We were never so superstitious as to believe that a person could have “bad karma,” but the University of Central Arkansas is about to convince us that an institution can be infected with bad energy. Check the news almost any day and you can see the fruits of it—or maybe it is just the fruits of consistently poor leadership. Either way, UCA, as the old school is known, has had enough of it.
Yesterday, the school’s trustees hastily bought out its fairly new president’s contract—fired him—and will pay him some $525,000 to leave the premises by the end of the month, if not before. He had embarrassed them for the last time. They had paid handsomely to get rid of the previous president only three years ago after he had humiliated them and tarnished the school’s good name.
UCA’s troubles go back a decade or more, at least since September 2002, when Gov. Mike Huckabee tapped his pal Lu Hardin to be the university’s president to succeed his old enemy, Winfred Thompson, who had raised the school’s profile and modernized the campus but irked the faculty and the governor. Thompson resigned before Huckabee got full control of the board and fired him, and then he went off to become president of American University, first in the United Arab Emirates and then in Kuwait.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette touted Hardin often as a celestial gift to higher education, but it was soon obvious that Hardin’s main objective was self-promotion—he wanted to be governor or U.S. senator—and the university was his instrument. Hardin starred in television commercials and newspaper ads promoting UCA as the learning center of Arkansas and he was at the center of every other promotion as well.
That all ended with Hardin’s resignation three years ago after it was revealed that he had connived, among other things, to trick the board of trustees and the school into giving him a $300,000 bonus to help him pay his gambling debts. The trustees were happy to give him anything he wanted, but the revelation that he had gulled them made them look bad, along with the institution and its staff. Five months ago, Hardin pled guilty to federal counts of wire fraud and money laundering, and investigations of other shenanigans are continuing.
But Hardin’s hasty departure from the campus did not end the bad publicity or the blundering and self-dealing. Rather, they have cascaded on an almost weekly cycle under both the interim regime and successor administration of president Allen Meadors. This week, it reached a crescendo. Meadors and the trustees have been unhappy with conditions at the president’s mansion on the edge of the campus despite the expenditure of more than $400,000 since 2009 to improve the home and the grounds. There also had been expensive improvements when Hardin took over in 2002. Meadors says he and his wife do not mind living in the squalor of the old mansion, but it is not a fit place to entertain important guests of the university. (We were entertained there a couple of times in the last 15 years and found it elegant enough for our proletarian tastes, but it apparently is not suitable for people of better breeding.)
Owing to all that had transpired under Hardin and afterward, Meadors and the trustees agreed that it would not look good to spend public funds—the state’s tax support or students’ tuition—to gild the president’s home again, so they would seek private help. Lo, Meadors presented them last week with a deus ex machina—a gift from heaven. Aramark, the big national company that provides food services for the school, wanted to kick in $700,000 toward the renovations of the home and grounds. You don’t often encounter that kind of selfless generosity from a business. The trustees were happy and moved forward on the renovation, authorizing the school to spend $1,500 a month to rent a home for the president and his wife while the work was being done.
A nosy reporter, the Democrat-Gazette’s relentless Debra-Hale Shelton, made a request under the freedom of information law to see Aramark’s offer. The school obliged and then rushed an email to the trustees with a copy of Aramark’s letter before Shelton’s story got into print. It turned out that the company was not so generous after all. The $700,000 gift was contingent on the university renewing Aramark’s exclusive contract for campus food services for another seven years when the contract expires in May and doing it without giving competitors a chance to bid on the contract. The company would recoup its $700,000 (and how much more?) from the students over the next seven years.
The trustees, or most of them, were furious, not so much over the quid-pro-quo deal but over the administration’s misleading them by making it appear that it was an unselfish gift from the vendor. They looked foolish yet again. Meadors said he just simply did not think to tell the trustees or the public about that aspect of the deal because it did not seem important. After all, he said, such arrangements are common all across the country. Colleges apparently give big contractors sweetheart no-bid deals like that all the time.
Thursday, Meadors said he realized that he had made a big mistake and he took full responsibility for not being square with the trustees. The board named a committee to investigate the incident and take sworn testimony from everyone involved to see who was telling the truth—who was deceived and who deceived.
That hardly seemed to matter. It was inescapable that the problem was more endemic and wouldn’t be cured by determining who lied and who was just excessively meek in this embarrassing episode. The school’s leadership—the trustees and the men they choose to run the school (is cronies too strong a word for them?) — has been consistently weak. Some institutions seem to beg governors to be basely political in anointing its leaders. The state Game and Fish Commission is the exemplar.
After a day to reflect and read the press, the trustees apparently sensed that, too, and negotiated with the president to leave pronto and end the embarrassment. Buying out his contract costs the university $525,000 that it can scarcely afford, but honor sometimes comes at a price.
Gov. Beebe has to consider whether Meadors’ departure solves the underlying problem or the trustees, who include his own as well as Huckabee’s patronage, bear some of the burden. He should ask for all their resignations and open a fresh slate for the University of Central Arkansas. That superb university, which has had sliding enrollment and prestige in these debacles, deserves a better shake.
Friday, September 02, 2011
TOP STORY > >Residents in Lonoke split over principal
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Officials have breathed not a word about why Lonoke High School Principal Phynaus Wil-son was suspended with pay pending school board action, but an unconfirmed rumor is circulating in the small town via Facebook and elsewhere.
The rumor is that Wilson was suspended because Super-intendent John Tackett asked him to let outside consultants observe classes at the academically distressed high school, but the two disagreed on bringing in those consultants.
Assistant Principal Mark Hopson has taken over for Wil-son temporarily. He told The Leader he didn’t know how long he would be in that position.
“I don’t have anything to say about this,” he added, when asked if he could confirm the rumor.
The school’s website still lists Wilson as the principal. The Leader has been told Wilson worked his way up from coaching to administration and has been with the district for 30 years.
Tackett and Wilson did not return phone calls to The Leader by press time.
The district has been on the state’s school improvement list for four years.
If the district keeps that designation for a fifth year, it can bring in the state Education Department to improve test scores. But there are no plans in place to have outside parties help to improve scores. Another possibility is extending the school year or day.
Lonoke Benchmark scores for algebra and biology have dropped significantly over the past five years, while literacy scores have skyrocketed and geometry has stayed the same.
Forty percent of Lonoke students scored proficient or advanced in biology for 2009, but that dropped to 27 percent in 2010 and to 22 percent this year. Algebra was up and down, going from 69 percent scoring advanced or proficient in 2009 to 79 percent in 2010 and 63 percent this year.
Meanwhile, 49 percent scored advanced or proficient in literacy for 2009. That score went up to 64 percent in 2010 and is at 71 percent now.
Geometry advanced and proficient scores were 66 percent in 2009, 70 percent in 2010 and were at 68 percent this spring.
Although the reason for the suspension is unclear, Donn Mixon of Mixon Law Firm in Jonesboro released a statement about the incident.
It reads, “He (Wilson) is still a contract employee being paid his usual wages and benefits. I have directed the administration of the district not to share any further information about this matter. The reasons for this action are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act until such time as the school board action is completed.”
The statement also says Wilson has 30 days to request a hearing before the school board, which he can request be public or private, but any vote by the school board will be public. Mixon said, as of Friday, Wilson had not requested a hearing.
If he does request a hearing, it will be scheduled within five to 20 days after the request.
The next school board meeting is at 7 p.m. on Sept. 19. Lonoke school board held a special meeting for personnel on Aug. 22.
The purpose of the meeting was personnel, but no vote on personnel was recorded, according to Lonoke School District’s office.
Lonoke High School has a new $9.3 million campus with 600 students in ninth through 12th grades.
The two-story 74,000 square-foot building at West Academy Street and College Avenue replaces the neighboring 75-year-old high school.
The district received $5.2 million is state partnership funds to build the school. The district is paying off $4.1 million with second-lien bonds.
The info section for a Face-book page titled “Front Street Lonoke,” reads, “Since the news about Coach Wilson broke, a lot of discussion took place. Some were at church, some were on the telephone, and a great deal happened on a few of the Facebook pages that were started in support of Wilson. It seemed most people were in favor of bringing back Coach Wilson.”
The posting went on, “How-ever, when the topic turned to Dr. Tackett, disagreements arose, and pages were either closed, or disagreeing posts (along with their authors) were deleted. That won’t happen here. Feel free to talk about what’s going on in our town. Just try to keep it respectful.”
Posts on the page also claim teachers have been told to keep quiet about the suspension. One response to a reporter asking for someone to go on record with a reason for the action states, “Under threat of suspension? Hmmmmm... No free speech here.”
Another consensus that seems to have been reached on the Facebook page is that there are not many details on the suspension and people want to know what is going on.
Front Street Lonoke posted, “…Problem is, not too many details are being given to the public, as it took Dr. Tackett until today (Wednesday) to release a statement on this situation, which took place last week.”
Others said things like, “Let’s all remember that transparency is a good thing,” and, “Just saying that if they don’t/aren’t divulging what is going on there is something fishy going on.”
Other comments, such as, “I am not a ‘muzzled dog’ but I do choose to respect the wishes of the administration regardless of my personal opinions. It is called being a professional,“ and “I understand it is a personnel issue that can’t be discussed.” Many support keeping the lid on the issue.
Several students wearing “We want Wilson” T-shirts protested Wilson’s suspension this week. They spoke favorably of the principal and demanded the superintendent explain why Wilson was suspended.
Leader staff writer
Officials have breathed not a word about why Lonoke High School Principal Phynaus Wil-son was suspended with pay pending school board action, but an unconfirmed rumor is circulating in the small town via Facebook and elsewhere.
The rumor is that Wilson was suspended because Super-intendent John Tackett asked him to let outside consultants observe classes at the academically distressed high school, but the two disagreed on bringing in those consultants.
Assistant Principal Mark Hopson has taken over for Wil-son temporarily. He told The Leader he didn’t know how long he would be in that position.
“I don’t have anything to say about this,” he added, when asked if he could confirm the rumor.
The school’s website still lists Wilson as the principal. The Leader has been told Wilson worked his way up from coaching to administration and has been with the district for 30 years.
Tackett and Wilson did not return phone calls to The Leader by press time.
The district has been on the state’s school improvement list for four years.
If the district keeps that designation for a fifth year, it can bring in the state Education Department to improve test scores. But there are no plans in place to have outside parties help to improve scores. Another possibility is extending the school year or day.
Lonoke Benchmark scores for algebra and biology have dropped significantly over the past five years, while literacy scores have skyrocketed and geometry has stayed the same.
Forty percent of Lonoke students scored proficient or advanced in biology for 2009, but that dropped to 27 percent in 2010 and to 22 percent this year. Algebra was up and down, going from 69 percent scoring advanced or proficient in 2009 to 79 percent in 2010 and 63 percent this year.
Meanwhile, 49 percent scored advanced or proficient in literacy for 2009. That score went up to 64 percent in 2010 and is at 71 percent now.
Geometry advanced and proficient scores were 66 percent in 2009, 70 percent in 2010 and were at 68 percent this spring.
Although the reason for the suspension is unclear, Donn Mixon of Mixon Law Firm in Jonesboro released a statement about the incident.
It reads, “He (Wilson) is still a contract employee being paid his usual wages and benefits. I have directed the administration of the district not to share any further information about this matter. The reasons for this action are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act until such time as the school board action is completed.”
The statement also says Wilson has 30 days to request a hearing before the school board, which he can request be public or private, but any vote by the school board will be public. Mixon said, as of Friday, Wilson had not requested a hearing.
If he does request a hearing, it will be scheduled within five to 20 days after the request.
The next school board meeting is at 7 p.m. on Sept. 19. Lonoke school board held a special meeting for personnel on Aug. 22.
The purpose of the meeting was personnel, but no vote on personnel was recorded, according to Lonoke School District’s office.
Lonoke High School has a new $9.3 million campus with 600 students in ninth through 12th grades.
The two-story 74,000 square-foot building at West Academy Street and College Avenue replaces the neighboring 75-year-old high school.
The district received $5.2 million is state partnership funds to build the school. The district is paying off $4.1 million with second-lien bonds.
The info section for a Face-book page titled “Front Street Lonoke,” reads, “Since the news about Coach Wilson broke, a lot of discussion took place. Some were at church, some were on the telephone, and a great deal happened on a few of the Facebook pages that were started in support of Wilson. It seemed most people were in favor of bringing back Coach Wilson.”
The posting went on, “How-ever, when the topic turned to Dr. Tackett, disagreements arose, and pages were either closed, or disagreeing posts (along with their authors) were deleted. That won’t happen here. Feel free to talk about what’s going on in our town. Just try to keep it respectful.”
Posts on the page also claim teachers have been told to keep quiet about the suspension. One response to a reporter asking for someone to go on record with a reason for the action states, “Under threat of suspension? Hmmmmm... No free speech here.”
Another consensus that seems to have been reached on the Facebook page is that there are not many details on the suspension and people want to know what is going on.
Front Street Lonoke posted, “…Problem is, not too many details are being given to the public, as it took Dr. Tackett until today (Wednesday) to release a statement on this situation, which took place last week.”
Others said things like, “Let’s all remember that transparency is a good thing,” and, “Just saying that if they don’t/aren’t divulging what is going on there is something fishy going on.”
Other comments, such as, “I am not a ‘muzzled dog’ but I do choose to respect the wishes of the administration regardless of my personal opinions. It is called being a professional,“ and “I understand it is a personnel issue that can’t be discussed.” Many support keeping the lid on the issue.
Several students wearing “We want Wilson” T-shirts protested Wilson’s suspension this week. They spoke favorably of the principal and demanded the superintendent explain why Wilson was suspended.
TOP STORY > >BBC crew filming blackbird deaths
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
International interest in the intriguing death of thousands of red-wing blackbirds on New Year’s Eve in Beebe continues. This week, a British Broadcasting Corp. film crew was in Beebe interviewing residents about the night blackbirds rained from the sky.
The British crew from Bristol, England, is working for the BBC’s natural-history unit. They were recording footage and interviews for an untitled nature series to air on the BBC early next year and possibly on BBC America later in mid-2012.
The theme of the show is unusual occurrences in nature. Along with the blackbirds, the crew is covering weather phenomena, sink holes and insect swarms.
Lucy Wells, a researcher with the film crew, said people in England have heard about the blackbird deaths here. She said the story captures the imagination.
“I think the Beebe birds hit international news almost straight away. There was certainly something about the story that captured public imagination—probably that such a high number fell on an auspicious night—plus the pictures of men in white chem suits,” sound engineer Chloe Pearne said.
Among people the BBC crew interviewed were Beebe Police Chief Wayne Ballew, Windwood subdivision residents Charles and Faye Moore, and Karen Rowe, a nongame bird biologist for Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
The crew also visited a lab at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Athens, where some of the dead blackbirds from Beebe were dissected.
“I think it is great we have people coming from England to our little community in Beebe, Arkansas, for two days. It gives us a touch of interacting with people from across the water. Their accents are wonderful,” said Charles Moore, an algebra professor at Arkansas State University-Beebe.
“It has put (Beebe) on the map. I’m amazed at the continued interest (in the blackbird deaths). It is fascinating. People love a mystery. It is fun to talk about. There are a lot of unanswered question with any theory you select,” Moore said.
Last week, Moore was interviewed by David Rush, a man from Las Vegas who has a travel show on the Internet. Rush is traveling across the United States, recording places he sees and the people he interviews on his website, www.DavidRush.net, and on YouTube.
The common belief for the massive deaths of blackbirds is large fireworks startled the estimated 1.6 million blackbirds from their roosts in the trees in the field near the Windwood subdivision.
Moore, a 16-year resident of Beebe, said pine trees once grew in the field along West Center Street. The pines were harvested and thorny trees grew up in their place. The new trees attracted the red-wing blackbirds and the birds have since migrated to the area every fall.
The Game and Fish Com-mission reported that three laboratories determined the 4,000 to 5,000 blackbirds scattered around town died from blunt-force trauma caused by crashing into each other, into houses and trees.
Experts say the blackbirds cannot see well at night. On New Year’s Eve, the blackbirds were seen on weather radar leaving their roosts. One wave of birds was recorded at 10:20 p.m. and a second smaller wave was at 11:21 p.m.
City clerk/treasurer Carol Crump-Westergren said calls to city hall about the blackbirds have stopped, except for a few from concerned residents before the Fourth of July celebration.
Back in February, John Rubin Productions, a documentary film crew from Cambridge, Mass., recorded footage of the blackbird flocks leaving their roost at dawn and returning to their roosts in the evening.
They also interviewed Beebe residents and city officials for a documentary to air on National Geographic Channel’s Explorer series.
Last week, producer/director John Rubin told The Leader that no air date for the documentary has been set by the National Geographic Channel.
Leader staff writer
International interest in the intriguing death of thousands of red-wing blackbirds on New Year’s Eve in Beebe continues. This week, a British Broadcasting Corp. film crew was in Beebe interviewing residents about the night blackbirds rained from the sky.
The British crew from Bristol, England, is working for the BBC’s natural-history unit. They were recording footage and interviews for an untitled nature series to air on the BBC early next year and possibly on BBC America later in mid-2012.
The theme of the show is unusual occurrences in nature. Along with the blackbirds, the crew is covering weather phenomena, sink holes and insect swarms.
Lucy Wells, a researcher with the film crew, said people in England have heard about the blackbird deaths here. She said the story captures the imagination.
“I think the Beebe birds hit international news almost straight away. There was certainly something about the story that captured public imagination—probably that such a high number fell on an auspicious night—plus the pictures of men in white chem suits,” sound engineer Chloe Pearne said.
Among people the BBC crew interviewed were Beebe Police Chief Wayne Ballew, Windwood subdivision residents Charles and Faye Moore, and Karen Rowe, a nongame bird biologist for Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
The crew also visited a lab at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Athens, where some of the dead blackbirds from Beebe were dissected.
“I think it is great we have people coming from England to our little community in Beebe, Arkansas, for two days. It gives us a touch of interacting with people from across the water. Their accents are wonderful,” said Charles Moore, an algebra professor at Arkansas State University-Beebe.
“It has put (Beebe) on the map. I’m amazed at the continued interest (in the blackbird deaths). It is fascinating. People love a mystery. It is fun to talk about. There are a lot of unanswered question with any theory you select,” Moore said.
Last week, Moore was interviewed by David Rush, a man from Las Vegas who has a travel show on the Internet. Rush is traveling across the United States, recording places he sees and the people he interviews on his website, www.DavidRush.net, and on YouTube.
The common belief for the massive deaths of blackbirds is large fireworks startled the estimated 1.6 million blackbirds from their roosts in the trees in the field near the Windwood subdivision.
Moore, a 16-year resident of Beebe, said pine trees once grew in the field along West Center Street. The pines were harvested and thorny trees grew up in their place. The new trees attracted the red-wing blackbirds and the birds have since migrated to the area every fall.
The Game and Fish Com-mission reported that three laboratories determined the 4,000 to 5,000 blackbirds scattered around town died from blunt-force trauma caused by crashing into each other, into houses and trees.
Experts say the blackbirds cannot see well at night. On New Year’s Eve, the blackbirds were seen on weather radar leaving their roosts. One wave of birds was recorded at 10:20 p.m. and a second smaller wave was at 11:21 p.m.
City clerk/treasurer Carol Crump-Westergren said calls to city hall about the blackbirds have stopped, except for a few from concerned residents before the Fourth of July celebration.
Back in February, John Rubin Productions, a documentary film crew from Cambridge, Mass., recorded footage of the blackbird flocks leaving their roost at dawn and returning to their roosts in the evening.
They also interviewed Beebe residents and city officials for a documentary to air on National Geographic Channel’s Explorer series.
Last week, producer/director John Rubin told The Leader that no air date for the documentary has been set by the National Geographic Channel.
TOP STORY > >BBC crew filming blackbird deaths
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
International interest in the intriguing death of thousands of red-wing blackbirds on New Year’s Eve in Beebe continues. This week, a British Broadcasting Corp. film crew was in Beebe interviewing residents about the night blackbirds rained from the sky.
The British crew from Bristol, England, is working for the BBC’s natural-history unit. They were recording footage and interviews for an untitled nature series to air on the BBC early next year and possibly on BBC America later in mid-2012.
The theme of the show is unusual occurrences in nature. Along with the blackbirds, the crew is covering weather phenomena, sink holes and insect swarms.
Lucy Wells, a researcher with the film crew, said people in England have heard about the blackbird deaths here. She said the story captures the imagination.
“I think the Beebe birds hit international news almost straight away. There was certainly something about the story that captured public imagination—probably that such a high number fell on an auspicious night—plus the pictures of men in white chem suits,” sound engineer Chloe Pearne said.
Among people the BBC crew interviewed were Beebe Police Chief Wayne Ballew, Windwood subdivision residents Charles and Faye Moore, and Karen Rowe, a nongame bird biologist for Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
The crew also visited a lab at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Athens, where some of the dead blackbirds from Beebe were dissected.
“I think it is great we have people coming from England to our little community in Beebe, Arkansas, for two days. It gives us a touch of interacting with people from across the water. Their accents are wonderful,” said Charles Moore, an algebra professor at Arkansas State University-Beebe.
“It has put (Beebe) on the map. I’m amazed at the continued interest (in the blackbird deaths). It is fascinating. People love a mystery. It is fun to talk about. There are a lot of unanswered question with any theory you select,” Moore said.
Last week, Moore was interviewed by David Rush, a man from Las Vegas who has a travel show on the Internet. Rush is traveling across the United States, recording places he sees and the people he interviews on his website, www.DavidRush.net, and on YouTube.
The common belief for the massive deaths of blackbirds is large fireworks startled the estimated 1.6 million blackbirds from their roosts in the trees in the field near the Windwood subdivision.
Moore, a 16-year resident of Beebe, said pine trees once grew in the field along West Center Street. The pines were harvested and thorny trees grew up in their place. The new trees attracted the red-wing blackbirds and the birds have since migrated to the area every fall.
The Game and Fish Com-mission reported that three laboratories determined the 4,000 to 5,000 blackbirds scattered around town died from blunt-force trauma caused by crashing into each other, into houses and trees.
Experts say the blackbirds cannot see well at night. On New Year’s Eve, the blackbirds were seen on weather radar leaving their roosts. One wave of birds was recorded at 10:20 p.m. and a second smaller wave was at 11:21 p.m.
City clerk/treasurer Carol Crump-Westergren said calls to city hall about the blackbirds have stopped, except for a few from concerned residents before the Fourth of July celebration.
Back in February, John Rubin Productions, a documentary film crew from Cambridge, Mass., recorded footage of the blackbird flocks leaving their roost at dawn and returning to their roosts in the evening.
They also interviewed Beebe residents and city officials for a documentary to air on National Geographic Channel’s Explorer series.
Last week, producer/director John Rubin told The Leader that no air date for the documentary has been set by the National Geographic Channel.
Leader staff writer
International interest in the intriguing death of thousands of red-wing blackbirds on New Year’s Eve in Beebe continues. This week, a British Broadcasting Corp. film crew was in Beebe interviewing residents about the night blackbirds rained from the sky.
The British crew from Bristol, England, is working for the BBC’s natural-history unit. They were recording footage and interviews for an untitled nature series to air on the BBC early next year and possibly on BBC America later in mid-2012.
The theme of the show is unusual occurrences in nature. Along with the blackbirds, the crew is covering weather phenomena, sink holes and insect swarms.
Lucy Wells, a researcher with the film crew, said people in England have heard about the blackbird deaths here. She said the story captures the imagination.
“I think the Beebe birds hit international news almost straight away. There was certainly something about the story that captured public imagination—probably that such a high number fell on an auspicious night—plus the pictures of men in white chem suits,” sound engineer Chloe Pearne said.
Among people the BBC crew interviewed were Beebe Police Chief Wayne Ballew, Windwood subdivision residents Charles and Faye Moore, and Karen Rowe, a nongame bird biologist for Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
The crew also visited a lab at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Athens, where some of the dead blackbirds from Beebe were dissected.
“I think it is great we have people coming from England to our little community in Beebe, Arkansas, for two days. It gives us a touch of interacting with people from across the water. Their accents are wonderful,” said Charles Moore, an algebra professor at Arkansas State University-Beebe.
“It has put (Beebe) on the map. I’m amazed at the continued interest (in the blackbird deaths). It is fascinating. People love a mystery. It is fun to talk about. There are a lot of unanswered question with any theory you select,” Moore said.
Last week, Moore was interviewed by David Rush, a man from Las Vegas who has a travel show on the Internet. Rush is traveling across the United States, recording places he sees and the people he interviews on his website, www.DavidRush.net, and on YouTube.
The common belief for the massive deaths of blackbirds is large fireworks startled the estimated 1.6 million blackbirds from their roosts in the trees in the field near the Windwood subdivision.
Moore, a 16-year resident of Beebe, said pine trees once grew in the field along West Center Street. The pines were harvested and thorny trees grew up in their place. The new trees attracted the red-wing blackbirds and the birds have since migrated to the area every fall.
The Game and Fish Com-mission reported that three laboratories determined the 4,000 to 5,000 blackbirds scattered around town died from blunt-force trauma caused by crashing into each other, into houses and trees.
Experts say the blackbirds cannot see well at night. On New Year’s Eve, the blackbirds were seen on weather radar leaving their roosts. One wave of birds was recorded at 10:20 p.m. and a second smaller wave was at 11:21 p.m.
City clerk/treasurer Carol Crump-Westergren said calls to city hall about the blackbirds have stopped, except for a few from concerned residents before the Fourth of July celebration.
Back in February, John Rubin Productions, a documentary film crew from Cambridge, Mass., recorded footage of the blackbird flocks leaving their roost at dawn and returning to their roosts in the evening.
They also interviewed Beebe residents and city officials for a documentary to air on National Geographic Channel’s Explorer series.
Last week, producer/director John Rubin told The Leader that no air date for the documentary has been set by the National Geographic Channel.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
SPORTS >> NP ladies beat Sylvan Hills in league opener
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
North Pulaski got a big win to open 5A Southeast Conference volleyball play Monday night, beating Sylvan Hills in five hard-fought sets to take the victory. Monday’s match came on the heels of both teams participating in the Spikefest Tournament on Saturday. That tournament featured 28 teams and was spread out over four locations in Little Rock.
In Monday’s matchup, the Lady Falcons overcame a two-sets-to-one deficit, winning the fourth and fifth sets to steal the victory from the visiting Lady Bears. Scores in the match were for North Pulaski 25-22, 17-25, 21-25, 25-14 and 15-7.
“One thing about these girls is they aren’t going to quit,” North Pulaski coach Ben Belton said. “We’ve got a lot of things to work on, a lot of things we need to do to get better, but they don’t quit.”
North Pulaski had leads in every set, and big leads in each of the two it lost. The Lady Bears came back from a 10-2 deficit in set two to take it, then rallied from 12 points down in the third set to win it and take a 2-1 lead. North Pulaski led 16-4 in the third, but Sylvan Hills outscored the home team 21-6 from that point.
“There really wasn’t ever a set where, at one point or another, that we weren’t in control,” Belton said. “One of the things we have to start doing is finishing. We can’t keep letting teams come back on us when we’ve got them down that much. We have to finish teams off. We were fortunate to go ahead and get that win. But we made it hard on ourselves. Take nothing away from Syvlan Hills. They battled and they got themselves back in it and deserved to be there. We just didn’t do the things we needed to do.”
North Pulaski’s service game was the difference. When it was on, Sylvan Hills struggled, but the Lady Falcons were inconsistent.
Sophomore Emily Long had several long services, and her jump serve dominated the fourth set.
“She hadn’t jump served the whole match, but I knew she was capable,” Belton said. “When I asked her to do it in the fourth set, Sylvan Hills really had trouble with it.”
Long started serving in the fourth with North Pulaski trailing 3-1. She finished with her team up 9-4. A few rotations later, she served again, this team leading 17-14, and served the set out.
Other Lady Falcons had long services at times in the match. Shelby Floyd served eight straight points to start the match. Megan Chargualaf served eight straight at one point, and Shelby Floyd served the last three of the match.
“We’ve got a few kids that have really good serves. They’re just not consistent with it and don’t have the confidence in it to really go after it,” Belton said. “We’re still a young team. If we can get everything going like I think we can, we’re going to be pretty good.”
Over the weekend, North Pulaski was put into a tough pool with class 7A Bentonville, and 6A Van Buren and Sheridan. Pool play in Spikefest was a two-set round robin, with each team playing two sets against every other team. Bentonville and Van Buren swept North Pulaski and Sheridan, while North Pulaski and Sheridan split with each other.
After pool play, North Pulaski went to tournament play and beat Little Rock Hall before losing to Mills.
“I was most disappointed in the Mills game,” Belton said. “Bentonville and Van Buren are outstanding teams. They’re big, athletic and most of them play pretty much year round. We did pretty well against Sheridan, but we just didn’t play against Mills. I don’t know if we put a ball down that whole match. I know this, they didn’t get our best. Hopefully it will be different next time we see them.”
North Pulaski and Sylvan Hills will both continue conference play at 5 p.m. Thursday. North Pulaski will play an away game at Little Rock Christian. Sylvan Hills will play at home against Central Arkansas Christian.
Leader sports editor
North Pulaski got a big win to open 5A Southeast Conference volleyball play Monday night, beating Sylvan Hills in five hard-fought sets to take the victory. Monday’s match came on the heels of both teams participating in the Spikefest Tournament on Saturday. That tournament featured 28 teams and was spread out over four locations in Little Rock.
In Monday’s matchup, the Lady Falcons overcame a two-sets-to-one deficit, winning the fourth and fifth sets to steal the victory from the visiting Lady Bears. Scores in the match were for North Pulaski 25-22, 17-25, 21-25, 25-14 and 15-7.
“One thing about these girls is they aren’t going to quit,” North Pulaski coach Ben Belton said. “We’ve got a lot of things to work on, a lot of things we need to do to get better, but they don’t quit.”
North Pulaski had leads in every set, and big leads in each of the two it lost. The Lady Bears came back from a 10-2 deficit in set two to take it, then rallied from 12 points down in the third set to win it and take a 2-1 lead. North Pulaski led 16-4 in the third, but Sylvan Hills outscored the home team 21-6 from that point.
“There really wasn’t ever a set where, at one point or another, that we weren’t in control,” Belton said. “One of the things we have to start doing is finishing. We can’t keep letting teams come back on us when we’ve got them down that much. We have to finish teams off. We were fortunate to go ahead and get that win. But we made it hard on ourselves. Take nothing away from Syvlan Hills. They battled and they got themselves back in it and deserved to be there. We just didn’t do the things we needed to do.”
North Pulaski’s service game was the difference. When it was on, Sylvan Hills struggled, but the Lady Falcons were inconsistent.
Sophomore Emily Long had several long services, and her jump serve dominated the fourth set.
“She hadn’t jump served the whole match, but I knew she was capable,” Belton said. “When I asked her to do it in the fourth set, Sylvan Hills really had trouble with it.”
Long started serving in the fourth with North Pulaski trailing 3-1. She finished with her team up 9-4. A few rotations later, she served again, this team leading 17-14, and served the set out.
Other Lady Falcons had long services at times in the match. Shelby Floyd served eight straight points to start the match. Megan Chargualaf served eight straight at one point, and Shelby Floyd served the last three of the match.
“We’ve got a few kids that have really good serves. They’re just not consistent with it and don’t have the confidence in it to really go after it,” Belton said. “We’re still a young team. If we can get everything going like I think we can, we’re going to be pretty good.”
Over the weekend, North Pulaski was put into a tough pool with class 7A Bentonville, and 6A Van Buren and Sheridan. Pool play in Spikefest was a two-set round robin, with each team playing two sets against every other team. Bentonville and Van Buren swept North Pulaski and Sheridan, while North Pulaski and Sheridan split with each other.
After pool play, North Pulaski went to tournament play and beat Little Rock Hall before losing to Mills.
“I was most disappointed in the Mills game,” Belton said. “Bentonville and Van Buren are outstanding teams. They’re big, athletic and most of them play pretty much year round. We did pretty well against Sheridan, but we just didn’t play against Mills. I don’t know if we put a ball down that whole match. I know this, they didn’t get our best. Hopefully it will be different next time we see them.”
North Pulaski and Sylvan Hills will both continue conference play at 5 p.m. Thursday. North Pulaski will play an away game at Little Rock Christian. Sylvan Hills will play at home against Central Arkansas Christian.
SPORTS >> Eagles blow up in first half, pound Sylvan Hills
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The second day of the 2011 Arkansas High School Football Classic quickly turned into a classic blowout in the early game as Vilonia clobbered Sylvan Hills 45-7 at War Memorial Stadium on Tuesday.
Senior running back Trey Bone broke the biggest run of the first half to give the Bears their only score when he got free at the line of scrimmage and darted 67 yards for a touchdown with 4:44 left in the first half. Vilonia defenders caught up with Bone at the Eagles 20, but he cut towards the middle of the field and back out to the left to freeze them. Sophomore kicker Philip Wood added the extra point to make it 27-7.
“That’s just a young football team,” Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow said. “When you play good teams, you can’t make mistakes. It’s a learning experience for us, you know, it’s not a conference game. But we’ve got to get on track this coming week. We had I don’t know how many blown assignments in the first five plays of the game. If we clean that up, I think we’ll be fine.”
Bone was one bright spot in a Bears offense that found trouble in many forms, including penalties, turnovers and missed blocking assignments. He finished with a game-high 112 yards, almost half of Sylvan Hills’ 235 total yards.
“He did a great job,” Withrow said. “Trey’s had a hamstring pull; he’s not practiced for a week and a half. It’s exactly what we thought we would get with him. Once we decided to execute, we had some good moments. We’re going to keep banging away at it. We’ll get there.”
The Eagles wasted little time getting on the scoreboard on their first possession with a five-play, 41-yard drive that was set up with a shaky punt by Bears junior kicker Michael Neal. Neal had trouble getting the low snap, but still managed to punt the ball 20 yards while dodging oncoming Eagle defenders.
Senior running back James Sax and sophomore Houston Cotton each ran twice to push the ball into the red zone, setting up Drew Estes for a 20-yard touchdown run across the left side with 8:35 left in the first quarter. James Gardner added the extra point to put Vilonia up 7-0.
Sax finished with a team-high 93 yards for Vilonia while Estes had 76 yards. The Eagles had 276 total yards, all on the ground.
“The defense played great,” Vilonia coach Jim Stanley said. “Sylvan Hills is so fast. I was really concerned.”
Things started out promising for the Bears on their third possession when Bone picked up a first down with an 18-yard run up to the Sylvan Hills 31-yard line. But on third down, Miller was intercepted by Jake Kirk, who returned it 39 yards to put the Eagles up by two scores just before the end of the quarter.
Vilonia struck fast again to start the second quarter with a six-play, 49-yard drive. It was Estes once again, bookending the drive with an eight-yard scamper on first down, and a 20-yard run similar to his opening score. Bears junior Jaleel Henson blocked Gardner’s extra-point kick to leave the margin at 20-0 with 8:43 remaining in the first half.
The Eagles got another gift at the end of the Bears’ next possession when Neal’s punt went 10 yards and then took a backwards bounce to set Vilonia up at the Sylvan Hills’ 23-yard line.
That led to the first score for Sax three plays later. Sax, the high-profile senior running back for Vilonia, took it in from five yards out to give the Eagles a 27-0 lead with 5:05 left in the first half.
Leader sportswriter
The second day of the 2011 Arkansas High School Football Classic quickly turned into a classic blowout in the early game as Vilonia clobbered Sylvan Hills 45-7 at War Memorial Stadium on Tuesday.
Senior running back Trey Bone broke the biggest run of the first half to give the Bears their only score when he got free at the line of scrimmage and darted 67 yards for a touchdown with 4:44 left in the first half. Vilonia defenders caught up with Bone at the Eagles 20, but he cut towards the middle of the field and back out to the left to freeze them. Sophomore kicker Philip Wood added the extra point to make it 27-7.
“That’s just a young football team,” Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow said. “When you play good teams, you can’t make mistakes. It’s a learning experience for us, you know, it’s not a conference game. But we’ve got to get on track this coming week. We had I don’t know how many blown assignments in the first five plays of the game. If we clean that up, I think we’ll be fine.”
Bone was one bright spot in a Bears offense that found trouble in many forms, including penalties, turnovers and missed blocking assignments. He finished with a game-high 112 yards, almost half of Sylvan Hills’ 235 total yards.
“He did a great job,” Withrow said. “Trey’s had a hamstring pull; he’s not practiced for a week and a half. It’s exactly what we thought we would get with him. Once we decided to execute, we had some good moments. We’re going to keep banging away at it. We’ll get there.”
The Eagles wasted little time getting on the scoreboard on their first possession with a five-play, 41-yard drive that was set up with a shaky punt by Bears junior kicker Michael Neal. Neal had trouble getting the low snap, but still managed to punt the ball 20 yards while dodging oncoming Eagle defenders.
Senior running back James Sax and sophomore Houston Cotton each ran twice to push the ball into the red zone, setting up Drew Estes for a 20-yard touchdown run across the left side with 8:35 left in the first quarter. James Gardner added the extra point to put Vilonia up 7-0.
Sax finished with a team-high 93 yards for Vilonia while Estes had 76 yards. The Eagles had 276 total yards, all on the ground.
“The defense played great,” Vilonia coach Jim Stanley said. “Sylvan Hills is so fast. I was really concerned.”
Things started out promising for the Bears on their third possession when Bone picked up a first down with an 18-yard run up to the Sylvan Hills 31-yard line. But on third down, Miller was intercepted by Jake Kirk, who returned it 39 yards to put the Eagles up by two scores just before the end of the quarter.
Vilonia struck fast again to start the second quarter with a six-play, 49-yard drive. It was Estes once again, bookending the drive with an eight-yard scamper on first down, and a 20-yard run similar to his opening score. Bears junior Jaleel Henson blocked Gardner’s extra-point kick to leave the margin at 20-0 with 8:43 remaining in the first half.
The Eagles got another gift at the end of the Bears’ next possession when Neal’s punt went 10 yards and then took a backwards bounce to set Vilonia up at the Sylvan Hills’ 23-yard line.
That led to the first score for Sax three plays later. Sax, the high-profile senior running back for Vilonia, took it in from five yards out to give the Eagles a 27-0 lead with 5:05 left in the first half.
SPORTS >> Mistakes hurt Jackrabbits, Bulldogs get win
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Lonoke’s first offensive play was a turnover. It’s last offensive play was a turnover. In between there were nine penalties for 45 yards in losses, and it was all enough to help Star City overcome the Jackrabbits 21-7 Monday in the opening game of the 2011 football season at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
There were bright spots for Lonoke on offense and defense, and plenty on which to build once it eliminates the kind of mistakes that were made against the Bulldogs.
Part of the problem for Lonoke, possibly a major part, was that it was playing in its first game-type action in the regular-season opener. While most teams played a scrimmage game against another team or two, Lonoke’s scheduled scrimmage against Maumelle a week earlier was called off after just 15 minutes because of lightning in the area.
“I think that hurt us,” Lonoke coach Doug Bost said. “We scrimmaged for 15 minutes and really didn’t have a scrimmage. Star City got to scrimmage for two hours, had a good scrimmage and got to really work on things, see what needed work and got to go back and practice those things. We didn’t get anything like that, and I think it showed tonight in some of the mistakes we made.”
Star City took a 14-0 lead into halftime after scoring on its first and last possessions of the half. The Bulldogs capped each drive with 35-yard scoring plays. The opening drive took only four plays to go 75 yards, and quickly highlighted Star City’s numerous weapons. Four different players got the ball on the drive. Junior Lavonte Gardner got the ball first and went 17 yards on the first play of the game.
Two plays later, receiver and sometimes-quarterback DaVondrick Shelton caught a 13-yard pass. Quarterback Austin White carried for a short gain before handing off to Reshod Davis, who scampered 35 yards for the score. The extra point was no good, giving Star City a 6-0 lead with 10:28 left in the first quarter.
On Lonoke’s first play, junior running back Eric Williams ran 10 yards up the gut, but lost the ball, giving it back to the Bulldogs at the Lonoke 45-yard line.
The defense stopped Star City at the seven-yard line, where it missed a 24-yard field-goal attempt.
Defenses took control for most of the half, until Star City drove 85 yards in 3:01 to make it 14-0 with 1:13 left in the half.
The Bulldogs suddenly came out throwing in that drive. Seven of its 10 plays were passes, and five were complete, including a 35-yard connection from White to Shelton, who was covered well by two Lonoke defenders.
Lonoke ended the half with a 36-yard run by Williams. Lonoke picked up in the second half where it left off in the first, moving the ball with ease.
The Jackrabbits went 69 yards in 10 plays to start the second half, mixing the pass and run and keeping the Bulldogs off balance on defense.
Lonoke finished the drive when quarterback D.J. Burton threw a jump ball pass to the end zone, where Lonoke receiver Blake Mack out-jumped Star City’s defender to pull down the 12-yard touchdown pass.
After that, it became a defensive struggle again, with neither team able to do much offensively.
Star City was able to do nothing over its next two drives. The Lonoke defense gave up 10 total yards in the second half until Star City began its final scoring drive with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Star City netted five yards in each of its previous two second-half drives, but was able to move 80 yards in eight plays to make it 21-7 with 4:27 remaining in the game.
A little bad luck for Lonoke helped Star City get into the end zone. The Bulldogs had first and goal at the 1-yard line, but was stuffed for no gain on first and second down. The Jackrabbits won the initial push on third down, but White fumbled the snap on the quarterback sneak. By the time he picked it up, he was able to find a hole in the defense and score.
Lonoke got it back and drove the length of the field for a first down at the Star City 8-yard line with plenty of time remaining. But on second down, a bad snap led to a loose ball, which Star City recovered with 2:34 left in the game.
One first down later, and the Bulldogs went to a victory formation to run out the clock and seal the win.
One of the bright spots for Lonoke was the play of Burton in the passing game. Burton was a question mark going into the season, having never played significant minutes at quarterback. Against Star City, he completed 10 of 14 pass attempts for 115 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions.
“He did pretty well,” Bost said of Burton. “We were a little concerned about him being a little nervous. But I didn’t see it out there. I didn’t see any nerves. He looked fine.”
Star City gained 314 total yards with 194 rushing and 120 through the air. Lonoke gained 173 yards rushing to go with Burton’s 115 passing to finish with 288 total yards.
Gardner led all players with 147 total yards, including 114 on the ground. Williams led all rushers with 119 yards on 13 carries.
Lonoke will get plenty of practice time to work on the areas of concern before it plays longtime rival Beebe at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9 at Beebe.
Leader sports editor
Lonoke’s first offensive play was a turnover. It’s last offensive play was a turnover. In between there were nine penalties for 45 yards in losses, and it was all enough to help Star City overcome the Jackrabbits 21-7 Monday in the opening game of the 2011 football season at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
There were bright spots for Lonoke on offense and defense, and plenty on which to build once it eliminates the kind of mistakes that were made against the Bulldogs.
Part of the problem for Lonoke, possibly a major part, was that it was playing in its first game-type action in the regular-season opener. While most teams played a scrimmage game against another team or two, Lonoke’s scheduled scrimmage against Maumelle a week earlier was called off after just 15 minutes because of lightning in the area.
“I think that hurt us,” Lonoke coach Doug Bost said. “We scrimmaged for 15 minutes and really didn’t have a scrimmage. Star City got to scrimmage for two hours, had a good scrimmage and got to really work on things, see what needed work and got to go back and practice those things. We didn’t get anything like that, and I think it showed tonight in some of the mistakes we made.”
Star City took a 14-0 lead into halftime after scoring on its first and last possessions of the half. The Bulldogs capped each drive with 35-yard scoring plays. The opening drive took only four plays to go 75 yards, and quickly highlighted Star City’s numerous weapons. Four different players got the ball on the drive. Junior Lavonte Gardner got the ball first and went 17 yards on the first play of the game.
Two plays later, receiver and sometimes-quarterback DaVondrick Shelton caught a 13-yard pass. Quarterback Austin White carried for a short gain before handing off to Reshod Davis, who scampered 35 yards for the score. The extra point was no good, giving Star City a 6-0 lead with 10:28 left in the first quarter.
On Lonoke’s first play, junior running back Eric Williams ran 10 yards up the gut, but lost the ball, giving it back to the Bulldogs at the Lonoke 45-yard line.
The defense stopped Star City at the seven-yard line, where it missed a 24-yard field-goal attempt.
Defenses took control for most of the half, until Star City drove 85 yards in 3:01 to make it 14-0 with 1:13 left in the half.
The Bulldogs suddenly came out throwing in that drive. Seven of its 10 plays were passes, and five were complete, including a 35-yard connection from White to Shelton, who was covered well by two Lonoke defenders.
Lonoke ended the half with a 36-yard run by Williams. Lonoke picked up in the second half where it left off in the first, moving the ball with ease.
The Jackrabbits went 69 yards in 10 plays to start the second half, mixing the pass and run and keeping the Bulldogs off balance on defense.
Lonoke finished the drive when quarterback D.J. Burton threw a jump ball pass to the end zone, where Lonoke receiver Blake Mack out-jumped Star City’s defender to pull down the 12-yard touchdown pass.
After that, it became a defensive struggle again, with neither team able to do much offensively.
Star City was able to do nothing over its next two drives. The Lonoke defense gave up 10 total yards in the second half until Star City began its final scoring drive with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Star City netted five yards in each of its previous two second-half drives, but was able to move 80 yards in eight plays to make it 21-7 with 4:27 remaining in the game.
A little bad luck for Lonoke helped Star City get into the end zone. The Bulldogs had first and goal at the 1-yard line, but was stuffed for no gain on first and second down. The Jackrabbits won the initial push on third down, but White fumbled the snap on the quarterback sneak. By the time he picked it up, he was able to find a hole in the defense and score.
Lonoke got it back and drove the length of the field for a first down at the Star City 8-yard line with plenty of time remaining. But on second down, a bad snap led to a loose ball, which Star City recovered with 2:34 left in the game.
One first down later, and the Bulldogs went to a victory formation to run out the clock and seal the win.
One of the bright spots for Lonoke was the play of Burton in the passing game. Burton was a question mark going into the season, having never played significant minutes at quarterback. Against Star City, he completed 10 of 14 pass attempts for 115 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions.
“He did pretty well,” Bost said of Burton. “We were a little concerned about him being a little nervous. But I didn’t see it out there. I didn’t see any nerves. He looked fine.”
Star City gained 314 total yards with 194 rushing and 120 through the air. Lonoke gained 173 yards rushing to go with Burton’s 115 passing to finish with 288 total yards.
Gardner led all players with 147 total yards, including 114 on the ground. Williams led all rushers with 119 yards on 13 carries.
Lonoke will get plenty of practice time to work on the areas of concern before it plays longtime rival Beebe at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9 at Beebe.
SPORTS >> Cabot wins ‘Brawl’ going away
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Close for a half, the Backyard Brawl turned into a backyard mauling, as Cabot flexed its defensive muscle, controlled the line of scrimmage and ran away from rival Jacksonville 34-13 Tuesday at Panther Stadium.
Jacksonville wasn’t without its moments, but penalties continually put the Red Devils in poor situations, and Cabot’s line controlled most of the game.
“I thought they did pretty good,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said of his offensive line, which features several sophomores. “I’ll have to look at film to see the particulars. It’s just eliminate mistakes and don’t stop yourself. They (the Red Devils) hurt themselves a bunch with penalties. We don’t want to do that, we want to make them stop us.”
No penalty was bigger than the first one called on Jacksonville. It negated a 33-yard touchdown run by Cortez Brown. The Red Devils had to punt four play later.
Cabot got the ball and went to work.
Starting from its own 6-yard line, the Panthers drove length of the field in 15 plays with fullback Ian Thompson barreling for the last two to give the home team the early lead.
After Cabot’s score, Jacksonville got it back and tied the game on play that Cabot appeared to have stopped dead.
On fourth and nine from the 31-yard line, the Cabot pass rush had quarterback Tirrell Brown wrapped up four yards deep in the backfield. Brown’s size came in handy. He managed to stay on his feet long enough to make a throw to the flat to Smith. The Cabot defensive back made a play on the ball and missed. When Smith made the catch, it was an easy walk into the end zone. The extra point made it 7-7 with 9:51 left in the half.
“We had him (Brown) wrapped up in the backfield, hanging all over him,” Malham said. “He’s just a load. He’s 6-feet-5, 230-pounds. That’s tough to bring down.”
The Panthers answered right back with a 12-play, 80 yard drive. A missed extra point made it 13-7 with 4:32 left in the half.
Cabot finally got Brown down in the backfield when defensive end Brandon Schiefelbein got a sack for minus five yards on first down. Two plays later the Red Devils punted back to Cabot.
The Panthers mounted another long drive, but disaster struck on third and goal from the 11-yard line. Smith picked off a Zach Craig pass and returned it 99 yards to tie the game with 13 seconds left in the first half.
The second half was all Cabot, as Jacksonville had trouble going forward.
Cabot scored on its first two drives of the half to take a 14-point lead. The first drive ended on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. The second was a one-play drive when senior halfback Weston Conard went 22 yards for the score.
Jacksonville had as many penalties on its first two drives of the second half as it did snaps. There were four of each, and the last snap resulted in a fumble that Cabot recovered at the Jacksonville 18-yard line. Nose guard T.C. Carter forced the fumble and Schiefelbein recovered it. Cabot gave it right back with its own fumble three plays later.
Jacksonville finally got something going in the fourth quarter, but a 53-yard drive ended at the 1-yard line when Chris Luna intercepted a Brown pass and returned it out to the 28.
Jacksonville’s next drive was going well too, but it also brought the nail in the coffin. The Red Devils moved from their own 41 to the Cabot 37 in just three plays, but the fourth was picked off by Chase Boyles and returned 65 yards for the final touchdown of the game.
Officially, Jacksonville was flagged 11 times for 67 yards, but many penalties negated plays that would have been good gains. After the game, it wasn’t the penalties that Jacksonville coach Rick Russell was upset about. It was his team’s reaction to them.
“This was not a team-oriented game,” Russell said. “We had some plays that didn’t go our way early. We started getting frustrated with the officials’ calls. We started getting frustrated with each other. And until we bond as a team, and understand that we have to go on to the next play, it’s going to be a long year for these Red Devils.
“We were in sync early. We scored a touchdown early, our right tackle they said was in the backfield. Maybe he was, maybe not. We got to work through that.”
Cabot held the advantage in total yards, gaining 374 yards to Jacksonville’s 237.
Conard led everyone with 174 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries. Tirell Brown led Jacksonville offensively. He completed 24 of 36 pass attempts for 236 yards, with one touchdown and one two interceptions.
Cabot will host nationally ranked Pulaski Academy next week while Jacksonville will play its home opener against Benton.
Leader sports editor
Close for a half, the Backyard Brawl turned into a backyard mauling, as Cabot flexed its defensive muscle, controlled the line of scrimmage and ran away from rival Jacksonville 34-13 Tuesday at Panther Stadium.
Jacksonville wasn’t without its moments, but penalties continually put the Red Devils in poor situations, and Cabot’s line controlled most of the game.
“I thought they did pretty good,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said of his offensive line, which features several sophomores. “I’ll have to look at film to see the particulars. It’s just eliminate mistakes and don’t stop yourself. They (the Red Devils) hurt themselves a bunch with penalties. We don’t want to do that, we want to make them stop us.”
No penalty was bigger than the first one called on Jacksonville. It negated a 33-yard touchdown run by Cortez Brown. The Red Devils had to punt four play later.
Cabot got the ball and went to work.
Starting from its own 6-yard line, the Panthers drove length of the field in 15 plays with fullback Ian Thompson barreling for the last two to give the home team the early lead.
After Cabot’s score, Jacksonville got it back and tied the game on play that Cabot appeared to have stopped dead.
On fourth and nine from the 31-yard line, the Cabot pass rush had quarterback Tirrell Brown wrapped up four yards deep in the backfield. Brown’s size came in handy. He managed to stay on his feet long enough to make a throw to the flat to Smith. The Cabot defensive back made a play on the ball and missed. When Smith made the catch, it was an easy walk into the end zone. The extra point made it 7-7 with 9:51 left in the half.
“We had him (Brown) wrapped up in the backfield, hanging all over him,” Malham said. “He’s just a load. He’s 6-feet-5, 230-pounds. That’s tough to bring down.”
The Panthers answered right back with a 12-play, 80 yard drive. A missed extra point made it 13-7 with 4:32 left in the half.
Cabot finally got Brown down in the backfield when defensive end Brandon Schiefelbein got a sack for minus five yards on first down. Two plays later the Red Devils punted back to Cabot.
The Panthers mounted another long drive, but disaster struck on third and goal from the 11-yard line. Smith picked off a Zach Craig pass and returned it 99 yards to tie the game with 13 seconds left in the first half.
The second half was all Cabot, as Jacksonville had trouble going forward.
Cabot scored on its first two drives of the half to take a 14-point lead. The first drive ended on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. The second was a one-play drive when senior halfback Weston Conard went 22 yards for the score.
Jacksonville had as many penalties on its first two drives of the second half as it did snaps. There were four of each, and the last snap resulted in a fumble that Cabot recovered at the Jacksonville 18-yard line. Nose guard T.C. Carter forced the fumble and Schiefelbein recovered it. Cabot gave it right back with its own fumble three plays later.
Jacksonville finally got something going in the fourth quarter, but a 53-yard drive ended at the 1-yard line when Chris Luna intercepted a Brown pass and returned it out to the 28.
Jacksonville’s next drive was going well too, but it also brought the nail in the coffin. The Red Devils moved from their own 41 to the Cabot 37 in just three plays, but the fourth was picked off by Chase Boyles and returned 65 yards for the final touchdown of the game.
Officially, Jacksonville was flagged 11 times for 67 yards, but many penalties negated plays that would have been good gains. After the game, it wasn’t the penalties that Jacksonville coach Rick Russell was upset about. It was his team’s reaction to them.
“This was not a team-oriented game,” Russell said. “We had some plays that didn’t go our way early. We started getting frustrated with the officials’ calls. We started getting frustrated with each other. And until we bond as a team, and understand that we have to go on to the next play, it’s going to be a long year for these Red Devils.
“We were in sync early. We scored a touchdown early, our right tackle they said was in the backfield. Maybe he was, maybe not. We got to work through that.”
Cabot held the advantage in total yards, gaining 374 yards to Jacksonville’s 237.
Conard led everyone with 174 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries. Tirell Brown led Jacksonville offensively. He completed 24 of 36 pass attempts for 236 yards, with one touchdown and one two interceptions.
Cabot will host nationally ranked Pulaski Academy next week while Jacksonville will play its home opener against Benton.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
EDITORIAL >> Financing highways
Gov. Beebe called a special election on Nov. 8 on whether to issue bonds to speed up repairs to the state’s interstate highway system. Whether you vote and whether voters statewide endorse the debt are nearly immaterial questions. The outcome will scarcely affect your life or change the course of public life.
Either way, the state Highway and Transportation Department will repair several hundred miles of the state’s perpetually disintegrating superhighways. Interstate lanes built only a decade ago are already crumbling under the relentless hammering of 80,000-pound loads. The repairs may be made slightly faster if the bonds are issued, so if that is an incentive for you to vote “yes” on Nov. 8, you can feel can feel good about exercising your civic duty to vote. We would not advise anyone to vote against it.
But everyone should understand what is at issue. The highway bonds will not mean improvements to the streets, county roads or the primary and secondary highways over which most Arkansawyers travel every day for work or leisure. The bond proceeds and the revenues to retire the bonds are dedicated to improving interstate highways exclusively.
The interstate system has become primarily the infrastructure for the transportation industry. It gets long-haul goods to the markets, which means we all have something invested in it even if in much of the state people don’t travel it often. In central Arkansas, interstates are more important to the vitality of civic life.
The big question for voters then is whether it’s better business to borrow $1 billion and spend it in rather speedy fashion, over eight or nine years, or build as the taxes are collected. The highway folks always argue that it is better to borrow and spend because inflation in construction and materials will eat too much of the revenues if the work is spread out over 14 or 15 years. The big interstate bond program of 1999 was probably unwise because inflation did not prove as steep as the industry had predicted, and the state probably could have improved more miles with the same revenue the past 12 years under a pay-as-you-go approach. But highway officials will dispute that.
In this case, the math looks better. Because interest rates are at historic lows and should be little higher when the bonds are ready for sale in another 15 months, borrowing costs should be cheap. No one can anticipate what construction costs will be in 2015 or 2020. So bonds should be a better bargain in 2012 than they were in 1999 or in 2005 when the state made a stab at renewing the bonds.
There is one downside. Retiring the bonds could one day require theft from the public schools if the highway revenues dedicated to the bonds come up short. That would not be a serious consideration except for the parlous times. What if the Republicans block the renewal of the federal tax on motor fuels this fall, as many of them are threatening? The tax expires at the end of September. Many Republicans are sworn to oppose all tax increases, and the sponsors of the antitax revolt consider restoring an expiring tax a tax increase.
If the tax were not renewed, the state’s road improvement program would come to a near standstill. Gone also would be a sizable part of the revenues to retire the bonds. The 1999 highway bond act specifies that if the special revenues dedicated to the bonds fall short, the state’s general revenues will retire the bonds. Tens and perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars would be taken from public school funds to pay for interstate repairs. School children would be subsidizing the shipping and transportation industries. You will remember that the industries reneged this spring on an agreement to raise taxes on diesel to pay for the interstate repairs.
But if the Republicans block renewal of the taxes and take the federal government out of road building, we are sure that Beebe will not push the bond election, at least without first changing Arkansas’ own highway finances. It bears watching.
Either way, the state Highway and Transportation Department will repair several hundred miles of the state’s perpetually disintegrating superhighways. Interstate lanes built only a decade ago are already crumbling under the relentless hammering of 80,000-pound loads. The repairs may be made slightly faster if the bonds are issued, so if that is an incentive for you to vote “yes” on Nov. 8, you can feel can feel good about exercising your civic duty to vote. We would not advise anyone to vote against it.
But everyone should understand what is at issue. The highway bonds will not mean improvements to the streets, county roads or the primary and secondary highways over which most Arkansawyers travel every day for work or leisure. The bond proceeds and the revenues to retire the bonds are dedicated to improving interstate highways exclusively.
The interstate system has become primarily the infrastructure for the transportation industry. It gets long-haul goods to the markets, which means we all have something invested in it even if in much of the state people don’t travel it often. In central Arkansas, interstates are more important to the vitality of civic life.
The big question for voters then is whether it’s better business to borrow $1 billion and spend it in rather speedy fashion, over eight or nine years, or build as the taxes are collected. The highway folks always argue that it is better to borrow and spend because inflation in construction and materials will eat too much of the revenues if the work is spread out over 14 or 15 years. The big interstate bond program of 1999 was probably unwise because inflation did not prove as steep as the industry had predicted, and the state probably could have improved more miles with the same revenue the past 12 years under a pay-as-you-go approach. But highway officials will dispute that.
In this case, the math looks better. Because interest rates are at historic lows and should be little higher when the bonds are ready for sale in another 15 months, borrowing costs should be cheap. No one can anticipate what construction costs will be in 2015 or 2020. So bonds should be a better bargain in 2012 than they were in 1999 or in 2005 when the state made a stab at renewing the bonds.
There is one downside. Retiring the bonds could one day require theft from the public schools if the highway revenues dedicated to the bonds come up short. That would not be a serious consideration except for the parlous times. What if the Republicans block the renewal of the federal tax on motor fuels this fall, as many of them are threatening? The tax expires at the end of September. Many Republicans are sworn to oppose all tax increases, and the sponsors of the antitax revolt consider restoring an expiring tax a tax increase.
If the tax were not renewed, the state’s road improvement program would come to a near standstill. Gone also would be a sizable part of the revenues to retire the bonds. The 1999 highway bond act specifies that if the special revenues dedicated to the bonds fall short, the state’s general revenues will retire the bonds. Tens and perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars would be taken from public school funds to pay for interstate repairs. School children would be subsidizing the shipping and transportation industries. You will remember that the industries reneged this spring on an agreement to raise taxes on diesel to pay for the interstate repairs.
But if the Republicans block renewal of the taxes and take the federal government out of road building, we are sure that Beebe will not push the bond election, at least without first changing Arkansas’ own highway finances. It bears watching.
TOP STORY >> Landmark letters taken
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
“It breaks our hearts. It’s frustrating, and it makes us angry!”
Those were Daniel Gray’s thoughts about the people who took all the letters off both sides of the landmark Bart Gray Realty sign on T.P. White Drive along U.S. Hwy. 67/167.
Gray said it happened a week ago. The sign had messages on both sides and the next day all the letters were gone. “We still had some letters in the office, but only one A and just a few of the other vowels. It makes it hard to put up a message,” he said.
But the third-generation realtor said the company did put up a message Tuesday on one side of the board honoring the recent death of Zelma Riddle, a former agent.
Sadly, the other side, for lack of letters, remains blank.
“The sign’s messages were always relevant and we changed it almost daily,” Gray said.
Former Mayor James Reid, who was an agent for the company, made it a point to keep up with the message board seven days a week, rain, cold, heat or any kind of weather, explained Rick White, another member of the realty company.
Gray remarked that the company’s been in busy for 60 years and the signs been there for at least 40 years.
“And we’ve always put birthdays, anniversaries, welcome homes and other community message on it and never charged anyone,” Gray said.
“Everybody in town always comments about the sign and the messages. Everyone likes it,” he said.
“What a shame our opportunity to convey a personal or community message has been interrupted. It seems the person responsible had just one purpose and that was to disrupt the benefit of others,” said White.
The company has never had the letters taken before.
“We’ve had people come and rearrange the letters a time or two, just to be cute, but that’s tolerable,” Gray said.
He said the letters, many which are as old as the sign, run about $5 apiece, meaning the thieves took a couple hundred dollars worth when they yanked them off the sign.
“Thank goodness for Google,” Gray said. “We were able to find one company that still has them and have ordered some letters. But we would really, really like our old ones back.”
A police report has been filed and the department is taking the theft seriously. “We’ve not gotten any leads yet,” Gray said.
But the company simply wants the letters back.
Anyone with any knowledge of the theft should call Bart Gray Realty at 501-982-2159.
“It breaks our hearts. It’s frustrating, and it makes us angry!”
Those were Daniel Gray’s thoughts about the people who took all the letters off both sides of the landmark Bart Gray Realty sign on T.P. White Drive along U.S. Hwy. 67/167.
Gray said it happened a week ago. The sign had messages on both sides and the next day all the letters were gone. “We still had some letters in the office, but only one A and just a few of the other vowels. It makes it hard to put up a message,” he said.
But the third-generation realtor said the company did put up a message Tuesday on one side of the board honoring the recent death of Zelma Riddle, a former agent.
Sadly, the other side, for lack of letters, remains blank.
“The sign’s messages were always relevant and we changed it almost daily,” Gray said.
Former Mayor James Reid, who was an agent for the company, made it a point to keep up with the message board seven days a week, rain, cold, heat or any kind of weather, explained Rick White, another member of the realty company.
Gray remarked that the company’s been in busy for 60 years and the signs been there for at least 40 years.
“And we’ve always put birthdays, anniversaries, welcome homes and other community message on it and never charged anyone,” Gray said.
“Everybody in town always comments about the sign and the messages. Everyone likes it,” he said.
“What a shame our opportunity to convey a personal or community message has been interrupted. It seems the person responsible had just one purpose and that was to disrupt the benefit of others,” said White.
The company has never had the letters taken before.
“We’ve had people come and rearrange the letters a time or two, just to be cute, but that’s tolerable,” Gray said.
He said the letters, many which are as old as the sign, run about $5 apiece, meaning the thieves took a couple hundred dollars worth when they yanked them off the sign.
“Thank goodness for Google,” Gray said. “We were able to find one company that still has them and have ordered some letters. But we would really, really like our old ones back.”
A police report has been filed and the department is taking the theft seriously. “We’ve not gotten any leads yet,” Gray said.
But the company simply wants the letters back.
Anyone with any knowledge of the theft should call Bart Gray Realty at 501-982-2159.
TOP STORY >> Victory salute for airmen
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Airmen and Brig. Gen. Rick Martin, Rodeo 2011 the commander, gathered Monday to celebrate Little Rock Air Force Base’s 314th Airlift Wing receiving two trophies that say it is the best Air Mobility Command wing and the best airdrop wing in the world.
The wing was not presented those trophies at Rodeo 2011 because of a scoring error. Martin apologized that the team was not recognized at the grandiose award ceremony held in joint base Lewis-McChord, Wash., where airmen competed in a variety of competitive events during the last week of July.
He also complimented the 314th’s care of its C-130 E-model, the oldest plane used at this year’s competition. “You made it shine like a ghost,” he said.
Col. Mark Czelusta, 314th Airlift Wing commander, made it clear that his team couldn’t do what it does without the help of its sister wing, the 19th Airlift Wing. He also thanked the community for its support.
“There’s a partnership with the 19th Airlift Wing. We couldn’t do without them,” he said. “The partnership with our community; when they say it’s their base, they mean it and they’re absolutely right.”
Rodeo is the Air Force’s and Air Mobility Command’s premier air-mobility competition. The competition draws the “best of the best” from air forces around the world.
LRAFB teams competed against more than 40 teams and 2,500 people from U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and several foreign countries.
The teams brought home eight trophies.
The 314th Airlift Wing boasts seven of those. In addition to the two trophies it received Monday, the team won best C-130 team, best C-130 airdrop wing, best C-130 maintenance skills team, best C-130 maintenance team and best overall maintenance skills team.
The wing had to turn over one award, best C-130 airdrop crew, to the 19th Airlift Wing because of the scoring error. It was the only award that wing, which was named the best C-130 wing at the last rodeo in 2009, got this year.
Air Mobility Command officials found the programming error on Aug. 18 after doing another check of the results before posting the detailed scores for rodeo competitors to access, according to a release.
Some C-17 and C-130 scores were miscalculated during an automated process that incorrectly assigned a median score for events.
Leader staff writer
Airmen and Brig. Gen. Rick Martin, Rodeo 2011 the commander, gathered Monday to celebrate Little Rock Air Force Base’s 314th Airlift Wing receiving two trophies that say it is the best Air Mobility Command wing and the best airdrop wing in the world.
The wing was not presented those trophies at Rodeo 2011 because of a scoring error. Martin apologized that the team was not recognized at the grandiose award ceremony held in joint base Lewis-McChord, Wash., where airmen competed in a variety of competitive events during the last week of July.
He also complimented the 314th’s care of its C-130 E-model, the oldest plane used at this year’s competition. “You made it shine like a ghost,” he said.
Col. Mark Czelusta, 314th Airlift Wing commander, made it clear that his team couldn’t do what it does without the help of its sister wing, the 19th Airlift Wing. He also thanked the community for its support.
“There’s a partnership with the 19th Airlift Wing. We couldn’t do without them,” he said. “The partnership with our community; when they say it’s their base, they mean it and they’re absolutely right.”
Rodeo is the Air Force’s and Air Mobility Command’s premier air-mobility competition. The competition draws the “best of the best” from air forces around the world.
LRAFB teams competed against more than 40 teams and 2,500 people from U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and several foreign countries.
The teams brought home eight trophies.
The 314th Airlift Wing boasts seven of those. In addition to the two trophies it received Monday, the team won best C-130 team, best C-130 airdrop wing, best C-130 maintenance skills team, best C-130 maintenance team and best overall maintenance skills team.
The wing had to turn over one award, best C-130 airdrop crew, to the 19th Airlift Wing because of the scoring error. It was the only award that wing, which was named the best C-130 wing at the last rodeo in 2009, got this year.
Air Mobility Command officials found the programming error on Aug. 18 after doing another check of the results before posting the detailed scores for rodeo competitors to access, according to a release.
Some C-17 and C-130 scores were miscalculated during an automated process that incorrectly assigned a median score for events.
TOP STORY >> Future unclear after Greystone closes its doors
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
Plans to reopen one or two of the golf courses at Greystone Country Club remain uncertain, although undeveloped land near the club could be used for future home construction.
Greystone Country Club, which has been part of Cabot’s identity for more than 17 years, closed its doors last week.
The regular morning golfers weren’t among those who received an e-mail about the closing from owner Bill Minton. They arrived Friday morning and found the doors locked.
Sometime later that day, sources say, a representative of Metropolitan National Bank, which holds the mortgage on the two golf courses and clubhouse, hired the club maintenance crew to keep the place presentable. Members have been told that if they have personal belongings in the clubhouse, they should call before they attempt to pick it up to be sure someone is there to unlock the door.
Ed Passini, a Greystone resident and club member who was part of a group trying in January to put together a plan to keep the club open until a new buyer could be found, said he was sitting in the clubhouse at 9 p.m. when an employee came out of the office and announced, “We’re done.”
Club owner Bill Minton should have given members a little more notice, Passini said.
Greystone residents have known for eight months that the country club was in trouble. But Passini said the residents didn’t try to save it when they had an opportunity.
His group had appealed to Greystone residents to join the country club instead of just living in the subdivision. If they could double membership to about 500, the club could survive, the group said.
They appealed to residents saying to save the country club was to save their way of life and maintain the value of their homes. Now the fear that property values would plummet will become reality, Passini said.
By the time it closed, only one of the two courses was open. Cypress Creek, the back course, closed July 3. The manager said the grass was dying from a fungus due to the combination of rain and hot weather.
The club was set for auction at the end of the summer. Minton said in July that there were possible buyers but by the time it closed, insiders were saying that all the possible buyers had declined.
In January, the club was reportedly falling $40,000 a month short of the revenue needed to operate and pay the $1.2 million mortgage. And Mayor Bill Cypert said if it closed the negative economic impact to the city would be about $25 million over a 10-year period.
Contacted this week, a spokesman for Metropolitan National Bank said the bank could not comment about the future of Greystone.
Leader staff writer
Plans to reopen one or two of the golf courses at Greystone Country Club remain uncertain, although undeveloped land near the club could be used for future home construction.
Greystone Country Club, which has been part of Cabot’s identity for more than 17 years, closed its doors last week.
The regular morning golfers weren’t among those who received an e-mail about the closing from owner Bill Minton. They arrived Friday morning and found the doors locked.
Sometime later that day, sources say, a representative of Metropolitan National Bank, which holds the mortgage on the two golf courses and clubhouse, hired the club maintenance crew to keep the place presentable. Members have been told that if they have personal belongings in the clubhouse, they should call before they attempt to pick it up to be sure someone is there to unlock the door.
Ed Passini, a Greystone resident and club member who was part of a group trying in January to put together a plan to keep the club open until a new buyer could be found, said he was sitting in the clubhouse at 9 p.m. when an employee came out of the office and announced, “We’re done.”
Club owner Bill Minton should have given members a little more notice, Passini said.
Greystone residents have known for eight months that the country club was in trouble. But Passini said the residents didn’t try to save it when they had an opportunity.
His group had appealed to Greystone residents to join the country club instead of just living in the subdivision. If they could double membership to about 500, the club could survive, the group said.
They appealed to residents saying to save the country club was to save their way of life and maintain the value of their homes. Now the fear that property values would plummet will become reality, Passini said.
By the time it closed, only one of the two courses was open. Cypress Creek, the back course, closed July 3. The manager said the grass was dying from a fungus due to the combination of rain and hot weather.
The club was set for auction at the end of the summer. Minton said in July that there were possible buyers but by the time it closed, insiders were saying that all the possible buyers had declined.
In January, the club was reportedly falling $40,000 a month short of the revenue needed to operate and pay the $1.2 million mortgage. And Mayor Bill Cypert said if it closed the negative economic impact to the city would be about $25 million over a 10-year period.
Contacted this week, a spokesman for Metropolitan National Bank said the bank could not comment about the future of Greystone.
TOP STORY >> Middle school awes parents
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
The new $31.5 million, 197,000 square-foot Sylvan Hills Middle School has a modern look inside and out. The sprawling building replaces the former 56-year-old school built in 1955 as Sylvan Hills High School.
The middle school has 785 students in sixth through eighth grades. The building separates grade levels into the three pods. The sixth-grade pod has yellow accented walls. The seventh-grade pod has blue accented walls. The eighth-grade pod has red accented walls.
Each pod has 16 classrooms, a conference room, a computer lab, a teacher’s workroom, a seminar room with seating for 100 students for projects or combining classes; and two commons area for students to meet.
The new school has nine separate science labs, three per grade level, all similarly equipped.
Eighth-grade science teacher Chuck Sawatski said the science labs have more presentation tables than at the old school.
The science labs have five computers per room. Students can do research here in case they don’t have a computer at home. The labs are roomier. Teachers are able to have more science equipment at hand, instead of packed away in storage rooms.
“Students need to see the globes, microscopes and Bunser burners. It excites the mind,” Sawatski said.
The school has two band rooms, two choir rooms and two art rooms. A stage was built inside the cafeteria. The school also has six career-education classrooms, an athletic gym that holds 1,200 students and a practice gym.
Construction crews are finishing the wood floors in both gyms and are scheduled to be completed by Labor Day.
“We feel blessed to be here. An open house had close to 1,400 parents and students. Parents were amazed at the building, saying it was beautiful, gorgeous and awesome,” Principal Jo Wilcox said.
Wilcox said the school had lots of help moving from the old middle school.
“The teachers have done wonderful, the parent teacher association was helpful and the parent volunteers have been positive,” she said.
Wilcox said the teachers and students appreciate the new middle school. They will care for the building and the grounds for future students and generations.
“One eighth-grade girl said, ‘We can’t let anyone write on the new desks,’” Wilcox said.
The school has skylights and large windows illuminating the wide hallways with natural light. Floor tiles are made of recycled rubber requiring no wax, but a special machine to clean the floors.
The school has new furniture and each classroom has a direct phone line for parents to contact teachers.
Classroom doors open into the hallway. At the old middle school, classroom doors opened to the outside. Wilcox said it will be easier for staff to keep up with students. She said the restrooms were a major improvement.
The school is equipped with the latest technology.
The school has computers; four computers are in each core curriculum classroom. Three traveling carts, one cart per grade level, contain 30 iPads with learning applications. Each classroom has an interactive Promethean whiteboard.
“Technology is a huge difference because the old school had two computer labs with troubles with the Internet,” Wilcox said.
“The technology budget was $1 million. I think that was impressive. State funding paid for 500 desktop computers,” school bookkeeper Peggy Holladay said.
The middle school has a parenting center for parents to use computers to check on their child’s grades. The center also has parenting books and materials.
Media specialist Sandy Robbins said the media center is much brighter, bigger and spacious than the old school. It is more inviting for students.
She said the media center has 19 brand new student computers. The library has more bandwidth so students can do more with the computers online at the same time.
“It doesn’t stall out,” Robbins said.
The library has a research lab and conference room. A large screen drops down from the ceiling for presentation.
Robbins said she loved the tall glass wall of the media center. It is the center of attention. Automated shades lower in front of the glass to darken the room.
She said the media center has no leaks and has a new car smell.
The school is built upon a hill with trees surrounding the building giving an isolated feeling in a busy city. Deer and Canadian geese have been seen feeding on the recently laid sod.
“The grounds are beautifully landscaped. The building is awesome to look at,” Wilcox said.
The school had traffic snarls on the first day of school, but traffic is moving smoother.
Wilcox said the mayor, police chief and fire chief met with school officials to improve traffic flow.
The school changed student car pick-ups to double-file lines. Sherwood officers are helping to direct traffic while the traffic lights are adjusted.
Leader staff writer
The new $31.5 million, 197,000 square-foot Sylvan Hills Middle School has a modern look inside and out. The sprawling building replaces the former 56-year-old school built in 1955 as Sylvan Hills High School.
The middle school has 785 students in sixth through eighth grades. The building separates grade levels into the three pods. The sixth-grade pod has yellow accented walls. The seventh-grade pod has blue accented walls. The eighth-grade pod has red accented walls.
Each pod has 16 classrooms, a conference room, a computer lab, a teacher’s workroom, a seminar room with seating for 100 students for projects or combining classes; and two commons area for students to meet.
The new school has nine separate science labs, three per grade level, all similarly equipped.
Eighth-grade science teacher Chuck Sawatski said the science labs have more presentation tables than at the old school.
The science labs have five computers per room. Students can do research here in case they don’t have a computer at home. The labs are roomier. Teachers are able to have more science equipment at hand, instead of packed away in storage rooms.
“Students need to see the globes, microscopes and Bunser burners. It excites the mind,” Sawatski said.
The school has two band rooms, two choir rooms and two art rooms. A stage was built inside the cafeteria. The school also has six career-education classrooms, an athletic gym that holds 1,200 students and a practice gym.
Construction crews are finishing the wood floors in both gyms and are scheduled to be completed by Labor Day.
“We feel blessed to be here. An open house had close to 1,400 parents and students. Parents were amazed at the building, saying it was beautiful, gorgeous and awesome,” Principal Jo Wilcox said.
Wilcox said the school had lots of help moving from the old middle school.
“The teachers have done wonderful, the parent teacher association was helpful and the parent volunteers have been positive,” she said.
Wilcox said the teachers and students appreciate the new middle school. They will care for the building and the grounds for future students and generations.
“One eighth-grade girl said, ‘We can’t let anyone write on the new desks,’” Wilcox said.
The school has skylights and large windows illuminating the wide hallways with natural light. Floor tiles are made of recycled rubber requiring no wax, but a special machine to clean the floors.
The school has new furniture and each classroom has a direct phone line for parents to contact teachers.
Classroom doors open into the hallway. At the old middle school, classroom doors opened to the outside. Wilcox said it will be easier for staff to keep up with students. She said the restrooms were a major improvement.
The school is equipped with the latest technology.
The school has computers; four computers are in each core curriculum classroom. Three traveling carts, one cart per grade level, contain 30 iPads with learning applications. Each classroom has an interactive Promethean whiteboard.
“Technology is a huge difference because the old school had two computer labs with troubles with the Internet,” Wilcox said.
“The technology budget was $1 million. I think that was impressive. State funding paid for 500 desktop computers,” school bookkeeper Peggy Holladay said.
The middle school has a parenting center for parents to use computers to check on their child’s grades. The center also has parenting books and materials.
Media specialist Sandy Robbins said the media center is much brighter, bigger and spacious than the old school. It is more inviting for students.
She said the media center has 19 brand new student computers. The library has more bandwidth so students can do more with the computers online at the same time.
“It doesn’t stall out,” Robbins said.
The library has a research lab and conference room. A large screen drops down from the ceiling for presentation.
Robbins said she loved the tall glass wall of the media center. It is the center of attention. Automated shades lower in front of the glass to darken the room.
She said the media center has no leaks and has a new car smell.
The school is built upon a hill with trees surrounding the building giving an isolated feeling in a busy city. Deer and Canadian geese have been seen feeding on the recently laid sod.
“The grounds are beautifully landscaped. The building is awesome to look at,” Wilcox said.
The school had traffic snarls on the first day of school, but traffic is moving smoother.
Wilcox said the mayor, police chief and fire chief met with school officials to improve traffic flow.
The school changed student car pick-ups to double-file lines. Sherwood officers are helping to direct traffic while the traffic lights are adjusted.
Friday, August 26, 2011
EDITORIAL >>Tax rich less, poor more?
Republicans—well, everyone else, too—ought to be alarmed about the course of the Republican presidential race, where the debate is increasingly controlled by the zaniest element of the moment.
The nation has been consumed all year about how to wrestle the federal budget deficit under control again after a 10-year binge of spending and tax cutting. The growing and shrinking field of candidates for the GOP nomination has been drawn into the battle, some of them reluctantly. The party’s position, down almost to the last person, has been that no one’s and no corporation’s taxes should be raised to help get the budget back into balance. President Obama has proposed repeatedly that those earning more than $250,000 a year—in Arkansas, that is about 20,000 of the 1.3 million tax filers—go back to paying the same top marginal rate that they were paying in 2001, when taxes were cut and the budget careened out of control. He would also close a few loopholes that allow major corporations to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars in annual profits.
Suddenly, Rep. Michele Bachmann broke out of the field of tax opponents. She favored making one group of Americans pay higher taxes: the poorest half of the people. Before the week was out, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman Jr., the one moderate in the field, said they, too, favored a tax on those people. We expect the others to jump aboard, too. We wonder how our congressmen, who have embraced every proposition from the conservative budget camp, will weigh in on the idea.
It happened this way. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the Republican leader of the House, happened to point out that 53 percent of individuals paid all U.S. federal income taxes, and he thought that was unfair. The 47 percent who had no income tax liability last year are getting the benefits of citizenship without making a contribution, he said. He stopped short of saying that Congress should actually raise tax rates and remove enough deductions and exemptions until they all paid some federal income taxes.
But Bachmann did. She said that everyone—every person who is out of work or on low wages and seniors, including those in nursing homes, should be required to pay some federal taxes. Perry has been saying the same thing and he also favors replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax of some kind that would require people of low and modest incomes to pick up a much larger share of the national tax burden.
Everyone paying something has the sound of elemental fairness. The idea that nearly half the country are freeloaders is, indeed, repellent. But Bachmann, Perry, Cantor and the rest grievously misstate the case for tax fairness.
It is true that 47 percent of individuals and families had no federal income tax liability last year. Even the Bush tax cut of 2001 increased the numbers who do not owe federal income taxes when it adjusted the rate on the lowest incomes and increased some credits. When low- and moderate-income families claim the same deductions, credits and the personal exemption that all taxpayers claim, nearly half wind up owing no tax. The earned income-tax credit for people who work for very low wages relieves millions of the small tax liability they ordinarily would owe.
But they are not tax scofflaws and freeloaders. Most of that 47 percent pay a larger share of their income in taxes than the richest Americans do. The income tax bears only a little more than half of the burden of paying for federal services. Social insurance taxes—employment taxes that are recorded for social insurance programs like old-age and survivors insurance, Medicare hospitalization and disability insurance—and excise taxes on gasoline, cigarettes and a variety of other products and services account for more than 40 percent of all the government revenues. Those taxes land more heavily on the poorest half of the population than on the better-off half.
While the poorest 47 percent of Americans owe no income tax, they effectively pay a rate of 15.3 percent of their incomes, every dollar of that income, in payroll taxes. That includes the employer share, but the economic impact is that the employer share of FICA taxes is an employee benefit that otherwise would be direct income if the government did not require the contribution on the worker’s behalf. Put excise taxes on top of that. And, of course, people of low and moderate incomes pay the lion’s share of state and local taxes, which are mainly sales, excise and property taxes. Most payroll taxes—all but the Medicare tax—are levied on only the first $106,800 of income. The taxes are not collected on unearned income such as interest, dividends and capital gains, but the average worker pays the taxes on every dime of his income. That is why Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, said his secretaries and clerks paid a larger share of their incomes to support the government than he did.
When the politicians tell you how unfair it is that the richest 1, 2 or 5 percent pay such a large share of federal income taxes, consider these figures: If you divide the country into fifths, from the poorest fifth to the richest fifth, the share of the nation’s personal wealth breaks down this way: The poorest fifth of Americans own one-tenth of one percent of the wealth, the next poorest fifth have two-tenths of one percent, the middle fifth own 3 percent of it, the next-to-richest fifth own 13 percent and the richest fifth own 83 percent. The average annual family income of the poorest fifth is $18,000, and of the richest fifth $200,000.
What Bachmann, Perry, Cantor and the rest should be lamenting is not the amount of taxes that the poorest 47 percent of Americans pay, but the pitiful share of the nation’s great wealth that they own. That share has been sinking for 30 years and more dramatically the past decade. There is an issue for a presidential candidate. —Ernie Dumas
The nation has been consumed all year about how to wrestle the federal budget deficit under control again after a 10-year binge of spending and tax cutting. The growing and shrinking field of candidates for the GOP nomination has been drawn into the battle, some of them reluctantly. The party’s position, down almost to the last person, has been that no one’s and no corporation’s taxes should be raised to help get the budget back into balance. President Obama has proposed repeatedly that those earning more than $250,000 a year—in Arkansas, that is about 20,000 of the 1.3 million tax filers—go back to paying the same top marginal rate that they were paying in 2001, when taxes were cut and the budget careened out of control. He would also close a few loopholes that allow major corporations to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars in annual profits.
Suddenly, Rep. Michele Bachmann broke out of the field of tax opponents. She favored making one group of Americans pay higher taxes: the poorest half of the people. Before the week was out, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman Jr., the one moderate in the field, said they, too, favored a tax on those people. We expect the others to jump aboard, too. We wonder how our congressmen, who have embraced every proposition from the conservative budget camp, will weigh in on the idea.
It happened this way. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the Republican leader of the House, happened to point out that 53 percent of individuals paid all U.S. federal income taxes, and he thought that was unfair. The 47 percent who had no income tax liability last year are getting the benefits of citizenship without making a contribution, he said. He stopped short of saying that Congress should actually raise tax rates and remove enough deductions and exemptions until they all paid some federal income taxes.
But Bachmann did. She said that everyone—every person who is out of work or on low wages and seniors, including those in nursing homes, should be required to pay some federal taxes. Perry has been saying the same thing and he also favors replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax of some kind that would require people of low and modest incomes to pick up a much larger share of the national tax burden.
Everyone paying something has the sound of elemental fairness. The idea that nearly half the country are freeloaders is, indeed, repellent. But Bachmann, Perry, Cantor and the rest grievously misstate the case for tax fairness.
It is true that 47 percent of individuals and families had no federal income tax liability last year. Even the Bush tax cut of 2001 increased the numbers who do not owe federal income taxes when it adjusted the rate on the lowest incomes and increased some credits. When low- and moderate-income families claim the same deductions, credits and the personal exemption that all taxpayers claim, nearly half wind up owing no tax. The earned income-tax credit for people who work for very low wages relieves millions of the small tax liability they ordinarily would owe.
But they are not tax scofflaws and freeloaders. Most of that 47 percent pay a larger share of their income in taxes than the richest Americans do. The income tax bears only a little more than half of the burden of paying for federal services. Social insurance taxes—employment taxes that are recorded for social insurance programs like old-age and survivors insurance, Medicare hospitalization and disability insurance—and excise taxes on gasoline, cigarettes and a variety of other products and services account for more than 40 percent of all the government revenues. Those taxes land more heavily on the poorest half of the population than on the better-off half.
While the poorest 47 percent of Americans owe no income tax, they effectively pay a rate of 15.3 percent of their incomes, every dollar of that income, in payroll taxes. That includes the employer share, but the economic impact is that the employer share of FICA taxes is an employee benefit that otherwise would be direct income if the government did not require the contribution on the worker’s behalf. Put excise taxes on top of that. And, of course, people of low and moderate incomes pay the lion’s share of state and local taxes, which are mainly sales, excise and property taxes. Most payroll taxes—all but the Medicare tax—are levied on only the first $106,800 of income. The taxes are not collected on unearned income such as interest, dividends and capital gains, but the average worker pays the taxes on every dime of his income. That is why Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, said his secretaries and clerks paid a larger share of their incomes to support the government than he did.
When the politicians tell you how unfair it is that the richest 1, 2 or 5 percent pay such a large share of federal income taxes, consider these figures: If you divide the country into fifths, from the poorest fifth to the richest fifth, the share of the nation’s personal wealth breaks down this way: The poorest fifth of Americans own one-tenth of one percent of the wealth, the next poorest fifth have two-tenths of one percent, the middle fifth own 3 percent of it, the next-to-richest fifth own 13 percent and the richest fifth own 83 percent. The average annual family income of the poorest fifth is $18,000, and of the richest fifth $200,000.
What Bachmann, Perry, Cantor and the rest should be lamenting is not the amount of taxes that the poorest 47 percent of Americans pay, but the pitiful share of the nation’s great wealth that they own. That share has been sinking for 30 years and more dramatically the past decade. There is an issue for a presidential candidate. —Ernie Dumas
TOP STORY > >Residents fire off on fireworks
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Jacksonville will control and police the use of fireworks even if they’re legalized, Aldermen Reedie Ray, the chairman of the fireworks committee, assured the 20 or so residents at Thursday’s public hearing.
“I’m not saying that they’ll be legal or illegal, but they will be controlled and policed,” Ray said at the end of the public hearing on whether or not to allow the use of fireworks within the city at certain times.
Currently the city bans all fireworks, except those by professionals or other groups who have received permission.
Alderman Bob Stroud, a mem ber of the committee, after listening to the residents, said, “As you’ve spoke, I’ve tallied six against fireworks and two for them. And everything everyone has said tonight, for and against, is true.”
Stroud said that the truth of the matter was simple, “You aren’t going to stop kids from shooting fireworks—you just aren’t. You need to control it. Seems to me if we have this window of opportunity, they’ll get it out of their system, we’d be better off.”
He added that the fines for using fireworks outside the window need to be increased to where parents will pay attention to what their kids are doing.
Ray told those in attendance that no decision was going to be made at the meeting, but that the committee would come back together in about two weeks and make a decision and take it to the city council for approval.
Alderman Aaron Robinson, also on the committee, said it was a difficult task because he could rebut every pro and every con brought up. “It’s going to take a lot of work from us to figure out what to do,” he said.
Among those against the idea of letting Jacksonville residents shoot off fireworks was Kathy Wadekamper. “Besides fireworks being bigger, stronger and more powerful than ever, my reasons against the idea are the mess and the fire danger,” she said.
Wadekamper said she likes to walk every morning “and you should have seen the mess in our neighborhood and on our street after the Fourth of July and we don’t shoot off fireworks. There was debris everywhere. It sure didn’t look pretty. She said the fireworks trash didn’t disappear until the rains washed them away.
She was also concerned about the fire danger especially from fireworks that shoot high in the sky and can land on roof tops.
“The fire chief said at the last meeting that the city didn’t have many grass fires from fireworks, but that’s from residents shooting them illegally. Imagine if all the residents were shooting them because they became legal. I think we’d have a big problem,” Wademaker said.
Alderman Terry Sansing, one of four aldermen attending the public hearing, but the only one to speak on the issue, said he was firmly against liberalizing the fireworks ordinance and had always voted against any relaxing of the ordinance. He said fireworks were dangerous and disturbed the peace. “I have no intent on changing my vote,” he told the six-member committee which included city officials and residents.
Bobby Kyzer and Roy Wadekamper also spoke against the idea of shooting fireworks within the city limits.
“It doesn’t matter if the window is one day or two days, it won’t work. You’ll have complaint calls from days before to days after,” Kyzer said.
Roy Wadekamper added, “I don’t know how you can turn it on and off.”
Also opposing loosening the fireworks ordinance was Rizelle Aaron. He said that while it might decrease 911 calls, ambulatory calls would increase “and people will continue to complain, that’s what they do.”
He also thought the possible change went beyond the need of decrease complaint calls and keep police on the streets instead of chasing down firecracker users. “Lots of deals were struck to get that voluntary annexation,” he said, referring to the Hwy. 67/167 business corridor just north of the air base to the county line.
Among the businesses there is a fireworks company. Aaron said the city had worked a deal to allow that business owner to sell fireworks this past Fourth of July.
Jim Durham, the city’s director of administration, begged to differ.
“All businesses along that corridor were grandfathered in. We’ve always done that. The liquor stores, the private clubs and the fireworks business were all allowed to continue to operate. There was nothing special done or promised.”
On the side for fireworks was Delores Johnson, a grandmotherly woman, who admitted up front that every Fourth of July she fires off fireworks—yes, illegally, and will continue to do so, if the ordinance isn’t change. “The parents need to step up and be responsible,” said.
Kay Noles, who along with her brother operate a fireworks stand south of the city limits agreed.
“I won’t sell to kids unless their parents are there. But I can’t make sure the parents are watching them when they shoot the fireworks, and I’m not going to be everybody’s mother,” she said.
Jacksonville resident Keith Weber also spoke for the use of fireworks. “I’m for it, with an asterisk. Legalize it, but enforce it,” he said.
Weber went on to suggest using code-enforcement officers rather than police to respond to calls. He said the ordinance should require people to clean up after themselves and make individuals responsible for any fire damage. He said the city should require parents supervise children who shoot fireworks.
Weber also suggested the city allow nonprofit groups like churches to sell fireworks. And then tax it,” he said.
Committee member Jim Moore expounded on the dangers of fireworks. “I’m talking about Roman candles, but I have research on rockets, M-80s, 500-gram fireworks and more.”
He said a Roman candle explosion has the same extreme force as a bullet, and that most people held Roman candles in their hands. “The real issue is enforcing the ordinance,” Moore said, adding that he didn’t think the solution was to open up the city to fireworks.
Noles told the committee that sparklers, not Roman candles, are actually the most dangerous fireworks. “No one would think that, but people come in search of the metal sparklers, which we don’t sell, because they want to tie them together. And it creates a sparkler bomb that can be heard from long distances and really hurt someone.”
Sparkler bombs are constructed by binding together as many as 300 sparklers with tape, leaving one extended to use as a fuse. The resulting blast can approach the power of a stick of dynamite. Federal laws ban making, having or using them. But there are websites that show how to make them. One of those websites carries the caveat, “These are at your own risk, we are not responsible if you blow your arm, leg or face off.”
Alderman Kevin McCleary, another committee member, said a lot of good ideas were presented by both sides. “Now we have to make sure we do the right thing for the city,” he said.
Leader staff writer
Jacksonville will control and police the use of fireworks even if they’re legalized, Aldermen Reedie Ray, the chairman of the fireworks committee, assured the 20 or so residents at Thursday’s public hearing.
“I’m not saying that they’ll be legal or illegal, but they will be controlled and policed,” Ray said at the end of the public hearing on whether or not to allow the use of fireworks within the city at certain times.
Currently the city bans all fireworks, except those by professionals or other groups who have received permission.
Alderman Bob Stroud, a mem ber of the committee, after listening to the residents, said, “As you’ve spoke, I’ve tallied six against fireworks and two for them. And everything everyone has said tonight, for and against, is true.”
Stroud said that the truth of the matter was simple, “You aren’t going to stop kids from shooting fireworks—you just aren’t. You need to control it. Seems to me if we have this window of opportunity, they’ll get it out of their system, we’d be better off.”
He added that the fines for using fireworks outside the window need to be increased to where parents will pay attention to what their kids are doing.
Ray told those in attendance that no decision was going to be made at the meeting, but that the committee would come back together in about two weeks and make a decision and take it to the city council for approval.
Alderman Aaron Robinson, also on the committee, said it was a difficult task because he could rebut every pro and every con brought up. “It’s going to take a lot of work from us to figure out what to do,” he said.
Among those against the idea of letting Jacksonville residents shoot off fireworks was Kathy Wadekamper. “Besides fireworks being bigger, stronger and more powerful than ever, my reasons against the idea are the mess and the fire danger,” she said.
Wadekamper said she likes to walk every morning “and you should have seen the mess in our neighborhood and on our street after the Fourth of July and we don’t shoot off fireworks. There was debris everywhere. It sure didn’t look pretty. She said the fireworks trash didn’t disappear until the rains washed them away.
She was also concerned about the fire danger especially from fireworks that shoot high in the sky and can land on roof tops.
“The fire chief said at the last meeting that the city didn’t have many grass fires from fireworks, but that’s from residents shooting them illegally. Imagine if all the residents were shooting them because they became legal. I think we’d have a big problem,” Wademaker said.
Alderman Terry Sansing, one of four aldermen attending the public hearing, but the only one to speak on the issue, said he was firmly against liberalizing the fireworks ordinance and had always voted against any relaxing of the ordinance. He said fireworks were dangerous and disturbed the peace. “I have no intent on changing my vote,” he told the six-member committee which included city officials and residents.
Bobby Kyzer and Roy Wadekamper also spoke against the idea of shooting fireworks within the city limits.
“It doesn’t matter if the window is one day or two days, it won’t work. You’ll have complaint calls from days before to days after,” Kyzer said.
Roy Wadekamper added, “I don’t know how you can turn it on and off.”
Also opposing loosening the fireworks ordinance was Rizelle Aaron. He said that while it might decrease 911 calls, ambulatory calls would increase “and people will continue to complain, that’s what they do.”
He also thought the possible change went beyond the need of decrease complaint calls and keep police on the streets instead of chasing down firecracker users. “Lots of deals were struck to get that voluntary annexation,” he said, referring to the Hwy. 67/167 business corridor just north of the air base to the county line.
Among the businesses there is a fireworks company. Aaron said the city had worked a deal to allow that business owner to sell fireworks this past Fourth of July.
Jim Durham, the city’s director of administration, begged to differ.
“All businesses along that corridor were grandfathered in. We’ve always done that. The liquor stores, the private clubs and the fireworks business were all allowed to continue to operate. There was nothing special done or promised.”
On the side for fireworks was Delores Johnson, a grandmotherly woman, who admitted up front that every Fourth of July she fires off fireworks—yes, illegally, and will continue to do so, if the ordinance isn’t change. “The parents need to step up and be responsible,” said.
Kay Noles, who along with her brother operate a fireworks stand south of the city limits agreed.
“I won’t sell to kids unless their parents are there. But I can’t make sure the parents are watching them when they shoot the fireworks, and I’m not going to be everybody’s mother,” she said.
Jacksonville resident Keith Weber also spoke for the use of fireworks. “I’m for it, with an asterisk. Legalize it, but enforce it,” he said.
Weber went on to suggest using code-enforcement officers rather than police to respond to calls. He said the ordinance should require people to clean up after themselves and make individuals responsible for any fire damage. He said the city should require parents supervise children who shoot fireworks.
Weber also suggested the city allow nonprofit groups like churches to sell fireworks. And then tax it,” he said.
Committee member Jim Moore expounded on the dangers of fireworks. “I’m talking about Roman candles, but I have research on rockets, M-80s, 500-gram fireworks and more.”
He said a Roman candle explosion has the same extreme force as a bullet, and that most people held Roman candles in their hands. “The real issue is enforcing the ordinance,” Moore said, adding that he didn’t think the solution was to open up the city to fireworks.
Noles told the committee that sparklers, not Roman candles, are actually the most dangerous fireworks. “No one would think that, but people come in search of the metal sparklers, which we don’t sell, because they want to tie them together. And it creates a sparkler bomb that can be heard from long distances and really hurt someone.”
Sparkler bombs are constructed by binding together as many as 300 sparklers with tape, leaving one extended to use as a fuse. The resulting blast can approach the power of a stick of dynamite. Federal laws ban making, having or using them. But there are websites that show how to make them. One of those websites carries the caveat, “These are at your own risk, we are not responsible if you blow your arm, leg or face off.”
Alderman Kevin McCleary, another committee member, said a lot of good ideas were presented by both sides. “Now we have to make sure we do the right thing for the city,” he said.
TOP STORY > >Wings celebrate trophies
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
The world champion 314th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base has gained two new trophies and handed off one to its sister wing, the 19th Airlift Wing, after
Air Mobility Command discovered a programming error in the 2011 Air Mobility Rodeo scoring system.
The 314th is now also the best Air Mobility wing and best airdrop wing in the world after the scoring error was corrected. The 19th Airlift Wing took the best airdrop air crew title away from the 314th.
The 314th had previously won six trophies during last month’s competition in Washington state. They included best C-130 team, best C-130 airdrop wing, best C-130 maintenance skills team, best C-130 maintenance team and best overall maintenance skills team.
Col. Mark Czelusta, 314th Airlift Wing com mander, said that when he announced the loss of the best C-130 airdrop air crew trophy to the 19th Airlift Wing, “the place erupted into cheers. They were just beaming.”
It is the only trophy the 19th Airlift Wing, which was named best C-130 wing at the rodeo in 2009, earned this year.
“This has always been a team effort, reflective of the partnership of the 314th and the 19th,” Czelusta added.
Czelusta said, “I’m thrilled and honored to be the commander of these forces. Our nation clearly deserves them and I am humbled to be with them.”
The 314th Airlift Wing will be presented the 2011 Air Mobility Rodeo Best Air Mobility Wing trophy during a ceremony on base Monday morning. The 19th Airlift Wing will be presented the Best C-130 Airdrop Aircrew in a separate ceremony,
More than 40 teams and 2,500 people from the U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and several foreign countries participated in the competition.
Air Mobility Command officials found the programming error on Aug. 18 after doing another check of the results before posting the detailed scores for rodeo competitors to access.
“There is an automated process in the scoring algorithm which improperly assigned a median score for an event,” said Maj. Gen. Frederick H. Martin, director of operations at AMC headquarters and rodeo commander.
“This program error was not found in testing,” he continued. “All manual scoring processes were triple checked; however, there was not a final check for one critical portion of the automated scoring process.”
The error was isolated to the C-17 and C-130 Container Delivery System airdrop scores. No international team awards were affected.
Rodeo is the Air Force’s and Air Mobility Command’s premier air-mobility competition. The competition held the last week of July at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., draws the “best of the best” from air forces around the world.
Leader staff writer
The world champion 314th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base has gained two new trophies and handed off one to its sister wing, the 19th Airlift Wing, after
Air Mobility Command discovered a programming error in the 2011 Air Mobility Rodeo scoring system.
The 314th is now also the best Air Mobility wing and best airdrop wing in the world after the scoring error was corrected. The 19th Airlift Wing took the best airdrop air crew title away from the 314th.
The 314th had previously won six trophies during last month’s competition in Washington state. They included best C-130 team, best C-130 airdrop wing, best C-130 maintenance skills team, best C-130 maintenance team and best overall maintenance skills team.
Col. Mark Czelusta, 314th Airlift Wing com mander, said that when he announced the loss of the best C-130 airdrop air crew trophy to the 19th Airlift Wing, “the place erupted into cheers. They were just beaming.”
It is the only trophy the 19th Airlift Wing, which was named best C-130 wing at the rodeo in 2009, earned this year.
“This has always been a team effort, reflective of the partnership of the 314th and the 19th,” Czelusta added.
Czelusta said, “I’m thrilled and honored to be the commander of these forces. Our nation clearly deserves them and I am humbled to be with them.”
The 314th Airlift Wing will be presented the 2011 Air Mobility Rodeo Best Air Mobility Wing trophy during a ceremony on base Monday morning. The 19th Airlift Wing will be presented the Best C-130 Airdrop Aircrew in a separate ceremony,
More than 40 teams and 2,500 people from the U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and several foreign countries participated in the competition.
Air Mobility Command officials found the programming error on Aug. 18 after doing another check of the results before posting the detailed scores for rodeo competitors to access.
“There is an automated process in the scoring algorithm which improperly assigned a median score for an event,” said Maj. Gen. Frederick H. Martin, director of operations at AMC headquarters and rodeo commander.
“This program error was not found in testing,” he continued. “All manual scoring processes were triple checked; however, there was not a final check for one critical portion of the automated scoring process.”
The error was isolated to the C-17 and C-130 Container Delivery System airdrop scores. No international team awards were affected.
Rodeo is the Air Force’s and Air Mobility Command’s premier air-mobility competition. The competition held the last week of July at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., draws the “best of the best” from air forces around the world.
TOP STORY > >Flood deadline for aid Monday
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Jacksonville residents interested in having FEMA buy or raise their flood-ravaged homes need to contact the mayor’s office Monday morning to be included in a packet the city is sending to the federal agency.
Mayor Gary Fletcher said his office will do everything it can for people who are still suffering from the aftermath of May’s storms, but there is no guarantee FEMA will help because the agency has limited resources.
FEMA pays 75 percent of the cost for buyouts that are approved. The other 25 percent has to come from state or local agencies, but the city can’t foot the bill because it doesn’t have enough money to do that, Fletcher said.
The other option is raising the foundation of a house, but that sometimes costs more than homes are worth.
He emphasized that priority is given to worst-case scenarios. The pool of money can only be stretched so far and the number of applicants are already double the amount FEMA can help.
Michelle Dutasaca, a resident of Westwood subdivision off Marshall Road, said the mayor’s office has been very responsive in providing information on what she can do about her home, which also flooded in 2005.
She said her neighborhood has had problems with drainage, but it’s been difficult to get residents to organize into a group so they be heard.
FEMA hasn’t followed up with one of her neighbors and the Red Cross hasn’t helped, Dutasaca said. “This has to move beyond the mayor…it (flooding) hurts the whole neighborhood,” she said.
Fletcher said he hasn’t heard much from other Westwood residents. He said those he has gotten in touch with aren’t interested in a buyout because they don’t want to leave the homes they’ve become accustomed to or they don’t want to lose what they’ve put into the houses.
As for drainage problem, he added, “We work on our ditches constantly. But we’ve only got a limited amount of money each year to set aside for those projects and it never goes far enough.”
The flooding issue is a regional — not a city — problem and the problem starts upstream, Fletcher said. Geographically, the city is a bowl and water from Bayou Meto, especially parts that aren’t in areas incorporated and maintained, backs up in Jacksonville.
Bayou Meto is about 105 miles of running water that moves slowly already because of the winding path it cuts before it empties into the Arkansas River. Beavers build dams in those unincorporated areas that slow the flow down even more.
Jacksonville has a beaver contract to clear out dams in the city. But it can’t afford and doesn’t have the authority to deal with places outside city limits that may be causing back flow.
Fletcher added that the city hired some loggers to clean out the section of Bayou Meto that runs from the Taramount Subdivision to the freeway and that helped with some of the drainage issues the area had.
Flooding encompasses three kinds of water flow, Fletcher continued. Those are rainwater, back flow from Bayou Meto and water from communities north of the city. Some water from Vilonia, for example, ends up on Westwood properties.
Many Jacksonville residents have blamed Waste Management’s Two Pine Landfill for causing the recent floods. But Fletcher said there were floods in Jacksonville before the landfill was built. He said City Engineer Jay Whisker found documentation of flooding in 1968 and 1969 that mirrors the flooding of the past few years.
Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) is organizing a meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers and Jacksonville and Sherwood city officials. But Fletcher said he didn’t know the details yet or whether North Little Rock will also be represented. Griffin said, “I believe the Corps should study this problem, and I will continue to work with the Corps to find a solution for the flooding.”
Leader staff writer
Jacksonville residents interested in having FEMA buy or raise their flood-ravaged homes need to contact the mayor’s office Monday morning to be included in a packet the city is sending to the federal agency.
Mayor Gary Fletcher said his office will do everything it can for people who are still suffering from the aftermath of May’s storms, but there is no guarantee FEMA will help because the agency has limited resources.
FEMA pays 75 percent of the cost for buyouts that are approved. The other 25 percent has to come from state or local agencies, but the city can’t foot the bill because it doesn’t have enough money to do that, Fletcher said.
The other option is raising the foundation of a house, but that sometimes costs more than homes are worth.
He emphasized that priority is given to worst-case scenarios. The pool of money can only be stretched so far and the number of applicants are already double the amount FEMA can help.
Michelle Dutasaca, a resident of Westwood subdivision off Marshall Road, said the mayor’s office has been very responsive in providing information on what she can do about her home, which also flooded in 2005.
She said her neighborhood has had problems with drainage, but it’s been difficult to get residents to organize into a group so they be heard.
FEMA hasn’t followed up with one of her neighbors and the Red Cross hasn’t helped, Dutasaca said. “This has to move beyond the mayor…it (flooding) hurts the whole neighborhood,” she said.
Fletcher said he hasn’t heard much from other Westwood residents. He said those he has gotten in touch with aren’t interested in a buyout because they don’t want to leave the homes they’ve become accustomed to or they don’t want to lose what they’ve put into the houses.
As for drainage problem, he added, “We work on our ditches constantly. But we’ve only got a limited amount of money each year to set aside for those projects and it never goes far enough.”
The flooding issue is a regional — not a city — problem and the problem starts upstream, Fletcher said. Geographically, the city is a bowl and water from Bayou Meto, especially parts that aren’t in areas incorporated and maintained, backs up in Jacksonville.
Bayou Meto is about 105 miles of running water that moves slowly already because of the winding path it cuts before it empties into the Arkansas River. Beavers build dams in those unincorporated areas that slow the flow down even more.
Jacksonville has a beaver contract to clear out dams in the city. But it can’t afford and doesn’t have the authority to deal with places outside city limits that may be causing back flow.
Fletcher added that the city hired some loggers to clean out the section of Bayou Meto that runs from the Taramount Subdivision to the freeway and that helped with some of the drainage issues the area had.
Flooding encompasses three kinds of water flow, Fletcher continued. Those are rainwater, back flow from Bayou Meto and water from communities north of the city. Some water from Vilonia, for example, ends up on Westwood properties.
Many Jacksonville residents have blamed Waste Management’s Two Pine Landfill for causing the recent floods. But Fletcher said there were floods in Jacksonville before the landfill was built. He said City Engineer Jay Whisker found documentation of flooding in 1968 and 1969 that mirrors the flooding of the past few years.
Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) is organizing a meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers and Jacksonville and Sherwood city officials. But Fletcher said he didn’t know the details yet or whether North Little Rock will also be represented. Griffin said, “I believe the Corps should study this problem, and I will continue to work with the Corps to find a solution for the flooding.”
TOP STORY > >JPs vote to apply for state funding
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
Despite fierce opposition, the Lonoke County Quorum Court passed a resolution of support Thursday night that will allow a relatively new Cabot nonprofit organization working to prevent teen pregnancies to apply for a state grant to buy a van.
Three justices voted against it.
JP Janette Minton was the most vocal of the three who voted against the resolution that will allow Crossroad House to apply for a $25,000 state grant.
Alexis Malham and Mark Edwards also voted “no.”
Minton told mother and daughter Ophelia Mosley and Desiree Kelly that since their outreach and housing program includes advice against unprotected sex, she couldn’t support their resolution.
Abstinence is the only message that she could support because it is the only sure way to prevent pregnancy and disease, Minton said.
“I know your heart is right and you’re good people, but your message is wrong,” Minton said.
Mosley responded that abstinence is a component of the state-approved program that her daughter takes into schools across the county. But birth con trol is also taught if the schools allow it.
Mosley, a veteran social worker, said anyone who had ever seen a pregnant 9-year-old would understand that teaching abstinence alone doesn’t work.
“It’s always abstinence is best – but,” Minton said.
Crossroad House got its nonprofit status in April and has a board that includes a Cabot police officer. It has room for six girls and their babies. Mosley said oftentimes young mothers in foster care can’t keep their babies because their foster parents won’t allow it.
The goal of Crossroad House is to keep young mothers together with their babies and work with them to prevent future pregnancies as well as helping them prepare to support themselves.
JP Alexis Malham told Mosley that she had checked with Cabot’s Academic Center of Excellence and no one there had heard of Crossroad House.
Pregnant girls in Cabot go to school at the center.
Mosley explained that she has only recently received notification that she will be getting her first girl.
She will contact the center about classes for the girls she takes in, but the preventative program is in the schools with younger girls, not high school age girls, she said.
“They never heard of you,” Malham said.
Mosley said in a later interview that she hadn’t contacted the center because it was too soon.
“There’s no use talking to them about girls I don’t have yet,” she said.
Leader staff writer
Despite fierce opposition, the Lonoke County Quorum Court passed a resolution of support Thursday night that will allow a relatively new Cabot nonprofit organization working to prevent teen pregnancies to apply for a state grant to buy a van.
Three justices voted against it.
JP Janette Minton was the most vocal of the three who voted against the resolution that will allow Crossroad House to apply for a $25,000 state grant.
Alexis Malham and Mark Edwards also voted “no.”
Minton told mother and daughter Ophelia Mosley and Desiree Kelly that since their outreach and housing program includes advice against unprotected sex, she couldn’t support their resolution.
Abstinence is the only message that she could support because it is the only sure way to prevent pregnancy and disease, Minton said.
“I know your heart is right and you’re good people, but your message is wrong,” Minton said.
Mosley responded that abstinence is a component of the state-approved program that her daughter takes into schools across the county. But birth con trol is also taught if the schools allow it.
Mosley, a veteran social worker, said anyone who had ever seen a pregnant 9-year-old would understand that teaching abstinence alone doesn’t work.
“It’s always abstinence is best – but,” Minton said.
Crossroad House got its nonprofit status in April and has a board that includes a Cabot police officer. It has room for six girls and their babies. Mosley said oftentimes young mothers in foster care can’t keep their babies because their foster parents won’t allow it.
The goal of Crossroad House is to keep young mothers together with their babies and work with them to prevent future pregnancies as well as helping them prepare to support themselves.
JP Alexis Malham told Mosley that she had checked with Cabot’s Academic Center of Excellence and no one there had heard of Crossroad House.
Pregnant girls in Cabot go to school at the center.
Mosley explained that she has only recently received notification that she will be getting her first girl.
She will contact the center about classes for the girls she takes in, but the preventative program is in the schools with younger girls, not high school age girls, she said.
“They never heard of you,” Malham said.
Mosley said in a later interview that she hadn’t contacted the center because it was too soon.
“There’s no use talking to them about girls I don’t have yet,” she said.
TOP STORY > >Pair accused in murder no strangers to legal system
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
The two women arrested in the the death of 74-year-old Katherine Cleary of Sherwood have been in and out of criminal court for at least a decade.
According to the Arkansas Department of Community Cor-rections, Rhonda Glassburner-Strong, 51, has been on probation since March and was to remain on probation until March 2014 for her latest brush with the law. But her laundry list of run-ins in the court system began in 2001.
Glassburner-Strong’s past convictions include about half a dozen drug offenses (the most recent for cocaine), one felony theft by receiving charge and a few counts of prostitution. Glassburner’s probations have been revoked multiple times. In fact, she was due in court on Sept. 22 for sentencing on a 2009 case involved drug charges and revocation of her probation.
The sentences for crimes committed in close proximity were also concurrent. If they had been consecutive, she would have been behind bars when Cleary went missing this week.
Also, if Glass-burner-Strong had stayed out of trouble, according to Pulaski County Court, she could have had her records sealed because of a plea bargain she agreed to.
Appearing in court around the same time was Sonia Bell, although her record is significantly lighter. Bell was charged with felony theft by receiving in 2001 but the case against her wasn’t prosecuted.
She was later convicted of two felony possession of a controlled substance offenses, one in 2003 and one in 2009. Bell was sentenced to four years, but served two in a community correction center. She has been on parole since November 2010. She was set to be released from parole in December.
Glassburner-Strong and Bell were arrested on Tuesday after detectives followed activity on Cleary’s stolen credit card to the purchase of a flat-screen television at Jacksonville’s Walmart. Store cameras taped the two women using the card.
One of the women told police they had dumped some of the victim’s belongings on Boyd Road. Investigators found Cleary’s body in a ditch there.
She had been missing since 4 a.m. Monday, when police responded to an alarm at her home, 300 Big Indian Road. Cleary and her vehicle were gone and there were not signs of forced entry.
A surveillance camera on a neighbor’s house may have captured the kidnapping, but the police are not releasing any information about that.
The women have been charged with felony theft by receiving and fraudulent use of a credit card and are being held at the Pulaski County Jail.
Police spokesman Josh Adams has said police believe there may be more individuals involved and Cleary may have known someone involved in her kidnapping and murder.
The cause of death for the 5-foot, 90-pound elderly woman has not been determined. The state Crime lab is conducting her autopsy.
Lt. Dan Kerr of the Sherwood Police Department said at least one elderly woman called to request extra patrols in her neighborhood after the incident.
Doris Anderson, who lives down the street from Cleary, said, “I’m still in a daze over it. Everybody in the neighborhood has been on edge…we should not have to sit in our homes with guns in our hands watching television. We are sleeping with guns.”
She also said she even followed an unfamiliar vehicle that was driving in the neighborhood one afternoon this week. The driver was someone looking for a house to buy.
She said that it was typical for neighbors, who treat each other like family, to keep an eye out for one another.
Anderson described her neighbor as a sweet lady who liked to garden.
“We all wish we could see Ms. Cleary in here home again, but that is a wish that will never be fulfilled,” she added.
Anderson said the police have been doing an excellent job investigating the case, but Sherwood needs more officers on the streets to stem the recent influx of crime.
“People are left to defend their own homes and their own lives the best they can. Unfortunately, Miss Cleary was unable to do so.”
Leader staff writer
The two women arrested in the the death of 74-year-old Katherine Cleary of Sherwood have been in and out of criminal court for at least a decade.
According to the Arkansas Department of Community Cor-rections, Rhonda Glassburner-Strong, 51, has been on probation since March and was to remain on probation until March 2014 for her latest brush with the law. But her laundry list of run-ins in the court system began in 2001.
Glassburner-Strong’s past convictions include about half a dozen drug offenses (the most recent for cocaine), one felony theft by receiving charge and a few counts of prostitution. Glassburner’s probations have been revoked multiple times. In fact, she was due in court on Sept. 22 for sentencing on a 2009 case involved drug charges and revocation of her probation.
The sentences for crimes committed in close proximity were also concurrent. If they had been consecutive, she would have been behind bars when Cleary went missing this week.
Also, if Glass-burner-Strong had stayed out of trouble, according to Pulaski County Court, she could have had her records sealed because of a plea bargain she agreed to.
Appearing in court around the same time was Sonia Bell, although her record is significantly lighter. Bell was charged with felony theft by receiving in 2001 but the case against her wasn’t prosecuted.
She was later convicted of two felony possession of a controlled substance offenses, one in 2003 and one in 2009. Bell was sentenced to four years, but served two in a community correction center. She has been on parole since November 2010. She was set to be released from parole in December.
Glassburner-Strong and Bell were arrested on Tuesday after detectives followed activity on Cleary’s stolen credit card to the purchase of a flat-screen television at Jacksonville’s Walmart. Store cameras taped the two women using the card.
One of the women told police they had dumped some of the victim’s belongings on Boyd Road. Investigators found Cleary’s body in a ditch there.
She had been missing since 4 a.m. Monday, when police responded to an alarm at her home, 300 Big Indian Road. Cleary and her vehicle were gone and there were not signs of forced entry.
A surveillance camera on a neighbor’s house may have captured the kidnapping, but the police are not releasing any information about that.
The women have been charged with felony theft by receiving and fraudulent use of a credit card and are being held at the Pulaski County Jail.
Police spokesman Josh Adams has said police believe there may be more individuals involved and Cleary may have known someone involved in her kidnapping and murder.
The cause of death for the 5-foot, 90-pound elderly woman has not been determined. The state Crime lab is conducting her autopsy.
Lt. Dan Kerr of the Sherwood Police Department said at least one elderly woman called to request extra patrols in her neighborhood after the incident.
Doris Anderson, who lives down the street from Cleary, said, “I’m still in a daze over it. Everybody in the neighborhood has been on edge…we should not have to sit in our homes with guns in our hands watching television. We are sleeping with guns.”
She also said she even followed an unfamiliar vehicle that was driving in the neighborhood one afternoon this week. The driver was someone looking for a house to buy.
She said that it was typical for neighbors, who treat each other like family, to keep an eye out for one another.
Anderson described her neighbor as a sweet lady who liked to garden.
“We all wish we could see Ms. Cleary in here home again, but that is a wish that will never be fulfilled,” she added.
Anderson said the police have been doing an excellent job investigating the case, but Sherwood needs more officers on the streets to stem the recent influx of crime.
“People are left to defend their own homes and their own lives the best they can. Unfortunately, Miss Cleary was unable to do so.”
SPORTS>>’Rabs season kicking off at Pine Bluff
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The first game of the high school football season could be one of the best.
The matchup between Lonoke and Star City was a thriller last year with two teams composed of similar-style athletes, and little has changed heading into the 2011 edition of the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic at Golden Lion Stadium in Pine Bluff.
Lonoke prevailed last year in a 38-29 thriller in which the Jackrabbits took advantage of multiple Bulldog turnovers to build a huge lead in the first half, only to watch Star City mount an impressive second-half comeback.
“I think we match up withthem pretty well,” Lonoke coach Doug Bost said. “It will be a battle in the trenches – they have a lot of size at the line and so do we. So it will be a lot of big boys going up against each other. I think we’re pretty equal. The biggest difference between us at this point is that they got to have a full two-hour scrimmage and we had about 15 minutes.”
Lightning cancelled the Jackrabbits’ scrimmage against Maumelle on Monday after just two possessions for each team. But enough happened in that short period of time to give Bost an idea of what to work on.
“With the offense, a lot of it was nerves,” Bost said. “But when they can see it on film, they have a better understanding of it. Our defense, if they can come out and play like they did the other night, they can keep us in the game.”
The Bulldogs have four returning starters on the offensive line, and have most of their receivers from last year. Gone is quarterback Ty Towers and running backs Hosia Rochell and Demitri Goins, but Bost, who watched Star City scrimmage against Monticello on Tuesday night, said the running game is just as effective.
“They are a good football team,” Bost said. “They have a lot of size up front, and they have good speed at the skill positions. Their first two possessions, they had about an equal amount of passing and running, and they moved it down the field for two quick scores.”
The biggest drawback of the shortened scrimmage on Monday was virtually no touches for Lonoke’s running backs. Eric Williams, who surprised Star City last year with a late touchdown run that put the ’Rabbits back up by two scores to seal the victory, is one of four juniors who make up the Lonoke running-back corps, along with senior Keli Bryant.
Kenny Johnson, Brent Sims and Dra Offord are the other three juniors, along with junior quarterback D.J. Burton.
“I’ve been seeing them all summer,” Bost said. “They didn’t get a chance to play much the other night, but I know their speed, and I’m excited to see them get out there.
“As far as D.J., he didn’t get much of a chance to use play action, and I think that will be his strength.”
Leader sportswriter
The first game of the high school football season could be one of the best.
The matchup between Lonoke and Star City was a thriller last year with two teams composed of similar-style athletes, and little has changed heading into the 2011 edition of the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic at Golden Lion Stadium in Pine Bluff.
Lonoke prevailed last year in a 38-29 thriller in which the Jackrabbits took advantage of multiple Bulldog turnovers to build a huge lead in the first half, only to watch Star City mount an impressive second-half comeback.
“I think we match up withthem pretty well,” Lonoke coach Doug Bost said. “It will be a battle in the trenches – they have a lot of size at the line and so do we. So it will be a lot of big boys going up against each other. I think we’re pretty equal. The biggest difference between us at this point is that they got to have a full two-hour scrimmage and we had about 15 minutes.”
Lightning cancelled the Jackrabbits’ scrimmage against Maumelle on Monday after just two possessions for each team. But enough happened in that short period of time to give Bost an idea of what to work on.
“With the offense, a lot of it was nerves,” Bost said. “But when they can see it on film, they have a better understanding of it. Our defense, if they can come out and play like they did the other night, they can keep us in the game.”
The Bulldogs have four returning starters on the offensive line, and have most of their receivers from last year. Gone is quarterback Ty Towers and running backs Hosia Rochell and Demitri Goins, but Bost, who watched Star City scrimmage against Monticello on Tuesday night, said the running game is just as effective.
“They are a good football team,” Bost said. “They have a lot of size up front, and they have good speed at the skill positions. Their first two possessions, they had about an equal amount of passing and running, and they moved it down the field for two quick scores.”
The biggest drawback of the shortened scrimmage on Monday was virtually no touches for Lonoke’s running backs. Eric Williams, who surprised Star City last year with a late touchdown run that put the ’Rabbits back up by two scores to seal the victory, is one of four juniors who make up the Lonoke running-back corps, along with senior Keli Bryant.
Kenny Johnson, Brent Sims and Dra Offord are the other three juniors, along with junior quarterback D.J. Burton.
“I’ve been seeing them all summer,” Bost said. “They didn’t get a chance to play much the other night, but I know their speed, and I’m excited to see them get out there.
“As far as D.J., he didn’t get much of a chance to use play action, and I think that will be his strength.”
SPORTS>>Badgers’ offense rules preseason scrimmage
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Beebe Badgers looked exactly like they were supposed to for the most part during a three-team scrimmage with Trumann and Harding Academy at Alumni Field/First Security Stadium in Searcy on Tuesday night.
The Badgers scored with long, sustained drives against both Wildcats defenses without any turnovers and defended the running game well, but Harding Academy used the spread-pass game to get some good hits against Beebe’s secondary.
Much like last year’s scrimmage between the three teams, Beebe and Harding Academy appeared to be closely matched while Trumann’s defense took it on the chin from both of its opponents.
“Offensively, I thought we did pretty good,” Badgers coachJohn Shannon said. “There was no big play, but we played our style of ball – three, four yard gains.
“Defensively, we were pretty good. We were very vanilla against the spread with our coverage package.”
Beebe started against the Trumann defense and scored twice in 15 plays. The first was an eight-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a nine-yard run by senior halfback Jeremy Van Winkle, and the second concluded in seven plays, capped by Jay Holdway’s eight-yard run.
The Badgers did not have it quite as easy against the Harding Academy defense, but did move the ball consistently, scoring in nine plays. Sophomore fullback Eric Thorn shined during the series against the Wildcats with runs seven and eight yards before scoring with a 17-yard touchdown run down the left hash.
Stallnacker looked comfortable leading the offense, and showed off his own running abilities out of the option. Senior halfbacks Holdway and Michael Kirby had limited touches, but Thorn and Van Winkle saw plenty of action. Matt Pursell also came away with some good runs both as a halfback and second-team quarterback.
“We wanted to give everybody a look,” Shannon said. “We only ran four different plays. We already knew what Holdway and Kirby, our seniors could do. We gave Thorn some totes, and we ran plenty of option.”
Stallnacker showed a knack for misdirection, and picked up 16 yards in three option sneaks against Harding Academy’s defense.
“I thought Stallnacker did a pretty good job,” Shannon said. “He had a bad pitch there early, but he settled down after that.”
The first part of the scrimmage consisted of each offense on the field for 15 plays against an opposing defense starting at their own 30-yard line. If the offense turned the ball over either in play or on downs, they started over from the 30.
The second part was a goal line drill in which the offense was given eight plays from their opponent’s 10-yard line.
Beebe scored five times in eight plays in their goal line drill against the Trumann defense. Stallnacker took it all the way in on the first play, Thorn scored from five yards out on the second play and Holdway took the 10-yard distance on the following play.
Senior reserve halfback Rory Moore punched it in from a yard out on the sixth play and Thorn wrapped up the session with another score—this one a two-yard touchdown run.
“I was pleased with the running backs,” Shannon said. “The line did a pretty good job, but we’re going to have to get a lot better.”
Although overall pleased, Shannon still found areas in need of improvement.
“We pretty much saw what we were expecting to see,” Shannon said. “The sophomores looked good at times. Other times they looked like sophomores. We just have to get back and continue to work hard.”
Leader sportswriter
The Beebe Badgers looked exactly like they were supposed to for the most part during a three-team scrimmage with Trumann and Harding Academy at Alumni Field/First Security Stadium in Searcy on Tuesday night.
The Badgers scored with long, sustained drives against both Wildcats defenses without any turnovers and defended the running game well, but Harding Academy used the spread-pass game to get some good hits against Beebe’s secondary.
Much like last year’s scrimmage between the three teams, Beebe and Harding Academy appeared to be closely matched while Trumann’s defense took it on the chin from both of its opponents.
“Offensively, I thought we did pretty good,” Badgers coachJohn Shannon said. “There was no big play, but we played our style of ball – three, four yard gains.
“Defensively, we were pretty good. We were very vanilla against the spread with our coverage package.”
Beebe started against the Trumann defense and scored twice in 15 plays. The first was an eight-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a nine-yard run by senior halfback Jeremy Van Winkle, and the second concluded in seven plays, capped by Jay Holdway’s eight-yard run.
The Badgers did not have it quite as easy against the Harding Academy defense, but did move the ball consistently, scoring in nine plays. Sophomore fullback Eric Thorn shined during the series against the Wildcats with runs seven and eight yards before scoring with a 17-yard touchdown run down the left hash.
Stallnacker looked comfortable leading the offense, and showed off his own running abilities out of the option. Senior halfbacks Holdway and Michael Kirby had limited touches, but Thorn and Van Winkle saw plenty of action. Matt Pursell also came away with some good runs both as a halfback and second-team quarterback.
“We wanted to give everybody a look,” Shannon said. “We only ran four different plays. We already knew what Holdway and Kirby, our seniors could do. We gave Thorn some totes, and we ran plenty of option.”
Stallnacker showed a knack for misdirection, and picked up 16 yards in three option sneaks against Harding Academy’s defense.
“I thought Stallnacker did a pretty good job,” Shannon said. “He had a bad pitch there early, but he settled down after that.”
The first part of the scrimmage consisted of each offense on the field for 15 plays against an opposing defense starting at their own 30-yard line. If the offense turned the ball over either in play or on downs, they started over from the 30.
The second part was a goal line drill in which the offense was given eight plays from their opponent’s 10-yard line.
Beebe scored five times in eight plays in their goal line drill against the Trumann defense. Stallnacker took it all the way in on the first play, Thorn scored from five yards out on the second play and Holdway took the 10-yard distance on the following play.
Senior reserve halfback Rory Moore punched it in from a yard out on the sixth play and Thorn wrapped up the session with another score—this one a two-yard touchdown run.
“I was pleased with the running backs,” Shannon said. “The line did a pretty good job, but we’re going to have to get a lot better.”
Although overall pleased, Shannon still found areas in need of improvement.
“We pretty much saw what we were expecting to see,” Shannon said. “The sophomores looked good at times. Other times they looked like sophomores. We just have to get back and continue to work hard.”
SPORTS>>Season opener rematch for Bears
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The days of coaches boasting about how their team should have the advantage are over.
The case of Vilonia coach Jim Stanley and Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow is proof of that as the two prepare their respective teams for the season opener at War Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Eagles defeated the Bears handily in last year’s opener 42-14 in a game that saw Sylvan Hills hang in there for a half before Vilonia took control late.
“We got to watch their blue-white game,” Stanley said. “They’re big. They’re bigger, faster – a lot better than they were last year.
“We’ve got a long way to go. We’re missing assignments, just still have a lot of improving to do. We have a couple of returning starters, the rest are sophomores and juniors,” Stanley said.
One of those returning starters for Vilonia is four-star senior running back James Sax. Sax, at 6-1, 212 pounds with a 40-yard dash time of 4.53, is one of the most heavily recruited backs in the state. Sax did not have his way against the Bears last year, but did contribute with an early 27-yard touchdown run.
“I don’t know that you stop him. You just have to see if you can slow him down some,” Withrow said. “You have to know where he is at all times, and you have to make sure you tackle him when you get to him. If he starts breaking tackles, it could be a bad night for us.”
As impressed as Stanley was with Sylvan Hills during its scrimmage, Withrow thought the same of the Eagles in their scrimmage against Marion.
“We watched their scrimmage,” Withrow said. “They looked like a good, hard-nosed football team. James Sax is a stud, and the quarterback did a good job leading the offense.”
Although realistically the two teams have many of the same obstacles to overcome in terms of inexperience and depth, Stanley sees Withrow’s group as having a leg up heading into Tuesday.
“Last year, we were a pretty experienced team,” Stanley said. “That was a good ball team. It’s kind of like a reversal of roles this year. This year, he’s got the experienced team. They’re big and they’re fast, and that’s a scary thing in football.”
Withrow is not as confident as Stanley thinks he should be, but he does like his team’s chances a little better than last year.
“To an extent,” Withrow said. “We don’t have as many guys who never played in a football game like we did last year. Last year, it was almost like we had to piece together a team. Yeah, we’re still young this year, but we’re laying the foundation for success down the road.”
The Eagles beat Marion 27-23 in their scrimmage Tuesday, but Stanley saw plenty of things that made him nervous.
“We’re still trying to get guys lined up in the right spot,” he said. “I mean, there are plenty of things for us to improve on. When we looked at the film and graded everybody out, we realized how far we’ve got to go. I was proud of them in our scrimmage. We have about five or six sophomores starting, and they played hard against a good, quality team.”
The Bears started several seniors last year, but most of them had seen little playing time prior to the start of the season.
“I think we had that false sense of having a few more seniors last year,” Withrow said. “A lot of people felt like we started a bunch of new people last year, and just assumed we would have them back this year. But that’s not the case. The kids we have now, we can build something with. They’re good athletes.”
Leader sportswriter
The days of coaches boasting about how their team should have the advantage are over.
The case of Vilonia coach Jim Stanley and Sylvan Hills coach Jim Withrow is proof of that as the two prepare their respective teams for the season opener at War Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Eagles defeated the Bears handily in last year’s opener 42-14 in a game that saw Sylvan Hills hang in there for a half before Vilonia took control late.
“We got to watch their blue-white game,” Stanley said. “They’re big. They’re bigger, faster – a lot better than they were last year.
“We’ve got a long way to go. We’re missing assignments, just still have a lot of improving to do. We have a couple of returning starters, the rest are sophomores and juniors,” Stanley said.
One of those returning starters for Vilonia is four-star senior running back James Sax. Sax, at 6-1, 212 pounds with a 40-yard dash time of 4.53, is one of the most heavily recruited backs in the state. Sax did not have his way against the Bears last year, but did contribute with an early 27-yard touchdown run.
“I don’t know that you stop him. You just have to see if you can slow him down some,” Withrow said. “You have to know where he is at all times, and you have to make sure you tackle him when you get to him. If he starts breaking tackles, it could be a bad night for us.”
As impressed as Stanley was with Sylvan Hills during its scrimmage, Withrow thought the same of the Eagles in their scrimmage against Marion.
“We watched their scrimmage,” Withrow said. “They looked like a good, hard-nosed football team. James Sax is a stud, and the quarterback did a good job leading the offense.”
Although realistically the two teams have many of the same obstacles to overcome in terms of inexperience and depth, Stanley sees Withrow’s group as having a leg up heading into Tuesday.
“Last year, we were a pretty experienced team,” Stanley said. “That was a good ball team. It’s kind of like a reversal of roles this year. This year, he’s got the experienced team. They’re big and they’re fast, and that’s a scary thing in football.”
Withrow is not as confident as Stanley thinks he should be, but he does like his team’s chances a little better than last year.
“To an extent,” Withrow said. “We don’t have as many guys who never played in a football game like we did last year. Last year, it was almost like we had to piece together a team. Yeah, we’re still young this year, but we’re laying the foundation for success down the road.”
The Eagles beat Marion 27-23 in their scrimmage Tuesday, but Stanley saw plenty of things that made him nervous.
“We’re still trying to get guys lined up in the right spot,” he said. “I mean, there are plenty of things for us to improve on. When we looked at the film and graded everybody out, we realized how far we’ve got to go. I was proud of them in our scrimmage. We have about five or six sophomores starting, and they played hard against a good, quality team.”
The Bears started several seniors last year, but most of them had seen little playing time prior to the start of the season.
“I think we had that false sense of having a few more seniors last year,” Withrow said. “A lot of people felt like we started a bunch of new people last year, and just assumed we would have them back this year. But that’s not the case. The kids we have now, we can build something with. They’re good athletes.”
SPORTS>>Panther ladies starting on track
By RAY BENTON
The Lady Panthers got the volleyball season under way with a tri-match split against Morrilton and Lonoke on Tuesday. The three teams convened at Cabot High School to play a pair of best-of-three matches. The Lady Panthers lost the opener to Morrilton 30-32, 25-23 and 25-17. Later, they beat Lonoke 25-14 and 25-16. Morrilton also swept Lonoke and left with a 2-0 record.
On Thursday, the Cabot ladies hosted Batesville and lost a lengthy, hard-fought match in five games. Scores in that one were 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 21-25 and 7-15.
Cabot coach Deanne Campbell is being patient with her young, sophomore-laden team, and saw good things from the first week of play.
“They’re playing hard and they’re doing a good job of keeping the ball alive,” Campbellsaid. “That’s what we’ve worked hard on, was not making mistakes. We’ve had a lot of long volleys because we’ve done well at the things we’ve worked. We now have to take that and get better.”
One of the areas that can improve is Cabot’s service game. The Lady Panthers only missed three serves the entire five-game match against Batesville, but didn’t put the Lady Pioneers on the defensive with the service game.
“Again, we’re young and we’ve worked extensively on getting the serve in,” Campbell said. “Now we have to take that and start serving tougher. Now we need to get more aggressive with our serves.”
While keeping the volleys alive is a good thing. Campbell would also like to see her squad do more to try and end them.
“We’ve done great at not making mistakes,” Campbell said. “But now we need to start trying to score our own points instead of waiting for our opponent to make a mistake.”
Campbell is confident her team can make those adjustments and execute the next step of the plan, because in the first three matches, it has executed the things she has been teaching.
“They’ve have done really well at the things we’ve worked on,” Campbell said. “They know where they’re supposed to be and how to get where they need to be. I see them doing all the things we’ve worked on up to this point. They’re just young, and we’re a team that’s still learning. But I’m very pleased so far with how they’ve responded to everything we’ve been teaching them.”
Game experience is what Campbell believes will be the key to improving the aggressiveness on the court.
“Right now I think they’re still thinking a lot out there,” Campbell said. “They’re doing all the things we’ve asked of them, but they’re still having to think about it. Just getting game experience and getting older is going to help that. They’re going to get more comfortable out there and not have to think about those things as much, and then they can focus on the aggressiveness.”
Cabot’s next match is a rematch with Morrilton on the road next Tuesday.
Leader sports editor
The Lady Panthers got the volleyball season under way with a tri-match split against Morrilton and Lonoke on Tuesday. The three teams convened at Cabot High School to play a pair of best-of-three matches. The Lady Panthers lost the opener to Morrilton 30-32, 25-23 and 25-17. Later, they beat Lonoke 25-14 and 25-16. Morrilton also swept Lonoke and left with a 2-0 record.
On Thursday, the Cabot ladies hosted Batesville and lost a lengthy, hard-fought match in five games. Scores in that one were 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 21-25 and 7-15.
Cabot coach Deanne Campbell is being patient with her young, sophomore-laden team, and saw good things from the first week of play.
“They’re playing hard and they’re doing a good job of keeping the ball alive,” Campbellsaid. “That’s what we’ve worked hard on, was not making mistakes. We’ve had a lot of long volleys because we’ve done well at the things we’ve worked. We now have to take that and get better.”
One of the areas that can improve is Cabot’s service game. The Lady Panthers only missed three serves the entire five-game match against Batesville, but didn’t put the Lady Pioneers on the defensive with the service game.
“Again, we’re young and we’ve worked extensively on getting the serve in,” Campbell said. “Now we have to take that and start serving tougher. Now we need to get more aggressive with our serves.”
While keeping the volleys alive is a good thing. Campbell would also like to see her squad do more to try and end them.
“We’ve done great at not making mistakes,” Campbell said. “But now we need to start trying to score our own points instead of waiting for our opponent to make a mistake.”
Campbell is confident her team can make those adjustments and execute the next step of the plan, because in the first three matches, it has executed the things she has been teaching.
“They’ve have done really well at the things we’ve worked on,” Campbell said. “They know where they’re supposed to be and how to get where they need to be. I see them doing all the things we’ve worked on up to this point. They’re just young, and we’re a team that’s still learning. But I’m very pleased so far with how they’ve responded to everything we’ve been teaching them.”
Game experience is what Campbell believes will be the key to improving the aggressiveness on the court.
“Right now I think they’re still thinking a lot out there,” Campbell said. “They’re doing all the things we’ve asked of them, but they’re still having to think about it. Just getting game experience and getting older is going to help that. They’re going to get more comfortable out there and not have to think about those things as much, and then they can focus on the aggressiveness.”
Cabot’s next match is a rematch with Morrilton on the road next Tuesday.
SPORTS>>JACKSONVILLE, CABOT SET TO FACE-OFF IN BACKYARD BRAWL
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The towns are abuzz, the press conference is over and practice sessions are honed in from general improvement to opponent-specific strategy. The 2011 football season is about to begin, and it starts with central Arkansas’ biggest rivalry north of the river. Tuesday night, Cabot and Jacksonville face off at Panther Stadium in what has been dubbed the Backyard Brawl, as the two teams battle for the traveling trophy that goes home with the winner of this 35-plus-year rivalry game.
Cabot has owned the series in recent years, winning the last four in a row, as well as 13 of the last 15 matchups. Jacksonville won two consecutive in 2005 and 2006, and won both with relative ease.
Cabot won 28-7 last season, but the game was more competitive than the score indicates.
That fact is not lost either coach this year, and many suspect this may be one of the fiercest, most competitive and best-contested Cabot-Jacksonville matchups in many years.
“They played us really good last year and they have a lot back,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said. “They have about all their skill people back and they have some athletes. I think they’re better this year and I know they’re expecting to be better. We’re going to have to be ready to play every play because they’re coming in here to do one thing, and that’s win this ball game.”
Cabot will still have a slight size advantage and a huge depth advantage. Jacksonville will have the advantage in speed and experience. The Red Devils have very few key players with no experience, while Cabot will be playing seven sophomores in significant roles.
Cabot will start three newcomers in the secondary and four on the offensive line.
“The lineman have gotten better,” Malham said of his offensive sophomores. They’re the best we’ve got, that’s what they’re starting. I think they’re going to be real, real good, but not yet. They’ve got decent size, can move pretty good and they’re pretty aggressive. They just have to learn. Hopefully they’ll learn fast.”
Jacksonville coach Rick Russell doesn’t think Cabot’s youngsters will be that much of a disadvantage for the host team.
“They’re just like always,” Russell said. “Those kids start learning that system in seventh grade and very little changes about it. It’s a methodical offense. They know what they’re running and they run it really, really well. Their players are always extremely sound in their technique, and we’re going to have to match that.”
Jacksonville coaches were present at Lake Hamilton when the Wolves threw four long touchdown passes against Cabot’s young secondary in last week’s scrimmage game.
Jacksonville has its own strong-armed quarterback and a stable of speedy receivers. It hopes it can have the same kind of success on Tuesday.
“We feel like we have some receivers that can get in some space,” Russell said. “We’re just going to have to be able to hit them.”
Malham knows stopping the pass will be a big key to beating Jacksonville.
“We got back here, and we got to work on the mistakes,” Malham said. “We just have three young ones back there. Hopefully we did a lot of growing. Their receivers are big and fast. Their quarterback is about 6-foot-5, 230 pounds and can throw the heck out of it. It’s going to be tough.”
Cabot doesn’t expect Jack-sonville’s new offense to present any challenges it hasn’t already faced. He’s mainly worried about the athletes who will be running that new offense.
“It’s not nothing we haven’t seen,” Malham said. “They’re going to do some one-back, some two-back, go out of the pistol like Har-Ber does. They’re going to run a little wing-T out of the shotgun. It’s going to be a good test. We’re just going to see if we can adjust in the act.”
Even with all the different factors playing into this year’s game. Both coaches have simple ideas on where the key to victory lies.
“We’re going to have to play smart, take care of the football and get it in the hands of our playmakers in space,” Russell said.
“Our best chance is to hang onto the ball,” Malham said, “to not let them have a lot of snaps. We don’t have the speed they have. We need to limit their opportunities as much as we can.”
Leader sports editor
The towns are abuzz, the press conference is over and practice sessions are honed in from general improvement to opponent-specific strategy. The 2011 football season is about to begin, and it starts with central Arkansas’ biggest rivalry north of the river. Tuesday night, Cabot and Jacksonville face off at Panther Stadium in what has been dubbed the Backyard Brawl, as the two teams battle for the traveling trophy that goes home with the winner of this 35-plus-year rivalry game.
Cabot has owned the series in recent years, winning the last four in a row, as well as 13 of the last 15 matchups. Jacksonville won two consecutive in 2005 and 2006, and won both with relative ease.
Cabot won 28-7 last season, but the game was more competitive than the score indicates.
That fact is not lost either coach this year, and many suspect this may be one of the fiercest, most competitive and best-contested Cabot-Jacksonville matchups in many years.
“They played us really good last year and they have a lot back,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said. “They have about all their skill people back and they have some athletes. I think they’re better this year and I know they’re expecting to be better. We’re going to have to be ready to play every play because they’re coming in here to do one thing, and that’s win this ball game.”
Cabot will still have a slight size advantage and a huge depth advantage. Jacksonville will have the advantage in speed and experience. The Red Devils have very few key players with no experience, while Cabot will be playing seven sophomores in significant roles.
Cabot will start three newcomers in the secondary and four on the offensive line.
“The lineman have gotten better,” Malham said of his offensive sophomores. They’re the best we’ve got, that’s what they’re starting. I think they’re going to be real, real good, but not yet. They’ve got decent size, can move pretty good and they’re pretty aggressive. They just have to learn. Hopefully they’ll learn fast.”
Jacksonville coach Rick Russell doesn’t think Cabot’s youngsters will be that much of a disadvantage for the host team.
“They’re just like always,” Russell said. “Those kids start learning that system in seventh grade and very little changes about it. It’s a methodical offense. They know what they’re running and they run it really, really well. Their players are always extremely sound in their technique, and we’re going to have to match that.”
Jacksonville coaches were present at Lake Hamilton when the Wolves threw four long touchdown passes against Cabot’s young secondary in last week’s scrimmage game.
Jacksonville has its own strong-armed quarterback and a stable of speedy receivers. It hopes it can have the same kind of success on Tuesday.
“We feel like we have some receivers that can get in some space,” Russell said. “We’re just going to have to be able to hit them.”
Malham knows stopping the pass will be a big key to beating Jacksonville.
“We got back here, and we got to work on the mistakes,” Malham said. “We just have three young ones back there. Hopefully we did a lot of growing. Their receivers are big and fast. Their quarterback is about 6-foot-5, 230 pounds and can throw the heck out of it. It’s going to be tough.”
Cabot doesn’t expect Jack-sonville’s new offense to present any challenges it hasn’t already faced. He’s mainly worried about the athletes who will be running that new offense.
“It’s not nothing we haven’t seen,” Malham said. “They’re going to do some one-back, some two-back, go out of the pistol like Har-Ber does. They’re going to run a little wing-T out of the shotgun. It’s going to be a good test. We’re just going to see if we can adjust in the act.”
Even with all the different factors playing into this year’s game. Both coaches have simple ideas on where the key to victory lies.
“We’re going to have to play smart, take care of the football and get it in the hands of our playmakers in space,” Russell said.
“Our best chance is to hang onto the ball,” Malham said, “to not let them have a lot of snaps. We don’t have the speed they have. We need to limit their opportunities as much as we can.”
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