By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Sherwood Shark swim team, members of the Central Arkansas Swim League, is bucking a trend that has seen swim team-member numbers drop over the last few years. Sherwood has all-time high numbers this year, with around 330 team members, making it unofficially the largest sports team in the state.
Team organizer and one of the eight coaches on the team, Mary Jo Heye, says the key to the team’s success has been the instruction.
“It’s all about providing as much opportunity for instruction that we can provide,” Heye said. “We try to have the best coaches possible and they teach the kids really well. We’re such a big team, but we keep practice sets so they’re manageable. No coach coaches more than one lane at a time, and we’re able to give lots of kids that one-on-one instruction.”
And there is lots of practice time available. The Sharks practice eight times a week, with evening practices available Mondays through Thursdays, and morning practices available Tuesdays through Fridays. But there aren’t 330 swimmers at each practice.
“We do not take attendance at practice,” Heye said. “We try to be family friendly, and really just let the parents determine when they can get their kids to practice. We have people who only show up on certain evenings, and we have morning people. Practices are open and there’s no head count.”
Unlike some of the other programs in the CASL, the Sharks do emphasize competition. Team members are required to compete in at least two meets every summer.
“That’s because part of our program is promoting competitive swimming,” Heye said. “We want them to try it because that’s part of it. We’re not just here for swim lessons. We’re part of a team, part of a community.”
The growth, coaching, plenteous practice time and emphasis on competition has led to an impressive run for the Sharks over the years.
The team is undefeated after three meets this year, keeping alive a streak of 51 straight meets without a loss; that’s eight consecutive seasons of six meets per season.
The Sharks consist of a lot of crossover athletes who compete in various other sports, and the community’s other coaches are in support of the program.
“This sport really goes hand-in-hand with a lot of other sports and the coaches are seeing that and wanting them to swim,” Heye said. “This works everything from the top of the head to the bottom of the feet; it greatly helps conditioning and it makes kids stronger. It also helps develop and strengthen the lungs and really helps cardio.”
The team is holding its firth annual silent auction on July 6 and 7. The fundraiser benefits the Sharks’ program. It will be held at the Bill Harmon Recreation Center and will include over 100 items from gift certificates to tickets to theme parks.
For more information about the swim team or the fundraiser, contact Tina Potts at 834-3130, or visit the website at thesherwoodsharks.com.
Friday, July 01, 2011
SPORTS >> Home runs drive Gwatney victory
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville’s senior American Legion team made it 3-1 against Cabot this season, beating the Centennial Bank squad 8-5 Thursday night in the second round of the Fourth of July Classic at Dupree Park.
The Gwatney team got two home runs from leadoff hitter Jacob Abrahamson, and another from Patrick Castleberry to aid the win. It also got another good performance on the mound from Jesse Harbin.
“We didn’t do much most of the game, but we swung the bats pretty well early and then again late, so we got something,” Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said.
Indeed, Cabot pitcher Cole Nicholson gave up just three hits in the first five innings, but two of them were solo homers in the first.
Abrahamson started the game with a shot to right-center field, a spot that seemed like a black hole for baseball early in the game.
Two batters later Castleberry sent one out to almost the same spot.
Cabot wasn’t without its own power. To start off the next half inning, Centennial second baseman Tyler Erickson sent one out to the exact same spot. Andrew Reynolds walked two batters later, and an error by Abrahamson at shortstop allowed Reynolds to score and tie the game.
It was the first of four errors at shortstop for Jacksonville, all of which combined to give Cabot four unearned runs in the game.
The score stayed 2-2 until the fourth, when a pair of Cabot miscues aided a two-out rally that led to two Gwatney runs. Nick Rodriguez drew a two-out walk, and an error at third base on a groundball left Alex Tucker and Rodriguez safe.
Austin Allen then hit a hard single to left that should’ve just loaded the bases, but the ball got past Bryson Morris, allowing the base runners to score and putting Gwatney back up by two runs.
Cabot got one back in the top of the fifth when Dillon Wilson’s double to left scored Reynolds, who had reached on an E6, but Jacksonville added four in the sixth to take a five-run lead.
Colt Harmon started it off with a blooper between shortstop and left field. Cabot’s Matt Evans made a diving stab but couldn’t make the grab, and Harmon was able to stretch the blooper into a double on a close play at second. Xavier Brown then walked and Rodriguez got another dinked single to second base that scored Harmon from third.
Tucker sacrificed the runners over and Allen grounded out, but that brought Abrahamson back to the plate, where he hit his second home run of the game, this time a three-run line drive right down the third baseline.
Cabot rallied in the seventh with the help of two Abrahamson errors sandwiching a double by Evans, but Erickson was thrown out at second after the second error, Chip Morris grounded out to third and Harbin fanned the last batter to seal the win.
Harbin gave up five hits and one earned run in the win. He struck out seven and walked five.
Hickingbotham liked what he saw offensively.
“That kid they had on the mound is a good one,” Hickingbotham said of Nicholson. “He shut us down when we played them over at their place. We didn’t light him up, but we were able to get some good swings and get some runs.”
Cole Nicholson went the distance and took the loss for Cabot. He gave up seven hits and six earned runs, striking out four and walking three.
The win left Jacksonville to 12-3 on the season while Cabot fell to 11-7.
The tournament is a short one this year, with Searcy dropping out a few days before the event and Russellville canceling its appearance at 11 p.m. the night before the event began. The championship game will be at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville’s senior American Legion team made it 3-1 against Cabot this season, beating the Centennial Bank squad 8-5 Thursday night in the second round of the Fourth of July Classic at Dupree Park.
The Gwatney team got two home runs from leadoff hitter Jacob Abrahamson, and another from Patrick Castleberry to aid the win. It also got another good performance on the mound from Jesse Harbin.
“We didn’t do much most of the game, but we swung the bats pretty well early and then again late, so we got something,” Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said.
Indeed, Cabot pitcher Cole Nicholson gave up just three hits in the first five innings, but two of them were solo homers in the first.
Abrahamson started the game with a shot to right-center field, a spot that seemed like a black hole for baseball early in the game.
Two batters later Castleberry sent one out to almost the same spot.
Cabot wasn’t without its own power. To start off the next half inning, Centennial second baseman Tyler Erickson sent one out to the exact same spot. Andrew Reynolds walked two batters later, and an error by Abrahamson at shortstop allowed Reynolds to score and tie the game.
It was the first of four errors at shortstop for Jacksonville, all of which combined to give Cabot four unearned runs in the game.
The score stayed 2-2 until the fourth, when a pair of Cabot miscues aided a two-out rally that led to two Gwatney runs. Nick Rodriguez drew a two-out walk, and an error at third base on a groundball left Alex Tucker and Rodriguez safe.
Austin Allen then hit a hard single to left that should’ve just loaded the bases, but the ball got past Bryson Morris, allowing the base runners to score and putting Gwatney back up by two runs.
Cabot got one back in the top of the fifth when Dillon Wilson’s double to left scored Reynolds, who had reached on an E6, but Jacksonville added four in the sixth to take a five-run lead.
Colt Harmon started it off with a blooper between shortstop and left field. Cabot’s Matt Evans made a diving stab but couldn’t make the grab, and Harmon was able to stretch the blooper into a double on a close play at second. Xavier Brown then walked and Rodriguez got another dinked single to second base that scored Harmon from third.
Tucker sacrificed the runners over and Allen grounded out, but that brought Abrahamson back to the plate, where he hit his second home run of the game, this time a three-run line drive right down the third baseline.
Cabot rallied in the seventh with the help of two Abrahamson errors sandwiching a double by Evans, but Erickson was thrown out at second after the second error, Chip Morris grounded out to third and Harbin fanned the last batter to seal the win.
Harbin gave up five hits and one earned run in the win. He struck out seven and walked five.
Hickingbotham liked what he saw offensively.
“That kid they had on the mound is a good one,” Hickingbotham said of Nicholson. “He shut us down when we played them over at their place. We didn’t light him up, but we were able to get some good swings and get some runs.”
Cole Nicholson went the distance and took the loss for Cabot. He gave up seven hits and six earned runs, striking out four and walking three.
The win left Jacksonville to 12-3 on the season while Cabot fell to 11-7.
The tournament is a short one this year, with Searcy dropping out a few days before the event and Russellville canceling its appearance at 11 p.m. the night before the event began. The championship game will be at 2 p.m. Sunday.
SPORTS >> Crazy first round at Fourth Classic
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Cabot won a wild affair in the opening round of the Fourth of July Classic American Legion baseball tournament at Dupree Park in Jacksonville on Wednesday, beating Sheridan 17-16.
Cabot led 10-3 after two innings, but had to come from behind in the final inning to get the win. Sheridan began to swing the bat and drew plenty of walks to get back into the game, and came up with six runs in the sixth inning to take to turn a 15-10 deficit into a 16-15 lead.
The comeback was complete, but the Yellowjackets couldn’t hold the lead.
Justin Goff tied the game with a solo home run in the seventh. Matt Evans then singled and Andrew Reynolds doubled to drive him home for the winning run.
Cabot’s big inning came in the second when it scored seven runs. Brandon Surdam highlighted the frame with a grand slam that capped the scoring.
Sheridan wasn’t without its power moments. Zach Perkins and Landon Moore each sent shots over the wall.
Sheridan took the early lead with two runs in the top of the first, but Centennial Bank came back with three in the bottom of the frame. After Sheridan tied it in the top of the second, Cabot got the big bottom half to take control.
Each team scored a run in the third. Sheridan got one back in the fourth with two runs to Cabot’s one. That made it 12-6.
Sheridan scored four in the fifth to cut the margin to 12-10, but Cabot added three more in the bottom of the frame to reclaim control.
That brought the Yellow-jackets to bat in the sixth where they scored six to take their first lead of the game.
In the other first-round game, Benton got past Sylvan Hills 8-5, but not before the Bruins rallied in the final inning to make it interesting.
The Sports Shop team led 8-2 heading into the final inning, but the pitching fell apart and the Bruins got key hits to add three runs to the board. In all, the Bruins drew seven walks and three batters were hit by pitches to go along with their five hits. But the squad failed to capitalize in most situations, and left 10 runners on base throughout the seven innings.
Lance Hunter got the Bruins on board in the fifth inning with a two-run shot over the wall that drove in Korey Arnold.
Leader sports editor
Cabot won a wild affair in the opening round of the Fourth of July Classic American Legion baseball tournament at Dupree Park in Jacksonville on Wednesday, beating Sheridan 17-16.
Cabot led 10-3 after two innings, but had to come from behind in the final inning to get the win. Sheridan began to swing the bat and drew plenty of walks to get back into the game, and came up with six runs in the sixth inning to take to turn a 15-10 deficit into a 16-15 lead.
The comeback was complete, but the Yellowjackets couldn’t hold the lead.
Justin Goff tied the game with a solo home run in the seventh. Matt Evans then singled and Andrew Reynolds doubled to drive him home for the winning run.
Cabot’s big inning came in the second when it scored seven runs. Brandon Surdam highlighted the frame with a grand slam that capped the scoring.
Sheridan wasn’t without its power moments. Zach Perkins and Landon Moore each sent shots over the wall.
Sheridan took the early lead with two runs in the top of the first, but Centennial Bank came back with three in the bottom of the frame. After Sheridan tied it in the top of the second, Cabot got the big bottom half to take control.
Each team scored a run in the third. Sheridan got one back in the fourth with two runs to Cabot’s one. That made it 12-6.
Sheridan scored four in the fifth to cut the margin to 12-10, but Cabot added three more in the bottom of the frame to reclaim control.
That brought the Yellow-jackets to bat in the sixth where they scored six to take their first lead of the game.
In the other first-round game, Benton got past Sylvan Hills 8-5, but not before the Bruins rallied in the final inning to make it interesting.
The Sports Shop team led 8-2 heading into the final inning, but the pitching fell apart and the Bruins got key hits to add three runs to the board. In all, the Bruins drew seven walks and three batters were hit by pitches to go along with their five hits. But the squad failed to capitalize in most situations, and left 10 runners on base throughout the seven innings.
Lance Hunter got the Bruins on board in the fifth inning with a two-run shot over the wall that drove in Korey Arnold.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
EDITORIAL >> New leader for PCSSD
The Pulaski County Special School District desegregation case gets more complicated every day, but at least now there’s a longterm superintendent in place to succeed Bobby Lester, who stepped in temporarily last week to replace Charles Hopson. Lester was an emergency fill-in when the state Education Department took control of the failing district and fired Hopson and the school board.
Jerry Guess, a former Arkansas superintendent of the year, is the new man in charge. He was the superintendent of the Camden Fairview district in Ouachita County for 15 years. He’ll be around here for a while: The state could run PCSSD for several years before there’s local control of the schools again.
Almost every day, there’s a new twist to this never-ending saga. The judge overseeing the court case walked away from it Friday evening, hoping the media wouldn’t notice as reporters and most everyone else headed home or to the lake.
U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, who last month abruptly ended desegregation funding to the Pulaski County districts, didn’t help matters when he decided he had a conflict of interest since his brother was fired from the Helena-West Helena School District after the state took it over the same time PCSSD became a ward of the state. Miller didn’t disclose that he served on a bank advisory board in Helena which funds local public and charter schools.
He had a bad time of it last week, which started out with the state taking over the two districts. The next day, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Miller’s ill-considered order ending desegregation funds for the Pulaski County districts. The appeals court will let the state aid continue at least until September, when the court will then hear arguments from the districts to keep the money flowing.
Miller didn’t have a grasp of the issues. He ruled on matters that he had no business deciding — such as ending support for magnet and majority-to-minority transfers — which makes you wonder why he took the PCSSD lawsuit in the first place.
If Miller’s decision to suddenly end desegregation aid was one of the worst of the last 25 years — that’s how long the suit has been in the courts — you have to applaud the better judgment of the appeals court that halted Miller’s muddled ruling and let state aid continue at least for a few more months.
The problems of the failed schools in Helena-West Helena and Jacksonville will take decades and lots of money to fix. It costs a lot of money to educate disadvantaged kids — $1 billion in deseg money for the Pulaski County schools — with no guarantees of success. But what else can the state do? Let 14-year-olds drop out of high school?
You could say the Arkansas Delta starts at the entrance to Jacksonville High School and ends on the west bank of the Mississippi River. But that doesn’t mean poor kids don’t have a right to a first-class education. Doing nothing would save the state billions of dollars, and maybe Miller would approve, but it no longer matters what he thinks. A new judge has replaced him, and perhaps he’ll make wiser decisions.
Miller is no Judge George Howard, his predecessor on the court, or even John Walker, the plaintiffs’ lawyer in the long-running case that has provided a good living for Walker. He will stick around and so will this endless lawsuit, but at least Judge Miller, who was the wrong person to hear the suit, is now off the case.
Walker, who has litigated the lawsuit since before public school students were born, is demanding the state rescind its takeover of the district. Even if he doesn’t get his way, the parties should come together and agree to make genuine improvements in the failing schools.
This is a good time for the school districts to negotiate a deal with the state that might guarantee them $70 million through the next school year. Miller’s order, as flawed as it was, should bring the sides to the negotiating table and reach a settlement they and their students must live with.
Jerry Guess, a former Arkansas superintendent of the year, is the new man in charge. He was the superintendent of the Camden Fairview district in Ouachita County for 15 years. He’ll be around here for a while: The state could run PCSSD for several years before there’s local control of the schools again.
Almost every day, there’s a new twist to this never-ending saga. The judge overseeing the court case walked away from it Friday evening, hoping the media wouldn’t notice as reporters and most everyone else headed home or to the lake.
U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, who last month abruptly ended desegregation funding to the Pulaski County districts, didn’t help matters when he decided he had a conflict of interest since his brother was fired from the Helena-West Helena School District after the state took it over the same time PCSSD became a ward of the state. Miller didn’t disclose that he served on a bank advisory board in Helena which funds local public and charter schools.
He had a bad time of it last week, which started out with the state taking over the two districts. The next day, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Miller’s ill-considered order ending desegregation funds for the Pulaski County districts. The appeals court will let the state aid continue at least until September, when the court will then hear arguments from the districts to keep the money flowing.
Miller didn’t have a grasp of the issues. He ruled on matters that he had no business deciding — such as ending support for magnet and majority-to-minority transfers — which makes you wonder why he took the PCSSD lawsuit in the first place.
If Miller’s decision to suddenly end desegregation aid was one of the worst of the last 25 years — that’s how long the suit has been in the courts — you have to applaud the better judgment of the appeals court that halted Miller’s muddled ruling and let state aid continue at least for a few more months.
The problems of the failed schools in Helena-West Helena and Jacksonville will take decades and lots of money to fix. It costs a lot of money to educate disadvantaged kids — $1 billion in deseg money for the Pulaski County schools — with no guarantees of success. But what else can the state do? Let 14-year-olds drop out of high school?
You could say the Arkansas Delta starts at the entrance to Jacksonville High School and ends on the west bank of the Mississippi River. But that doesn’t mean poor kids don’t have a right to a first-class education. Doing nothing would save the state billions of dollars, and maybe Miller would approve, but it no longer matters what he thinks. A new judge has replaced him, and perhaps he’ll make wiser decisions.
Miller is no Judge George Howard, his predecessor on the court, or even John Walker, the plaintiffs’ lawyer in the long-running case that has provided a good living for Walker. He will stick around and so will this endless lawsuit, but at least Judge Miller, who was the wrong person to hear the suit, is now off the case.
Walker, who has litigated the lawsuit since before public school students were born, is demanding the state rescind its takeover of the district. Even if he doesn’t get his way, the parties should come together and agree to make genuine improvements in the failing schools.
This is a good time for the school districts to negotiate a deal with the state that might guarantee them $70 million through the next school year. Miller’s order, as flawed as it was, should bring the sides to the negotiating table and reach a settlement they and their students must live with.
TOP STORY >> A good, long life for centenarian
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
Opal Burns of Beebe was born before the First World War and worked in an ordnance plant in Jacksonville during the Second World War.
The house where she was born in Lonoke County’s Wattensaw community was lit with kerosene lamps, and when telephone service finally came to her area, she was the operator who connected her neighbors to a doctor who made house calls in the middle of the night to deliver babies.
Opal, as she prefers to be called, retired from a Lonoke nursing home where she had worked for many years and moved to Beebe 28 years ago to be near her only child, Bobby.
He needed help chauffeuring his children to their various activities and she was beginning to have a few aches and pains which she believed were the first signs of old age.
Reflecting on her life one week before her hundredth birthday on Friday, she laughed about the years that had passed since that time.
“I don’t know why I’m still here at 100,” she said. “I’ve asked the Lord why I’ve lived this long, but He still hasn’t told me.”
On June 23, she found a birthday card from President Obama and his wife in her mailbox. Wikipedia says it’s tradition for the president to send best wishes to centenarians.
Opal doesn’t Google, so she didn’t know about the tradition, but she was clearly as much amused as flattered by the acknowledgement.
According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the U.S. has the greatest number of centenarians in the world, an estimated 70,490 on Sept. 1, 2010.
The great number is partly the result of a large population 100 years ago, the nation’s large farm population and an emphasis on long-term care, the encyclopedia says.
Opal doesn’t have a computer, so she has never Googled and come across Wikipedia. But she does know what Facebook is and she knows about texting and she’s not a fan of either one.
About texting she said, “I want to hear them talk.” And as for Facebook, “Everybody knows your business but it excludes people like me.”
Opal is also not a fan of the offerings these days on cable TV that seem designed to break down the barriers of decency that were the standards she grew up with.
“There’s too much evil in it,” she said.
She used to watch ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and the news. Now she mostly watches the news. When the news is off, she reads a tattered, big-print Bible that belonged to her mother and goes to bed, her own bed in the home she shared with Emmett, her husband of 63 years.
But Opal’s proclaimed distaste for technological advances and changes in entertainment standards should not be taken as an indicator of her zest for life.
As a teenager, she attended dances at the homes of neighbors who were willing to take down the beds in their living rooms to make more space available.
She even participated in a new style of dancing, round dancing, in which the partners held each other a little too close for parental approval.
She was in her early 70s when she accepted a cousin’s invitation to ride behind him for more than 10 miles on his motorcycle. She was in her late 80s when she flew to California. Until she was 90, she was the cook who made chicken and dressing and banana pudding for the family on Sunday.
And though she still misses the wood cook stove that she left behind when she moved from the farm to Beebe, that doesn’t mean she abhors all things modern. She grew up with an outhouse and she says, “I’m proud of my commode.”
Emmett lived in the Bethlehem Community while she lived in nearby Oakdale, so they always knew one another.
She found him pleasant enough, but he was “just one of those Burns boys” until he came home on furlough during the Second World War.
She went with a friend to visit him and they spent the evening talking. Since she worked at an ordnance plant, they had the war in common, she said.
Eight months after the war ended, they got married. He was 32 and she was 35 and to their friends and family they were no longer the bachelor and old maid.
By today’s standards, Opal’s life was full of hardships. As a child, she walked miles to school. The barn on the dairy farm that she and her husband worked together before Bobby graduated from high school in 1965 had electricity long before the house did. And in 1952, the tornado that destroyed Judsonia also leveled her home.
Asked what she would have changed, she said, “Not a thing.”
In her long life, she has had friends who were as close as family; family that made a point of staying close, and a husband who was the friend she could talk to about anything.
A widow for almost two years, she has adapted to living alone with the help of friends, family and neighbors who help her with the few things she can no longer do for herself.
For example, no one else could possibly buy her groceries because she doesn’t even know what she wants until she sees it on the shelf. But someone does have to drive her to the store. And there are times when her joints don’t feel like she can make it to the mailbox by the road, so her neighbor brings the mail to her.
She still cooks a big breakfast of sausage, eggs, toast, juice and coffee.
Nights get lonely sometimes. But she says she knows death comes to everyone. When it’s her time, she said she wants to die in her sleep with family beside her.
Leader staff writer
Opal Burns of Beebe was born before the First World War and worked in an ordnance plant in Jacksonville during the Second World War.
The house where she was born in Lonoke County’s Wattensaw community was lit with kerosene lamps, and when telephone service finally came to her area, she was the operator who connected her neighbors to a doctor who made house calls in the middle of the night to deliver babies.
Opal, as she prefers to be called, retired from a Lonoke nursing home where she had worked for many years and moved to Beebe 28 years ago to be near her only child, Bobby.
He needed help chauffeuring his children to their various activities and she was beginning to have a few aches and pains which she believed were the first signs of old age.
Reflecting on her life one week before her hundredth birthday on Friday, she laughed about the years that had passed since that time.
“I don’t know why I’m still here at 100,” she said. “I’ve asked the Lord why I’ve lived this long, but He still hasn’t told me.”
On June 23, she found a birthday card from President Obama and his wife in her mailbox. Wikipedia says it’s tradition for the president to send best wishes to centenarians.
Opal doesn’t Google, so she didn’t know about the tradition, but she was clearly as much amused as flattered by the acknowledgement.
According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the U.S. has the greatest number of centenarians in the world, an estimated 70,490 on Sept. 1, 2010.
The great number is partly the result of a large population 100 years ago, the nation’s large farm population and an emphasis on long-term care, the encyclopedia says.
Opal doesn’t have a computer, so she has never Googled and come across Wikipedia. But she does know what Facebook is and she knows about texting and she’s not a fan of either one.
About texting she said, “I want to hear them talk.” And as for Facebook, “Everybody knows your business but it excludes people like me.”
Opal is also not a fan of the offerings these days on cable TV that seem designed to break down the barriers of decency that were the standards she grew up with.
“There’s too much evil in it,” she said.
She used to watch ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and the news. Now she mostly watches the news. When the news is off, she reads a tattered, big-print Bible that belonged to her mother and goes to bed, her own bed in the home she shared with Emmett, her husband of 63 years.
But Opal’s proclaimed distaste for technological advances and changes in entertainment standards should not be taken as an indicator of her zest for life.
As a teenager, she attended dances at the homes of neighbors who were willing to take down the beds in their living rooms to make more space available.
She even participated in a new style of dancing, round dancing, in which the partners held each other a little too close for parental approval.
She was in her early 70s when she accepted a cousin’s invitation to ride behind him for more than 10 miles on his motorcycle. She was in her late 80s when she flew to California. Until she was 90, she was the cook who made chicken and dressing and banana pudding for the family on Sunday.
And though she still misses the wood cook stove that she left behind when she moved from the farm to Beebe, that doesn’t mean she abhors all things modern. She grew up with an outhouse and she says, “I’m proud of my commode.”
Emmett lived in the Bethlehem Community while she lived in nearby Oakdale, so they always knew one another.
She found him pleasant enough, but he was “just one of those Burns boys” until he came home on furlough during the Second World War.
She went with a friend to visit him and they spent the evening talking. Since she worked at an ordnance plant, they had the war in common, she said.
Eight months after the war ended, they got married. He was 32 and she was 35 and to their friends and family they were no longer the bachelor and old maid.
By today’s standards, Opal’s life was full of hardships. As a child, she walked miles to school. The barn on the dairy farm that she and her husband worked together before Bobby graduated from high school in 1965 had electricity long before the house did. And in 1952, the tornado that destroyed Judsonia also leveled her home.
Asked what she would have changed, she said, “Not a thing.”
In her long life, she has had friends who were as close as family; family that made a point of staying close, and a husband who was the friend she could talk to about anything.
A widow for almost two years, she has adapted to living alone with the help of friends, family and neighbors who help her with the few things she can no longer do for herself.
For example, no one else could possibly buy her groceries because she doesn’t even know what she wants until she sees it on the shelf. But someone does have to drive her to the store. And there are times when her joints don’t feel like she can make it to the mailbox by the road, so her neighbor brings the mail to her.
She still cooks a big breakfast of sausage, eggs, toast, juice and coffee.
Nights get lonely sometimes. But she says she knows death comes to everyone. When it’s her time, she said she wants to die in her sleep with family beside her.
TOP STORY >> Area ready for July 4th celebration
By CHRISTY HENDRICKS
Leader staff writer
Several Fourth of July celebrations are planned around the area.
CABOT
Cabot will host a patriotic celebration beginning at 4:30 p.m. July 3 at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. Entertainment will be Lindsay McCaul and Mikeschair. Activities will include a car show, games, inflatables – which may include water slides – and more. Special guests include Reps. Tim Griffin and Rick Crawford and Mayor Bill Cypert.
Zion Hill Baptist Church will host a church and community picnic beginning at 5 p.m. July 3. There will be games, food and a fireworks display.
There will also be volleyball and horseshoe toss, weather permitting. A fried chicken supper will be served, as well as popcorn, homemade desserts, cotton candy and snow cones. Magician and balloonist sculptor Gene Berry will provide entertainment.
A contemporary worship service, led by The Switch, will be held. The church is located near the intersections of Hwys. 89 and 107 on Zion Hill Road. Fore more information, call 501-988-4989.
SHERWOOD
Sherwood’s July 4 events will begin at 6 p.m. at Sherwood Forest with fireworks starting at 9 p.m. Doors will open at 6 p.m.
There will be free hot dogs and water while supplies last. Additional food and drinks will be available for sale. There will be indoor and outdoor stage entertainment.
No pets, skateboards, bikes or coolers will be allowed.
A free shuttle service will be provided from Sylvan Hills High School parking lot. Sherwood Forest is located at 1111 W. Maryland.
For more information, call 501-835-8909.
WARD
Ward will host festivities July 2 at the Ward Sports Complex located on Hwy. 319/Peyton St., behind the Ward Fire Station.
Vendor booths and car-show registration will open at 1 p.m., with opening ceremonies presented by an honor guard at 2 p.m.
There will be a tractor pull at 2:30 p.m., followed by Carla’s Dance performance at 3:30 p.m. Car show awards will be handed out at 4:30 p.m.
The city will serve free food beginning at 5 p.m. and entertainment will be provided by Final Straw. Fireworks will begin at 9:15 p.m. Other activities include a water slide, bouncy house, horse-shoe tournament and arts and crafts.
BEEBE
The city of Beebe will host a 4th of July celebration beginning at 7:30 p.m. at 321 N. Elm St. Entertainment will be provided by the Kimberlie Helton Band. Union Valley Baptist Church will provide hot dogs and hamburgers.
JACKSONVILLE
The Jacksonville Patriotic Spectacular will be held on at 6:30 p.m Friday on Jacksonville High School’s football field.
Radio Disney will be in the kids’ fun area from 6:30 to 8.
The local entertainment at 6:30 will be performances by Gloryland Pastor’s Youth Choir, Angie Umflett, Huff N Puff Dance Co., Alan and Jerry, Price Crew and New Beginnings Lyrical Dance Group. Those will be followed by the patriotic presentation and awards at 7:30.
Susan G. Komen’s Pink Warrior, Candy Coburn, will perform at 8. The finale at 9 will be a fireworks display and a performance of “We Will Stand” by all the entertainers.
Leader staff writer
Several Fourth of July celebrations are planned around the area.
CABOT
Cabot will host a patriotic celebration beginning at 4:30 p.m. July 3 at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. Entertainment will be Lindsay McCaul and Mikeschair. Activities will include a car show, games, inflatables – which may include water slides – and more. Special guests include Reps. Tim Griffin and Rick Crawford and Mayor Bill Cypert.
Zion Hill Baptist Church will host a church and community picnic beginning at 5 p.m. July 3. There will be games, food and a fireworks display.
There will also be volleyball and horseshoe toss, weather permitting. A fried chicken supper will be served, as well as popcorn, homemade desserts, cotton candy and snow cones. Magician and balloonist sculptor Gene Berry will provide entertainment.
A contemporary worship service, led by The Switch, will be held. The church is located near the intersections of Hwys. 89 and 107 on Zion Hill Road. Fore more information, call 501-988-4989.
SHERWOOD
Sherwood’s July 4 events will begin at 6 p.m. at Sherwood Forest with fireworks starting at 9 p.m. Doors will open at 6 p.m.
There will be free hot dogs and water while supplies last. Additional food and drinks will be available for sale. There will be indoor and outdoor stage entertainment.
No pets, skateboards, bikes or coolers will be allowed.
A free shuttle service will be provided from Sylvan Hills High School parking lot. Sherwood Forest is located at 1111 W. Maryland.
For more information, call 501-835-8909.
WARD
Ward will host festivities July 2 at the Ward Sports Complex located on Hwy. 319/Peyton St., behind the Ward Fire Station.
Vendor booths and car-show registration will open at 1 p.m., with opening ceremonies presented by an honor guard at 2 p.m.
There will be a tractor pull at 2:30 p.m., followed by Carla’s Dance performance at 3:30 p.m. Car show awards will be handed out at 4:30 p.m.
The city will serve free food beginning at 5 p.m. and entertainment will be provided by Final Straw. Fireworks will begin at 9:15 p.m. Other activities include a water slide, bouncy house, horse-shoe tournament and arts and crafts.
BEEBE
The city of Beebe will host a 4th of July celebration beginning at 7:30 p.m. at 321 N. Elm St. Entertainment will be provided by the Kimberlie Helton Band. Union Valley Baptist Church will provide hot dogs and hamburgers.
JACKSONVILLE
The Jacksonville Patriotic Spectacular will be held on at 6:30 p.m Friday on Jacksonville High School’s football field.
Radio Disney will be in the kids’ fun area from 6:30 to 8.
The local entertainment at 6:30 will be performances by Gloryland Pastor’s Youth Choir, Angie Umflett, Huff N Puff Dance Co., Alan and Jerry, Price Crew and New Beginnings Lyrical Dance Group. Those will be followed by the patriotic presentation and awards at 7:30.
Susan G. Komen’s Pink Warrior, Candy Coburn, will perform at 8. The finale at 9 will be a fireworks display and a performance of “We Will Stand” by all the entertainers.
TOP STORY >> New chief appointed for PCSSD
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The Pulaski County Special School District has a new leader—at least for one year—and he’s Dr. Jerry Guess, the superintendent for the Camden Fairview School District.
Guess will take over Tuesday. He will continue in his job as Camden Fairview superintendent through this week before reporting to PCSSD.
Interim Superintendent Bobby Lester is on vacation and will return Tuesday.
Dr. Tom Kimbrell, the state’s education commissioner, said Lester would stay on part-time for a few weeks to help with the transition.
Guess, 60, who has headed Camden Fairview for the past 15 years, will be paid $215,000 a year to head the fiscally distressed PCSSD for the state, which took over the district about two weeks ago and removed the superintendent and dissolved the school board.
State-ousted Dr. Charles Hopson was making $205,000.
Guess, who was making $115,000 a year as the Camden Fairview chief, will soon move to central Arkansas, but his wife will stay in Camden and continue her job as that district’s fiscal officer.
Kimbrell introduced Guess to the media at a press conference at the state education building in Little Rock on Tuesday, saying he had the personality and skills to lead PCSSD.
Kimbrell said Guess was so surprised at the job offer, he stuttered when Kimbrell called to ask him to consider the job. He sang Guess’ praises as an admired leader who will bring stability to a district that needs it.
Guess, who was driving back Tuesday afternoon to Camden and enjoying the first rain south southern Arkansas has seen in about two months, said he has known Kimbrell a long time and has often talked about state and education issues with him.
“I know him and trust him,” Guess said. “The fact that he felt a need to call me about the position says a lot.”
Guess added that he is not just another new face. “I may be new to PCSSD, but I’m not new to Arkansas and not new to being a superintendent.”
He called the PCSSD job a challenge but vowed not to come in and shake things up right away.
“I’ve seen too many people come in to districts and do too much too quickly,” he said. “You have to understand the history, the background and the people. There are a lot of good things going on in the district and a lot of great things are happening for the students.”
Guess said, “I’ve been at Camden Fairview for 33 years. I would like the new challenge. Without a doubt, the problems at PCSSD are significant, but there will be a great deal of help from the people at the department and from any number of qualified people at the district.
“Right now, the biggest challenge is getting ready for the first day of school,” Guess added.
He said he wants to be part of the solution that brings good news in the district back into the newspapers.
Guess said he viewed Kimbrell as the “school board,” as law provides, but in weighing, for example, the need for state financial aid, he’ll consider students’ needs first.
But Guess is not without his detractors in Camden Fairview as a number of blogs indicate and had some controversies in his old district, including that both he and his wife held high administrative posts, a federal lawsuit when he would not let a white student transfer to another district, and an incident where a student was made to wear a shirt with a U.S. flag inside out so the flag wouldn’t show.
Guess began his educational career in 1978 as a language arts teacher in the Fairview district, which later consolidated with Camden.
He later served as the district’s coordinator for gifted and talented students, as assistant principal and principal of Fairview Middle School, and as assistant superintendent and associated superintendent of the Camden-Fairview district. He rose to his current post in 1996.
Guess graduated from Chidester High School, not far from Camden. He received a bachelor’s degree from Southern State College in Magnolia, a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Guess was the Arkansas superintendent of the year in 2008 as voted by the Arkansas Association of School Administrators. He is now president of the Arkansas Association of School Administrators, a post formerly held by Kimbrell.
Leader staff writer
The Pulaski County Special School District has a new leader—at least for one year—and he’s Dr. Jerry Guess, the superintendent for the Camden Fairview School District.
Guess will take over Tuesday. He will continue in his job as Camden Fairview superintendent through this week before reporting to PCSSD.
Interim Superintendent Bobby Lester is on vacation and will return Tuesday.
Dr. Tom Kimbrell, the state’s education commissioner, said Lester would stay on part-time for a few weeks to help with the transition.
Guess, 60, who has headed Camden Fairview for the past 15 years, will be paid $215,000 a year to head the fiscally distressed PCSSD for the state, which took over the district about two weeks ago and removed the superintendent and dissolved the school board.
State-ousted Dr. Charles Hopson was making $205,000.
Guess, who was making $115,000 a year as the Camden Fairview chief, will soon move to central Arkansas, but his wife will stay in Camden and continue her job as that district’s fiscal officer.
Kimbrell introduced Guess to the media at a press conference at the state education building in Little Rock on Tuesday, saying he had the personality and skills to lead PCSSD.
Kimbrell said Guess was so surprised at the job offer, he stuttered when Kimbrell called to ask him to consider the job. He sang Guess’ praises as an admired leader who will bring stability to a district that needs it.
Guess, who was driving back Tuesday afternoon to Camden and enjoying the first rain south southern Arkansas has seen in about two months, said he has known Kimbrell a long time and has often talked about state and education issues with him.
“I know him and trust him,” Guess said. “The fact that he felt a need to call me about the position says a lot.”
Guess added that he is not just another new face. “I may be new to PCSSD, but I’m not new to Arkansas and not new to being a superintendent.”
He called the PCSSD job a challenge but vowed not to come in and shake things up right away.
“I’ve seen too many people come in to districts and do too much too quickly,” he said. “You have to understand the history, the background and the people. There are a lot of good things going on in the district and a lot of great things are happening for the students.”
Guess said, “I’ve been at Camden Fairview for 33 years. I would like the new challenge. Without a doubt, the problems at PCSSD are significant, but there will be a great deal of help from the people at the department and from any number of qualified people at the district.
“Right now, the biggest challenge is getting ready for the first day of school,” Guess added.
He said he wants to be part of the solution that brings good news in the district back into the newspapers.
Guess said he viewed Kimbrell as the “school board,” as law provides, but in weighing, for example, the need for state financial aid, he’ll consider students’ needs first.
But Guess is not without his detractors in Camden Fairview as a number of blogs indicate and had some controversies in his old district, including that both he and his wife held high administrative posts, a federal lawsuit when he would not let a white student transfer to another district, and an incident where a student was made to wear a shirt with a U.S. flag inside out so the flag wouldn’t show.
Guess began his educational career in 1978 as a language arts teacher in the Fairview district, which later consolidated with Camden.
He later served as the district’s coordinator for gifted and talented students, as assistant principal and principal of Fairview Middle School, and as assistant superintendent and associated superintendent of the Camden-Fairview district. He rose to his current post in 1996.
Guess graduated from Chidester High School, not far from Camden. He received a bachelor’s degree from Southern State College in Magnolia, a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Guess was the Arkansas superintendent of the year in 2008 as voted by the Arkansas Association of School Administrators. He is now president of the Arkansas Association of School Administrators, a post formerly held by Kimbrell.
TOP STORY >> Specialist: Industry benefits everyone
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Joey Dean of Metro Little Rock Alliance emphasized the importance of a collaborative marketing strategy and told those in attendance at Tuesday’s Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce luncheon a little more about MLRA.
“It (MLRA) was the brain child of some of the business leaders in central Arkansas,” he said.
Dean explained that the organization found marketing individual communities, cities and counties wasn’t effective at recruiting businesses to locate to the area. He said MLRA is now composed of 12 counties within a 60-mile radius of Little Rock that have a population of more than 1 million.
The organization talks with site consultants companies hire when they are thinking of building a new location or relocating. Dean said offering many locations for companies to come to throughout the region, rather than a few in one community, city or county, is appealing.
“It helps them because we’re a one-stop shop…It helps all of us to put all these products on the table. The more we offer the more likely companies are to come here,” he added.
Dean stressed the importance of forming relationships with those consultants, who bring in 60 to 70 percent of the projects MLRA wins when a company decides to move to the region.
He also showed the audience MLRA’s award-winning website and shared the importance of companies already here praising the region.
“I think the best way for us to tell our story is for companies here and that relocate here to tell it,” he continued.
Dean talked about some of the successes MLRA has had, including the recruitment of companies like Dillard’s, Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and LM Windpower. He said if the organization had responded as a city or county to the search consultants handled for those companies, they would have been eliminated early on in the selection process.
Dean said the number-one infrastructure that a place can market to businesses is the workforce.
The region has an advantage because MLRA has done a workforce assessment of 24 central Arkansas counties and because of the right-to-work law that allows workers to choose to not unionize even if over 50 percent of the employees at their job do.
He said the deficit found by that evaluation of the workforce was a lack of science, technology, engineering and math skills.
Dean said educational institutions are already using that information in encouraging more emphasis on those areas.
He also told the audience that the state is one of three or four that do not have a budget deficit and that is attractive to businesses that may need to relocate from states like California that have high taxes because of their economic difficulties.
Dean’s main point was that all the success MLRA has experienced is because several entities were united under the common goal of improving the area economically.
“I think one of the biggest successes we’ve had is joining our economic-development efforts and having our chambers of commerce, economic-development organizations and elected officials understand that we are not competing against each other,” Dean said after the luncheon.
“All the communities in central Arkansas are our best and only allies,” he added.
Leader staff writer
Joey Dean of Metro Little Rock Alliance emphasized the importance of a collaborative marketing strategy and told those in attendance at Tuesday’s Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce luncheon a little more about MLRA.
“It (MLRA) was the brain child of some of the business leaders in central Arkansas,” he said.
Dean explained that the organization found marketing individual communities, cities and counties wasn’t effective at recruiting businesses to locate to the area. He said MLRA is now composed of 12 counties within a 60-mile radius of Little Rock that have a population of more than 1 million.
The organization talks with site consultants companies hire when they are thinking of building a new location or relocating. Dean said offering many locations for companies to come to throughout the region, rather than a few in one community, city or county, is appealing.
“It helps them because we’re a one-stop shop…It helps all of us to put all these products on the table. The more we offer the more likely companies are to come here,” he added.
Dean stressed the importance of forming relationships with those consultants, who bring in 60 to 70 percent of the projects MLRA wins when a company decides to move to the region.
He also showed the audience MLRA’s award-winning website and shared the importance of companies already here praising the region.
“I think the best way for us to tell our story is for companies here and that relocate here to tell it,” he continued.
Dean talked about some of the successes MLRA has had, including the recruitment of companies like Dillard’s, Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and LM Windpower. He said if the organization had responded as a city or county to the search consultants handled for those companies, they would have been eliminated early on in the selection process.
Dean said the number-one infrastructure that a place can market to businesses is the workforce.
The region has an advantage because MLRA has done a workforce assessment of 24 central Arkansas counties and because of the right-to-work law that allows workers to choose to not unionize even if over 50 percent of the employees at their job do.
He said the deficit found by that evaluation of the workforce was a lack of science, technology, engineering and math skills.
Dean said educational institutions are already using that information in encouraging more emphasis on those areas.
He also told the audience that the state is one of three or four that do not have a budget deficit and that is attractive to businesses that may need to relocate from states like California that have high taxes because of their economic difficulties.
Dean’s main point was that all the success MLRA has experienced is because several entities were united under the common goal of improving the area economically.
“I think one of the biggest successes we’ve had is joining our economic-development efforts and having our chambers of commerce, economic-development organizations and elected officials understand that we are not competing against each other,” Dean said after the luncheon.
“All the communities in central Arkansas are our best and only allies,” he added.
SPORTS >> Piranhas program growing
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
On Saturday, the Cabot Piranhas swim team completed its third meet of the season. About 90 swimmers make up the team this year, which is a bit below average from recent years, and makes the Cabot squad one of the smaller teams in the Central Arkansas Swim League.
Head coach Debbie Skidmore, who started the team in 1999, has watched, and overseen, the program’s development since those first days.
The program didn’t even have a home pool for the first several years, and practiced in the city’s non-regulation public swimming pool on Ritchie Road in Cabot.
Now the team practices at the Cabot Community Center’s regulation-sized indoor pool, which has also played a role in the program’s development.
The Cabot team isn’t just a CASL competitor.
“We are now sort of a developmental program for the Dolphin-Lasers program in Little Rock.”
The Dolphin-Lasers is a year-round USA Swimming competitive team. It’s a combination of the old and storied Little Rock Dolphins, and the more recent Lasers program. Its home pool is at UALR, and a few Cabot team members compete for the program on a year-round basis.
Skidmore would call Cabot’s Piranhas program less of a competitive team, and more like an instructional program.
“We’re kind of like a swim academy,” Skidmore said. “We have four coaches and some days we’ll focus on younger boys, or older girls. We spend time with individual groups and giving different people more focused training.”
The program also has a peewee team and a novice team for individuals who aren’t interested in competition, to go along with the Piranhas competitive squad.
But it’s not always all work at Piranhas’ practices. On Wednesdays, team members play water polo, and different equipment like flippers and kickboards are brought out for different activities.
“We want to make them better swimmers, but we want them to have fun with it too,” Skidmore said. “It’s really a program for any level you wish to be at. If you want to seriously compete, or if you just want to have fun and become a better recreational swimmer, we have something to offer.”
For more information about the Piranhas swim team, or to get involved, contact Dawn Beckley at cabotpiranhas@yahoo.com.
Leader sports editor
On Saturday, the Cabot Piranhas swim team completed its third meet of the season. About 90 swimmers make up the team this year, which is a bit below average from recent years, and makes the Cabot squad one of the smaller teams in the Central Arkansas Swim League.
Head coach Debbie Skidmore, who started the team in 1999, has watched, and overseen, the program’s development since those first days.
The program didn’t even have a home pool for the first several years, and practiced in the city’s non-regulation public swimming pool on Ritchie Road in Cabot.
Now the team practices at the Cabot Community Center’s regulation-sized indoor pool, which has also played a role in the program’s development.
The Cabot team isn’t just a CASL competitor.
“We are now sort of a developmental program for the Dolphin-Lasers program in Little Rock.”
The Dolphin-Lasers is a year-round USA Swimming competitive team. It’s a combination of the old and storied Little Rock Dolphins, and the more recent Lasers program. Its home pool is at UALR, and a few Cabot team members compete for the program on a year-round basis.
Skidmore would call Cabot’s Piranhas program less of a competitive team, and more like an instructional program.
“We’re kind of like a swim academy,” Skidmore said. “We have four coaches and some days we’ll focus on younger boys, or older girls. We spend time with individual groups and giving different people more focused training.”
The program also has a peewee team and a novice team for individuals who aren’t interested in competition, to go along with the Piranhas competitive squad.
But it’s not always all work at Piranhas’ practices. On Wednesdays, team members play water polo, and different equipment like flippers and kickboards are brought out for different activities.
“We want to make them better swimmers, but we want them to have fun with it too,” Skidmore said. “It’s really a program for any level you wish to be at. If you want to seriously compete, or if you just want to have fun and become a better recreational swimmer, we have something to offer.”
For more information about the Piranhas swim team, or to get involved, contact Dawn Beckley at cabotpiranhas@yahoo.com.
SPORTS >> Centennial juniors defeat Bruins
By CHAD MATCHETT
Special to The Leader
Sylvan Hills had some bad luck and the Cabot Centennial junior team took full advantage of that in a 5-0 win in American Legion action Friday night in Sherwood.
The game was a pitchers’ duel between Sylvan Hills’ 14-year-old Hunter Heslep and Cabot’s Lee Sullivan, with both pitchers dominating in different ways.
Unfortunately for Heslep and Sylvan Hills, it didn’t turn out to be a defensive duel as the Bruins committed four errors. Add in five walks and Cabot’s two hits were all it needed.
Meanwhile, Cabot was playing error-free defense with just one walk from Sullivan. The little lefty kept the Bruins off balance all night with great movement on his fastball, a sharp breaking curveball and a circle-change that seemed to stop and just run away from right-handed batter.
“Lee does a good job out there keeping the ball down and mixing up his pitches,” said Cabot coach Chris Gross. “His fastball has so much movement that sometimes right-handers just can’t reach it.”
Heslep is a more traditional looking, tall and lanky pitcher. Despite his young age, Heslep stays around 80 mph with his fastball to go with a hard curve.
“He’s young, but he’s going into the zone tournament as my number one,” said Sylvan Hills coach Chris Foor. “He’s really come a long way; it’s just too bad he didn’t have any help out there today, but that happens.”
Heslep threw four-and-a-third innings, giving up just one hit and striking out six.
Cabot held a 1-0 lead going into the top of the fifth when Cabot’s first two batters, Josh Dollarhide and Nick Thomas, reached on errors. Instead of two outs and nobody on, the Bruins faced two on with nobody out.
A sacrifice fly by Tristan Bulice scored Cabot’s first run of the game, while Devin Burke’s double made the score 2-0. Burke came around to score on a passed ball after stealing third.
Cabot’s Jonathan Latture walked and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning to set the final margin. Latture also walked and scored back in the second inning.
Sullivan went the distance on the mound for Cabot, pitching six innings and scattering five hits while striking out five. Burke’s double led Cabot. Charles Roberts led Sylvan Hills with a double, while Cody Hattabaugh and Reid Fawcett singled.
Special to The Leader
Sylvan Hills had some bad luck and the Cabot Centennial junior team took full advantage of that in a 5-0 win in American Legion action Friday night in Sherwood.
The game was a pitchers’ duel between Sylvan Hills’ 14-year-old Hunter Heslep and Cabot’s Lee Sullivan, with both pitchers dominating in different ways.
Unfortunately for Heslep and Sylvan Hills, it didn’t turn out to be a defensive duel as the Bruins committed four errors. Add in five walks and Cabot’s two hits were all it needed.
Meanwhile, Cabot was playing error-free defense with just one walk from Sullivan. The little lefty kept the Bruins off balance all night with great movement on his fastball, a sharp breaking curveball and a circle-change that seemed to stop and just run away from right-handed batter.
“Lee does a good job out there keeping the ball down and mixing up his pitches,” said Cabot coach Chris Gross. “His fastball has so much movement that sometimes right-handers just can’t reach it.”
Heslep is a more traditional looking, tall and lanky pitcher. Despite his young age, Heslep stays around 80 mph with his fastball to go with a hard curve.
“He’s young, but he’s going into the zone tournament as my number one,” said Sylvan Hills coach Chris Foor. “He’s really come a long way; it’s just too bad he didn’t have any help out there today, but that happens.”
Heslep threw four-and-a-third innings, giving up just one hit and striking out six.
Cabot held a 1-0 lead going into the top of the fifth when Cabot’s first two batters, Josh Dollarhide and Nick Thomas, reached on errors. Instead of two outs and nobody on, the Bruins faced two on with nobody out.
A sacrifice fly by Tristan Bulice scored Cabot’s first run of the game, while Devin Burke’s double made the score 2-0. Burke came around to score on a passed ball after stealing third.
Cabot’s Jonathan Latture walked and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning to set the final margin. Latture also walked and scored back in the second inning.
Sullivan went the distance on the mound for Cabot, pitching six innings and scattering five hits while striking out five. Burke’s double led Cabot. Charles Roberts led Sylvan Hills with a double, while Cody Hattabaugh and Reid Fawcett singled.
SPORTS >> Teenager cruises, takes checkered flag
By JASON KING
Special to The Leader
Dallas Everett gave himself the best graduation present a guy could ask for by winning the ninth-annual running of the Scrapp Fox Memorial modified race with a near flag-to-flag sweep of the top spot to collect the $1,500 first-place prize at Beebe Speedway on Friday.
Everett, a 17-year-old recent graduate of Beebe High School, proved to have the dominant car early on in his two heat races to earn the top-qualifier spot, and forced veteran drivers Mike Bowers and Casey Findley to run his race during the 30-lap feature.
Outside polesitter Donnie Stringfellow of Heber Springs held pace with Everett for the first two circuits, and led the second lap by half a car length before Everett took over the point and cruised to the checkers.
“I was just pretty much holding on to the bottom, and (thinking) don’t gas it too much,” Everett said. “Don’t bobble; keep your cool on restarts and everything else, because they’ll try to rattle your cage. You’ve just got to stay calm and get her done – hang around there on the bottom.”
Everett’s smooth, consistent run in the low line kept Bowers and Findley in constant search of a groove that would pull them back up to the young phenom, with no success. Bowers pushed by Stringfellow on lap 4 and stayed in the runner-up spot for the duration while Findley, who started sixth on the grid, had a lengthy battle with Stringfellow for third place until getting by just before a lap-15 caution for a three-car incident involving Randy Weaver, Keith Craft and Dustin Billingsley in turn two.
As the driver setting the pace on restarts, Everett brought his Marple’s Auto E26 machine to the line slowly and didn’t give in to the pressure behind him.
“They used to, but now, I’m just ready to race with them,” Everett said of being intimidated by more experienced drivers. “I’ve waited for this moment for a long time, and now I’m finally there.”
Greenbrier’s Lane Cullum finished behind the top three drivers with a quiet fourth-place performance. Cullum took fourth away from Stringfellow on lap 21 as a result of a four-car battle with Jon Stinson and Romance driver Todd Greer. Stringfellow finally settled in to finish fifth while Greer ran sixth and Chuck McGinty came on late to take seventh in the final rundown. Brint Hartwick finished eighth while Searcy’s Robert Davis and Cabot driver David Payne completed the top 10.
Five-time modified track champion and 2008 Scrapp Fox winner Weaver appeared to be on his way to salvaging a decent finish after mechanical woes plagued the Fox racing team the entire night. Weaver broke in hot laps and again in his first heat, and his F1 car appeared to have tremendous handling issues despite a third-place run in his invert heat.
That resulted in a B-main appearance where “The Big Show” advanced into the third and final transfer spot before pulling into the infield midway through.
Weaver took advantage of a track-champion’s provisional and entered his backup car shotgun in the 21-car field.
Once the backup hit the track, Weaver took off and began overtaking spots until he tried to thread the needle between Patrick Linn and the lapped car of Brad Buck entering turn three on lap 22.
Linn passed Stringfellow for fifth place on lap 20, and Weaver was close behind after using the outside line to pass McGinty, Stringfellow and Greer in half a lap. Weaver’s abundance of momentum finally backfired, however, as Linn got out of shape coming out of turn three and tried to correct his car in the line Weaver was already committed to running. That resulted in contact between the two cars, and Linn’s already unstable machine tumbled wheels up on the upper banking. He got out of the car alright, but the incident was enough for Weaver to retire himself from the event with what appeared to be minor damage.
For Linn, it was his second scary accident in the last three years after crashing straight into the wall with a hung throttle in the 2009 Scrapp Fox race.
And for Everett, the big victory made up for the disappointment of spinning out while leading the recent USCS modified event at Beebe two weeks ago. But Everett, now with five modified victories to his credit, was quick to point out that mechanical issues played a part in his misfortunes that night.
“Might I remind you that the reason I spun was because I hit a rut and broke the left-rear down,” Everett said. “So, I just wanted to clear that up.”
In other classes, Terry Brooks took the checkered flag in the factory-stock feature over Devon Andrews and Danny Garringer while Cabot’s Mike Burr won the mini-stock feature over Searcy driver Gaige Raines and Mike Millwood of Cabot.
Jeff Porterfield took a thrilling victory over Gravel Ridge driver Mike McDougale in the hobby-stock feature in a race that also had an on-track park and protest by driver Chad Isbell prior to the finish. Isbell disputed a lineup change prior to a restart and let his disgust be known to officials by leaving his 86 machine parked at the entrance of turn one as he walked into the pits.
Special to The Leader
Dallas Everett gave himself the best graduation present a guy could ask for by winning the ninth-annual running of the Scrapp Fox Memorial modified race with a near flag-to-flag sweep of the top spot to collect the $1,500 first-place prize at Beebe Speedway on Friday.
Everett, a 17-year-old recent graduate of Beebe High School, proved to have the dominant car early on in his two heat races to earn the top-qualifier spot, and forced veteran drivers Mike Bowers and Casey Findley to run his race during the 30-lap feature.
Outside polesitter Donnie Stringfellow of Heber Springs held pace with Everett for the first two circuits, and led the second lap by half a car length before Everett took over the point and cruised to the checkers.
“I was just pretty much holding on to the bottom, and (thinking) don’t gas it too much,” Everett said. “Don’t bobble; keep your cool on restarts and everything else, because they’ll try to rattle your cage. You’ve just got to stay calm and get her done – hang around there on the bottom.”
Everett’s smooth, consistent run in the low line kept Bowers and Findley in constant search of a groove that would pull them back up to the young phenom, with no success. Bowers pushed by Stringfellow on lap 4 and stayed in the runner-up spot for the duration while Findley, who started sixth on the grid, had a lengthy battle with Stringfellow for third place until getting by just before a lap-15 caution for a three-car incident involving Randy Weaver, Keith Craft and Dustin Billingsley in turn two.
As the driver setting the pace on restarts, Everett brought his Marple’s Auto E26 machine to the line slowly and didn’t give in to the pressure behind him.
“They used to, but now, I’m just ready to race with them,” Everett said of being intimidated by more experienced drivers. “I’ve waited for this moment for a long time, and now I’m finally there.”
Greenbrier’s Lane Cullum finished behind the top three drivers with a quiet fourth-place performance. Cullum took fourth away from Stringfellow on lap 21 as a result of a four-car battle with Jon Stinson and Romance driver Todd Greer. Stringfellow finally settled in to finish fifth while Greer ran sixth and Chuck McGinty came on late to take seventh in the final rundown. Brint Hartwick finished eighth while Searcy’s Robert Davis and Cabot driver David Payne completed the top 10.
Five-time modified track champion and 2008 Scrapp Fox winner Weaver appeared to be on his way to salvaging a decent finish after mechanical woes plagued the Fox racing team the entire night. Weaver broke in hot laps and again in his first heat, and his F1 car appeared to have tremendous handling issues despite a third-place run in his invert heat.
That resulted in a B-main appearance where “The Big Show” advanced into the third and final transfer spot before pulling into the infield midway through.
Weaver took advantage of a track-champion’s provisional and entered his backup car shotgun in the 21-car field.
Once the backup hit the track, Weaver took off and began overtaking spots until he tried to thread the needle between Patrick Linn and the lapped car of Brad Buck entering turn three on lap 22.
Linn passed Stringfellow for fifth place on lap 20, and Weaver was close behind after using the outside line to pass McGinty, Stringfellow and Greer in half a lap. Weaver’s abundance of momentum finally backfired, however, as Linn got out of shape coming out of turn three and tried to correct his car in the line Weaver was already committed to running. That resulted in contact between the two cars, and Linn’s already unstable machine tumbled wheels up on the upper banking. He got out of the car alright, but the incident was enough for Weaver to retire himself from the event with what appeared to be minor damage.
For Linn, it was his second scary accident in the last three years after crashing straight into the wall with a hung throttle in the 2009 Scrapp Fox race.
And for Everett, the big victory made up for the disappointment of spinning out while leading the recent USCS modified event at Beebe two weeks ago. But Everett, now with five modified victories to his credit, was quick to point out that mechanical issues played a part in his misfortunes that night.
“Might I remind you that the reason I spun was because I hit a rut and broke the left-rear down,” Everett said. “So, I just wanted to clear that up.”
In other classes, Terry Brooks took the checkered flag in the factory-stock feature over Devon Andrews and Danny Garringer while Cabot’s Mike Burr won the mini-stock feature over Searcy driver Gaige Raines and Mike Millwood of Cabot.
Jeff Porterfield took a thrilling victory over Gravel Ridge driver Mike McDougale in the hobby-stock feature in a race that also had an on-track park and protest by driver Chad Isbell prior to the finish. Isbell disputed a lineup change prior to a restart and let his disgust be known to officials by leaving his 86 machine parked at the entrance of turn one as he walked into the pits.
SPORTS >> Cabot defense spurs victory over Conway
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The bats weren’t working, but the pitching and fielding were, and it was enough to lead Cabot’s Centennial Bank senior team to a 2-1 victory over the Conway Cougars on Monday night at the Cabot city park.
Conway’s fielding left a lot to be desired. Cabot scored only one unearned run, but it was all Cabot pitcher Chipper Morris needed. Morris went the distance, giving up eight base hits. He struck out just two in the first five innings, but grew stronger in the final two, fanning four more in the last two, including striking out the side in the sixth, to secure the one-run lead and the win.
Cabot fill-in coach Craig Niborg was impressed with Morris’ performance.
“He wasn’t even scheduled to pitch tonight,” Niborg said. “The guy who was said he didn’t think he was quite ready to go. Chipper stepped in there, said he could do it, so we put him on the mound. I didn’t expect him to throw the whole game, but he did a good job of getting the pop ups and the strikeouts when he needed them. And Andrew (Reynolds) did a great job of throwing a couple of runners out that got on base.”
In the second inning, Reynolds caught a lone runner trying to steal second for the second out, but the big one came in the final frame with Conway trying to rally.
The Cougars put together back-to-back, one-out base hits, but Reynolds got the speedy Conway leadoff hitter at second for the second out. The very next batter grounded out to third to end the game.
Morris pitched out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the fourth, Conway put runners on second and third with no outs. Morris got a ground out to first base, where Casey Vaughan was playing in and kept the runner at third from advancing.
The next batter popped foul down the first baseline, between first and home. Reynolds made the catch for the second out.
Home plate was left uncovered, but the Conway runner failed to seize the opportunity to score. Morris struck out the next batter to end the threat.
The next inning, Conway got three straight base hits to load the bases with one out. A groundout to short scored a run, and a fly ball to right field ended the inning.
Cabot’s two runs came in the third. Matt Evans walked and Morris laid a bunt down the first baseline that should have been a sacrifice to advance the runner, but no one covered first. No one covered third either, allowing Evans to advance all the way to third on the bunt. Brandon Surdam then hit a fly ball to right field deep enough to score Evans.
Reynolds walked to put runners on first and second. Tyler Erickson then grounded to short for what might’ve been an inning-ending double play, but the shortstop flubbed the play, allowing Morris to score for the 2-0 Cabot lead.
Dillon Wilson then laid down a bunt and Conway again failed to cover the corners, leaving everyone safe, but Vaughan hit into a 5-4-1 double play that got Conway out of the jam.
The two runs in the fourth were the last Cabot threat. The Centennial squad’s last nine batters from the fourth through the sixth went down in order.
The win, combined with a weekend loss at Russellville on Saturday, leaves Cabot 10-6 overall and 4-2 against Zone 3 competition. Cabot was scheduled to play Sylvan Hills last night after Leader deadlines, and begins play in the Jacksonville Fourth of July Classic at 5:30 today against Sheridan. Look for details of those games in Saturday’s Leader.
The bats weren’t working, but the pitching and fielding were, and it was enough to lead Cabot’s Centennial Bank senior team to a 2-1 victory over the Conway Cougars on Monday night at the Cabot city park.
Conway’s fielding left a lot to be desired. Cabot scored only one unearned run, but it was all Cabot pitcher Chipper Morris needed. Morris went the distance, giving up eight base hits. He struck out just two in the first five innings, but grew stronger in the final two, fanning four more in the last two, including striking out the side in the sixth, to secure the one-run lead and the win.
Cabot fill-in coach Craig Niborg was impressed with Morris’ performance.
“He wasn’t even scheduled to pitch tonight,” Niborg said. “The guy who was said he didn’t think he was quite ready to go. Chipper stepped in there, said he could do it, so we put him on the mound. I didn’t expect him to throw the whole game, but he did a good job of getting the pop ups and the strikeouts when he needed them. And Andrew (Reynolds) did a great job of throwing a couple of runners out that got on base.”
In the second inning, Reynolds caught a lone runner trying to steal second for the second out, but the big one came in the final frame with Conway trying to rally.
The Cougars put together back-to-back, one-out base hits, but Reynolds got the speedy Conway leadoff hitter at second for the second out. The very next batter grounded out to third to end the game.
Morris pitched out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the fourth, Conway put runners on second and third with no outs. Morris got a ground out to first base, where Casey Vaughan was playing in and kept the runner at third from advancing.
The next batter popped foul down the first baseline, between first and home. Reynolds made the catch for the second out.
Home plate was left uncovered, but the Conway runner failed to seize the opportunity to score. Morris struck out the next batter to end the threat.
The next inning, Conway got three straight base hits to load the bases with one out. A groundout to short scored a run, and a fly ball to right field ended the inning.
Cabot’s two runs came in the third. Matt Evans walked and Morris laid a bunt down the first baseline that should have been a sacrifice to advance the runner, but no one covered first. No one covered third either, allowing Evans to advance all the way to third on the bunt. Brandon Surdam then hit a fly ball to right field deep enough to score Evans.
Reynolds walked to put runners on first and second. Tyler Erickson then grounded to short for what might’ve been an inning-ending double play, but the shortstop flubbed the play, allowing Morris to score for the 2-0 Cabot lead.
Dillon Wilson then laid down a bunt and Conway again failed to cover the corners, leaving everyone safe, but Vaughan hit into a 5-4-1 double play that got Conway out of the jam.
The two runs in the fourth were the last Cabot threat. The Centennial squad’s last nine batters from the fourth through the sixth went down in order.
The win, combined with a weekend loss at Russellville on Saturday, leaves Cabot 10-6 overall and 4-2 against Zone 3 competition. Cabot was scheduled to play Sylvan Hills last night after Leader deadlines, and begins play in the Jacksonville Fourth of July Classic at 5:30 today against Sheridan. Look for details of those games in Saturday’s Leader.
SPORTS >> Jacksonville gets revenge
By CHAD MATCHETT
Special to The Leader
The Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet AAA American Legion team put it all together Monday night in an 8-0 mercy killing of a very tough North Little Rock Colts squad.
Jesse Harbin pitched a gem on the mound, the defense made some great plays behind him and the offense flexed its muscles with a pair of homers.
“That was a real big win for us,” said Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham. “We hit the baseball better tonight and that was really the key for us.”
The win still wasn’t enough to get the Chevy Boys back into first place because of an 8-0 loss to Russellville on Saturday. Jacksonville had just beaten Russellville 13-0 earlier in the week before dropping the mercy-rule loss at home this weekend.
“Just one of those games,” Hickingbotham said. “We just couldn’t hit the ball for some reason.
The Chevy Boys got all the runs they needed Monday with one swing in the bottom of the first inning.Kenny Cummings came up with one out and launched a no-doubter over the wall in left center for a solo homer. The outfielders didn’t bother taking more than a step toward the ball as it cleared everything quickly and easily.
Gwatney’s starting pitcher Harbin had set the tone in the top of the first for the way he would pitch the whole game.
Harbin worked quickly and fanned the side around a seeing-eye single.
Harbin finished with a complete six innings pitched, giving up just two hits while striking out eight and walking two. Harbin didn’t have to worry about pitching the seventh when Jacksonville scored in the bottom of the sixth to win by the eight-after-five rule.
“Jesse was just outstanding tonight and he’s been that way almost every time out there,” Hickingbotham said. “He got in a good rhythm hitting his spots. He’s been doing that all season. He’s a good one.”
Jacksonville broke the game open in the third inning when the Colts’ pitcher couldn’t find the plate and got knocked around when he did.
The inning looked like a disaster to start with after Chris McClendon was hit by a pitch to lead off the third. The top of the order, Jacob Abrahamson and Cummings, both had come backers to the pitcher. The first got McClendon to second, but Cummings’ hit was too hard and McClendon was thrown out at third for the second out.
That’s when things started getting interesting.
Patrick Castleberry and Harbin both walked, setting up Colt Harmon for a two-run single. Nick Rodriguez walked, followed by back-to-back singles from Brown and Alex Tucker, as Jacksonville took a 6-0 lead.
Castleberry came back up in the fourth inning with a solo homer to push Gwatney’s lead to 7-0.
Cummings led the way on offense, going 2 for 3 with a single, homer, walk and three runs. Harmon had a pair of singles and three RBIs in the win.
The Gwatney Chevrolet junior American Legion team has had some ups and downs this season, but that is to be expected with a team using several players fresh out of the 8th grade.
Monday night was one of the big ups of the year, with a come-from-behind, 9-5 win over the Colts.
A few singles sprinkled with an error each of the first three innings had the junior Chevy Boys down 5-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. That score could have been worse, but Gwatney was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fourth thanks to an inning-ending double play.
Jacksonville turned it around in the fourth with the two batters leading off the inning being hit by a pitch, followed by a walk to Greg Jones to load the bases.
A pair of strikeouts made it look like the Colts might get out of the inning, but a walk to Derek St. Claire forced in Jacksonville’s first run of the evening.
Back at the top of the order, Troy Allen roped a double that cleared the bases and cut North Little Rock’s lead to 5-4. Alex Broadwell tied the game with an RBI single, followed by what turned out to be the game-winning RBI on a triple by Austin Allen.
Josh Cook came in to pitch relief and slammed the door in the top of the fifth, allowing Jacksonville to bat until time was called in the bottom of the inning. Another walk to begin the inning was followed by singles from Jones and Tyler Mogish.
All three would score in the inning after a pair of walks and an RBI single by St. Claire to set the final margin at 9-5.
Broadwell led Jacksonville with two singles, while Troy Allen did the damage with four RBIs in the contest.
Special to The Leader
The Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet AAA American Legion team put it all together Monday night in an 8-0 mercy killing of a very tough North Little Rock Colts squad.
Jesse Harbin pitched a gem on the mound, the defense made some great plays behind him and the offense flexed its muscles with a pair of homers.
“That was a real big win for us,” said Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham. “We hit the baseball better tonight and that was really the key for us.”
The win still wasn’t enough to get the Chevy Boys back into first place because of an 8-0 loss to Russellville on Saturday. Jacksonville had just beaten Russellville 13-0 earlier in the week before dropping the mercy-rule loss at home this weekend.
“Just one of those games,” Hickingbotham said. “We just couldn’t hit the ball for some reason.
The Chevy Boys got all the runs they needed Monday with one swing in the bottom of the first inning.Kenny Cummings came up with one out and launched a no-doubter over the wall in left center for a solo homer. The outfielders didn’t bother taking more than a step toward the ball as it cleared everything quickly and easily.
Gwatney’s starting pitcher Harbin had set the tone in the top of the first for the way he would pitch the whole game.
Harbin worked quickly and fanned the side around a seeing-eye single.
Harbin finished with a complete six innings pitched, giving up just two hits while striking out eight and walking two. Harbin didn’t have to worry about pitching the seventh when Jacksonville scored in the bottom of the sixth to win by the eight-after-five rule.
“Jesse was just outstanding tonight and he’s been that way almost every time out there,” Hickingbotham said. “He got in a good rhythm hitting his spots. He’s been doing that all season. He’s a good one.”
Jacksonville broke the game open in the third inning when the Colts’ pitcher couldn’t find the plate and got knocked around when he did.
The inning looked like a disaster to start with after Chris McClendon was hit by a pitch to lead off the third. The top of the order, Jacob Abrahamson and Cummings, both had come backers to the pitcher. The first got McClendon to second, but Cummings’ hit was too hard and McClendon was thrown out at third for the second out.
That’s when things started getting interesting.
Patrick Castleberry and Harbin both walked, setting up Colt Harmon for a two-run single. Nick Rodriguez walked, followed by back-to-back singles from Brown and Alex Tucker, as Jacksonville took a 6-0 lead.
Castleberry came back up in the fourth inning with a solo homer to push Gwatney’s lead to 7-0.
Cummings led the way on offense, going 2 for 3 with a single, homer, walk and three runs. Harmon had a pair of singles and three RBIs in the win.
The Gwatney Chevrolet junior American Legion team has had some ups and downs this season, but that is to be expected with a team using several players fresh out of the 8th grade.
Monday night was one of the big ups of the year, with a come-from-behind, 9-5 win over the Colts.
A few singles sprinkled with an error each of the first three innings had the junior Chevy Boys down 5-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. That score could have been worse, but Gwatney was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fourth thanks to an inning-ending double play.
Jacksonville turned it around in the fourth with the two batters leading off the inning being hit by a pitch, followed by a walk to Greg Jones to load the bases.
A pair of strikeouts made it look like the Colts might get out of the inning, but a walk to Derek St. Claire forced in Jacksonville’s first run of the evening.
Back at the top of the order, Troy Allen roped a double that cleared the bases and cut North Little Rock’s lead to 5-4. Alex Broadwell tied the game with an RBI single, followed by what turned out to be the game-winning RBI on a triple by Austin Allen.
Josh Cook came in to pitch relief and slammed the door in the top of the fifth, allowing Jacksonville to bat until time was called in the bottom of the inning. Another walk to begin the inning was followed by singles from Jones and Tyler Mogish.
All three would score in the inning after a pair of walks and an RBI single by St. Claire to set the final margin at 9-5.
Broadwell led Jacksonville with two singles, while Troy Allen did the damage with four RBIs in the contest.
Friday, June 24, 2011
EDITORIAL >>Greedy truckers want a free ride
It would not be the first time that the Arkansas Legislature has been rolled by a big monied interest. You do not have enough digits to count all the instances, if only for the past decade. Legislators get rolled joyfully, as long as it is by the big boys. But Gov. Beebe? He was supposed to be cagier.
The Arkansas Bus and Truck Association, the lobbying organ for the trucking industry, asked the governor the other day not to call a special election on a five-cent-a-gallon diesel tax because its poll showed that Arkansas voters were firmly opposed to taxing the big trucks that tear up the major thoroughfares, which it said would make a special election a waste.
But they want the governor and the legislature to leave alone the big tax cut for the industry that it negotiated with the legislature this spring. The tax cut—elimination of the sales tax on big tractor rigs and trailers—was a quid-pro-quo deal. The industry would support the little diesel tax in exchange for rolling back the sales tax on big rigs. The legislature and the governor said fine. The law allows the governor to schedule a special election on the diesel tax, and if it passes, the state will issue bonds to repair and expand the system of primary highways that the interstate trucks use.
The Bus and Truck Association says it’s still willing to pay a nickel a gallon more for the diesel they burn (farmers would be exempt from it), but that the voters just won’t stand for it and it doesn’t think a marketing campaign would convince them. But it still needs the tax exemption and wants it to stand.
Beebe said it was no deal. If there is to be no diesel tax, he will ask the legislature to repeal the tax exemption, too. Ordinary people still have to pay sales and use taxes on their vehicles.
Even the tax-cutting Republicans who pushed the tax exemption for the truckers, one of a half-dozen tax cuts for business they rammed through the legislature, say they probably would vote to repeal the exemption. They still would like for the trucks not to have to pay taxes but they said that was the deal and that both sides ought to stick to it. Good for them.
As for the poll on the diesel tax, we think it is bogus. Polls can be finessed to show what the sponsors want them to show. Here are two indisputable facts: Most people want their highways improved and they know that the damage is caused primarily by heavy tractor-trailers. It could be that the anti-tax hysteria stirred up by the Republicans makes everyone want to oppose any kind of tax on anyone, including tax-dodging billionaires and corporations and road-pounding trucks, but we think voters are more discerning than that.
Call the election, governor, and see if the industry is sincere about supporting a tax on its fuel. If the tax does fail, see if the legislature is principled enough to enforce the deal on the tax exemption.
—Ernie Dumas
The Arkansas Bus and Truck Association, the lobbying organ for the trucking industry, asked the governor the other day not to call a special election on a five-cent-a-gallon diesel tax because its poll showed that Arkansas voters were firmly opposed to taxing the big trucks that tear up the major thoroughfares, which it said would make a special election a waste.
But they want the governor and the legislature to leave alone the big tax cut for the industry that it negotiated with the legislature this spring. The tax cut—elimination of the sales tax on big tractor rigs and trailers—was a quid-pro-quo deal. The industry would support the little diesel tax in exchange for rolling back the sales tax on big rigs. The legislature and the governor said fine. The law allows the governor to schedule a special election on the diesel tax, and if it passes, the state will issue bonds to repair and expand the system of primary highways that the interstate trucks use.
The Bus and Truck Association says it’s still willing to pay a nickel a gallon more for the diesel they burn (farmers would be exempt from it), but that the voters just won’t stand for it and it doesn’t think a marketing campaign would convince them. But it still needs the tax exemption and wants it to stand.
Beebe said it was no deal. If there is to be no diesel tax, he will ask the legislature to repeal the tax exemption, too. Ordinary people still have to pay sales and use taxes on their vehicles.
Even the tax-cutting Republicans who pushed the tax exemption for the truckers, one of a half-dozen tax cuts for business they rammed through the legislature, say they probably would vote to repeal the exemption. They still would like for the trucks not to have to pay taxes but they said that was the deal and that both sides ought to stick to it. Good for them.
As for the poll on the diesel tax, we think it is bogus. Polls can be finessed to show what the sponsors want them to show. Here are two indisputable facts: Most people want their highways improved and they know that the damage is caused primarily by heavy tractor-trailers. It could be that the anti-tax hysteria stirred up by the Republicans makes everyone want to oppose any kind of tax on anyone, including tax-dodging billionaires and corporations and road-pounding trucks, but we think voters are more discerning than that.
Call the election, governor, and see if the industry is sincere about supporting a tax on its fuel. If the tax does fail, see if the legislature is principled enough to enforce the deal on the tax exemption.
—Ernie Dumas
EDITORIAL >>Troubles not over
The sense of relief was almost tangible when the state announced this week that it was taking over the Pulaski County Special School District, dismissing the school board and firing the superintendent. Charles Hopson, the relatively new superintendent, was making some strides in getting the schools out of the fiscal morass and educational confusion that had marked the school district for much of a decade, but the legacy was evident and inescapable. The state’s action seemed only late. If it had acted two years ago, the children and patrons of the schools might have been spared the harm.
Events conspired to make it all seem divinely provident. The state Education Department hired solid old Bobby Lester to be the interim superintendent and get the new school term under way with a minimum of waste and rancor. He will do that. Almost simultaneously, the 8th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed a federal district court order that would have robbed the schools of important funding and refused to speed the timetable for an appeal. That is likely to continue the state desegregation funding for at least the school year.
But our troubles are not over. The state will not work miracles, and it may not come even as close as Charles Hopson did in his short span at the helm. Even the little matter of Hopson’s contract may not be settled, though the state school commissioner said the state did not have to abide by contracts negotiated by the old school board and administration. The state maintains that it has sovereign immunity and cannot be sued for breach of contract, either for the superintendent’s salary or for abrogation of other contracts, such as the collective-bargaining agreements with school workers. This may be unsettled law. The state, after all, is not the father of the contracts and is acting only as a fiduciary for the district government, which did negotiate them. The state may not be able to save the money that was protected by the contracts.
The appellate court is not apt to disrupt funding in the middle of a school year, even if it finds that District Judge Brian Miller was right in canceling virtually the entire desegregation-funding agreement between the state and the three Pulaski County school districts. If it does so rule, the judgment is likely to be prospective, at the end of the 2011-12 school and fiscal year.
Judge Miller, we believe, was manifestly wrong in rendering a decision on issues that had not even been studied, briefed and argued in his court. Unless it departs from precedents, the appeals court will return the case to him next year with instructions to follow the rules of procedure.
But the school districts are on notice, as they have been all along, that they must plan and negotiate a way out of the 25-year-old case and the schools’ dependency on $70 million of state assistance. How can the Pulaski district do that when it is run by the state, which is on the other side in that long dispute? The state negotiate with itself? Save your hallelujahs.
Events conspired to make it all seem divinely provident. The state Education Department hired solid old Bobby Lester to be the interim superintendent and get the new school term under way with a minimum of waste and rancor. He will do that. Almost simultaneously, the 8th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed a federal district court order that would have robbed the schools of important funding and refused to speed the timetable for an appeal. That is likely to continue the state desegregation funding for at least the school year.
But our troubles are not over. The state will not work miracles, and it may not come even as close as Charles Hopson did in his short span at the helm. Even the little matter of Hopson’s contract may not be settled, though the state school commissioner said the state did not have to abide by contracts negotiated by the old school board and administration. The state maintains that it has sovereign immunity and cannot be sued for breach of contract, either for the superintendent’s salary or for abrogation of other contracts, such as the collective-bargaining agreements with school workers. This may be unsettled law. The state, after all, is not the father of the contracts and is acting only as a fiduciary for the district government, which did negotiate them. The state may not be able to save the money that was protected by the contracts.
The appellate court is not apt to disrupt funding in the middle of a school year, even if it finds that District Judge Brian Miller was right in canceling virtually the entire desegregation-funding agreement between the state and the three Pulaski County school districts. If it does so rule, the judgment is likely to be prospective, at the end of the 2011-12 school and fiscal year.
Judge Miller, we believe, was manifestly wrong in rendering a decision on issues that had not even been studied, briefed and argued in his court. Unless it departs from precedents, the appeals court will return the case to him next year with instructions to follow the rules of procedure.
But the school districts are on notice, as they have been all along, that they must plan and negotiate a way out of the 25-year-old case and the schools’ dependency on $70 million of state assistance. How can the Pulaski district do that when it is run by the state, which is on the other side in that long dispute? The state negotiate with itself? Save your hallelujahs.
TOP STORY > >Cabot middle school given top recognition
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
Last year, Cabot Middle School North was listed among the top 20 schools in the state, and this week, representatives from the school are in Washington, where the school is being recognized as one of 100 schools to watch by a national organization.
“Each school was selected by state leaders for its academic excellence, its responsiveness to the needs and interests of young adolescents, and its commitment to helping all students achieve at high levels,” Deborah Kasak, executive director of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, said in a recent press release. “In addition, each school has strong leadership, teachers who work together to improve curriculum and instruction, and a commitment to assessment and accountability to bring aboutcontinuous improvement.”
“We are very proud of CMSN being named a top school not only in Arkansas but one of the better schools in the nation,” Dr. Tony Thurman, superintendent of Cabot School District, said about the recognition. “This is a credit to the administration, teachers and especially the students of CMSN who have worked so hard to prove that they are deserving of the recognition they’ve received.”
But when Thurman talks about CMSN, he always includes his frustration with the state’s system of grading schools.
“Ironically, CMSN is also a school designated as ‘in need of improvement’ by the state. Our district is very supportive of being held accountable for student achievement but has advocated for a better method of measuring the overall academic success of students,” he said.
The testing that placed Middle School North on the improvement list came out of the federal No Child Left Behind law that says all students must score proficient by 2014.
CMSN is on the improvement list because of its subpopulation of special-education students who did not make adequate yearly progress.
When a school has 40 or more special-education students, they are considered a subpopulation and that subpopulation is required to meet the adequate yearly progress set by the state just like the rest of the student body, Thurman said. If it doesn’t, the whole school goes on the school improvement list.
The threshold of 40 automatically penalizes larger schools, Thurman told The Leader last year after his unsuccessful attempt to get CMSN off that list.
Smaller schools have smaller numbers of special-education students so their scores are averaged in with all the other students, thereby keeping the school score higher.
But Middle School North is further penalized because it so exceeded the expectation for adequate yearly progress in its first year on the improvement list that it couldn’t make sufficient progress in its second year, he said.
If the staff and students hadn’t worked quite so hard when CMSN was first placed on the list, it would likely be off that list now, Thurman says. Scores for the subpopulation improved 35 percent in the first two years, he said.
The state requirement is a minimum of 10 percent improvement each year for three years.
Leader staff writer
Last year, Cabot Middle School North was listed among the top 20 schools in the state, and this week, representatives from the school are in Washington, where the school is being recognized as one of 100 schools to watch by a national organization.
“Each school was selected by state leaders for its academic excellence, its responsiveness to the needs and interests of young adolescents, and its commitment to helping all students achieve at high levels,” Deborah Kasak, executive director of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, said in a recent press release. “In addition, each school has strong leadership, teachers who work together to improve curriculum and instruction, and a commitment to assessment and accountability to bring aboutcontinuous improvement.”
“We are very proud of CMSN being named a top school not only in Arkansas but one of the better schools in the nation,” Dr. Tony Thurman, superintendent of Cabot School District, said about the recognition. “This is a credit to the administration, teachers and especially the students of CMSN who have worked so hard to prove that they are deserving of the recognition they’ve received.”
But when Thurman talks about CMSN, he always includes his frustration with the state’s system of grading schools.
“Ironically, CMSN is also a school designated as ‘in need of improvement’ by the state. Our district is very supportive of being held accountable for student achievement but has advocated for a better method of measuring the overall academic success of students,” he said.
The testing that placed Middle School North on the improvement list came out of the federal No Child Left Behind law that says all students must score proficient by 2014.
CMSN is on the improvement list because of its subpopulation of special-education students who did not make adequate yearly progress.
When a school has 40 or more special-education students, they are considered a subpopulation and that subpopulation is required to meet the adequate yearly progress set by the state just like the rest of the student body, Thurman said. If it doesn’t, the whole school goes on the school improvement list.
The threshold of 40 automatically penalizes larger schools, Thurman told The Leader last year after his unsuccessful attempt to get CMSN off that list.
Smaller schools have smaller numbers of special-education students so their scores are averaged in with all the other students, thereby keeping the school score higher.
But Middle School North is further penalized because it so exceeded the expectation for adequate yearly progress in its first year on the improvement list that it couldn’t make sufficient progress in its second year, he said.
If the staff and students hadn’t worked quite so hard when CMSN was first placed on the list, it would likely be off that list now, Thurman says. Scores for the subpopulation improved 35 percent in the first two years, he said.
The state requirement is a minimum of 10 percent improvement each year for three years.
TOP STORY > >Crossett’s principal heads JHS
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Jacksonville High School will get a new principal in the fall—the fourth in about two years—but this one calls the move “coming home” and plans to stay.
But the head spot for Jacksonville Middle School remains open.
The new high school principal, Henry Anderson, is leaving his position as Crossett High School principal to take the Jacksonville post.
At the same time, Karl Brown—who was on a one-year contract with the former Pulaski County Special School District superintendent as a director and liaison between the high school and central office—did not have his contract extended and is no longer with the district.
“I’m looking forward to getting back home,” Anderson said on the telephone Friday afternoon in between teary goodbyes with his staff. “I really hate leaving Crossett, but I see Jacksonville High as an opportunity to make some of the same positive changes that we’ve been able to achieve here.”
Anderson started his teaching career with PCSSD, teaching English and Spanish at Fuller Middle School. He then went to work with the technology department and was responsible for most of the Jacksonville schools.
Anderson also worked as an assistant principal at Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School and served as a department chair at the Arkansas School for Math, Science and the Arts in Hot Springs.
He was hired as Crossett High’s principal in the late spring of 2009.
Anderson said leaving Cros-sett will be difficult, but the opportunity to meet a new challenge, and family considerations helped sway his decision. He spent most of Friday interviewing and filling vacancies at Crossett High and said he’d start his move to central Arkansas next week.
First on his agenda, Anderson said, will be to get to know the staff, review the test scores and become more familiar with a grant, worth up to $6 million, that Jacksonville High School is receiving to help improve student achievement.
Anderson grew up in the Little Rock area and relocated to Georgia after joining the Army Reserves and serving in Central America and Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Anderson also has an education-specialist degree in education leadership and is two years away from his doctorate, which he is studying for at Harding University.
North Pulaski High School and Northwood Middle School will have the same leadership as they did last school year—Jeff Senn at North Pulaski and Dr. Kirk Freeman at Northwood.
Tracy Allen is coming over from the North Little Rock School District to be the principal of Sylvan Hills High School, and Jo Wilcox will continue as principal of Sylvan Hills Middle School but will be in the new $32 million facility come this fall.
The Ashley News Observer contributed to this report.
Leader staff writer
Jacksonville High School will get a new principal in the fall—the fourth in about two years—but this one calls the move “coming home” and plans to stay.
But the head spot for Jacksonville Middle School remains open.
The new high school principal, Henry Anderson, is leaving his position as Crossett High School principal to take the Jacksonville post.
At the same time, Karl Brown—who was on a one-year contract with the former Pulaski County Special School District superintendent as a director and liaison between the high school and central office—did not have his contract extended and is no longer with the district.
“I’m looking forward to getting back home,” Anderson said on the telephone Friday afternoon in between teary goodbyes with his staff. “I really hate leaving Crossett, but I see Jacksonville High as an opportunity to make some of the same positive changes that we’ve been able to achieve here.”
Anderson started his teaching career with PCSSD, teaching English and Spanish at Fuller Middle School. He then went to work with the technology department and was responsible for most of the Jacksonville schools.
Anderson also worked as an assistant principal at Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School and served as a department chair at the Arkansas School for Math, Science and the Arts in Hot Springs.
He was hired as Crossett High’s principal in the late spring of 2009.
Anderson said leaving Cros-sett will be difficult, but the opportunity to meet a new challenge, and family considerations helped sway his decision. He spent most of Friday interviewing and filling vacancies at Crossett High and said he’d start his move to central Arkansas next week.
First on his agenda, Anderson said, will be to get to know the staff, review the test scores and become more familiar with a grant, worth up to $6 million, that Jacksonville High School is receiving to help improve student achievement.
Anderson grew up in the Little Rock area and relocated to Georgia after joining the Army Reserves and serving in Central America and Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Anderson also has an education-specialist degree in education leadership and is two years away from his doctorate, which he is studying for at Harding University.
North Pulaski High School and Northwood Middle School will have the same leadership as they did last school year—Jeff Senn at North Pulaski and Dr. Kirk Freeman at Northwood.
Tracy Allen is coming over from the North Little Rock School District to be the principal of Sylvan Hills High School, and Jo Wilcox will continue as principal of Sylvan Hills Middle School but will be in the new $32 million facility come this fall.
The Ashley News Observer contributed to this report.
TOP STORY > >Sherwood school nears completion
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Most of the $31.5 million budgeted for Sylvan Hills Middle School in Sherwood has been spent and the school is on track to open in August after the Education Department told the Pulaski County Special School District to finish the nearly completed facility.
But Derek Scott, chief operating officer for PCSSD, said the fate of new construction projects, such as the three new schools planned for Jacksonville, remains unclear while the state Education Department is in control of the district.
“Our main focus and main priority is to get schools open and in a better condition than when they closed for the 2010-11 school year,” Scott said. “At some point after that, the new superintendent in coordination with the ADE (Arkansas Department of Education) will determine what our future construction plans look like.”
Scott said projects for which bids have already been awarded won’t be delayed.
He added that it wouldn’t savemoney to put a hold on already-under way construction. Once a bid is awarded, the district has a legal contract with a company to pay for work done, usually in installments based on how much progress is made with a percentage withheld as a precaution in case work is completely done by final inspection.
Scott also said the cost, in the long run, would be greater if a project was stopped and resumed later.
As for the 189,000-square-foot facility on 44 acres off Johnson Road in Sherwood, two pods will be open for classes in August. A pod is an area with its own lobby, bathrooms, classrooms and more. Each grade level — sixth, seventh and eighth — will have a pod.
Half the eighth-graders will go to the sixth-grade pod and half will go to the seventh-grade pod until the third pod is completed in October.
The capacity of the two pods that will be completed by the time school starts is about 800 and Principal Jo Wilcox has told Scott she expects about that many students to be enrolled this fall.
When finished, the facility could house up to about 1,320, Scott said.
Former board member and Sherwood resident Gloria Lawrence said, “I’m excited and can hardly wait for it to open. It’s something Sherwood can be proud of.”
Scott emphasized that the project is within budget and on track, despite an electric subcontractor walking off the job and issues with the site.
He said Baldwin and Shell have been “working miracles” to stay on schedule. The company found an “awesome” replacement for the subcontractor who fixed problems the other left and caught up on the work.
The site was found to have a lot of rock in the dirt. Baldwin and Shell sifted that soil and used the rock to build up the low part of the hill, Scott said.
The $31.5 million is a guaranteed maximum price from the construction company, so these bumps in the road didn’t cause the project to go over budget.
Finishing touches and things cited in the initial inspection are being completed now. Furniture will be delivered in mid-July.
Sylvan Hills Middle School at 401 Dee Jay Hudson Drive in Sherwood, which will be closed when the new building opens, was built in the 1950s and is one of the oldest schools in the district.
The main advantages of the new facility will be its size and its capacity to accommodate more technology, such as the campus supporting wireless Internet, having three computer labs (0ne for each pod), Promethean-brand interactive whiteboards, iPads, a classroom set of laptops for teachers to check in and out and a desktop computer for every teacher.
Derrick Brown, chief information officer for PCSSD, said all orders have been placed and that equipment will be delivered in mid-July. The state takeover has not affected the school receiving any of those items.
“This school as well as Maumelle High School will have the fastest Internet service on the statewide Department of Information Systems network. Ninety-five percent of (Arkansas) schools have Internet through that.”
He added that the service at these facilities will set a standard for other schools later.
The new $62 million Maumelle High School that can hold up to 1,500 students is also on schedule and within budget. The school will be open for classes this fall, but the auditorium will not be completed in mid-November.
Construction of both the auditorium and the school’s stadium were bid out separately from the school and construction of the stadium won’t be finished by August.
Students will miss the first two home games of the season, but Scott said it was a necessary sacrifice.
“The delay of the award of the stadium was the right move to make sure the overall project was on budget,” Brown added.
Leader staff writer
Most of the $31.5 million budgeted for Sylvan Hills Middle School in Sherwood has been spent and the school is on track to open in August after the Education Department told the Pulaski County Special School District to finish the nearly completed facility.
But Derek Scott, chief operating officer for PCSSD, said the fate of new construction projects, such as the three new schools planned for Jacksonville, remains unclear while the state Education Department is in control of the district.
“Our main focus and main priority is to get schools open and in a better condition than when they closed for the 2010-11 school year,” Scott said. “At some point after that, the new superintendent in coordination with the ADE (Arkansas Department of Education) will determine what our future construction plans look like.”
Scott said projects for which bids have already been awarded won’t be delayed.
He added that it wouldn’t savemoney to put a hold on already-under way construction. Once a bid is awarded, the district has a legal contract with a company to pay for work done, usually in installments based on how much progress is made with a percentage withheld as a precaution in case work is completely done by final inspection.
Scott also said the cost, in the long run, would be greater if a project was stopped and resumed later.
As for the 189,000-square-foot facility on 44 acres off Johnson Road in Sherwood, two pods will be open for classes in August. A pod is an area with its own lobby, bathrooms, classrooms and more. Each grade level — sixth, seventh and eighth — will have a pod.
Half the eighth-graders will go to the sixth-grade pod and half will go to the seventh-grade pod until the third pod is completed in October.
The capacity of the two pods that will be completed by the time school starts is about 800 and Principal Jo Wilcox has told Scott she expects about that many students to be enrolled this fall.
When finished, the facility could house up to about 1,320, Scott said.
Former board member and Sherwood resident Gloria Lawrence said, “I’m excited and can hardly wait for it to open. It’s something Sherwood can be proud of.”
Scott emphasized that the project is within budget and on track, despite an electric subcontractor walking off the job and issues with the site.
He said Baldwin and Shell have been “working miracles” to stay on schedule. The company found an “awesome” replacement for the subcontractor who fixed problems the other left and caught up on the work.
The site was found to have a lot of rock in the dirt. Baldwin and Shell sifted that soil and used the rock to build up the low part of the hill, Scott said.
The $31.5 million is a guaranteed maximum price from the construction company, so these bumps in the road didn’t cause the project to go over budget.
Finishing touches and things cited in the initial inspection are being completed now. Furniture will be delivered in mid-July.
Sylvan Hills Middle School at 401 Dee Jay Hudson Drive in Sherwood, which will be closed when the new building opens, was built in the 1950s and is one of the oldest schools in the district.
The main advantages of the new facility will be its size and its capacity to accommodate more technology, such as the campus supporting wireless Internet, having three computer labs (0ne for each pod), Promethean-brand interactive whiteboards, iPads, a classroom set of laptops for teachers to check in and out and a desktop computer for every teacher.
Derrick Brown, chief information officer for PCSSD, said all orders have been placed and that equipment will be delivered in mid-July. The state takeover has not affected the school receiving any of those items.
“This school as well as Maumelle High School will have the fastest Internet service on the statewide Department of Information Systems network. Ninety-five percent of (Arkansas) schools have Internet through that.”
He added that the service at these facilities will set a standard for other schools later.
The new $62 million Maumelle High School that can hold up to 1,500 students is also on schedule and within budget. The school will be open for classes this fall, but the auditorium will not be completed in mid-November.
Construction of both the auditorium and the school’s stadium were bid out separately from the school and construction of the stadium won’t be finished by August.
Students will miss the first two home games of the season, but Scott said it was a necessary sacrifice.
“The delay of the award of the stadium was the right move to make sure the overall project was on budget,” Brown added.
TOP STORY > >Lester: ‘I’m still backing district’
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
Bobby Lester, the interim Pulaski County Special School District superintendent, wants his friends and neighbors in Jacksonville to know that even though he has agreed to lead the troubled district during the summer, he still supports a Jacksonville-area school district.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that Jacksonville should have its own school district,” Lester said in an interview this week.
“Jacksonville ought to have its own school district if the people can afford it,” Lester told The Leader. “As long as they want a district, I’d support it. I’ll help them get their own district.”
He pointed out that U.S. DistrictJudge Brian Miller, who recently ruled to cut desegregation funds to the three Pulaski County districts, thinks the district is too spread out.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week ordered a stay of the judge’s order until appeals can be heard in September on phasing out $70 million a year in state aid.
“The judge said the district needs to be broken up,” Lester said.
Lester said the district should plan its budget with the assumption it will lose $20 million a year in desegregation funds.
Although the district has won a temporary reprieve and will collect $1.6 million a month in state desegregation money, at least for a few months, Lester said PCSSD must plan as if that money didn’t exist much longer.
“We’ve got to plan as if that money is gone,” he said. “Who knows how long we’ll get the checks? We have to approach it conservatively.”
On a brighter note, he said Sylvan Hills Middle School and Maumelle High School are nearing completion. North Pulaski High School is being repaired after a tornado ripped off its roof and destroyed the auditorium and laboratory.
He said he has taken the interim superintendent’s job during the state Education Department’s takeover of the distressed district to ease the transition from local control to state supervision.
“We have to be optimistic but also realistic,” he said.
Lester said he didn’t want the district broken up when he was superintendent. “It would have upset me if the district had split,” he said.
But now he thinks the people of Jacksonville are passionate about splitting from PCSSD and deserve their independence.
“I understand the passion the people have to form their own district,” he continued.
Lester was district superintendent for 15 years, before he retired in 1999. The district has lost much of its territory and almost half of its students, falling from 30,000 to about 17,000, which reduced the district’s tax base.
PCSSD lost 15 schools over the last 25 years. Jacksonville Elementary School closed this month and others are scheduled to close, including Harris Elementary School.
But in the long run, he hopes PCSSD can survive financially and improve academically, and then Jacksonville could work on becoming a separate district.
Lester thinks it will take two to three years to return local control to PCSSD patrons.
“We’ve got lots of problems, but we’ll have schools ready in the fall with everybody happy,” Lester continued. “It’s going to happen.”
Leader executive editor
Bobby Lester, the interim Pulaski County Special School District superintendent, wants his friends and neighbors in Jacksonville to know that even though he has agreed to lead the troubled district during the summer, he still supports a Jacksonville-area school district.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that Jacksonville should have its own school district,” Lester said in an interview this week.
“Jacksonville ought to have its own school district if the people can afford it,” Lester told The Leader. “As long as they want a district, I’d support it. I’ll help them get their own district.”
He pointed out that U.S. DistrictJudge Brian Miller, who recently ruled to cut desegregation funds to the three Pulaski County districts, thinks the district is too spread out.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week ordered a stay of the judge’s order until appeals can be heard in September on phasing out $70 million a year in state aid.
“The judge said the district needs to be broken up,” Lester said.
Lester said the district should plan its budget with the assumption it will lose $20 million a year in desegregation funds.
Although the district has won a temporary reprieve and will collect $1.6 million a month in state desegregation money, at least for a few months, Lester said PCSSD must plan as if that money didn’t exist much longer.
“We’ve got to plan as if that money is gone,” he said. “Who knows how long we’ll get the checks? We have to approach it conservatively.”
On a brighter note, he said Sylvan Hills Middle School and Maumelle High School are nearing completion. North Pulaski High School is being repaired after a tornado ripped off its roof and destroyed the auditorium and laboratory.
He said he has taken the interim superintendent’s job during the state Education Department’s takeover of the distressed district to ease the transition from local control to state supervision.
“We have to be optimistic but also realistic,” he said.
Lester said he didn’t want the district broken up when he was superintendent. “It would have upset me if the district had split,” he said.
But now he thinks the people of Jacksonville are passionate about splitting from PCSSD and deserve their independence.
“I understand the passion the people have to form their own district,” he continued.
Lester was district superintendent for 15 years, before he retired in 1999. The district has lost much of its territory and almost half of its students, falling from 30,000 to about 17,000, which reduced the district’s tax base.
PCSSD lost 15 schools over the last 25 years. Jacksonville Elementary School closed this month and others are scheduled to close, including Harris Elementary School.
But in the long run, he hopes PCSSD can survive financially and improve academically, and then Jacksonville could work on becoming a separate district.
Lester thinks it will take two to three years to return local control to PCSSD patrons.
“We’ve got lots of problems, but we’ll have schools ready in the fall with everybody happy,” Lester continued. “It’s going to happen.”
SPORTS>>Centennial AA beats junior team
By CHAD MATCHETT
Special to The Leader
The Cabot Centennial Bank American Legion players knew without a doubt they were going to win the late game Thursday night in Cabot.
Of course, it helps when the two teams playing are the Cabot AA and A squads.
The older AA Cabot bunch got the best of the junior squad, but it wasn’t easy in a 2-1 win that lasted four innings.
The first three innings saw a pitcher’s duel between the junior team’s Nick Thomas and the AA team’s Riley Knudson. Both starters showed off sharp, knee-buckling curveballs.
Both teams managed base runners each inning, but couldn’t push across any runs until the fourth, and final, inning.
Grant Bell and Brent Dean had back-to-back singles in the bottom of the first inning for the AA team, but Dean was gunned down at home from center after pausing coming around third. Thomas froze the next batter with a 2-2 curveball for the third out.
Both teams put two runners on base with two outs in the bottom of the second and top of the third, but were unable to move them around. Thomas got a grounder to short in the bottom of the second to get out of the jam, while Knudson used his curve to finish off fanning the side around singles by Josh Dollarhide and Lee Sullivan.
The junior team manufactured a run in the top of the fourth after Helpenstill singled and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Aaron McKenzie. Landon James launched a double to left-center to drive in the go-ahead run. James was caught stealing home on a broken play after a walk to Trent Frizzell and a single by John VanHoveln. A strikeout ended the scoring threat.
Adam Hicks came in to pitch for Thomas at the end of the third and ran into trouble in the fourth with a walk to Josh Mathis and a single by Hayden Vinson. Hicks’ big curveball got him a strikeout. Helpenstill picked up another single, this time on a short fly to right that was dropped after a terrific diving attempt to catch it, forcing Mathis to stay on third as the bases were loaded
Grayson Cole fought off several tough pitches, working the count full, before hitting a deep drive to right center for the game-winning two-run double.
Special to The Leader
The Cabot Centennial Bank American Legion players knew without a doubt they were going to win the late game Thursday night in Cabot.
Of course, it helps when the two teams playing are the Cabot AA and A squads.
The older AA Cabot bunch got the best of the junior squad, but it wasn’t easy in a 2-1 win that lasted four innings.
The first three innings saw a pitcher’s duel between the junior team’s Nick Thomas and the AA team’s Riley Knudson. Both starters showed off sharp, knee-buckling curveballs.
Both teams managed base runners each inning, but couldn’t push across any runs until the fourth, and final, inning.
Grant Bell and Brent Dean had back-to-back singles in the bottom of the first inning for the AA team, but Dean was gunned down at home from center after pausing coming around third. Thomas froze the next batter with a 2-2 curveball for the third out.
Both teams put two runners on base with two outs in the bottom of the second and top of the third, but were unable to move them around. Thomas got a grounder to short in the bottom of the second to get out of the jam, while Knudson used his curve to finish off fanning the side around singles by Josh Dollarhide and Lee Sullivan.
The junior team manufactured a run in the top of the fourth after Helpenstill singled and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Aaron McKenzie. Landon James launched a double to left-center to drive in the go-ahead run. James was caught stealing home on a broken play after a walk to Trent Frizzell and a single by John VanHoveln. A strikeout ended the scoring threat.
Adam Hicks came in to pitch for Thomas at the end of the third and ran into trouble in the fourth with a walk to Josh Mathis and a single by Hayden Vinson. Hicks’ big curveball got him a strikeout. Helpenstill picked up another single, this time on a short fly to right that was dropped after a terrific diving attempt to catch it, forcing Mathis to stay on third as the bases were loaded
Grayson Cole fought off several tough pitches, working the count full, before hitting a deep drive to right center for the game-winning two-run double.
SPORTS>>Sylvan Hills junior team gets sweep
By CHAD MATCHETT
Special to The Leader
The Sylvan Hills Bruins swept an American Legion A doubleheader Thursday night at home, 5-2 and 14-2 over Rose Bud.
The pair of wins improve the Bruins to 10-5 overall and 5-2-1 in area play, putting them in good position to possibly earn a bye in the upcoming tournament if they can nail down a one or two seed with another win or two.
“We had really good pitching in both games and that’s always key,” said Sylvan Hills coach Chris Foor. “We had a little bit of help in the first game, but hit the ball well in the second game.”
Sylvan Hills jumped out to a 2-0 in the first inning of the opening game, but watched Rose Bud come back to tie things at 2-2 in the second inning.
But that turned out to be it for Rose Bud as Sylvan Hills starter Hunter Poteet shut them down the rest of the way for a complete game win.
Brandon Baioni led Sylvan Hills at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored. Hunter Heslep had three RBIs in the win, with some help from the Rose Bud battery who had several passed balls in the game, allowing several runners to move into better position on the bases.
“I couldn’t ask anything more out of Hunter than what he gives me,” said Foor. “He’s doing incredibly well for an eighthgrader playing with sophomores. He’s keeping his emotions in check, is really open to learn and hustles with everything he does.”
The second game got out of hand late as the Bruins’ bats heated up as the field was finally cooling down as sun set.
Starting pitcher Charlie Rob-erts allowed just one run over four innings of work before handing off to JD Miller for the final inning.
“I tell you, everybody from one through nine crushed the ball that second game,” Foor said. “Hunter and Brandon hit the ball real well, and Chase Imhoff had a big game too.”
The Bruins had to mix up their lineup with their regular leadoff hitter missing the game, but that worked out well too. Jacob White usually bats near the bottom of the order, but was moved to leadoff and found his way on base with either a hit or walk every time.
“Jacob did a great job setting the table for us,” said Foor. “It was just one of those games where you have almost everything going right for you.”
Special to The Leader
The Sylvan Hills Bruins swept an American Legion A doubleheader Thursday night at home, 5-2 and 14-2 over Rose Bud.
The pair of wins improve the Bruins to 10-5 overall and 5-2-1 in area play, putting them in good position to possibly earn a bye in the upcoming tournament if they can nail down a one or two seed with another win or two.
“We had really good pitching in both games and that’s always key,” said Sylvan Hills coach Chris Foor. “We had a little bit of help in the first game, but hit the ball well in the second game.”
Sylvan Hills jumped out to a 2-0 in the first inning of the opening game, but watched Rose Bud come back to tie things at 2-2 in the second inning.
But that turned out to be it for Rose Bud as Sylvan Hills starter Hunter Poteet shut them down the rest of the way for a complete game win.
Brandon Baioni led Sylvan Hills at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored. Hunter Heslep had three RBIs in the win, with some help from the Rose Bud battery who had several passed balls in the game, allowing several runners to move into better position on the bases.
“I couldn’t ask anything more out of Hunter than what he gives me,” said Foor. “He’s doing incredibly well for an eighthgrader playing with sophomores. He’s keeping his emotions in check, is really open to learn and hustles with everything he does.”
The second game got out of hand late as the Bruins’ bats heated up as the field was finally cooling down as sun set.
Starting pitcher Charlie Rob-erts allowed just one run over four innings of work before handing off to JD Miller for the final inning.
“I tell you, everybody from one through nine crushed the ball that second game,” Foor said. “Hunter and Brandon hit the ball real well, and Chase Imhoff had a big game too.”
The Bruins had to mix up their lineup with their regular leadoff hitter missing the game, but that worked out well too. Jacob White usually bats near the bottom of the order, but was moved to leadoff and found his way on base with either a hit or walk every time.
“Jacob did a great job setting the table for us,” said Foor. “It was just one of those games where you have almost everything going right for you.”
SPORTS>>Bulldog barks loud among Hogs
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
On a team of high profile, future Arkansas Razorbacks, as well as a team consisting of seven NCAA Division I signees, it was little-known, Louisiana Tech-bound, former Jacksonville Red Devil Raheem Appleby who shone brightest at the 2011 Arkansas High School Basketball All Star game. Appleby’s 15-point performance, most of which came in the final period when the game was on the line, earned him the game’s Most Valuable Player award, ahead top-50 recruits and future Hogs Ky Madden and Hunter Mickelson.
In the five-quarter, All-Star game format, starters play one quarter, second stringers the next, third stringers the next, and the second half is devoted to trying to win the game.
Appleby was dubbed a third-stringer by coach Rick Wilson of Rivercrest, but Wilson had plenty of reason to keep Appleby on the court when the closer-than-expected game was on the line in the final period.
Appleby entered the game to start the final period with his East team up by two points. A quick two buckets by the West team put the East down. That’s when Appleby took over. He ignited his team and the crowd with a dunk that started from a step inside the free-throw line. Minutes later, he capped the exciting, game-winning run with an assist off the backboard for a thunderous dunk by a teammate.
“It felt good,” Appleby said. “There was a lot of talent up there, and I got the MVP. I wasn’t ranked like some of the others I played with, so maybe that was a statement I made.”
That statement being that the 6-foot-3 Appleby is on the level of the top players in his class, a class that is one of, if not the, highest rated classes to ever come out of Arkansas.
Appleby was surprised that he got the award, but not because he didn’t think he’d played well enough. When players from each team received the award for the team’s Outstanding Player, he thought the post-game ceremonies were over. Then he heard his named called to receive the MVP award.
“I didn’t know there were two awards,” Appleby said. “When Ky got the first one, I didn’t even think there was going to be another one.
Appleby’s high-school coach Vic Joyner wasn’t surprised that his former charge turned in that kind of performance.
“Raheem, hands down in my estimation, is the best pure basketball player in the state,” Joyner said. “Not just my estimation, but a lot of college coaches thought the same thing. The only thing they were apprehensive about was his size. I tried to explain to them that he always did this kind of thing against the best players in the state, and in one of the best runs of talent the state’s ever had. He’s the real deal. He has all the intangibles, so much character and guts. I’ve had a couple people who know tell me, if he puts on some muscle and some weight, he might get to the league.”
Appleby is fully qualified and ready to play for the Bulldogs as a freshman. He is enrolling early to take summer school classes and begin preparation for his first season. He will report to Ruston on July 6.
Leader sports editor
On a team of high profile, future Arkansas Razorbacks, as well as a team consisting of seven NCAA Division I signees, it was little-known, Louisiana Tech-bound, former Jacksonville Red Devil Raheem Appleby who shone brightest at the 2011 Arkansas High School Basketball All Star game. Appleby’s 15-point performance, most of which came in the final period when the game was on the line, earned him the game’s Most Valuable Player award, ahead top-50 recruits and future Hogs Ky Madden and Hunter Mickelson.
In the five-quarter, All-Star game format, starters play one quarter, second stringers the next, third stringers the next, and the second half is devoted to trying to win the game.
Appleby was dubbed a third-stringer by coach Rick Wilson of Rivercrest, but Wilson had plenty of reason to keep Appleby on the court when the closer-than-expected game was on the line in the final period.
Appleby entered the game to start the final period with his East team up by two points. A quick two buckets by the West team put the East down. That’s when Appleby took over. He ignited his team and the crowd with a dunk that started from a step inside the free-throw line. Minutes later, he capped the exciting, game-winning run with an assist off the backboard for a thunderous dunk by a teammate.
“It felt good,” Appleby said. “There was a lot of talent up there, and I got the MVP. I wasn’t ranked like some of the others I played with, so maybe that was a statement I made.”
That statement being that the 6-foot-3 Appleby is on the level of the top players in his class, a class that is one of, if not the, highest rated classes to ever come out of Arkansas.
Appleby was surprised that he got the award, but not because he didn’t think he’d played well enough. When players from each team received the award for the team’s Outstanding Player, he thought the post-game ceremonies were over. Then he heard his named called to receive the MVP award.
“I didn’t know there were two awards,” Appleby said. “When Ky got the first one, I didn’t even think there was going to be another one.
Appleby’s high-school coach Vic Joyner wasn’t surprised that his former charge turned in that kind of performance.
“Raheem, hands down in my estimation, is the best pure basketball player in the state,” Joyner said. “Not just my estimation, but a lot of college coaches thought the same thing. The only thing they were apprehensive about was his size. I tried to explain to them that he always did this kind of thing against the best players in the state, and in one of the best runs of talent the state’s ever had. He’s the real deal. He has all the intangibles, so much character and guts. I’ve had a couple people who know tell me, if he puts on some muscle and some weight, he might get to the league.”
Appleby is fully qualified and ready to play for the Bulldogs as a freshman. He is enrolling early to take summer school classes and begin preparation for his first season. He will report to Ruston on July 6.
SPORTS>>Cabot AA topples Bruins on small field
By CHAD MATCHETT
Special to The Leader
The Centennial Bank American Legion AA squad picked up a win over the Sylvan Hills Bruins on Thursday night while playing at home, sort of.
Cabot hosted Sylvan Hills at the smaller Babe Ruth field at the City Park and took advantage of the smaller dimensions with a pair of homers in a 6-1 win over the Bruins.
The “other” park has been good to the AA team. It was the in-betweeners second win this week, both at the city park, and fifth of the season after getting off to a slow start and rarely playing any home games.
Sylvan Hills used their AAA squad, but were still held in check as Cabot’s Ryan Logan went the distance on the mound.
“Ryan didn’t miss many of his spots tonight,” said Cabot coach Chris Gross. “He kept the ball low all night, changed speeds and hit the corners. You do all those things and you’ve got a good chance to win.”
Cabot jumped ahead in the bottom of the first inning, scoring all they would need with one swing. Tyler Wilkie walked, Coleman McAtee singled and Kason Kimbrell launched a three-run homer to give Centennial a 3-0 lead right out of the gate.
Sylvan Hills starter Dalton Freeling ran into some bad luck in the fifth inning after shutting down Cabot the previous two innings. Connor Vocque walked for Cabot to leadoff the inning, then scored one batter later when Wilkie hit a home run to right field, just clearing the 275 foot fence. The Bruins lost a chance to score in the sixth inning thanks to the short porch in right, when a blooper that probably would have fell between second and right on a regular field, was caught by the right fielder playing up.
“The field hurt us a couple times, but we were both playing on the same field,” said Sylvan Hills coach Jim Fink. “We didn’t make plays and they did. Their pitcher did a great job keeping the ball down. He had great command of his pitches tonight. We’ve got to score more than one run. You knew going in that wouldn’t be enough.”
The Bruins did push across a run in the top of the seventh when Logan was finally wearing down. A walk on four pitches to led off the inning. Korey Arnold doubled, leaving runners on second and third. Logan struck out the next batter, but a grounder to second brought in the first run for the Bruins.
Logan finished off the game with a strikeout on his 126th pitch of the night for the complete game win.
Cabot’s AA squad moved to 4-9 on the season with the somewhat surprising win over the older Sylvan Hills bunch.
“We’re still trying to get everyone on the same page,” said Fink, who was missing several players to work and church camps. “It can be kind of hard when you’re not sure who’s going to be at the game. I haven’t made out the same lineup twice yet this year.”
Special to The Leader
The Centennial Bank American Legion AA squad picked up a win over the Sylvan Hills Bruins on Thursday night while playing at home, sort of.
Cabot hosted Sylvan Hills at the smaller Babe Ruth field at the City Park and took advantage of the smaller dimensions with a pair of homers in a 6-1 win over the Bruins.
The “other” park has been good to the AA team. It was the in-betweeners second win this week, both at the city park, and fifth of the season after getting off to a slow start and rarely playing any home games.
Sylvan Hills used their AAA squad, but were still held in check as Cabot’s Ryan Logan went the distance on the mound.
“Ryan didn’t miss many of his spots tonight,” said Cabot coach Chris Gross. “He kept the ball low all night, changed speeds and hit the corners. You do all those things and you’ve got a good chance to win.”
Cabot jumped ahead in the bottom of the first inning, scoring all they would need with one swing. Tyler Wilkie walked, Coleman McAtee singled and Kason Kimbrell launched a three-run homer to give Centennial a 3-0 lead right out of the gate.
Sylvan Hills starter Dalton Freeling ran into some bad luck in the fifth inning after shutting down Cabot the previous two innings. Connor Vocque walked for Cabot to leadoff the inning, then scored one batter later when Wilkie hit a home run to right field, just clearing the 275 foot fence. The Bruins lost a chance to score in the sixth inning thanks to the short porch in right, when a blooper that probably would have fell between second and right on a regular field, was caught by the right fielder playing up.
“The field hurt us a couple times, but we were both playing on the same field,” said Sylvan Hills coach Jim Fink. “We didn’t make plays and they did. Their pitcher did a great job keeping the ball down. He had great command of his pitches tonight. We’ve got to score more than one run. You knew going in that wouldn’t be enough.”
The Bruins did push across a run in the top of the seventh when Logan was finally wearing down. A walk on four pitches to led off the inning. Korey Arnold doubled, leaving runners on second and third. Logan struck out the next batter, but a grounder to second brought in the first run for the Bruins.
Logan finished off the game with a strikeout on his 126th pitch of the night for the complete game win.
Cabot’s AA squad moved to 4-9 on the season with the somewhat surprising win over the older Sylvan Hills bunch.
“We’re still trying to get everyone on the same page,” said Fink, who was missing several players to work and church camps. “It can be kind of hard when you’re not sure who’s going to be at the game. I haven’t made out the same lineup twice yet this year.”
SPORTS>>Tables turned, Gwatney defeated
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville had made a habit recently of winning games at its last at bat. North Little Rock turned those tables Thursday night, beating Jacksonville 5-4 with a base hit in the bottom of the seventh inning at Burns Park’s Dejanis Memorial Field.
A controversial rule, but the right call, aided NLR greatly in the fifth inning of its win. With a runner on first and no outs, NLR’s Alex Filbert hit what likely would have been an easy double play to second base. The ball, however, hit the umpire. Jacksonville second baseman Kenny Cummings retrieved the ball in plenty of time to throw the runner out at first, and thought he did so, but the home-plate umpire called dead ball, and put the Colt runner, who was already walking to the dugout, back on first base. He ruled, correctly, that when a ball strikes an umpire who is inside the base paths, it is a dead ball and everyone is safe.
“It was the right call,” Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said. “That’s just part of it. We had our chances too. We hit the ball hard several times and they just went right to people. We got hits twice with two runners in scoring position and were only able to score one run because they hit it so hard and right to the left fielder. It was just one of those games where we just didn’t get the breaks.”
The umpire confessed during the game, “If there is a rule that might need to be changed, that’s it.”
That was the rule, and instead of two outs and no one on, it was no outs and two on. The next batter, Tyson Dackett, took advantage, and hit a line-drive, two-run triple down the right-field line on the next at bat, giving the Colts a 2-1 lead.
The rally wasn’t over. After Jeff Hopkins popped out to second, Brian Johnson walked and David Downs struck out. But with two on, leadoff hitter John Chapman his a two-run double to centerfield to make it 4-1.
Ever-resilient Gwatney chipped away from there. They added one run in the sixth inning with the help of two NLR mistakes. Patrick Castleberry reached on an error, moved to third on a single by Jesse Harbin, and scored on a wild pitch.
In the seventh, Jacksonville tied it when Cummings deep fly to left field scored Austin Allen and left runners on second and third. NLR walked Castleberry to load the bases with two outs, leaving a force out at any base. But Harbin singled to left to score Jacob Abrahamson and tie the game.
But it NLR’s turn for the late heroics.
Harbin, who went the distance and took the loss, got a fly-out, walked Johnson and struck out Downs, brining Chapman to the plate with two outs. He singled to put runners on the corner.
Blake Eisenring then hit a hard grounder to shortstop, where Abrahamson failed to get a glove on it as it rolled into left field, allowing Johnson to score the game winning run.
It was just the second loss of the season for the Gwatney AAA team to go with 10 wins, but the strength of teams in the zone made it a big loss. The NLR win put the Colts alone in first place, and dropped Gwatney into a tie with Cabot for second. Cabot and Jacksonville have split their series, and each team won by nine runs. Meaning if the season were over, it would have to go to a deep level of tiebreakers to find the zone runner up.
While Jacksonville dropped to 10-2, the win gave NLR an 11-1 overall record, with its only zone loss so far also coming against Cabot. NLR also split with Cabot, and each team won their respective games by one run.
Harbin gave up seven hits in seven innings of work on the mound. He struck out seven and walked three. He also went 2 for 4 at the plate with an RBI.
Earlier in the week Jacksonville beat Russellville 13-2. They play the Cogswell Motors team again today, starting a run of eight-straight days of games that ends next Sunday in the annual Gwatney Chevrolet Fourth of July Classic.
Leader sports editor
Jacksonville had made a habit recently of winning games at its last at bat. North Little Rock turned those tables Thursday night, beating Jacksonville 5-4 with a base hit in the bottom of the seventh inning at Burns Park’s Dejanis Memorial Field.
A controversial rule, but the right call, aided NLR greatly in the fifth inning of its win. With a runner on first and no outs, NLR’s Alex Filbert hit what likely would have been an easy double play to second base. The ball, however, hit the umpire. Jacksonville second baseman Kenny Cummings retrieved the ball in plenty of time to throw the runner out at first, and thought he did so, but the home-plate umpire called dead ball, and put the Colt runner, who was already walking to the dugout, back on first base. He ruled, correctly, that when a ball strikes an umpire who is inside the base paths, it is a dead ball and everyone is safe.
“It was the right call,” Jacksonville coach Bob Hickingbotham said. “That’s just part of it. We had our chances too. We hit the ball hard several times and they just went right to people. We got hits twice with two runners in scoring position and were only able to score one run because they hit it so hard and right to the left fielder. It was just one of those games where we just didn’t get the breaks.”
The umpire confessed during the game, “If there is a rule that might need to be changed, that’s it.”
That was the rule, and instead of two outs and no one on, it was no outs and two on. The next batter, Tyson Dackett, took advantage, and hit a line-drive, two-run triple down the right-field line on the next at bat, giving the Colts a 2-1 lead.
The rally wasn’t over. After Jeff Hopkins popped out to second, Brian Johnson walked and David Downs struck out. But with two on, leadoff hitter John Chapman his a two-run double to centerfield to make it 4-1.
Ever-resilient Gwatney chipped away from there. They added one run in the sixth inning with the help of two NLR mistakes. Patrick Castleberry reached on an error, moved to third on a single by Jesse Harbin, and scored on a wild pitch.
In the seventh, Jacksonville tied it when Cummings deep fly to left field scored Austin Allen and left runners on second and third. NLR walked Castleberry to load the bases with two outs, leaving a force out at any base. But Harbin singled to left to score Jacob Abrahamson and tie the game.
But it NLR’s turn for the late heroics.
Harbin, who went the distance and took the loss, got a fly-out, walked Johnson and struck out Downs, brining Chapman to the plate with two outs. He singled to put runners on the corner.
Blake Eisenring then hit a hard grounder to shortstop, where Abrahamson failed to get a glove on it as it rolled into left field, allowing Johnson to score the game winning run.
It was just the second loss of the season for the Gwatney AAA team to go with 10 wins, but the strength of teams in the zone made it a big loss. The NLR win put the Colts alone in first place, and dropped Gwatney into a tie with Cabot for second. Cabot and Jacksonville have split their series, and each team won by nine runs. Meaning if the season were over, it would have to go to a deep level of tiebreakers to find the zone runner up.
While Jacksonville dropped to 10-2, the win gave NLR an 11-1 overall record, with its only zone loss so far also coming against Cabot. NLR also split with Cabot, and each team won their respective games by one run.
Harbin gave up seven hits in seven innings of work on the mound. He struck out seven and walked three. He also went 2 for 4 at the plate with an RBI.
Earlier in the week Jacksonville beat Russellville 13-2. They play the Cogswell Motors team again today, starting a run of eight-straight days of games that ends next Sunday in the annual Gwatney Chevrolet Fourth of July Classic.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
EDITORIAL >> PCSSD: Now what?
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday threw a lifeline to Pulaski County schools when it ruled that the three school districts can continue receiving desegregation funds from the state.
The decision stops U.S. District Judge Brian Miller’s previous decision to cut nearly $70 million in desegregation funding. Continued state aid will help the financially strapped districts stay afloat, especially the Pulaski County Special School District, which is now under state supervision.
PCSSD patrons had hoped that Bobby Lester, their beloved former superintendent, would step in to rescue the district, and with the state Education Department seizing control and firing first-year Superintendent Charles Hopson, Lester has agreed—at least in the interim.
But Lester is long retired, has some health problems and is not expected to run the district with state Education Department Commissioner Tom Kimbrell for more than a few weeks or months.
The state will probably run the troubled district for two years, when PCSSD could regain local control and perhaps in a leaner fashion by spinning off Jacksonville.
We had a front-row seat to Hopson’s innovative efforts to resuscitate this pitiful school district despite the petty and self-serving efforts of most school-board members and the teachers’ union to frustrate his efforts.
Well, they’ve succeeded, and not to their own benefit.
Members of the state Legislative Audit Committee—those are state senators and representatives—more intent on getting good sound bites, good publicity in their home districts and beating up on PCSSD, helped precipitate the state takeover, many of them without any real understanding of what was going on in the district, which issues are old or resolved and the huge improvement made in the past 12 months.
Most of the district’s problems cited by state auditors are left over from previous administrations and school boards.
The district has a long and troubled history, much of it caused by dueling school-board members, some of whom are reportedly under investigation for making and taking illegal payoffs—such as the silly incident where board member Tim Clark joined Mills High School principal Mike Nellums in an effort to entrap board member Gwen Williams.
Hopson brought in experts to streamline the district’s procurement process and information technology, and with Operations Director Derrick Scott, came up with an ambitious plan to build three new schools in Jacksonville and do extreme makeovers of four others throughout the district. (Those plans appear to be now on hold.)
Hopson hired consultants to help district administrators and teachers confront issues of race. With the help of Chief Financial Officer Anita Farver, he proposed—and the board approved—a litany of changes to make the district’s finances more transparent and assure better oversight and accountability.
In the process, Hopson alienated the teachers’ union, which felt threatened by all the change, especially any that might put its members out of their comfort zones or threatened their control.
One of the things the district has been criticized for is its large legal bills, which included lawyers for desegregation purposes, and an expensive effort pressed by the school board to disenfranchise the district’s two unions.
Kimbrell fired Hopson when he disbanded the school board, and said the district would pay the superintendent’s salary only through July 1. Kimbrell said the district won’t pay for the final two years of Hopson’s three-year contract.
Kimbrell apparently thinks he has the power to abrogate contracts, but we suspect the district is in for more lengthy and expensive legal proceedings as it tries to ruin Hopson’s reputation and kick him to the curb without paying what’s owed him.
And if we were teachers in a state-run district in fiscal distress, we’d be a little nervous about a new boss who thinks contracts need to be enforced only when convenient.
We’ve already heard from several people who think the district should be disbanded and its students absorbed into North Little Rock and Little Rock school districts—that’s one district north of the Arkansas River, one south.
So on top of Judge Miller’s recent ruling that PCSSD was not substantially unitary, its patrons and its teachers no longer have any control over the third largest district in the state.
Board president Bill Vasquez of Jacksonville was the first to publicly call for a state takeover about two years ago, and this week applauded the action. Thankfully, he is out of a job now, along with the rest of the board, although some of them promise to run when school-board elections are held again.
What any of this means to an eventual Jacksonville school district is unclear. Hopson had a plan, and despite the board and the unions, it was working.
We hope Kimbrell has a plan. Welcome to a world of uncertainty. If you’re looking for certainty, look to Cabot.
The decision stops U.S. District Judge Brian Miller’s previous decision to cut nearly $70 million in desegregation funding. Continued state aid will help the financially strapped districts stay afloat, especially the Pulaski County Special School District, which is now under state supervision.
PCSSD patrons had hoped that Bobby Lester, their beloved former superintendent, would step in to rescue the district, and with the state Education Department seizing control and firing first-year Superintendent Charles Hopson, Lester has agreed—at least in the interim.
But Lester is long retired, has some health problems and is not expected to run the district with state Education Department Commissioner Tom Kimbrell for more than a few weeks or months.
The state will probably run the troubled district for two years, when PCSSD could regain local control and perhaps in a leaner fashion by spinning off Jacksonville.
We had a front-row seat to Hopson’s innovative efforts to resuscitate this pitiful school district despite the petty and self-serving efforts of most school-board members and the teachers’ union to frustrate his efforts.
Well, they’ve succeeded, and not to their own benefit.
Members of the state Legislative Audit Committee—those are state senators and representatives—more intent on getting good sound bites, good publicity in their home districts and beating up on PCSSD, helped precipitate the state takeover, many of them without any real understanding of what was going on in the district, which issues are old or resolved and the huge improvement made in the past 12 months.
Most of the district’s problems cited by state auditors are left over from previous administrations and school boards.
The district has a long and troubled history, much of it caused by dueling school-board members, some of whom are reportedly under investigation for making and taking illegal payoffs—such as the silly incident where board member Tim Clark joined Mills High School principal Mike Nellums in an effort to entrap board member Gwen Williams.
Hopson brought in experts to streamline the district’s procurement process and information technology, and with Operations Director Derrick Scott, came up with an ambitious plan to build three new schools in Jacksonville and do extreme makeovers of four others throughout the district. (Those plans appear to be now on hold.)
Hopson hired consultants to help district administrators and teachers confront issues of race. With the help of Chief Financial Officer Anita Farver, he proposed—and the board approved—a litany of changes to make the district’s finances more transparent and assure better oversight and accountability.
In the process, Hopson alienated the teachers’ union, which felt threatened by all the change, especially any that might put its members out of their comfort zones or threatened their control.
One of the things the district has been criticized for is its large legal bills, which included lawyers for desegregation purposes, and an expensive effort pressed by the school board to disenfranchise the district’s two unions.
Kimbrell fired Hopson when he disbanded the school board, and said the district would pay the superintendent’s salary only through July 1. Kimbrell said the district won’t pay for the final two years of Hopson’s three-year contract.
Kimbrell apparently thinks he has the power to abrogate contracts, but we suspect the district is in for more lengthy and expensive legal proceedings as it tries to ruin Hopson’s reputation and kick him to the curb without paying what’s owed him.
And if we were teachers in a state-run district in fiscal distress, we’d be a little nervous about a new boss who thinks contracts need to be enforced only when convenient.
We’ve already heard from several people who think the district should be disbanded and its students absorbed into North Little Rock and Little Rock school districts—that’s one district north of the Arkansas River, one south.
So on top of Judge Miller’s recent ruling that PCSSD was not substantially unitary, its patrons and its teachers no longer have any control over the third largest district in the state.
Board president Bill Vasquez of Jacksonville was the first to publicly call for a state takeover about two years ago, and this week applauded the action. Thankfully, he is out of a job now, along with the rest of the board, although some of them promise to run when school-board elections are held again.
What any of this means to an eventual Jacksonville school district is unclear. Hopson had a plan, and despite the board and the unions, it was working.
We hope Kimbrell has a plan. Welcome to a world of uncertainty. If you’re looking for certainty, look to Cabot.
TOP STORY >> Support for state takeover
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The state takeover of the Pulaski County Special School District has received wide approval, but it could mean delaying construction of two new elementary schools and a middle school in Jacksonville that were supported by ousted Superintendent Dr. Charles Hopson.
The district had planned to spend $104 million on an elementary school and a middle school at the site of the old middle school, and a new elementary school outside the air base to replace Arnold Drive and Tolleson Elementary Schools.
“My entire focus,” Hopson said Tuesday, “was improving the district for the students. We developed an aggressive facilities plan, went to work on Jacksonville High School, and were trying to correct 10 years of poor practices.”
But state Rep. Mark Perry (D-Jacksonville) applauded Hopson’s departure, saying, “Christmas came a few months late…It’s a great step in the right direction in leadership. This will hopefully allow the judge and the Department of Education to see fit to allow us (Jacksonville) to have our own district.”
Former state Rep. Mike Wilson, a strong supporter of an independent Jacksonville district, said, “I am very pleased that the governor, state board and (Education Commissioner) Tom Kimbrell all had the backbone to make the changes that were needed.”
“It’s good news for the community. Any improvement in the county school district is helpful to Jacksonville. I think it’s important to know that it’s taken years for the district to get to where it is now. It’s going to take a long time to fix it. Jacksonville shouldn’t expect an overnight change,” Wilson said.
Donna Humphries, a counselor at Sherwood Elementary, who has been battling with the district through a reverse-discrimination suit, said, “It’s been very emotional. This last year has been utter chaos.
“I’m dancing today. I’m so happy. These are people (the board) who have been doing the wrong thing and are retaliating against those who are trying to do the right thing,” she said.
A group of teachers at Jacksonville Elementary School said Tuesday that they hadn’t heard the news yet, but their concern was education, not what is happening at the central office.
Former board members Gloria Lawrence and Tom Stuthard of Sherwood both plan to run for the Pulaski County Special School District Board again whenever the state relinquishes control. Former board president Bill Vasquez did not return calls for comment.
Both Lawrence and Stuthard represented Sherwood.
Lawrence said she respects Kimbrell, who was responsible for the decision to take over the district Monday, release the superintendent and dissolve the board.
“I know it was a hard decision, but the right one,” Lawrence said.
She added that she is excited about Bobby Lester being appointed the interim superintendent. “He will get it going in the right direction again and make students the focus,” Lawrence said.
Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said Lester will lead the district in the right direction and provide an “air of confidence we haven’t had in a long time.
“We now have an excellent man at the helm,” he said.
Daniel Gray, a third-generation Jacksonville realtor and active member of the Jacksonville World Class Education Organization who announced last week that he was running for the Pulaski County Special School District Board, agreed.
“Bobby Lester is a proven leader,” he said. “I think the state education department will put an end to the turmoil.”
Fletcher said the state takeover and dissolving the district’s board signaled a “tremendous start, but it hasn’t gone far enough” toward the city getting its own school district.
“A lot of things have happened very quickly…there are a lot of questions left to be answered,” the mayor said. “It’s way too early to project what’s next.”
Gray said there wouldn’t be school board elections in September, but he is ready to serve when needed and that the takeover is good for the city’s efforts toward getting an independent school district.
“I think this paves the way for further discussion,” he said.
Lawrence said she will continue to advocate for the district and when allowed to, will run again and do what she has done, which is support the teachers and students of Sherwood.
Lawrence, along with Stuthard, had only been on the board for eight months. “We worked hard to do the right things, but we couldn’t convince the rest of the board. Two votes were not enough,” she said.
Those two votes were the only ones who voted to dismiss Hopson during an executive session on the superintendent’s performance earlier this month.
Hopson said the focus was never about him or keeping the job. “I’ll get other opportunities, but the focus needs to be on the students of the district and making sure they have opportunities.”
He said when he came to the district less than a year ago, he knew it was a “high-risk” job and still had his home and family in Portland, Ore.
But the former superintendent, who already is getting calls on job possibilities, admitted there were problems.
“There’s no secret that we had plenty of distractions,” he said.
Those distractions included employee fraud and theft, charges of nepotism, a raking over the coals by the Legislative Audit Committee which criticized erratic spending by the district, board and the superintendent, an attempted bribe scheme involving two board members and a high school principal, a $5 million civil lawsuit by one board member against another and a lawsuit by a deputy superintendent against the district and the superintendent.
Overall, though, Hopson was encouraged by the progress the district had made in the past year.
But, perhaps, a PCSSD employee working at Jacksonville Elementary said it best Tuesday, “It shouldn’t have had to happen.”
Leader staff writer Sarah Campbell contributed to this report.
Leader staff writer
The state takeover of the Pulaski County Special School District has received wide approval, but it could mean delaying construction of two new elementary schools and a middle school in Jacksonville that were supported by ousted Superintendent Dr. Charles Hopson.
The district had planned to spend $104 million on an elementary school and a middle school at the site of the old middle school, and a new elementary school outside the air base to replace Arnold Drive and Tolleson Elementary Schools.
“My entire focus,” Hopson said Tuesday, “was improving the district for the students. We developed an aggressive facilities plan, went to work on Jacksonville High School, and were trying to correct 10 years of poor practices.”
But state Rep. Mark Perry (D-Jacksonville) applauded Hopson’s departure, saying, “Christmas came a few months late…It’s a great step in the right direction in leadership. This will hopefully allow the judge and the Department of Education to see fit to allow us (Jacksonville) to have our own district.”
Former state Rep. Mike Wilson, a strong supporter of an independent Jacksonville district, said, “I am very pleased that the governor, state board and (Education Commissioner) Tom Kimbrell all had the backbone to make the changes that were needed.”
“It’s good news for the community. Any improvement in the county school district is helpful to Jacksonville. I think it’s important to know that it’s taken years for the district to get to where it is now. It’s going to take a long time to fix it. Jacksonville shouldn’t expect an overnight change,” Wilson said.
Donna Humphries, a counselor at Sherwood Elementary, who has been battling with the district through a reverse-discrimination suit, said, “It’s been very emotional. This last year has been utter chaos.
“I’m dancing today. I’m so happy. These are people (the board) who have been doing the wrong thing and are retaliating against those who are trying to do the right thing,” she said.
A group of teachers at Jacksonville Elementary School said Tuesday that they hadn’t heard the news yet, but their concern was education, not what is happening at the central office.
Former board members Gloria Lawrence and Tom Stuthard of Sherwood both plan to run for the Pulaski County Special School District Board again whenever the state relinquishes control. Former board president Bill Vasquez did not return calls for comment.
Both Lawrence and Stuthard represented Sherwood.
Lawrence said she respects Kimbrell, who was responsible for the decision to take over the district Monday, release the superintendent and dissolve the board.
“I know it was a hard decision, but the right one,” Lawrence said.
She added that she is excited about Bobby Lester being appointed the interim superintendent. “He will get it going in the right direction again and make students the focus,” Lawrence said.
Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said Lester will lead the district in the right direction and provide an “air of confidence we haven’t had in a long time.
“We now have an excellent man at the helm,” he said.
Daniel Gray, a third-generation Jacksonville realtor and active member of the Jacksonville World Class Education Organization who announced last week that he was running for the Pulaski County Special School District Board, agreed.
“Bobby Lester is a proven leader,” he said. “I think the state education department will put an end to the turmoil.”
Fletcher said the state takeover and dissolving the district’s board signaled a “tremendous start, but it hasn’t gone far enough” toward the city getting its own school district.
“A lot of things have happened very quickly…there are a lot of questions left to be answered,” the mayor said. “It’s way too early to project what’s next.”
Gray said there wouldn’t be school board elections in September, but he is ready to serve when needed and that the takeover is good for the city’s efforts toward getting an independent school district.
“I think this paves the way for further discussion,” he said.
Lawrence said she will continue to advocate for the district and when allowed to, will run again and do what she has done, which is support the teachers and students of Sherwood.
Lawrence, along with Stuthard, had only been on the board for eight months. “We worked hard to do the right things, but we couldn’t convince the rest of the board. Two votes were not enough,” she said.
Those two votes were the only ones who voted to dismiss Hopson during an executive session on the superintendent’s performance earlier this month.
Hopson said the focus was never about him or keeping the job. “I’ll get other opportunities, but the focus needs to be on the students of the district and making sure they have opportunities.”
He said when he came to the district less than a year ago, he knew it was a “high-risk” job and still had his home and family in Portland, Ore.
But the former superintendent, who already is getting calls on job possibilities, admitted there were problems.
“There’s no secret that we had plenty of distractions,” he said.
Those distractions included employee fraud and theft, charges of nepotism, a raking over the coals by the Legislative Audit Committee which criticized erratic spending by the district, board and the superintendent, an attempted bribe scheme involving two board members and a high school principal, a $5 million civil lawsuit by one board member against another and a lawsuit by a deputy superintendent against the district and the superintendent.
Overall, though, Hopson was encouraged by the progress the district had made in the past year.
But, perhaps, a PCSSD employee working at Jacksonville Elementary said it best Tuesday, “It shouldn’t have had to happen.”
Leader staff writer Sarah Campbell contributed to this report.
TOP STORY >> County jail hits a snag with JPs
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
The Lonoke County Quorum Court and the county sheriff have reached an impasse about opening the new jail: The sheriff won’t guarantee how many of the extra 40 or so beds in the new jail he will have available to rent to help pay the cost of operations, and the quorum court has tabled his request for the eight additional jailers he says he needs to hire and train before he can open up.
Contacted this week, Chief Deputy Dean White, who is over the financial end of running the jail, said the problem is that the quorum court wants a solid answer out of a fluid situation.
White said the sheriff can’t guarantee that he will always have 30 to 40 beds available to rent because there might be times when he needs some of them for county prisoners. However, the sheriff is aware that he needs to rent beds to help pay for the jail and intends to do so.
In the meantime, he needs to hire the additional jailers so they can be trained and ready when the jail opens. Every time the quorum court tables the request for the jailers, the opening of the jail is pushed back.
“Somebody’s going to have to make a good-faith leap,” White said.
The current jail is built to house 60 prisoners. Tuesday, there were 84, White said.
The new jail has a total of 138 beds of which two are holding cells not intended for full-time occupancy unless the other 136 are full.
White said the sheriff would like to keep 96 beds for county prisoners and rent 30 or more of the other beds but leave some in reserve in case he is ordered by the court to incarcerate more than 96.
A full jail is soon overcrowded, he said, because there is no way to know when one more bed might be needed.
White says he has been in contact with the state about leasing space to eight to 14 prisoners at $28 a day. If the jail houses 10 state prisoners, the revenue would be $102,000. But in addition to getting rent for the prisoners, the county also would get free labor, he said. Those prisoners, called Act 309 prisoners, with oversight by a jailer, would run the state-of-the-art commercial kitchen in the new jail.
That kitchen has a walk-in cooler and freezer that would allow him to purchase in bulk and save money on feeding prisoners, White said. Currently, it costs $5.80 a day to feed the prisoners but he thinks that cost would drop to $3.10 to $3.50 a day by buying in bulk.
Currently, the county jail buys ice for prisoners’ drinks at a cost of about $100 a week, but the new kitchen has an ice maker that will freeze 100 pounds of ice an hour. It also has a large convection oven for baking the bread and cookies the county now buys.
“We will probably save 10 percent to 25 percent just from the new kitchen but we won’t know until we get there,” he said.
Asked who would rent space, White said North Little Rock has called more than once asking to rent 16 to 18 beds.
“I’d be glad to let them have them but I’ve got to be open first,” he said.
Jacksonville, Sherwood and White County also are potential customers, he said. Asked why White County, which has a new jail, would need to rent space in Lonoke’s jail, White said that sometimes it is necessary to remove prisoners from people who know them. An example is David Derreberry, 37, of Greenbrier, who is charged with murder in the April shooting death of pawn-shop owner Billy Joe Pipkin, 61. Derreberry is being housed in the White County jail because White said it might not be safe to keep him in the Lonoke County jail.
The county has budgeted $900,000 to run the old jail and a study by the architect who designed the new one has projected the cost of running the new one at $1.3 million. White says he believes the new jail will be able to raise enough from renting beds to make up the difference but the quorum court needs to approve the additional cost of the jailers before he can prove it.
Leader staff writer
The Lonoke County Quorum Court and the county sheriff have reached an impasse about opening the new jail: The sheriff won’t guarantee how many of the extra 40 or so beds in the new jail he will have available to rent to help pay the cost of operations, and the quorum court has tabled his request for the eight additional jailers he says he needs to hire and train before he can open up.
Contacted this week, Chief Deputy Dean White, who is over the financial end of running the jail, said the problem is that the quorum court wants a solid answer out of a fluid situation.
White said the sheriff can’t guarantee that he will always have 30 to 40 beds available to rent because there might be times when he needs some of them for county prisoners. However, the sheriff is aware that he needs to rent beds to help pay for the jail and intends to do so.
In the meantime, he needs to hire the additional jailers so they can be trained and ready when the jail opens. Every time the quorum court tables the request for the jailers, the opening of the jail is pushed back.
“Somebody’s going to have to make a good-faith leap,” White said.
The current jail is built to house 60 prisoners. Tuesday, there were 84, White said.
The new jail has a total of 138 beds of which two are holding cells not intended for full-time occupancy unless the other 136 are full.
White said the sheriff would like to keep 96 beds for county prisoners and rent 30 or more of the other beds but leave some in reserve in case he is ordered by the court to incarcerate more than 96.
A full jail is soon overcrowded, he said, because there is no way to know when one more bed might be needed.
White says he has been in contact with the state about leasing space to eight to 14 prisoners at $28 a day. If the jail houses 10 state prisoners, the revenue would be $102,000. But in addition to getting rent for the prisoners, the county also would get free labor, he said. Those prisoners, called Act 309 prisoners, with oversight by a jailer, would run the state-of-the-art commercial kitchen in the new jail.
That kitchen has a walk-in cooler and freezer that would allow him to purchase in bulk and save money on feeding prisoners, White said. Currently, it costs $5.80 a day to feed the prisoners but he thinks that cost would drop to $3.10 to $3.50 a day by buying in bulk.
Currently, the county jail buys ice for prisoners’ drinks at a cost of about $100 a week, but the new kitchen has an ice maker that will freeze 100 pounds of ice an hour. It also has a large convection oven for baking the bread and cookies the county now buys.
“We will probably save 10 percent to 25 percent just from the new kitchen but we won’t know until we get there,” he said.
Asked who would rent space, White said North Little Rock has called more than once asking to rent 16 to 18 beds.
“I’d be glad to let them have them but I’ve got to be open first,” he said.
Jacksonville, Sherwood and White County also are potential customers, he said. Asked why White County, which has a new jail, would need to rent space in Lonoke’s jail, White said that sometimes it is necessary to remove prisoners from people who know them. An example is David Derreberry, 37, of Greenbrier, who is charged with murder in the April shooting death of pawn-shop owner Billy Joe Pipkin, 61. Derreberry is being housed in the White County jail because White said it might not be safe to keep him in the Lonoke County jail.
The county has budgeted $900,000 to run the old jail and a study by the architect who designed the new one has projected the cost of running the new one at $1.3 million. White says he believes the new jail will be able to raise enough from renting beds to make up the difference but the quorum court needs to approve the additional cost of the jailers before he can prove it.
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