyer Victory Circle chassis that will soon arrive at Beard’s shop to replace his current GRT by Frye.
The Moyer chassis are built by hall-of-fame late-model driver Billy Moyer of Batesville, and were used by his son Billy Moyer, Jr. to claim the MSRA championship last year. But given the success he has had with the Frye chassis over the years, including two recent victories, the jury is out for Beard when it comes to deciding which ride he will favor.
“I don’t really know, we had been throwing the idea around a little bit,” Beard said. “We’ve been talking to little Billy a lot. He’s kind of talked us into it, I guess. I ordered the car last week, and then I went out and won that weekend, so it’s making me nervous a little.”
Moyer, Jr. and Beard have become friends while coming up through the late-model ranks the last five years, and with Moyer’s recent departure from the local scene and into the national spotlight, there is speculation as to whether Beard will be far behind.
Arkansas is considered a hotbed of late-model racing talent across the country, and Beard would like to add his name to the long list of successful drivers from the Natural State.
“If I can keep in a good groove and do good, I would like to go a little bigger and try some bigger shows,” Beard said. “I guess it just kind of depends on how I run.”
Leader sportswriter
He might just be the friendliest assassin you’ll ever meet.
But that’s not to say that Kyle Beard of Trumann, nicknamed “The Silent Assassin,” is not a fierce competitor when it comes to racing.
Beard is the season points leader in the Beebe-based MSRA late-model series, and has won two of the last three series events.
His victory at Northeast Arkansas Speedway in Harrisburg on June 12 broke a dry spell that went back almost a year to the day, when he won his last MSRA event at Drew County Speedway in Monticello on June 15, 2009.
He also won this past Friday at Beebe Speedway by holding off a hard-charging Bill Frye, and ran third to veterans Frye and Jeff Floyd at Crawford County Speedway the following night.
“It started off a little slow but I think we’re starting to get in a little bit better groove than we havebeen,” Beard said. “We’re starting to run a little closer to the front, anyways. It’s starting to get a little better.”
The 2009 season was not the strongest of Beard’s career. He suffered through a number of accidents and part failures, which kept him out of contention for most of the season.
He still managed to finish third in the final MSRA standings, but with only one victory for the season, the worst of his six-year career behind the wheel of a super late model.
This season got off to a lukewarm start for Beard until unseasonably high temperatures started kicking in around the middle of May.
Beard had one top-five finish and two more top 10s through five events from early March into May, and also endured six rainouts.
That included a stretch of four straight MSRA events over two weekends at the end of April and first weekend of May, but since the rain has moved out, Beard has moved up.
Beard finished out of the top 10 only once in nine starts since May 7, with six finishes in the top five. His only bad finish came in a SUPR race at I-30 on June 18 when he was spun while moving up through the field and was forced to retire early.
“It just seems when the summer starts, I get a little better,” Beard said. “I guess it takes me a couple of months to get back in my groove. We’re already having a better year than we did last year. We had some motor problems last year, but it’s already a little better than it was then.”
The majority of Beard’s 13 career, super late-model victories have come on tracks with a dry-slick condition. When tracks are not able to retain moisture and become coated with rubber from racing tires, it becomes much harder to pull alongside another car and pass.
But for Beard, who cut his teeth in the weekly street-stock class at Harrisburg in the early 2000s, those slippery conditions have been more of a benefit.
“I was raised at Harrisburg, and it’s the slickest track around pretty much,” Beard said. “I’ve always been used to it, and I think that’s helped me because I grew up racing on a slick track.”
Beard plans on finishing out the MSRA schedule as well as competing in the annual Topless 100 at Batesville in August.
He will also race in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 in Columbus, Miss., in the fall along with a handful of events with the MSCCS and P.R.O. late-model series in that area.
The biggest change for Beard and his race team in 2010 will be a new chassis. They are waiting for the final touches to be put on a brand new Moyer Victory Circle chassis that will soon arrive at Beard’s shop to replace his current GRT by Frye.
The Moyer chassis are built by hall-of-fame late-model driver Billy Moyer of Batesville, and were used by his son Billy Moyer, Jr. to claim the MSRA championship last year. But given the success he has had with the Frye chassis over the years, including two recent victories, the jury is out for Beard when it comes to deciding which ride he will favor.
“I don’t really know, we had been throwing the idea around a little bit,” Beard said. “We’ve been talking to little Billy a lot. He’s kind of talked us into it, I guess. I ordered the car last week, and then I went out and won that weekend, so it’s making me nervous a little.”
Moyer, Jr. and Beard have become friends while coming up through the late-model ranks the last five years, and with Moyer’s recent departure from the local scene and into the national spotlight, there is speculation as to whether Beard will be far behind.
Arkansas is considered a hotbed of late-model racing talent across the country, and Beard would like to add his name to the long list of successful drivers from the Natural State.
“If I can keep in a good groove and do good, I would like to go a little bigger and try some bigger shows,” Beard said. “I guess it just kind of depends on how I run.”
SPORTS>>Points leader hits his stride over summer
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
He might just be the friendliest assassin you’ll ever meet.
But that’s not to say that Kyle Beard of Trumann, nicknamed “The Silent Assassin,” is not a fierce competitor when it comes to racing.
Beard is the season points leader in the Beebe-based MSRA late-model series, and has won two of the last three series events.
His victory at Northeast Arkansas Speedway in Harrisburg on June 12 broke a dry spell that went back almost a year to the day, when he won his last MSRA event at Drew County Speedway in Monticello on June 15, 2009.
He also won this past Friday at Beebe Speedway by holding off a hard-charging Bill Frye, and ran third to veterans Frye and Jeff Floyd at Crawford County Speedway the following night.
“It started off a little slow but I think we’re starting to get in a little bit better groove than we havebeen,” Beard said. “We’re starting to run a little closer to the front, anyways. It’s starting to get a little better.”
The 2009 season was not the strongest of Beard’s career. He suffered through a number of accidents and part failures, which kept him out of contention for most of the season.
He still managed to finish third in the final MSRA standings, but with only one victory for the season, the worst of his six-year career behind the wheel of a super late model.
This season got off to a lukewarm start for Beard until unseasonably high temperatures started kicking in around the middle of May.
Beard had one top-five finish and two more top 10s through five events from early March into May, and also endured six rainouts.
That included a stretch of four straight MSRA events over two weekends at the end of April and first weekend of May, but since the rain has moved out, Beard has moved up.
Beard finished out of the top 10 only once in nine starts since May 7, with six finishes in the top five. His only bad finish came in a SUPR race at I-30 on June 18 when he was spun while moving up through the field and was forced to retire early.
“It just seems when the summer starts, I get a little better,” Beard said. “I guess it takes me a couple of months to get back in my groove. We’re already having a better year than we did last year. We had some motor problems last year, but it’s already a little better than it was then.”
The majority of Beard’s 13 career, super late-model victories have come on tracks with a dry-slick condition. When tracks are not able to retain moisture and become coated with rubber from racing tires, it becomes much harder to pull alongside another car and pass.
But for Beard, who cut his teeth in the weekly street-stock class at Harrisburg in the early 2000s, those slippery conditions have been more of a benefit.
“I was raised at Harrisburg, and it’s the slickest track around pretty much,” Beard said. “I’ve always been used to it, and I think that’s helped me because I grew up racing on a slick track.”
Beard plans on finishing out the MSRA schedule as well as competing in the annual Topless 100 at Batesville in August.
He will also race in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 in Columbus, Miss., in the fall along with a handful of events with the MSCCS and P.R.O. late-model series in that area.
The biggest change for Beard and his race team in 2010 will be a new chassis. They are waiting for the final touches to be put on a brand new Moyer Victory Circle chassis that will soon arrive at Beard’s shop to replace his current GRT by Frye.
The Moyer chassis are built by hall-of-fame late-model driver Billy Moyer of Batesville, and were used by his son Billy Moyer, Jr. to claim the MSRA championship last year. But given the success he has had with the Frye chassis over the years, including two recent victories, the jury is out for Beard when it comes to deciding which ride he will favor.
“I don’t really know, we had been throwing the idea around a little bit,” Beard said. “We’ve been talking to little Billy a lot. He’s kind of talked us into it, I guess. I ordered the car last week, and then I went out and won that weekend, so it’s making me nervous a little.”
Moyer, Jr. and Beard have become friends while coming up through the late-model ranks the last five years, and with Moyer’s recent departure from the local scene and into the national spotlight, there is speculation as to whether Beard will be far behind.
Arkansas is considered a hotbed of late-model racing talent across the country, and Beard would like to add his name to the long list of successful drivers from the Natural State.
“If I can keep in a good groove and do good, I would like to go a little bigger and try some bigger shows,” Beard said. “I guess it just kind of depends on how I run.”
Leader sportswriter
He might just be the friendliest assassin you’ll ever meet.
But that’s not to say that Kyle Beard of Trumann, nicknamed “The Silent Assassin,” is not a fierce competitor when it comes to racing.
Beard is the season points leader in the Beebe-based MSRA late-model series, and has won two of the last three series events.
His victory at Northeast Arkansas Speedway in Harrisburg on June 12 broke a dry spell that went back almost a year to the day, when he won his last MSRA event at Drew County Speedway in Monticello on June 15, 2009.
He also won this past Friday at Beebe Speedway by holding off a hard-charging Bill Frye, and ran third to veterans Frye and Jeff Floyd at Crawford County Speedway the following night.
“It started off a little slow but I think we’re starting to get in a little bit better groove than we havebeen,” Beard said. “We’re starting to run a little closer to the front, anyways. It’s starting to get a little better.”
The 2009 season was not the strongest of Beard’s career. He suffered through a number of accidents and part failures, which kept him out of contention for most of the season.
He still managed to finish third in the final MSRA standings, but with only one victory for the season, the worst of his six-year career behind the wheel of a super late model.
This season got off to a lukewarm start for Beard until unseasonably high temperatures started kicking in around the middle of May.
Beard had one top-five finish and two more top 10s through five events from early March into May, and also endured six rainouts.
That included a stretch of four straight MSRA events over two weekends at the end of April and first weekend of May, but since the rain has moved out, Beard has moved up.
Beard finished out of the top 10 only once in nine starts since May 7, with six finishes in the top five. His only bad finish came in a SUPR race at I-30 on June 18 when he was spun while moving up through the field and was forced to retire early.
“It just seems when the summer starts, I get a little better,” Beard said. “I guess it takes me a couple of months to get back in my groove. We’re already having a better year than we did last year. We had some motor problems last year, but it’s already a little better than it was then.”
The majority of Beard’s 13 career, super late-model victories have come on tracks with a dry-slick condition. When tracks are not able to retain moisture and become coated with rubber from racing tires, it becomes much harder to pull alongside another car and pass.
But for Beard, who cut his teeth in the weekly street-stock class at Harrisburg in the early 2000s, those slippery conditions have been more of a benefit.
“I was raised at Harrisburg, and it’s the slickest track around pretty much,” Beard said. “I’ve always been used to it, and I think that’s helped me because I grew up racing on a slick track.”
Beard plans on finishing out the MSRA schedule as well as competing in the annual Topless 100 at Batesville in August.
He will also race in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 in Columbus, Miss., in the fall along with a handful of events with the MSCCS and P.R.O. late-model series in that area.
The biggest change for Beard and his race team in 2010 will be a new chassis. They are waiting for the final touches to be put on a brand new Moyer Victory Circle chassis that will soon arrive at Beard’s shop to replace his current GRT by Frye.
The Moyer chassis are built by hall-of-fame late-model driver Billy Moyer of Batesville, and were used by his son Billy Moyer, Jr. to claim the MSRA championship last year. But given the success he has had with the Frye chassis over the years, including two recent victories, the jury is out for Beard when it comes to deciding which ride he will favor.
“I don’t really know, we had been throwing the idea around a little bit,” Beard said. “We’ve been talking to little Billy a lot. He’s kind of talked us into it, I guess. I ordered the car last week, and then I went out and won that weekend, so it’s making me nervous a little.”
Moyer, Jr. and Beard have become friends while coming up through the late-model ranks the last five years, and with Moyer’s recent departure from the local scene and into the national spotlight, there is speculation as to whether Beard will be far behind.
Arkansas is considered a hotbed of late-model racing talent across the country, and Beard would like to add his name to the long list of successful drivers from the Natural State.
“If I can keep in a good groove and do good, I would like to go a little bigger and try some bigger shows,” Beard said. “I guess it just kind of depends on how I run.”
SPORTS>>Blood, sweat, tears are real, in ring and out
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Yeah, it’s staged.
Only the sweat, blood and pain are real.
And the tears, especially the tears.
Professional wrestlers Dick “Tugboat” Taylor and Chaz “Mr. Right Now” Taylor paid a visit to central Arkansas on Friday and, without prompting, the father-son duo answered the big question — yes, the matches are staged.
However a lot of real effort goes into the stagecraft — which Tugboat teaches to youngwrestlers at his Houston-based school — and the proof is in the scars.
“I tore my bicep, I’ve had both knees replaced,” Chaz Taylor said, flexing his right arm to show the evidence of one of his surgeries. “I’ve had a tumor taken out of my head.”
However there is one scar, shared by both men, that remains hidden. It can’t even be seen when Mr. Right Now removes his leather mask.
But it’s there, and it’s the reason the duo came to Arkansas in the first place.
More than 10 years ago the Taylors lost a beloved family member, Chaz’s sister and Dick’s daughter Kelli, a nurse who was murdered in a case of domestic violence by her husband in Florida.
“So that drives us. It hit home,” Chaz Taylor said. “We saw what it did to us and her son and everybody that just loved her. She was one of the greatest women. She went out of her way to make people happy.”
Kelli, who died at 28, worked with kidney dialysis and AIDS patients, helping people too weak to help themselves. But when Kelli was in need no one was there to defend her, something that has haunted her surviving family members.
For years, Chaz said, he has wanted to do some sort of work on behalf of the weak and abused but didn’t know how to get involved.
While wrestling at a fund raiser for Flippin High School in April, Chaz and Tugboat met public relations director Melissa
Woodruff, a former employee of the White Co. Sheriff’s Department, who now works on behalf of animal rescue causes.
Woodruff, once a victim of domestic violence herself, pointed out three of five people known to have abused animals eventually commit violence against humans, and that includes notorious serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy.
“If we can stop the cycle of animal abuse then maybe we don’t lose people,” said Woodruff, who explained that to the Taylors when they met.
The wrestlers bought into the cause.
They weren’t in Cabot on Friday to wrestle, they were on hand at a local event to help promote animal rescue shelters like BoxAR Rescue, Misfit Mountain Rescue and the Jacksonville Animal Shelter.
“Walk before you run but we have some great friends, family and connections to help everybody,” Chaz Taylor said.
Chaz started small. He said one of the first things he did after meeting Woodruff was help out building a horse fence at Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Houston.
But soon he was helping people, trying to break the cycle.
“We met a lady out there that is a victim of domestic violence and I contacted her with my friend, so they’re getting her help,” Chaz said. “We’re a tool to help people and we have that avenue and connections. What if it’s your mom, your girlfriend, your wife, somebody, your best friend? I want to do what I can to help them.”
Chaz said he draws inspiration for his masked character, Mr. Right Now, from the idea of protecting the defenseless.
“Defender of the voiceless and beautiful women everywhere,” he said and joked about that last part. “You have to tack that on right?”
But Taylor draws even more inspiration from his children, his son Dean, 7, and daughter Cynthia, 5.
“What if they were in a situation where I may not be around?” He said. “I would want somebody to step up and help them.”
Leader sports editor
Yeah, it’s staged.
Only the sweat, blood and pain are real.
And the tears, especially the tears.
Professional wrestlers Dick “Tugboat” Taylor and Chaz “Mr. Right Now” Taylor paid a visit to central Arkansas on Friday and, without prompting, the father-son duo answered the big question — yes, the matches are staged.
However a lot of real effort goes into the stagecraft — which Tugboat teaches to youngwrestlers at his Houston-based school — and the proof is in the scars.
“I tore my bicep, I’ve had both knees replaced,” Chaz Taylor said, flexing his right arm to show the evidence of one of his surgeries. “I’ve had a tumor taken out of my head.”
However there is one scar, shared by both men, that remains hidden. It can’t even be seen when Mr. Right Now removes his leather mask.
But it’s there, and it’s the reason the duo came to Arkansas in the first place.
More than 10 years ago the Taylors lost a beloved family member, Chaz’s sister and Dick’s daughter Kelli, a nurse who was murdered in a case of domestic violence by her husband in Florida.
“So that drives us. It hit home,” Chaz Taylor said. “We saw what it did to us and her son and everybody that just loved her. She was one of the greatest women. She went out of her way to make people happy.”
Kelli, who died at 28, worked with kidney dialysis and AIDS patients, helping people too weak to help themselves. But when Kelli was in need no one was there to defend her, something that has haunted her surviving family members.
For years, Chaz said, he has wanted to do some sort of work on behalf of the weak and abused but didn’t know how to get involved.
While wrestling at a fund raiser for Flippin High School in April, Chaz and Tugboat met public relations director Melissa
Woodruff, a former employee of the White Co. Sheriff’s Department, who now works on behalf of animal rescue causes.
Woodruff, once a victim of domestic violence herself, pointed out three of five people known to have abused animals eventually commit violence against humans, and that includes notorious serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy.
“If we can stop the cycle of animal abuse then maybe we don’t lose people,” said Woodruff, who explained that to the Taylors when they met.
The wrestlers bought into the cause.
They weren’t in Cabot on Friday to wrestle, they were on hand at a local event to help promote animal rescue shelters like BoxAR Rescue, Misfit Mountain Rescue and the Jacksonville Animal Shelter.
“Walk before you run but we have some great friends, family and connections to help everybody,” Chaz Taylor said.
Chaz started small. He said one of the first things he did after meeting Woodruff was help out building a horse fence at Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Houston.
But soon he was helping people, trying to break the cycle.
“We met a lady out there that is a victim of domestic violence and I contacted her with my friend, so they’re getting her help,” Chaz said. “We’re a tool to help people and we have that avenue and connections. What if it’s your mom, your girlfriend, your wife, somebody, your best friend? I want to do what I can to help them.”
Chaz said he draws inspiration for his masked character, Mr. Right Now, from the idea of protecting the defenseless.
“Defender of the voiceless and beautiful women everywhere,” he said and joked about that last part. “You have to tack that on right?”
But Taylor draws even more inspiration from his children, his son Dean, 7, and daughter Cynthia, 5.
“What if they were in a situation where I may not be around?” He said. “I would want somebody to step up and help them.”
SPORTS>>Blood, sweat, tears are real, in ring and out
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Yeah, it’s staged.
Only the sweat, blood and pain are real.
And the tears, especially the tears.
Professional wrestlers Dick “Tugboat” Taylor and Chaz “Mr. Right Now” Taylor paid a visit to central Arkansas on Friday and, without prompting, the father-son duo answered the big question — yes, the matches are staged.
However a lot of real effort goes into the stagecraft — which Tugboat teaches to youngwrestlers at his Houston-based school — and the proof is in the scars.
“I tore my bicep, I’ve had both knees replaced,” Chaz Taylor said, flexing his right arm to show the evidence of one of his surgeries. “I’ve had a tumor taken out of my head.”
However there is one scar, shared by both men, that remains hidden. It can’t even be seen when Mr. Right Now removes his leather mask.
But it’s there, and it’s the reason the duo came to Arkansas in the first place.
More than 10 years ago the Taylors lost a beloved family member, Chaz’s sister and Dick’s daughter Kelli, a nurse who was murdered in a case of domestic violence by her husband in Florida.
“So that drives us. It hit home,” Chaz Taylor said. “We saw what it did to us and her son and everybody that just loved her. She was one of the greatest women. She went out of her way to make people happy.”
Kelli, who died at 28, worked with kidney dialysis and AIDS patients, helping people too weak to help themselves. But when Kelli was in need no one was there to defend her, something that has haunted her surviving family members.
For years, Chaz said, he has wanted to do some sort of work on behalf of the weak and abused but didn’t know how to get involved.
While wrestling at a fund raiser for Flippin High School in April, Chaz and Tugboat met public relations director Melissa
Woodruff, a former employee of the White Co. Sheriff’s Department, who now works on behalf of animal rescue causes.
Woodruff, once a victim of domestic violence herself, pointed out three of five people known to have abused animals eventually commit violence against humans, and that includes notorious serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy.
“If we can stop the cycle of animal abuse then maybe we don’t lose people,” said Woodruff, who explained that to the Taylors when they met.
The wrestlers bought into the cause.
They weren’t in Cabot on Friday to wrestle, they were on hand at a local event to help promote animal rescue shelters like BoxAR Rescue, Misfit Mountain Rescue and the Jacksonville Animal Shelter.
“Walk before you run but we have some great friends, family and connections to help everybody,” Chaz Taylor said.
Chaz started small. He said one of the first things he did after meeting Woodruff was help out building a horse fence at Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Houston.
But soon he was helping people, trying to break the cycle.
“We met a lady out there that is a victim of domestic violence and I contacted her with my friend, so they’re getting her help,” Chaz said. “We’re a tool to help people and we have that avenue and connections. What if it’s your mom, your girlfriend, your wife, somebody, your best friend? I want to do what I can to help them.”
Chaz said he draws inspiration for his masked character, Mr. Right Now, from the idea of protecting the defenseless.
“Defender of the voiceless and beautiful women everywhere,” he said and joked about that last part. “You have to tack that on right?”
But Taylor draws even more inspiration from his children, his son Dean, 7, and daughter Cynthia, 5.
“What if they were in a situation where I may not be around?” He said. “I would want somebody to step up and help them.”
Leader sports editor
Yeah, it’s staged.
Only the sweat, blood and pain are real.
And the tears, especially the tears.
Professional wrestlers Dick “Tugboat” Taylor and Chaz “Mr. Right Now” Taylor paid a visit to central Arkansas on Friday and, without prompting, the father-son duo answered the big question — yes, the matches are staged.
However a lot of real effort goes into the stagecraft — which Tugboat teaches to youngwrestlers at his Houston-based school — and the proof is in the scars.
“I tore my bicep, I’ve had both knees replaced,” Chaz Taylor said, flexing his right arm to show the evidence of one of his surgeries. “I’ve had a tumor taken out of my head.”
However there is one scar, shared by both men, that remains hidden. It can’t even be seen when Mr. Right Now removes his leather mask.
But it’s there, and it’s the reason the duo came to Arkansas in the first place.
More than 10 years ago the Taylors lost a beloved family member, Chaz’s sister and Dick’s daughter Kelli, a nurse who was murdered in a case of domestic violence by her husband in Florida.
“So that drives us. It hit home,” Chaz Taylor said. “We saw what it did to us and her son and everybody that just loved her. She was one of the greatest women. She went out of her way to make people happy.”
Kelli, who died at 28, worked with kidney dialysis and AIDS patients, helping people too weak to help themselves. But when Kelli was in need no one was there to defend her, something that has haunted her surviving family members.
For years, Chaz said, he has wanted to do some sort of work on behalf of the weak and abused but didn’t know how to get involved.
While wrestling at a fund raiser for Flippin High School in April, Chaz and Tugboat met public relations director Melissa
Woodruff, a former employee of the White Co. Sheriff’s Department, who now works on behalf of animal rescue causes.
Woodruff, once a victim of domestic violence herself, pointed out three of five people known to have abused animals eventually commit violence against humans, and that includes notorious serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy.
“If we can stop the cycle of animal abuse then maybe we don’t lose people,” said Woodruff, who explained that to the Taylors when they met.
The wrestlers bought into the cause.
They weren’t in Cabot on Friday to wrestle, they were on hand at a local event to help promote animal rescue shelters like BoxAR Rescue, Misfit Mountain Rescue and the Jacksonville Animal Shelter.
“Walk before you run but we have some great friends, family and connections to help everybody,” Chaz Taylor said.
Chaz started small. He said one of the first things he did after meeting Woodruff was help out building a horse fence at Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Houston.
But soon he was helping people, trying to break the cycle.
“We met a lady out there that is a victim of domestic violence and I contacted her with my friend, so they’re getting her help,” Chaz said. “We’re a tool to help people and we have that avenue and connections. What if it’s your mom, your girlfriend, your wife, somebody, your best friend? I want to do what I can to help them.”
Chaz said he draws inspiration for his masked character, Mr. Right Now, from the idea of protecting the defenseless.
“Defender of the voiceless and beautiful women everywhere,” he said and joked about that last part. “You have to tack that on right?”
But Taylor draws even more inspiration from his children, his son Dean, 7, and daughter Cynthia, 5.
“What if they were in a situation where I may not be around?” He said. “I would want somebody to step up and help them.”
SPORTS>>OLDSCHOOL WRESTLING Father, son duo make stop in Cabot
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
When Dick “Tugboat” Taylor talks about taking professional wrestlers to school, he means the old school.
Taylor, 64, is retired but operates Tugboat Taylor’s School of Professional Wrestling in Houston. A one-time wrestler in the famed World Wrestling Federation, among other organizations, Taylor has the credentials to teach the sport to others, but they need to come at it the right way, he said.
“Old school,” he said. “Amateur wrestling. The kids nowadays, all they want to do is fly.”
Tugboat and his wrestler son, Chaz “Mr. Right Now” Taylor, visited Cabot and North Little Rock last week on behalf of local animal shelters to promote awareness of a new, favorite cause — fighting animal abuse.
“Taylor-made,” Tugboat said.
But when he is teaching pro wrestling at his school, Tugboat said, he stresses a basic groundwork of amateur wrestling, the “real” kind, before letting anyone start leaping off the turnbuckles.
Chaz, the masked “Mr. Right Now” and Tugboat’s first graduate in 1987, carries the old-school banner like his dad. Opposing wrestlers are actually a team, Chaz said, and a basic grasp of wrestling techniques allows that team to accomplish the goal of putting on a good show.
“Making it look as real as you can without hurting each other,” Chaz said. “We’re out there as a team to get our point across.
It’s not about me looking better than you, you looking better than me. It’s about the whole picture out there.
“Some of the newbies have lost the concept of that, lost the grasp of that, where they get out there with the big head.”
Tugboat was a high schoolwrestler in Clinton, Iowa. A Viet- nam veteran, he also wrestled for the Marine Corps and was a U.S. Team alternate to the 1972 Olympics.
He turned pro in 1980 and trained under Johnny Valentine, whose son is Greg “The Hammer” Valentine.
“I could always entertain people,” Tugboat said. “I could always beat people up.”
Tugboat gained some notoriety wrestling in the WWF on and off for 6-8 years. He is CEO of Houston-based World Of
Wrestling, but no longer enters the ring himself.
“It’s tough. It wears you down,” he said. “I was lucky. I started late in my years in the business and that’s what kept me pretty for so long.”
The WWF is now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, reflecting the public’s changing perception of pro wrestling as a show first and a sport second. The WWE is owned and operated by Vince McMahon, who has had his share of legal troubles and bad publicity through the years but is acknowledged as a marketing genius.
McMahon and the WWE bought out World Championship Wrestling, consolidating Mc-Mahon’s place at the top of the wrestling pyramid, but there is plenty of room still for other organizations.
Chaz said he and his fellow WOW wrestlers have traveled the nation and visited countries like Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Belize. There is usually at least one show a week, but sometimes four, adding up to 300 days or so a year on the road.
Sometimes promoters will fly the wrestlers in and sometimes the wrestlers drive themselves. The money ranges from $3,200 a night, maybe more, to just enough to pay for gas, food and lodging.
Chaz said the wrestlers even make it a habit to pack their gear when they go on vacation. You never can tell when you might bump into a promoter, wrestle at a local gym or armory and wind up with enough cash to pay for your trip.
And while he loves what he does, Chaz said, the money is important. Wrestling without a contract means no health insurance and Chaz, in his late 30s, said he has had a torn biceps and two knee replacements.
Those kinds of things happen when a guy gets thrown from six feet onto a ring supported by angle iron and covered with 2 x 12s and an inch of foam rubber and canvas.
“There’s padding there but if you’re being thrown from six feet in the air or higher, you’re being thrown from six feet in the air or higher,” Chaz said.
Just like any other athlete in a physical sport, wrestlers wake up sore after each bout, Chaz and Tugboat said. In fact, more than one former football player, martial artist or body builder has taken a stab at Tugboat’s school and received a rude awakening.
“We let them take the bumps and hit the ropes and we never see them again,” Tugboat said.
Unlike Tugboat, Chaz’s background is more rooted in professional wrestling, though Tugboat had Chaz on the mats at the local YMCA as a 5-year-old.
The family moved to Texas, where there was no scholastic wrestling available at the time. Chaz learned the family trade and made his TV debut as a high school senior in a Global Wrestling Federation match in Dallas.
“We do it for the love,” Chaz said. “When you’re out there and all those kids and parents are cheering for you and a little kid runs up and is like, ‘Can I have your autograph sir?’ That’s just cool.”
Now that he has children of his own — a son Dean, 7, and daughter Cynthia, 5 — Chaz said it’s a thrill to see them play with their Mr. Right Now action figures and brag to other kids about what their dad does for a living.
It makes the staged bouts and the very real bumps and bruises all worthwhile, Chaz said.
“My kids are proud to tell their friends who I am,” he said. “I’m going to ride that for as long as I can.”
Leader sports editor
When Dick “Tugboat” Taylor talks about taking professional wrestlers to school, he means the old school.
Taylor, 64, is retired but operates Tugboat Taylor’s School of Professional Wrestling in Houston. A one-time wrestler in the famed World Wrestling Federation, among other organizations, Taylor has the credentials to teach the sport to others, but they need to come at it the right way, he said.
“Old school,” he said. “Amateur wrestling. The kids nowadays, all they want to do is fly.”
Tugboat and his wrestler son, Chaz “Mr. Right Now” Taylor, visited Cabot and North Little Rock last week on behalf of local animal shelters to promote awareness of a new, favorite cause — fighting animal abuse.
“Taylor-made,” Tugboat said.
But when he is teaching pro wrestling at his school, Tugboat said, he stresses a basic groundwork of amateur wrestling, the “real” kind, before letting anyone start leaping off the turnbuckles.
Chaz, the masked “Mr. Right Now” and Tugboat’s first graduate in 1987, carries the old-school banner like his dad. Opposing wrestlers are actually a team, Chaz said, and a basic grasp of wrestling techniques allows that team to accomplish the goal of putting on a good show.
“Making it look as real as you can without hurting each other,” Chaz said. “We’re out there as a team to get our point across.
It’s not about me looking better than you, you looking better than me. It’s about the whole picture out there.
“Some of the newbies have lost the concept of that, lost the grasp of that, where they get out there with the big head.”
Tugboat was a high schoolwrestler in Clinton, Iowa. A Viet- nam veteran, he also wrestled for the Marine Corps and was a U.S. Team alternate to the 1972 Olympics.
He turned pro in 1980 and trained under Johnny Valentine, whose son is Greg “The Hammer” Valentine.
“I could always entertain people,” Tugboat said. “I could always beat people up.”
Tugboat gained some notoriety wrestling in the WWF on and off for 6-8 years. He is CEO of Houston-based World Of
Wrestling, but no longer enters the ring himself.
“It’s tough. It wears you down,” he said. “I was lucky. I started late in my years in the business and that’s what kept me pretty for so long.”
The WWF is now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, reflecting the public’s changing perception of pro wrestling as a show first and a sport second. The WWE is owned and operated by Vince McMahon, who has had his share of legal troubles and bad publicity through the years but is acknowledged as a marketing genius.
McMahon and the WWE bought out World Championship Wrestling, consolidating Mc-Mahon’s place at the top of the wrestling pyramid, but there is plenty of room still for other organizations.
Chaz said he and his fellow WOW wrestlers have traveled the nation and visited countries like Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Belize. There is usually at least one show a week, but sometimes four, adding up to 300 days or so a year on the road.
Sometimes promoters will fly the wrestlers in and sometimes the wrestlers drive themselves. The money ranges from $3,200 a night, maybe more, to just enough to pay for gas, food and lodging.
Chaz said the wrestlers even make it a habit to pack their gear when they go on vacation. You never can tell when you might bump into a promoter, wrestle at a local gym or armory and wind up with enough cash to pay for your trip.
And while he loves what he does, Chaz said, the money is important. Wrestling without a contract means no health insurance and Chaz, in his late 30s, said he has had a torn biceps and two knee replacements.
Those kinds of things happen when a guy gets thrown from six feet onto a ring supported by angle iron and covered with 2 x 12s and an inch of foam rubber and canvas.
“There’s padding there but if you’re being thrown from six feet in the air or higher, you’re being thrown from six feet in the air or higher,” Chaz said.
Just like any other athlete in a physical sport, wrestlers wake up sore after each bout, Chaz and Tugboat said. In fact, more than one former football player, martial artist or body builder has taken a stab at Tugboat’s school and received a rude awakening.
“We let them take the bumps and hit the ropes and we never see them again,” Tugboat said.
Unlike Tugboat, Chaz’s background is more rooted in professional wrestling, though Tugboat had Chaz on the mats at the local YMCA as a 5-year-old.
The family moved to Texas, where there was no scholastic wrestling available at the time. Chaz learned the family trade and made his TV debut as a high school senior in a Global Wrestling Federation match in Dallas.
“We do it for the love,” Chaz said. “When you’re out there and all those kids and parents are cheering for you and a little kid runs up and is like, ‘Can I have your autograph sir?’ That’s just cool.”
Now that he has children of his own — a son Dean, 7, and daughter Cynthia, 5 — Chaz said it’s a thrill to see them play with their Mr. Right Now action figures and brag to other kids about what their dad does for a living.
It makes the staged bouts and the very real bumps and bruises all worthwhile, Chaz said.
“My kids are proud to tell their friends who I am,” he said. “I’m going to ride that for as long as I can.”
TOP STORY >> Leader honored again for general excellence
IN SHORT: Newspaper wins 22 awards, including for best news, sports and editorial.
By Rick Kron
Leader staff writer
The Leader was named Saturday the best large weekly in the state for the third year in a row by the Arkansas Press Association, again taking the sweepstakes award.
The newspaper garnered 22 awards, including five first-place plaques.
The family-owned newspaper — which for more than 23 years has been covering Jacksonville, Sherwood, Cabot and Lonoke County, as well as White County — took first place in community coverage, editorial writing, best sports page, top sports news story and general excellence.
The Leader competed against 411 entries from 15 newspapers in the large-weeklies category.
“There were scores of outstanding entries, which is why we’re grateful we were the overall winner in the large-weekly category,” said Garrick Feldman, editor and publisher of The Leader. “The contest was so competitive, the state’s largest daily newspaper didn’t win the sweepstakes award in its division.”
That award went to the Texarkana Gazette.
In naming The Leader’s sports page the best, the judges said there was a lot of good material on the page. “Great photos and solid stories with a solid layout,” the judges wrote.
Senior staff writer John Hofheimer wrote the editorial that garnered first place for The Leader. The headline was “PCSSD puts students last.” The judges liked the writer’s comparison of two school boards — PCSSD to Cabot. “It presents a clear picture of the situation and presents definite problems to the solution,” the judges wrote.
The top sports news story was entitled, “Devils get their due,” written by Leader sports editor Kelly Fenton. The judges said, “It was well written, good game coverage and a good story about a major achievement.”
“What I like so much about our awards this year is that so many of them were group awards, like the second place for education coverage, the first place for community coverage and general excellence. We are truly a team here at The Leader,” said Feldman.
The awards were presented at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Press Association in Tunica, Miss. The state group tied in its convention with the press associations from Tennessee and Mississippi.
Members of the Mississippi press group judged the Arkansas papers. Other awards and honors for The Leader include:
• Second place in best front page went to staff designer Christy Hendricks. “Lots of great content and packaging,” the judges said.
• A team of reporters, Rick Kron, Jeffrey Smith, John Hofheimer and Nancy Dockter, won second place in coverage of education. “There was good basic coverage on topics from stimulus money to test scores,” the judges wrote.
• Second place in investigative reporting went to staff writer Kron for his series of articles, “Where is your alderman?” The judges said, “It was good work on making government accountable, even at the local level.”
• Editorial writer Ernie Dumas took second place for his piece, “Huckabee self destructs.” The judges said the writing was a “thorough examination of the events, their causes and the resulting consequences” of the former governor’s decision to pardon Maurice Clemmons, who later killed four Seattle-area police officers.
• Staff writer Joan McCoy took second in news story for “FBI, ATF arrest Cabot man,” who is alleged to be a Mafia member. “It was a very involved story that was well told,” the judges said.
• Placing second was the sports news story, “Stadium lights, camera, action” by sports editor Todd Traub. The judges said it was an interesting story and well written.
• Traub also took second in sports column writing with “Happy to be off the sidelines.” Judges liked the personal self-introduction and felt it was sincerely written.
• Staff photographer David Parker took second place in single sports action photography with his entry, “Record-setting run.” The judges commented that it was an excellent photo and told the story of the race.
• David Scolli, another staff photographer, took second place in the single sports feature photograph category with his photo, “Character study.”
• Sports Editor Todd Traub took third place in sports feature writing with his story, “Battling the heat.”
• David Scolli took third place in the single sports feature photograph category with “Clinton’s big day.”
• Eric Francis took third place in freelance writing with “Guilty verdict.”
• The Leader received honorable mention for in depth series reporting with its “War memories” articles by Jeffrey Smith, John Hofheimer and Aliya Feldman.
• David Parker took an honorable mention in the single news photograph category with “Lonoke hosts flu clinic.”
• David Scolli took honorable mention in single sports action photography with his “Arkansas State wrestling.”
• Scolli also took two honorable mention awards in the picture page and photo essay category with “Little big league” and “Lonoke County fair.”
By Rick Kron
Leader staff writer
The Leader was named Saturday the best large weekly in the state for the third year in a row by the Arkansas Press Association, again taking the sweepstakes award.
The newspaper garnered 22 awards, including five first-place plaques.
The family-owned newspaper — which for more than 23 years has been covering Jacksonville, Sherwood, Cabot and Lonoke County, as well as White County — took first place in community coverage, editorial writing, best sports page, top sports news story and general excellence.
The Leader competed against 411 entries from 15 newspapers in the large-weeklies category.
“There were scores of outstanding entries, which is why we’re grateful we were the overall winner in the large-weekly category,” said Garrick Feldman, editor and publisher of The Leader. “The contest was so competitive, the state’s largest daily newspaper didn’t win the sweepstakes award in its division.”
That award went to the Texarkana Gazette.
In naming The Leader’s sports page the best, the judges said there was a lot of good material on the page. “Great photos and solid stories with a solid layout,” the judges wrote.
Senior staff writer John Hofheimer wrote the editorial that garnered first place for The Leader. The headline was “PCSSD puts students last.” The judges liked the writer’s comparison of two school boards — PCSSD to Cabot. “It presents a clear picture of the situation and presents definite problems to the solution,” the judges wrote.
The top sports news story was entitled, “Devils get their due,” written by Leader sports editor Kelly Fenton. The judges said, “It was well written, good game coverage and a good story about a major achievement.”
“What I like so much about our awards this year is that so many of them were group awards, like the second place for education coverage, the first place for community coverage and general excellence. We are truly a team here at The Leader,” said Feldman.
The awards were presented at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Press Association in Tunica, Miss. The state group tied in its convention with the press associations from Tennessee and Mississippi.
Members of the Mississippi press group judged the Arkansas papers. Other awards and honors for The Leader include:
• Second place in best front page went to staff designer Christy Hendricks. “Lots of great content and packaging,” the judges said.
• A team of reporters, Rick Kron, Jeffrey Smith, John Hofheimer and Nancy Dockter, won second place in coverage of education. “There was good basic coverage on topics from stimulus money to test scores,” the judges wrote.
• Second place in investigative reporting went to staff writer Kron for his series of articles, “Where is your alderman?” The judges said, “It was good work on making government accountable, even at the local level.”
• Editorial writer Ernie Dumas took second place for his piece, “Huckabee self destructs.” The judges said the writing was a “thorough examination of the events, their causes and the resulting consequences” of the former governor’s decision to pardon Maurice Clemmons, who later killed four Seattle-area police officers.
• Staff writer Joan McCoy took second in news story for “FBI, ATF arrest Cabot man,” who is alleged to be a Mafia member. “It was a very involved story that was well told,” the judges said.
• Placing second was the sports news story, “Stadium lights, camera, action” by sports editor Todd Traub. The judges said it was an interesting story and well written.
• Traub also took second in sports column writing with “Happy to be off the sidelines.” Judges liked the personal self-introduction and felt it was sincerely written.
• Staff photographer David Parker took second place in single sports action photography with his entry, “Record-setting run.” The judges commented that it was an excellent photo and told the story of the race.
• David Scolli, another staff photographer, took second place in the single sports feature photograph category with his photo, “Character study.”
• Sports Editor Todd Traub took third place in sports feature writing with his story, “Battling the heat.”
• David Scolli took third place in the single sports feature photograph category with “Clinton’s big day.”
• Eric Francis took third place in freelance writing with “Guilty verdict.”
• The Leader received honorable mention for in depth series reporting with its “War memories” articles by Jeffrey Smith, John Hofheimer and Aliya Feldman.
• David Parker took an honorable mention in the single news photograph category with “Lonoke hosts flu clinic.”
• David Scolli took honorable mention in single sports action photography with his “Arkansas State wrestling.”
• Scolli also took two honorable mention awards in the picture page and photo essay category with “Little big league” and “Lonoke County fair.”
Friday, June 25, 2010
SPORTS>>Jacksonville overcomes Sylvan Hills junior team
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet overtook Sylvan Hills early and kept going until time ran out in a 9-4 junior American Legion victory at Dupree Park on Thursday.
Gwatney spotted the Bruins two runs in the first, then scored three in the bottom of the inning and led until the two-hour time limit ended the game in the Jacksonville the sixth.
Jacksonville starter D’Vone McClure, who has had only a handful of starts, went the distance, striking out three, walking two and getting charged with three earned runs. His best inning was his last, as he struck out his final two hitters after giving up a one-out walk.
“He threw strikes and he worked ahead in the count quite a bit, that really helped him,’ Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said. “He probably used a few too many breaking pitches but other than that he did a good job. That’s probably the second or third time he’s been on the mound.”
McClure also helped himself with two runs and an RBI single. Sylvan Hills starter Lance Hunter homered to help his cause but didn’t survive the second and was charged with the loss after giving up five runs.
Xavier Brown, who has played third and been a solid starter in increased playing time because of injuries, was 3 for 3 with two runs and two RBI. Austin Allen was 2 for 4 with a triple, an infield hit and a run; No. 9 hitter Cole Bredenberg was 3 for 3 with two runs and an RBI and Troy Allen had a single and two RBI. The game was called because of time just after Bredenberg beat out a grounder to second for a hit.
“We’ve been able to have a few guys step up,” Hickingbotham said. “What they’ve been doing is they’ve been playing good defense and they’ve been getting up there and trying their best to battle at the plate.”
McClure hit Greg Atchison to open the game and Atchison later scored on Dalton Freeling’s sacrifice fly. Hunter made it 2-0 when he drove a McClure fastball over the left-field fence for a home run.
But Gwatney struck back with a three-run first as McClure led off with a walk and quickly took second on a throwing error by Hunter on a pickoff attempt, then Kenny Cummings reached on Hunter’s wild pitch on strike three. Brown singled in one run and Troy Allen and Alex Tucker drove in one each with groundouts.
After two hits and two hit batters in the Gwatney second, the Bruins relieved Hunter with shortstop Connor Eller, and Jacksonville scored two more runs on a bases-loaded walk to Brown and Chris McClendon’s single to left.
The Bruins got a run back on Sammy Pittman’s RBI single in the third, but Gwatney continued to peck away in the bottom of the inning as it loaded the bases and got RBI singles from Bredenberg and McClure to make it 7-3.
Freeling led off with a double in the Sylvan Hills fifth and scored on Eller’s one-out single to cut it to 7-4, but the Bruins stranded Eller and Pittman, who doubled over McClendon’s head in left, when Blake Hill and Aaron Sarna both grounded out.
But again, Gwatney tweaked the lead, this time loading the bases with two out in the bottom of the inning and scoring when Bredenberg came in on Eller’s wild pitch and making it 9-4 when Troy Allen roped an RBI single to center.
Jacksonville has been without high school stars Jacob Abrahamson, Jesse Harbin and Patrick Castleberry because of injuries.
“Right now we’re kind of struggling,” Hickingbotham said. “We’ve just been struggling and trying to go. They’re coming back a little bit.”
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet overtook Sylvan Hills early and kept going until time ran out in a 9-4 junior American Legion victory at Dupree Park on Thursday.
Gwatney spotted the Bruins two runs in the first, then scored three in the bottom of the inning and led until the two-hour time limit ended the game in the Jacksonville the sixth.
Jacksonville starter D’Vone McClure, who has had only a handful of starts, went the distance, striking out three, walking two and getting charged with three earned runs. His best inning was his last, as he struck out his final two hitters after giving up a one-out walk.
“He threw strikes and he worked ahead in the count quite a bit, that really helped him,’ Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said. “He probably used a few too many breaking pitches but other than that he did a good job. That’s probably the second or third time he’s been on the mound.”
McClure also helped himself with two runs and an RBI single. Sylvan Hills starter Lance Hunter homered to help his cause but didn’t survive the second and was charged with the loss after giving up five runs.
Xavier Brown, who has played third and been a solid starter in increased playing time because of injuries, was 3 for 3 with two runs and two RBI. Austin Allen was 2 for 4 with a triple, an infield hit and a run; No. 9 hitter Cole Bredenberg was 3 for 3 with two runs and an RBI and Troy Allen had a single and two RBI. The game was called because of time just after Bredenberg beat out a grounder to second for a hit.
“We’ve been able to have a few guys step up,” Hickingbotham said. “What they’ve been doing is they’ve been playing good defense and they’ve been getting up there and trying their best to battle at the plate.”
McClure hit Greg Atchison to open the game and Atchison later scored on Dalton Freeling’s sacrifice fly. Hunter made it 2-0 when he drove a McClure fastball over the left-field fence for a home run.
But Gwatney struck back with a three-run first as McClure led off with a walk and quickly took second on a throwing error by Hunter on a pickoff attempt, then Kenny Cummings reached on Hunter’s wild pitch on strike three. Brown singled in one run and Troy Allen and Alex Tucker drove in one each with groundouts.
After two hits and two hit batters in the Gwatney second, the Bruins relieved Hunter with shortstop Connor Eller, and Jacksonville scored two more runs on a bases-loaded walk to Brown and Chris McClendon’s single to left.
The Bruins got a run back on Sammy Pittman’s RBI single in the third, but Gwatney continued to peck away in the bottom of the inning as it loaded the bases and got RBI singles from Bredenberg and McClure to make it 7-3.
Freeling led off with a double in the Sylvan Hills fifth and scored on Eller’s one-out single to cut it to 7-4, but the Bruins stranded Eller and Pittman, who doubled over McClendon’s head in left, when Blake Hill and Aaron Sarna both grounded out.
But again, Gwatney tweaked the lead, this time loading the bases with two out in the bottom of the inning and scoring when Bredenberg came in on Eller’s wild pitch and making it 9-4 when Troy Allen roped an RBI single to center.
Jacksonville has been without high school stars Jacob Abrahamson, Jesse Harbin and Patrick Castleberry because of injuries.
“Right now we’re kind of struggling,” Hickingbotham said. “We’ve just been struggling and trying to go. They’re coming back a little bit.”
SPORTS>>Americans put in time, take place in history
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
I was at Wednesday night’s Arkansas Travelers-Springfield Cardinals game as it dragged into its 12th inning and fourth hour at Dickey-Stephens Park.
Then, mercifully, Arkansas’ Clay Fuller took third on a wild pitch and scrambled to his feet to score on catcher Tony Cruz’s throwing error, and Arkansas had a 3-2, extra-inning victory that lasted three hours and 42 minutes.
Too long, in other words.
Those of us working in the pressbox agreed we only like extra innings, “free baseball” as it’s called, when we’ve paid to get in, especially when beer sales aren’t cut off in the seventh inning.
I don’t know anything about beer sales at Wimbledon, but fans there got plenty of free tennis when American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut squared off.
Lots and lots of free tennis.
It was an 11-hour, five-minute match played over three days that finally ended Thursday when Isner hit a backhand up the line for the victory. The score was 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68.
See, by Wimbledon rules there is no tiebreaker per se in the final set, which you have to win by two points.
That was the part Isner and Mahut had trouble with. Neither could break serve as Isner finished with 112 aces and Mahut had 103, both surpassing the previous record of 78.
The final set alone took eight hours 11 minutes. The previous record for longest MATCH was six hours, 33 minutes set in the 2004 French Open.
I don’t know if I could have sat through that, but chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani had no choice.
“I travel economy,” he said. “Seven hours sitting still on court is nothing.”
Fortunately, the sun set on the English umpire, and everyone else, twice. Centre Court at the All England Club has a retractable roof and lights, but the lesser courts where the lower seeds play are not lighted, and so the long match was twice suspended by darkness, giving the players a rest.
By his estimate Isner, seeded 23rd, put away a dozen energy bars and close to 40 bottles of water and credited his training in Florida for helping him endure the three-day epic.
“My coach actually, believe it or not, said jokingly before the tournament started that I’ll be able to play 10 hours,” he said.
Wow. Think how long Isner could have gone if he trained in Arkansas in June.
With his victory Isner, who generously applauded his worthy opponent, contributed to what has been a good week for Americans in international competition.
The U.S. soccer team won a dramatic, 1-0 victory over Algeria in the World Cup on Wednesday to reach the second round. It was the first World Cup victory in eight years for the U.S., which tied England and Slovenia earlier, and it was the first time the U.S. has won its first-round group since the original World Cup in 1930.
And again, the Americans needed extra time to win.
Landon Donovan scored 45 seconds into four minutes of injury time, which is tacked on at the end of the match rather than have the clock stop during regulation every time a player goes down writhing and grabbing his knee when an opponent looks at him funny.
It’s not overtime mind you — the match can still end in a tie after the injury time runs out — but this time it was enough for Donovan and the U.S., which had to survive two bad calls by referees to get to this point.
A blown offsides call on Donovan wiped out what would have been the winning goal against Slovenia and another bad offsides call wiped out a goal by Clint Dempsey against Algeria.
“It makes me believe in good in the world,” Donovan said of Wednesday’s victory. “When you try to do things the right way, that’s good to see them rewarded.”
The team even earned a lockercroom visit from former President Bill Clinton, himself a comeback kid who won four more years.
In honesty it should be pointed out the soccer team and Isner both have a long way to go. The U.S. team only now enters the World Cup round of 16 and Isner was back on the All England Club courts Friday for what was only a second-round match in
Wimbledon’s seven-round singles tournament.
But Isner and the soccer team, as near as I can tell, have been classy and gracious and deserve a championship.
They have certainly put in the time.
Leader sports editor
I was at Wednesday night’s Arkansas Travelers-Springfield Cardinals game as it dragged into its 12th inning and fourth hour at Dickey-Stephens Park.
Then, mercifully, Arkansas’ Clay Fuller took third on a wild pitch and scrambled to his feet to score on catcher Tony Cruz’s throwing error, and Arkansas had a 3-2, extra-inning victory that lasted three hours and 42 minutes.
Too long, in other words.
Those of us working in the pressbox agreed we only like extra innings, “free baseball” as it’s called, when we’ve paid to get in, especially when beer sales aren’t cut off in the seventh inning.
I don’t know anything about beer sales at Wimbledon, but fans there got plenty of free tennis when American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut squared off.
Lots and lots of free tennis.
It was an 11-hour, five-minute match played over three days that finally ended Thursday when Isner hit a backhand up the line for the victory. The score was 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68.
See, by Wimbledon rules there is no tiebreaker per se in the final set, which you have to win by two points.
That was the part Isner and Mahut had trouble with. Neither could break serve as Isner finished with 112 aces and Mahut had 103, both surpassing the previous record of 78.
The final set alone took eight hours 11 minutes. The previous record for longest MATCH was six hours, 33 minutes set in the 2004 French Open.
I don’t know if I could have sat through that, but chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani had no choice.
“I travel economy,” he said. “Seven hours sitting still on court is nothing.”
Fortunately, the sun set on the English umpire, and everyone else, twice. Centre Court at the All England Club has a retractable roof and lights, but the lesser courts where the lower seeds play are not lighted, and so the long match was twice suspended by darkness, giving the players a rest.
By his estimate Isner, seeded 23rd, put away a dozen energy bars and close to 40 bottles of water and credited his training in Florida for helping him endure the three-day epic.
“My coach actually, believe it or not, said jokingly before the tournament started that I’ll be able to play 10 hours,” he said.
Wow. Think how long Isner could have gone if he trained in Arkansas in June.
With his victory Isner, who generously applauded his worthy opponent, contributed to what has been a good week for Americans in international competition.
The U.S. soccer team won a dramatic, 1-0 victory over Algeria in the World Cup on Wednesday to reach the second round. It was the first World Cup victory in eight years for the U.S., which tied England and Slovenia earlier, and it was the first time the U.S. has won its first-round group since the original World Cup in 1930.
And again, the Americans needed extra time to win.
Landon Donovan scored 45 seconds into four minutes of injury time, which is tacked on at the end of the match rather than have the clock stop during regulation every time a player goes down writhing and grabbing his knee when an opponent looks at him funny.
It’s not overtime mind you — the match can still end in a tie after the injury time runs out — but this time it was enough for Donovan and the U.S., which had to survive two bad calls by referees to get to this point.
A blown offsides call on Donovan wiped out what would have been the winning goal against Slovenia and another bad offsides call wiped out a goal by Clint Dempsey against Algeria.
“It makes me believe in good in the world,” Donovan said of Wednesday’s victory. “When you try to do things the right way, that’s good to see them rewarded.”
The team even earned a lockercroom visit from former President Bill Clinton, himself a comeback kid who won four more years.
In honesty it should be pointed out the soccer team and Isner both have a long way to go. The U.S. team only now enters the World Cup round of 16 and Isner was back on the All England Club courts Friday for what was only a second-round match in
Wimbledon’s seven-round singles tournament.
But Isner and the soccer team, as near as I can tell, have been classy and gracious and deserve a championship.
They have certainly put in the time.
SPORTS>>Chevy Boys lights out in comeback
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
It’s unusual to have a game suspended by darkness on a lighted field, but that’s what happened in Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet’s senior American Legion game with Sylvan Hills at Dupree Park on Thursday.
Jacksonville was batting in a five-run third and had tied it 6-6 when first the right field lights, then the left, went out and couldn’t be turned back on.
After meetings among the umpires and coaches on the partially darkened field, it was decided to suspend the game and pick it up in progress when a suitable date can be found.
“We’re going to pick it up as soon as we can reschedule it,” Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said. “We didn’t even talk about a date.”
When the game resumes, Gwatney will have No. 9 hitter Thurman Daniel at the plate for the second time in the third with two out and Xavier Brown on second and Alex Tucker on first. Sylvan Hills led 6-1 before Jacksonville fought back in the inning, batting nine and getting five hits to score five runs and tie it.
D’Vone McClure hit an RBI double, A.J. Allen drew a bases-loaded walk, Brown hit a bad-hop, two-run single just before the two right-field light standards went dark, and Tucker hit an RBI single before the lights went out in left field on an attempt to restart the whole array.
Hickingbotham and an umpire strolled to the right-field fence to check on the situation, and then coaches from both teams huddled on the field before it was decided to stop for the night.
“We’ve got a short somewhere,” said Hickingbotham, who was hoping city employees could fix the situation before Friday night’s game with Russellville. “We’ve had that happen but it’s been a long time ago.”
Hickingbotham said the lights aren’t properly focused and need to be adjusted as well.
“It’s dark in center field. We’ve not had that problem before,” he said.
Gwatney starter Stephen Swagerty struggled in the first as he walked one, hit another, threw a wild pitch and got no help from a two-run fielding error by A.J. Allen at second. Blake Rasdon hit an RBI single in the inning while Korey Arnold and Rasdon came home on the error to make it 3-0.
The Bruins added another run in the second when Michael Maddox walked with one out, advanced on Arnold’s single then stole home when Arnold got himself caught in a rundown between first and second.
Sylvan Hills starter Austin Spears hit Jared Toney in the Jacksonville second and Brown hit a single to right that scored Toney from second and cut it to 4-1.
Trey Sims tripled and scored when Brown committed a fielding error on Justin Cook’s grounder to third, and Cook later scored on Maddox’s single to left off Daniel, the starting designated hitter who relieved Swagerty on the mound.
Brown, 3 for 3 with two runs and two RBI in the junior game, was on his way to another good outing in the senior game. Before it was suspended Brown was 2 for 2 with three RBI.
Hickingbotham used the senior game to test out some injured players as Jacob Abrahamson, started at shortstop and Patrick Castleberry started at catcher. Each got one hitless at-bat before Ken Cummings replaced Abrahamson and Nick Rodriguez batted for Castleberry.
Leader sports editor
It’s unusual to have a game suspended by darkness on a lighted field, but that’s what happened in Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet’s senior American Legion game with Sylvan Hills at Dupree Park on Thursday.
Jacksonville was batting in a five-run third and had tied it 6-6 when first the right field lights, then the left, went out and couldn’t be turned back on.
After meetings among the umpires and coaches on the partially darkened field, it was decided to suspend the game and pick it up in progress when a suitable date can be found.
“We’re going to pick it up as soon as we can reschedule it,” Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said. “We didn’t even talk about a date.”
When the game resumes, Gwatney will have No. 9 hitter Thurman Daniel at the plate for the second time in the third with two out and Xavier Brown on second and Alex Tucker on first. Sylvan Hills led 6-1 before Jacksonville fought back in the inning, batting nine and getting five hits to score five runs and tie it.
D’Vone McClure hit an RBI double, A.J. Allen drew a bases-loaded walk, Brown hit a bad-hop, two-run single just before the two right-field light standards went dark, and Tucker hit an RBI single before the lights went out in left field on an attempt to restart the whole array.
Hickingbotham and an umpire strolled to the right-field fence to check on the situation, and then coaches from both teams huddled on the field before it was decided to stop for the night.
“We’ve got a short somewhere,” said Hickingbotham, who was hoping city employees could fix the situation before Friday night’s game with Russellville. “We’ve had that happen but it’s been a long time ago.”
Hickingbotham said the lights aren’t properly focused and need to be adjusted as well.
“It’s dark in center field. We’ve not had that problem before,” he said.
Gwatney starter Stephen Swagerty struggled in the first as he walked one, hit another, threw a wild pitch and got no help from a two-run fielding error by A.J. Allen at second. Blake Rasdon hit an RBI single in the inning while Korey Arnold and Rasdon came home on the error to make it 3-0.
The Bruins added another run in the second when Michael Maddox walked with one out, advanced on Arnold’s single then stole home when Arnold got himself caught in a rundown between first and second.
Sylvan Hills starter Austin Spears hit Jared Toney in the Jacksonville second and Brown hit a single to right that scored Toney from second and cut it to 4-1.
Trey Sims tripled and scored when Brown committed a fielding error on Justin Cook’s grounder to third, and Cook later scored on Maddox’s single to left off Daniel, the starting designated hitter who relieved Swagerty on the mound.
Brown, 3 for 3 with two runs and two RBI in the junior game, was on his way to another good outing in the senior game. Before it was suspended Brown was 2 for 2 with three RBI.
Hickingbotham used the senior game to test out some injured players as Jacob Abrahamson, started at shortstop and Patrick Castleberry started at catcher. Each got one hitless at-bat before Ken Cummings replaced Abrahamson and Nick Rodriguez batted for Castleberry.
SPORTS>>Harrison’s hits sink Cabot
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The game changed radically for Sylvan Hills between Forrest Harrison’s two fifth-inning at-bats Wednesday night.
Harrison, Sylvan Hills’ center fielder, led off the pivotal fifth with a hit then came up again to hit the game-winning single and cap a six-run rally as the Bruins beat Cabot 6-5 at Mike Bromley Field.
Harrison led off the inning with a single, only the second hit Cabot starter Dustin Morris allowed as Cabot built its 5-0 lead.
With the two-hour time limit nearing, the hit could not have been more timely as it sparked the Bruins’ rally that was aided by a pair of Cabot errors.
“Before the inning, I told them this was our home field and we were either going to protect it or not,” Bruins coach Billy Sims said. “They went to work and took care of business. There was a bunch of good hits and a lot of hustle. They just all bowed up and played baseball.”
Morris struck out Aaron Sarna after Harrison’s hit, and Cabot appeared to be on the way to a second out when Sammy Pittion hit a routine grounder to shortstop. But Cole Thomas committed the first Cabot error as Harrison to advanced to second.
Blake Hill singled to right to drive in the first Bruins run. Andrew Terry walked, which brought up leadoff man Greg Atchinson, who popped out to center.
That brought Dalton Freeling to the plate to hit a drive down the third-base line to score Pittion. A bad throw by left fielder Rob Rankin ended up at the fence behind first to allow Hill, Terry and Freeling to score and tie the game 5-5.
The poor defense got to Morris, who had been solid to that point but hit Lance Hunter and cleanup batter Conner Eller to put the winning run in scoring position for the Bruins and bring up Harrison for his game-winning hit.
“He had a one-hitter through five; he only threw about 67 pitches,” said Cabot coach Chris Gross, filling in as head coach for Andy Runyan during the AAA athletic dead period. “But the three errors brought them back in the last inning.”
Cabot took control in the top of the third when Zach Patterson walked and Jarred Wilson reached on an error by center fielder Harrison. Rankin then loaded the bases with a single to shallow center.
Atchinson, the Bruins’ reliever, walked Conner Vocque with the bases loaded to drive in the first run and Cole Thomas knocked in Wilson on a liner to left. Dylan Wilson hit a sacrifice fly to score Rankin and give Cabot a 3-0 lead.
Rankin added to Cabot’s lead in the top of the fourth inning when he reached on an error by second baseman Lance Hunter and scored when Wilson singled to left-center.
Rob White led off the Cabot fifth with a triple to deep right field and scored one batter later when Hunter committed another error on James McCranie’s grounder.
Harrison was the only player for either side with more than one hit, as he went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run. Rankin scored two runs for Cabot.
Leader sportswriter
The game changed radically for Sylvan Hills between Forrest Harrison’s two fifth-inning at-bats Wednesday night.
Harrison, Sylvan Hills’ center fielder, led off the pivotal fifth with a hit then came up again to hit the game-winning single and cap a six-run rally as the Bruins beat Cabot 6-5 at Mike Bromley Field.
Harrison led off the inning with a single, only the second hit Cabot starter Dustin Morris allowed as Cabot built its 5-0 lead.
With the two-hour time limit nearing, the hit could not have been more timely as it sparked the Bruins’ rally that was aided by a pair of Cabot errors.
“Before the inning, I told them this was our home field and we were either going to protect it or not,” Bruins coach Billy Sims said. “They went to work and took care of business. There was a bunch of good hits and a lot of hustle. They just all bowed up and played baseball.”
Morris struck out Aaron Sarna after Harrison’s hit, and Cabot appeared to be on the way to a second out when Sammy Pittion hit a routine grounder to shortstop. But Cole Thomas committed the first Cabot error as Harrison to advanced to second.
Blake Hill singled to right to drive in the first Bruins run. Andrew Terry walked, which brought up leadoff man Greg Atchinson, who popped out to center.
That brought Dalton Freeling to the plate to hit a drive down the third-base line to score Pittion. A bad throw by left fielder Rob Rankin ended up at the fence behind first to allow Hill, Terry and Freeling to score and tie the game 5-5.
The poor defense got to Morris, who had been solid to that point but hit Lance Hunter and cleanup batter Conner Eller to put the winning run in scoring position for the Bruins and bring up Harrison for his game-winning hit.
“He had a one-hitter through five; he only threw about 67 pitches,” said Cabot coach Chris Gross, filling in as head coach for Andy Runyan during the AAA athletic dead period. “But the three errors brought them back in the last inning.”
Cabot took control in the top of the third when Zach Patterson walked and Jarred Wilson reached on an error by center fielder Harrison. Rankin then loaded the bases with a single to shallow center.
Atchinson, the Bruins’ reliever, walked Conner Vocque with the bases loaded to drive in the first run and Cole Thomas knocked in Wilson on a liner to left. Dylan Wilson hit a sacrifice fly to score Rankin and give Cabot a 3-0 lead.
Rankin added to Cabot’s lead in the top of the fourth inning when he reached on an error by second baseman Lance Hunter and scored when Wilson singled to left-center.
Rob White led off the Cabot fifth with a triple to deep right field and scored one batter later when Hunter committed another error on James McCranie’s grounder.
Harrison was the only player for either side with more than one hit, as he went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run. Rankin scored two runs for Cabot.
SPORTS>>Starting pitcher paces Bruins
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Sylvan Hills’ 11-1 victory over Cabot was all about maximizing opportunities at the plate.
But stellar defense didn’t hurt anything.
Sylvan Hills starting pitcher Korey Arnold struck out eight and gave up four hits in four shutout innings as the Optimist Bruins won big Wednesday night in the American Legion senior nightcap at Mike Bromley Field.
The junior Bruins won the opening game against Cabot with a six-run rally in the bottom of the fifth, but the senior Bruins went with an opposite strategy as their first six hitters scored in the first.
They added another run in the bottom of the third and scored four in the bottom of the fourth to take an 11-0 lead.
Matt Turner prevented a shutout for Cabot when he hit a two-out double to right to drive in T.C. Carter, who walked.
Cabot used much of its pitching staff against the hard-swinging Bruins.
Andrew Reynolds started and endured the Bruins’ first-inning attack in which they got four hits and took advantage of a pair of walks and one fielding error. Reynolds managed to retire the side in the bottom of the second with only one hit and no runs, but gave up another run in the third.
C.J. Jacoby relieved Reynolds in the bottom of the fourth but gave up a single and three straight doubles with two outs, which led to four more runs, and Jacoby quickly gave way to Chase Beasley.
Ty Van Schoyck led off the game with a walk to start things off for Sylvan Hills. Arnold advanced him with a single and Schoyck scored on a single by Josh Fortner.
Gino Jamerson reached on an error by Cabot third baseman Ty Steele to load the bases and that set up Blake Rasden, who hit a two-run double down the first base line to give Sylvan Hills a 3-0 lead with no outs.
Trey Sims kept things going when he walked to load the bases again for the Bruins.
Cabot finally regrouped and induced a groundout by Greg Atchinson, and Reynolds followed by striking out Justin Cook.
Michael Lock battled Reynolds to a full count, and finally found his pitch when he hit a three-run double into the right-field corner.
Sims scored the Bruins’ next run in the bottom of the third when he walked and scored on Atchinson’s single to left.
Jacoby gave up a leadoff walk to Arnold in the bottom of the fourth before inducing popups from Fortner and Jamerson. But Rasdon singled to right and advanced Arnold to third and Sims followed with a two-run double to the left field fence.
Atchinson doubled to left to drive in Sims and make it 10-0, and Cook drove in one more run when he doubled to right to score Atchinson.
Rasdon was 2 for 3 with two RBI and two runs. Atchinson was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBI and Fortner was also 2 for 3 with an RBI. Sims had one hit and reached on two walks to score three runs.
Leader sportswriter
Sylvan Hills’ 11-1 victory over Cabot was all about maximizing opportunities at the plate.
But stellar defense didn’t hurt anything.
Sylvan Hills starting pitcher Korey Arnold struck out eight and gave up four hits in four shutout innings as the Optimist Bruins won big Wednesday night in the American Legion senior nightcap at Mike Bromley Field.
The junior Bruins won the opening game against Cabot with a six-run rally in the bottom of the fifth, but the senior Bruins went with an opposite strategy as their first six hitters scored in the first.
They added another run in the bottom of the third and scored four in the bottom of the fourth to take an 11-0 lead.
Matt Turner prevented a shutout for Cabot when he hit a two-out double to right to drive in T.C. Carter, who walked.
Cabot used much of its pitching staff against the hard-swinging Bruins.
Andrew Reynolds started and endured the Bruins’ first-inning attack in which they got four hits and took advantage of a pair of walks and one fielding error. Reynolds managed to retire the side in the bottom of the second with only one hit and no runs, but gave up another run in the third.
C.J. Jacoby relieved Reynolds in the bottom of the fourth but gave up a single and three straight doubles with two outs, which led to four more runs, and Jacoby quickly gave way to Chase Beasley.
Ty Van Schoyck led off the game with a walk to start things off for Sylvan Hills. Arnold advanced him with a single and Schoyck scored on a single by Josh Fortner.
Gino Jamerson reached on an error by Cabot third baseman Ty Steele to load the bases and that set up Blake Rasden, who hit a two-run double down the first base line to give Sylvan Hills a 3-0 lead with no outs.
Trey Sims kept things going when he walked to load the bases again for the Bruins.
Cabot finally regrouped and induced a groundout by Greg Atchinson, and Reynolds followed by striking out Justin Cook.
Michael Lock battled Reynolds to a full count, and finally found his pitch when he hit a three-run double into the right-field corner.
Sims scored the Bruins’ next run in the bottom of the third when he walked and scored on Atchinson’s single to left.
Jacoby gave up a leadoff walk to Arnold in the bottom of the fourth before inducing popups from Fortner and Jamerson. But Rasdon singled to right and advanced Arnold to third and Sims followed with a two-run double to the left field fence.
Atchinson doubled to left to drive in Sims and make it 10-0, and Cook drove in one more run when he doubled to right to score Atchinson.
Rasdon was 2 for 3 with two RBI and two runs. Atchinson was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBI and Fortner was also 2 for 3 with an RBI. Sims had one hit and reached on two walks to score three runs.
EDITORIAL>>Arkansas gets Turked
If you wondered how American Electric Power Co. could sink $1 billion into a giant coal-burning power plant at McNab when it had no assurance that the state would ever permit it to operate, the big utility-holding company supplied the answer yesterday. The state’s permission was superfluous.
It was going to build the plant with or without the state’s blessing, no matter what the cost to the air and water across the state, the habitat of the Hempstead County wilderness, the waters of the pristine Little River or the plant’s small contribution to the warming of the planet.
The company announced that it was not going to seek a permit from the state Public Service Commission for the Turk plant but finish and operate it as a merchant plant. A 1992 act of Congress permits investors to build wholesale generation plants free of just about any regulation by state or federal authorities. It was a bonus sought by the coal industry.
Over the strong and eventually persuasive objections of one of its three members, the state Public Service Commission issued a certificate of need and environmental compatibility in 2008, although the company had already scraped away the forest and started building the plant. The state Department of Environmental Quality and the state Pollution Control Commission, following their ancient practice, added their imprimatur. The 6 million metric tons of global-warming gases that the plant would emit each year were an acceptable amount of degradation to the Arkansas air.
The Arkansas Court of Appeals and the Arkansas Supreme Court, vigorously and unanimously, ruled that the Public Service Commission had erred in giving its OK. It had allowed the company to use a procedure that escaped a thorough airing of whether all that generation was needed, whether the plant was the best and cheapest place to get the power and whether its enormous carbon emissions would meet new measurements of their harm. The PSC had to start over again. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, in response to a U. S. Supreme Court ruling, is moving to regulate large-scale carbon-dioxide emissions, the chief cause of the warming climate.
When the Supreme Court refused to reconsider its decision this week, American Electric Power said it was going to bypass the state regulatory agencies and the Arkansas courts and finish the plant. It is about a third completed and will go on line in 2012. It was no surprise. An AEP executive said in 2007 that if they did not receive state approval they would probably build it as a wholesale plant.
For the company, it may be even more profitable. While it cannot structure the building costs into its rate base for Arkansas customers and earn upon the investment, it will be able to sell the electricity to other users or probably even to itself at the prevailing market rates.
For the people of Arkansas, it makes a little difference either.
Each year, the plant will still belch 5 million tons of carbon dioxide, 346 pounds of mercury, significant amounts of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide into the air — the company’s own estimates.
Most of the electricity from the plant will go to customers in Texas and Louisiana. Texas has been canceling coal-powered plants right and left, but its public utility commission approved the Turk plant. So did Louisiana. Why not? They get the power, Arkansas the headaches (and the asthma). What could be fairer than that?
It fits Arkansas’ ancient role as a colony. We ship the good stuff to finer places and absorb the degradation. We are adding coal-burning plants at a fast clip. From 1990 to 2005, greenhouse gas emissions in Arkansas rose 30 percent, twice the national rate, and we are growing much slower. The pace of the emissions is about to pick up.
It was going to build the plant with or without the state’s blessing, no matter what the cost to the air and water across the state, the habitat of the Hempstead County wilderness, the waters of the pristine Little River or the plant’s small contribution to the warming of the planet.
The company announced that it was not going to seek a permit from the state Public Service Commission for the Turk plant but finish and operate it as a merchant plant. A 1992 act of Congress permits investors to build wholesale generation plants free of just about any regulation by state or federal authorities. It was a bonus sought by the coal industry.
Over the strong and eventually persuasive objections of one of its three members, the state Public Service Commission issued a certificate of need and environmental compatibility in 2008, although the company had already scraped away the forest and started building the plant. The state Department of Environmental Quality and the state Pollution Control Commission, following their ancient practice, added their imprimatur. The 6 million metric tons of global-warming gases that the plant would emit each year were an acceptable amount of degradation to the Arkansas air.
The Arkansas Court of Appeals and the Arkansas Supreme Court, vigorously and unanimously, ruled that the Public Service Commission had erred in giving its OK. It had allowed the company to use a procedure that escaped a thorough airing of whether all that generation was needed, whether the plant was the best and cheapest place to get the power and whether its enormous carbon emissions would meet new measurements of their harm. The PSC had to start over again. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, in response to a U. S. Supreme Court ruling, is moving to regulate large-scale carbon-dioxide emissions, the chief cause of the warming climate.
When the Supreme Court refused to reconsider its decision this week, American Electric Power said it was going to bypass the state regulatory agencies and the Arkansas courts and finish the plant. It is about a third completed and will go on line in 2012. It was no surprise. An AEP executive said in 2007 that if they did not receive state approval they would probably build it as a wholesale plant.
For the company, it may be even more profitable. While it cannot structure the building costs into its rate base for Arkansas customers and earn upon the investment, it will be able to sell the electricity to other users or probably even to itself at the prevailing market rates.
For the people of Arkansas, it makes a little difference either.
Each year, the plant will still belch 5 million tons of carbon dioxide, 346 pounds of mercury, significant amounts of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide into the air — the company’s own estimates.
Most of the electricity from the plant will go to customers in Texas and Louisiana. Texas has been canceling coal-powered plants right and left, but its public utility commission approved the Turk plant. So did Louisiana. Why not? They get the power, Arkansas the headaches (and the asthma). What could be fairer than that?
It fits Arkansas’ ancient role as a colony. We ship the good stuff to finer places and absorb the degradation. We are adding coal-burning plants at a fast clip. From 1990 to 2005, greenhouse gas emissions in Arkansas rose 30 percent, twice the national rate, and we are growing much slower. The pace of the emissions is about to pick up.
TOP STORY>>Mayors attend league meeting
By JOAN McCOY and RICK KRON
Leader staff writers
Mayors from area cities attending last week’s Arkansas Municipal League meetings in Hot Springs all came away with something different.
Sherwood Mayor Virginia Hillman came back excited after listening to a presentation on city leadership.
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Wil-liams left happy about his city’s presentation at the convention.
Ward Mayor Art Brooke got the scoop on natural gas.
And Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher went to improve his knowledge and skills in obtaining grants for the city. “I’ve got a $7 million wish list and want us to get some help in turning some of the projects into reality,” he said.
“I went to purposely get more involved in the grant process. There’s not much free money out there, but there is a lot of 80/20 matching grants,” Fletcher said. In an 80/20 grant the federal or state government will fund 80 percent of the project and the city will chip in the other 20 percent.
The 76th annual Municipal League convention was held June 16-18 and attended by city leaders from across the state.
Convention workshops included avoiding lawsuits, the new social media, the safety of bank deposits, economic development, using technology, dealing with dogs, benefits of parks and recreation and wellness.
“The meetings were very educational for me. I did a lot of networking, which should help us in the future,” the mayor said.
Fletcher said the problem was not so much finding federal or state grants, but finding private foundations willing to help with projects.
The mayor left the convention feeling good about some funding probabilities for revitalizing Main Street and possible funding for a 2,500-square-foot expansion of the senior center. “We are looking at building a safe room in the expansion and using it as an exercise room and for other functions too,” he explained.
The other interesting piece of information that he came back with had to do with what businesses and industries look at when considering to locate to an area.”
“The top item on their quality-of-life list is good public schools, followed by affordable housing costs and having higher-education opportunities in the area,” he said.
Hillman also said it was a good meeting. She said the summer conventions are more laid back than the ones in January, when newly elected city leaders are coming together and, when the state legislature is in session, discussing the bills going through the legislature.
She enjoyed a presentation by Lyle Sumek, a former San Diego city official who now operates his own consulting and motivational company. Sumek’s topic was “Leadership for a Sustainable City—Lessons, Traits, Choices and Actions.”
Sumek focused on how cities need to communicate effectively with their residents, staying proactive on issues and making good decisions and sticking to them even in face of resistance.
Hillman came away feeling good about the direction of Sherwood. She also thought the workshop on using Facebook and Twitter useful. “It gave us a look at the good and bad of using these social networks and will be helpful whenever the city decides to look at those forms of communication,” she said.
Beebe Clerk-Treasurer Carol Crump-Westergren was also at the workshop and said it appeared to draw the most attendees.
“They talked a lot about how Facebook and Twitter are affecting how cities communicate with their citizens,” Crump-Westergren said, adding that twittering was a topic she knew nothing about.
“I thought you had to twitter on your phone, but apparently, you can twitter on a computer. It was interesting,” she said.
Williams presented a workshop on upgrading technology to save time and money. “They called it the bailout that didn’t cost a billion dollars,” the mayor said, referring to the fact that Cabot didn’t have the money to make payroll when he took office almost four years ago and now has $3.35 million in the bank, thanks in part to technology improvements that have increased productivity and cut the time required to process applications—for example, for purchase orders and permits from days to minutes.
Clerk-Treasurer Marva Verkler represented Cabot as president of the state City Clerk Association, and city planner Jim Von Tungeln used Cabot and Bryant in his workshop as an example of how planning should work. Von Tungeln works for both cities.
Ward’s mayor said energy was one of the most significant topics discussed during the convention.
Brooke served on the committee that passes resolutions on proposed changes in law to send to the state legislature.
The committee voted down a resolution that, if passed by the legislature, would require natural gas companies to construct sound barriers to muffle production noise.
The resolution committee also voted down a resolution to take to the legislature that could have increased the amount firefighters and police officers would have had to pay into their retirement accounts, and it also voted down a resolution that would have given cities in dry counties the right to call for an election and vote the city wet.
Brooke said he learned from meeting with representatives from Chesapeake, one of the largest gas companies, that a station to sell natural gas to fuel cars is being built in North Little Rock, so anyone with a natural gas car will have access to fuel.
He said he has never attended a convention when he didn’t learn something.
Jacksonville officials attending the convention included aldermen Kenny Elliott, Bob Stroud, Marshall Smith, Reedie Ray, Kevin McCleary and Bill Howard, human resource director Jill Ross, city engineer Jay Whisker and retired Mayor Tommy Swaim.
Besides Hillman, Sherwood aldermen Butch Davies and Sheila Sulcer were at the meeting.
Leader staff writers
Mayors from area cities attending last week’s Arkansas Municipal League meetings in Hot Springs all came away with something different.
Sherwood Mayor Virginia Hillman came back excited after listening to a presentation on city leadership.
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Wil-liams left happy about his city’s presentation at the convention.
Ward Mayor Art Brooke got the scoop on natural gas.
And Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher went to improve his knowledge and skills in obtaining grants for the city. “I’ve got a $7 million wish list and want us to get some help in turning some of the projects into reality,” he said.
“I went to purposely get more involved in the grant process. There’s not much free money out there, but there is a lot of 80/20 matching grants,” Fletcher said. In an 80/20 grant the federal or state government will fund 80 percent of the project and the city will chip in the other 20 percent.
The 76th annual Municipal League convention was held June 16-18 and attended by city leaders from across the state.
Convention workshops included avoiding lawsuits, the new social media, the safety of bank deposits, economic development, using technology, dealing with dogs, benefits of parks and recreation and wellness.
“The meetings were very educational for me. I did a lot of networking, which should help us in the future,” the mayor said.
Fletcher said the problem was not so much finding federal or state grants, but finding private foundations willing to help with projects.
The mayor left the convention feeling good about some funding probabilities for revitalizing Main Street and possible funding for a 2,500-square-foot expansion of the senior center. “We are looking at building a safe room in the expansion and using it as an exercise room and for other functions too,” he explained.
The other interesting piece of information that he came back with had to do with what businesses and industries look at when considering to locate to an area.”
“The top item on their quality-of-life list is good public schools, followed by affordable housing costs and having higher-education opportunities in the area,” he said.
Hillman also said it was a good meeting. She said the summer conventions are more laid back than the ones in January, when newly elected city leaders are coming together and, when the state legislature is in session, discussing the bills going through the legislature.
She enjoyed a presentation by Lyle Sumek, a former San Diego city official who now operates his own consulting and motivational company. Sumek’s topic was “Leadership for a Sustainable City—Lessons, Traits, Choices and Actions.”
Sumek focused on how cities need to communicate effectively with their residents, staying proactive on issues and making good decisions and sticking to them even in face of resistance.
Hillman came away feeling good about the direction of Sherwood. She also thought the workshop on using Facebook and Twitter useful. “It gave us a look at the good and bad of using these social networks and will be helpful whenever the city decides to look at those forms of communication,” she said.
Beebe Clerk-Treasurer Carol Crump-Westergren was also at the workshop and said it appeared to draw the most attendees.
“They talked a lot about how Facebook and Twitter are affecting how cities communicate with their citizens,” Crump-Westergren said, adding that twittering was a topic she knew nothing about.
“I thought you had to twitter on your phone, but apparently, you can twitter on a computer. It was interesting,” she said.
Williams presented a workshop on upgrading technology to save time and money. “They called it the bailout that didn’t cost a billion dollars,” the mayor said, referring to the fact that Cabot didn’t have the money to make payroll when he took office almost four years ago and now has $3.35 million in the bank, thanks in part to technology improvements that have increased productivity and cut the time required to process applications—for example, for purchase orders and permits from days to minutes.
Clerk-Treasurer Marva Verkler represented Cabot as president of the state City Clerk Association, and city planner Jim Von Tungeln used Cabot and Bryant in his workshop as an example of how planning should work. Von Tungeln works for both cities.
Ward’s mayor said energy was one of the most significant topics discussed during the convention.
Brooke served on the committee that passes resolutions on proposed changes in law to send to the state legislature.
The committee voted down a resolution that, if passed by the legislature, would require natural gas companies to construct sound barriers to muffle production noise.
The resolution committee also voted down a resolution to take to the legislature that could have increased the amount firefighters and police officers would have had to pay into their retirement accounts, and it also voted down a resolution that would have given cities in dry counties the right to call for an election and vote the city wet.
Brooke said he learned from meeting with representatives from Chesapeake, one of the largest gas companies, that a station to sell natural gas to fuel cars is being built in North Little Rock, so anyone with a natural gas car will have access to fuel.
He said he has never attended a convention when he didn’t learn something.
Jacksonville officials attending the convention included aldermen Kenny Elliott, Bob Stroud, Marshall Smith, Reedie Ray, Kevin McCleary and Bill Howard, human resource director Jill Ross, city engineer Jay Whisker and retired Mayor Tommy Swaim.
Besides Hillman, Sherwood aldermen Butch Davies and Sheila Sulcer were at the meeting.
TOP STORY>>War game links Air Force and Army
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C.—Four crews from the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base were among 10 C-130s and eight C-17s participating in this week’s historic joint forcible-entry exercise with the Army.
The role of the military transport planes during the simulated hostile situation was to provide troops and equipment rapidly to the troubled area. All 18 planes taxied together in a long train and flew in formation Tuesday under the cover of darkness. The exercise was performed again on Wednesday night.
According to Capt. Chris Stephen, deputy lead planner for the joint exercise, this was largest number of planes ever flying in formation for an exercise.
More than 1,000 Army paratroops from the 82nd Airborne Division from neighboring Fort Bragg bailed out of the aircrafts in 13 minutes over the designated drop zone. C-130s not loaded with paratroopers were carrying armor re-enforced Humvees dropped from the air to help support the troops on the ground.
LRAFB had two C-130 J-models and two older E-models performing in the scenario. This Leader reporter rode along with LRAFB’s 53rd Airlift Squadron during the exercise. Making up the seven-member crew were Maj. Lars Johnsen, aircraft commander; Capt. Jason Robinson, co-pilot; Capt. Brian Shea, instructor navigator; 1st Lt. Stefan Idso, navigator; Staff Sgt. Thomas Brown, flight engineer, and Staff Sgt. Grant Lane and Airman 1st Class Gregory Izzi, both loadmasters.
DAY 1: TUESDAY
On Tuesday night, the 53rd Squadron was assigned to carry paratroopers over the drop zone. The plane made a second pass over the area to let soldiers who did not jump the first time to bail out.
Before the flight, crew members inspected the plane. They prepared the cargo area by installing seats for the soldiers. Army personnel came out and examined the seating arrangement and the cargo area before the paratroopers went on board.
Soon after, 60 paratroops carrying heavy bags of gear and parachutes waddled like ducks in a row to the plane’s loading ramp.
During the hour-and-a-half exercise, the C-130 flight crew worked on keeping the correct timing, elevation and speeds for the exercise. The loadmasters were busy keeping the Army jumpmaster informed on the progress of the flight. The loadmasters were also relaying information back to the flight crew on the condition of the paratroopers.
Even though it was dark, the C-130 gets hot. Sweat does not bead up but pours out. Having plenty of drinking water becomes a concern. The loadmasters had to contend with soldiers battling dehydration.
Temperatures in North Carolina were in the upper 90s. An Army nurse was on board. Several soldiers became air sick. A couple of paratroopers were unable to make the jump because of heat exhaustion.
Just as the C-130 reached the drop zone, the plane slowed from 230 mph to around 150 mph.
Then when the red light on the cargo area turned green, it was time to jump. Two paratroopers on different sides of the plane jumped out at the same time. It took them 30 seconds to get out.
Loadmaster Izzi explained his role when the C-130 is carrying paratroopers.
“We’ve got to communicate with the jumpmaster to let them know where they should be at in their checklist and giving them time and wind references necessary for a successful jump,” he said.
Afterward, Maj. Johnsen, the aircraft commander, said this was his first joint forcible-entry exercise.
“It was critically important understanding the limitation of the other airplanes. The C-17 takes a long time to slow down,” Johnsen said.
Regarding communications, Johnsen said the big problem was with the radios. The C-17s have five radios and the C-130s have three. There was confusion on the channels during Tuesday’s exercise.
Johnsen said he prefers to carry personnel rather than heavy equipment.
“If the heavy equipment jams up in the plane, it’s a little scarier and you’re assuming more risk,” Johnsen explained.
“The heavy equipment as it extracts out (causes) the balance of the aircraft to shift back. Pilots need to counter the weight movement. But as the load clears the airplane, I immediately need to take out the control input,” the commander said.
“I’m holding the nose down because the weight shifting backwards wants to make the nose come up.”
DAY 2: WEDNESDAY
On the second day of the exercise, the 53rd Squadron was assigned to transport and shuttle heavy equipment for the Army. It began around 7 p.m. with the crew scheduled to deliver two Humvees weighing 19,700 pounds out of the C-130 to the drop zone.
The vehicles were packed with protective cardboard on pallets. Using parachutes, the Humvees would be jerked out of the plane in three seconds by the airstream and descending to the ground.
Sgt. Lane, one of the loadmasters, talked about the difference between unloading heavy equipment compared to soldiers in the air.
“It is not live bodies. It is simpler. The only people you are going to hurt is the crew,” Lane said.
He said with the paratroopers, there is more coordination with people, safety and the jumpmasters.
The Humvee drops did not go as planned. When the C-130’s cargo door opened, the steps to the plane’s portable toilet were not secured tightly enough and fell. Double checking the cargo area before the drop, a loadmaster discovered what had happened.
Concerned about safety, the loadmaster did not want to risk damaging the C-130 and told the crew to cancel the drop. The plane flew back to Pope, where the Humvees were unloaded on to a K-loader, a flatbed cargo transport vehicle.
Nearly two hours later, close to midnight, the C-130 crew flew to Mackall Army Airfield, N.C. There, an Army one-ton truck with two soldiers was driven onto the C-130 cargo ramps, loaded and secured. For an hour, the C-130 was forced to wait with its engines running.
The crew could not turn off the engines because a compressor had broken, and the crew did not think it could restart the plane.
While waiting, flight engineer Brown and aircraft commander Johnsen had growing concerns over the amount of fuel remaining in the plane.
Finally, word came to fly to a landing zone at the exercise drop zone. Fifteen minutes later, the plane made a dirt landing on the Carolina red clay in the pitch black.
With the C-130s engines running, loadmasters Lane and Izzi unchained the one-ton truck and Army personnel drove the vehicle right down the cargo ramp. From there, it was back to Pope to end the night at 3 a.m.
(Next: More hard work ahead.)
Leader staff writer
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C.—Four crews from the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base were among 10 C-130s and eight C-17s participating in this week’s historic joint forcible-entry exercise with the Army.
The role of the military transport planes during the simulated hostile situation was to provide troops and equipment rapidly to the troubled area. All 18 planes taxied together in a long train and flew in formation Tuesday under the cover of darkness. The exercise was performed again on Wednesday night.
According to Capt. Chris Stephen, deputy lead planner for the joint exercise, this was largest number of planes ever flying in formation for an exercise.
More than 1,000 Army paratroops from the 82nd Airborne Division from neighboring Fort Bragg bailed out of the aircrafts in 13 minutes over the designated drop zone. C-130s not loaded with paratroopers were carrying armor re-enforced Humvees dropped from the air to help support the troops on the ground.
LRAFB had two C-130 J-models and two older E-models performing in the scenario. This Leader reporter rode along with LRAFB’s 53rd Airlift Squadron during the exercise. Making up the seven-member crew were Maj. Lars Johnsen, aircraft commander; Capt. Jason Robinson, co-pilot; Capt. Brian Shea, instructor navigator; 1st Lt. Stefan Idso, navigator; Staff Sgt. Thomas Brown, flight engineer, and Staff Sgt. Grant Lane and Airman 1st Class Gregory Izzi, both loadmasters.
DAY 1: TUESDAY
On Tuesday night, the 53rd Squadron was assigned to carry paratroopers over the drop zone. The plane made a second pass over the area to let soldiers who did not jump the first time to bail out.
Before the flight, crew members inspected the plane. They prepared the cargo area by installing seats for the soldiers. Army personnel came out and examined the seating arrangement and the cargo area before the paratroopers went on board.
Soon after, 60 paratroops carrying heavy bags of gear and parachutes waddled like ducks in a row to the plane’s loading ramp.
During the hour-and-a-half exercise, the C-130 flight crew worked on keeping the correct timing, elevation and speeds for the exercise. The loadmasters were busy keeping the Army jumpmaster informed on the progress of the flight. The loadmasters were also relaying information back to the flight crew on the condition of the paratroopers.
Even though it was dark, the C-130 gets hot. Sweat does not bead up but pours out. Having plenty of drinking water becomes a concern. The loadmasters had to contend with soldiers battling dehydration.
Temperatures in North Carolina were in the upper 90s. An Army nurse was on board. Several soldiers became air sick. A couple of paratroopers were unable to make the jump because of heat exhaustion.
Just as the C-130 reached the drop zone, the plane slowed from 230 mph to around 150 mph.
Then when the red light on the cargo area turned green, it was time to jump. Two paratroopers on different sides of the plane jumped out at the same time. It took them 30 seconds to get out.
Loadmaster Izzi explained his role when the C-130 is carrying paratroopers.
“We’ve got to communicate with the jumpmaster to let them know where they should be at in their checklist and giving them time and wind references necessary for a successful jump,” he said.
Afterward, Maj. Johnsen, the aircraft commander, said this was his first joint forcible-entry exercise.
“It was critically important understanding the limitation of the other airplanes. The C-17 takes a long time to slow down,” Johnsen said.
Regarding communications, Johnsen said the big problem was with the radios. The C-17s have five radios and the C-130s have three. There was confusion on the channels during Tuesday’s exercise.
Johnsen said he prefers to carry personnel rather than heavy equipment.
“If the heavy equipment jams up in the plane, it’s a little scarier and you’re assuming more risk,” Johnsen explained.
“The heavy equipment as it extracts out (causes) the balance of the aircraft to shift back. Pilots need to counter the weight movement. But as the load clears the airplane, I immediately need to take out the control input,” the commander said.
“I’m holding the nose down because the weight shifting backwards wants to make the nose come up.”
DAY 2: WEDNESDAY
On the second day of the exercise, the 53rd Squadron was assigned to transport and shuttle heavy equipment for the Army. It began around 7 p.m. with the crew scheduled to deliver two Humvees weighing 19,700 pounds out of the C-130 to the drop zone.
The vehicles were packed with protective cardboard on pallets. Using parachutes, the Humvees would be jerked out of the plane in three seconds by the airstream and descending to the ground.
Sgt. Lane, one of the loadmasters, talked about the difference between unloading heavy equipment compared to soldiers in the air.
“It is not live bodies. It is simpler. The only people you are going to hurt is the crew,” Lane said.
He said with the paratroopers, there is more coordination with people, safety and the jumpmasters.
The Humvee drops did not go as planned. When the C-130’s cargo door opened, the steps to the plane’s portable toilet were not secured tightly enough and fell. Double checking the cargo area before the drop, a loadmaster discovered what had happened.
Concerned about safety, the loadmaster did not want to risk damaging the C-130 and told the crew to cancel the drop. The plane flew back to Pope, where the Humvees were unloaded on to a K-loader, a flatbed cargo transport vehicle.
Nearly two hours later, close to midnight, the C-130 crew flew to Mackall Army Airfield, N.C. There, an Army one-ton truck with two soldiers was driven onto the C-130 cargo ramps, loaded and secured. For an hour, the C-130 was forced to wait with its engines running.
The crew could not turn off the engines because a compressor had broken, and the crew did not think it could restart the plane.
While waiting, flight engineer Brown and aircraft commander Johnsen had growing concerns over the amount of fuel remaining in the plane.
Finally, word came to fly to a landing zone at the exercise drop zone. Fifteen minutes later, the plane made a dirt landing on the Carolina red clay in the pitch black.
With the C-130s engines running, loadmasters Lane and Izzi unchained the one-ton truck and Army personnel drove the vehicle right down the cargo ramp. From there, it was back to Pope to end the night at 3 a.m.
(Next: More hard work ahead.)
TOP STORY>>Making C-130s like they’re new
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Restructuring of C-130 training at Little Rock Air Force Base, currently in the planning phase, seems to fit hand in glove with the Pentagon’s decision to upgrade “legacy” C-130Hs with the avionics modernization program.
A site-activation taskforce team was on base this week to begin working out reorganization details, even as Boeing on Thursday announced Air Force approval to begin low-rate initial production of 20 AMP kits.
Upon completion of a longer contract, yet to be awarded, 221 C-130Hs will have been updated with digital, computerized cockpits with standardized state-of-the-art avionics, navigation and communication on par with those of the new C-130J airlifters.
The cost of those kits in 2007 was about $14 million per aircraft, according to Boeing spokesman Mike Harris, but by the 69th plane, the cost should be down to about $7 million, he said.
By way of comparison, a new C-130J, which the AMP cockpit emulates in many ways, costs about $85 million per plane, according to Harris.
The AMP is designed to bring the old C-130s into the 21st Century, with digital technology and with standardization.
Currently, there are 30 variants of the C-130 cockpit. Installation of the AMP kits will make the planes identical to pilots and aircrews and make them closely resemble the cockpit of the new C-130J.
In the midst of an emergency, no one will have to wonder where the fuse box is on a C-130 AMP. They will all be located in the same place.
“By standardizing, we can lower ownership cost and make it easier to fly,” a spokesman said.
The AMP program, more than a decade old, was plagued first by malfeasance by a civilian Air Force procurement officer who steered the initial contract to Boeing, then by an Air Force plan to scrap the project as too expensive. But in November, a team of top Pentagon leaders rejected the Air Force’s proposal to kill the multibillion-dollar AMP plan.
Three AMP training simulators already are set up and in use at Little Rock Air Force Base and two of the first C-130 AMPs are at the base, according to Harris.
The simulators include a full-motion, high fidelity simulator that trains aircrews to fly the AMP-modified aircraft in an operational environment. The simultor uses the same software as the C-130 AMP aircraft.
The avionics part task trainer and cockpit familiarization trainer are the other two.
Three C-130AMP aircraft are under installation and preliminary testing.
They will undergo periodic depot maintenance at Warner Robins Air Force Base, Ga., before being delivered to the Air Force C-130 AMP schoolhouse at Little Rock, where initial operational test and evaluation will be conducted, Boeing said.
By 2014, Little Rock’s 314th Airlift Wing will train exclusively on the state-of-the-art C-130Js, according to Col. C.K. Hyde, commander of the 314th Airlift Wing.
The National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing, in conjunction with a new Air Reserve Command unit to be stood up at the base, will by 2011 train exclusively for C-130H aircraft and the C-130 AMPs
“We’ve known this (realignment) was coming for several years,” Hyde said recently.
Hyde said 17 Vietnam-era C-130Es, average age 46 years old, would be replaced by 18 C-130H or C-130 AMP. Over the next five years, active forces will be converting to all J-model aircraft, Hyde said.
C-130H models from Guard and Reserve bases around the country will fill in at Little Rock, either reassigned or borrowed.
Of the 20 AMP kits Boeing is now authorized to build in a low-rate initial production run, five will be installed by Boeing, five by a competitor yet to be chosen and 10 by the Air Force at Warner Robins.
A competition will be held to determine who will build the balance of the 198 kits in a full-rate production run beginning in 2013, according to a Boeing spokesman.
In addition to switching from analog to digital controls and readouts, the kit will upgrade and standardize communication, navigation and air traffic management, have a glass cockpit including so-called head-up displays, night vision imaging and will meet all military operational environmental conditions.
It has open systems design, which allows easy upgrading or changing.
It has optional color weather radar, and systems for terrain and traffic collision avoidance.
According to Boeing, the C-130 AMP “enhances the situational awareness of the crew both in the battlefield and in civil airspace.”
The AMP cockpit has been tested to minus 140 degrees Fahrenheit and plus-130 degrees Fahrenheit for days.
Boeing has about $1.4 billion invested in the AMP, Harris said.
The original contract, signed almost a decade ago, was for retrofitting 550 C-130Hs with the AMP, but former Air Force procurement officer Doreen Druyun guided the contract to Boeing in exchange for a $250,000-a-year job and jobs for her daughter and son-in-law.
The contract was scrapped and Druyun served nine months in prison.
Lockheed-Martin, BAE and L-3, which lost out to Boeing on the original rigged bids, are likely competitors with Boeing for the new contract.
A spokesman said Lockheed is definitely interested.
Leader senior staff writer
Restructuring of C-130 training at Little Rock Air Force Base, currently in the planning phase, seems to fit hand in glove with the Pentagon’s decision to upgrade “legacy” C-130Hs with the avionics modernization program.
A site-activation taskforce team was on base this week to begin working out reorganization details, even as Boeing on Thursday announced Air Force approval to begin low-rate initial production of 20 AMP kits.
Upon completion of a longer contract, yet to be awarded, 221 C-130Hs will have been updated with digital, computerized cockpits with standardized state-of-the-art avionics, navigation and communication on par with those of the new C-130J airlifters.
The cost of those kits in 2007 was about $14 million per aircraft, according to Boeing spokesman Mike Harris, but by the 69th plane, the cost should be down to about $7 million, he said.
By way of comparison, a new C-130J, which the AMP cockpit emulates in many ways, costs about $85 million per plane, according to Harris.
The AMP is designed to bring the old C-130s into the 21st Century, with digital technology and with standardization.
Currently, there are 30 variants of the C-130 cockpit. Installation of the AMP kits will make the planes identical to pilots and aircrews and make them closely resemble the cockpit of the new C-130J.
In the midst of an emergency, no one will have to wonder where the fuse box is on a C-130 AMP. They will all be located in the same place.
“By standardizing, we can lower ownership cost and make it easier to fly,” a spokesman said.
The AMP program, more than a decade old, was plagued first by malfeasance by a civilian Air Force procurement officer who steered the initial contract to Boeing, then by an Air Force plan to scrap the project as too expensive. But in November, a team of top Pentagon leaders rejected the Air Force’s proposal to kill the multibillion-dollar AMP plan.
Three AMP training simulators already are set up and in use at Little Rock Air Force Base and two of the first C-130 AMPs are at the base, according to Harris.
The simulators include a full-motion, high fidelity simulator that trains aircrews to fly the AMP-modified aircraft in an operational environment. The simultor uses the same software as the C-130 AMP aircraft.
The avionics part task trainer and cockpit familiarization trainer are the other two.
Three C-130AMP aircraft are under installation and preliminary testing.
They will undergo periodic depot maintenance at Warner Robins Air Force Base, Ga., before being delivered to the Air Force C-130 AMP schoolhouse at Little Rock, where initial operational test and evaluation will be conducted, Boeing said.
By 2014, Little Rock’s 314th Airlift Wing will train exclusively on the state-of-the-art C-130Js, according to Col. C.K. Hyde, commander of the 314th Airlift Wing.
The National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing, in conjunction with a new Air Reserve Command unit to be stood up at the base, will by 2011 train exclusively for C-130H aircraft and the C-130 AMPs
“We’ve known this (realignment) was coming for several years,” Hyde said recently.
Hyde said 17 Vietnam-era C-130Es, average age 46 years old, would be replaced by 18 C-130H or C-130 AMP. Over the next five years, active forces will be converting to all J-model aircraft, Hyde said.
C-130H models from Guard and Reserve bases around the country will fill in at Little Rock, either reassigned or borrowed.
Of the 20 AMP kits Boeing is now authorized to build in a low-rate initial production run, five will be installed by Boeing, five by a competitor yet to be chosen and 10 by the Air Force at Warner Robins.
A competition will be held to determine who will build the balance of the 198 kits in a full-rate production run beginning in 2013, according to a Boeing spokesman.
In addition to switching from analog to digital controls and readouts, the kit will upgrade and standardize communication, navigation and air traffic management, have a glass cockpit including so-called head-up displays, night vision imaging and will meet all military operational environmental conditions.
It has open systems design, which allows easy upgrading or changing.
It has optional color weather radar, and systems for terrain and traffic collision avoidance.
According to Boeing, the C-130 AMP “enhances the situational awareness of the crew both in the battlefield and in civil airspace.”
The AMP cockpit has been tested to minus 140 degrees Fahrenheit and plus-130 degrees Fahrenheit for days.
Boeing has about $1.4 billion invested in the AMP, Harris said.
The original contract, signed almost a decade ago, was for retrofitting 550 C-130Hs with the AMP, but former Air Force procurement officer Doreen Druyun guided the contract to Boeing in exchange for a $250,000-a-year job and jobs for her daughter and son-in-law.
The contract was scrapped and Druyun served nine months in prison.
Lockheed-Martin, BAE and L-3, which lost out to Boeing on the original rigged bids, are likely competitors with Boeing for the new contract.
A spokesman said Lockheed is definitely interested.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
EDITORIAL>>Keet wrong again
In this season of terrible discontent, Jim Keet is still struggling to land an issue that will give his race for governor some traction. He tried and failed again yesterday and not because Gov. Mike Beebe is always on the side of the angels. Keet just picks the wrong fights, and he seemed to know it when he had a news conference to place himself squarely on the side of the people of Weiner, the little farm community in Poinsett County.
This year, it’s Weiner’s turn to have its independent school district abolished under the school-reform law of 2003. School districts that have fewer than 350 students two years in a row are deemed to be too small to have an efficient and quality educational program for kindergarten and 12 grades and must be annexed to another district that can guarantee the diverse programs that schools must offer their children.
The people of Arkansas established the 350 standard by an initiated act in 1948, and more than a thousand separate districts were abolished at once. But the act was poorly written. Districts that fell below 350 after that did not have to be abolished, and scores of schools fell below the threshold in the years afterward, although most of those were consolidated by one act or another by the legislature or the state Board of Education over the next half-century.
hen Gov. Mike Huckabee, faced with a court order to provide equal and adequate educational opportunity for every child in the state, said the solution was to abolish every school district below 1,500 students. Any district smaller than that, he concluded, wasted precious tax dollars. The legislature rebelled, but it did reinstate the 350 threshold of 1948 and this time made it permanent.
Weiner’s is a sympathetic case, but so are they all. It maintains that with 340 students it still manages to have a reasonably good educational program, although it does so with a large subsidy from the state’s taxpayers. If the school district is abolished and its high school merged with another in the vicinity, the town itself will lose its vitality and eventually dry up.
That has been the lamentation of a thousand communities. Many of us from rural townships rode the buses to big high schools to satisfy the consolidation law, and usually have been better for it.
Keet said he joined with the people of Weiner and wanted the state — Gov. Beebe or somebody — to find a way to make an exception for Weiner so that it could keep its little district and then to change the law to allow exceptions. There are no provisions for exceptions in the law. Four years ago, Asa Hutchinson ran for governor on the same platform. Something needed to be done to preserve a little rural school in Saline County. It will work just as well for Jim Keet.
This year, it’s Weiner’s turn to have its independent school district abolished under the school-reform law of 2003. School districts that have fewer than 350 students two years in a row are deemed to be too small to have an efficient and quality educational program for kindergarten and 12 grades and must be annexed to another district that can guarantee the diverse programs that schools must offer their children.
The people of Arkansas established the 350 standard by an initiated act in 1948, and more than a thousand separate districts were abolished at once. But the act was poorly written. Districts that fell below 350 after that did not have to be abolished, and scores of schools fell below the threshold in the years afterward, although most of those were consolidated by one act or another by the legislature or the state Board of Education over the next half-century.
hen Gov. Mike Huckabee, faced with a court order to provide equal and adequate educational opportunity for every child in the state, said the solution was to abolish every school district below 1,500 students. Any district smaller than that, he concluded, wasted precious tax dollars. The legislature rebelled, but it did reinstate the 350 threshold of 1948 and this time made it permanent.
Weiner’s is a sympathetic case, but so are they all. It maintains that with 340 students it still manages to have a reasonably good educational program, although it does so with a large subsidy from the state’s taxpayers. If the school district is abolished and its high school merged with another in the vicinity, the town itself will lose its vitality and eventually dry up.
That has been the lamentation of a thousand communities. Many of us from rural townships rode the buses to big high schools to satisfy the consolidation law, and usually have been better for it.
Keet said he joined with the people of Weiner and wanted the state — Gov. Beebe or somebody — to find a way to make an exception for Weiner so that it could keep its little district and then to change the law to allow exceptions. There are no provisions for exceptions in the law. Four years ago, Asa Hutchinson ran for governor on the same platform. Something needed to be done to preserve a little rural school in Saline County. It will work just as well for Jim Keet.
EDITORIAL>>Keet wrong again
In this season of terrible discontent, Jim Keet is still struggling to land an issue that will give his race for governor some traction. He tried and failed again yesterday and not because Gov. Mike Beebe is always on the side of the angels. Keet just picks the wrong fights, and he seemed to know it when he had a news conference to place himself squarely on the side of the people of Weiner, the little farm community in Poinsett County.
This year, it’s Weiner’s turn to have its independent school district abolished under the school-reform law of 2003. School districts that have fewer than 350 students two years in a row are deemed to be too small to have an efficient and quality educational program for kindergarten and 12 grades and must be annexed to another district that can guarantee the diverse programs that schools must offer their children.
The people of Arkansas established the 350 standard by an initiated act in 1948, and more than a thousand separate districts were abolished at once. But the act was poorly written. Districts that fell below 350 after that did not have to be abolished, and scores of schools fell below the threshold in the years afterward, although most of those were consolidated by one act or another by the legislature or the state Board of Education over the next half-century.
hen Gov. Mike Huckabee, faced with a court order to provide equal and adequate educational opportunity for every child in the state, said the solution was to abolish every school district below 1,500 students. Any district smaller than that, he concluded, wasted precious tax dollars. The legislature rebelled, but it did reinstate the 350 threshold of 1948 and this time made it permanent.
Weiner’s is a sympathetic case, but so are they all. It maintains that with 340 students it still manages to have a reasonably good educational program, although it does so with a large subsidy from the state’s taxpayers. If the school district is abolished and its high school merged with another in the vicinity, the town itself will lose its vitality and eventually dry up.
That has been the lamentation of a thousand communities. Many of us from rural townships rode the buses to big high schools to satisfy the consolidation law, and usually have been better for it.
Keet said he joined with the people of Weiner and wanted the state — Gov. Beebe or somebody — to find a way to make an exception for Weiner so that it could keep its little district and then to change the law to allow exceptions. There are no provisions for exceptions in the law. Four years ago, Asa Hutchinson ran for governor on the same platform. Something needed to be done to preserve a little rural school in Saline County. It will work just as well for Jim Keet.
This year, it’s Weiner’s turn to have its independent school district abolished under the school-reform law of 2003. School districts that have fewer than 350 students two years in a row are deemed to be too small to have an efficient and quality educational program for kindergarten and 12 grades and must be annexed to another district that can guarantee the diverse programs that schools must offer their children.
The people of Arkansas established the 350 standard by an initiated act in 1948, and more than a thousand separate districts were abolished at once. But the act was poorly written. Districts that fell below 350 after that did not have to be abolished, and scores of schools fell below the threshold in the years afterward, although most of those were consolidated by one act or another by the legislature or the state Board of Education over the next half-century.
hen Gov. Mike Huckabee, faced with a court order to provide equal and adequate educational opportunity for every child in the state, said the solution was to abolish every school district below 1,500 students. Any district smaller than that, he concluded, wasted precious tax dollars. The legislature rebelled, but it did reinstate the 350 threshold of 1948 and this time made it permanent.
Weiner’s is a sympathetic case, but so are they all. It maintains that with 340 students it still manages to have a reasonably good educational program, although it does so with a large subsidy from the state’s taxpayers. If the school district is abolished and its high school merged with another in the vicinity, the town itself will lose its vitality and eventually dry up.
That has been the lamentation of a thousand communities. Many of us from rural townships rode the buses to big high schools to satisfy the consolidation law, and usually have been better for it.
Keet said he joined with the people of Weiner and wanted the state — Gov. Beebe or somebody — to find a way to make an exception for Weiner so that it could keep its little district and then to change the law to allow exceptions. There are no provisions for exceptions in the law. Four years ago, Asa Hutchinson ran for governor on the same platform. Something needed to be done to preserve a little rural school in Saline County. It will work just as well for Jim Keet.
EDITORIAL>>Tim Griffin and unions
Tim Griffin never encouraged anyone to invest much confidence in his character — he let his ambition to undercut and replace his old friend and boss, Bud Cummins, corrupt the entire United States Department of Justice — but you could not doubt his political savvy. He had spent all those years toiling at the Republican national headquarters in Washington and then in the political operations of the White House so he would never say anything politically foolish, at least unless he were under duress.
Now we are not so sure. Friday, in his first big public outing since winning the Republican nomination for Congress from the Second District, Griffin was telling the Political Animals Club at Little Rock about why it was important to keep labor unions weak in Arkansas. He is against the so-called “card-check” bill, which would require big employers to bargain with a union if most of their employees signed cards expressing their desire to have the union bargain for them. The bill is dead, but it is a live political tar baby.
Griffin explained that since Arkansas laws restrict unions so much, they have remained weak and that has kept wages and salaries in Arkansas below the levels in other states. Low wages are desirable, he continued, because it makes Arkansas more attractive than other states to businesses.
The unstated message was that Tim Griffin, as a congressman or in some other capacity, would like to see worker incomes depressed because it is good for business and economic development. All that economic development produced by low wages eventually would raise all boats.
We are not sure that the lack of unions or strong ones is the reason that wages and per-capita incomes in Arkansas lag behind the rest of the country, as Griffin seems to believe and as union leaders also would have you believe. Arkansas was well behind the other states before the rise of unions in the industrial heartland and the big cities in the middle of the last century, and that has remained so with the decline of union membership and power since the 1970s.
If low wages and a union-poor environment were an inducement to development, Arkansas instead of California would have had Silicon Valley. Something else has been at work — geography and climate, maybe, education, social factors, political will? — and five generations of political leaders have not discovered the reason and the remedy.
But no one expected economic theory to be Tim Griffin’s forte. His career has been as a shrewd if cynical political operator.
But how smart is it for a candidate for public office to come out squarely for low pay? That will not go over well even with a chamber of commerce audience.
This fellow bears watching, closely. He could be our next congressman.
Now we are not so sure. Friday, in his first big public outing since winning the Republican nomination for Congress from the Second District, Griffin was telling the Political Animals Club at Little Rock about why it was important to keep labor unions weak in Arkansas. He is against the so-called “card-check” bill, which would require big employers to bargain with a union if most of their employees signed cards expressing their desire to have the union bargain for them. The bill is dead, but it is a live political tar baby.
Griffin explained that since Arkansas laws restrict unions so much, they have remained weak and that has kept wages and salaries in Arkansas below the levels in other states. Low wages are desirable, he continued, because it makes Arkansas more attractive than other states to businesses.
The unstated message was that Tim Griffin, as a congressman or in some other capacity, would like to see worker incomes depressed because it is good for business and economic development. All that economic development produced by low wages eventually would raise all boats.
We are not sure that the lack of unions or strong ones is the reason that wages and per-capita incomes in Arkansas lag behind the rest of the country, as Griffin seems to believe and as union leaders also would have you believe. Arkansas was well behind the other states before the rise of unions in the industrial heartland and the big cities in the middle of the last century, and that has remained so with the decline of union membership and power since the 1970s.
If low wages and a union-poor environment were an inducement to development, Arkansas instead of California would have had Silicon Valley. Something else has been at work — geography and climate, maybe, education, social factors, political will? — and five generations of political leaders have not discovered the reason and the remedy.
But no one expected economic theory to be Tim Griffin’s forte. His career has been as a shrewd if cynical political operator.
But how smart is it for a candidate for public office to come out squarely for low pay? That will not go over well even with a chamber of commerce audience.
This fellow bears watching, closely. He could be our next congressman.
TOP STORY>>Sheriff’s program to reduce drug use
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Since 2007, research has shown that Arkansas teens rank No. 1 in the nation for abuse of prescription pain relievers.
Now, Lonoke County is joining other counties in central Arkansas that are trying to combat the problem by taking unused prescription medicines out of medicine cabinets.
This week, the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department is collecting those drugs at various locations across the county in trade for $5 gift certificates from Walmart and one-year gift subscriptions to The Leader.
Dubbed Operation Pill Kill, the drug collection started Monday in Lonoke, where response was poor. Investigator Keith Eaton, who is in charge of the operation, said only one person turned in prescription drugs at the Lonoke Community Center. By 9:30
Tuesday morning, one person had turned in drugs, not all of them prescription, at the Carlisle Seniors Center.
Eaton will be at the England Fitness Center at 107 Valley Drive today, the Ward Municipal Complex on Hickory Street Thursday and the Cabot City Annex at 208 N. First St. on Friday.
“We’ve had a lot of burglaries in the county lately and in some, prescription drugs have been taken. We’re also having a big problem with kids taking medicine that’s not prescribed for them,” Eaton said.
“You’ve got kids who will take pills to make them high. Then they can’t sleep and they have to go to school the next day and they take a pill to make them sleep. It takes a toll on your heart,” he said.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health, some of the most commonly abused drugs are narcotics such as Oxycontin, Vicodin, codeine and Percocet, sedatives such as Valium and Xanax and stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall.
Emergency room visits due to abuse of prescription pain relievers has doubled since 2004.
Eaton said he will gladly take any unused prescription, or even non-prescription, drug and dispose of them to keep them off the street but what he hopes to collect are the drugs like the pain killers that are most commonly abused.
To keep drugs out of children’s hands, the Arkansas Department of Health recommends taking these safeguards:
Mix expired or unused prescriptions with a material like coffee grounds or kitty litter before throwing them away, to deter youth from taking them from the trash (never flush them down the toilet—this pollutes the drinking water supply).
Monitor adolescents’ online activities—many websites don’t even require a prescription.
Talk to youth about following instructions when taking medicine, and remind them that it’s never okay to share medication or to take someone else’s medication.
n
Set the record straight—tell youth that prescription drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs when used inappropriately.
Stress is often cited as a reason for teens to use drugs; talk with your teen about safe ways to reduce stress.
Leader staff writer
Since 2007, research has shown that Arkansas teens rank No. 1 in the nation for abuse of prescription pain relievers.
Now, Lonoke County is joining other counties in central Arkansas that are trying to combat the problem by taking unused prescription medicines out of medicine cabinets.
This week, the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department is collecting those drugs at various locations across the county in trade for $5 gift certificates from Walmart and one-year gift subscriptions to The Leader.
Dubbed Operation Pill Kill, the drug collection started Monday in Lonoke, where response was poor. Investigator Keith Eaton, who is in charge of the operation, said only one person turned in prescription drugs at the Lonoke Community Center. By 9:30
Tuesday morning, one person had turned in drugs, not all of them prescription, at the Carlisle Seniors Center.
Eaton will be at the England Fitness Center at 107 Valley Drive today, the Ward Municipal Complex on Hickory Street Thursday and the Cabot City Annex at 208 N. First St. on Friday.
“We’ve had a lot of burglaries in the county lately and in some, prescription drugs have been taken. We’re also having a big problem with kids taking medicine that’s not prescribed for them,” Eaton said.
“You’ve got kids who will take pills to make them high. Then they can’t sleep and they have to go to school the next day and they take a pill to make them sleep. It takes a toll on your heart,” he said.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health, some of the most commonly abused drugs are narcotics such as Oxycontin, Vicodin, codeine and Percocet, sedatives such as Valium and Xanax and stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall.
Emergency room visits due to abuse of prescription pain relievers has doubled since 2004.
Eaton said he will gladly take any unused prescription, or even non-prescription, drug and dispose of them to keep them off the street but what he hopes to collect are the drugs like the pain killers that are most commonly abused.
To keep drugs out of children’s hands, the Arkansas Department of Health recommends taking these safeguards:
Mix expired or unused prescriptions with a material like coffee grounds or kitty litter before throwing them away, to deter youth from taking them from the trash (never flush them down the toilet—this pollutes the drinking water supply).
Monitor adolescents’ online activities—many websites don’t even require a prescription.
Talk to youth about following instructions when taking medicine, and remind them that it’s never okay to share medication or to take someone else’s medication.
n
Set the record straight—tell youth that prescription drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs when used inappropriately.
Stress is often cited as a reason for teens to use drugs; talk with your teen about safe ways to reduce stress.
TOP STORY>>Fair-housing data collection under way
By NANCY DOCKTER
Leader staff writer
Every five years, municipalities across the country that accept funds from the federal Housing and Urban Development agency are required to conduct an analysis of local barriers to access to fair housing.
A survey is under way in Jacksonville to collect data for the analysis and is available through July on the city’s website, www.cityofjacksonville.net, under the “What’s New” tab.
Concerned citizens as well as anyone with knowledge of the housing industry – through the construction trades, real estate, law and education, or banking and finance – are encouraged to fill out the anonymous questionnaire.
“You want to see if there are any problems in your city so you can ward them off,” said Teresa Watson, the director of community development for the city. “The survey looks at whether everyone has access to fair and affordable housing.
Sometimes people or agencies discriminate, and they don’t know it.”
Watson said that she is not aware of any cases of discrimination in housing in Jacksonville in recent years.
Taking advantage of available email distribution lists, the electronic survey has already been sent out to all employees of the city and Pathfinder, residents of Jacksonville Towers and members of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. By posting the survey on the city’s website, the hope is to tap a diverse group – “all the players, agencies as well as citizens, homeowners and renters as well,” Watson said.
Local building codes, city planning for home development, zoning ordinances, occupancy standards, real estate and lending practices or simply what individuals know and understand about home ownership and financing are all sources of possible impediments to obtaining safe, affordable housing.
For example, when a city makes way for new housing by tearing down older, smaller houses but then requires newly constructed homes in the area be larger, that practice may limit low-income individuals from finding an affordable place to live.
“For every house removed but not replaced, you create a barrier,” Watson explained. “Sometimes there are barriers that are not done consciously but to make the city grow, because the focus is on upscale, more expensive homes.”
The findings of the survey will be presented at a public forum at 6 p.m. on August 17 at the Jacksonville Community Center.
Dinner will be provided.
The federal Fair Housing Act, part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability or familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents of legal custodians, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children under the age of 18).
The Arkansas Fair Housing Act, passed in 2001, established the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission (AFHC), in order to provide procedures for the investigation and remediation of unfair housing practices, in accord with provisions of federal law.
Carol Johnson, director of the AFHC, said that her office receives about 250 calls annually about suspected discrimination in housing. Of those, 150 to 175 turn into actual complaints that are investigated.
Most common are complaints about available housing that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act or concerns that are related to race, ethnicity or national origin. Familial status has to do with landlords not wanting to rent to families with children or many children are also common complaints, Johnson said.
Statistics are not kept by municipality, but by county so the AFHC cannot comment on barriers to fair housing that might exist in Jacksonville, Johnson said. “The majority of cases that we get are in larger metropolitan areas – Little Rock, Fort Smith and Fayetteville.”
When the survey was conducted in Jacksonville five years ago, a need was identified for education on financial literacy. Such a course is now provided through a partnership with local banks.
The 12-week program addresses various aspects of financial management that impact home ownership – functions of banks, managing personal checking and saving accounts, budgeting, credit card use, borrowing and the responsibilities of owning and maintaining a home.
The class is offered at no charge. Anyone 16 years or older may enroll. The current class runs through July.
“We have a 17-year-old and four ladies from the (Jacksonville) Towers” in the class, Watson said.
Another course is planned for the fall. For more information about the course or the fair housing survey, call 501-982-0026.
Leader staff writer
Every five years, municipalities across the country that accept funds from the federal Housing and Urban Development agency are required to conduct an analysis of local barriers to access to fair housing.
A survey is under way in Jacksonville to collect data for the analysis and is available through July on the city’s website, www.cityofjacksonville.net, under the “What’s New” tab.
Concerned citizens as well as anyone with knowledge of the housing industry – through the construction trades, real estate, law and education, or banking and finance – are encouraged to fill out the anonymous questionnaire.
“You want to see if there are any problems in your city so you can ward them off,” said Teresa Watson, the director of community development for the city. “The survey looks at whether everyone has access to fair and affordable housing.
Sometimes people or agencies discriminate, and they don’t know it.”
Watson said that she is not aware of any cases of discrimination in housing in Jacksonville in recent years.
Taking advantage of available email distribution lists, the electronic survey has already been sent out to all employees of the city and Pathfinder, residents of Jacksonville Towers and members of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. By posting the survey on the city’s website, the hope is to tap a diverse group – “all the players, agencies as well as citizens, homeowners and renters as well,” Watson said.
Local building codes, city planning for home development, zoning ordinances, occupancy standards, real estate and lending practices or simply what individuals know and understand about home ownership and financing are all sources of possible impediments to obtaining safe, affordable housing.
For example, when a city makes way for new housing by tearing down older, smaller houses but then requires newly constructed homes in the area be larger, that practice may limit low-income individuals from finding an affordable place to live.
“For every house removed but not replaced, you create a barrier,” Watson explained. “Sometimes there are barriers that are not done consciously but to make the city grow, because the focus is on upscale, more expensive homes.”
The findings of the survey will be presented at a public forum at 6 p.m. on August 17 at the Jacksonville Community Center.
Dinner will be provided.
The federal Fair Housing Act, part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability or familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents of legal custodians, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children under the age of 18).
The Arkansas Fair Housing Act, passed in 2001, established the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission (AFHC), in order to provide procedures for the investigation and remediation of unfair housing practices, in accord with provisions of federal law.
Carol Johnson, director of the AFHC, said that her office receives about 250 calls annually about suspected discrimination in housing. Of those, 150 to 175 turn into actual complaints that are investigated.
Most common are complaints about available housing that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act or concerns that are related to race, ethnicity or national origin. Familial status has to do with landlords not wanting to rent to families with children or many children are also common complaints, Johnson said.
Statistics are not kept by municipality, but by county so the AFHC cannot comment on barriers to fair housing that might exist in Jacksonville, Johnson said. “The majority of cases that we get are in larger metropolitan areas – Little Rock, Fort Smith and Fayetteville.”
When the survey was conducted in Jacksonville five years ago, a need was identified for education on financial literacy. Such a course is now provided through a partnership with local banks.
The 12-week program addresses various aspects of financial management that impact home ownership – functions of banks, managing personal checking and saving accounts, budgeting, credit card use, borrowing and the responsibilities of owning and maintaining a home.
The class is offered at no charge. Anyone 16 years or older may enroll. The current class runs through July.
“We have a 17-year-old and four ladies from the (Jacksonville) Towers” in the class, Watson said.
Another course is planned for the fall. For more information about the course or the fair housing survey, call 501-982-0026.
TOP STORY>>Road panel looks to funding
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Desperately needed money to fix and build state highways could come in the form of a half-cent sales-tax increase or from diverting existing sales-tax revenues on cars, trucks and auto parts from the state’s general fund to its highway fund.
Or from both.
Those are the recommendations of state highway commissioner Madison Murphy, who is one of 21 members of the General Assembly’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance, but so far, at least, they have not been adopted as the committee’s recommendations.
Murphy said his recommendations are just that—his, and not those of the state Highway Commission or the Blue Ribbon Committee.
The committee met last Wednesday and is scheduled to meet today in advance of its original July 1 deadline for recommendations.
Sen. John Paul Capps, D-Searcy, the committee chairman, says it’s still collecting information and would make an interim report to the General Assembly July 1, but he doesn’t expect to make final recommendations until December.
That could be due to election-year political realities. If the committee recommended a 10-year, half-penny, sales-tax increase July 1, every candidate running for the General Assembly in November could expect to be asked how he or she would vote on the increase. That would create a difficult environment in which to pass a new tax.
It’s axiomatic in Arkansas that you don’t get elected by promising to raise taxes. And as for the transfer of transportation tax revenues from the general fund to a highway fund, Gov. Mike Beebe is on the record as opposing it.
Here’s the problem:
The state Highway and Trans-portation Department projects its needs over the next decade at $23 billion, with anticipated revenues of only $4.1 billion. That means the department expects to have about one of every six dollars it needs.
Highway Department Director Dan Flowers has said the state needs an additional $200 million a year just to maintain current conditions.
The two main sources of highway revenue in Arkansas are the per-gallon tax on motor fuel and money sent to the state from the Federal Highway Trust Fund. As fuel prices rise, the number of gallons—and thus the tax revenues—decrease.
Revenues are static or diminishing, even as the need increases, according to Metroplan executive director Jim McKenzie. He is chairman of the committee’s new revenue subcommittee.
McKenzie said Arkansans need to realize no one, including the federal government, is going to rescue the state’s highways.
Arkansans will have to pay for new roads and maintenance or there would be no new roads and the existing roads and highways would continue to deteriorate.
Capps said this week that costs are going up “unbelievably” to build and maintain highways.
While it’s far from certain that the committee will recommend the half-penny sales-tax increase, which could be written to expire at the end of 10 years, it is projected that such a tax would generate about $157 million a year to state highways, with another $33.6 million a year split between counties and cities.
That’s part one of commissioner Murphy’s recommendation.
Part two would gradually transfer existing sales taxes on new and used vehicles, batteries, auto parts and other transportation-related sales to the state’s highway fund. It would be phased in over 10 years, increasing from 10 percent of the total the first year until it reached 100 percent of those tax revenues in the 10th year.
That would reduce the impact on the state general fund and allow for natural growth to offset the absolute loss to the general fund, according to Capps.
Over the course of the 10-year phase-in, the highway fund would receive about $2 billion, and by the end of the 10th year, when the new sales tax expired, the highways would be receiving $300 million a year in additional revenue from the transportation-related taxes.
If a new half-penny tax were approved, the General Assembly would want to use those revenues to pay off a much larger bond issue so the state could embark quickly on a building and maintenance program. It won’t be able to undertake very ambitious projects.
While the General Assembly could increase the sales tax, it would require voters to approve bond sales to pay for the construction. McKenzie said the tax could be structured to take effect only if and when the bond-issue is approved.
As for transferring revenues from the general fund to a dedicated highway fund, the General Assembly could do that too, but it might need sufficient votes to override a veto from the governor.
Leader senior staff writer
Desperately needed money to fix and build state highways could come in the form of a half-cent sales-tax increase or from diverting existing sales-tax revenues on cars, trucks and auto parts from the state’s general fund to its highway fund.
Or from both.
Those are the recommendations of state highway commissioner Madison Murphy, who is one of 21 members of the General Assembly’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance, but so far, at least, they have not been adopted as the committee’s recommendations.
Murphy said his recommendations are just that—his, and not those of the state Highway Commission or the Blue Ribbon Committee.
The committee met last Wednesday and is scheduled to meet today in advance of its original July 1 deadline for recommendations.
Sen. John Paul Capps, D-Searcy, the committee chairman, says it’s still collecting information and would make an interim report to the General Assembly July 1, but he doesn’t expect to make final recommendations until December.
That could be due to election-year political realities. If the committee recommended a 10-year, half-penny, sales-tax increase July 1, every candidate running for the General Assembly in November could expect to be asked how he or she would vote on the increase. That would create a difficult environment in which to pass a new tax.
It’s axiomatic in Arkansas that you don’t get elected by promising to raise taxes. And as for the transfer of transportation tax revenues from the general fund to a highway fund, Gov. Mike Beebe is on the record as opposing it.
Here’s the problem:
The state Highway and Trans-portation Department projects its needs over the next decade at $23 billion, with anticipated revenues of only $4.1 billion. That means the department expects to have about one of every six dollars it needs.
Highway Department Director Dan Flowers has said the state needs an additional $200 million a year just to maintain current conditions.
The two main sources of highway revenue in Arkansas are the per-gallon tax on motor fuel and money sent to the state from the Federal Highway Trust Fund. As fuel prices rise, the number of gallons—and thus the tax revenues—decrease.
Revenues are static or diminishing, even as the need increases, according to Metroplan executive director Jim McKenzie. He is chairman of the committee’s new revenue subcommittee.
McKenzie said Arkansans need to realize no one, including the federal government, is going to rescue the state’s highways.
Arkansans will have to pay for new roads and maintenance or there would be no new roads and the existing roads and highways would continue to deteriorate.
Capps said this week that costs are going up “unbelievably” to build and maintain highways.
While it’s far from certain that the committee will recommend the half-penny sales-tax increase, which could be written to expire at the end of 10 years, it is projected that such a tax would generate about $157 million a year to state highways, with another $33.6 million a year split between counties and cities.
That’s part one of commissioner Murphy’s recommendation.
Part two would gradually transfer existing sales taxes on new and used vehicles, batteries, auto parts and other transportation-related sales to the state’s highway fund. It would be phased in over 10 years, increasing from 10 percent of the total the first year until it reached 100 percent of those tax revenues in the 10th year.
That would reduce the impact on the state general fund and allow for natural growth to offset the absolute loss to the general fund, according to Capps.
Over the course of the 10-year phase-in, the highway fund would receive about $2 billion, and by the end of the 10th year, when the new sales tax expired, the highways would be receiving $300 million a year in additional revenue from the transportation-related taxes.
If a new half-penny tax were approved, the General Assembly would want to use those revenues to pay off a much larger bond issue so the state could embark quickly on a building and maintenance program. It won’t be able to undertake very ambitious projects.
While the General Assembly could increase the sales tax, it would require voters to approve bond sales to pay for the construction. McKenzie said the tax could be structured to take effect only if and when the bond-issue is approved.
As for transferring revenues from the general fund to a dedicated highway fund, the General Assembly could do that too, but it might need sufficient votes to override a veto from the governor.
TOP STORY>>Wet or dry, farm family of year sticks to the dirt
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Ground zero for the Minton family farm is on Tar Bottom Road, about three miles from England and backing up to the Department of Correction farms in Jefferson County.
But the 5,000 acres upon which Brooks Minton Sr. and his family grow rice, corn and soybeans stretch 26 miles from Altheimer
to near Lonoke.
The Mintons are the 2010 Lonoke County Farm Family of the Year.
They will join 74 other county farm families in vying for district and state recognition as the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year.
The Arkansas Farm Family of the Year will be announced Dec. 10 at a banquet at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock.
Minton, his two sons—Brooks Jr. and Greg—and his grandson Bart, with the aid of six full-time hands, keep busy year round.
This year, they’ve planted 1,500 acres of rice, 1,100 acres of corn and 2,400 acres of soybeans.
Starting with Brooks Senior’s grandfather, the family moved its farming from Tennessee to Lonoke County just about the time of the Great Depression, meaning five generations have farmed in the county.
But Brooks Senior’s grandson Bart has two daughters, neither of whom is interested in carrying on in the family business, and Bart says he’s not having any more children, meaning 31-year-old Bart may be the last of the Mintons to farm the land.
“The thing about farming—you’ve got to like it and love the land to stay with it,” the senior Minton said. “There’s not much reward in it and there’s a lot of hard work. It’s a great lifestyle that helps keep families together, and as hard as it is, it supports four families, three of them with brick homes in the big city.”
Of course, like farm families across the country now, the wives have jobs in the city to help cover expenses.
And by the big city, the Mintons mean England.
Johnnie Minton, Brooks senior’s wife, had a city job and still took care of the house on her day off, cooked and cleaned. “I fed nine men every day for two years,” at the family table she remembers.
“Now I have help,” she added.
Greg Minton says he’d have rather been a baseball player, but like so many promising young ball players, “I couldn’t hit a curve ball.”
Brooks Junior’s son Bart was just the opposite. He was sent to college and had other options, but at the end of his first semester, he says he knew he only wanted to farm.
He did get educated on the John Deere computerized GPS automated-tractor navigation system, which is crucial to their farming operation today.
Greg Minton, Brooks Minton’s younger son, says he runs through a tank of diesel in his pickup truck about every day and a half, checking on the crops and the irrigation wells.
Right now, they are pumping from 42 wells, Greg Minton said, but that’s just a part of what they have drilled.
You can’t talk about farming in Lonoke County without talking about water and weather.
“This time last year, we had to pump water off these fields,” Books Junior said.
When Brooks Senior started farming on his own in 1945, an irrigation well might be 11 feet deep, he said. Today, the wells are usually 75 to 120 feet deep, and all their crops depend on irrigation—the rice especially.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln recently announced that she had obtained $37 million of stimulus funds through the Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction on giant pumps to siphon water out of the Arkansas River and irrigate nearly 300,000 acres of farmland, most of it in Lonoke County.
The elder Minton said he looks forward to the day when they irrigate with the help of water pumped from the Arkansas River near Scott, the so-called Bayou Meto Water District project.
‘The water will come right through here,” Brooks Senior said. “Bart may see it, I won’t.”
Farming’s “a lot different than it used to be,” said Brooks Minton Jr. “The tractors are steered by satellite—John Deere and the GreenStar System.
“Set it up right and you could drive from here to Little Rock and stay within an inch of the straight line,” Greg Minton said.
With the satellite at the control and a human in the cab, the tractor will turn automatically and precisely at the end of each row, eliminating overlapping furrows and saving diesel, seed and chemicals.
Wrasslin’ a huge tractor into a turn is not an easy job, even with power steering, so the automatic satellite turns have taken most of the fatigue out of tractor operation, Greg Minton said.
“
I used to go through a dozen Tylenols a day,” he said.
The GPS-controlled tractors can also lay off perfect rows in the middle of the darkest night, he said.
“We used to grow cotton,” said Minton Senior, “but lately the price has been bad compared to the input.”
Minton says he’s seen great strides in the modernization of farming—not just irrigation, but herbicides and technical advances in equipment.
“I first irrigated in 1955 for cotton,” he said.
He started with a one-row combine. Now he has three 16-row combines. His first combine cost $6,500. The most recent one cost about $300,000—the cost of a west Little Rock home.
“We have gone to 350 acres of zero-grade rice fields,” said Greg Minton. That means water can be used more efficiently to keep weeds down. “We couldn’t farm the number of acres if not for Roundup technology,” he said.
When rice came here, it opened up a new life, he said: Rice and soybeans.
The family owns a share of a cotton gin in Gould, and they own cotton-farming equipment, which is of now used for other crops, so if the price-to-cost ratio gets better, the Mintons say they’ll be back in the business.
Meanwhile, they are building a 216,000-bushel grain dryer, which will give them a total storage and drying capacity of about 280,000 bushels, and a competitive edge.
“We can dry it cheaper than they can,” he said of the commercial storage places.
Including 81-year-old Brooks Senior, who says he can still drive a tractor or his D-6 bulldozer, three generations of Mintons get dust—or gumbo-like mud—on their boots on a daily basis, and his father and grandfather also farmed the same piece of land—well, a smaller piece—here in central Arkansas.
Tar Bottom Road is a dusty tan road—the unpaved portions—this time of year, so how was it named?
“You stick with the dirt when it’s dry, and it’ll darn sure stick with you when it’s wet,” Brooks says with relish.
Leader senior staff writer
Ground zero for the Minton family farm is on Tar Bottom Road, about three miles from England and backing up to the Department of Correction farms in Jefferson County.
But the 5,000 acres upon which Brooks Minton Sr. and his family grow rice, corn and soybeans stretch 26 miles from Altheimer
to near Lonoke.
The Mintons are the 2010 Lonoke County Farm Family of the Year.
They will join 74 other county farm families in vying for district and state recognition as the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year.
The Arkansas Farm Family of the Year will be announced Dec. 10 at a banquet at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock.
Minton, his two sons—Brooks Jr. and Greg—and his grandson Bart, with the aid of six full-time hands, keep busy year round.
This year, they’ve planted 1,500 acres of rice, 1,100 acres of corn and 2,400 acres of soybeans.
Starting with Brooks Senior’s grandfather, the family moved its farming from Tennessee to Lonoke County just about the time of the Great Depression, meaning five generations have farmed in the county.
But Brooks Senior’s grandson Bart has two daughters, neither of whom is interested in carrying on in the family business, and Bart says he’s not having any more children, meaning 31-year-old Bart may be the last of the Mintons to farm the land.
“The thing about farming—you’ve got to like it and love the land to stay with it,” the senior Minton said. “There’s not much reward in it and there’s a lot of hard work. It’s a great lifestyle that helps keep families together, and as hard as it is, it supports four families, three of them with brick homes in the big city.”
Of course, like farm families across the country now, the wives have jobs in the city to help cover expenses.
And by the big city, the Mintons mean England.
Johnnie Minton, Brooks senior’s wife, had a city job and still took care of the house on her day off, cooked and cleaned. “I fed nine men every day for two years,” at the family table she remembers.
“Now I have help,” she added.
Greg Minton says he’d have rather been a baseball player, but like so many promising young ball players, “I couldn’t hit a curve ball.”
Brooks Junior’s son Bart was just the opposite. He was sent to college and had other options, but at the end of his first semester, he says he knew he only wanted to farm.
He did get educated on the John Deere computerized GPS automated-tractor navigation system, which is crucial to their farming operation today.
Greg Minton, Brooks Minton’s younger son, says he runs through a tank of diesel in his pickup truck about every day and a half, checking on the crops and the irrigation wells.
Right now, they are pumping from 42 wells, Greg Minton said, but that’s just a part of what they have drilled.
You can’t talk about farming in Lonoke County without talking about water and weather.
“This time last year, we had to pump water off these fields,” Books Junior said.
When Brooks Senior started farming on his own in 1945, an irrigation well might be 11 feet deep, he said. Today, the wells are usually 75 to 120 feet deep, and all their crops depend on irrigation—the rice especially.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln recently announced that she had obtained $37 million of stimulus funds through the Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction on giant pumps to siphon water out of the Arkansas River and irrigate nearly 300,000 acres of farmland, most of it in Lonoke County.
The elder Minton said he looks forward to the day when they irrigate with the help of water pumped from the Arkansas River near Scott, the so-called Bayou Meto Water District project.
‘The water will come right through here,” Brooks Senior said. “Bart may see it, I won’t.”
Farming’s “a lot different than it used to be,” said Brooks Minton Jr. “The tractors are steered by satellite—John Deere and the GreenStar System.
“Set it up right and you could drive from here to Little Rock and stay within an inch of the straight line,” Greg Minton said.
With the satellite at the control and a human in the cab, the tractor will turn automatically and precisely at the end of each row, eliminating overlapping furrows and saving diesel, seed and chemicals.
Wrasslin’ a huge tractor into a turn is not an easy job, even with power steering, so the automatic satellite turns have taken most of the fatigue out of tractor operation, Greg Minton said.
“
I used to go through a dozen Tylenols a day,” he said.
The GPS-controlled tractors can also lay off perfect rows in the middle of the darkest night, he said.
“We used to grow cotton,” said Minton Senior, “but lately the price has been bad compared to the input.”
Minton says he’s seen great strides in the modernization of farming—not just irrigation, but herbicides and technical advances in equipment.
“I first irrigated in 1955 for cotton,” he said.
He started with a one-row combine. Now he has three 16-row combines. His first combine cost $6,500. The most recent one cost about $300,000—the cost of a west Little Rock home.
“We have gone to 350 acres of zero-grade rice fields,” said Greg Minton. That means water can be used more efficiently to keep weeds down. “We couldn’t farm the number of acres if not for Roundup technology,” he said.
When rice came here, it opened up a new life, he said: Rice and soybeans.
The family owns a share of a cotton gin in Gould, and they own cotton-farming equipment, which is of now used for other crops, so if the price-to-cost ratio gets better, the Mintons say they’ll be back in the business.
Meanwhile, they are building a 216,000-bushel grain dryer, which will give them a total storage and drying capacity of about 280,000 bushels, and a competitive edge.
“We can dry it cheaper than they can,” he said of the commercial storage places.
Including 81-year-old Brooks Senior, who says he can still drive a tractor or his D-6 bulldozer, three generations of Mintons get dust—or gumbo-like mud—on their boots on a daily basis, and his father and grandfather also farmed the same piece of land—well, a smaller piece—here in central Arkansas.
Tar Bottom Road is a dusty tan road—the unpaved portions—this time of year, so how was it named?
“You stick with the dirt when it’s dry, and it’ll darn sure stick with you when it’s wet,” Brooks says with relish.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)