By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Was the amateurish videotape purporting to show Pulaski County Special School District Board member Gwen Williams taking a bribe actually a clumsy dirty trick intended to embarrass the teachers’ union’s most stalwart supporter on the eve of the Sept. 21 school board election?
Or was the long-time school board member actually caught in the act of soliciting and taking a bribe?
The upcoming election may shift the balance of power in favor of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers, wiping out board president Tim Clark’s anti-union coalition.
She is alleged in tapes and in a letter with implying she could get a concrete-sidewalk contract for a man if he would make it worth her while.
There has been no mention of any sidewalk work in PCSSD school board meetings and no contracts have been posted or awarded.
A videotape showing an unidentified man handing Williams an envelope as she sat on her front porch, a separate audio recording and a letter signed “Ricky Weathers” all were delivered to the homes of the other school board members. The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office says it has contacted a man by that name, who insists he didn’t sign the letter or know anything about the tapes.
In a different portion of the tape, $100 was placed in the envelope handed to Williams on tape. Her attorney, Willard Proctor Jr., says instead, it was a condolence card for the death of Williams’ uncle.
“Ms. Williams did absolutely nothing wrong,” Proctor said Friday. “She didn’t take a bribe. We believe she was set up to make her look bad and defame her. We know there are a lot of different things going wrong on the school board. People are motivated to do things that don’t make sense.”
Proctor stopped short of suggesting it was politically motivated.
School board member Char-lie Wood said he gave his copies to the statewide paper because sometimes the press can get to the bottom of matters better than the judicial system. He said both law enforcement and other media had copies of the tapes before he made them available to that paper.
It’s been alleged in blogs that Wood, who has worked long and hard to decertify the union as the teachers’ bargaining agent, could be up to mischief.
“That’s ridiculous,” Wood said Friday afternoon. “I was in Wichita Falls, Texas, in a bicycle race.”
He and Danny Gililland, another union opponent, are up for re-election to the board this month, and PACT is supporting their opponents, both of whom have ties to the union.
Currently, the union is on the short end of most board votes by a one-vote margin. If either Wood or Gililland loses, PACT is likely to be on the winning side of those votes, including a new vote to accept the union as the bargaining agent, and to accept the contract it had negotiated last December with the district’s negotiation team—a contract which union members ratified but the board refused to approve.
Wood, who talked with Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office investigators late Friday afternoon, said he was not linked in any way to the tapes and the letter, and knew nothing about them.
He said Williams is not up for re-election and is not running against him or Gililland and that there was no political benefit in implicating her in a bribe.
He did say that if Williams was accepting bribes, she should be caught, even if by a whistle blower.
Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, who asked the sheriff’s office to investigate, is clearly upset that the matter was referred to the board members and not to his office or the sheriff’s office.
“It’s caused a lot of effort to be extended that didn’t have to be,” Jegley said Friday afternoon. “We don’t know the truth of the matter yet. It’s a big, old stupid mess. If someone thinks a crime has been committed, they ought to report it to the police.”
“We’re trying to find out who the black male in the video is and the person filming,” said Lt. Carl Minden. “We’re just engaged in fact-finding.”
Minden said the sheriff’s office had talked to most of the school board members, including Williams. He said she was not formally interviewed and is not a suspect.
“There’s an allegation but no way to confirm it,” Minden said. “The video is not going to be enough to put a charge on somebody.
“It’s hard to tell who’s the suspect and who’s the victim,” he said.
If Williams is the innocent victim, both the prosecutor and the sheriff’s office say no crime may have been committed, but that she could have civil remedies against anyone who may have defamed her. In other words, she could sue.
Friday, September 03, 2010
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
SPORTS>>Vilonia tops error-prone Sylvan Hills in the Rock
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sportswriter
It was the kind of game that can age a team in a hurry.
The Vilonia Eagles opened the season with a 42-14 victory over the youthful Sylvan Hills Bears in the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium on Monday.
Vilonia scored on every first-half possession, including a touchdown in the final minute as it took a 29-14 lead. Then the Eagles tacked on a 17-yard touchdown run by quarterback Drew Knowles, the game’s most valuable player, and a 55-yard scoring pass from Knowles to Michael Atkinson for the final margin.
“The kids sure have worked hard and I’m proud of them,” Vilonia coach Jim Stanley said. “And it’s a great honor for them to come here and play where the Razorbacks play. It’s a lot of fun for us.”
Sylvan Hills, breaking in newcomers like quarterback Michael Maddox and a new linebacker corps, showed its inexperience with 10 penalties for 74 yards, including flags for encroachment and a personal foul on Vilonia’s next to last scoring possession.
“Inexperience, bam, that gets you right there,” Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow said.
Tempers also flared on the last play, as some pushing and shoving delayed the postgame handshake until coaches and officials could get players separated.
“I think they’re upset, which is good,” Withrow said of the Bears. “But we’ve got to learn how to control ourselves too.”
It wasn’t all bad for Sylvan Hills. The Bears stayed with the Eagles in the first half and turned in a goal-line stop in the second half while recovering two fumbles.
“I think we’re going to get better,” Withrow said. “I think we’re athletic in some areas. I think our offensive line did a good job. I think if we get better up front. I think we’ve got a chance to be pretty successful.”
Sylvan Hills’ inexperience showed during a first-quarter sequence when, with Vilonia leading 14-6, the Bears were forced to punt four consecutive times, two because of illegal formations and shifts and once because of another illegal formation that was offset by an illegal block by Vilonia.
“That is just rookies,” Withrow said. “Call it coaching or call it whatever. That’s just inexperience.”
Sylvan Hills also couldn’t get properly lined up during the stretch and had to burnits final timeout of the half with 1:42 to go in the 41-minute first period. However, when Maddox finally got the punt off, the Eagles’ Zac Mitchell dropped the ball and Sylvan Hills recovered.
“That is the best, the absolute best, we’ve protected and punted in four weeks,” Withrow said. “I didn’t think we’d get four off.
We kept punting and punting.”
That possession ended in another punt that pinned Vilonia at its 2, but the Eagles drove 98 yards and went ahead 21-6 when Knowles dashed through the left side on a 25-yard run with 8:13 left in the half.
Sylvan Hills responded with an 80-yard scoring drive that ended with Trey Bone’s two-yard run to pull the Bears within 21-14 with 1:46 to go.
Vilonia drove to the Sylvan Hills 4 and, facing fourth down with the final minute running off the clock, Trey Lewis got loose for a 19-yard scoring run with 32 seconds left. The two-point conversion following a Bears penalty on the extra-point attempt made it 29-14 at halftime.
“If we would have just gone in at the half at 21-14 we got the ball to start the second half,” Withrow said. “It was playing the way we wanted it to play. If we were in it at halftime, we’ve got a chance.”
Vilonia’s first two touchdowns came on David Crume’s four-yard run and a 27-yard run by Sax.
Sylvan Hills scored on Nate Clark’s two-yard run to pull within 7-6 but the snap on the extra-point attempt was low and Maddox’s pass attempt was incomplete.
Knowles completed just the one touchdown pass in five attempts but rushed for 143 yards and two more scores to earn MVP honors. Maddox was 5 of 10 for 46 yards and Clark led the Bears with 98 rushing yards.
“I thought we fought, I thought our offensive line opened some holes up and we had some yards,” Withrow said. “We had some opportunities, we just couldn’t cash in on a very, very good football team I thought.”
Leader sportswriter
It was the kind of game that can age a team in a hurry.
The Vilonia Eagles opened the season with a 42-14 victory over the youthful Sylvan Hills Bears in the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium on Monday.
Vilonia scored on every first-half possession, including a touchdown in the final minute as it took a 29-14 lead. Then the Eagles tacked on a 17-yard touchdown run by quarterback Drew Knowles, the game’s most valuable player, and a 55-yard scoring pass from Knowles to Michael Atkinson for the final margin.
“The kids sure have worked hard and I’m proud of them,” Vilonia coach Jim Stanley said. “And it’s a great honor for them to come here and play where the Razorbacks play. It’s a lot of fun for us.”
Sylvan Hills, breaking in newcomers like quarterback Michael Maddox and a new linebacker corps, showed its inexperience with 10 penalties for 74 yards, including flags for encroachment and a personal foul on Vilonia’s next to last scoring possession.
“Inexperience, bam, that gets you right there,” Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow said.
Tempers also flared on the last play, as some pushing and shoving delayed the postgame handshake until coaches and officials could get players separated.
“I think they’re upset, which is good,” Withrow said of the Bears. “But we’ve got to learn how to control ourselves too.”
It wasn’t all bad for Sylvan Hills. The Bears stayed with the Eagles in the first half and turned in a goal-line stop in the second half while recovering two fumbles.
“I think we’re going to get better,” Withrow said. “I think we’re athletic in some areas. I think our offensive line did a good job. I think if we get better up front. I think we’ve got a chance to be pretty successful.”
Sylvan Hills’ inexperience showed during a first-quarter sequence when, with Vilonia leading 14-6, the Bears were forced to punt four consecutive times, two because of illegal formations and shifts and once because of another illegal formation that was offset by an illegal block by Vilonia.
“That is just rookies,” Withrow said. “Call it coaching or call it whatever. That’s just inexperience.”
Sylvan Hills also couldn’t get properly lined up during the stretch and had to burnits final timeout of the half with 1:42 to go in the 41-minute first period. However, when Maddox finally got the punt off, the Eagles’ Zac Mitchell dropped the ball and Sylvan Hills recovered.
“That is the best, the absolute best, we’ve protected and punted in four weeks,” Withrow said. “I didn’t think we’d get four off.
We kept punting and punting.”
That possession ended in another punt that pinned Vilonia at its 2, but the Eagles drove 98 yards and went ahead 21-6 when Knowles dashed through the left side on a 25-yard run with 8:13 left in the half.
Sylvan Hills responded with an 80-yard scoring drive that ended with Trey Bone’s two-yard run to pull the Bears within 21-14 with 1:46 to go.
Vilonia drove to the Sylvan Hills 4 and, facing fourth down with the final minute running off the clock, Trey Lewis got loose for a 19-yard scoring run with 32 seconds left. The two-point conversion following a Bears penalty on the extra-point attempt made it 29-14 at halftime.
“If we would have just gone in at the half at 21-14 we got the ball to start the second half,” Withrow said. “It was playing the way we wanted it to play. If we were in it at halftime, we’ve got a chance.”
Vilonia’s first two touchdowns came on David Crume’s four-yard run and a 27-yard run by Sax.
Sylvan Hills scored on Nate Clark’s two-yard run to pull within 7-6 but the snap on the extra-point attempt was low and Maddox’s pass attempt was incomplete.
Knowles completed just the one touchdown pass in five attempts but rushed for 143 yards and two more scores to earn MVP honors. Maddox was 5 of 10 for 46 yards and Clark led the Bears with 98 rushing yards.
“I thought we fought, I thought our offensive line opened some holes up and we had some yards,” Withrow said. “We had some opportunities, we just couldn’t cash in on a very, very good football team I thought.”
SPORTS>>Wallace bounces back in MSRA feature
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Wendell Wallace will most likely look back at 2010 as one of the worst years of his stellar career, but his winning performance at Beebe Speedway in the Comp Cams MSRA late model feature on Friday will not be part of that bad memory.
Wallace blew by fast qualifier Jon Mitchell on a lap 7 restart and cruised to a $2,000 first-place payday during the tour’s final stop at the quarter-mile facility.
Wallace, who started third, made his moves on the high side before settling into the top spot and drove consistently for the duration.
“The racetrack was widening out — it kind of surprised me,” Wallace said. “Those guys were still tucked at the bottom, and I knew it was time to go if they gave me that outside starting third. I knew I had one shot at it, so we rode up there and made it work.”
Friday was also the fourth and final race of the RiceTec Summer Showdown. Defending series champion Billy Moyer, Jr. came into the Beebe race holding the points lead in the mini series, and went on to claim the $1,000 bonus with his second-place run.
The race also had heavy championship implications. Trumann’s Kyle Beard led the season points for most of the summer until a parts failure at I-30 Speedway handed the top spot to Greenbrier veteran Bill Frye.
Beard started fourth in the feature at Beebe and was in position to make up ground with Frye starting in the 12th spot. But Frye worked his way up to third in the final running order to earn hard charger while Beard went backwards during the race to finish 10th.
The weekend result pushed Frye’s lead over Beard to 31 points with only three events remaining.
Mitchell’s lucky run through his heat came at the expense of Russellville’s Dewaine Hottinger, wholeaped out to a huge lead in the first heat and dominated until a problem with his suspension brought him to a halt in turn one just after taking the white flag. That gave the heat victory and pole start for the feature to Mitchell, while Hottinger had to go to the last-chance feature.
Hottinger’s luck soured further in the 12-lap consolation race when his No. 65 machine got caught up in a number of collisions caused by other drivers. Hottinger reached his breaking point late in the B feature when his clean pass on Brian Ritchie ended with the Hottinger’s car spinning on the backstretch after contact with the outside wall.
Hottinger’s frustration was evident before he climbed out of his car, as the steering wheel went flying out onto the ground. He got on the track to salute Ritchie as he went by before exiting to the pits with his car still mangled on the backstretch.
Hottinger was able to start the feature via a series provisional, but his wounded car was not able to make the 30-lap distance.
Mitchell’s lucky draw-in and even luckier run through his heat could not help him once he was added into the mix for the feature. The driver who refers to himself as “the Catman” fell back quickly once Wallace outpaced him for the point.
Moyer was not far behind and overtook Mitchell for second, followed by Frye and Vilonia driver Curtis Cook. Mitchell gave way to faster drivers until he settled into the sixth spot in the final running order.
Cook, the fan favorite known as “Hollywood,” gave the locals something to cheer about with his run from 14th to fourth place in the feature. He struggled in his heat but earned a transfer in the B main.
The track slicked over before the start of the feature, which played into Cook’s hands.
Cook worked his way through the pack methodically in his Lawson Farms/B and B Cabinets car, and appeared to be as fast as the front three late in the race. But with ground to make up and no cautions to bunch up the field, his head-turning run ended with him in the fourth spot.
Cook had a similar run going in his MSRA debut at Beebe back in late June, but a late-race accident took him out of the running.
“It’s a lot nicer than getting taken out in the last couple of laps, that’s for sure,” Cook said. “We first took off, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to go or not. The car didn’t really go.
“I got on the outside and found some traction. It kept the car underneath me and it took off.”
For Wallace, 2010 has been a stark contrast to last season when he won five races by early May.
“That ain’t hard to figure out, this is my first win all year,” Wallace said. “We’ve had a terrible, terrible year — probably the worst I’ve ever had, but hopefully this will turn things around.
“We changed cars a couple of weeks ago and got this Victory Circle chassis, and things seem to be working a little better for us.
We’ve got a lot of big races coming up, we’ll see if we can win some more races.”
Two-time MSRA champ Joey Mack completed the top five, followed by Mitchell, Shane Harris, Jon Kirby, Brandon Smith and Beard. Beebe’s Wade Johnson found trouble several times beginning with his heat race and he finished 19th.
Beebe’s weekly winners included Jacksonville’s Mike McDougale in the hobby feature, Beebe’s Jacob Kurtz in factories and Derek Goshien in the mini stocks. Cabot’s Todd Joslin won his third E-mod feature race of the year while Robert Baker got his first victory of the season in the modified division.
Leader sportswriter
Wendell Wallace will most likely look back at 2010 as one of the worst years of his stellar career, but his winning performance at Beebe Speedway in the Comp Cams MSRA late model feature on Friday will not be part of that bad memory.
Wallace blew by fast qualifier Jon Mitchell on a lap 7 restart and cruised to a $2,000 first-place payday during the tour’s final stop at the quarter-mile facility.
Wallace, who started third, made his moves on the high side before settling into the top spot and drove consistently for the duration.
“The racetrack was widening out — it kind of surprised me,” Wallace said. “Those guys were still tucked at the bottom, and I knew it was time to go if they gave me that outside starting third. I knew I had one shot at it, so we rode up there and made it work.”
Friday was also the fourth and final race of the RiceTec Summer Showdown. Defending series champion Billy Moyer, Jr. came into the Beebe race holding the points lead in the mini series, and went on to claim the $1,000 bonus with his second-place run.
The race also had heavy championship implications. Trumann’s Kyle Beard led the season points for most of the summer until a parts failure at I-30 Speedway handed the top spot to Greenbrier veteran Bill Frye.
Beard started fourth in the feature at Beebe and was in position to make up ground with Frye starting in the 12th spot. But Frye worked his way up to third in the final running order to earn hard charger while Beard went backwards during the race to finish 10th.
The weekend result pushed Frye’s lead over Beard to 31 points with only three events remaining.
Mitchell’s lucky run through his heat came at the expense of Russellville’s Dewaine Hottinger, wholeaped out to a huge lead in the first heat and dominated until a problem with his suspension brought him to a halt in turn one just after taking the white flag. That gave the heat victory and pole start for the feature to Mitchell, while Hottinger had to go to the last-chance feature.
Hottinger’s luck soured further in the 12-lap consolation race when his No. 65 machine got caught up in a number of collisions caused by other drivers. Hottinger reached his breaking point late in the B feature when his clean pass on Brian Ritchie ended with the Hottinger’s car spinning on the backstretch after contact with the outside wall.
Hottinger’s frustration was evident before he climbed out of his car, as the steering wheel went flying out onto the ground. He got on the track to salute Ritchie as he went by before exiting to the pits with his car still mangled on the backstretch.
Hottinger was able to start the feature via a series provisional, but his wounded car was not able to make the 30-lap distance.
Mitchell’s lucky draw-in and even luckier run through his heat could not help him once he was added into the mix for the feature. The driver who refers to himself as “the Catman” fell back quickly once Wallace outpaced him for the point.
Moyer was not far behind and overtook Mitchell for second, followed by Frye and Vilonia driver Curtis Cook. Mitchell gave way to faster drivers until he settled into the sixth spot in the final running order.
Cook, the fan favorite known as “Hollywood,” gave the locals something to cheer about with his run from 14th to fourth place in the feature. He struggled in his heat but earned a transfer in the B main.
The track slicked over before the start of the feature, which played into Cook’s hands.
Cook worked his way through the pack methodically in his Lawson Farms/B and B Cabinets car, and appeared to be as fast as the front three late in the race. But with ground to make up and no cautions to bunch up the field, his head-turning run ended with him in the fourth spot.
Cook had a similar run going in his MSRA debut at Beebe back in late June, but a late-race accident took him out of the running.
“It’s a lot nicer than getting taken out in the last couple of laps, that’s for sure,” Cook said. “We first took off, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to go or not. The car didn’t really go.
“I got on the outside and found some traction. It kept the car underneath me and it took off.”
For Wallace, 2010 has been a stark contrast to last season when he won five races by early May.
“That ain’t hard to figure out, this is my first win all year,” Wallace said. “We’ve had a terrible, terrible year — probably the worst I’ve ever had, but hopefully this will turn things around.
“We changed cars a couple of weeks ago and got this Victory Circle chassis, and things seem to be working a little better for us.
We’ve got a lot of big races coming up, we’ll see if we can win some more races.”
Two-time MSRA champ Joey Mack completed the top five, followed by Mitchell, Shane Harris, Jon Kirby, Brandon Smith and Beard. Beebe’s Wade Johnson found trouble several times beginning with his heat race and he finished 19th.
Beebe’s weekly winners included Jacksonville’s Mike McDougale in the hobby feature, Beebe’s Jacob Kurtz in factories and Derek Goshien in the mini stocks. Cabot’s Todd Joslin won his third E-mod feature race of the year while Robert Baker got his first victory of the season in the modified division.
SPORTS>>Turnovers lift Lonoke in upset over Star City
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
PINE BLUFF —Lonoke used big plays to build a hefty lead over Star City then held off a furious comeback for a 38-29 victory in the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic at Golden Lions Stadium on Monday.
Star City cut a 32-13 lead to 32-29 with 4:03 left in the fourth quarter, then the Jackrabbits unleashed sophomore Eric Williams, who took Darius Scott’s handoff and cut up the middle 84 yards for the game-clinching touchdown on just his second carry of the game.
Williams saved the day, but it was Lonoke’s senior-led secondary that put theBulldogs in the hole. The unit intercepted Ty Towers four times, and junior linebacker T.J. Scott and freshman cornerback D.J. Burton returned one each for touchdowns.
“That was huge,” Lonoke coach Doug Bost said. “That’s our veteran secondary. They stepped up to make plays. D.J., No. 22, actually a ninth-grader for us, caught one and ran it back, so he filled in good for us. So, yes, the secondary did good.
“The D-line got pressure on them, so the defense really stepped up.”
Scott, the Jackrabbits junior linebacker, got the first interception after Lonoke scored its first touchdown. Scott snagged Tower’s pass to the middle and cut left 39 yards to score, then added the extra point to put Lonoke up 13-0.
Senior Wes Plummer got Lonoke’s second interception with 8:41 left in the second quarter, and the offense converted with a 39-yard pass play from Logan DeWhitt to Blake Dill for the first of his two touchdown receptions.
The Bulldogs were on the move late in the second quarter when Burton pulled down the third interception for Lonoke and returned it 61 yards to give the Jackrabbits a 26-6 lead with 3:57 left in the half.
Lonoke added to its lead early in the third quarter after another Plummer interception when DeWhitt found Dill again, this time for a 31-yard touchdown pass to make it 32-13. Dill took advantage of the Bulldogs’ extra attention paid to Scott and finished with five catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns.
Scott was used primarily on sweeps in the first half. But when DeWhitt was sidelined early in the fourth quarter after landing hard on his left shoulder, Scott became the quarterback.
“He said it popped out and popped back in, so thank God,” Bost said DeWhitt’s injury. “You see we struggled without him.”
Star City began its comeback at the start of the fourth quarter with a seven-play, 65-yard scoring drive that ate only 52 seconds off the clock. The Bulldog defense then came up big when David Scruggs fell on a Lonoke fumble after a botched exchange between center Dra Offord and Scott at the Star City 41.
The ensuing Bulldog drive ended when Towers fumbled at the Lonoke 2, which resulted in a safety for Star City on the next play. The Bulldogs then started at their 49 and turned in another one-minute drive that ended in four plays when Rashod Davis scored from the 2. Drue Harvey ran in the two-point conversion to make it 32-29.
“Second half, you could tell all the scoring drives, we got tired,” Bost said. “Slipping off tackles. We were in the right position, but we just got so doggone tired. Lack of depth — that hurt us in the second half.”
Lonoke’s running game was inconsistent all night and all but stalled late. The Jackrabbits faced third and long at the 16 when Williams, a 5-6, 140-pound receiver, took Scott’s handoff and went left before cutting up the middle on his touchdown run.
“That did it right there,” Bost said. “If we would have had to punt, I had my punter out; Logan’s my punter. I was just praying we would get a first down, and he broke that sucker all the way. For a tenth-grader, that’s big-time for us.”
Dills’ 218 receiving yards led Lonoke as Star City focused on Scott in the first half. Plummer, exploiting lighter coverage, scored on a 47-yard pass from DeWhitt as time expired in the first quarter.
“Dill and Wes Plummer ran a wheel route off of that,” Bost said. “You could tell that everybody was flying to Darius, and that opened it up.
“Darius did a good job of taking that coverage away and opening up other people, and Dill found the holes. Real pleased with that.”
DeWhitt was 11 of 20 for 238 yards and three touchdowns and one interception while Bryant carried 16 times for 59 yards. Williams’ two runs totaled 91 yards and a score.
Towers completed 9 of 16 passes for 131 yards with four interceptions and rushed 11 times for 102 yards and a touchdown.
Leader sportswriter
PINE BLUFF —Lonoke used big plays to build a hefty lead over Star City then held off a furious comeback for a 38-29 victory in the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic at Golden Lions Stadium on Monday.
Star City cut a 32-13 lead to 32-29 with 4:03 left in the fourth quarter, then the Jackrabbits unleashed sophomore Eric Williams, who took Darius Scott’s handoff and cut up the middle 84 yards for the game-clinching touchdown on just his second carry of the game.
Williams saved the day, but it was Lonoke’s senior-led secondary that put theBulldogs in the hole. The unit intercepted Ty Towers four times, and junior linebacker T.J. Scott and freshman cornerback D.J. Burton returned one each for touchdowns.
“That was huge,” Lonoke coach Doug Bost said. “That’s our veteran secondary. They stepped up to make plays. D.J., No. 22, actually a ninth-grader for us, caught one and ran it back, so he filled in good for us. So, yes, the secondary did good.
“The D-line got pressure on them, so the defense really stepped up.”
Scott, the Jackrabbits junior linebacker, got the first interception after Lonoke scored its first touchdown. Scott snagged Tower’s pass to the middle and cut left 39 yards to score, then added the extra point to put Lonoke up 13-0.
Senior Wes Plummer got Lonoke’s second interception with 8:41 left in the second quarter, and the offense converted with a 39-yard pass play from Logan DeWhitt to Blake Dill for the first of his two touchdown receptions.
The Bulldogs were on the move late in the second quarter when Burton pulled down the third interception for Lonoke and returned it 61 yards to give the Jackrabbits a 26-6 lead with 3:57 left in the half.
Lonoke added to its lead early in the third quarter after another Plummer interception when DeWhitt found Dill again, this time for a 31-yard touchdown pass to make it 32-13. Dill took advantage of the Bulldogs’ extra attention paid to Scott and finished with five catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns.
Scott was used primarily on sweeps in the first half. But when DeWhitt was sidelined early in the fourth quarter after landing hard on his left shoulder, Scott became the quarterback.
“He said it popped out and popped back in, so thank God,” Bost said DeWhitt’s injury. “You see we struggled without him.”
Star City began its comeback at the start of the fourth quarter with a seven-play, 65-yard scoring drive that ate only 52 seconds off the clock. The Bulldog defense then came up big when David Scruggs fell on a Lonoke fumble after a botched exchange between center Dra Offord and Scott at the Star City 41.
The ensuing Bulldog drive ended when Towers fumbled at the Lonoke 2, which resulted in a safety for Star City on the next play. The Bulldogs then started at their 49 and turned in another one-minute drive that ended in four plays when Rashod Davis scored from the 2. Drue Harvey ran in the two-point conversion to make it 32-29.
“Second half, you could tell all the scoring drives, we got tired,” Bost said. “Slipping off tackles. We were in the right position, but we just got so doggone tired. Lack of depth — that hurt us in the second half.”
Lonoke’s running game was inconsistent all night and all but stalled late. The Jackrabbits faced third and long at the 16 when Williams, a 5-6, 140-pound receiver, took Scott’s handoff and went left before cutting up the middle on his touchdown run.
“That did it right there,” Bost said. “If we would have had to punt, I had my punter out; Logan’s my punter. I was just praying we would get a first down, and he broke that sucker all the way. For a tenth-grader, that’s big-time for us.”
Dills’ 218 receiving yards led Lonoke as Star City focused on Scott in the first half. Plummer, exploiting lighter coverage, scored on a 47-yard pass from DeWhitt as time expired in the first quarter.
“Dill and Wes Plummer ran a wheel route off of that,” Bost said. “You could tell that everybody was flying to Darius, and that opened it up.
“Darius did a good job of taking that coverage away and opening up other people, and Dill found the holes. Real pleased with that.”
DeWhitt was 11 of 20 for 238 yards and three touchdowns and one interception while Bryant carried 16 times for 59 yards. Williams’ two runs totaled 91 yards and a score.
Towers completed 9 of 16 passes for 131 yards with four interceptions and rushed 11 times for 102 yards and a touchdown.
SPORTS>>Hawkins hauls in the hardware
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The final game of the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic set a precedent when Cabot senior linebacker Riley Hawkins was named the most valuable player following the Panthers’ 28-14 victory over longtime rival Jacksonville.
It was the first time in two years, or eight games, of the season-opening classic that a defensive player won the honor.
Hawkins led the Panthers with five solo tackles and five assists. One of those assists was a sack on Jacksonville quarterback Logan Perry for a five-yard loss.
But the play that earned the hardware for Hawkins, 6-1, 210 pounds, was when he intercepted Perry’s pass at the Cabot 30 with 6:12 left in the third quarter. Jacksonville was on the move following a Cabot touchdown that extended the Panthers’ lead to 21-6 when Perry looked for standout receiver D’Vone McClure.
Hawkins stepped in front of McClure for the interception and returned it 11 yards to the Cabot 41, which set up the Panthers’ final score eight plays later when Austin Alley sprinted 16 yards around the left side into the end zone.
“It feels awesome,” Hawkins said. “We’ve been busting our butts, working hard this week getting ready. It feels awesome; I can’t explain it, it feels great.”
It was far from a one-man show on the Cabot defense, which got strong performances from junior Chase Boyles, junior Bryson Morris and senior defensive tackle Jared Dumois. But many of Hawkins’ plays came at times when the Red Devils appeared intent on climbing back into the game.
“I just worked my butt off and tried to find the football,” Hawkins said. “Trying to be there on every tackle, just working hard.”
Cabot head coach Mike Malham not always generous with individual praise, was more than happy to compliment Hawkins.
“He started for us last year. He was our second leading tackler behind Spencer Neumann,” Malham said. “He’s really grown and come into his own this year. He’s got his 40 time down to about a 4.6, he’s grown a couple of inches, so we’re expecting big things from him this year.”
There was no dominant performance on the offensive side for Cabot, although senior fullback Spencer Smith had a respectable 16 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown.
It was not quite the night he had in the same game a year ago when he surprised the Jacksonville defense with 22 carries for 110 yards and three touchdowns during the Panthers’ 35-6 blowout at Panther Stadium.
“To tell you the truth, I really didn’t do that great,” Smith said. “I was running high. I could have done a lot better. The offensive line, they were opening up the holes. I need to get better and prepare better.”
Leader sportswriter
The final game of the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic set a precedent when Cabot senior linebacker Riley Hawkins was named the most valuable player following the Panthers’ 28-14 victory over longtime rival Jacksonville.
It was the first time in two years, or eight games, of the season-opening classic that a defensive player won the honor.
Hawkins led the Panthers with five solo tackles and five assists. One of those assists was a sack on Jacksonville quarterback Logan Perry for a five-yard loss.
But the play that earned the hardware for Hawkins, 6-1, 210 pounds, was when he intercepted Perry’s pass at the Cabot 30 with 6:12 left in the third quarter. Jacksonville was on the move following a Cabot touchdown that extended the Panthers’ lead to 21-6 when Perry looked for standout receiver D’Vone McClure.
Hawkins stepped in front of McClure for the interception and returned it 11 yards to the Cabot 41, which set up the Panthers’ final score eight plays later when Austin Alley sprinted 16 yards around the left side into the end zone.
“It feels awesome,” Hawkins said. “We’ve been busting our butts, working hard this week getting ready. It feels awesome; I can’t explain it, it feels great.”
It was far from a one-man show on the Cabot defense, which got strong performances from junior Chase Boyles, junior Bryson Morris and senior defensive tackle Jared Dumois. But many of Hawkins’ plays came at times when the Red Devils appeared intent on climbing back into the game.
“I just worked my butt off and tried to find the football,” Hawkins said. “Trying to be there on every tackle, just working hard.”
Cabot head coach Mike Malham not always generous with individual praise, was more than happy to compliment Hawkins.
“He started for us last year. He was our second leading tackler behind Spencer Neumann,” Malham said. “He’s really grown and come into his own this year. He’s got his 40 time down to about a 4.6, he’s grown a couple of inches, so we’re expecting big things from him this year.”
There was no dominant performance on the offensive side for Cabot, although senior fullback Spencer Smith had a respectable 16 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown.
It was not quite the night he had in the same game a year ago when he surprised the Jacksonville defense with 22 carries for 110 yards and three touchdowns during the Panthers’ 35-6 blowout at Panther Stadium.
“To tell you the truth, I really didn’t do that great,” Smith said. “I was running high. I could have done a lot better. The offensive line, they were opening up the holes. I need to get better and prepare better.”
SPORTS>>Panthers win brawl
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Cabot’s group effort kept the traveling trophy from going anywhere Tuesday night.
The Panthers put a slew of running backs to work in a 28-14 victory over rival Jacksonville in “The Backyard Brawl” at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Four different backs scored touchdowns to help Cabot win the third straight season-opening rivalry game, which this year was part of the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic, and keep the trophy in the Panthers’ possession.
“It’s just good to get off to a 1-0 start,” said Cabot coach Mike Malham, who had 14 new players in the lineup. “With this money young kids, you give them a little confidence. Everybody wants to get off 1-0 and it doesn’t happen so we’re just glad to be 1-0. That was our whole goal for the last six weeks.”
Andre Auseio, Austin Alley, Spencer Smith and Mason James scored for Cabot, and the ball was spread around so much that voting members of the media opted for a defensive player, linebacker Riley Hawkins, as the game’s most valuable player for his 10 tackles and an interception.
Smith led Cabot with 82 yards and Jeremy Berry had 59.
“We’re pretty deep there,” Malham said. “We’re pretty deep there in the backfield.”
Jacksonville had its moments, as when Tirrell Brown, who replaced starting quarterback Logan Perry, hit Jamison Williams over the middle for a 91-yard catch and run for the final touchdown with 6:03 left in the game.
An 84-yard scoring run by the Red Devils’ D’Vone McClure with 2:03 left was erased by a holding penalty.
“The effort was there,” first-year Jacksonville coach Rick Russell said. “The missed assignments and the penalties and things like that, they’re all correctable. I think we’ll have a positive film session tomorrow and make those corrections and go forward and against Benton a week and a half from now I think we’ll be an improved football team.”
Cabot built on a 14-6 halftime lead when Auseio scored on a 5-yard run in the third quarter and Alley ran 16 yards for a touchdown on the Panthers’ next drive to make it 28-6 with 2:24 to go. Hawkins got his interception to set up Alley’s touchdown run.
Cabot took a 14-6 lead after a penalty-plagued first half on touchdown runs by Smith and James while for Jacksonville Perry completed a touchdown pass to Williams.
Cabot scored first on Smith’s 2-yard run that capped an 81-yard, eight-play drive with 11:01 left in the half. Cabot’s Jeremy Berry recovered a fumble after a first-down run by Smith on the possession, which was aided by Jacksonville personal foul and encroachment penalties.
Jacksonville tried to go for it on fourth and 2 at its 28, and the incompletion led to Cabot’s second score on James’ 25-yard run that capped a two-play drive with 8:08 left.
“If you don’t score with them and they get ahead then they can get on cruise control,” Russell said, “and just run those dive and those bellies and those running plays right at you and keep the ball for 5-, 10-, 15-play drives. or 20-play drives even.
“So we felt we had a play that would work and we just didn’t catch it, we didn’t complete it, it was there and we just threw it a little bit behind the receiver.”
Jacksonville got a break on a pass interference call against Cabot’s Logan Spry, who bumped receiver D’Vone McClure, and the Red Devils drove for Perry’s 11-yard touchdown completion to Williams with 2:28 to go. Jared Dumois blocked Xavier Brown’s low extra-point kick.
Leader sports editor
Cabot’s group effort kept the traveling trophy from going anywhere Tuesday night.
The Panthers put a slew of running backs to work in a 28-14 victory over rival Jacksonville in “The Backyard Brawl” at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Four different backs scored touchdowns to help Cabot win the third straight season-opening rivalry game, which this year was part of the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic, and keep the trophy in the Panthers’ possession.
“It’s just good to get off to a 1-0 start,” said Cabot coach Mike Malham, who had 14 new players in the lineup. “With this money young kids, you give them a little confidence. Everybody wants to get off 1-0 and it doesn’t happen so we’re just glad to be 1-0. That was our whole goal for the last six weeks.”
Andre Auseio, Austin Alley, Spencer Smith and Mason James scored for Cabot, and the ball was spread around so much that voting members of the media opted for a defensive player, linebacker Riley Hawkins, as the game’s most valuable player for his 10 tackles and an interception.
Smith led Cabot with 82 yards and Jeremy Berry had 59.
“We’re pretty deep there,” Malham said. “We’re pretty deep there in the backfield.”
Jacksonville had its moments, as when Tirrell Brown, who replaced starting quarterback Logan Perry, hit Jamison Williams over the middle for a 91-yard catch and run for the final touchdown with 6:03 left in the game.
An 84-yard scoring run by the Red Devils’ D’Vone McClure with 2:03 left was erased by a holding penalty.
“The effort was there,” first-year Jacksonville coach Rick Russell said. “The missed assignments and the penalties and things like that, they’re all correctable. I think we’ll have a positive film session tomorrow and make those corrections and go forward and against Benton a week and a half from now I think we’ll be an improved football team.”
Cabot built on a 14-6 halftime lead when Auseio scored on a 5-yard run in the third quarter and Alley ran 16 yards for a touchdown on the Panthers’ next drive to make it 28-6 with 2:24 to go. Hawkins got his interception to set up Alley’s touchdown run.
Cabot took a 14-6 lead after a penalty-plagued first half on touchdown runs by Smith and James while for Jacksonville Perry completed a touchdown pass to Williams.
Cabot scored first on Smith’s 2-yard run that capped an 81-yard, eight-play drive with 11:01 left in the half. Cabot’s Jeremy Berry recovered a fumble after a first-down run by Smith on the possession, which was aided by Jacksonville personal foul and encroachment penalties.
Jacksonville tried to go for it on fourth and 2 at its 28, and the incompletion led to Cabot’s second score on James’ 25-yard run that capped a two-play drive with 8:08 left.
“If you don’t score with them and they get ahead then they can get on cruise control,” Russell said, “and just run those dive and those bellies and those running plays right at you and keep the ball for 5-, 10-, 15-play drives. or 20-play drives even.
“So we felt we had a play that would work and we just didn’t catch it, we didn’t complete it, it was there and we just threw it a little bit behind the receiver.”
Jacksonville got a break on a pass interference call against Cabot’s Logan Spry, who bumped receiver D’Vone McClure, and the Red Devils drove for Perry’s 11-yard touchdown completion to Williams with 2:28 to go. Jared Dumois blocked Xavier Brown’s low extra-point kick.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
EDITORIAL >>Keet blames wife, others
Champagnolle’s Fourth Rule of Politics is that you never raise an issue that might expose your own liability. Jim Keet should have learned the wisdom of the rule last week.
Keet, the business candidate who moved to Arkansas last year to run for governor, had been hammering Gov. Beebe and other Democrats over the misuse of state vehicles, a long-running story developed by the reporters over at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Some officeholders — Beebe not among them — were not paying state or federal income taxes on the perk, as the law clearly requires them to do. Although Beebe doesn’t have a state car, he was supposed to be liable because it happened on his watch. (It also happened on the watch of his predecessor, Mike Huckabee, and others before him, but let’s stick to today’s news.)
A couple of reporters for the same paper, which has spoken highly of the Republican candidate, began to look into Keet’s own tax-paying history insofar as they could under taxpayer privacy laws. It turned out that for three years, Keet had taken a homestead property exemption on his real estate taxes and that he wasn’t entitled to it. He skipped payment of personal property taxes on an airplane that he had registered under a shell corporation in Nevada, and we don’t know if he paid sales or use taxes on the craft as the law requires if it is domiciled in Arkansas. Let us assume that he paid them, although his campaign headquarters says he is through talking about the issue. Keet’s Little Rock restaurant business has been delinquent from time to time in remitting sales tax receipts to the city, which restaurants and hotels are supposed to do each month.
Keet owned up to the mistakes, but he blamed his wife, the county tax assessor, his accountant and his employees. He paid the property taxes for 2006, 2007 and 2008 this summer when the campaign heated up and the county tax assessor alerted him that people were prying.
As a “courtesy,” County Assessor Janet Ward tipped off Keet this summer that people were asking about his taxes, and he was able to get squared away on his delinquent taxes before the newspaper reported on them.
We ought to cut Keet some slack on some of his problems. The county tax assessor mistakenly gave him the homestead exemption on his Chenal Valley house in west Little Rock while he was living in Florida and he didn’t correct the assessor’s mistake. He left it to his wife to handle their personal taxes, and Mrs. Keet said she just misread the line allowing them the homestead exemption for the years that it was not their homestead. She thought the line on the tax statement meant the county had won a lawsuit of some kind and was giving property owners like them a tax cut every year.
But the oversight on his airplane taxes is not so explainable. The county stopped assessing the plane for tax purposes in 2007 after Keet told the assessor that he lived and used the plane in Florida, which meant that he would be paying Florida taxes on the property. But he didn’t pay Florida taxes either. Keet explained that he believed that since he had created a Nevada corporation to own the plane and had registered it in that state, he didn’t have to pay property taxes because some Nevada counties didn’t assess airplanes. But Nevada taxes aircraft the same as Arkansas if the plane is actually there.
Keet said he registered the plane in Nevada because it was “easier” than registering it in Arkansas. What is hard about registering in Arkansas?
There is a cottage industry advising airplane buyers where to buy, sell, register and take delivery of airplanes to avoid property, sales and use taxes. Keet apparently did not understand the technicalities very well.
Taxpayers big and small use every legitimate means to lower their taxes, and we would expect a good businessman like Keet to do it, too. But a good businessman, especially one who is running for governor on those skills, makes sure that he strictly complies with the law because that is what the average taxpayer is expected to do.
And he doesn’t pass off the blame to his wife, accountant or employees.
Keet, the business candidate who moved to Arkansas last year to run for governor, had been hammering Gov. Beebe and other Democrats over the misuse of state vehicles, a long-running story developed by the reporters over at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Some officeholders — Beebe not among them — were not paying state or federal income taxes on the perk, as the law clearly requires them to do. Although Beebe doesn’t have a state car, he was supposed to be liable because it happened on his watch. (It also happened on the watch of his predecessor, Mike Huckabee, and others before him, but let’s stick to today’s news.)
A couple of reporters for the same paper, which has spoken highly of the Republican candidate, began to look into Keet’s own tax-paying history insofar as they could under taxpayer privacy laws. It turned out that for three years, Keet had taken a homestead property exemption on his real estate taxes and that he wasn’t entitled to it. He skipped payment of personal property taxes on an airplane that he had registered under a shell corporation in Nevada, and we don’t know if he paid sales or use taxes on the craft as the law requires if it is domiciled in Arkansas. Let us assume that he paid them, although his campaign headquarters says he is through talking about the issue. Keet’s Little Rock restaurant business has been delinquent from time to time in remitting sales tax receipts to the city, which restaurants and hotels are supposed to do each month.
Keet owned up to the mistakes, but he blamed his wife, the county tax assessor, his accountant and his employees. He paid the property taxes for 2006, 2007 and 2008 this summer when the campaign heated up and the county tax assessor alerted him that people were prying.
As a “courtesy,” County Assessor Janet Ward tipped off Keet this summer that people were asking about his taxes, and he was able to get squared away on his delinquent taxes before the newspaper reported on them.
We ought to cut Keet some slack on some of his problems. The county tax assessor mistakenly gave him the homestead exemption on his Chenal Valley house in west Little Rock while he was living in Florida and he didn’t correct the assessor’s mistake. He left it to his wife to handle their personal taxes, and Mrs. Keet said she just misread the line allowing them the homestead exemption for the years that it was not their homestead. She thought the line on the tax statement meant the county had won a lawsuit of some kind and was giving property owners like them a tax cut every year.
But the oversight on his airplane taxes is not so explainable. The county stopped assessing the plane for tax purposes in 2007 after Keet told the assessor that he lived and used the plane in Florida, which meant that he would be paying Florida taxes on the property. But he didn’t pay Florida taxes either. Keet explained that he believed that since he had created a Nevada corporation to own the plane and had registered it in that state, he didn’t have to pay property taxes because some Nevada counties didn’t assess airplanes. But Nevada taxes aircraft the same as Arkansas if the plane is actually there.
Keet said he registered the plane in Nevada because it was “easier” than registering it in Arkansas. What is hard about registering in Arkansas?
There is a cottage industry advising airplane buyers where to buy, sell, register and take delivery of airplanes to avoid property, sales and use taxes. Keet apparently did not understand the technicalities very well.
Taxpayers big and small use every legitimate means to lower their taxes, and we would expect a good businessman like Keet to do it, too. But a good businessman, especially one who is running for governor on those skills, makes sure that he strictly complies with the law because that is what the average taxpayer is expected to do.
And he doesn’t pass off the blame to his wife, accountant or employees.
TOP STORY > >Lifetime of perseverance
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Hunter Baughman of Cabot, as his name suggests, is an outdoorsman. The 23-year-old can frequently be found in the woods hunting deer or on the lakes practicing for an upcoming fishing tournament.
Baughman was nine months old when he contracted bacterial meningitis. Doctors at Arkansas Children’s Hospital had to amputate both of his legs below the knees, all of his fingers on his left hand and portions of his fingers on his right hand. He spent three months in the hospital and had several surgeries.
He has adapted to his physical challenges. He doesn’t use leg prostheses, because they are uncomfortable and he feels more mobile without them.
He walks on his knees. He learned to keep his balance without having to brace himself with his arms. In public, Baughman prefers to use a manual wheelchair.
Baughman has not let his disabilities deter him from his goal of becoming a professional bass fisherman.
“I can walk. They work, they’re just short,” he said about his legs.
The outdoors has always been a major part of Baughman’s life. On his 16th birthday, his parents, Candace and Irvin Baughman, bought him an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission lifetime hunting and fishing license.
“It’s been well worth it, always will be,” he said.
His parents and both of his grandpas are outdoor enthusiasts.
“I looked up to great-grandpa, “Paw Paw” (Lloyd Keener) with fishing. He fished every day when we went to his house. We were always fishing,” Baughman said.
Keener was from Atkins; he passed away last year at the age of 94.
“I’ve always fished, I just like the sport of it. I grew up crappie fishing. I had a boat before I had a truck,” Baughman said.
He always practices catch and release while fishing.
Baughman began participating in bass-fishing tournaments at just 16. He regularly fishes in FLW and BASS regional tournaments. Last year, Baughman tournament fished for eight months, February to October, in contests around the state and in Missouri, Louisiana and Texas.
“I think I fished close to 200 days,” he said.
To get to the tournaments, Baughman drives his truck with his 20-foot Bass Cat boat in tow. The truck has an automatic transmission and has hand controls for the gas and brake. A remote-controlled wheel-chair lift is installed in the truck bed.
Last year he logged 3,000 miles towing his bass boat behind him.
“When I fish, the wheelchair stays in the truck. It doesn’t go with me,” Baughman said.
He has not modified his boat. A ladder was installed on the boat trailer for Baughman to climb up. Once in the boat, he walks on his knees and gets up to the boat’s seat. He has a boater’s license and has passed boater’s education.
To become a professional angler on tour, Baughman said you have to qualify through regional tournaments and have good sponsors. You have to be consistent to move up to the elite division.
“I’m blessed to have very good sponsors,” he said.
Baughman is sponsored by H2O Sportz and Marine in Sherwood, Dream Catchers Outdoor Adventures, Cabot Jigs, Best Car Wash in Little Rock, Bass 2.0, a bass-fishing website; McSwain Sports Center in North Little Rock and Fin, Feather and Fur in Jacksonville.
During one fishing tournament, Baughman and his cousin Brad Sherrill won $4,500. Baughman won $1,200 in another tournament fishing by himself.
The largest bass Baughman has caught was a 7 pound, 4 ounce largemouth at Lake Dardanelle.
Locally, Baughman fishes at the White River, Pickthorne Lake and Lake Barnett near Floyd. His favorite spot is Lake Hamilton.
Baughman was exposed to deer hunting at a very early age. His mother said she took her son hunting when he was two months old.
“I killed my first deer at 14 with a gun. I’ve hunted for many years before that. I’ve killed at least one deer every year since. I’ve been very fortunate with my hunting,” he said.
Baughman can hunt during the different deer hunting seasons from October through February, because he can use a bow and guns without any modifications.
He used to hunt with a crossbow, and three years ago learned he could use a compound bow.
He will be participating in the annual Heber Springs urban-deer bow hunt, which begins Labor Day and runs through November.
He passed the bow-hunting test to hunt deer anywhere inside the city limits to thin out the deer population.
“I’m excited about the urban hunt in Heber. It will be fun,” Baughman said.
When hunting, he rides his four wheeler to travel from his truck to his deer stand. He climbs up a ladder to a stand 10 to 15 feet above the ground. He hunts alone and has friends who help out if needed.
“I like being in the air to hunt,” Baughman said.
He estimates that he’s shot 25 deer in his lifetime.
Baughman is also an avid dove and duck hunter.
Keeping the hunting dream alive, Baughman belongs to Dream Catcher Outdoor Adventures, an organization based in Russellville that provides hunting opportunities for free to people with disabilities or are terminally ill.
The organization maintains 2,000 acres at four handicap-accessible hunting leases in Pope County. The leases are closed to the public and are exclusively for disabled hunters.
The organization allows people to enjoy the outdoors with fishing trips, hunting trips and bird watching. There are approximately 50 hunters who are members of Dream Catcher.
Baughman was on Dream Catcher’s first hunt. The largest buck Baughman has shot was a 12-point while at Dream Catcher.
He helps its founders Bobby and Cathy Bower with the group’s hunts.
Disabled hunters ride in a truck to a ground-level deer blind. The deer blinds are outfitted with wheelchair ramps.
“It is one-on-one with the hunter. We will sit in the stand with them. Some of these guys may only get to hunt once a year, and to see their excitement, that is what it is all about,” Baughman said.
“To an outdoorsman who used to hunt and fish, overcoming a disability and being outdoors again is a good feeling,” he said.
A farmer in Blackwell is letting the hunting organization hold a dove hunt on his property during Labor Day weekend. The hunt is open for Dream Catcher members and a member of their family. Baughman will bring Payton, his 8-year-old sister.
“Despite your disability, you can still go out and hunt and fish. Don’t let it stop you. There is no reason to. If there is a will, there is a way. I haven’t found anything I couldn’t do,” Baughman said.
“The only reason that I’m alive today and able to do the things I do is because of God and the help from my family,” he said.
Baughman was born in North Little Rock. His family moved to Cabot when he was 15. He graduated in 2005 from Little Rock Christian Academy.
He is studying business management at ASU-Beebe.Baughman will earn an associate’s degree in the fall and plans on getting a bachelor’s degree from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro through classes offered at the ASU-Beebe campus.
Baughman believes his degree will help him when he becomes a professional fisherman.
Leader staff writer
Hunter Baughman of Cabot, as his name suggests, is an outdoorsman. The 23-year-old can frequently be found in the woods hunting deer or on the lakes practicing for an upcoming fishing tournament.
Baughman was nine months old when he contracted bacterial meningitis. Doctors at Arkansas Children’s Hospital had to amputate both of his legs below the knees, all of his fingers on his left hand and portions of his fingers on his right hand. He spent three months in the hospital and had several surgeries.
He has adapted to his physical challenges. He doesn’t use leg prostheses, because they are uncomfortable and he feels more mobile without them.
He walks on his knees. He learned to keep his balance without having to brace himself with his arms. In public, Baughman prefers to use a manual wheelchair.
Baughman has not let his disabilities deter him from his goal of becoming a professional bass fisherman.
“I can walk. They work, they’re just short,” he said about his legs.
The outdoors has always been a major part of Baughman’s life. On his 16th birthday, his parents, Candace and Irvin Baughman, bought him an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission lifetime hunting and fishing license.
“It’s been well worth it, always will be,” he said.
His parents and both of his grandpas are outdoor enthusiasts.
“I looked up to great-grandpa, “Paw Paw” (Lloyd Keener) with fishing. He fished every day when we went to his house. We were always fishing,” Baughman said.
Keener was from Atkins; he passed away last year at the age of 94.
“I’ve always fished, I just like the sport of it. I grew up crappie fishing. I had a boat before I had a truck,” Baughman said.
He always practices catch and release while fishing.
Baughman began participating in bass-fishing tournaments at just 16. He regularly fishes in FLW and BASS regional tournaments. Last year, Baughman tournament fished for eight months, February to October, in contests around the state and in Missouri, Louisiana and Texas.
“I think I fished close to 200 days,” he said.
To get to the tournaments, Baughman drives his truck with his 20-foot Bass Cat boat in tow. The truck has an automatic transmission and has hand controls for the gas and brake. A remote-controlled wheel-chair lift is installed in the truck bed.
Last year he logged 3,000 miles towing his bass boat behind him.
“When I fish, the wheelchair stays in the truck. It doesn’t go with me,” Baughman said.
He has not modified his boat. A ladder was installed on the boat trailer for Baughman to climb up. Once in the boat, he walks on his knees and gets up to the boat’s seat. He has a boater’s license and has passed boater’s education.
To become a professional angler on tour, Baughman said you have to qualify through regional tournaments and have good sponsors. You have to be consistent to move up to the elite division.
“I’m blessed to have very good sponsors,” he said.
Baughman is sponsored by H2O Sportz and Marine in Sherwood, Dream Catchers Outdoor Adventures, Cabot Jigs, Best Car Wash in Little Rock, Bass 2.0, a bass-fishing website; McSwain Sports Center in North Little Rock and Fin, Feather and Fur in Jacksonville.
During one fishing tournament, Baughman and his cousin Brad Sherrill won $4,500. Baughman won $1,200 in another tournament fishing by himself.
The largest bass Baughman has caught was a 7 pound, 4 ounce largemouth at Lake Dardanelle.
Locally, Baughman fishes at the White River, Pickthorne Lake and Lake Barnett near Floyd. His favorite spot is Lake Hamilton.
Baughman was exposed to deer hunting at a very early age. His mother said she took her son hunting when he was two months old.
“I killed my first deer at 14 with a gun. I’ve hunted for many years before that. I’ve killed at least one deer every year since. I’ve been very fortunate with my hunting,” he said.
Baughman can hunt during the different deer hunting seasons from October through February, because he can use a bow and guns without any modifications.
He used to hunt with a crossbow, and three years ago learned he could use a compound bow.
He will be participating in the annual Heber Springs urban-deer bow hunt, which begins Labor Day and runs through November.
He passed the bow-hunting test to hunt deer anywhere inside the city limits to thin out the deer population.
“I’m excited about the urban hunt in Heber. It will be fun,” Baughman said.
When hunting, he rides his four wheeler to travel from his truck to his deer stand. He climbs up a ladder to a stand 10 to 15 feet above the ground. He hunts alone and has friends who help out if needed.
“I like being in the air to hunt,” Baughman said.
He estimates that he’s shot 25 deer in his lifetime.
Baughman is also an avid dove and duck hunter.
Keeping the hunting dream alive, Baughman belongs to Dream Catcher Outdoor Adventures, an organization based in Russellville that provides hunting opportunities for free to people with disabilities or are terminally ill.
The organization maintains 2,000 acres at four handicap-accessible hunting leases in Pope County. The leases are closed to the public and are exclusively for disabled hunters.
The organization allows people to enjoy the outdoors with fishing trips, hunting trips and bird watching. There are approximately 50 hunters who are members of Dream Catcher.
Baughman was on Dream Catcher’s first hunt. The largest buck Baughman has shot was a 12-point while at Dream Catcher.
He helps its founders Bobby and Cathy Bower with the group’s hunts.
Disabled hunters ride in a truck to a ground-level deer blind. The deer blinds are outfitted with wheelchair ramps.
“It is one-on-one with the hunter. We will sit in the stand with them. Some of these guys may only get to hunt once a year, and to see their excitement, that is what it is all about,” Baughman said.
“To an outdoorsman who used to hunt and fish, overcoming a disability and being outdoors again is a good feeling,” he said.
A farmer in Blackwell is letting the hunting organization hold a dove hunt on his property during Labor Day weekend. The hunt is open for Dream Catcher members and a member of their family. Baughman will bring Payton, his 8-year-old sister.
“Despite your disability, you can still go out and hunt and fish. Don’t let it stop you. There is no reason to. If there is a will, there is a way. I haven’t found anything I couldn’t do,” Baughman said.
“The only reason that I’m alive today and able to do the things I do is because of God and the help from my family,” he said.
Baughman was born in North Little Rock. His family moved to Cabot when he was 15. He graduated in 2005 from Little Rock Christian Academy.
He is studying business management at ASU-Beebe.Baughman will earn an associate’s degree in the fall and plans on getting a bachelor’s degree from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro through classes offered at the ASU-Beebe campus.
Baughman believes his degree will help him when he becomes a professional fisherman.
TOP STORY > >Civil War site big draw
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Two new cannons were dedicated on Saturday at Reed’s Bridge Civil War battlefield site on Hwy. 161 in Jacksonville. The replica cannons are located on opposite sides of the Bayou Meto. The cannons were made in Virginia and cost $7,000. They were purchased by the VFW Post 4548 and by the Jacksonville Advertising and Promotion Commission.
The ceremony by the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society had a dozen Civil War re-enactors in military uniforms and women dressed in fashions from the time period. The soldiers shot their guns in salute to the cannons. Ann Hooper, president of the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society, said the Battle of Reed’s Bridge had around 20 cannons during the fight.
“We hope to get more and one (cannon) in the works that fires,” she said.
The dedication leads toward the weekend of Sept. 11 and 12 for the Reed’s Bridge Civil War battle re-enactment. The two-day event commemorates the fight on Aug. 27, 1863 between Union and Confederate soldiers 147 years ago. The Confederates fought with the Union soldiers during their march to Little Rock.
The battlefield site opens to the public starting at 9:30 a.m. Soldiers will hold drills at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 and at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 12. On Sunday, a church service will be held at 10:30 a.m. The re-enactment of the Reed’s Bridge battle will take place at 2 p.m. on both days.
For the first time of the re-enactment, there is a cavalry with eight horses.
There will be excitement as Hooper said there will be cannon fire and explosions. She said the re-enactment is supposed to be educational. The battle will be as authentic as they can recreate it.
Admission and parking is free. Visitors are welcome to walk through the campsite and learn how soldiers lived. They are invited to bring their lawn chairs. Refreshment booths will be set up near the homestead and portable restrooms will be provided.
“We will make them as comfortable as we possibly can. We want them to enjoy it so they’ll come back,” she said.
A Civil War style wedding is set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11 for Karen and Tony Woodruff. Both are Civil War re-enactors from North Little Rock. The couple were married in a private ceremony earlier this year. They are now having the ceremony they can share with family and friends.
The battlefield site closes Saturday at 5:30 p.m. It reopens at 7 p.m. with 1860s period music and a dance held on the parking lot. Cookies, lemonade and punch will be served.
“It is going to be a fun time. It gives the re-enactors time to relax and get acquainted with other re-enactors and the public,” Hooper said about the dance.
Visitors can check out the newly constructed rustic buildings at the battlefield site. Two weeks ago a cabin was completed by Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society members Steve Shore and Mike Kish and with the help of 15 Marines from Little Rock Air Force Base.
For more information about the Reed’s Bridge battle re-enactment, contact Ann Hooper, president of Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society at 501-819-0485 or DannaKay Duggar of the Jacksonville Museum of Military History at 501-241-1943.
Leader staff writer
Two new cannons were dedicated on Saturday at Reed’s Bridge Civil War battlefield site on Hwy. 161 in Jacksonville. The replica cannons are located on opposite sides of the Bayou Meto. The cannons were made in Virginia and cost $7,000. They were purchased by the VFW Post 4548 and by the Jacksonville Advertising and Promotion Commission.
The ceremony by the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society had a dozen Civil War re-enactors in military uniforms and women dressed in fashions from the time period. The soldiers shot their guns in salute to the cannons. Ann Hooper, president of the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society, said the Battle of Reed’s Bridge had around 20 cannons during the fight.
“We hope to get more and one (cannon) in the works that fires,” she said.
The dedication leads toward the weekend of Sept. 11 and 12 for the Reed’s Bridge Civil War battle re-enactment. The two-day event commemorates the fight on Aug. 27, 1863 between Union and Confederate soldiers 147 years ago. The Confederates fought with the Union soldiers during their march to Little Rock.
The battlefield site opens to the public starting at 9:30 a.m. Soldiers will hold drills at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 and at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 12. On Sunday, a church service will be held at 10:30 a.m. The re-enactment of the Reed’s Bridge battle will take place at 2 p.m. on both days.
For the first time of the re-enactment, there is a cavalry with eight horses.
There will be excitement as Hooper said there will be cannon fire and explosions. She said the re-enactment is supposed to be educational. The battle will be as authentic as they can recreate it.
Admission and parking is free. Visitors are welcome to walk through the campsite and learn how soldiers lived. They are invited to bring their lawn chairs. Refreshment booths will be set up near the homestead and portable restrooms will be provided.
“We will make them as comfortable as we possibly can. We want them to enjoy it so they’ll come back,” she said.
A Civil War style wedding is set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11 for Karen and Tony Woodruff. Both are Civil War re-enactors from North Little Rock. The couple were married in a private ceremony earlier this year. They are now having the ceremony they can share with family and friends.
The battlefield site closes Saturday at 5:30 p.m. It reopens at 7 p.m. with 1860s period music and a dance held on the parking lot. Cookies, lemonade and punch will be served.
“It is going to be a fun time. It gives the re-enactors time to relax and get acquainted with other re-enactors and the public,” Hooper said about the dance.
Visitors can check out the newly constructed rustic buildings at the battlefield site. Two weeks ago a cabin was completed by Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society members Steve Shore and Mike Kish and with the help of 15 Marines from Little Rock Air Force Base.
For more information about the Reed’s Bridge battle re-enactment, contact Ann Hooper, president of Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society at 501-819-0485 or DannaKay Duggar of the Jacksonville Museum of Military History at 501-241-1943.
TOP STORY > >Artist’s community was his palette
By ALIYA FELDMAN
Leader editor
The young people wearing red talked and laughed as they waited outside Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Little Rock on Saturday morning, giving an impression that they were entering a wedding.
But tears streamed down the faces of those who sat inside and the dozens more who lined the walls of the hall, leaving little room for guests who were still trying to enter when the service started.
They were there for the funeral of Luke Hunsicker, 29, who died on Aug. 22 from brain cancer. Hunsicker grew up in Sherwood with two brothers, Lee and Lyle; their mother, Elizabeth, and father, Spurgeon, an Air Force veteran.
The 500 people who attended his funeral were touched by Luke’s affability and generous spirit, which made him popular among even the unfriendly.
“In my opinion, he’s not gone,” Luke’s wife Sydney said as she was encircled by friends on the patio at the Rev Room, a Little Rock music venue where Luke’s wake was held.
He was present in the attendees at the funeral, whose lives he affected, she said, and waved her hand toward the people who surrounded her.
Luke had strength and courage that he used for good, she said.
He was an optimist who loved life and communicating with others, which he did through art, music and conversation. Luke was bassist for the popular band American Princes, with whom he toured the country several times until he suffered his first seizure in 2008.
Many traveled to the funeral from out of state to give their condolences, such as Nate Powell of Bloomington, Ind., and Michael Motley of Athens, Ga.
Luke pursued his dream and inspired creativity in his friends. At the wake, Matt Anders, who met Luke while they were attending Parkview High School in Little Rock, described the band he was in with Luke and Mark Lierly of Little Rock a few years ago as “the best time of his life.”
“Music was his passion,” his mother Elizabeth said during a short break she took from hanging photographs of her son to display at the wake while Lee and Spurgeon carried in dozens of pieces of artwork for exhibit.
“He never thought he was good enough,” Liz said of Luke’s opinion of his art, which led him to pursue music more seriously.
The self-portraits in the Rev Room defied his opinion of his art. They revealed a deeply introspective man, who was curious about his own existence and who engraved that curiosity into his work.
One drawing, sketched with yellow and brown pencil, depicted his head ballooned and contorted above a too-thin neck. His eyes bulge with forcefulness, inviting the viewer into the inner world of the artist.
Luke’s eyes in the drawing express a serious wonder that was as much a part of his personality as his sense of humor.
He was happy, as if he knew he didn’t have time to waste, perhaps sensing the short length his life would be. He suffered debilitating headaches in high school that became worse as he got older. A UAMS surgeon removed in December 2008 what he said was a benign tumor. After another seizure in 2009, a second tumor was removed. More tumors appeared.
Photos used in a film at the wake showed a bald Luke smiling and making faces as he lay in bed, a result of chemotherapy treatments he started early this year. Sydney’s aunt Betty Lou Hamlin spoke at the funeral of Luke’s unburdened personality. She challenged attendees to focus on what they learned from the lessons Luke taught by the way he lived. We can choose to be generous with our own ability to love, as Luke was, or isolate ourselves from others, she said.
“One of the things that was most impactful to me was the experience of Luke radiating love to anyone who came into the room,” she said.
“At the same time, he was a man who was able to receive love, to take it in without discounting or pushing it away and quite frankly, I don’t know a lot of people who have enough natural confidence to both give and receive love.”
Even after life, Luke’s body will serve other people. With Sydney’s encouragement, he decided to donate his body to Genesis Medical Education and Research Institute in Memphis to further science.
After Hamlin’s eulogy, Luke’s closest friends left their seats and walked onstage to perform. Many of these friends were members of bands, including American Princes. Those who weren’t musicians paid homage to Luke by joining in on tambourine and contributing backup vocals for a performance of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon.”
They danced to the acoustic guitars, put their arms around each other, smiled and cried as they sang, “I want to celebrate, see the shining in your eyes, because I’m still in love with you, I want to see you dance again.”
Sydney brought the family dog, whom she rescued with Luke, onstage during the group’s rendition of “All You Need Is Love.”
“All you need is Rugs, Rugs, all you need is Rugs,” she sang while holding her dog, demonstrating the sense of humor that bonded the couple in the life they shared until his death.
She had rehearsed the songs with her friends every night since Luke’s death. Many of them told her they had never had so much fun. “It’s not so bad that I got to spend every day of the last two years with the love of my life,” she said at the wake.
Leader editor
The young people wearing red talked and laughed as they waited outside Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Little Rock on Saturday morning, giving an impression that they were entering a wedding.
But tears streamed down the faces of those who sat inside and the dozens more who lined the walls of the hall, leaving little room for guests who were still trying to enter when the service started.
They were there for the funeral of Luke Hunsicker, 29, who died on Aug. 22 from brain cancer. Hunsicker grew up in Sherwood with two brothers, Lee and Lyle; their mother, Elizabeth, and father, Spurgeon, an Air Force veteran.
The 500 people who attended his funeral were touched by Luke’s affability and generous spirit, which made him popular among even the unfriendly.
“In my opinion, he’s not gone,” Luke’s wife Sydney said as she was encircled by friends on the patio at the Rev Room, a Little Rock music venue where Luke’s wake was held.
He was present in the attendees at the funeral, whose lives he affected, she said, and waved her hand toward the people who surrounded her.
Luke had strength and courage that he used for good, she said.
He was an optimist who loved life and communicating with others, which he did through art, music and conversation. Luke was bassist for the popular band American Princes, with whom he toured the country several times until he suffered his first seizure in 2008.
Many traveled to the funeral from out of state to give their condolences, such as Nate Powell of Bloomington, Ind., and Michael Motley of Athens, Ga.
Luke pursued his dream and inspired creativity in his friends. At the wake, Matt Anders, who met Luke while they were attending Parkview High School in Little Rock, described the band he was in with Luke and Mark Lierly of Little Rock a few years ago as “the best time of his life.”
“Music was his passion,” his mother Elizabeth said during a short break she took from hanging photographs of her son to display at the wake while Lee and Spurgeon carried in dozens of pieces of artwork for exhibit.
“He never thought he was good enough,” Liz said of Luke’s opinion of his art, which led him to pursue music more seriously.
The self-portraits in the Rev Room defied his opinion of his art. They revealed a deeply introspective man, who was curious about his own existence and who engraved that curiosity into his work.
One drawing, sketched with yellow and brown pencil, depicted his head ballooned and contorted above a too-thin neck. His eyes bulge with forcefulness, inviting the viewer into the inner world of the artist.
Luke’s eyes in the drawing express a serious wonder that was as much a part of his personality as his sense of humor.
He was happy, as if he knew he didn’t have time to waste, perhaps sensing the short length his life would be. He suffered debilitating headaches in high school that became worse as he got older. A UAMS surgeon removed in December 2008 what he said was a benign tumor. After another seizure in 2009, a second tumor was removed. More tumors appeared.
Photos used in a film at the wake showed a bald Luke smiling and making faces as he lay in bed, a result of chemotherapy treatments he started early this year. Sydney’s aunt Betty Lou Hamlin spoke at the funeral of Luke’s unburdened personality. She challenged attendees to focus on what they learned from the lessons Luke taught by the way he lived. We can choose to be generous with our own ability to love, as Luke was, or isolate ourselves from others, she said.
“One of the things that was most impactful to me was the experience of Luke radiating love to anyone who came into the room,” she said.
“At the same time, he was a man who was able to receive love, to take it in without discounting or pushing it away and quite frankly, I don’t know a lot of people who have enough natural confidence to both give and receive love.”
Even after life, Luke’s body will serve other people. With Sydney’s encouragement, he decided to donate his body to Genesis Medical Education and Research Institute in Memphis to further science.
After Hamlin’s eulogy, Luke’s closest friends left their seats and walked onstage to perform. Many of these friends were members of bands, including American Princes. Those who weren’t musicians paid homage to Luke by joining in on tambourine and contributing backup vocals for a performance of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon.”
They danced to the acoustic guitars, put their arms around each other, smiled and cried as they sang, “I want to celebrate, see the shining in your eyes, because I’m still in love with you, I want to see you dance again.”
Sydney brought the family dog, whom she rescued with Luke, onstage during the group’s rendition of “All You Need Is Love.”
“All you need is Rugs, Rugs, all you need is Rugs,” she sang while holding her dog, demonstrating the sense of humor that bonded the couple in the life they shared until his death.
She had rehearsed the songs with her friends every night since Luke’s death. Many of them told her they had never had so much fun. “It’s not so bad that I got to spend every day of the last two years with the love of my life,” she said at the wake.
TOP STORY > >Candidate runs for First District seat in Congress
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
First District congressional candidate Chad Causey, a Democrat, is in a close race with his Republican opponent, Rick Crawford. Some polls show Crawford is ahead, while Causey insists they’re virtually tied.
Causey, who is 34, told The Leader last week the only polls he pays attention to are those that will open Nov. 2.
Causey, Rep. Marion Berry’s chief of staff, visited at the Small Farm Outreach Wetlands Water Management Center in Lonoke, where Berry was the featured speaker at a luncheon.
Berry is retiring this year.
Causey, who later visited The Leader in Jacksonville, said he’s traveling to all 26 counties in the First District and listening to voters.
“I hear their concerns,” he told The Leader. “They’re worried about their jobs, the economy, budget deficits, the national debt.
“They’re tired of the fighting in Washington,” Causey continued. “Our nation is at a crossroads. We’re $14 trillion in debt. We have the worst economy since the Great Depression.
“We must balance the budget, like everyday Arkansans,” Causey said. “We must create jobs and move toward energy independence. I don’t promise to have all the solutions, but I will work hard.
“No one will take this responsibility more seriously,” he insisted.
Causey was selling cell phones in Jonesboro when he went to work for Berry in 2001 as his driver, he said.
Causey attended law school at Catholic University in Washington while running Berry’s office.
The candidate said he would work to secure funds for military projects in the area if he’s elected in November.
Causey said he helped line up funding for the $10.8 million National Guard armory in Cabot while serving as Berry’s chief of staff.
“I played a role in securing funding for the Cabot readiness center,” said Causey.
The Guard armory on Hwy. 367, which will open next year, will be home to F Company of the 39th Infantry Brigade Support Battalion.
As a top congressional aide, Causey said he also helped arrange funding for the $14.8 million Joint Education Center outside Little Rock Air Force Base. Rep. Vic Snyder, who is also retiring, was the key sponsor of the legislation appropriating $9.8 million for the project.
Jacksonville residents also passed a sales tax that raised an additional $5 million for the center.
Causey said he’s also been active in behalf of Veterans Administration projects and will continue to help the air base if elected.
“I’m committed to supporting the air base,” Causey said.
He denied making personal attacks on Crawford. Causey’s campaign recently questioned Crawford’s Arkansas roots, pointing out that he went to high school in New Hampshire.
Crawford said he went to high school there while his father served in the military.
Causey distanced himself from such attacks. “I never once criticized my opponent for his service or his father’s service to his country,” Causey told The Leader.
He said everyone who served in the military should be saluted. “My grandfather served in World War II. My fiance’s grandfather served in World War II,” Causey said.
Leader executive editor
First District congressional candidate Chad Causey, a Democrat, is in a close race with his Republican opponent, Rick Crawford. Some polls show Crawford is ahead, while Causey insists they’re virtually tied.
Causey, who is 34, told The Leader last week the only polls he pays attention to are those that will open Nov. 2.
Causey, Rep. Marion Berry’s chief of staff, visited at the Small Farm Outreach Wetlands Water Management Center in Lonoke, where Berry was the featured speaker at a luncheon.
Berry is retiring this year.
Causey, who later visited The Leader in Jacksonville, said he’s traveling to all 26 counties in the First District and listening to voters.
“I hear their concerns,” he told The Leader. “They’re worried about their jobs, the economy, budget deficits, the national debt.
“They’re tired of the fighting in Washington,” Causey continued. “Our nation is at a crossroads. We’re $14 trillion in debt. We have the worst economy since the Great Depression.
“We must balance the budget, like everyday Arkansans,” Causey said. “We must create jobs and move toward energy independence. I don’t promise to have all the solutions, but I will work hard.
“No one will take this responsibility more seriously,” he insisted.
Causey was selling cell phones in Jonesboro when he went to work for Berry in 2001 as his driver, he said.
Causey attended law school at Catholic University in Washington while running Berry’s office.
The candidate said he would work to secure funds for military projects in the area if he’s elected in November.
Causey said he helped line up funding for the $10.8 million National Guard armory in Cabot while serving as Berry’s chief of staff.
“I played a role in securing funding for the Cabot readiness center,” said Causey.
The Guard armory on Hwy. 367, which will open next year, will be home to F Company of the 39th Infantry Brigade Support Battalion.
As a top congressional aide, Causey said he also helped arrange funding for the $14.8 million Joint Education Center outside Little Rock Air Force Base. Rep. Vic Snyder, who is also retiring, was the key sponsor of the legislation appropriating $9.8 million for the project.
Jacksonville residents also passed a sales tax that raised an additional $5 million for the center.
Causey said he’s also been active in behalf of Veterans Administration projects and will continue to help the air base if elected.
“I’m committed to supporting the air base,” Causey said.
He denied making personal attacks on Crawford. Causey’s campaign recently questioned Crawford’s Arkansas roots, pointing out that he went to high school in New Hampshire.
Crawford said he went to high school there while his father served in the military.
Causey distanced himself from such attacks. “I never once criticized my opponent for his service or his father’s service to his country,” Causey told The Leader.
He said everyone who served in the military should be saluted. “My grandfather served in World War II. My fiance’s grandfather served in World War II,” Causey said.
Friday, August 27, 2010
SPORTS>>Rich history backs battle
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
It is only the third “Backyard Brawl,” officially.
But the Cabot Panthers and Jacksonville Red Devils go way back. Way, way back.
The two schools separated by nine miles and one county line meet again Tuesday in the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic at 7:30 p.m. in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
“I’ve been associated with this rivalry for 33 years,” said Cabot rivalry for 33 years,” said Cabot coach Mike Malham, who began coaching as an assistant at Jacksonville in 1978 after he graduated Arkansas State.
In those days, Malham said, Jacksonville was the bigger school under coach Bill Reed and in 1978 was on its way to the second of Reed’s third state championships with the Red Devils. Malham said that didn’t seem to impress Cabot in that year’s non-conference matchup, though Jacksonville eventually prevailed.
“That little team at Cabot came over and gave us fits,” Malham said.
Malham, Cabot’s head coach since 1981, noted the rivalry goes back even further than the late 1970s. Before there was a statewide high school playoff system ,many rival schools played each other in the last game of the year on Thanksgiving.
“They came over, boy, the first half it was pretty tough; eventually we won it,” Malham said of the 1978 game. “From what I understood that was the first time Cabot and Jacksonville might have played in several years but in the old days it used to be the Thanksgiving game.”
“Oh yes. You bet,” Jacksonville coach Rick Russell said of the hard-fought games. “It kind of went back and forth the early years.”
The series continued for Malham’s first two years at Cabot when the Panthers and Red Devils were members of the conference that included Conway, Little Rock Central, Little Rock Catholic and Mills. The Red Devils won Reed’s third state championship in 1981.
“Mills was in there and that was back when Mills was pretty dang good with Jacksonville,” Malham said. “But Jacksonville won the state that year at 14-0. The only game Mills lost in the regular season was to Jacksonville, 7-6.”
During the four years the Cabot-Jacksonville series was on hiatus, Cabot won its first state title, in the old AAA classification, in 1983.
The teams reunited in the same conference in 1987 and have played each other ever since, though the game has been a non-conference matchup the past four years.
Cabot is in the 7A/6A-Central as a 7A team this year and Jacksonville is in the 7A/6A-East as a 6A team.
Cabot has established itself as a perennial playoff and state championship contender, playing for the AAAAA championship in 1999 and winning it in 2000. The Panthers fell on hard times with just one victory in 2005, but have steadily regained their status since, winning at least a share of the conference championship the past two years and reaching the state semifinals last season.
Jacksonville’s success has been spotty recently, though the Red Devils aren’t far removed from their seven-victory season and conference championship in 2006. Jacksonville won six games in 2008 before slipping to 2-8 last year.
Russell, though in his first year, is no stranger to the Jacksonville program. He joined the Red Devils as an assistant, coaching defensive ends, linebackers and tight ends, in 1995 and was only away from the program last year, when he was across town as North Pulaski’s head coach.
Cabot won the first two Backyard Brawls by a combined score of 76-21 and Russell said the shift in the balance of power is directly related to shifts in the city’s populations.
There was a time when Jacksonville had two junior high schools, and two teams, to feed into the varsity program. Now Jacksonville has one feeder school but two high schools competing for talent while thanks to its rapid growth Cabot has Junior High North and South to draw from.
“So it’s been kind of one-sided since then,” Russell said. “I think we won two times in those last 10 years. They’ve got it going.
They’ve got the athletes, the feeder schools going the right way.”
TICKETS
There are still tickets available for Backyard Brawl III, the season opener between Jacksonville and Cabot at War Memorial Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Tickets are $7 and can be purchased at the Jacksonville football fieldhouse until 10 a.m. today. They will be on sale at the
Jacksonville High School office until noon Monday.
For information or to purchase tickets call Jacksonville athletic director Jerry Wilson at (501) 425-7370.
Leader sports editor
It is only the third “Backyard Brawl,” officially.
But the Cabot Panthers and Jacksonville Red Devils go way back. Way, way back.
The two schools separated by nine miles and one county line meet again Tuesday in the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic at 7:30 p.m. in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
“I’ve been associated with this rivalry for 33 years,” said Cabot rivalry for 33 years,” said Cabot coach Mike Malham, who began coaching as an assistant at Jacksonville in 1978 after he graduated Arkansas State.
In those days, Malham said, Jacksonville was the bigger school under coach Bill Reed and in 1978 was on its way to the second of Reed’s third state championships with the Red Devils. Malham said that didn’t seem to impress Cabot in that year’s non-conference matchup, though Jacksonville eventually prevailed.
“That little team at Cabot came over and gave us fits,” Malham said.
Malham, Cabot’s head coach since 1981, noted the rivalry goes back even further than the late 1970s. Before there was a statewide high school playoff system ,many rival schools played each other in the last game of the year on Thanksgiving.
“They came over, boy, the first half it was pretty tough; eventually we won it,” Malham said of the 1978 game. “From what I understood that was the first time Cabot and Jacksonville might have played in several years but in the old days it used to be the Thanksgiving game.”
“Oh yes. You bet,” Jacksonville coach Rick Russell said of the hard-fought games. “It kind of went back and forth the early years.”
The series continued for Malham’s first two years at Cabot when the Panthers and Red Devils were members of the conference that included Conway, Little Rock Central, Little Rock Catholic and Mills. The Red Devils won Reed’s third state championship in 1981.
“Mills was in there and that was back when Mills was pretty dang good with Jacksonville,” Malham said. “But Jacksonville won the state that year at 14-0. The only game Mills lost in the regular season was to Jacksonville, 7-6.”
During the four years the Cabot-Jacksonville series was on hiatus, Cabot won its first state title, in the old AAA classification, in 1983.
The teams reunited in the same conference in 1987 and have played each other ever since, though the game has been a non-conference matchup the past four years.
Cabot is in the 7A/6A-Central as a 7A team this year and Jacksonville is in the 7A/6A-East as a 6A team.
Cabot has established itself as a perennial playoff and state championship contender, playing for the AAAAA championship in 1999 and winning it in 2000. The Panthers fell on hard times with just one victory in 2005, but have steadily regained their status since, winning at least a share of the conference championship the past two years and reaching the state semifinals last season.
Jacksonville’s success has been spotty recently, though the Red Devils aren’t far removed from their seven-victory season and conference championship in 2006. Jacksonville won six games in 2008 before slipping to 2-8 last year.
Russell, though in his first year, is no stranger to the Jacksonville program. He joined the Red Devils as an assistant, coaching defensive ends, linebackers and tight ends, in 1995 and was only away from the program last year, when he was across town as North Pulaski’s head coach.
Cabot won the first two Backyard Brawls by a combined score of 76-21 and Russell said the shift in the balance of power is directly related to shifts in the city’s populations.
There was a time when Jacksonville had two junior high schools, and two teams, to feed into the varsity program. Now Jacksonville has one feeder school but two high schools competing for talent while thanks to its rapid growth Cabot has Junior High North and South to draw from.
“So it’s been kind of one-sided since then,” Russell said. “I think we won two times in those last 10 years. They’ve got it going.
They’ve got the athletes, the feeder schools going the right way.”
TICKETS
There are still tickets available for Backyard Brawl III, the season opener between Jacksonville and Cabot at War Memorial Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Tickets are $7 and can be purchased at the Jacksonville football fieldhouse until 10 a.m. today. They will be on sale at the
Jacksonville High School office until noon Monday.
For information or to purchase tickets call Jacksonville athletic director Jerry Wilson at (501) 425-7370.
SPORTS>>Rivalry relocates to newly renovated War Memorial
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
They’re taking the neighborhood game out of the neighborhood.
The third Backyard Brawl between Cabot and Jacksonville kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium on Tuesday.
It will be the last event of the four-game Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic held at the stadium on Monday and Tuesday and will mark the third time Cabot and Jacksonville have opened the season against each other under the Backyard Brawl banner.
Coaches, athletic directors, players and cheerleaders from each team gathered to discuss the game with the media at a press conference at the First Arkansas Bank and Trust building in Jacksonville on Friday morning.
“We’re excited about a neutral site this time,” bank CEO and press conference host Larry Wilson said.
“War Memorial Stadium is a big stage, a big game on a big night,” new Jacksonville coach Rick Russell said.
Cabot coach Mike Malham noted that, while the Backyard Brawl and its traveling rophy are recent developments, the series between the two schools goes back years, with each team holding the upper hand at different times.
“It’s been a big rivalry for a long time,” Malham said. “It’s been a tough game on the field but when it’s over there’s no hard feelings. It’s a friendly rivalry.”
Since the Brawl was established, it has been all Cabot. The Panthers won last year’s game at Cabot 35-6 and took the previous meeting 41-15 at Jacksonville in a game delayed two days because of bad weather caused by Hurricane Gustav.
This year’s weather has taken a turn for the better recently, as temperatures over 110 degrees have dropped into the low 90s and high 80s. But Russell said Cabot still had the potential to unleash a storm on an unprepared team.
“They seem like they’re always in the right place,” Russell said of the Panthers’ 5-2 defense, and then he addressed Cabot’s hard-nosed Dead T running game. “They supposedly have just four or five plays but they run those four or five plays to perfection.”
“I think he’s at six plays now,” Wilson joked.
Jacksonville will have a mostly new playbook as it moves away from the Spread offense it used under Mark Whatley toward a more run-oriented scheme.
It fact, it is expected to be a night of debuts for both teams.
Russell, Jacksonville’s long-time assistant coach who was most recently defensive coordinator, is back as head coach after one year running the show at North Pulaski.
Malham will introduce 13 new starters, including quarterback Zach Craig, and noted Jacksonville has about that many starters coming back.
“So the tables are turned a little bit,” he said.
War Memorial Stadium will break in its newly remodeled pressbox and try out its new playing surface during the Kickoff Classic slate.
While Malham noted that Cabot and Jacksonville used to do battle in the same conference, the Backyard Brawl has been a non-conference affair. Cabot plays in the 7A/6A-Central as a 7A team this year and Jacksonville is one of the 6A members in the 7A/6A-East.
Cabot won the most important share of the championship in the former 7A-Central last year, finishing 9-1 and earning the top seed to the state playoffs. The Panthers reached the 7A semifinals before losing at home to Springdale Har-Ber on a late touchdown pass.
Jacksonville was 2-8 under Whatley while playing in the former 6A-East. Whatley left to join the staff at Springdale High School and the Red Devils brought in Russell.
The new coach made no predictions for Tuesday but said his players should be in good shape after practicing in the intense summer heat and called for 48 minutes of total execution.
“With good habits good things can happen,” Russell said.
Malham worried about Jacksonville’s new formations and wrinkles and said the only thing his team could do was try to play as mistake-free as possible.
“Both teams want to go 1-0;I guess it could end in a tie,” Malham said. “We’re going to try to be the team that’s 1-0 and Jacksonville is going try to be that team that’s 1-0.”
Leader sports editor
They’re taking the neighborhood game out of the neighborhood.
The third Backyard Brawl between Cabot and Jacksonville kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium on Tuesday.
It will be the last event of the four-game Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic held at the stadium on Monday and Tuesday and will mark the third time Cabot and Jacksonville have opened the season against each other under the Backyard Brawl banner.
Coaches, athletic directors, players and cheerleaders from each team gathered to discuss the game with the media at a press conference at the First Arkansas Bank and Trust building in Jacksonville on Friday morning.
“We’re excited about a neutral site this time,” bank CEO and press conference host Larry Wilson said.
“War Memorial Stadium is a big stage, a big game on a big night,” new Jacksonville coach Rick Russell said.
Cabot coach Mike Malham noted that, while the Backyard Brawl and its traveling rophy are recent developments, the series between the two schools goes back years, with each team holding the upper hand at different times.
“It’s been a big rivalry for a long time,” Malham said. “It’s been a tough game on the field but when it’s over there’s no hard feelings. It’s a friendly rivalry.”
Since the Brawl was established, it has been all Cabot. The Panthers won last year’s game at Cabot 35-6 and took the previous meeting 41-15 at Jacksonville in a game delayed two days because of bad weather caused by Hurricane Gustav.
This year’s weather has taken a turn for the better recently, as temperatures over 110 degrees have dropped into the low 90s and high 80s. But Russell said Cabot still had the potential to unleash a storm on an unprepared team.
“They seem like they’re always in the right place,” Russell said of the Panthers’ 5-2 defense, and then he addressed Cabot’s hard-nosed Dead T running game. “They supposedly have just four or five plays but they run those four or five plays to perfection.”
“I think he’s at six plays now,” Wilson joked.
Jacksonville will have a mostly new playbook as it moves away from the Spread offense it used under Mark Whatley toward a more run-oriented scheme.
It fact, it is expected to be a night of debuts for both teams.
Russell, Jacksonville’s long-time assistant coach who was most recently defensive coordinator, is back as head coach after one year running the show at North Pulaski.
Malham will introduce 13 new starters, including quarterback Zach Craig, and noted Jacksonville has about that many starters coming back.
“So the tables are turned a little bit,” he said.
War Memorial Stadium will break in its newly remodeled pressbox and try out its new playing surface during the Kickoff Classic slate.
While Malham noted that Cabot and Jacksonville used to do battle in the same conference, the Backyard Brawl has been a non-conference affair. Cabot plays in the 7A/6A-Central as a 7A team this year and Jacksonville is one of the 6A members in the 7A/6A-East.
Cabot won the most important share of the championship in the former 7A-Central last year, finishing 9-1 and earning the top seed to the state playoffs. The Panthers reached the 7A semifinals before losing at home to Springdale Har-Ber on a late touchdown pass.
Jacksonville was 2-8 under Whatley while playing in the former 6A-East. Whatley left to join the staff at Springdale High School and the Red Devils brought in Russell.
The new coach made no predictions for Tuesday but said his players should be in good shape after practicing in the intense summer heat and called for 48 minutes of total execution.
“With good habits good things can happen,” Russell said.
Malham worried about Jacksonville’s new formations and wrinkles and said the only thing his team could do was try to play as mistake-free as possible.
“Both teams want to go 1-0;I guess it could end in a tie,” Malham said. “We’re going to try to be the team that’s 1-0 and Jacksonville is going try to be that team that’s 1-0.”
SPORTS>>’Rabbits realigning quickly
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Doug Bost hopes the minor disappointment following Lonoke’s scrimmage game against Oak Grove last Monday does not escalate into major disappointment this week.
And the shuffle to prevent further disappointment has been ongoing at the practice field and in the film room as Bost prepares his Jackrabbits for the season opener against a fleet Star City team. Lonoke meets Star City in the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic at
Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Golden Lion Stadium at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
Senior quarterback Ty Towers leads Stary City from the Spread formation, although he played primarily as a junior. Towers who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds, is a crafty option quarterback and s not the only speed demon in the Bulldogs’ backfield.
Senior running backs Demetri Goins and Hosia Rochell each rushed for over 1,000 yards in their junior season, and are both listed with 4.6 times in the 40.
“Looking at our schedule, this could very well be the best team we play all season,” Bost said. “They went to the second round of the playoffs last year, and have eight starters back on defense, and six on offense. They are a very veteran team.”
Question marks linger following Lonoke’s scrimmage against Oak Grove. Bost said he was pleased with Keli Bryant’s ball carrying and senior quarterback Logan DeWhitt’s passing.
But the offense turned the ball over three times, and the defense gave up over 300 yards to the Hornets during the brief encounter.
“We’ve got to have a good week of practice,” Bost said, admitting the scrimmage was disappointing. “But to be fair to the kids, we only had one day to get ready for those guys. The rest of the time, we lined up against the look we will see from Star City.
“But, I mean, three fumbles — turnovers — you can’t beat anybody if you’re turning the ball over like that.”
Changes are under way on defense. Personnel will be moved around on the line and in the linebackers group. Of the linebackers, junior T.J. Scott is still in place, while the other spots are under further review.
The senior-led secondary is the only part of the defense that will not undergo further experimentation.
The linebacker situation will be key against a Bulldogs’ offense that runs more like a wishbone team while lining up shotgun.
“They run out of the spread, and that’s about 90 percent of what they try to do,” Bost said. “They go for a lot of option and speed sweeps. We can’t let anyone outside, and that’s what they’re going to try and do. We have to concentrate on holding them.”
The Jackrabbits’ offense came away with one score in the scrimmage, but moved the ball through the air and on the ground.
Senior quarterback Logan DeWhitt spread the ball equally among receivers.
Leader sportswriter
Doug Bost hopes the minor disappointment following Lonoke’s scrimmage game against Oak Grove last Monday does not escalate into major disappointment this week.
And the shuffle to prevent further disappointment has been ongoing at the practice field and in the film room as Bost prepares his Jackrabbits for the season opener against a fleet Star City team. Lonoke meets Star City in the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic at
Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Golden Lion Stadium at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
Senior quarterback Ty Towers leads Stary City from the Spread formation, although he played primarily as a junior. Towers who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds, is a crafty option quarterback and s not the only speed demon in the Bulldogs’ backfield.
Senior running backs Demetri Goins and Hosia Rochell each rushed for over 1,000 yards in their junior season, and are both listed with 4.6 times in the 40.
“Looking at our schedule, this could very well be the best team we play all season,” Bost said. “They went to the second round of the playoffs last year, and have eight starters back on defense, and six on offense. They are a very veteran team.”
Question marks linger following Lonoke’s scrimmage against Oak Grove. Bost said he was pleased with Keli Bryant’s ball carrying and senior quarterback Logan DeWhitt’s passing.
But the offense turned the ball over three times, and the defense gave up over 300 yards to the Hornets during the brief encounter.
“We’ve got to have a good week of practice,” Bost said, admitting the scrimmage was disappointing. “But to be fair to the kids, we only had one day to get ready for those guys. The rest of the time, we lined up against the look we will see from Star City.
“But, I mean, three fumbles — turnovers — you can’t beat anybody if you’re turning the ball over like that.”
Changes are under way on defense. Personnel will be moved around on the line and in the linebackers group. Of the linebackers, junior T.J. Scott is still in place, while the other spots are under further review.
The senior-led secondary is the only part of the defense that will not undergo further experimentation.
The linebacker situation will be key against a Bulldogs’ offense that runs more like a wishbone team while lining up shotgun.
“They run out of the spread, and that’s about 90 percent of what they try to do,” Bost said. “They go for a lot of option and speed sweeps. We can’t let anyone outside, and that’s what they’re going to try and do. We have to concentrate on holding them.”
The Jackrabbits’ offense came away with one score in the scrimmage, but moved the ball through the air and on the ground.
Senior quarterback Logan DeWhitt spread the ball equally among receivers.
SPORTS>>Bears’ season begins Monday
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
All young teams have to grow up in a hurry once football season starts.
Sylvan Hills has to grow up a little more quickly than most.
The Bears open the year against Vilonia at 5 p.m. on Monday at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium. The game is part of the four-game slate played over two days that comprises the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic.
Sylvan Hills and Vilonia get the honor, by a half-hour, of opening the season. Lonoke plays Star City at 5:30 p.m. in Pine Bluff as part of the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic.
“It shows well on what we’ve done here for us to be asked to kick the season off,” Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow said. “Just for them to ask us, I think it shows we’ve been good over the years; we’ve had here. We’re normally a playoff-caliber team.”
The Bears reached the 5A state playoffs last season despite dropping their first five games. They finished furiously, winning four of their final five and beating Beebe in the season finale to qualify for the postseason.
But the Bears have had to find a new quarterback and rebuild their linebacker corps.
“It’s like any first game, you’re not sure,” Withrow said. “What’s tough on us is we’re dealing with a lot of guys who aren’t very experienced. In a normal year you would have liked a few extra days to practice.”
If it were a playoff game, Withrow said, he might be working his players out over the weekend. As it is, he was planning to have the Bears in pads scrimmaging the last three days of the work week, with generous film study of Vilonia thrown in, and then to give his players the weekend off.
The team will have a walk-through at War Memorial on Monday. A chance to practice at the stadium on Thursday was lost because there was still preparation work under way on the new playing surface, which will debut along with a remodeled, modernized pressbox Monday.
“I’m pointing towards getting ready for the conference,” Withrow said. “It’s a first game but I think that War Memorial walk-through, I don’t know if it will hurt us or help us but I think by then we’ll have a pretty good idea where we’re going.”
Withrow pointed out that, unlike a playoff situation, he has known for several months who it is the Bears would be playing and has plenty of time to get ready.
“We’ve been kind of planning on it for about a month,” he said. “We’ve gone with some film on them from last year that we could dig up and just called around and tried to hear some things from some people and did some scouting.”
Since high schools games are traditionally played on Friday nights, Monday’s games — Pulaski Academy plays Central Arkansas Christian at 7:30 p.m. — fall at an especially odd time in the week. However, the schedule is also a sign of the changing times, with the changes driven partially by the electronic media.
The season-opening classics are tailor-made television and radio showcases, and last year Arkansas high school games were broadcast regularly for the first time on commercial television, normally on Thursday nights.
Nonetheless, Withrow said he is looking forward to getting back to the traditional, Friday game-week schedule and welcomes the extra time after Monday’s game to shift back to that.
The Bears will have this Friday off while most of the state’s high school teams begin the season.
“I’m going to look at the positive of it,” Withrow said. “We’re going to get to play a game and then we’re going to get to turn around and break it down and then build on it and then put together a game plan for the next one, which will be Little Rock Christian.”
As for Vilonia, Withrow is most concerned about the Eagles’ Double-Slot offense with its veer options and sweeps. Vilonia also lines up in the Shotgun and runs the Spread, and is led by an experienced quarterback in Drew Knowles and has an Arkansas recruit in fullback James Sax.
“The defense looks strong as well,” Withrow said and gave the credit to Vilonia coach Jim Stanley. “Coach Stanley has been coaching a long time and his teams are always physically strong and physically tough.”
Sylvan Hills, meanwhile, will debut a new quarterback in Michael Maddox and four new starters at linebacker. Withrow said the players have prepared as hard as they can, and what remains to be seen is how they respond to real competition in a high-profile environment.
“If it doesn’t go our way it won’t be because of preparation or practice,” Withrow said.
Leader sports editor
All young teams have to grow up in a hurry once football season starts.
Sylvan Hills has to grow up a little more quickly than most.
The Bears open the year against Vilonia at 5 p.m. on Monday at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium. The game is part of the four-game slate played over two days that comprises the Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic.
Sylvan Hills and Vilonia get the honor, by a half-hour, of opening the season. Lonoke plays Star City at 5:30 p.m. in Pine Bluff as part of the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic.
“It shows well on what we’ve done here for us to be asked to kick the season off,” Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow said. “Just for them to ask us, I think it shows we’ve been good over the years; we’ve had here. We’re normally a playoff-caliber team.”
The Bears reached the 5A state playoffs last season despite dropping their first five games. They finished furiously, winning four of their final five and beating Beebe in the season finale to qualify for the postseason.
But the Bears have had to find a new quarterback and rebuild their linebacker corps.
“It’s like any first game, you’re not sure,” Withrow said. “What’s tough on us is we’re dealing with a lot of guys who aren’t very experienced. In a normal year you would have liked a few extra days to practice.”
If it were a playoff game, Withrow said, he might be working his players out over the weekend. As it is, he was planning to have the Bears in pads scrimmaging the last three days of the work week, with generous film study of Vilonia thrown in, and then to give his players the weekend off.
The team will have a walk-through at War Memorial on Monday. A chance to practice at the stadium on Thursday was lost because there was still preparation work under way on the new playing surface, which will debut along with a remodeled, modernized pressbox Monday.
“I’m pointing towards getting ready for the conference,” Withrow said. “It’s a first game but I think that War Memorial walk-through, I don’t know if it will hurt us or help us but I think by then we’ll have a pretty good idea where we’re going.”
Withrow pointed out that, unlike a playoff situation, he has known for several months who it is the Bears would be playing and has plenty of time to get ready.
“We’ve been kind of planning on it for about a month,” he said. “We’ve gone with some film on them from last year that we could dig up and just called around and tried to hear some things from some people and did some scouting.”
Since high schools games are traditionally played on Friday nights, Monday’s games — Pulaski Academy plays Central Arkansas Christian at 7:30 p.m. — fall at an especially odd time in the week. However, the schedule is also a sign of the changing times, with the changes driven partially by the electronic media.
The season-opening classics are tailor-made television and radio showcases, and last year Arkansas high school games were broadcast regularly for the first time on commercial television, normally on Thursday nights.
Nonetheless, Withrow said he is looking forward to getting back to the traditional, Friday game-week schedule and welcomes the extra time after Monday’s game to shift back to that.
The Bears will have this Friday off while most of the state’s high school teams begin the season.
“I’m going to look at the positive of it,” Withrow said. “We’re going to get to play a game and then we’re going to get to turn around and break it down and then build on it and then put together a game plan for the next one, which will be Little Rock Christian.”
As for Vilonia, Withrow is most concerned about the Eagles’ Double-Slot offense with its veer options and sweeps. Vilonia also lines up in the Shotgun and runs the Spread, and is led by an experienced quarterback in Drew Knowles and has an Arkansas recruit in fullback James Sax.
“The defense looks strong as well,” Withrow said and gave the credit to Vilonia coach Jim Stanley. “Coach Stanley has been coaching a long time and his teams are always physically strong and physically tough.”
Sylvan Hills, meanwhile, will debut a new quarterback in Michael Maddox and four new starters at linebacker. Withrow said the players have prepared as hard as they can, and what remains to be seen is how they respond to real competition in a high-profile environment.
“If it doesn’t go our way it won’t be because of preparation or practice,” Withrow said.
SPORTS>>Badgers, Wildcats roll
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Trumann defenders desperately chasing down Beebe ball carriers turned into a common sight at First Security Stadium in Searcy on Tuesday night.
It all started with the junior Badgers team scoring on four of its first five plays against the Wildcats’ defense to open the three-team, round-robin scrimmage, and carried over once the varsity boys hit the field two hours later.
Host Harding Academy also had its share of easy triumphs against an outclassed Trumann squad, but the Spread passing attack of the Wildcats versus the Dead-T power run of the Badgers provided an even matchup.
“We wanted to see that spread stuff, because we’re going to see some of it throughout the season,” Beebe coach John Shannon said. “The first time Harding Academy had the ball, I thought our defense did a great job. They picked up a couple of first downs, but we didn’t give up any big plays.”
The Badgers did not rely on one individual ball carrier in their three offensive series. Senior halfback Colby Taylor and senior quarterback Scot Gowen were the only two players to break free on long scores, but juniors Jay Holdway and Brandon Fuller also had their share of significant gains.
“We were trying different things,” Shannon said, “trying to get different people the ball. The biggest disappointment was we had a couple of turnovers that we can’t afford to have.
“Hopefully we got that out of our system before we start for real next week.”
Taylor broke free on the third play of Beebe’s first 15-play offensive segment against Trumann and ran 55 yards for a score, and Gowen broke free five plays later for a 60-yard touchdown scramble.
Taylor also broke a long run against Harding Academy, the only big play given up by the Wildcats’ defense the entire night.
“Offensively, we were pretty much up and down the field,” Shannon said. “We hurt ourselves the first time we had the ball with two turnovers. We’ve got to get that fixed, but I was pleased with our effort and I thought we executed pretty well considering it was the first we had gone against someone live other than ourselves.”
Beebe’s defense held Harding Academy to 25 yards in the Wildcats’ first 15-play segment. The Wildcats converted two first downs, but suffered a number of motion and holding penalties.
But the second series, an eight-play goal-line drive for each team, exposed a soft spot in Beebe’s red-zone pass coverage.
Harding Academy scored on five of those eight plays, which was enough to get Shannon’s attention.
“They were doing some stuff that we really hadn’t worked on,” Shannon said. “That’s some stuff we’ve got to get fixed before we play against Greenbrier, because Greenbrier is going to do the same kind of stuff to us. We had guys in position who just didn’t make plays.”
Shannon deemed the scrimmage a success and was pleased with the offense, with the exception of a pair of early turnovers, but he also said there is still some work to be done on defense.
“Until I see the film, it’s going to be hard to say,” Shannon said. “I could tell we missed a few blocks and blocking assignments, but I thought we came off the ball real well from an offensive line standpoint. I thought we ran the ball real well; we just need to learn how to hang on to the ball.”
It was the Wildcats fans’ first chance to see senior all-state quarterback Seth Keese in action, but it was not much of a chance. Keese played sparingly, taking only a few snaps on offense while he played safety for half of Harding Academy’s defensive segments.
Sophomore Will Francis took the majority of the snaps and junior all-purpose player Jay Bona also got some work behind center.
The Wildcats had some difficulty sustaining long drives mostly because of penalties, but were stout defensively against
Trumann’s and Beebe’s running games.
Leader sportswriter
Trumann defenders desperately chasing down Beebe ball carriers turned into a common sight at First Security Stadium in Searcy on Tuesday night.
It all started with the junior Badgers team scoring on four of its first five plays against the Wildcats’ defense to open the three-team, round-robin scrimmage, and carried over once the varsity boys hit the field two hours later.
Host Harding Academy also had its share of easy triumphs against an outclassed Trumann squad, but the Spread passing attack of the Wildcats versus the Dead-T power run of the Badgers provided an even matchup.
“We wanted to see that spread stuff, because we’re going to see some of it throughout the season,” Beebe coach John Shannon said. “The first time Harding Academy had the ball, I thought our defense did a great job. They picked up a couple of first downs, but we didn’t give up any big plays.”
The Badgers did not rely on one individual ball carrier in their three offensive series. Senior halfback Colby Taylor and senior quarterback Scot Gowen were the only two players to break free on long scores, but juniors Jay Holdway and Brandon Fuller also had their share of significant gains.
“We were trying different things,” Shannon said, “trying to get different people the ball. The biggest disappointment was we had a couple of turnovers that we can’t afford to have.
“Hopefully we got that out of our system before we start for real next week.”
Taylor broke free on the third play of Beebe’s first 15-play offensive segment against Trumann and ran 55 yards for a score, and Gowen broke free five plays later for a 60-yard touchdown scramble.
Taylor also broke a long run against Harding Academy, the only big play given up by the Wildcats’ defense the entire night.
“Offensively, we were pretty much up and down the field,” Shannon said. “We hurt ourselves the first time we had the ball with two turnovers. We’ve got to get that fixed, but I was pleased with our effort and I thought we executed pretty well considering it was the first we had gone against someone live other than ourselves.”
Beebe’s defense held Harding Academy to 25 yards in the Wildcats’ first 15-play segment. The Wildcats converted two first downs, but suffered a number of motion and holding penalties.
But the second series, an eight-play goal-line drive for each team, exposed a soft spot in Beebe’s red-zone pass coverage.
Harding Academy scored on five of those eight plays, which was enough to get Shannon’s attention.
“They were doing some stuff that we really hadn’t worked on,” Shannon said. “That’s some stuff we’ve got to get fixed before we play against Greenbrier, because Greenbrier is going to do the same kind of stuff to us. We had guys in position who just didn’t make plays.”
Shannon deemed the scrimmage a success and was pleased with the offense, with the exception of a pair of early turnovers, but he also said there is still some work to be done on defense.
“Until I see the film, it’s going to be hard to say,” Shannon said. “I could tell we missed a few blocks and blocking assignments, but I thought we came off the ball real well from an offensive line standpoint. I thought we ran the ball real well; we just need to learn how to hang on to the ball.”
It was the Wildcats fans’ first chance to see senior all-state quarterback Seth Keese in action, but it was not much of a chance. Keese played sparingly, taking only a few snaps on offense while he played safety for half of Harding Academy’s defensive segments.
Sophomore Will Francis took the majority of the snaps and junior all-purpose player Jay Bona also got some work behind center.
The Wildcats had some difficulty sustaining long drives mostly because of penalties, but were stout defensively against
Trumann’s and Beebe’s running games.
EDITORIAL >>Boozman’s national tax
Rep. John Boozman’s campaign for the U.S. Senate rests on three giant advantages. He is not Blanche Lincoln. He is a Republican in a year when people everywhere have shifted blame for the nation’s ills from George W. Bush and 10 years of Republican domination of Congress to the Democrats. Third, hardly anyone outside his home district, and not too many there, has a clue about what he stands for.
The third is Boozman’s most redeeming grace, but the only one of the advantages that he conceivably could lose by election day. Sen. Lincoln cannot change her party or do much about her own record except to emphasize the better things she has done for the working people of Arkansas and talk less about her deeds for the rich and privileged interests.
This week, Lincoln made a good stab at illuminating Boozman’s philosophy, if it can be called that, and at giving people a peek at what he might do if he is their senator. She observed that he was a sponsor of the so-called Fair Tax, the plan to shift a huge part of the tax burden in the United States from corporations and the rich to the middle class. It would eliminate corporate and individual income taxes, taxes on rich inheritances, payroll taxes and self-employment taxes and replace them with a 30 percent national sales tax on every commodity or service that anyone buys. The 30 percent tax rate is a conservative estimate because it assumes that the tax would not create a massive black market or cause tax evasion on a giant scale. If those things happened, the tax rate would have to be adjusted upward until it produced the same amount of federal revenues that all the abolished taxes now produce.
The sponsors like to promote one small part of the plan. People would get a small regular check from Uncle Sam representing the amount of sales taxes that a person living at the poverty level would need to pay on their basic living expenses.
The sweetly named Fair Tax has been around for two decades, but those who have yearned to slip corporate taxes and progressive tax rates on the wealthy have only been able to land a few backers in Congress, even among conservative Republicans. John Boozman, however, signed on.
But when Lincoln raised the issue this week and said it showed whom Boozman would represent if he goes to the Senate, the congressman said he was merely a sponsor of the bill. He said he would not necessarily actually vote to do those things.
The implication is that he sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives merely to please the interests pushing the sweeping overhaul of taxes — sort of like Lincoln when she once signed on as a sponsor of the bill to improve employees’ chances of having a union bargain for them. But Boozman also implied that he might vote for his bill if it should ever reach a vote in the Senate. We are just left to guess.
His own voting record offers a clue to what he would do. He has voted for every proposal in the House of Representatives since 2001 to lower taxes on corporations and high personal incomes and inheritances and against every proposal to close tax loopholes for corporations that seek to escape their share of taxes through offshore tax havens or other devices. That went over big in his native Washington and Benton counties, home of some of the nation’s richest companies and owners. Lincoln voted the same way for a couple of years, although by 2004, she had come to her senses after seeing the burgeoning deficits and debt caused by the tax favors and large spending commitments of President Bush and the Republican Congress. She can claim only a modest amount of virtue, which is hard to sell in a political campaign.
But the Fair Tax is about as telling an issue as you can find. Lincoln’s problem is that she seems only superficially knowledgeable about what the thing would do to the people of Arkansas and thus she is incapable of exploiting it like she should.
For example, she repeated the sponsors’ description of it as a “23 percent sales tax.” Twenty-three percent sounds pretty horrible, but the creators of the scheme fashioned a way to make the tax rate look as low as they could. If you looked at the national sales tax in the same way everyone in the country knows the sales tax, it would be a minimum of 30 percent.
It is tricky and the authors — maybe Boozman, too, but we can’t say for sure — count on its being too baffling for voters to understand.
The sales tax that the states would be expected to collect and remit to Washington would be 23 percent of the final price of a good or service: your groceries, your new car and your dentist and doctor bills. That is where the 23 percent comes in. But a sales tax is calculated in a different way. If an item costs $100 in Arkansas, the buyer pays $6 extra on that $100 item for a final price of $106. Using the Fair Tax prescription, the current Arkansas sales tax would be a tax of only 5.6 percent since the $6 of taxes is 5.6 percent of $106.
To produce the equivalent revenue of the other federal taxes, the national sales tax rate would have to be 30 percent, although the tax would be only 23 percent of the after-tax price of the product.
A hidden tax of that magnitude would produce such enormous distortions that we would have an unstoppable underground economy of black-market sales and services. So the tax rate would have to be adjusted upward to meet current and future levels of expenditures for everything from war to Social Security and Medicare. It would be up to the state government to enforce and collect the tax. No state government wants that burden. The state Revenue Department would need an army of auditors and agents and they still couldn’t enforce it.
But all of that is a small price to pay for BP, Gold-man Sachs, Citibank, Walmart and all the rest to keep and distribute their profits tax-free from now on. They say that is the future. We’ll be helping insure it in November.
The third is Boozman’s most redeeming grace, but the only one of the advantages that he conceivably could lose by election day. Sen. Lincoln cannot change her party or do much about her own record except to emphasize the better things she has done for the working people of Arkansas and talk less about her deeds for the rich and privileged interests.
This week, Lincoln made a good stab at illuminating Boozman’s philosophy, if it can be called that, and at giving people a peek at what he might do if he is their senator. She observed that he was a sponsor of the so-called Fair Tax, the plan to shift a huge part of the tax burden in the United States from corporations and the rich to the middle class. It would eliminate corporate and individual income taxes, taxes on rich inheritances, payroll taxes and self-employment taxes and replace them with a 30 percent national sales tax on every commodity or service that anyone buys. The 30 percent tax rate is a conservative estimate because it assumes that the tax would not create a massive black market or cause tax evasion on a giant scale. If those things happened, the tax rate would have to be adjusted upward until it produced the same amount of federal revenues that all the abolished taxes now produce.
The sponsors like to promote one small part of the plan. People would get a small regular check from Uncle Sam representing the amount of sales taxes that a person living at the poverty level would need to pay on their basic living expenses.
The sweetly named Fair Tax has been around for two decades, but those who have yearned to slip corporate taxes and progressive tax rates on the wealthy have only been able to land a few backers in Congress, even among conservative Republicans. John Boozman, however, signed on.
But when Lincoln raised the issue this week and said it showed whom Boozman would represent if he goes to the Senate, the congressman said he was merely a sponsor of the bill. He said he would not necessarily actually vote to do those things.
The implication is that he sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives merely to please the interests pushing the sweeping overhaul of taxes — sort of like Lincoln when she once signed on as a sponsor of the bill to improve employees’ chances of having a union bargain for them. But Boozman also implied that he might vote for his bill if it should ever reach a vote in the Senate. We are just left to guess.
His own voting record offers a clue to what he would do. He has voted for every proposal in the House of Representatives since 2001 to lower taxes on corporations and high personal incomes and inheritances and against every proposal to close tax loopholes for corporations that seek to escape their share of taxes through offshore tax havens or other devices. That went over big in his native Washington and Benton counties, home of some of the nation’s richest companies and owners. Lincoln voted the same way for a couple of years, although by 2004, she had come to her senses after seeing the burgeoning deficits and debt caused by the tax favors and large spending commitments of President Bush and the Republican Congress. She can claim only a modest amount of virtue, which is hard to sell in a political campaign.
But the Fair Tax is about as telling an issue as you can find. Lincoln’s problem is that she seems only superficially knowledgeable about what the thing would do to the people of Arkansas and thus she is incapable of exploiting it like she should.
For example, she repeated the sponsors’ description of it as a “23 percent sales tax.” Twenty-three percent sounds pretty horrible, but the creators of the scheme fashioned a way to make the tax rate look as low as they could. If you looked at the national sales tax in the same way everyone in the country knows the sales tax, it would be a minimum of 30 percent.
It is tricky and the authors — maybe Boozman, too, but we can’t say for sure — count on its being too baffling for voters to understand.
The sales tax that the states would be expected to collect and remit to Washington would be 23 percent of the final price of a good or service: your groceries, your new car and your dentist and doctor bills. That is where the 23 percent comes in. But a sales tax is calculated in a different way. If an item costs $100 in Arkansas, the buyer pays $6 extra on that $100 item for a final price of $106. Using the Fair Tax prescription, the current Arkansas sales tax would be a tax of only 5.6 percent since the $6 of taxes is 5.6 percent of $106.
To produce the equivalent revenue of the other federal taxes, the national sales tax rate would have to be 30 percent, although the tax would be only 23 percent of the after-tax price of the product.
A hidden tax of that magnitude would produce such enormous distortions that we would have an unstoppable underground economy of black-market sales and services. So the tax rate would have to be adjusted upward to meet current and future levels of expenditures for everything from war to Social Security and Medicare. It would be up to the state government to enforce and collect the tax. No state government wants that burden. The state Revenue Department would need an army of auditors and agents and they still couldn’t enforce it.
But all of that is a small price to pay for BP, Gold-man Sachs, Citibank, Walmart and all the rest to keep and distribute their profits tax-free from now on. They say that is the future. We’ll be helping insure it in November.
TOP STORY > >Lucky the Pig returns to owners
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Lucky the Pig is back home this week at the Bar-B-Que Shack in Jacksonville after the cherished statue was released by “pignappers.”
Approximately $2,500 in ransom donations was raised. All the money is going to the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation for research and awareness.
Late last week, the captors dropped Lucky off at the front door of city hall after being taken away for two months.
Saturday, a parade of 25 motorcycles thundered through Jacksonville. They led Lucky, who was atop a fire truck, to Arkansas Outdoor Power Equipment, on South Hwy. 161, where the business was having its 10-year anniversary celebration.
Lucky was then reunited with Gary and Pat Green, owners of the Bar-B-Que Shack. Patrick Thomas, owner of Arkansas Outdoor Power Equipment, was an “investigator” during the heist. When Lucky was returned last week he asked police to cease the search for the “pignappers.” The captors remain unknown, but Lucky was unharmed.
“I just delivered it to the rightful owners,” Mayor Gary Fletcher said.
Escorting Lucky during the parade were Jacksonville Fire Captain Dewey Coy, Pat Green, her sister, Georgia Lewis of north Pulaski County, and Diane Counts of Little Rock. Lewis and Counts are both battling an aggressive breast cancer known as triple negative.
The statue was a gift Lewis gave Green back in 1997.
Lewis has finished seven rounds of chemotherapy, the last was on Aug. 11. She starts radiation at the end of the month. She said the search for Lucky has been therapeutic.
“We are thrilled to have Lucky back. He has gone beyond the call of duty to help us in endeavors for triple-negative research.
We can’t get money for research without awareness,” Lewis said.
Counts, who rode with Lucky in the parade, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36. She finished a year of treatment for breast cancer. Then 10 weeks later, cancer came back. It is in her chest wall, liver and in the lymph nodes of her chest.
“We need to find out what is fueling this cancer. Our prognosis is poor. Our treatment is chemotherapy and radiation,” Counts said.
While Lucky was held captive, Thomas created a website for Lucky fans to follow where the “pigknappers” had taken the statue.
Lucky was photographed at several Jacksonville and Cabot businesses. Lucky traveled to Little Rock, Hot Springs and up to Fayetteville.
Thomas said Lucky will be involved with future fundraising efforts for breast-cancer research.
“We’re not done, Lucky is going to retire for a short time,” he said.
Thomas said, “This is going be something annual, every year with a parade,” he said.
He believed this was one of Jacksonville’s first parades supporting cancer research.
Leader staff writer
Lucky the Pig is back home this week at the Bar-B-Que Shack in Jacksonville after the cherished statue was released by “pignappers.”
Approximately $2,500 in ransom donations was raised. All the money is going to the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation for research and awareness.
Late last week, the captors dropped Lucky off at the front door of city hall after being taken away for two months.
Saturday, a parade of 25 motorcycles thundered through Jacksonville. They led Lucky, who was atop a fire truck, to Arkansas Outdoor Power Equipment, on South Hwy. 161, where the business was having its 10-year anniversary celebration.
Lucky was then reunited with Gary and Pat Green, owners of the Bar-B-Que Shack. Patrick Thomas, owner of Arkansas Outdoor Power Equipment, was an “investigator” during the heist. When Lucky was returned last week he asked police to cease the search for the “pignappers.” The captors remain unknown, but Lucky was unharmed.
“I just delivered it to the rightful owners,” Mayor Gary Fletcher said.
Escorting Lucky during the parade were Jacksonville Fire Captain Dewey Coy, Pat Green, her sister, Georgia Lewis of north Pulaski County, and Diane Counts of Little Rock. Lewis and Counts are both battling an aggressive breast cancer known as triple negative.
The statue was a gift Lewis gave Green back in 1997.
Lewis has finished seven rounds of chemotherapy, the last was on Aug. 11. She starts radiation at the end of the month. She said the search for Lucky has been therapeutic.
“We are thrilled to have Lucky back. He has gone beyond the call of duty to help us in endeavors for triple-negative research.
We can’t get money for research without awareness,” Lewis said.
Counts, who rode with Lucky in the parade, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36. She finished a year of treatment for breast cancer. Then 10 weeks later, cancer came back. It is in her chest wall, liver and in the lymph nodes of her chest.
“We need to find out what is fueling this cancer. Our prognosis is poor. Our treatment is chemotherapy and radiation,” Counts said.
While Lucky was held captive, Thomas created a website for Lucky fans to follow where the “pigknappers” had taken the statue.
Lucky was photographed at several Jacksonville and Cabot businesses. Lucky traveled to Little Rock, Hot Springs and up to Fayetteville.
Thomas said Lucky will be involved with future fundraising efforts for breast-cancer research.
“We’re not done, Lucky is going to retire for a short time,” he said.
Thomas said, “This is going be something annual, every year with a parade,” he said.
He believed this was one of Jacksonville’s first parades supporting cancer research.
TOP STORY > >Start times still in flux after ruling
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The only things certain in the Pulaski County Special School District are that starting Sept. 13, all elementary schools will have shorter days and through the first nine weeks, all schools will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., no matter the bell times.
Deb Roush, spokeswoman for the PCSSD, said at this point the district couldn’t say for certain that it would be returning to last year’s bell schedule. “We are taking into consideration parent concerns, traffic-safety issues and our transportation capabilities in our efforts to reset bell schedules.”
About two weeks before the start of school, the district decided to change the bell schedule, having elementary schools start at 7:30 a.m. and secondary start at 8:30 a.m.
At the same time, the district extended the elementary school day by 40 minutes to give teachers planning time within the instructional day.
Just before the district and the union were due in court Wednesday on that issue, the parties worked out an agreement that the elementary-student day would be six hours and 45 minutes long and that teachers would have 45 minutes of planning time before or after the student day.
The changes would go into effect no later than Sept. 13.
The agreement did not address the bell schedule at all.
Many parents voiced concern over the bell changes and teachers balked at the extended hours, and the union filed a lawsuit stating the extended time violated the teachers’ contract.
The district, responding to parent outrage, readjusted the bell schedule just days before the start of school, moving secondary to a 7:30 a.m. start time and the elementary schools to 8:30. Most elementary schools started at 8 a.m. last year.
In the meantime, the board called for a teacher vote to decide whether it should recognize the union, which it wasn’t doing, or continue to develop a personnel policy committee to act in behalf of the teachers and staff.
The extended hours were part of the policies and ideas coming with the policy committee’s plan.
But the teachers voted overwhelmingly to keep the union, meaning the teachers were working under their old contracts and made the extended day illegal.
“We are looking at a number of possibilities on the schedule,” Roush said. “The only thing I can say for certain at this time is that we know many parents have made arrangements under the current bell schedule, and we know it might be a hardship to make more changes, so we will keep the school buildings open from 7:30 to 4:30, (the hours that they are currently open) for the rest of this quarter.”
The quarter ends about the middle of October.
In a letter to parents on more than a week ago, five days before the agreement on the length of the school day, the superintendent, Dr. Charles Hopson, said, “While I know I can never please everyone with decisions I make as an instructional leader and superintendent, I want to be responsive as possible to the schools where traffic and other extenuating factors are creating extreme hardships.”
He said he had visited a number of schools and talked to parents who were “extremely elated about the new schedule and others who shared hardships” with him.
Hopson said he would also look at options with the district’s transportation department.
“Our limitation with our current transportation system is that the same bus and driver transport both the secondary and elementary students, and the window for our bell schedule is determined by the roughly 700 square miles the drivers must cover to get all students to school on time.”
Hopson added, “Our current model for the academic school year in this country is, for the most part, an agricultural model with the shortest school day and year of any industrialized country in the world.”
The superintendent said the White House is holding districts more accountable.
He closed his letter by saying, “We are about to embark on a journey as a learning community to reach our promise as a district in which failure is not an option. Our students cannot wait.”
Leader staff writer
The only things certain in the Pulaski County Special School District are that starting Sept. 13, all elementary schools will have shorter days and through the first nine weeks, all schools will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., no matter the bell times.
Deb Roush, spokeswoman for the PCSSD, said at this point the district couldn’t say for certain that it would be returning to last year’s bell schedule. “We are taking into consideration parent concerns, traffic-safety issues and our transportation capabilities in our efforts to reset bell schedules.”
About two weeks before the start of school, the district decided to change the bell schedule, having elementary schools start at 7:30 a.m. and secondary start at 8:30 a.m.
At the same time, the district extended the elementary school day by 40 minutes to give teachers planning time within the instructional day.
Just before the district and the union were due in court Wednesday on that issue, the parties worked out an agreement that the elementary-student day would be six hours and 45 minutes long and that teachers would have 45 minutes of planning time before or after the student day.
The changes would go into effect no later than Sept. 13.
The agreement did not address the bell schedule at all.
Many parents voiced concern over the bell changes and teachers balked at the extended hours, and the union filed a lawsuit stating the extended time violated the teachers’ contract.
The district, responding to parent outrage, readjusted the bell schedule just days before the start of school, moving secondary to a 7:30 a.m. start time and the elementary schools to 8:30. Most elementary schools started at 8 a.m. last year.
In the meantime, the board called for a teacher vote to decide whether it should recognize the union, which it wasn’t doing, or continue to develop a personnel policy committee to act in behalf of the teachers and staff.
The extended hours were part of the policies and ideas coming with the policy committee’s plan.
But the teachers voted overwhelmingly to keep the union, meaning the teachers were working under their old contracts and made the extended day illegal.
“We are looking at a number of possibilities on the schedule,” Roush said. “The only thing I can say for certain at this time is that we know many parents have made arrangements under the current bell schedule, and we know it might be a hardship to make more changes, so we will keep the school buildings open from 7:30 to 4:30, (the hours that they are currently open) for the rest of this quarter.”
The quarter ends about the middle of October.
In a letter to parents on more than a week ago, five days before the agreement on the length of the school day, the superintendent, Dr. Charles Hopson, said, “While I know I can never please everyone with decisions I make as an instructional leader and superintendent, I want to be responsive as possible to the schools where traffic and other extenuating factors are creating extreme hardships.”
He said he had visited a number of schools and talked to parents who were “extremely elated about the new schedule and others who shared hardships” with him.
Hopson said he would also look at options with the district’s transportation department.
“Our limitation with our current transportation system is that the same bus and driver transport both the secondary and elementary students, and the window for our bell schedule is determined by the roughly 700 square miles the drivers must cover to get all students to school on time.”
Hopson added, “Our current model for the academic school year in this country is, for the most part, an agricultural model with the shortest school day and year of any industrialized country in the world.”
The superintendent said the White House is holding districts more accountable.
He closed his letter by saying, “We are about to embark on a journey as a learning community to reach our promise as a district in which failure is not an option. Our students cannot wait.”
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
EDITORIAL >>Board does Impossible
The Pulaski County Special School District has done the impossible—it has managed to generate sympathy and widespread support for the strident, take-no-prisoners teachers’ union.
Time and again the board, or at least a four-member majority, has tried to terminate recognition of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers as the negotiating agent for the teachers. They have illegally booted the union and tried to replace it with an improperly constituted personnel-policy committee. Judge Tim Fox has called the district for this—more than once—because the board insists on proceeding as if Fox hadn’t said anything.
The board has attempted to replace the union with a hastily assembled “professional negotiations agreement”—teachers’ contract for short—with a set of personnel policies.
The negotiators for the district and the teachers reached a tentative agreement, ratified by the teachers Dec. 6, but on Dec. 8 the board surprised the teachers, voting the proposed contract down and declining further discussions.
Soon thereafter, the board voted, illegally it turns out, to cease recognition of the union as negotiator for the teachers.
Many of the reasons the board wants to get rid of PACT are personal—board member Charlie Wood doesn’t like unions and says he will never vote for a teacher contract longer than five pages. Tim Clark, who was elected with the support of the union, finally switched sides when he interpreted ill-chosen words by Emry Chesterfield, president not of PACT, but of the Pulaski Association of Support Staff—mostly bus drivers—as a threat against his family.
But the rationale for the board’s anti-union antics has been its assertion that PACT doesn’t represent most of the teachers.
Well, last Wednesday, the board got a real wakeup call on that one.
That was the day teachers rejected board-approved proposed changes to a personnel policy by a vote of 1,140 to 221.
Despite a $1,100 bonus “inducement,” 84 percent of those teachers who voted turned thumbs down on the policy, and by implication, the personnel-policy committee itself.
Even Wood now admits the obvious. Like it or not, PACT does represent the majority—vast majority—of district teachers.
It’s good the board and the union resumed full negotiations for a new contract on Tuesday. Currently the 2006-2009 contract remains in effect through the end of this new school year.
With Wood and fellow board member Danny Gililland up for re-election Sept. 21, the entire complexion of the board, which currently has an immutable 4-3 majority in opposition to union rule, will likely change if either loses.
Wood is challenged by former teacher and PACT member Gloria Lawrence, Gililland by Tom Stuthard, who is married to a Sylvan Hills math teacher.
PACT has endorsed Lawrence and Stuthard, contributing $2,000 to the campaign of each and union members will volunteer on the phones and knock on doors.
The crisis de jour facing the district is the new school-day schedule—that’s “bell-schedule” that new Superintendent Charles Hopson has implemented by fiat.
Apparently everyone has a dog in this hunt.
Hopson says it’s an education matter, and with his purview, he says it will allow more classroom time, planning time for teachers during the school day, and make PCSSD students more competitive academically.
Many agitated parents—stirred up by the union—say it is inconvenient and makes the school day too long. And PACT, predictably, says the bell schedule is part of the union contract and can’t be changed without negotiation.
At first, the bell-schedule change was for elementary schools. It would have started the day earlier for those students (and teachers) and parents complained it would leave their youngsters standing in the dark awaiting the bus.
Hopson reversed course on that, leaving elementary schools on the old schedule, but starting secondary schools earlier, leaving everyone unhappy, leaving most of us to wonder: Are the children learning?
A group of parents, led by activist Dawn Jackson, has petitioned the board for a special meeting on the bell schedule.
Jackson’s group says the bell schedule is a policy matter, something for the board to decide.
And of course the teachers, who don’t want their school day lengthened nor any challenge to the union contract, say the bell schedule can’t be changed without their approval.
Hopson has written an open letter to district patrons saying that the decision was and is his, as an educational matter.
While his outreach is impressive and unprecedented in this district, it’s not going to satisfy either the teachers or the parents represented by Jackson.
Time and again the board, or at least a four-member majority, has tried to terminate recognition of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers as the negotiating agent for the teachers. They have illegally booted the union and tried to replace it with an improperly constituted personnel-policy committee. Judge Tim Fox has called the district for this—more than once—because the board insists on proceeding as if Fox hadn’t said anything.
The board has attempted to replace the union with a hastily assembled “professional negotiations agreement”—teachers’ contract for short—with a set of personnel policies.
The negotiators for the district and the teachers reached a tentative agreement, ratified by the teachers Dec. 6, but on Dec. 8 the board surprised the teachers, voting the proposed contract down and declining further discussions.
Soon thereafter, the board voted, illegally it turns out, to cease recognition of the union as negotiator for the teachers.
Many of the reasons the board wants to get rid of PACT are personal—board member Charlie Wood doesn’t like unions and says he will never vote for a teacher contract longer than five pages. Tim Clark, who was elected with the support of the union, finally switched sides when he interpreted ill-chosen words by Emry Chesterfield, president not of PACT, but of the Pulaski Association of Support Staff—mostly bus drivers—as a threat against his family.
But the rationale for the board’s anti-union antics has been its assertion that PACT doesn’t represent most of the teachers.
Well, last Wednesday, the board got a real wakeup call on that one.
That was the day teachers rejected board-approved proposed changes to a personnel policy by a vote of 1,140 to 221.
Despite a $1,100 bonus “inducement,” 84 percent of those teachers who voted turned thumbs down on the policy, and by implication, the personnel-policy committee itself.
Even Wood now admits the obvious. Like it or not, PACT does represent the majority—vast majority—of district teachers.
It’s good the board and the union resumed full negotiations for a new contract on Tuesday. Currently the 2006-2009 contract remains in effect through the end of this new school year.
With Wood and fellow board member Danny Gililland up for re-election Sept. 21, the entire complexion of the board, which currently has an immutable 4-3 majority in opposition to union rule, will likely change if either loses.
Wood is challenged by former teacher and PACT member Gloria Lawrence, Gililland by Tom Stuthard, who is married to a Sylvan Hills math teacher.
PACT has endorsed Lawrence and Stuthard, contributing $2,000 to the campaign of each and union members will volunteer on the phones and knock on doors.
The crisis de jour facing the district is the new school-day schedule—that’s “bell-schedule” that new Superintendent Charles Hopson has implemented by fiat.
Apparently everyone has a dog in this hunt.
Hopson says it’s an education matter, and with his purview, he says it will allow more classroom time, planning time for teachers during the school day, and make PCSSD students more competitive academically.
Many agitated parents—stirred up by the union—say it is inconvenient and makes the school day too long. And PACT, predictably, says the bell schedule is part of the union contract and can’t be changed without negotiation.
At first, the bell-schedule change was for elementary schools. It would have started the day earlier for those students (and teachers) and parents complained it would leave their youngsters standing in the dark awaiting the bus.
Hopson reversed course on that, leaving elementary schools on the old schedule, but starting secondary schools earlier, leaving everyone unhappy, leaving most of us to wonder: Are the children learning?
A group of parents, led by activist Dawn Jackson, has petitioned the board for a special meeting on the bell schedule.
Jackson’s group says the bell schedule is a policy matter, something for the board to decide.
And of course the teachers, who don’t want their school day lengthened nor any challenge to the union contract, say the bell schedule can’t be changed without their approval.
Hopson has written an open letter to district patrons saying that the decision was and is his, as an educational matter.
While his outreach is impressive and unprecedented in this district, it’s not going to satisfy either the teachers or the parents represented by Jackson.
TOP STORY > >Sherwood workers will get $500 bonus
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
All Sherwood employees can expect a bonus check within the next few weeks of up to $500.
The Sherwood City Council, at its Monday meeting, agreed to spend $112,042 from the general fund to provide all employees with a one-time bonus.
The bonus is in lieu of raises the city could not afford in January. “At that time, we said we would look at the budget later in the year,” Mayor Virginia Hillman said, adding that raises are a priority for next year.
Full-time employees who have been with the city for more than 12 months will receive $500, while full-time employees with less than one-year service will receive a pro-rated amount based on their time with the city.
Part-time employees who have worked for the city for at least 1,000 hours will get a $250 bonus.
The one-time bonus doesn’t apply to elected officials.
In other council business:
An ordinance making changes to the city’s property maintenance and nuisance ordinance was read and approved once. An ordinance must be read and approved three times before it becomes law..
The planned changes to the current ordinance focus on stagnant water and vegetation growth.
The ordinance change bans stagnant water. Any foul standing pools of water that is not running or flowing and can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects will be considered stagnant water. It will be the responsibility of the property owner to get rid of stagnant water.
Another change will limit unkempt vegetation growth to less than eight inches and property owners or responsible parties will have five days to clear their lot of overrunning vegetation. Plus, all dead trees must be removed.
Another change allows a code-enforcement officer to enter a property, after the owner has been given written notice of a violation and not corrected the problem in the appropriate time. The officer will be allowed to fix or remove the problem and the expense will be placed in a lien against the property owner.
A new ordinance regulating unkempt yards and properties, focusing on grass and vegetation which was read once in July, was tabled indefinitely.
Alderman Becki Vassar still wants either a new ordinance or the current one reworked to add more teeth to the enforcement.
“Sherwood is too good of a city to have some people not to cut their grass or maintain their yards,” she said.
Vassar would like the city to have increasing fines for repeat offenders. “They need to know that we want them to keep their yards up,” the alderman said.
The council declared the structure at 5939 Round Top a public nuisance meaning that the property owners, Michael and Delores Goshen, have 30 days to tear down the building or bring it up to code. It the property owner does neither, then the city will tear down or remove it.
Police Chief Kel Nicholson briefed the council on the city’s recent drug take-back efforts where the police collected old and unused prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Police collected more than 63,000 pills and more than 10 gallons of liquid medicine.
“Our hopes were to get these medicines away from kids.” He said the Sherwood police would be assisting the DEA in a similar drug collection next month.
About a half-dozen residents were at the council meeting with flooding concerns. Mayor Virginia Hillman said the city was working on the problem and felt it was best if the residents would talk one-on-one with the city engineer, Ellen Norvell, and she would make an on-site visit and then the city would try to fix the problem.
The mayor reminded the council and those attending the meeting that Sherwood Fest was set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 18. A chili cook-off will kickoff Sherwood Fest and it will start at 7 p.m. Sept. 17.
Alderman Butch Davis said Sherwood, for the first time, would have a Veterans Day parade. The parade will be at 2 p.m., Nov. 14 down a portion of Kiehl Avenue.
Leader staff writer
All Sherwood employees can expect a bonus check within the next few weeks of up to $500.
The Sherwood City Council, at its Monday meeting, agreed to spend $112,042 from the general fund to provide all employees with a one-time bonus.
The bonus is in lieu of raises the city could not afford in January. “At that time, we said we would look at the budget later in the year,” Mayor Virginia Hillman said, adding that raises are a priority for next year.
Full-time employees who have been with the city for more than 12 months will receive $500, while full-time employees with less than one-year service will receive a pro-rated amount based on their time with the city.
Part-time employees who have worked for the city for at least 1,000 hours will get a $250 bonus.
The one-time bonus doesn’t apply to elected officials.
In other council business:
An ordinance making changes to the city’s property maintenance and nuisance ordinance was read and approved once. An ordinance must be read and approved three times before it becomes law..
The planned changes to the current ordinance focus on stagnant water and vegetation growth.
The ordinance change bans stagnant water. Any foul standing pools of water that is not running or flowing and can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects will be considered stagnant water. It will be the responsibility of the property owner to get rid of stagnant water.
Another change will limit unkempt vegetation growth to less than eight inches and property owners or responsible parties will have five days to clear their lot of overrunning vegetation. Plus, all dead trees must be removed.
Another change allows a code-enforcement officer to enter a property, after the owner has been given written notice of a violation and not corrected the problem in the appropriate time. The officer will be allowed to fix or remove the problem and the expense will be placed in a lien against the property owner.
A new ordinance regulating unkempt yards and properties, focusing on grass and vegetation which was read once in July, was tabled indefinitely.
Alderman Becki Vassar still wants either a new ordinance or the current one reworked to add more teeth to the enforcement.
“Sherwood is too good of a city to have some people not to cut their grass or maintain their yards,” she said.
Vassar would like the city to have increasing fines for repeat offenders. “They need to know that we want them to keep their yards up,” the alderman said.
The council declared the structure at 5939 Round Top a public nuisance meaning that the property owners, Michael and Delores Goshen, have 30 days to tear down the building or bring it up to code. It the property owner does neither, then the city will tear down or remove it.
Police Chief Kel Nicholson briefed the council on the city’s recent drug take-back efforts where the police collected old and unused prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Police collected more than 63,000 pills and more than 10 gallons of liquid medicine.
“Our hopes were to get these medicines away from kids.” He said the Sherwood police would be assisting the DEA in a similar drug collection next month.
About a half-dozen residents were at the council meeting with flooding concerns. Mayor Virginia Hillman said the city was working on the problem and felt it was best if the residents would talk one-on-one with the city engineer, Ellen Norvell, and she would make an on-site visit and then the city would try to fix the problem.
The mayor reminded the council and those attending the meeting that Sherwood Fest was set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 18. A chili cook-off will kickoff Sherwood Fest and it will start at 7 p.m. Sept. 17.
Alderman Butch Davis said Sherwood, for the first time, would have a Veterans Day parade. The parade will be at 2 p.m., Nov. 14 down a portion of Kiehl Avenue.
TOP STORY > >Water-line work resumes from LR
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Work will resume on two 30-inch water pipes underneath the I-430 bridge in Little Rock that was stopped after three men were killed in April 2008 when the scaffold they were standing on collapsed.
The 40-foot-by-6-foot scaffold that failed will be replaced by one that will run the entire 4,200 feet of the bridge. The Arkansas Highway Department has renewed the permit for the work that is expected to resume in about a month.
The scaffold that fell hung from a cable that ran between the inch-wide crack that separates the two lanes of the bridge. The new scaffolding will be attached to the underneath of the bridge, allowing the workers access to the full length of the bridge at one time.
The large pipes underneath the bridge are part of a $44 million project that will allow Jacksonville, North Pulaski Water Association and Cabot to buy water from Central Arkansas Water at Lake Maumelle and end their dependence on well water.
Blake Weindorf, an engineer with CAW, said Tuesday that he picked up the permit for the pipes underneath the bridge on Aug. 19.
“We contacted the contractor. He’ll be on the ground this Friday and several crews will be starting in mid September,” Weindorf said.
That work (including laying the line, pressure testing it and repairing any damage to the finish on the bridge caused by the construction) should be completed by the end of March 2011, he said and the entire project should be completed on schedule by October 2011.
Oscar Renda Contracting Inc. of Roanoke, Texas, contracted with CAW in 2006 to lay the pipe underneath the bridge for $6.2 million. Weindorf said he doesn’t know how much the new scaffolding will cost, but CAW is paying nothing extra for it.
“I’m sure their profit on this job has been gone,” he said.
The three men who were killed worked for Oscar Renda. The body of one was found caught in the cables of the scaffold when it was raised from the Arkansas River about eight hours after it fell. Heavy rain had caused swift water in the river and the search for the other bodies was called off. A second body was found several months after the accident, but the third was not found.
Leader staff writer
Work will resume on two 30-inch water pipes underneath the I-430 bridge in Little Rock that was stopped after three men were killed in April 2008 when the scaffold they were standing on collapsed.
The 40-foot-by-6-foot scaffold that failed will be replaced by one that will run the entire 4,200 feet of the bridge. The Arkansas Highway Department has renewed the permit for the work that is expected to resume in about a month.
The scaffold that fell hung from a cable that ran between the inch-wide crack that separates the two lanes of the bridge. The new scaffolding will be attached to the underneath of the bridge, allowing the workers access to the full length of the bridge at one time.
The large pipes underneath the bridge are part of a $44 million project that will allow Jacksonville, North Pulaski Water Association and Cabot to buy water from Central Arkansas Water at Lake Maumelle and end their dependence on well water.
Blake Weindorf, an engineer with CAW, said Tuesday that he picked up the permit for the pipes underneath the bridge on Aug. 19.
“We contacted the contractor. He’ll be on the ground this Friday and several crews will be starting in mid September,” Weindorf said.
That work (including laying the line, pressure testing it and repairing any damage to the finish on the bridge caused by the construction) should be completed by the end of March 2011, he said and the entire project should be completed on schedule by October 2011.
Oscar Renda Contracting Inc. of Roanoke, Texas, contracted with CAW in 2006 to lay the pipe underneath the bridge for $6.2 million. Weindorf said he doesn’t know how much the new scaffolding will cost, but CAW is paying nothing extra for it.
“I’m sure their profit on this job has been gone,” he said.
The three men who were killed worked for Oscar Renda. The body of one was found caught in the cables of the scaffold when it was raised from the Arkansas River about eight hours after it fell. Heavy rain had caused swift water in the river and the search for the other bodies was called off. A second body was found several months after the accident, but the third was not found.
TOP STORY > >Two sides in PCSSD negotiate again
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The Pulaski County Special School District and the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers resumed negotiations Tuesday to resolve their differences.
Marty Nix, president of PACT, and board member Danny Gililland, representing the school board, along with the superintendent, Dr. Charles Hopson, along with others negotiated for two hours.
They said progress had been made and the sides appeared closer.
Short of an agreement, there will be a court hearing today in Little Rock to determine PACT’s lawsuit over longer school hours.
The union says the changes to the school day violate its contract. The judge’s ruling in the case may supersede any plans Hopson may come up with.
Deb Roush, a spokeswoman for the PCSSD, said the superintendent would look at traffic flows and hazards, parent concerns and other issues, and may make some changes soon, but more than likely at the end of the semester, unless a court ruling dictates otherwise.
Gililland called the negotiation very productive. “We had a good discussion and spent time getting to know each other and the process and setting ground rules.”
He said one idea that came out of the meeting that Hopson will put into practice is monthly meetings between the PACT team and Hopson and his cabinet. “During the meeting today, we found out that the meetings were held back when Bobby Lester was superintendent, and PACT members said it was very help. Dr. Hopson liked the idea and plans to start the meetings back again.”
“I’m just glad we are moving forward,” said Gililland.
The district, about a week before school, changed the bell schedule from what it had been the last few years to an earlier start time for elementary students (7:30 a.m.) and a later start time for secondary schools (8:30 a.m.). After parents complained loudly, the district reversed itself, making secondary schools start earlier and elementary schools start later.
The district has put together an online survey to help get parents input on the bell schedules. Parents can take the survey at www.pcssd.org.
An attempt Friday night and early this week to possibly change the bell schedule again failed when the PCSSD board could not get enough of its members to attend a hastily called meeting.
Board president Tim Clark of Maumelle said he could get only two more people to agree to meet — Charlie Wood and Gilliland, both of Sherwood.
Clark said he and other school officials have been inundated with complaints from parents after school started Thursday with an earlier starting time than the district used in the 2009-10 school year that ended in the spring.
In a letter to parents on Friday, Hopson, said, “While I know I can never please everyone with decisions I make as an instructional leader and superintendent, I want to be responsive as possible to the schools where traffic and other extenuating factors are creating extreme hardships. I hope all of you realize it is never my intention to make your lives difficult as I seek to position this district to provide a world-class experience for every student.”
He said he had visited a number of schools and talked to parents who were “extremely elated about the new schedule and others who shared hardships” with him.
Hopson said he will also look at options with the district’s transportation department. “Or limitation with our current transportation system is that the same bus and driver transport both the secondary and elementary students, and the window for our bell schedule is determined by the roughly 700 square miles the drivers must cover to get all students to school on time.”
“The question,” he said in the letter, “related to the additional 40 minutes for elementary schools is simply one of aligning our district for federal and state mandates that are looming for either increased instructional minutes during the day or a longer school year.”
Leader staff writer
The Pulaski County Special School District and the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers resumed negotiations Tuesday to resolve their differences.
Marty Nix, president of PACT, and board member Danny Gililland, representing the school board, along with the superintendent, Dr. Charles Hopson, along with others negotiated for two hours.
They said progress had been made and the sides appeared closer.
Short of an agreement, there will be a court hearing today in Little Rock to determine PACT’s lawsuit over longer school hours.
The union says the changes to the school day violate its contract. The judge’s ruling in the case may supersede any plans Hopson may come up with.
Deb Roush, a spokeswoman for the PCSSD, said the superintendent would look at traffic flows and hazards, parent concerns and other issues, and may make some changes soon, but more than likely at the end of the semester, unless a court ruling dictates otherwise.
Gililland called the negotiation very productive. “We had a good discussion and spent time getting to know each other and the process and setting ground rules.”
He said one idea that came out of the meeting that Hopson will put into practice is monthly meetings between the PACT team and Hopson and his cabinet. “During the meeting today, we found out that the meetings were held back when Bobby Lester was superintendent, and PACT members said it was very help. Dr. Hopson liked the idea and plans to start the meetings back again.”
“I’m just glad we are moving forward,” said Gililland.
The district, about a week before school, changed the bell schedule from what it had been the last few years to an earlier start time for elementary students (7:30 a.m.) and a later start time for secondary schools (8:30 a.m.). After parents complained loudly, the district reversed itself, making secondary schools start earlier and elementary schools start later.
The district has put together an online survey to help get parents input on the bell schedules. Parents can take the survey at www.pcssd.org.
An attempt Friday night and early this week to possibly change the bell schedule again failed when the PCSSD board could not get enough of its members to attend a hastily called meeting.
Board president Tim Clark of Maumelle said he could get only two more people to agree to meet — Charlie Wood and Gilliland, both of Sherwood.
Clark said he and other school officials have been inundated with complaints from parents after school started Thursday with an earlier starting time than the district used in the 2009-10 school year that ended in the spring.
In a letter to parents on Friday, Hopson, said, “While I know I can never please everyone with decisions I make as an instructional leader and superintendent, I want to be responsive as possible to the schools where traffic and other extenuating factors are creating extreme hardships. I hope all of you realize it is never my intention to make your lives difficult as I seek to position this district to provide a world-class experience for every student.”
He said he had visited a number of schools and talked to parents who were “extremely elated about the new schedule and others who shared hardships” with him.
Hopson said he will also look at options with the district’s transportation department. “Or limitation with our current transportation system is that the same bus and driver transport both the secondary and elementary students, and the window for our bell schedule is determined by the roughly 700 square miles the drivers must cover to get all students to school on time.”
“The question,” he said in the letter, “related to the additional 40 minutes for elementary schools is simply one of aligning our district for federal and state mandates that are looming for either increased instructional minutes during the day or a longer school year.”
TOP STORY > >Lighthouse plans to build middle and high schools
By GARICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
The headline in Saturday’s Leader: “Cabot schools about to hit 10,000.”
The headline in last Wednesday’s Leader: “Charter school growing,” referring to the Lighthouse Academy in Jacksonville, which has added a seventh grade and has nearly 400 students enrolled in its second year.
While turmoil continues in the Pulaski County Special School District, which can’t even decide when classes should start, the Lighthouse Academy keeps expanding: It has received state approval for a middle school at Little Rock Air Force Base next year, and there are also plans for a high school near the elementary charter school on North First Street.
If this trend continues, Lighthouse — where students are called scholars — might build a new school here every couple of years, much like Cabot, which has benefited from the flight of families from Pulaski County.
Charter school officials told a group of parents and interested residents meeting at the Jacksonville Community Center on Monday that the middle school would have open enrollment, like all charter schools, which would allow nonmilitary kids from all over the area to attend the new school with proper identification.
The base school would be an alternative to Northwood Middle School, which is on the state watch list for not meeting minimum standards. It faces possible closure if it doesn’t improve.
“The Air Force is providing us with a free building, and we’d be crazy not to take it,” said former state Rep. Mike Wilson of Jacksonville, who is leading the drive for the new middle school.
The former officers club, which was set for demolition, would house the new middle school. Costs for the renovation have not yet been determined, but philanthropists like Wilson and others — including the Waltons of Walmart fame, the Fishers of the Gap clothing chain and the Pritzker family of the Hyatt Hotels — have given millions to charter schools.
They are built with private funds but receive state aid, which is $5,876 per student, 30 percent less than the $8,960 for regular public school students.
But since the facilities come from private sources and there’s no busing for students, more money is spent on classroom instruction. Classes are eight hours a day — an hour longer than other schools in Pulaski County, and school stays open a couple of weeks longer.
Phillis Nichols Anderson, Lighthouse Academies vice president for the southern region, said the middle school will probably have about 150 students in grades six through eight, with two classes for each grades.
A lottery would determine who gets into the school if more than 150 students apply, which is likely, since there is a waiting list of some 600 students who want to attend the elementary charter school in Jacksonville.
Anderson, a Lonoke County native, said there’s room for a high school behind or next to the elementary school.
Col. Andy Coggins, commander of the 19th Airlift Wing Mission Support Group, who will oversee the middle school project, said engineers are at the base this week studying ways to make the old officers club into a school.
“The facility is in great shape,” Coggins said. “It will not be just for military families. We’ll bend over backward to make access as easy as possible” for nonmilitary students.
He said, “We’re trying to find more educational opportunities other than Northwood.”
One parent complained, “I feel I have no other choice but to send my child to Northwood. That’s no choice at all.”
She said she hoped her child could attend the new school.
The Lighthouse Academy was the first new public school built in Jacksonville in 30 years. Parents like the new facilities, smaller classrooms and individual attention their children receive.
The school has a simple philosophy. “We believe all children can achieve at high levels,” said principal Ryan Dean. “We prepare all students for college. High expectations get results. We strive for nothing less than excellence.”
There are some two dozen charter schools in Arkansas with nearly 4,000 students, about 1 percent of the public school students in the state. Nationwide, more than 1.5 million children attend charter schools.
The Pulaski County Special School District is slow to release enrollment numbers, but they continue their steep decline.
Changing around the opening bell only days before the new school year has not helped enrollment.
If the trend continues locally, Jacksonville charter schools alone could have more than 1,000 kids in a few years.
The reason for their success?
“We’ve got something special going on,” said vice president Anderson with a smile.
Leader executive editor
The headline in Saturday’s Leader: “Cabot schools about to hit 10,000.”
The headline in last Wednesday’s Leader: “Charter school growing,” referring to the Lighthouse Academy in Jacksonville, which has added a seventh grade and has nearly 400 students enrolled in its second year.
While turmoil continues in the Pulaski County Special School District, which can’t even decide when classes should start, the Lighthouse Academy keeps expanding: It has received state approval for a middle school at Little Rock Air Force Base next year, and there are also plans for a high school near the elementary charter school on North First Street.
If this trend continues, Lighthouse — where students are called scholars — might build a new school here every couple of years, much like Cabot, which has benefited from the flight of families from Pulaski County.
Charter school officials told a group of parents and interested residents meeting at the Jacksonville Community Center on Monday that the middle school would have open enrollment, like all charter schools, which would allow nonmilitary kids from all over the area to attend the new school with proper identification.
The base school would be an alternative to Northwood Middle School, which is on the state watch list for not meeting minimum standards. It faces possible closure if it doesn’t improve.
“The Air Force is providing us with a free building, and we’d be crazy not to take it,” said former state Rep. Mike Wilson of Jacksonville, who is leading the drive for the new middle school.
The former officers club, which was set for demolition, would house the new middle school. Costs for the renovation have not yet been determined, but philanthropists like Wilson and others — including the Waltons of Walmart fame, the Fishers of the Gap clothing chain and the Pritzker family of the Hyatt Hotels — have given millions to charter schools.
They are built with private funds but receive state aid, which is $5,876 per student, 30 percent less than the $8,960 for regular public school students.
But since the facilities come from private sources and there’s no busing for students, more money is spent on classroom instruction. Classes are eight hours a day — an hour longer than other schools in Pulaski County, and school stays open a couple of weeks longer.
Phillis Nichols Anderson, Lighthouse Academies vice president for the southern region, said the middle school will probably have about 150 students in grades six through eight, with two classes for each grades.
A lottery would determine who gets into the school if more than 150 students apply, which is likely, since there is a waiting list of some 600 students who want to attend the elementary charter school in Jacksonville.
Anderson, a Lonoke County native, said there’s room for a high school behind or next to the elementary school.
Col. Andy Coggins, commander of the 19th Airlift Wing Mission Support Group, who will oversee the middle school project, said engineers are at the base this week studying ways to make the old officers club into a school.
“The facility is in great shape,” Coggins said. “It will not be just for military families. We’ll bend over backward to make access as easy as possible” for nonmilitary students.
He said, “We’re trying to find more educational opportunities other than Northwood.”
One parent complained, “I feel I have no other choice but to send my child to Northwood. That’s no choice at all.”
She said she hoped her child could attend the new school.
The Lighthouse Academy was the first new public school built in Jacksonville in 30 years. Parents like the new facilities, smaller classrooms and individual attention their children receive.
The school has a simple philosophy. “We believe all children can achieve at high levels,” said principal Ryan Dean. “We prepare all students for college. High expectations get results. We strive for nothing less than excellence.”
There are some two dozen charter schools in Arkansas with nearly 4,000 students, about 1 percent of the public school students in the state. Nationwide, more than 1.5 million children attend charter schools.
The Pulaski County Special School District is slow to release enrollment numbers, but they continue their steep decline.
Changing around the opening bell only days before the new school year has not helped enrollment.
If the trend continues locally, Jacksonville charter schools alone could have more than 1,000 kids in a few years.
The reason for their success?
“We’ve got something special going on,” said vice president Anderson with a smile.
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