By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
FAYETTEVILLE — The Cabot Panthers went down for the final time this season on Wednesday, but they went down doing what they’ve done all along – battling.
The Panthers lost in overtime to Bryant 57-46 in the first round of the class 7A state tournament at Fayetteville High School, but not until rallying from a nine-point deficit and giving the higher-seeded and more athletic Hornets all they wanted.
“They just had a better overtime than we did,” Cabot coach Jerry Bridges said. “We battled. I’m proud of them. We missed some chippies in the first half that could have made it a different game, then we missed a couple of layups late in the game that were big. But that’s been us all season. We struggle to score the basketball. What makes me so proud of this team is how hard they battle and play defense. I’ve enjoyed this group.”
After an exciting four quarters, the overtime wasn’t much to speak of. Bryant scored the first nine points of the extra four-minute period to put the game away with 90 seconds remaining.
Cabot started to run its offense effectively in the third quarter and continued to do so in the fourth period and overtime, but the shots didn’t fall. When the Panthers had to start fouling in overtime, Bryant put it away with good free-throw shooting.
“I wish we could’ve gotten the foul calls they got when we would penetrate,” Bridges said. “I felt like we drew just as much contact as they did. Our guards don’t get to the rim just a whole lot. I thought Kyle (Theilemier) made a couple of great plays getting to the rim; we just didn’t get the call. But that’s not why we lost. Overall they called a pretty good game.”
Junior post player Michael Smith spurred Cabot’s comeback after the Panthers fell behind 31-22 midway through the third quarter. Smith scored on two baseline drives that resulted in reverse layups in the third quarter. The second capped an 11-2 run and tied the game at 33 with 2:05 remaining in the third quarter.
The Hornets took a 36-35 lead into the fourth, but it didn’t last long. Smith, at the high post, found Clayton Vaught streaking through the back door for an open layup that gave Cabot its first lead of the game with 7:50 remaining to play. That lead didn’t last long either. Bryant sophomore K.J. Hill put the Hornets back on top just 12 seconds later.
Bryant led 42-39 when Smith found Ryan Stafford on the same play run earlier for Vaught. After a defensive stop, Theilemier drained a three pointer that put the Panthers up 44-42 with 1:17 remaining.
Bryant’s C.J. Rainey was fouled away from the basket and sent to the line for a one-and-one.
He made both to tie the game with 54 seconds remaining, and that’s the way it stayed until time expired.
Saturday, March 02, 2013
SPORTS STORY >> NLR ladies stun Tigers
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Charging Lady Wild-cats pulled off the upset of the class 7A tournament in Thursday’s quarterfinals, knocking off No. 1 seed Bentonville 63-54 to advance to today’s semifinal against Fort Smith Northside.
The game pitted North Little Rock’s pressure defense against Bentonville’s dominant inside game, and the pressure won out. Bentonville struggled with the pressure early, but came back to take the lead by two points at halftime.
The continuous relentless pressure eventually wore down the 7A West champions and the Lady Wildcats assumed control of the game midway through the third quarter.
North Little Rock, the four seed from the Central conference, hasn’t been ranked all season and lost its season finale heading into state, but head coach Daryl Fimple still felt like his team would be one that would be a difficult out.
“We have been playing really well,” Fimple said. “We made some hard decisions – went younger. Sometimes when you do that the seniors don’t like it and it’ll fracture a team a little bit. But these seniors have bought into that and we’re just having a lot of fun. There’s no pressure on us whatsoever. This is the first year that we haven’t been the team that’s just fighting to stay alive.”
Bentonville led 26-19 with 1:34 left in the second quarter when North Little Rock made its first big charge, scoring six straight before going into halftime down 27-25. The Lady Wildcats came out of the intermission with five points in the first 20 seconds of the third quarter. After forcing a turnover on the half’s opening possession, senior Sasha Giles hit a 15-foot jumper. Freshman Kyra Collier then got a steal and layup and was fouled.
Bentonville came back to take the lead again at 34-33, and that was the last time the Lady Tigers led in the game.
North Little Rock went on a 6-0 run before Bentonville scored to make it 39-36 with three minutes left in the third quarter, but it was never any closer the rest of the way.
With the score 41-38, sophomore Malica Monk scooped up a loose ball after a missed shot and scored. Junior Dajha Hardamon then got a steal and layup to make it 45-38 with 1:09 on the clock, and that’s how it stayed until the fourth quarter.
The Lady Wildcats missed two layups in the early going of the fourth, and Bentonville cut the lead to 45-40, but another quick five points, a three pointer by sophomore Halley Hill and two free throws by Hardamon, made it 50-40.
The Lady Tigers answered with a couple of 5-0 runs, but North Little Rock answered in kind each time. Bentonville scored five consecutive points on a three pointer and putback by center Julia Garrad, that made it 50-45 with 5:16 to play.
North Little Rock scored the next five points to again make it a 10-point game with 3:38 remaining. Bentonville scored the next five to make it 55-50 with 1:40 left, but that was its last gasp.
“We’re playing really, really fast right now,” Fimple said of his team. “Malica Monk, I swear sometimes it’s like having a double team on people when she’s guarding them. She is a holy terror out there. She scares me. In practice I worry about my kids when we’re really working on guarding them.”
Collier led North Little Rock with 18 points while Monk added 12. Monk also finished with six steals while Collier had four.
Bentonville’s two 6-foot-2 post players led the Lady Tigers. Garrad finished with 15 points while Jasmine Secrest had 12.
Leader sports editor
The Charging Lady Wild-cats pulled off the upset of the class 7A tournament in Thursday’s quarterfinals, knocking off No. 1 seed Bentonville 63-54 to advance to today’s semifinal against Fort Smith Northside.
The game pitted North Little Rock’s pressure defense against Bentonville’s dominant inside game, and the pressure won out. Bentonville struggled with the pressure early, but came back to take the lead by two points at halftime.
The continuous relentless pressure eventually wore down the 7A West champions and the Lady Wildcats assumed control of the game midway through the third quarter.
North Little Rock, the four seed from the Central conference, hasn’t been ranked all season and lost its season finale heading into state, but head coach Daryl Fimple still felt like his team would be one that would be a difficult out.
“We have been playing really well,” Fimple said. “We made some hard decisions – went younger. Sometimes when you do that the seniors don’t like it and it’ll fracture a team a little bit. But these seniors have bought into that and we’re just having a lot of fun. There’s no pressure on us whatsoever. This is the first year that we haven’t been the team that’s just fighting to stay alive.”
Bentonville led 26-19 with 1:34 left in the second quarter when North Little Rock made its first big charge, scoring six straight before going into halftime down 27-25. The Lady Wildcats came out of the intermission with five points in the first 20 seconds of the third quarter. After forcing a turnover on the half’s opening possession, senior Sasha Giles hit a 15-foot jumper. Freshman Kyra Collier then got a steal and layup and was fouled.
Bentonville came back to take the lead again at 34-33, and that was the last time the Lady Tigers led in the game.
North Little Rock went on a 6-0 run before Bentonville scored to make it 39-36 with three minutes left in the third quarter, but it was never any closer the rest of the way.
With the score 41-38, sophomore Malica Monk scooped up a loose ball after a missed shot and scored. Junior Dajha Hardamon then got a steal and layup to make it 45-38 with 1:09 on the clock, and that’s how it stayed until the fourth quarter.
The Lady Wildcats missed two layups in the early going of the fourth, and Bentonville cut the lead to 45-40, but another quick five points, a three pointer by sophomore Halley Hill and two free throws by Hardamon, made it 50-40.
The Lady Tigers answered with a couple of 5-0 runs, but North Little Rock answered in kind each time. Bentonville scored five consecutive points on a three pointer and putback by center Julia Garrad, that made it 50-45 with 5:16 to play.
North Little Rock scored the next five points to again make it a 10-point game with 3:38 remaining. Bentonville scored the next five to make it 55-50 with 1:40 left, but that was its last gasp.
“We’re playing really, really fast right now,” Fimple said of his team. “Malica Monk, I swear sometimes it’s like having a double team on people when she’s guarding them. She is a holy terror out there. She scares me. In practice I worry about my kids when we’re really working on guarding them.”
Collier led North Little Rock with 18 points while Monk added 12. Monk also finished with six steals while Collier had four.
Bentonville’s two 6-foot-2 post players led the Lady Tigers. Garrad finished with 15 points while Jasmine Secrest had 12.
SPORTS STORY >> Devils stick fork in Eagles
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils toyed with the Huntsville Eagles in the first round of the class 5A playoffs Tuesday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Jacksonville won 74-43 going with wholesale substitutions halfway through each quarter.
Huntsville actually outscored Jacksonville’s substitutes, but when the Red Devils starters were in the game, they outscored the Eagles 53-10.
“To me the first game is the hardest, so it was good to come out playing hard and making shots,” Jacksonville coach Victor Joyner said. “We’ve got much better teams coming up so we’re not going to put too much into this one.”
While Joyner was hesitant to heap praise on the starters’ stellar play, he wasn’t overly concerned with his bench’s lack of effectiveness either.
“That was wholesale substitutions there,” Joyner said. “We were 12 deep in the first half. That’s third string. We played everybody by halfway through the third quarter and we weren’t playing them with any starters. It’s going to get tougher the deeper we go. When we get to that point, we’ll sub player for player and not a whole lineup at a time.”
Jacksonville (22-4) scored the first 15 points of the game without team leader Justin McCleary taking a shot. The starters left the game with 3:30 remaining in the first quarter with a 15-2 lead. It was 20-7 by the end of the first.
With Jacksonville’s starters back in the game to start the second, Huntsville’s Logan McCullough hit a three to make it 20-10. Jacksonville’s Sergio Berkley answered with his own three pointer just 11 seconds later, a shot thats parked an 18-0 run that included a torrent of points by McCleary.
The senior point guard scored eight points in 34 seconds. Then after a defensive stop, drained a third-consecutive three pointer for 11 straight points and a 34-10 lead. Berkley got a transition layup after another Jacksonville steal, and Aaron Smith added two free throws with 4:26 left in the half to make it 38-10.
After another wholesale substitution by Joyner, Hunstville went on a 10-0 run to cut the margin to 38-20 with 1:12 left in the half. Khaleel Hart hit a nifty shot in the lane against Huntsville center Ricky Scott with 36 seconds remaining to set the halftime score at 40-20.
Huntsville (17-9) didn’t score a field goal against the Jacksonville starters in the third quarter, but the Red Devils were no longer as hot from the floor as they were at the beginning of the game. Hart, who started most of the season with 6-foot-7 senior Keith Charleston out with injury, played with the starters in the third quarter. He pulled down two rebounds and got two steals that created transition buckets while Jacksonville briefly struggled in its half-court game.
The Red Devils led 51-22 when the starters left the floor with 3:30 remaining in the third. That lead was trimmed to 55-32 by quarter’s end, mostly on the strength of Huntsville senior post player Garrett Weiland’s play. Weiland didn’t get on the floor in the first half, but finished the game with 12 points to lead the Eagles in scoring.
The starters took the floor one more time to start the fourth quarter and could only push the lead to 63-36 before being taken out with 4:13 left in the game.
The Jacksonville backups won the fourth quarter 11-8, enacting the mercy rule on two free throws by Hart with 1:39 remaining.
Smith led all scorers and three Red Devils in double figures with 18 points. He added five rebounds, four steals and three assists to his stat sheet as well. McCleary finished with 15, six assists and three steals while Berkley added 13 points.
Jacksonville had a 20-4 advantage in rebounding in the first half and finished the game with a 36-12 advantage. Jacksonville made 26 of 50 field goals in the game, but hit 14 of their first 18 shots, including their first five three pointers in a row. The Red Devils hit 7 of 10 three pointers in the first half and finished 9 for 15.
Jacksonville got 13 steals in forcing 22 Huntsville turnovers, while committing just six turnovers the entire game, four of which came in the second quarter.
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils toyed with the Huntsville Eagles in the first round of the class 5A playoffs Tuesday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Jacksonville won 74-43 going with wholesale substitutions halfway through each quarter.
Huntsville actually outscored Jacksonville’s substitutes, but when the Red Devils starters were in the game, they outscored the Eagles 53-10.
“To me the first game is the hardest, so it was good to come out playing hard and making shots,” Jacksonville coach Victor Joyner said. “We’ve got much better teams coming up so we’re not going to put too much into this one.”
While Joyner was hesitant to heap praise on the starters’ stellar play, he wasn’t overly concerned with his bench’s lack of effectiveness either.
“That was wholesale substitutions there,” Joyner said. “We were 12 deep in the first half. That’s third string. We played everybody by halfway through the third quarter and we weren’t playing them with any starters. It’s going to get tougher the deeper we go. When we get to that point, we’ll sub player for player and not a whole lineup at a time.”
Jacksonville (22-4) scored the first 15 points of the game without team leader Justin McCleary taking a shot. The starters left the game with 3:30 remaining in the first quarter with a 15-2 lead. It was 20-7 by the end of the first.
With Jacksonville’s starters back in the game to start the second, Huntsville’s Logan McCullough hit a three to make it 20-10. Jacksonville’s Sergio Berkley answered with his own three pointer just 11 seconds later, a shot thats parked an 18-0 run that included a torrent of points by McCleary.
The senior point guard scored eight points in 34 seconds. Then after a defensive stop, drained a third-consecutive three pointer for 11 straight points and a 34-10 lead. Berkley got a transition layup after another Jacksonville steal, and Aaron Smith added two free throws with 4:26 left in the half to make it 38-10.
After another wholesale substitution by Joyner, Hunstville went on a 10-0 run to cut the margin to 38-20 with 1:12 left in the half. Khaleel Hart hit a nifty shot in the lane against Huntsville center Ricky Scott with 36 seconds remaining to set the halftime score at 40-20.
Huntsville (17-9) didn’t score a field goal against the Jacksonville starters in the third quarter, but the Red Devils were no longer as hot from the floor as they were at the beginning of the game. Hart, who started most of the season with 6-foot-7 senior Keith Charleston out with injury, played with the starters in the third quarter. He pulled down two rebounds and got two steals that created transition buckets while Jacksonville briefly struggled in its half-court game.
The Red Devils led 51-22 when the starters left the floor with 3:30 remaining in the third. That lead was trimmed to 55-32 by quarter’s end, mostly on the strength of Huntsville senior post player Garrett Weiland’s play. Weiland didn’t get on the floor in the first half, but finished the game with 12 points to lead the Eagles in scoring.
The starters took the floor one more time to start the fourth quarter and could only push the lead to 63-36 before being taken out with 4:13 left in the game.
The Jacksonville backups won the fourth quarter 11-8, enacting the mercy rule on two free throws by Hart with 1:39 remaining.
Smith led all scorers and three Red Devils in double figures with 18 points. He added five rebounds, four steals and three assists to his stat sheet as well. McCleary finished with 15, six assists and three steals while Berkley added 13 points.
Jacksonville had a 20-4 advantage in rebounding in the first half and finished the game with a 36-12 advantage. Jacksonville made 26 of 50 field goals in the game, but hit 14 of their first 18 shots, including their first five three pointers in a row. The Red Devils hit 7 of 10 three pointers in the first half and finished 9 for 15.
Jacksonville got 13 steals in forcing 22 Huntsville turnovers, while committing just six turnovers the entire game, four of which came in the second quarter.
TOP STORY >> NTA: Schools will suffer
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
The National Teachers Association figures the cost of sequestration in Arkansas schools to be more than twice as great as the $11.5 million figure released by the White House and the state.
The White House figure is just for K-12 Title I funds and special-education funds, while the NEA’s $26 million figure includes 19 federal education funds ranging from infants, prekindergarten and Head Start to vocational and post secondary education programs.
The state, using White House figures, calculates that the automatic sequester of funds will cost Arkansas schools about $5.8 million in Title I funds to help educate low-income students and another $5.7 million in special education grants for the 2013-14 school year. The National Education Association says the total losses to K-12 education in the state will be about $7.9 million for the Title I programs and $10.7 million in all.
Then special education programs get hit for another $5.7 million K-12 and preschool grants. Grants for infants and families will lose another $475,000, making a total of $6.2 million less for programs covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
NEA’s estimated total of $26 million in cuts for Arkansas represents education programs at all levels, pre-K-12 plus post secondary, according to Tom Zembar, senior policy analyst for that teachers’ union.
ADULT PROGRAMS
The NEA’s list includes adult education and campus-based student-aid programs, such as federal work-study, among others, he said Friday.
Actually, the total will be higher than $26 million — that’s just for 19 federal education programs NEA chose to illustrate, he said.
Zembar said the White House also uses a slightly lower percentage cut than what NEA used. NEA’s percentage cuts are based on an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The OMB will determine the actual percentage cuts once sequestration goes into effect, he said.
Phyllis Stewart, chief of staff to state Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell, said this week she doesn’t anticipate any cuts going into effect before June 30, the end of the school year.
She said former Pinewood Elementary School principal Bobby E. Lester has been working with districts around the state trying to help prepare them for the sequester cuts, which will be about 5 percent across the board in federal education funds. Lester, son of former Pulaski County Special School District superintendent Bobby Lester, is the state director of federal programs.
CUTS NEXT YEAR
PCSSD Chief Financial Officer Bill Goff, like Stewart, says he doesn’t expect any cuts this school year, and says there’s nothing coming down the pike that the district can’t handle.
Assuming that the sequester took effect on all federal spending at midnight, about 180 Arkansas teachers could get pink slips before May 1, when school districts are required to inform teachers if they are not being rehired.
Other automatic cuts affecting education in the state are vocational-rehabilitation grants, $2.5 million; career- and technical-education grants, $636,000, and adult basic and literacy-education grants, $298,000.
Cuts to federal supplemental educational opportunity grants, work study grants and outreach programs that target students who would be the first to attend college in their families that amount to about $1.7 million for next school year.
Cuts to the Head Start program will be about $3.8 million, with 241 jobs lost.
That’s nearly half the jobs expected to be lost to the sequestration.
Leader senior staff writer
The National Teachers Association figures the cost of sequestration in Arkansas schools to be more than twice as great as the $11.5 million figure released by the White House and the state.
The White House figure is just for K-12 Title I funds and special-education funds, while the NEA’s $26 million figure includes 19 federal education funds ranging from infants, prekindergarten and Head Start to vocational and post secondary education programs.
The state, using White House figures, calculates that the automatic sequester of funds will cost Arkansas schools about $5.8 million in Title I funds to help educate low-income students and another $5.7 million in special education grants for the 2013-14 school year. The National Education Association says the total losses to K-12 education in the state will be about $7.9 million for the Title I programs and $10.7 million in all.
Then special education programs get hit for another $5.7 million K-12 and preschool grants. Grants for infants and families will lose another $475,000, making a total of $6.2 million less for programs covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
NEA’s estimated total of $26 million in cuts for Arkansas represents education programs at all levels, pre-K-12 plus post secondary, according to Tom Zembar, senior policy analyst for that teachers’ union.
ADULT PROGRAMS
The NEA’s list includes adult education and campus-based student-aid programs, such as federal work-study, among others, he said Friday.
Actually, the total will be higher than $26 million — that’s just for 19 federal education programs NEA chose to illustrate, he said.
Zembar said the White House also uses a slightly lower percentage cut than what NEA used. NEA’s percentage cuts are based on an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The OMB will determine the actual percentage cuts once sequestration goes into effect, he said.
Phyllis Stewart, chief of staff to state Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell, said this week she doesn’t anticipate any cuts going into effect before June 30, the end of the school year.
She said former Pinewood Elementary School principal Bobby E. Lester has been working with districts around the state trying to help prepare them for the sequester cuts, which will be about 5 percent across the board in federal education funds. Lester, son of former Pulaski County Special School District superintendent Bobby Lester, is the state director of federal programs.
CUTS NEXT YEAR
PCSSD Chief Financial Officer Bill Goff, like Stewart, says he doesn’t expect any cuts this school year, and says there’s nothing coming down the pike that the district can’t handle.
Assuming that the sequester took effect on all federal spending at midnight, about 180 Arkansas teachers could get pink slips before May 1, when school districts are required to inform teachers if they are not being rehired.
Other automatic cuts affecting education in the state are vocational-rehabilitation grants, $2.5 million; career- and technical-education grants, $636,000, and adult basic and literacy-education grants, $298,000.
Cuts to federal supplemental educational opportunity grants, work study grants and outreach programs that target students who would be the first to attend college in their families that amount to about $1.7 million for next school year.
Cuts to the Head Start program will be about $3.8 million, with 241 jobs lost.
That’s nearly half the jobs expected to be lost to the sequestration.
TOP STORY >> Police shoot former sheriff’s cow
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
A white cow owned by former Lonoke County Sheriff Jim Roberson was shot and killed in Cabot on Wednesday afternoon near the playground at Southside Elementary School after leading police on a chase through open fields, brush and a cemetery.
Roberson called Cabot police at 3:25 p.m. to ask for help with the cow that had gotten out of his trailer when he stopped at the intersection of Hwy. 321 and Hwy. 89. The trailer gate was apparently not secured properly.
Officer Cory Griffith and Sgt. David Thrush responded to Roberson’s call for assistance and eventually so did Cabot Animal Control.
According to the incident report that was required because shots were fired, Roberson told the police officers that they wouldn’t be able to get the cow back into the trailer and asked them to shoot it.
Lt. Brent Lucas, a police department spokesman, said someone on a horse had roped the cow but had been unable to hold it. Lucas said Roberson asked the officers to kill the cow because of the real concern that it might cause a wreck on the highway.
Griffith wrote in the incident report, “Officers attempted to keep the cow in the field behind Doublebee’s but were unable to do so. At this time the cow ran across the intersection of (Hwy.) 89 South and (Hwy.) 321 into the Mount Carmel Cemetery and back across (Hwy. 89 South) near West Lake Plumbing.
“Officers attempted to corral the animal beside West Lake Plumbing but were unable to do so and the animal ran across (89 South) back into Mount Carmel Cemetery. The cow then proceeded back across the intersection of (89 South) and (321) back into the field behind Doublebee’s.
The report continues, “Officers located the cow in the heavy brush between Doublebee’s and Faith Baptist Church. Mike (Wheeler) from Animal Control was able to flush the cow out into the open field where Sergeant Thrush fired one shot and hit the cow in the side. The cow didn’t go down and ran across the field, back across (89 South) across the parking lot of Mount Carmel Church and into Brentwood Subdivision.
“Officer Griffith drove over to Brentwood Subdivision where the cow was heading north back toward (321). Officer Griffith was able to get turned around and follow the cow west down (321) and back across (89 South).”
The report continues, “Officer Griffith followed the cow on to Southside Elementary where the cow stopped between the school and the fire station. Officer Griffith was able to keep the cow distracted until Sgt. Thrush arrived on scene. Officer Griffith and Sgt. Thrush each fired one round at this time, putting the animal down.”
In response to questions, Lucas said some children may have been at the school for after-school programs, but most had left for the day when the cow was shot. Someone took the cow for processing into meat, he said.
Leader staff writer
A white cow owned by former Lonoke County Sheriff Jim Roberson was shot and killed in Cabot on Wednesday afternoon near the playground at Southside Elementary School after leading police on a chase through open fields, brush and a cemetery.
Roberson called Cabot police at 3:25 p.m. to ask for help with the cow that had gotten out of his trailer when he stopped at the intersection of Hwy. 321 and Hwy. 89. The trailer gate was apparently not secured properly.
Officer Cory Griffith and Sgt. David Thrush responded to Roberson’s call for assistance and eventually so did Cabot Animal Control.
According to the incident report that was required because shots were fired, Roberson told the police officers that they wouldn’t be able to get the cow back into the trailer and asked them to shoot it.
Lt. Brent Lucas, a police department spokesman, said someone on a horse had roped the cow but had been unable to hold it. Lucas said Roberson asked the officers to kill the cow because of the real concern that it might cause a wreck on the highway.
Griffith wrote in the incident report, “Officers attempted to keep the cow in the field behind Doublebee’s but were unable to do so. At this time the cow ran across the intersection of (Hwy.) 89 South and (Hwy.) 321 into the Mount Carmel Cemetery and back across (Hwy. 89 South) near West Lake Plumbing.
“Officers attempted to corral the animal beside West Lake Plumbing but were unable to do so and the animal ran across (89 South) back into Mount Carmel Cemetery. The cow then proceeded back across the intersection of (89 South) and (321) back into the field behind Doublebee’s.
The report continues, “Officers located the cow in the heavy brush between Doublebee’s and Faith Baptist Church. Mike (Wheeler) from Animal Control was able to flush the cow out into the open field where Sergeant Thrush fired one shot and hit the cow in the side. The cow didn’t go down and ran across the field, back across (89 South) across the parking lot of Mount Carmel Church and into Brentwood Subdivision.
“Officer Griffith drove over to Brentwood Subdivision where the cow was heading north back toward (321). Officer Griffith was able to get turned around and follow the cow west down (321) and back across (89 South).”
The report continues, “Officer Griffith followed the cow on to Southside Elementary where the cow stopped between the school and the fire station. Officer Griffith was able to keep the cow distracted until Sgt. Thrush arrived on scene. Officer Griffith and Sgt. Thrush each fired one round at this time, putting the animal down.”
In response to questions, Lucas said some children may have been at the school for after-school programs, but most had left for the day when the cow was shot. Someone took the cow for processing into meat, he said.
TOP STORY >> Medicaid deal tied to tax cut
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Gov. Mike Beebe returned from Washington with permission to use Medicaid expansion money to help buy private coverage for the working poor through an exchange.
But there is some indication that Republicans, led by House Speaker Davy Carter (R-Cabot), want new concessions from Beebe.
In reports this week, Carter has not definitely linked capital gains tax cuts to expanding Medicaid, but he has consistently worked them into the same sentence.
Carter has said that small businesses will be paying for much of the Medicaid expansion, so they should get a tax break.
Republicans have opposed the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and the Medicaid expansion is part of that.
They asked Beebe to get clarification from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about whether or not there were options other than whole-hog Medicaid expansion.
WORKING POOR
“For months, I’ve worked to convince our lawmakers to accept federal money to insure about 250,000 of our citizens,” Beebe said Friday.
“Most of these Arkansans are the working poor, people who have jobs but don’t make enough to afford insurance premiums. Federal funds would pay for that insurance for three years, and eventually Arkansas would share 10 percent of the cost. This is an opportunity to help our people lead healthier, happier lives. Our hospitals would see reduced burdens for uncompensated care, expenditures that often end up costing all of us more,” Beebe said.
Sebelius told Beebe that “Arkansas could place as many of these newly insured clients into our health-insurance exchange as we wished. The federal government would still cover the costs for the first three years, but now these Arkansans could receive private insurance.”
Beebe said such flexibility allows the state to look at targeted co-pays and cost-sharing as part of potential new insurance policies.
“Nothing is certain yet, and a three-quarter supermajority of both the House and Senate is required for any additional insurance coverage to occur,” the governor said. “However, we are definitely making progress with this new option on the table.”
State Rep. Jim Nickels (D-Sherwood) said, “We will use Medicaid expansion to pay private premiums. Technically it’s not an expansion of Medicaid,” he said, but it means health coverage for the working poor, and that’s the important thing.”
Nickels said Carter has been more positive about the program since Beebe returned. “We should be able to take care of this issue during this session,” he said, because Gov. Beebe went to Washington and got everything the Repubicans were wanting.
“If (Republicans) will sign on to this, it will be a great solution,” Nickels said. “It may help the doctors and the hospitals, since they will have insurance covering their bills they may be able to collect more.”
Carter could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Leader senior staff writer
Gov. Mike Beebe returned from Washington with permission to use Medicaid expansion money to help buy private coverage for the working poor through an exchange.
But there is some indication that Republicans, led by House Speaker Davy Carter (R-Cabot), want new concessions from Beebe.
In reports this week, Carter has not definitely linked capital gains tax cuts to expanding Medicaid, but he has consistently worked them into the same sentence.
Carter has said that small businesses will be paying for much of the Medicaid expansion, so they should get a tax break.
Republicans have opposed the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and the Medicaid expansion is part of that.
They asked Beebe to get clarification from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about whether or not there were options other than whole-hog Medicaid expansion.
WORKING POOR
“For months, I’ve worked to convince our lawmakers to accept federal money to insure about 250,000 of our citizens,” Beebe said Friday.
“Most of these Arkansans are the working poor, people who have jobs but don’t make enough to afford insurance premiums. Federal funds would pay for that insurance for three years, and eventually Arkansas would share 10 percent of the cost. This is an opportunity to help our people lead healthier, happier lives. Our hospitals would see reduced burdens for uncompensated care, expenditures that often end up costing all of us more,” Beebe said.
Sebelius told Beebe that “Arkansas could place as many of these newly insured clients into our health-insurance exchange as we wished. The federal government would still cover the costs for the first three years, but now these Arkansans could receive private insurance.”
Beebe said such flexibility allows the state to look at targeted co-pays and cost-sharing as part of potential new insurance policies.
“Nothing is certain yet, and a three-quarter supermajority of both the House and Senate is required for any additional insurance coverage to occur,” the governor said. “However, we are definitely making progress with this new option on the table.”
State Rep. Jim Nickels (D-Sherwood) said, “We will use Medicaid expansion to pay private premiums. Technically it’s not an expansion of Medicaid,” he said, but it means health coverage for the working poor, and that’s the important thing.”
Nickels said Carter has been more positive about the program since Beebe returned. “We should be able to take care of this issue during this session,” he said, because Gov. Beebe went to Washington and got everything the Repubicans were wanting.
“If (Republicans) will sign on to this, it will be a great solution,” Nickels said. “It may help the doctors and the hospitals, since they will have insurance covering their bills they may be able to collect more.”
Carter could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
EDITORIAL >> We’ll feel Sequester
Sequestration may not affect everyone in Arkansas, but if Congress goes ahead with mandatory spending cuts amounting to $37 million in the state, many of us will start feeling the pain.
We’ll see the effects, especially at Little Rock Air Force Base and at other military installations around the state as the Pentagon’s budget is reduced $42.7 billion. Clinton National Airport will have fewer TSA security screeners this weekend.
As many as 4,000 civilians at Little Rock Air Force Base and at other military installations will have to forgo a day of pay every couple of weeks. That will save the government $19.2 million this year.
In addition, the air base will also lose $2 million in funding. Repairs on hangars are on hold and flying hours have been reduced.
Defense spending here will drop 2.4 percent, which could have been much worse. Arkansas will see a 6.2 percent reduction in federal grants, putting the state in the middle range of cuts across the country. Nonmilitary procurement, salaries and wages will fall 3.4 percent.
The military will take almost half the cuts, but education isn’t far behind with $20 million less for school districts. That figure includes a $5.9 million cut for elementary and secondary schools, including 80 teachers and aides. Education for children with disabilities would lose $5.6 million, and about the same number of teachers and aides for those programs.
Arkansas will lose $1.6 million in environmental funding for air and water quality and pollution control.
Cuts will also hit public health, including vaccines for children ($1.1 million), nutrition assistance for seniors ($310,000), law enforcement ($159,000 for justice assistance grants), job search assistance ($273,000) and several other programs.
Arkansas is one of the poor states that send less money to Washington than we get back. So every dollar we lose hits us hard.
Across the nation, security checkers will be furloughed and illegal immigrants freed for lack of money. Call it scare tactics by the Obama administration, but the cuts must come from somewhere if there’s no budget deal this week.
Law enforcement will get lower funding. Crime will go up. As we wrote here after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre, reviving Bill Clinton’s COPS program would reduce crime in our communities. The program wasn’t cheap — more than $1 billion a year, but it helped pay for more police officers and equipment in just about every town around here. They took a bite out of crime.
A dysfunctional Congress is unlikely to restore funds to the COPs program anytime soon, but the news is not all bleak: Gov. Mike Beebe said Tuesday he has negotiated a deal with the Obama adminsitration — the first in the nation — to include the working poor in an insurance exchange that will provide private health insurance through Medicaid.
This should satisfy opponents of Medicaid expansion in the state Legislature, who worry about funding the program, which will be 100 percent supported by the federal government for three years. States will have to fund 10 percent after that, but they can then opt out if they can’t afford it. At least nine Republican govenors have said they favor the expansion.
There’s no reason for Republicans in the Legislature to keep opposing a program that will give the state $1 billion over the next decade.
We’ll see the effects, especially at Little Rock Air Force Base and at other military installations around the state as the Pentagon’s budget is reduced $42.7 billion. Clinton National Airport will have fewer TSA security screeners this weekend.
As many as 4,000 civilians at Little Rock Air Force Base and at other military installations will have to forgo a day of pay every couple of weeks. That will save the government $19.2 million this year.
In addition, the air base will also lose $2 million in funding. Repairs on hangars are on hold and flying hours have been reduced.
Defense spending here will drop 2.4 percent, which could have been much worse. Arkansas will see a 6.2 percent reduction in federal grants, putting the state in the middle range of cuts across the country. Nonmilitary procurement, salaries and wages will fall 3.4 percent.
The military will take almost half the cuts, but education isn’t far behind with $20 million less for school districts. That figure includes a $5.9 million cut for elementary and secondary schools, including 80 teachers and aides. Education for children with disabilities would lose $5.6 million, and about the same number of teachers and aides for those programs.
Arkansas will lose $1.6 million in environmental funding for air and water quality and pollution control.
Cuts will also hit public health, including vaccines for children ($1.1 million), nutrition assistance for seniors ($310,000), law enforcement ($159,000 for justice assistance grants), job search assistance ($273,000) and several other programs.
Arkansas is one of the poor states that send less money to Washington than we get back. So every dollar we lose hits us hard.
Across the nation, security checkers will be furloughed and illegal immigrants freed for lack of money. Call it scare tactics by the Obama administration, but the cuts must come from somewhere if there’s no budget deal this week.
Law enforcement will get lower funding. Crime will go up. As we wrote here after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre, reviving Bill Clinton’s COPS program would reduce crime in our communities. The program wasn’t cheap — more than $1 billion a year, but it helped pay for more police officers and equipment in just about every town around here. They took a bite out of crime.
A dysfunctional Congress is unlikely to restore funds to the COPs program anytime soon, but the news is not all bleak: Gov. Mike Beebe said Tuesday he has negotiated a deal with the Obama adminsitration — the first in the nation — to include the working poor in an insurance exchange that will provide private health insurance through Medicaid.
This should satisfy opponents of Medicaid expansion in the state Legislature, who worry about funding the program, which will be 100 percent supported by the federal government for three years. States will have to fund 10 percent after that, but they can then opt out if they can’t afford it. At least nine Republican govenors have said they favor the expansion.
There’s no reason for Republicans in the Legislature to keep opposing a program that will give the state $1 billion over the next decade.
TOP STORY >> Job fair aims to help area vets
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Despite looming federal budget cuts, more than 100 job seekers and at least 40 employers at the Hiring Our Heroes job fair on Tuesday in Sherwood were optimistic.
Company representatives found themselves hiring qualified applicants right away or looking forward to vetting out an excellent selection of highly skilled active servicemen and veterans for a handful of openings.
Job seekers were pleased to find such a wide variety of opportunities and resources available to help them make the transition from military to civilian life.
Bobby Sherron, a senior master sergeant with the Air National Guard who is retiring after 31 years of military service, said, “It’s going good. This is what I hoped for, someone to point me in the right direction.”
He continued, “The challenge is applying for jobs, interviewing, putting yourself out there.” Sherron said he was also struggling with figuring out exactly what field to get into.
The veteran has been a maintenance professional for decades, but doesn’t think that kind of physically demanding work will suit his aging body.
Tech. Sgt. Tessiah Graen, who lives in Cabot and works at Little Rock Air Force Base, agreed.
She said, “It’s very interesting. It’s a lot of information. I’m a bit nervous because we’re so used to the military telling us what to do.”
Dale Clinton of Premier Staffing, an employment agency in Little Rock, told Sherron he could help.
Clinton said some servicemen and veterans are afraid the skills they learned from serving in the military won’t be of any use in the civilian job market.
But they’re wrong, he said. Clinton said jobs are out there for veterans and servicemen with solid work histories and work ethics who can convey those qualities in a conversation.
Clinton said a lot of people who talked with him weren’t sure how to transfer from military to civilian life. Clinton said, “With budget cuts, the military probably can’t help with the transition as much.”
Through Premier Staffing, Clinton said, “Employers can try before they buy and employees can too.” He said the employment agency could give job seekers “a foot in the door,” a glance at what it’s like to work for a company before they make a commitment. Employers also use them to find people who are a good fit for their business.
Jason Minyard of the National Guard’s 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team said, “I’m pretty excited. There are a lot of employers here, a lot of opportunities I wasn’t aware of.”
Many of the employers were sending the job seekers to online databases and websites where they could submit applications for available positions.
At least one said face-to-face interaction is still an important part of applying for a job.
Store manager Sandy Wilke of JoS.A.Bank, a national men’s clothing chain with locations in Little Rock, Texarkana and Jonesboro, said, “Everything is computer-based. Come meet me. That makes you stand out.”
Wilke also told one of the job seekers that she searches every applicant on Google and looks at Facebook pages. Halfway through Tuesday’s event, Wilke had filled one of six openings the company had. She said there were two more candidates who had potential.
Deborah Parsons of Arvest Bank said there were a couple of job seekers who would be a good fit. She hopes to hear from them soon.
Parsons said a lot of the people who approached her were seeking opportunities in the information technology field.
Jacquelyn King of the University of Phoenix said people approached her about educational opportunities and job openings. She said the school offers both.
King said 60 percent of employers in the next few years would require new hires to have four-year degrees.
Daniel Hoggard Sr. of Tyson Foods said the plant in Pine Bluff has openings for maintenance workers, line people and management.
He said the advantage of hiring people with military backgrounds is, “We don’t have to teach them leadership. We don’t have to teach them work ethic, dependability, about wanting to be on a winning team. We’ve been impressed with the caliber of people visiting with us today.”
Enduring Freedom veteran Travis Smith said, “I think (the job fair was) a good opportunity for people looking at getting their feet planted somewhere.”
Participating employers and other entities included several offices under the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services, Entergy, First Command Financial Services’ Squared Away, Walmart, Sherwood Police Department, Sprint, Caterpillar, Simmons First.
Also Edward Jones Investments, AT&T, AutoZone, Harrison Energy Partners, American Income Life Insurance, Hot Springs Police Department, Regions Bank, Cintas, the Double Tree by Hilton, Riggs CAT, Union Pacific, the Hughes Agency, Star Transport, Tyson Foods, Texas Department of Public Safety, Walgreens, Optus, Cardinal Health, Acxiom and Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies.
Leader staff writer
Despite looming federal budget cuts, more than 100 job seekers and at least 40 employers at the Hiring Our Heroes job fair on Tuesday in Sherwood were optimistic.
Company representatives found themselves hiring qualified applicants right away or looking forward to vetting out an excellent selection of highly skilled active servicemen and veterans for a handful of openings.
Job seekers were pleased to find such a wide variety of opportunities and resources available to help them make the transition from military to civilian life.
Bobby Sherron, a senior master sergeant with the Air National Guard who is retiring after 31 years of military service, said, “It’s going good. This is what I hoped for, someone to point me in the right direction.”
He continued, “The challenge is applying for jobs, interviewing, putting yourself out there.” Sherron said he was also struggling with figuring out exactly what field to get into.
The veteran has been a maintenance professional for decades, but doesn’t think that kind of physically demanding work will suit his aging body.
Tech. Sgt. Tessiah Graen, who lives in Cabot and works at Little Rock Air Force Base, agreed.
She said, “It’s very interesting. It’s a lot of information. I’m a bit nervous because we’re so used to the military telling us what to do.”
Dale Clinton of Premier Staffing, an employment agency in Little Rock, told Sherron he could help.
Clinton said some servicemen and veterans are afraid the skills they learned from serving in the military won’t be of any use in the civilian job market.
But they’re wrong, he said. Clinton said jobs are out there for veterans and servicemen with solid work histories and work ethics who can convey those qualities in a conversation.
Clinton said a lot of people who talked with him weren’t sure how to transfer from military to civilian life. Clinton said, “With budget cuts, the military probably can’t help with the transition as much.”
Through Premier Staffing, Clinton said, “Employers can try before they buy and employees can too.” He said the employment agency could give job seekers “a foot in the door,” a glance at what it’s like to work for a company before they make a commitment. Employers also use them to find people who are a good fit for their business.
Jason Minyard of the National Guard’s 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team said, “I’m pretty excited. There are a lot of employers here, a lot of opportunities I wasn’t aware of.”
Many of the employers were sending the job seekers to online databases and websites where they could submit applications for available positions.
At least one said face-to-face interaction is still an important part of applying for a job.
Store manager Sandy Wilke of JoS.A.Bank, a national men’s clothing chain with locations in Little Rock, Texarkana and Jonesboro, said, “Everything is computer-based. Come meet me. That makes you stand out.”
Wilke also told one of the job seekers that she searches every applicant on Google and looks at Facebook pages. Halfway through Tuesday’s event, Wilke had filled one of six openings the company had. She said there were two more candidates who had potential.
Deborah Parsons of Arvest Bank said there were a couple of job seekers who would be a good fit. She hopes to hear from them soon.
Parsons said a lot of the people who approached her were seeking opportunities in the information technology field.
Jacquelyn King of the University of Phoenix said people approached her about educational opportunities and job openings. She said the school offers both.
King said 60 percent of employers in the next few years would require new hires to have four-year degrees.
Daniel Hoggard Sr. of Tyson Foods said the plant in Pine Bluff has openings for maintenance workers, line people and management.
He said the advantage of hiring people with military backgrounds is, “We don’t have to teach them leadership. We don’t have to teach them work ethic, dependability, about wanting to be on a winning team. We’ve been impressed with the caliber of people visiting with us today.”
Enduring Freedom veteran Travis Smith said, “I think (the job fair was) a good opportunity for people looking at getting their feet planted somewhere.”
Participating employers and other entities included several offices under the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services, Entergy, First Command Financial Services’ Squared Away, Walmart, Sherwood Police Department, Sprint, Caterpillar, Simmons First.
Also Edward Jones Investments, AT&T, AutoZone, Harrison Energy Partners, American Income Life Insurance, Hot Springs Police Department, Regions Bank, Cintas, the Double Tree by Hilton, Riggs CAT, Union Pacific, the Hughes Agency, Star Transport, Tyson Foods, Texas Department of Public Safety, Walgreens, Optus, Cardinal Health, Acxiom and Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies.
TOP STORY >> LRAFB to be shorted by millions of dollars
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
If — as now widely assumed — Congress fails to cut the budget by $1 trillion before the Friday deadline, Little Rock Air Force Base will have to cut $2 million out of its base operations budget this year, according to base spokesman Arlo Taylor.
The widely discussed “sequestration” would trigger about $1.2 trillion worth of automatic, across the board cuts in the budget over the next decade, about half of that at the expense of the military. It appears that only a last-minute budget agreement in Congress can forestall these cuts.
“The cuts will be made by deferring repairs to two conversion hangars used for electron and mechanical work on C-130 cargo planes and a training facility,” Taylor said.
If sequestration is triggered, unpaid furloughs for civilian Defense Department employees will start in late April, according to Pentagon officials.
“The furlough policy also will affect the more than 600
Defense Department civilian employees at the base, but will not affect the contractor force, which makes up the bulk of the civilian work force here,” Taylor said.
Asked how sequestration would affect the mission of the wings on the base, Taylor said, “We cannot speculate on future mission or personnel actions.”
C-130 trainees could log fewer in-air training hours and spend more time in the base simulators.
Officials have said the base will probably have fewer old C-130s, but Sen. John Boozman said last week he hopes procurement of state-of-the-art C-130Js will continue as planned.
“In a difficult fiscal situation and economy, the Air Force along with (Department of Defense) and the nation have to make tough choices. Our approach has always been, and will continue to be, to act and operate in a fiscally responsible manner while maintaining a high level of readiness and excellence,” said Col. Brian Robinson, 19th Airlift Wing commander.
“Despite the challenges, our innovative airmen will continue to meet emerging challenges and ensure the security of the nation, but there may be significant limits to how much the wing can do within the bounds of acceptable risk and safety,” Robinson continued.
“Our foremost concern is the safety and welfare of our military and civilian airmen in getting our assigned missions done during this challenging time,” the colonel said.
The Air Force has “implemented prudent measures that will help mitigate budget risks, to ensure these measures are reversible and recoverable, and to the extent feasible, minimize any harmful effects on readiness,” according to a statement from Little Rock Air Force Base.
Throughout the Air Force, actions will include curtailing nonreadiness or mission essential flying and travel, curtailing or stopping minor purchases such as furniture and information technology refresh, deferring non-emergency facility maintenance, restoration and modernization, implementing civilian hiring freeze for all nonmission critical positions and releasing non-mission critical temporary and term employees at the end of their term, according to the statement.
These near term actions only achieve a small portion of the funding decrease required in the event of sequestration or a significant reduction, according to the statement.
Sequestration is expected to have immediate and negative impacts on Air Force readiness, specifically flying hours, maintenance, and manning, top brass said earlier this month in a media briefing.
Planning is under way for longer-term budgetary uncertainty.
In November, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told lawmakers that the sequestration would reduce Defense Department spending by nearly 20 percent during the next decade, leaving the nation with its smallest ground force since before World War II, the smallest Navy since before World War I, the smallest tactical fighter force in Air Force history and the smallest civilian workforce in the history of the Defense Department.
He warned it could result in canceling the Joint Strike Fighter and new bomber, delay the next generation of ballistic missile submarine and cuts to the submarine fleet, and eliminate modernization of helicopters and ground combat vehicles.
Leader senior staff writer
If — as now widely assumed — Congress fails to cut the budget by $1 trillion before the Friday deadline, Little Rock Air Force Base will have to cut $2 million out of its base operations budget this year, according to base spokesman Arlo Taylor.
The widely discussed “sequestration” would trigger about $1.2 trillion worth of automatic, across the board cuts in the budget over the next decade, about half of that at the expense of the military. It appears that only a last-minute budget agreement in Congress can forestall these cuts.
“The cuts will be made by deferring repairs to two conversion hangars used for electron and mechanical work on C-130 cargo planes and a training facility,” Taylor said.
If sequestration is triggered, unpaid furloughs for civilian Defense Department employees will start in late April, according to Pentagon officials.
“The furlough policy also will affect the more than 600
Defense Department civilian employees at the base, but will not affect the contractor force, which makes up the bulk of the civilian work force here,” Taylor said.
Asked how sequestration would affect the mission of the wings on the base, Taylor said, “We cannot speculate on future mission or personnel actions.”
C-130 trainees could log fewer in-air training hours and spend more time in the base simulators.
Officials have said the base will probably have fewer old C-130s, but Sen. John Boozman said last week he hopes procurement of state-of-the-art C-130Js will continue as planned.
“In a difficult fiscal situation and economy, the Air Force along with (Department of Defense) and the nation have to make tough choices. Our approach has always been, and will continue to be, to act and operate in a fiscally responsible manner while maintaining a high level of readiness and excellence,” said Col. Brian Robinson, 19th Airlift Wing commander.
“Despite the challenges, our innovative airmen will continue to meet emerging challenges and ensure the security of the nation, but there may be significant limits to how much the wing can do within the bounds of acceptable risk and safety,” Robinson continued.
“Our foremost concern is the safety and welfare of our military and civilian airmen in getting our assigned missions done during this challenging time,” the colonel said.
The Air Force has “implemented prudent measures that will help mitigate budget risks, to ensure these measures are reversible and recoverable, and to the extent feasible, minimize any harmful effects on readiness,” according to a statement from Little Rock Air Force Base.
Throughout the Air Force, actions will include curtailing nonreadiness or mission essential flying and travel, curtailing or stopping minor purchases such as furniture and information technology refresh, deferring non-emergency facility maintenance, restoration and modernization, implementing civilian hiring freeze for all nonmission critical positions and releasing non-mission critical temporary and term employees at the end of their term, according to the statement.
These near term actions only achieve a small portion of the funding decrease required in the event of sequestration or a significant reduction, according to the statement.
Sequestration is expected to have immediate and negative impacts on Air Force readiness, specifically flying hours, maintenance, and manning, top brass said earlier this month in a media briefing.
Planning is under way for longer-term budgetary uncertainty.
In November, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told lawmakers that the sequestration would reduce Defense Department spending by nearly 20 percent during the next decade, leaving the nation with its smallest ground force since before World War II, the smallest Navy since before World War I, the smallest tactical fighter force in Air Force history and the smallest civilian workforce in the history of the Defense Department.
He warned it could result in canceling the Joint Strike Fighter and new bomber, delay the next generation of ballistic missile submarine and cuts to the submarine fleet, and eliminate modernization of helicopters and ground combat vehicles.
TOP STORY >> Schools brace for deep cuts after impasse
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Former Pulaski County Special School District Superintendent Bobby Lester of Jacksonville, lured out of retirement and into the breech yet again, has been advising districts across the state how to prepare for anticipated funding cuts first surfaced during the fiscal cliff in January and now likely will kick in Friday.
“We don’t expect to have cuts this school year, which ends June 30,” according to Phyllis Stewart, chief of staff for state Education Department Commissioner Tom Kimbrell.
But differences in the federal fiscal year and the school fiscal year may cloud the issue.
Districts can carry over 15 percent of the Title I programs funds to offset some of the cuts, she said Tuesday.
The White House and Gov. Mike Beebe put the FY 2013 Arkansas cuts at about $11.5 million. But National Education Association figures, which include Head Start and numerous other programs, place that amount at about $26 million.
TOUGH CUTS
“Any cuts to education will be tough. We just want to help our school districts in planning so they can do the best they can with the funds that will be available to them,” said Stewart, formerly PCSSD’s assistant to the superintendent.
She said cuts will affect special-education funding, and the school improvement program.
“I don’t see a major impact hitting this district this year,” said PCSSD chief financial officer Bill Goff. “There’s not any federal money lined up for construction. It could affect Head Start,” he said.
Goff said no employees would be sent packing and no programs will be cut before the end of the school year.
IMPACT FEES DECLINE
Because federal lands are not subject to property taxes, and property taxes are important to financing school districts, the federal government pays in-lieu-of tax money known as impact fees.
Impact fees to the district have averaged about $250,000 in recent years, but those funds, while tracked, go undesignated into the operating fund. If that money is reduced by approximately 5 percent, the cut would be about $12,500.
“We don’t want to commit it to anything critical,” the chief financial officer said, and that includes personnel and programs.
The district receives about $5.7 million in Title I money intended for use in programs to help low-income students, such as aftercare and free or reduced lunches. The cut to those programs would amount to about $567,000, he said.
NO PROBLEM THIS YEAR
“While that’s a problem, its not a problem until the 2013-2014 school year, because the federal funds for this year are already committed.”
In its assessment, the NEA — a teachers’ union — said the cuts threatened elimination of after-school programs, decimation of programs for homeless students, English language learners, and high-poverty, struggling schools.
It said the cuts would result in the loss of tens of thousands of education jobs nationally — at early childhood, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels.
Stewart said, based on information released by the White House Sunday evening, the state could lose about $5.9 million for primary and secondary education and another $5.6 million for education for children with disabilities, with the possible loss of about 70 teachers and aides.
But that’s not all the expected cuts. The National Education Association, based on fiscal year 2012, calculates that overall in federal education programs, Arkansas could lose about $26 million in fiscal year 2013 funding, affecting about 55,000 students and resulting in about 500 jobs lost.
LARGEST CUTS
Among the largest dollar cuts:
$7.9 million to Title I funds would affect 13,900 students and could result in the loss of 95 jobs.
$5.727 million in special education grants to states, affecting 2,635 students with the potential loss of 69 jobs.
$3.85 million for Head Start Daycare, affecting 545 students with about 241 jobs lost.
$2.5 million in vocational rehabilitation grants, affecting 1,060 students with 24 jobs potentially lost.
$1.1 million in federal outreach and student services programs, affecting 1,160 students with the potential loss of 10 jobs.
$1.2 million in improving teacher quality grants — no direct affect on students, 14 potential jobs lost.
Among other cuts, those affecting most students:
Rural education, $242,000, 8,810 students.
Federal supplemental educational opportunity grants, $236,000, 7,430 students.
Federal work study $382,000, 5,060 students.
Adult basic literacy, $298,000, 1,740 students.
Career and technical education grants, $636,000, 6,760 students.
English language acquisition grants, $160,000, 1,530 students.
CABOT
“We have planned in advance for this since it was first brought to our attention last year. There would not be an immediate impact on the district that would cause any program or staff changes,” Cabot Superintendent Tony Thurman said.
“The long-term consequences would certainly not be positive. We would expect a significant cut to our federal programs funding. The amount that we would expect could not reasonably be covered by district operational funds. I would anticipate some changes may be necessary to those programs that are primarily or solely funded by federal funds,” Thurman said.
Thurman could not provide specifics on staffing and programs until the district started working through a preliminary budget.
The district receives $3,064,643 in federal funding.
Federal funds account for 2 percent of Cabot’s $172 million budget.
The district is allocated $1,062,448 in Title I funds to assist low-income students who are not performing at their grade level for all grade levels, $217,310 in Title II funds for professional development, $14,546 in Title III funding for English as a second language students and $1,770,338 in Title VI-B for special education.
Cabot also receives impact-aid funds based on the number of military family students, special education children in military families and children of civilian parents working on base.
BEEBE
“We have cut back on spending in case we are cut. We will be prepared,” Beebe Superintendent Belinda Shook said.
Will Beebe schools experience immediate cuts to school programs or employee layoffs if sequester happens?
“No, we planned for it when we budgeted. If they don’t pass it, we will have extra money to spend. However, it will mean about an estimated $60,000 to $70,000. It will mean less money and possible cuts, for sure next year,” Shook said.
Federal funding accounts for 5 percent of the Beebe School District’s $26.4 million budget.
This year the district was allocated $624,000 in Title I funding to assist low-income students who are not performing at their grade level. Beebe has a carryover of $95,000 from last year making the total budget for Title I funds $719,000.
The district cut Title I spending by 50 percent in preparation for possible federal budget cuts.
Beebe focuses Title I spending on pre-K through fourth grade to reach students having difficulties before advancing to upper grade levels. The funds are used to employ more teachers and staff, salaries, additional professional development, training and instruction, tutoring, parental involvement and to purchase new equipment and technology.
Title II funds are used for professional development and training. Beebe was allocated $112,312 this year.
Title VI-A funds are used by Beebe district as Title I funds for literacy coaches and materials. The district was allocated $62,808.
The Beebe district receives Title VI-B funds for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which sends money to special education students. The district received $593,929.
Leader staff writer Jeffrey Smith contributed to this report.
Leader senior staff writer
Former Pulaski County Special School District Superintendent Bobby Lester of Jacksonville, lured out of retirement and into the breech yet again, has been advising districts across the state how to prepare for anticipated funding cuts first surfaced during the fiscal cliff in January and now likely will kick in Friday.
“We don’t expect to have cuts this school year, which ends June 30,” according to Phyllis Stewart, chief of staff for state Education Department Commissioner Tom Kimbrell.
But differences in the federal fiscal year and the school fiscal year may cloud the issue.
Districts can carry over 15 percent of the Title I programs funds to offset some of the cuts, she said Tuesday.
The White House and Gov. Mike Beebe put the FY 2013 Arkansas cuts at about $11.5 million. But National Education Association figures, which include Head Start and numerous other programs, place that amount at about $26 million.
TOUGH CUTS
“Any cuts to education will be tough. We just want to help our school districts in planning so they can do the best they can with the funds that will be available to them,” said Stewart, formerly PCSSD’s assistant to the superintendent.
She said cuts will affect special-education funding, and the school improvement program.
“I don’t see a major impact hitting this district this year,” said PCSSD chief financial officer Bill Goff. “There’s not any federal money lined up for construction. It could affect Head Start,” he said.
Goff said no employees would be sent packing and no programs will be cut before the end of the school year.
IMPACT FEES DECLINE
Because federal lands are not subject to property taxes, and property taxes are important to financing school districts, the federal government pays in-lieu-of tax money known as impact fees.
Impact fees to the district have averaged about $250,000 in recent years, but those funds, while tracked, go undesignated into the operating fund. If that money is reduced by approximately 5 percent, the cut would be about $12,500.
“We don’t want to commit it to anything critical,” the chief financial officer said, and that includes personnel and programs.
The district receives about $5.7 million in Title I money intended for use in programs to help low-income students, such as aftercare and free or reduced lunches. The cut to those programs would amount to about $567,000, he said.
NO PROBLEM THIS YEAR
“While that’s a problem, its not a problem until the 2013-2014 school year, because the federal funds for this year are already committed.”
In its assessment, the NEA — a teachers’ union — said the cuts threatened elimination of after-school programs, decimation of programs for homeless students, English language learners, and high-poverty, struggling schools.
It said the cuts would result in the loss of tens of thousands of education jobs nationally — at early childhood, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels.
Stewart said, based on information released by the White House Sunday evening, the state could lose about $5.9 million for primary and secondary education and another $5.6 million for education for children with disabilities, with the possible loss of about 70 teachers and aides.
But that’s not all the expected cuts. The National Education Association, based on fiscal year 2012, calculates that overall in federal education programs, Arkansas could lose about $26 million in fiscal year 2013 funding, affecting about 55,000 students and resulting in about 500 jobs lost.
LARGEST CUTS
Among the largest dollar cuts:
$7.9 million to Title I funds would affect 13,900 students and could result in the loss of 95 jobs.
$5.727 million in special education grants to states, affecting 2,635 students with the potential loss of 69 jobs.
$3.85 million for Head Start Daycare, affecting 545 students with about 241 jobs lost.
$2.5 million in vocational rehabilitation grants, affecting 1,060 students with 24 jobs potentially lost.
$1.1 million in federal outreach and student services programs, affecting 1,160 students with the potential loss of 10 jobs.
$1.2 million in improving teacher quality grants — no direct affect on students, 14 potential jobs lost.
Among other cuts, those affecting most students:
Rural education, $242,000, 8,810 students.
Federal supplemental educational opportunity grants, $236,000, 7,430 students.
Federal work study $382,000, 5,060 students.
Adult basic literacy, $298,000, 1,740 students.
Career and technical education grants, $636,000, 6,760 students.
English language acquisition grants, $160,000, 1,530 students.
CABOT
“We have planned in advance for this since it was first brought to our attention last year. There would not be an immediate impact on the district that would cause any program or staff changes,” Cabot Superintendent Tony Thurman said.
“The long-term consequences would certainly not be positive. We would expect a significant cut to our federal programs funding. The amount that we would expect could not reasonably be covered by district operational funds. I would anticipate some changes may be necessary to those programs that are primarily or solely funded by federal funds,” Thurman said.
Thurman could not provide specifics on staffing and programs until the district started working through a preliminary budget.
The district receives $3,064,643 in federal funding.
Federal funds account for 2 percent of Cabot’s $172 million budget.
The district is allocated $1,062,448 in Title I funds to assist low-income students who are not performing at their grade level for all grade levels, $217,310 in Title II funds for professional development, $14,546 in Title III funding for English as a second language students and $1,770,338 in Title VI-B for special education.
Cabot also receives impact-aid funds based on the number of military family students, special education children in military families and children of civilian parents working on base.
BEEBE
“We have cut back on spending in case we are cut. We will be prepared,” Beebe Superintendent Belinda Shook said.
Will Beebe schools experience immediate cuts to school programs or employee layoffs if sequester happens?
“No, we planned for it when we budgeted. If they don’t pass it, we will have extra money to spend. However, it will mean about an estimated $60,000 to $70,000. It will mean less money and possible cuts, for sure next year,” Shook said.
Federal funding accounts for 5 percent of the Beebe School District’s $26.4 million budget.
This year the district was allocated $624,000 in Title I funding to assist low-income students who are not performing at their grade level. Beebe has a carryover of $95,000 from last year making the total budget for Title I funds $719,000.
The district cut Title I spending by 50 percent in preparation for possible federal budget cuts.
Beebe focuses Title I spending on pre-K through fourth grade to reach students having difficulties before advancing to upper grade levels. The funds are used to employ more teachers and staff, salaries, additional professional development, training and instruction, tutoring, parental involvement and to purchase new equipment and technology.
Title II funds are used for professional development and training. Beebe was allocated $112,312 this year.
Title VI-A funds are used by Beebe district as Title I funds for literacy coaches and materials. The district was allocated $62,808.
The Beebe district receives Title VI-B funds for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which sends money to special education students. The district received $593,929.
Leader staff writer Jeffrey Smith contributed to this report.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
SPORTS STORY >> Beebe boys outlast Chapel in overtime
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
PINE BLUFF – It took two overtimes to get it done, but Beebe eventually got past Watson Chapel 53-50 in the opening round of the class 5A state basketball tournament at the Pine Bluff Convention Center on Tuesday.
Beebe led 26-20 at halftime, but managed just 14 points in the 20-minute span of the third and fourth periods and the first overtime. The Badgers finally found their offense in the second overtime by starting with an 8-0 run and scoring 13 points in the four-minute span.
The Badgers (21-6, No. 1 East) enjoyed a flowing offense early on, but halftime adjustments by the Wildcats (13-13, No. 4 South) made it a defensive struggle from the third quarter until the second overtime, when two quick baskets by Beebe finally sealed it.
“Chapel played harder than we did in spurts,” Beebe coach Ryan Marshall said. “I thought our depth hurt us, but they played harder. We made some bad decisions and had a couple of kids who just didn’t show up and play.”
Momentum was up for grabs from the 6:06 mark of the fourth quarter until the start of second overtime, when senior forward Austin Burroughs scored on a putback of his own miss to give the Badgers a 42-40 lead.
Junior point guard Tanner Chapman followed with a basket and a chance for a three-point play with 2:14 left to play, but missed his free-throw attempt.
Chapman re-turned to the line seconds later and hit the front end of a one-and-one free throw, and a basket and free throw by junior post player Zach Baker with 1:38 remaining gave the Badgers their first comfortable cushion since early in the third quarter at 48-40.
Baker finished with nine points, with few other looks due to a defensive scheme by the Wildcats that focused on taking him out of the mix.
“I thought early he was actually good, but the second quarter on, they did take him out of it,” Marshall said.
“I thought he took himself out of the mix more than anything – very disappointed in how he played. And then I think Austin got fatigued, his shots started coming up a little bit short,” he added.
“We got up 10 a couple of times, eight a couple of times and couldn’t finish them off, and that’s because of them,” Marshall said.
With the victory, the Badgers move on to the second round of the tourney where they will face the winner of today’s first-round game between West No. 2 seed Harrison and Central No. 3 seed Pulaski Academy. Tipoff for the second-round game will be at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow night.
Though the Badgers eventually earned the win, Marshall was visibly and vocally upset with his squad immediately following the game.
“I think with the anxiety for the game, I thought we got a little tired,” Marshall said. “And they’re extremely athletic. They were beating us to spots. I felt like they outhustled us for a big stretch of the ballgame.”
Beebe shot 44 percent for the game at 18 of 41 while the Wildcats were 41 percent at 19 of 46.
Burroughs led the Badgers with 20 points while Chapman added 13 points.
For Watson Chapel, Tevin Brown and Benjamin Marcus led the way with 12 points each while Jalen Courtney added 11 points for the Wildcats.
Leader sportswriter
PINE BLUFF – It took two overtimes to get it done, but Beebe eventually got past Watson Chapel 53-50 in the opening round of the class 5A state basketball tournament at the Pine Bluff Convention Center on Tuesday.
Beebe led 26-20 at halftime, but managed just 14 points in the 20-minute span of the third and fourth periods and the first overtime. The Badgers finally found their offense in the second overtime by starting with an 8-0 run and scoring 13 points in the four-minute span.
The Badgers (21-6, No. 1 East) enjoyed a flowing offense early on, but halftime adjustments by the Wildcats (13-13, No. 4 South) made it a defensive struggle from the third quarter until the second overtime, when two quick baskets by Beebe finally sealed it.
“Chapel played harder than we did in spurts,” Beebe coach Ryan Marshall said. “I thought our depth hurt us, but they played harder. We made some bad decisions and had a couple of kids who just didn’t show up and play.”
Momentum was up for grabs from the 6:06 mark of the fourth quarter until the start of second overtime, when senior forward Austin Burroughs scored on a putback of his own miss to give the Badgers a 42-40 lead.
Junior point guard Tanner Chapman followed with a basket and a chance for a three-point play with 2:14 left to play, but missed his free-throw attempt.
Chapman re-turned to the line seconds later and hit the front end of a one-and-one free throw, and a basket and free throw by junior post player Zach Baker with 1:38 remaining gave the Badgers their first comfortable cushion since early in the third quarter at 48-40.
Baker finished with nine points, with few other looks due to a defensive scheme by the Wildcats that focused on taking him out of the mix.
“I thought early he was actually good, but the second quarter on, they did take him out of it,” Marshall said.
“I thought he took himself out of the mix more than anything – very disappointed in how he played. And then I think Austin got fatigued, his shots started coming up a little bit short,” he added.
“We got up 10 a couple of times, eight a couple of times and couldn’t finish them off, and that’s because of them,” Marshall said.
With the victory, the Badgers move on to the second round of the tourney where they will face the winner of today’s first-round game between West No. 2 seed Harrison and Central No. 3 seed Pulaski Academy. Tipoff for the second-round game will be at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow night.
Though the Badgers eventually earned the win, Marshall was visibly and vocally upset with his squad immediately following the game.
“I think with the anxiety for the game, I thought we got a little tired,” Marshall said. “And they’re extremely athletic. They were beating us to spots. I felt like they outhustled us for a big stretch of the ballgame.”
Beebe shot 44 percent for the game at 18 of 41 while the Wildcats were 41 percent at 19 of 46.
Burroughs led the Badgers with 20 points while Chapman added 13 points.
For Watson Chapel, Tevin Brown and Benjamin Marcus led the way with 12 points each while Jalen Courtney added 11 points for the Wildcats.
SPORTS STORY >> Jacksonville starting youngsters
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils’ baseball team has the large task of replacing an NCAA Division I pitcher and a fourth-round Major League Baseball draft pick from last season, and it has to do it with a very young team.
Though the team is young, it isn’t inexperienced. At least six sophomores will start on a regular basis, and four of them were full-time starters last year as freshmen.
“We’re young but everybody we’re going to put out there played some last year and they all played summer ball,” Jacksonville coach Larry Burrows said. “I think they’ve all improved. We’ll know how much once the season gets into swing, but I like this team. We’re going to struggle some but we’re going to scrap and compete. They work hard.”
Sophomores James Tucker and Derek St. Clair are the top two pitchers in the starting rotation. St. Clair became the No. 2 starter behind current UALR pitcher Jesse Harbin last season, but Tucker also got lots of time on the mound in key games. Tucker first caused people to take notice of his potential when he threw a seven-inning two hitter and got the win against 5A-Southeast champion and perennial powerhouse Sylvan Hills last season.
“Those are our two best and that’s what we’re going with,” Burrows said. “In conference, St. Clair will probably be No. 1 and Tuck No. 2. They’ve both improved. There usually is some improvement at that age. Tucker’s velocity has increased some but he’s still going to have to hit his spots and do the things he did last year to be successful.”
Sophomore Kaleb Reeves and junior Blake Perry will also see time on the mound, as well as freshman Brandon Hickingbotham.
“Perry’s going to get a lot of time on the mound and we’re going to need him,” Burrows said. “Where we’re going to be hurting this year is depth. Brandon can play, but he’s been in basketball and is a little behind right now. As a ninth grader coming in, it might be a little overwhelming for him to start.”
Reeves and Perry will also share time at third base. Across the diamond at first base will be David Williams, the team’s only senior starter.
Returning behind the plate is sophomore Greg Jones, who caught every conference game last season.
“Greg is definitely improved from last year,” Burrows said. “He was a lot better at the end of the year last year than at the beginning, and he’s continued to get better. So that’s going to help.”
Sophomore Courtland McDonald moves from right field where he started as a freshman last season, to centerfield to replace Cleveland Indians’ draft pick D’Vone McClure. McDonald struggled at the plate last year, but Burrows expects that to be better this season.
“We expect is average to be up this year,” Burrows said. “McClure only hit .242 as a ninth grader. It’s hard when you’re used to playing kids your own age to step right into varsity as a ninth grader. All of a sudden you’re 14 or 15 stepping in there against a lot of 18-year olds.”
Sophomore Justin Abbott will take over at right field. Abbott wasn’t an every-day starter last season, but did log quality innings. The same can be said of second baseman Ryan Mallison, who Burrows said is the team’s most improved player.
“He had a really good fall,” Burrows said of Mallison, also a sophomore. “He’s improved more than anybody we have from last year. He’s still small, but he’s grown a little. He’s a little stronger and his footwork is a lot better. He’s far exceeded where I thought he’d be right now.”
D.J. Scott will get the start in left field, with Laderrious Perry also vying for the position. Both are also sophomores.
“Defense is why D.J. gets that start,” Burrows said. “A couple years ago you started guys for offense, but with the new bats, defense wins out.”
Jacksonville’s first game was scheduled for yesterday at Burns Park against Central Arkansas Christian, but that game was canceled. They are scheduled to play at Cabot on Thursday.
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils’ baseball team has the large task of replacing an NCAA Division I pitcher and a fourth-round Major League Baseball draft pick from last season, and it has to do it with a very young team.
Though the team is young, it isn’t inexperienced. At least six sophomores will start on a regular basis, and four of them were full-time starters last year as freshmen.
“We’re young but everybody we’re going to put out there played some last year and they all played summer ball,” Jacksonville coach Larry Burrows said. “I think they’ve all improved. We’ll know how much once the season gets into swing, but I like this team. We’re going to struggle some but we’re going to scrap and compete. They work hard.”
Sophomores James Tucker and Derek St. Clair are the top two pitchers in the starting rotation. St. Clair became the No. 2 starter behind current UALR pitcher Jesse Harbin last season, but Tucker also got lots of time on the mound in key games. Tucker first caused people to take notice of his potential when he threw a seven-inning two hitter and got the win against 5A-Southeast champion and perennial powerhouse Sylvan Hills last season.
“Those are our two best and that’s what we’re going with,” Burrows said. “In conference, St. Clair will probably be No. 1 and Tuck No. 2. They’ve both improved. There usually is some improvement at that age. Tucker’s velocity has increased some but he’s still going to have to hit his spots and do the things he did last year to be successful.”
Sophomore Kaleb Reeves and junior Blake Perry will also see time on the mound, as well as freshman Brandon Hickingbotham.
“Perry’s going to get a lot of time on the mound and we’re going to need him,” Burrows said. “Where we’re going to be hurting this year is depth. Brandon can play, but he’s been in basketball and is a little behind right now. As a ninth grader coming in, it might be a little overwhelming for him to start.”
Reeves and Perry will also share time at third base. Across the diamond at first base will be David Williams, the team’s only senior starter.
Returning behind the plate is sophomore Greg Jones, who caught every conference game last season.
“Greg is definitely improved from last year,” Burrows said. “He was a lot better at the end of the year last year than at the beginning, and he’s continued to get better. So that’s going to help.”
Sophomore Courtland McDonald moves from right field where he started as a freshman last season, to centerfield to replace Cleveland Indians’ draft pick D’Vone McClure. McDonald struggled at the plate last year, but Burrows expects that to be better this season.
“We expect is average to be up this year,” Burrows said. “McClure only hit .242 as a ninth grader. It’s hard when you’re used to playing kids your own age to step right into varsity as a ninth grader. All of a sudden you’re 14 or 15 stepping in there against a lot of 18-year olds.”
Sophomore Justin Abbott will take over at right field. Abbott wasn’t an every-day starter last season, but did log quality innings. The same can be said of second baseman Ryan Mallison, who Burrows said is the team’s most improved player.
“He had a really good fall,” Burrows said of Mallison, also a sophomore. “He’s improved more than anybody we have from last year. He’s still small, but he’s grown a little. He’s a little stronger and his footwork is a lot better. He’s far exceeded where I thought he’d be right now.”
D.J. Scott will get the start in left field, with Laderrious Perry also vying for the position. Both are also sophomores.
“Defense is why D.J. gets that start,” Burrows said. “A couple years ago you started guys for offense, but with the new bats, defense wins out.”
Jacksonville’s first game was scheduled for yesterday at Burns Park against Central Arkansas Christian, but that game was canceled. They are scheduled to play at Cabot on Thursday.
SPORTS STORY >> Badgers earn two titles at 5A state wrestling
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
It was a successful weekend for the Beebe wrestling team as the Badgers came away with two individual state titles, one runner-up finish as part of an overall team runner-up performance in the 1A-5A state wrestling finals at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday.
Sophomore Aaron Nunez and senior Jared Presley each captured state championships in their division, as Nunez won the 145-pound division and Presley took first in the 170-pound weight group. Senior Brody Welcher also made it to the finals in the 220-pound division, but fell to CAC’s Jason Kidder in the championship match.
Overall, Beebe placed eight medalists in the final day, and finished second in team points with 195.5 to team winner Maumelle, which had 288.5 points. CAC finished third overall in front of Little Rock Christian and Bismark.
Freshman Destiny Nunez was one of few female entries, and finished fourth in the 106-pound division for Beebe’s first medal of the night, followed by another fourth-place performance by Micah Dubose in the 120-pound class. Matthew Whitaker was fifth in the 132 class and Alex Warner was fifth in the 182 class. Christopher Gilly-McNair also earned a medal for Beebe with a fifth-place performance in the 195-pound weight group.
Nunez was the first of the individual state-title contenders for Beebe with a match against Maumelle’s Willie Wright. It didn’t take long for the sophomore, who is also starting quarterback on the Badger football team, to claim victory as he pinned Wright 1:29 into the first round.
The title bout between Nunez and Wright also served as a rubber match for the grapplers.
“We’ve faced off before, I won the first one, he won the second one,” Nunez said. “I just went down and started warming up, put my headphones on. I knew I had to get my mind right before I went down there, and that’s what I did. From the start, I knew it was my game.”
In an age where most kids try to specialize in one sport or another, Nunez slimmed his list of athletic endeavors down to three sports this year as opposed to the four he pursued as a freshman, dropping basketball to focus more on wrestling.
Nunez will now be off to the baseball diamond throughout the spring and summer before football comes back around in the fall. Nunez finished wrestling with a stellar 29-3 record.
Presley did not have it quite as easy in his title match against Little Rock Christian’s Ben Thompson in the 170 class. Presley fell behind 2-0 early when Thompson scored on a takedown, but Presley fought back and scored on a pair of takedowns to go ahead 4-2 at the end of the first round. He went up as much as 6-3 in the second period before Thompson closed the gap again with a reversal, but Presley dominated the final round and took the decision 9-5, closing with a snake move.
“Coach has always told us that we have to outwork and outhustle,” Presley said. “He kept working, but you could tell he was tiring out. I just came back and put him in a spot he wasn’t used to.”
For Presley, who has also been a starter in football at Beebe for the past three years, his success in sports did not come easy.
“It took a lot of hard work and dedication,” Presley said. “Because I was not a top athlete, I always had to work to be where I wanted to be at.”
Leader sportswriter
It was a successful weekend for the Beebe wrestling team as the Badgers came away with two individual state titles, one runner-up finish as part of an overall team runner-up performance in the 1A-5A state wrestling finals at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday.
Sophomore Aaron Nunez and senior Jared Presley each captured state championships in their division, as Nunez won the 145-pound division and Presley took first in the 170-pound weight group. Senior Brody Welcher also made it to the finals in the 220-pound division, but fell to CAC’s Jason Kidder in the championship match.
Overall, Beebe placed eight medalists in the final day, and finished second in team points with 195.5 to team winner Maumelle, which had 288.5 points. CAC finished third overall in front of Little Rock Christian and Bismark.
Freshman Destiny Nunez was one of few female entries, and finished fourth in the 106-pound division for Beebe’s first medal of the night, followed by another fourth-place performance by Micah Dubose in the 120-pound class. Matthew Whitaker was fifth in the 132 class and Alex Warner was fifth in the 182 class. Christopher Gilly-McNair also earned a medal for Beebe with a fifth-place performance in the 195-pound weight group.
Nunez was the first of the individual state-title contenders for Beebe with a match against Maumelle’s Willie Wright. It didn’t take long for the sophomore, who is also starting quarterback on the Badger football team, to claim victory as he pinned Wright 1:29 into the first round.
The title bout between Nunez and Wright also served as a rubber match for the grapplers.
“We’ve faced off before, I won the first one, he won the second one,” Nunez said. “I just went down and started warming up, put my headphones on. I knew I had to get my mind right before I went down there, and that’s what I did. From the start, I knew it was my game.”
In an age where most kids try to specialize in one sport or another, Nunez slimmed his list of athletic endeavors down to three sports this year as opposed to the four he pursued as a freshman, dropping basketball to focus more on wrestling.
Nunez will now be off to the baseball diamond throughout the spring and summer before football comes back around in the fall. Nunez finished wrestling with a stellar 29-3 record.
Presley did not have it quite as easy in his title match against Little Rock Christian’s Ben Thompson in the 170 class. Presley fell behind 2-0 early when Thompson scored on a takedown, but Presley fought back and scored on a pair of takedowns to go ahead 4-2 at the end of the first round. He went up as much as 6-3 in the second period before Thompson closed the gap again with a reversal, but Presley dominated the final round and took the decision 9-5, closing with a snake move.
“Coach has always told us that we have to outwork and outhustle,” Presley said. “He kept working, but you could tell he was tiring out. I just came back and put him in a spot he wasn’t used to.”
For Presley, who has also been a starter in football at Beebe for the past three years, his success in sports did not come easy.
“It took a lot of hard work and dedication,” Presley said. “Because I was not a top athlete, I always had to work to be where I wanted to be at.”
SPORTS STORY >> Panther makes history
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Cabot senior Tyler Kurz may be a young man of few words, but his high-school wrestling legacy could fill volumes.
Kurz became the first four-time state champion in the brief five-year history of Arkansas high-school wrestling when he defeated Edwin Santos of Rogers High School in the 7A/6A 182-pound division late Saturday in the state wrestling finals at the Jack Stephens Center on the campus of UALR in Little Rock.
Kurz made the leap from the 145-pound class, where he won his third state championship as a junior, to the 182 group, finishing with a season record of 18-1, with his only loss coming to Santos in an earlier meeting.
Kurz was one of three finalists for the Panther wrestling team, and one of seven medalists. Austin Dye was the other state-championship winner for Cabot in the 106-pound division as he took down Catholic’s Connor Perkins in overtime.
Kurz’s accomplishment of four consecutive state championships is unprecedented in Arkansas high-school wrestling, but after months of rigorous training that included a strict diet, he was not able to focus on the magnitude of his feat following his championship bout.
“Pretty much, I just went out there to attack,” Kurz said. “I got kind of worn down. I’m just glad I got it done. I can go home and eat now.”
Kurz was the immediate aggressor against Santos and scored four points on a pair of early takedowns, and was ahead 5-0 at the end of the first round. The second round proved uneventful for the most part as Kurz led 6-0, but the final round made up for it. Santos pulled to within 7-4 on two takedowns, but Kurz answered to win 10-6.
“It’s exhilarating,” Kurz said. “It’s a legacy everyone can chase after. First period, I just kind of stuck to what I knew he was going to do. Towards the end, I got a little tired, got off track. I just had to push through it.”
Dye’s final bout was even closer, as he and Perkins ended the third round tied 2-2. The extra round appeared to be just as close until Dye, a freshman, scored on a takedown with 25 seconds remaining to claim a state title in his fifth year of wrestling.
Senior Kyle Wheeler came close to clinching a state championship in the 152-pound division, as he led Nick Mulcahy of Rogers until the final seconds of regulation. Mulcahy tied it at 1-1 just as time expired, and pulled off another late move in overtime to win 3-2, relegating Wheeler to his second-consecutive runner-up finish.
As a team, Cabot finished fourth overall with 161 points. Bentonville won the overall title with 254 points with Catholic second and Rogers third.
Other medalists for Cabot included Hayden Mills, who finished sixth in the 113-pound division, Erik Cooley, who was fourth in the 132-pound division, Bryce Mitchell, who took fourth place in the 145-pound division and Seth Roberts, sixth in the 160-pound class.
“Tyler works hard every day, and it shows when he comes out here to wrestle,” Cabot wrestling coach Jason Rogers said. “He is proof that what you put into it is what you get out of it.
“We had seven kids medal, that’s the most we’ve ever had. It was a great day. We came into it short a heavyweight, and had a bunch of young kids wrestling as well. We came back with nine, and seven of them medaled, so that’s a pretty big deal.”
Leader sportswriter
Cabot senior Tyler Kurz may be a young man of few words, but his high-school wrestling legacy could fill volumes.
Kurz became the first four-time state champion in the brief five-year history of Arkansas high-school wrestling when he defeated Edwin Santos of Rogers High School in the 7A/6A 182-pound division late Saturday in the state wrestling finals at the Jack Stephens Center on the campus of UALR in Little Rock.
Kurz made the leap from the 145-pound class, where he won his third state championship as a junior, to the 182 group, finishing with a season record of 18-1, with his only loss coming to Santos in an earlier meeting.
Kurz was one of three finalists for the Panther wrestling team, and one of seven medalists. Austin Dye was the other state-championship winner for Cabot in the 106-pound division as he took down Catholic’s Connor Perkins in overtime.
Kurz’s accomplishment of four consecutive state championships is unprecedented in Arkansas high-school wrestling, but after months of rigorous training that included a strict diet, he was not able to focus on the magnitude of his feat following his championship bout.
“Pretty much, I just went out there to attack,” Kurz said. “I got kind of worn down. I’m just glad I got it done. I can go home and eat now.”
Kurz was the immediate aggressor against Santos and scored four points on a pair of early takedowns, and was ahead 5-0 at the end of the first round. The second round proved uneventful for the most part as Kurz led 6-0, but the final round made up for it. Santos pulled to within 7-4 on two takedowns, but Kurz answered to win 10-6.
“It’s exhilarating,” Kurz said. “It’s a legacy everyone can chase after. First period, I just kind of stuck to what I knew he was going to do. Towards the end, I got a little tired, got off track. I just had to push through it.”
Dye’s final bout was even closer, as he and Perkins ended the third round tied 2-2. The extra round appeared to be just as close until Dye, a freshman, scored on a takedown with 25 seconds remaining to claim a state title in his fifth year of wrestling.
Senior Kyle Wheeler came close to clinching a state championship in the 152-pound division, as he led Nick Mulcahy of Rogers until the final seconds of regulation. Mulcahy tied it at 1-1 just as time expired, and pulled off another late move in overtime to win 3-2, relegating Wheeler to his second-consecutive runner-up finish.
As a team, Cabot finished fourth overall with 161 points. Bentonville won the overall title with 254 points with Catholic second and Rogers third.
Other medalists for Cabot included Hayden Mills, who finished sixth in the 113-pound division, Erik Cooley, who was fourth in the 132-pound division, Bryce Mitchell, who took fourth place in the 145-pound division and Seth Roberts, sixth in the 160-pound class.
“Tyler works hard every day, and it shows when he comes out here to wrestle,” Cabot wrestling coach Jason Rogers said. “He is proof that what you put into it is what you get out of it.
“We had seven kids medal, that’s the most we’ve ever had. It was a great day. We came into it short a heavyweight, and had a bunch of young kids wrestling as well. We came back with nine, and seven of them medaled, so that’s a pretty big deal.”
Saturday, February 23, 2013
SPORTS STORY >> Lady Devils finish conference perfect
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Lady Red Devils got another 30-point performance from star senior Jessica Jackson, and a loaded stat sheet from sophomore Shakyla Hill in a 68-48 victory over Sylvan Hills Tuesday in Sherwood.
Jackson scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to follow a 30-point, 15-rebound game in the previous outing against Pulaski Academy.
Hill finished two rebounds and two steals away from a triple-double, despite playing only about half the game. She checked out for the final time with 4:21 left in the game.
Jacksonville coach Katrina Mimms has been employing the strategy of letting reserves play the last half of each quarter in several games the past month. Hill finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, eight steals and four assists.
Shooting guard Tiffany Smith added 15 points to the victory.
“That’s three of our key scorers,” Mimms said. “We’ve got one sitting out with a thumb injury, but you want to see your key players playing well as state tournament approaches. Right now we’ve been playing pretty well.”
Jacksonville (21-4, 14-0) didn’t take control until midway through the second quarter.
Sylvan Hills’ Jalmedal Byrd-Hudson scored 10 points in the first quarter to keep the Lady Bears close. Byrd-Hudson’s three pointer with 3:30 left in the opening quarter made it 10-10, but Jacksonville reeled off the next six points and took an 18-12 lead into the second quarter.
All six points were started or finished by Hill. She got steals on consecutive Sylvan Hills possessions and turned each into transition assists, one to Antrice McCoy and one to Keke Alcorn.
A third steal in less than 90 seconds resulted in Hill taking it in herself.
Jackson got uncorked in the second quarter, scoring 12 of her 31 and leading the Lady Devils to a 38-24 lead at halftime.
The Lady Bears (13-12, 8-6) were within 42-30 before Jacksonville all but put the game away. Two more steals turned into two more layups by Hill. Jackson then added two three pointers to cap a 10-0 run and a 52-30 Jacksonville lead with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
The Lady Red Devils led 59-38 by the end of the third, and started the fourth with a 9-0 run that invoked the mercy rule with 4:45 left in the game.
Byrd-Hudson scored 24 to lead the Lady Bears, who also qualifies for 5A state with a fourth-place finish in conference. Sylvan Hills will play at 1 p.m. Wednesday against Huntsville, the 5A West champion, at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Jacksonville will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday against either Clarksville or Morrilton.
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Lady Red Devils got another 30-point performance from star senior Jessica Jackson, and a loaded stat sheet from sophomore Shakyla Hill in a 68-48 victory over Sylvan Hills Tuesday in Sherwood.
Jackson scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to follow a 30-point, 15-rebound game in the previous outing against Pulaski Academy.
Hill finished two rebounds and two steals away from a triple-double, despite playing only about half the game. She checked out for the final time with 4:21 left in the game.
Jacksonville coach Katrina Mimms has been employing the strategy of letting reserves play the last half of each quarter in several games the past month. Hill finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, eight steals and four assists.
Shooting guard Tiffany Smith added 15 points to the victory.
“That’s three of our key scorers,” Mimms said. “We’ve got one sitting out with a thumb injury, but you want to see your key players playing well as state tournament approaches. Right now we’ve been playing pretty well.”
Jacksonville (21-4, 14-0) didn’t take control until midway through the second quarter.
Sylvan Hills’ Jalmedal Byrd-Hudson scored 10 points in the first quarter to keep the Lady Bears close. Byrd-Hudson’s three pointer with 3:30 left in the opening quarter made it 10-10, but Jacksonville reeled off the next six points and took an 18-12 lead into the second quarter.
All six points were started or finished by Hill. She got steals on consecutive Sylvan Hills possessions and turned each into transition assists, one to Antrice McCoy and one to Keke Alcorn.
A third steal in less than 90 seconds resulted in Hill taking it in herself.
Jackson got uncorked in the second quarter, scoring 12 of her 31 and leading the Lady Devils to a 38-24 lead at halftime.
The Lady Bears (13-12, 8-6) were within 42-30 before Jacksonville all but put the game away. Two more steals turned into two more layups by Hill. Jackson then added two three pointers to cap a 10-0 run and a 52-30 Jacksonville lead with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
The Lady Red Devils led 59-38 by the end of the third, and started the fourth with a 9-0 run that invoked the mercy rule with 4:45 left in the game.
Byrd-Hudson scored 24 to lead the Lady Bears, who also qualifies for 5A state with a fourth-place finish in conference. Sylvan Hills will play at 1 p.m. Wednesday against Huntsville, the 5A West champion, at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Jacksonville will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday against either Clarksville or Morrilton.
SPORTS STORY >> Cabot finally set to open new facility
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot High School baseball and softball teams have a new place to call home. With the completed construction of new baseball and softball fields, as well as a spacious new indoor facility, the Panthers and Lady Panthers are opening the 2013 season in style.
“It’s a new complex, and we’re really excited about our indoor facility,” said Cabot baseball coach Jay Fitch. “We kind of have a place we can call our own now, and don’t have to worry about getting run out.”
According to Cabot superintendent Tony Thurman, the cost of the complex is in the $1-million range. The district is waiting on prices for additional parking areas. They are also considering cover for the bleachers.
The new indoor facility measures about 120 feet in length according to Fitch, and will have four 75-to-80 foot batting cages. It’s fully turfed, which allows the teams to run through their daily practice routines even in inclement weather.
“It’s really nice man, we’re proud of it,” Fitch said. “It’s fully turfed, and the cages are set to where we can lower the frames up and down and put the nets on top of the frame, and then raise those back up. So we really have an all-turf indoor facility to practice defense, especially infield.”
The new baseball field itself has similar design characteristics to the high school baseball field in Searcy according to Fitch. The old Cabot baseball and softball complex had small locker rooms about 40-to-50 yards away from the fields. In the new complex, the dugouts are connected to the locker rooms located along the third base line.
Also connected is the coach’s office, as well as restrooms. So going back and forth won’t be an issue for team members or coaches. A new storage building is also close by for all necessary equipment.
The length of the field has shortened from the old one according to Fitch. The old Cabot baseball field benefited the pitchers as centerfield peaked around 390 feet, which as a result, few home runs were hit.
“We ended up shortening it a bit,” Fitch said. “Our old field was so, so big. The dimensions were huge. We just never had a home run hit out of there. We basically shortened it up all-around by about 20 feet. So we brought centerfield in to around 370 feet.”
Twenty feet may sound like a lot, but with the changes to modern aluminum bats teams use at the high school and collegiate levels, hitting one out of the Cabot high school field will still be a tough feat to accomplish.
“It’s still going to take a big hit to get one out,” Fitch said. “The thing is, the way they’ve changed the bats, the bats the kids use are real comparable to wooden bats now as far as the bat-exit-speed ratio. So the balls simply don’t travel like they used to. I may just shorten the field up even more. I still think it’ll be pretty hard to hit one out of there.”
It should be a different season in 2013 for the Panther baseball team, who failed to make the class 7A state tournament in 2012. It was only the third time in Fitch’s 14 seasons at Cabot that his team missed the state tournament. Only three players graduated from last year’s squad, so the Panthers will have up to seven returning starters this season, many of which are now juniors.
To the 2012 Panthers’ credit, they lost a lot of close games that could’ve easily ended in their favor. But with several players back from last year’s team, Fitch hopes this group can learn from those close games, and end up on the winning side more times than not this time around.
“We really kind of have everybody back,” Fitch said. “It’s still a pretty young group. At times we had five sophomores and some ninth graders starting. That’s a tough combination when you play in the 7A Central. As far as wins and losses it wasn’t good, but we lost a bunch of close games.
“It’s like we were in nearly every game, we just didn’t have enough firepower to pull some of those close games off. This year they’ve all got another year under their belt. Hopefully we’ll win those close games this year. The kids have been working hard since August, and we expect good things this year.”
As far as conference play goes, the Panthers’ move to the 7A/6A East means they don’t have to deal with traditional powerhouse Bryant, the defending class 7A state champion. Bryant moved to the 7A/6A South Conference this season. Conway, another traditionally tough team, remained in the 7A/6A Central Conference.
Even though Cabot won’t have to see those teams in conference play, the 7A/6A East is no slouch conference. Jonesboro, Searcy, Little Rock Central and Mountain Home are rich in tradition as well, and will all be threats for the conference title.
The Panthers played at Lonoke in a benefit game on Tuesday, and ended up beating the Jackrabbits, last year’s class 4A state runner-up, 17-2. Cabot opens its regular season Tuesday at Little Rock Hall, and will play its first home game at the new complex on Wednesday against Little Rock Parkview at 5 p.m.
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot High School baseball and softball teams have a new place to call home. With the completed construction of new baseball and softball fields, as well as a spacious new indoor facility, the Panthers and Lady Panthers are opening the 2013 season in style.
“It’s a new complex, and we’re really excited about our indoor facility,” said Cabot baseball coach Jay Fitch. “We kind of have a place we can call our own now, and don’t have to worry about getting run out.”
According to Cabot superintendent Tony Thurman, the cost of the complex is in the $1-million range. The district is waiting on prices for additional parking areas. They are also considering cover for the bleachers.
The new indoor facility measures about 120 feet in length according to Fitch, and will have four 75-to-80 foot batting cages. It’s fully turfed, which allows the teams to run through their daily practice routines even in inclement weather.
“It’s really nice man, we’re proud of it,” Fitch said. “It’s fully turfed, and the cages are set to where we can lower the frames up and down and put the nets on top of the frame, and then raise those back up. So we really have an all-turf indoor facility to practice defense, especially infield.”
The new baseball field itself has similar design characteristics to the high school baseball field in Searcy according to Fitch. The old Cabot baseball and softball complex had small locker rooms about 40-to-50 yards away from the fields. In the new complex, the dugouts are connected to the locker rooms located along the third base line.
Also connected is the coach’s office, as well as restrooms. So going back and forth won’t be an issue for team members or coaches. A new storage building is also close by for all necessary equipment.
The length of the field has shortened from the old one according to Fitch. The old Cabot baseball field benefited the pitchers as centerfield peaked around 390 feet, which as a result, few home runs were hit.
“We ended up shortening it a bit,” Fitch said. “Our old field was so, so big. The dimensions were huge. We just never had a home run hit out of there. We basically shortened it up all-around by about 20 feet. So we brought centerfield in to around 370 feet.”
Twenty feet may sound like a lot, but with the changes to modern aluminum bats teams use at the high school and collegiate levels, hitting one out of the Cabot high school field will still be a tough feat to accomplish.
“It’s still going to take a big hit to get one out,” Fitch said. “The thing is, the way they’ve changed the bats, the bats the kids use are real comparable to wooden bats now as far as the bat-exit-speed ratio. So the balls simply don’t travel like they used to. I may just shorten the field up even more. I still think it’ll be pretty hard to hit one out of there.”
It should be a different season in 2013 for the Panther baseball team, who failed to make the class 7A state tournament in 2012. It was only the third time in Fitch’s 14 seasons at Cabot that his team missed the state tournament. Only three players graduated from last year’s squad, so the Panthers will have up to seven returning starters this season, many of which are now juniors.
To the 2012 Panthers’ credit, they lost a lot of close games that could’ve easily ended in their favor. But with several players back from last year’s team, Fitch hopes this group can learn from those close games, and end up on the winning side more times than not this time around.
“We really kind of have everybody back,” Fitch said. “It’s still a pretty young group. At times we had five sophomores and some ninth graders starting. That’s a tough combination when you play in the 7A Central. As far as wins and losses it wasn’t good, but we lost a bunch of close games.
“It’s like we were in nearly every game, we just didn’t have enough firepower to pull some of those close games off. This year they’ve all got another year under their belt. Hopefully we’ll win those close games this year. The kids have been working hard since August, and we expect good things this year.”
As far as conference play goes, the Panthers’ move to the 7A/6A East means they don’t have to deal with traditional powerhouse Bryant, the defending class 7A state champion. Bryant moved to the 7A/6A South Conference this season. Conway, another traditionally tough team, remained in the 7A/6A Central Conference.
Even though Cabot won’t have to see those teams in conference play, the 7A/6A East is no slouch conference. Jonesboro, Searcy, Little Rock Central and Mountain Home are rich in tradition as well, and will all be threats for the conference title.
The Panthers played at Lonoke in a benefit game on Tuesday, and ended up beating the Jackrabbits, last year’s class 4A state runner-up, 17-2. Cabot opens its regular season Tuesday at Little Rock Hall, and will play its first home game at the new complex on Wednesday against Little Rock Parkview at 5 p.m.
SPORTS STORY >> Lady Bison back in state tourney
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Carlisle Lady Bison halted a three-year sabbatical from the state tournament with a dominant win over England on Thursday in the first round of the class 2A East regional in Carlisle.
The Lady Bison and the Lady Lions had met twice before this season. Each previous meeting was also at Carlisle and the two teams split those games in two close contests.
Thursday’s win wasn’t close very much beyond the first quarter.
A clear strategy of stopping England’s leading scorer Alesha Pennster was executed almost perfectly by the Carlisle defense. Pennster didn’t make a field goal until the third quarter on her 14th attempt. She finished with just six points on 2 of 22 shooting from the floor and 2 of 7 from the free-throw line.
“We definitely had a game plan of stopping her,” Carlisle coach Jonathan Buffalo said. “We wanted to get up on her real close outside, and if she got by we wanted one or two girls right in her way with hands all the way up. The girls did a great job of executing that plan.”
Pennster did a poor job ofusing Carlisle’s defensive strategy to find open teammates. She continued to shoot and shoot amidst heavy traffic, but she wasn’t the only Lady Lion struggling from the floor. England made just 16 of 72 shot attempts for 22 percent. They were just 5 of 15 from the free-throw line. Most of England’s points came off putbacks after offensive rebounds.
Carlisle didn’t get many offensive rebounds, and thus not as many shots, but they hit at a much higher percentage. The Lady Bison made 43 percent of their attempts on 24 of 46 shooting. Post player Faith Walker was 11 of 20 and finished with a game-high 27 points.
“She was outstanding for us tonight,” Buffalo said of Walker. “She’s been coming on lately. She’s been averaging about 18 the last several games, but she played very well tonight.”
The game was tied at 14 after one quarter. Though Pennster got just one free throw, England point guard Laukinda Criss drained two three pointers and the Lady Lions got six points from their bench in the opening frame. But without Pennster handling most of the scoring duties, the rest of the Lady Lions couldn’t maintain their good start.
Carlisle’s Breanna Young led the charge in the second quarter that saw the Lady Bison move out to a 10-point lead. She had six points in a 14-4 run that forced England to call timeout with 2:23 left in the half. The timeout was effective in stopping Carlisle’s scoring run, but didn’t help England’s offense. A rash of turnovers by both teams meant neither team scored the rest of the half and the score remained 28-18 until halftime.
The second half was a different story for Carlisle, which had its best offensive showing in the third and blew the game open. All six Lady Bison that got on the floor in the third quarter scored, led by Walker’s eight points. The final tally of the third quarter was 20-8 and resulted in a 48-26 lead going into the fourth. England was unable to match its 14 points in the first quarter in the second and third combined.
The onslaught continued a couple of minutes into the fourth with the lead reaching 27 points on two occasions, but Buffalo pulled the starters midway through.
The Lady Lions finally got hot with about three minutes remaining, making four of their last six shots, including two three pointers.
Young was the only other Lady Bison in double figures with 10 points. Presley Carter finished with eight points and nine rebounds. Sloane Henderson came off the bench to add seven points and seven assists.
Leader sports editor
The Carlisle Lady Bison halted a three-year sabbatical from the state tournament with a dominant win over England on Thursday in the first round of the class 2A East regional in Carlisle.
The Lady Bison and the Lady Lions had met twice before this season. Each previous meeting was also at Carlisle and the two teams split those games in two close contests.
Thursday’s win wasn’t close very much beyond the first quarter.
A clear strategy of stopping England’s leading scorer Alesha Pennster was executed almost perfectly by the Carlisle defense. Pennster didn’t make a field goal until the third quarter on her 14th attempt. She finished with just six points on 2 of 22 shooting from the floor and 2 of 7 from the free-throw line.
“We definitely had a game plan of stopping her,” Carlisle coach Jonathan Buffalo said. “We wanted to get up on her real close outside, and if she got by we wanted one or two girls right in her way with hands all the way up. The girls did a great job of executing that plan.”
Pennster did a poor job ofusing Carlisle’s defensive strategy to find open teammates. She continued to shoot and shoot amidst heavy traffic, but she wasn’t the only Lady Lion struggling from the floor. England made just 16 of 72 shot attempts for 22 percent. They were just 5 of 15 from the free-throw line. Most of England’s points came off putbacks after offensive rebounds.
Carlisle didn’t get many offensive rebounds, and thus not as many shots, but they hit at a much higher percentage. The Lady Bison made 43 percent of their attempts on 24 of 46 shooting. Post player Faith Walker was 11 of 20 and finished with a game-high 27 points.
“She was outstanding for us tonight,” Buffalo said of Walker. “She’s been coming on lately. She’s been averaging about 18 the last several games, but she played very well tonight.”
The game was tied at 14 after one quarter. Though Pennster got just one free throw, England point guard Laukinda Criss drained two three pointers and the Lady Lions got six points from their bench in the opening frame. But without Pennster handling most of the scoring duties, the rest of the Lady Lions couldn’t maintain their good start.
Carlisle’s Breanna Young led the charge in the second quarter that saw the Lady Bison move out to a 10-point lead. She had six points in a 14-4 run that forced England to call timeout with 2:23 left in the half. The timeout was effective in stopping Carlisle’s scoring run, but didn’t help England’s offense. A rash of turnovers by both teams meant neither team scored the rest of the half and the score remained 28-18 until halftime.
The second half was a different story for Carlisle, which had its best offensive showing in the third and blew the game open. All six Lady Bison that got on the floor in the third quarter scored, led by Walker’s eight points. The final tally of the third quarter was 20-8 and resulted in a 48-26 lead going into the fourth. England was unable to match its 14 points in the first quarter in the second and third combined.
The onslaught continued a couple of minutes into the fourth with the lead reaching 27 points on two occasions, but Buffalo pulled the starters midway through.
The Lady Lions finally got hot with about three minutes remaining, making four of their last six shots, including two three pointers.
Young was the only other Lady Bison in double figures with 10 points. Presley Carter finished with eight points and nine rebounds. Sloane Henderson came off the bench to add seven points and seven assists.
SPORTS STORY >> Badgers knock off Wynne, win East
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The storybook ending did not come without struggle as Beebe rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Wynne 40-33 at Badger Sports Arena on Tuesday to claim the 5A East Conference title.
The game earned its capacity crowd for three primary reasons, senior night, a shot at wrapping up the league title, but almost as important was the fact that the Yellowjackets handed Beebe its most embarrassing loss of the season in a 67-27 blowout back on Jan. 22.
Beebe senior forward Austin Burroughs had difficulty finding his shooting touch in the first half, as the Badgers went 4 of 15 from the floor in the first quarter and 5 of 24 for the entire half.
Burroughs could not have warmed up at a better time as he hit his first three-point shot of the night with 4:20 left to play to put the Badgers up 33-31, and his second trey at the 1:53 mark gave Beebe its biggest lead up to that point at 36-31, and put momentum completely on the host’s side for the remainder.
“I was extremely proud of the way we defended,” Beebe coach Ryan Marshall said. “We held them to 19 points in the first half, but we just didn’t put the ball in the hole. We got all kinds of looks early, but they had a lot of emotions going tonight. They just played a little tight, but then Burroughs yanks a three and it’s nothing but net. It’s a shot now that’s the biggest shot of the game, but that’s Burroughs.”
The Badgers celebrated their conference championship with a net-cutting ceremony following the game.
For the game, Beebe went 33 percent (13 of 40) with a more selective shot sequence in the second half, while the Yellowjackets were just under 30 percent at 13 of 44.
Burroughs missed on a pair of early three-point attempts and had just four points at halftime but eventually went on to lead the Badgers with 14 points. Senior guard Jake Schlenker had 11 points while junior point guard Tanner Chapman and senior post player Jared Gowen each finished with six points and six rebounds, along with four steals for Chapman. Junior post player Zach Baker had six rebounds and two blocked shots.
“When we played them up there the first time, they really shaded Austin,” Marshall said. “They knew where he was at all the time. So we overloaded some things and kind of brought Austin out as a decoy, and that opened up the post for Baker and Jared.”
Beebe took its first lead of the game with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter when Gowen scored inside to make it 26-25. The lead switched hands five times after that until Burroughs put the go-ahead three pointer away in the middle of the fourth.
“It’s unreal,” Marshall said. “The thing about it is, every one of these kids wearing that jersey is going to be somebody someday. They’re all just that type of character kids. We by far don’t have the best talent in the league, but they want it simply out of character, and just the determination to compete.
“They’re also very coachable, and that’s something people take for granted. We don’t deal with suspensions, we don’t deal with discipline because they do what they’re told to do, and they expect that out of each other.”
For Wynne, Keenan Halk led with 10 points while Romontae Marrs added nine points and seven rebounds.
Beebe played at Paragould last night after Leader deadlines, and will play in the opening boys game of the upcoming 5A state tournament at Pine Bluff Convention Center next week. The Badgers will be the No. 1 seed out of the 5A East Conference, and will face the No. 4 seed out of the 5A South Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.
Leader sportswriter
The storybook ending did not come without struggle as Beebe rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Wynne 40-33 at Badger Sports Arena on Tuesday to claim the 5A East Conference title.
The game earned its capacity crowd for three primary reasons, senior night, a shot at wrapping up the league title, but almost as important was the fact that the Yellowjackets handed Beebe its most embarrassing loss of the season in a 67-27 blowout back on Jan. 22.
Beebe senior forward Austin Burroughs had difficulty finding his shooting touch in the first half, as the Badgers went 4 of 15 from the floor in the first quarter and 5 of 24 for the entire half.
Burroughs could not have warmed up at a better time as he hit his first three-point shot of the night with 4:20 left to play to put the Badgers up 33-31, and his second trey at the 1:53 mark gave Beebe its biggest lead up to that point at 36-31, and put momentum completely on the host’s side for the remainder.
“I was extremely proud of the way we defended,” Beebe coach Ryan Marshall said. “We held them to 19 points in the first half, but we just didn’t put the ball in the hole. We got all kinds of looks early, but they had a lot of emotions going tonight. They just played a little tight, but then Burroughs yanks a three and it’s nothing but net. It’s a shot now that’s the biggest shot of the game, but that’s Burroughs.”
The Badgers celebrated their conference championship with a net-cutting ceremony following the game.
For the game, Beebe went 33 percent (13 of 40) with a more selective shot sequence in the second half, while the Yellowjackets were just under 30 percent at 13 of 44.
Burroughs missed on a pair of early three-point attempts and had just four points at halftime but eventually went on to lead the Badgers with 14 points. Senior guard Jake Schlenker had 11 points while junior point guard Tanner Chapman and senior post player Jared Gowen each finished with six points and six rebounds, along with four steals for Chapman. Junior post player Zach Baker had six rebounds and two blocked shots.
“When we played them up there the first time, they really shaded Austin,” Marshall said. “They knew where he was at all the time. So we overloaded some things and kind of brought Austin out as a decoy, and that opened up the post for Baker and Jared.”
Beebe took its first lead of the game with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter when Gowen scored inside to make it 26-25. The lead switched hands five times after that until Burroughs put the go-ahead three pointer away in the middle of the fourth.
“It’s unreal,” Marshall said. “The thing about it is, every one of these kids wearing that jersey is going to be somebody someday. They’re all just that type of character kids. We by far don’t have the best talent in the league, but they want it simply out of character, and just the determination to compete.
“They’re also very coachable, and that’s something people take for granted. We don’t deal with suspensions, we don’t deal with discipline because they do what they’re told to do, and they expect that out of each other.”
For Wynne, Keenan Halk led with 10 points while Romontae Marrs added nine points and seven rebounds.
Beebe played at Paragould last night after Leader deadlines, and will play in the opening boys game of the upcoming 5A state tournament at Pine Bluff Convention Center next week. The Badgers will be the No. 1 seed out of the 5A East Conference, and will face the No. 4 seed out of the 5A South Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.
SPORTS STORY >> Third-quarter run lifts Devils
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils found themselves in a major tussle in their regular-season finale Tuesday at Sylvan Hills. A small adjustment at halftime and laser-accuracy shooting by senior guard Justin McCleary in the third quarter lifted the visiting team to a 64-51 win in Sherwood.
The game was tied at 23 at halftime, but McCleary hit 4 of 4 three-point attempts in the third quarter and Jacksonville made 6 of 6 in the second half to move out in front.
“We spread things out a little more with our guards and we got some open looks at threes with the skip pass,” Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner said. “We ran that play a few times to J-Mac and he knocked them down. That pulled them out and it opened up the inside for us. It was a small adjustment but it made a big difference.”
Sylvan Hills’ Aumonie Armond scored the first bucket of the third quarter to give the Bears a 25-23 lead. He also hit two free throws a minute later to make it 27-25, which was the last time Sylvan Hills led in the game.
McCleary then reeled off 14 straight points in a two-minute and 17-second span to give Jacksonville a 39-27 lead with 3:51 left in the third quarter. He scored 16 in the third quarter and finished as the game’s leading scorer with 23 points despite taking just one shot and not scoring at all in the fourth.
“He didn’t have to score in the fourth quarter because the middle was open for us,” Joyner said. “We either got it down to our bigs or we got penetration because we had them spread out.”
Jacksonville led 47-32 at the end of the third quarter and pushed the lead to 17 twice in the fourth. Despite the big deficit, the Bears had one more push left, but a huge blunder put an end to it with 1:30 left in the game.
Sylvan Hills pulled to within 56-48 on an Armond three pointer. Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis quickly called timeout with 1:40 left. After the break, the Bears forced a turnover and called timeout at the 1:30 mark. That’s where the blunder came in.
Sylvan Hills sent had only four players on the floor out of the timeout. A forced shot was stripped away by Jacksonville’s Brandon Brockman and there was no safety valve back on defense for Sylvan Hills. It resulted in an uncontested layup and a 10-point lead for Jacksonville with 1:15 remaining.
“It was just a sophomore mistake,” Davis said of the player that failed to take the floor. “He let another player tell him he was out after I told him he was in. When you’re dealing with the kind of inexperience we have, you’re going to have moments like that. We’ve had them all year. That’s the first time we’ve gone out there with four, but we’ve gone out there with six before. I’m still very proud of how hard they battled to get back in it. I’m really looking forward to seeing what this group can accomplish next year. I think they exceeded everyone’s expectations this year.”
They certainly exceeded people’s expectations in the first half on Tuesday, especially after quickly falling behind 14-3 in the first quarter. The Bears closed the gap to 14-8 by the end of the first, and a Cordy Winston three pointer capped a 15-2 run and gave the Bears an 18-16 lead with 4:15 remaining in the half.
The two teams were even on the boards with 27 rebounds each.
Jacksonville’s Aaron Smith finished with 18 points. Sylvan Hills’ Trajan Doss was the only other player to score in double figures with 11.
Both teams shot very poorly in the first half. Sylvan Hills was just 8 of 28 at halftime and finished the game making 17 of 54 attempts.
Jacksonville made 9 of 30 in the first half, but 13 of 25 in the second. Neither team shot free throws well. Sylvan Hills made 10 of 19 while Jacksonville hit 12 of 20. Both teams made seven three pointers, but Sylvan Hills took 22 shots from outside while Jacksonville just 12.
The Bears’ season ends while Jacksonville prepares to play Huntsville in the first round of the state tournament.
The Red Devils will face Huntsville at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils found themselves in a major tussle in their regular-season finale Tuesday at Sylvan Hills. A small adjustment at halftime and laser-accuracy shooting by senior guard Justin McCleary in the third quarter lifted the visiting team to a 64-51 win in Sherwood.
The game was tied at 23 at halftime, but McCleary hit 4 of 4 three-point attempts in the third quarter and Jacksonville made 6 of 6 in the second half to move out in front.
“We spread things out a little more with our guards and we got some open looks at threes with the skip pass,” Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner said. “We ran that play a few times to J-Mac and he knocked them down. That pulled them out and it opened up the inside for us. It was a small adjustment but it made a big difference.”
Sylvan Hills’ Aumonie Armond scored the first bucket of the third quarter to give the Bears a 25-23 lead. He also hit two free throws a minute later to make it 27-25, which was the last time Sylvan Hills led in the game.
McCleary then reeled off 14 straight points in a two-minute and 17-second span to give Jacksonville a 39-27 lead with 3:51 left in the third quarter. He scored 16 in the third quarter and finished as the game’s leading scorer with 23 points despite taking just one shot and not scoring at all in the fourth.
“He didn’t have to score in the fourth quarter because the middle was open for us,” Joyner said. “We either got it down to our bigs or we got penetration because we had them spread out.”
Jacksonville led 47-32 at the end of the third quarter and pushed the lead to 17 twice in the fourth. Despite the big deficit, the Bears had one more push left, but a huge blunder put an end to it with 1:30 left in the game.
Sylvan Hills pulled to within 56-48 on an Armond three pointer. Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis quickly called timeout with 1:40 left. After the break, the Bears forced a turnover and called timeout at the 1:30 mark. That’s where the blunder came in.
Sylvan Hills sent had only four players on the floor out of the timeout. A forced shot was stripped away by Jacksonville’s Brandon Brockman and there was no safety valve back on defense for Sylvan Hills. It resulted in an uncontested layup and a 10-point lead for Jacksonville with 1:15 remaining.
“It was just a sophomore mistake,” Davis said of the player that failed to take the floor. “He let another player tell him he was out after I told him he was in. When you’re dealing with the kind of inexperience we have, you’re going to have moments like that. We’ve had them all year. That’s the first time we’ve gone out there with four, but we’ve gone out there with six before. I’m still very proud of how hard they battled to get back in it. I’m really looking forward to seeing what this group can accomplish next year. I think they exceeded everyone’s expectations this year.”
They certainly exceeded people’s expectations in the first half on Tuesday, especially after quickly falling behind 14-3 in the first quarter. The Bears closed the gap to 14-8 by the end of the first, and a Cordy Winston three pointer capped a 15-2 run and gave the Bears an 18-16 lead with 4:15 remaining in the half.
The two teams were even on the boards with 27 rebounds each.
Jacksonville’s Aaron Smith finished with 18 points. Sylvan Hills’ Trajan Doss was the only other player to score in double figures with 11.
Both teams shot very poorly in the first half. Sylvan Hills was just 8 of 28 at halftime and finished the game making 17 of 54 attempts.
Jacksonville made 9 of 30 in the first half, but 13 of 25 in the second. Neither team shot free throws well. Sylvan Hills made 10 of 19 while Jacksonville hit 12 of 20. Both teams made seven three pointers, but Sylvan Hills took 22 shots from outside while Jacksonville just 12.
The Bears’ season ends while Jacksonville prepares to play Huntsville in the first round of the state tournament.
The Red Devils will face Huntsville at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
TOP STORY >> Cabot’s annual cleanup March 16
Cabot’s cleanup and hazardous waste roundup will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 16.
The event will again be co-sponsored by the city and Cabot City Beautiful. It will be held in conjunction with the national Great American Cleanup campaign and the statewide Keep Arkansas Beautiful Month.
Everyone in the Cabot area is encouraged to participate: Civic and service organizations, church and youth groups, schools and clubs, scouting groups, individuals, families, neighborhoods and businesses.
Volunteers should meet at the Cabot Panther Stadium parking lot at 9 a.m. March 16 and check in at the registration canopies.
Volunteers will be assigned routes by event coordinators if participants have not already designated their own areas. Orange safety vests and garbage bags will be available. Participants are encouraged to bring sturdy work gloves.
“Cabot is an amazing community. We all have a responsibility to keep it clean and attractive,” says Pat Watkins, president of Cabot City Beautiful.
“If Cabot is littered and ill-kempt, our potential to attract industry and tourism can be significantly impacted. Simple steps can greatly affect economic development — a fresh coat of paint, a few new flower plantings, roadsides and waterways free of litter. They all can make a big difference in Cabot’s future. We need volunteers to come help us keep Cabot beautiful.”
Irene Ernst, this year’s local Great American Cleanup co-coordinator, said the event will provide a drop-off point for the disposal of various electronic waste and household hazardous waste materials, to include latex paints (waste and recyclable), oil-base paints/thinners, motor oil, antifreeze, fluorescent bulbs, pesticides and herbicides, household cleaners, household batteries (nicad, alkaline and lithium), automotive batteries and off-the-rim tires. Computer components, TVs, VCRs and other types of electronic equipment will be accepted.
For more information, contact the group at 501-920-2122 or 501-941-4905.
TOP STORY >> Cabot resident recalls youth in wartime Britain
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Shirley Buller of Cabot can be found at the Cabot American Legion Post 71 on Wednesdays sipping coffee from her Union Jack cup. She bakes sweets for the Legionnaires and shares colorful stories.
Buller recalled what life was like as a child during the Second World War in Britain.
Buller was born in 1938, a year before the war started, in Thetford, England, 80 miles northeast of London. The city was surrounded by Royal Air Force bases Mildenhall, Barnham and Lakenheath.
Her father, Robert Pawsey, was a chief gardener at an estate. He was also a member of the British Home Guard, a volunteer group who patrolled the town in case of a German invasion.
Her mother, Muriel Paw-sey, was a cook at a girls grammar school. She did laundry for a Gypsy for free. He gave her pints of goat milk. Buller had one brother, Derek, who was three years older.
“Everything was rationed. Couldn’t get more than the ration books said for the week. It was rough. We didn’t have much, but we got by somehow. Always had baked bread,” Buller said.
“A two-inch square of hard cheese was quartered for a family of four for the week. It didn’t matter if you had money. On the weekends we’d go out to the countryside and pick dandelions, because you could cook and eat the greens,” she said.
Her dad would find a nest of pheasant eggs. They tasted good, but were brighter in color.
He also caught rabbit, but Buller hated it, because they ate so much of it.
Twice a week, the air raid siren blared and residents had to go to a nearby bomb shelter. At night, they closed the black-out blinds, and blew out the kerosene and gas lamps. If they heard an explosion, they knew better than to peek out.
“Sometimes you’d be in bed. The sirens would wail at 1 a.m. and we’d just spend the night at the shelter. It was nerve-racking. But everybody took care of each other,” Buller said.
Sirens would go off when Buller was at school. Students had to sit and wait in a bomb shelter for the all-clear signal. The shelters held 50 people or more.
Her town was not hit, but Buller remembered seeing bomb sites and building burned in the neighboring towns closer to the military bases.
She remembers seeing the German bombers with the swastika on them and the RAF bombers and Spitfire planes flying. Buller said when a plane was shot down, the youngsters would get the glass from the plane’s windows and make rings out of them.
“There was no food until the Americans came. They brought us Spam. They told us it was specially processed American meat. We thought we had died and went to heaven,” Buller said.
The American convoys would stop and give the British more food, such as canned powered pea soup and bags of powered eggs off the supply trucks.
“Got any gum, chum?” they’d ask the American convoy drivers.
“We’d eat Eagle condensed milk sandwiches. We were glad to eat that and the turnip,” she recalled.
Clothing was also in short supply during the war and rationed. The factories were bombed so they produced no clothes.
Buller said her family got only one pair of shoes for the year. Her dad had to repair her shoes. She said if your foot grew, they would cut the toe out of the shoe so you could wear them.
If you went to school and your feet were wet, they allowed you to take your shoes off and dry your socks off on the radiator.
She said there were no hand-me-downs. Clothing was cut-up and made into other things.
Kids played on the sidewalks. The soldiers would stop and give them stuff. One day a soldier gave her a silk parachute to give to her mom.
“It was a blessing to get a parachute. Teenage girls made blouses and petticoats. My mom made me three to four pairs of underwear,” she said.
But there was a slight downside.
“When you walked to school, the wind would blow up your dress and fill the knickers up with air. (It) felt like they would fly, bloomers, true to their nature,” Buller said.
Her mom sewed button holes and slits into the undergarments, but they still filled with air.
Every Saturday, her dad went to the store and bought War Illustrated, a weekly publication about the war, and to see if any of the local boys were killed. She remembered listening to Winston Churchill on the radio.
“It saved our butt when the Americans came,” Buller said.
Buller remembered the day the war ended.
“Everybody was in the streets. Everybody was happy. Everybody was laughing, dancing, hugging and kissing,” she said.
Buller met her husband, John, an American airman stationed at Lakenheath, in 1959.
They marred a year later and were together for 52 years, until he passed away in 2011. They had six boys and two girls.
Leader staff writer
Shirley Buller of Cabot can be found at the Cabot American Legion Post 71 on Wednesdays sipping coffee from her Union Jack cup. She bakes sweets for the Legionnaires and shares colorful stories.
Buller recalled what life was like as a child during the Second World War in Britain.
Buller was born in 1938, a year before the war started, in Thetford, England, 80 miles northeast of London. The city was surrounded by Royal Air Force bases Mildenhall, Barnham and Lakenheath.
Her father, Robert Pawsey, was a chief gardener at an estate. He was also a member of the British Home Guard, a volunteer group who patrolled the town in case of a German invasion.
Her mother, Muriel Paw-sey, was a cook at a girls grammar school. She did laundry for a Gypsy for free. He gave her pints of goat milk. Buller had one brother, Derek, who was three years older.
“Everything was rationed. Couldn’t get more than the ration books said for the week. It was rough. We didn’t have much, but we got by somehow. Always had baked bread,” Buller said.
“A two-inch square of hard cheese was quartered for a family of four for the week. It didn’t matter if you had money. On the weekends we’d go out to the countryside and pick dandelions, because you could cook and eat the greens,” she said.
Her dad would find a nest of pheasant eggs. They tasted good, but were brighter in color.
He also caught rabbit, but Buller hated it, because they ate so much of it.
Twice a week, the air raid siren blared and residents had to go to a nearby bomb shelter. At night, they closed the black-out blinds, and blew out the kerosene and gas lamps. If they heard an explosion, they knew better than to peek out.
“Sometimes you’d be in bed. The sirens would wail at 1 a.m. and we’d just spend the night at the shelter. It was nerve-racking. But everybody took care of each other,” Buller said.
Sirens would go off when Buller was at school. Students had to sit and wait in a bomb shelter for the all-clear signal. The shelters held 50 people or more.
Her town was not hit, but Buller remembered seeing bomb sites and building burned in the neighboring towns closer to the military bases.
She remembers seeing the German bombers with the swastika on them and the RAF bombers and Spitfire planes flying. Buller said when a plane was shot down, the youngsters would get the glass from the plane’s windows and make rings out of them.
“There was no food until the Americans came. They brought us Spam. They told us it was specially processed American meat. We thought we had died and went to heaven,” Buller said.
The American convoys would stop and give the British more food, such as canned powered pea soup and bags of powered eggs off the supply trucks.
“Got any gum, chum?” they’d ask the American convoy drivers.
“We’d eat Eagle condensed milk sandwiches. We were glad to eat that and the turnip,” she recalled.
Clothing was also in short supply during the war and rationed. The factories were bombed so they produced no clothes.
Buller said her family got only one pair of shoes for the year. Her dad had to repair her shoes. She said if your foot grew, they would cut the toe out of the shoe so you could wear them.
If you went to school and your feet were wet, they allowed you to take your shoes off and dry your socks off on the radiator.
She said there were no hand-me-downs. Clothing was cut-up and made into other things.
Kids played on the sidewalks. The soldiers would stop and give them stuff. One day a soldier gave her a silk parachute to give to her mom.
“It was a blessing to get a parachute. Teenage girls made blouses and petticoats. My mom made me three to four pairs of underwear,” she said.
But there was a slight downside.
“When you walked to school, the wind would blow up your dress and fill the knickers up with air. (It) felt like they would fly, bloomers, true to their nature,” Buller said.
Her mom sewed button holes and slits into the undergarments, but they still filled with air.
Every Saturday, her dad went to the store and bought War Illustrated, a weekly publication about the war, and to see if any of the local boys were killed. She remembered listening to Winston Churchill on the radio.
“It saved our butt when the Americans came,” Buller said.
Buller remembered the day the war ended.
“Everybody was in the streets. Everybody was happy. Everybody was laughing, dancing, hugging and kissing,” she said.
Buller met her husband, John, an American airman stationed at Lakenheath, in 1959.
They marred a year later and were together for 52 years, until he passed away in 2011. They had six boys and two girls.
TOP STORYS >> Young witness tells of evils in Nazi Germany
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
“War is the most devastating, unheroic activity that man has ever devised. No one wins,” Ilse Nunn told Cabot High School history and psychology students Wednesday morning.
Nunn was “not quite” 9 years old when World War II began with the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. The German native was 14 when the devastation ended.
Betrayal and deception haunted her family throughout the war.
She described how “a pall or rather pervasive fear hung over our daily lives. For six years, Hitler ruled and he did it with an iron hand.”
She explained how their leaders kept Germans in the dark. “Horrors about the concentration camps were whispered behind closed doors, but no one knew anything for sure,” Nunn said.
Nunn, who lives in Jacksonville, admired her grandmother’s acts of defiance. Her grandmother was friends with an elderly Jewish couple and Nunn played with their grandchildren before the war.
The Gestapo, the secret police, told her grandmother that her son would lose his job if she didn’t stop being friends with the couple. Nunn’s grandmother told the couple to come to her house at night and the friendship continued until Nazis took the family away.
“There was nothing we could do,” Nunn said. The Jewish grandfather was hung in the square.
Many Germans who wanted to help or simply wanted to find out what was going on paid the ultimate price. A close friend of Nunn’s cousins informed the Gestapo about the couple listening to BBC news on a radio in their basement.
“One couldn’t trust anyone. Suspicion held sway over the population,” she recalled.
Nunn, whose maiden name was Kalmering, added that she heard her parents talking about how their country would lose the war.
Even as a child, she knew instinctively not to mention the conversation to anyone because her mother and father would have been killed for not being loyal to Hitler.
Instead of “good morning,” Germans were required to salute and say, “Heil, Hitler!,” Nunn recalled.
Her cousins, who were also a mother and a father, were shot to death by a firing squad. Their bodies were donated for scientific research.
Nunn said, “It is still unknown what happened to their three sons.”
Her uncle committed suicide after the couple was executed.
“There is still no end to our tragedies,” Nunn continued.
Four of her family members died in bombings.
Nunn also described the ration cards her family used to get food and supplies during the war. The cards told you what you could buy and that depended on the size of your family.
Nunn’s family didn’t starve because they lived near the Baltic Sea where a lot of fishing was done, she said.
The family’s cellar was cold enough to keep potatoes and other foodstuffs that weren’t rationed.
Clothing and candy were rationed too, Nunn said.
The children could have candy for Easter and Christmas only.
She described to the Cabot students the destroyer her father served on as an engineer.
“It was so beautiful,” she said.
Nunn said she saw the ship as a little girl. The sailors served her a refreshing nonalcoholic red drink. They let her see the engine room, which was so clean it shined.
Nunn said her father’s cabin was so nice she wanted to bring it home to live in.
This imagery stands in stark contrast to what her young eyes saw later.
The ship was sunk when the British and the Germans violated Norway’s neutrality in pursuit of iron ore.
On March 12, 1945, Usedom — a Baltic Sea island on the border between Germany and Poland — where Nunn lived, was bombed.
“The bodies were piled a mile high on the walk. Everything shook that wasn’t nailed down,” she said.
At one point during the war, Nunn recalled, she was the one who ran into the open to get what the family needed. Her life could be risked, but her mother couldn’t die because she had to take care of her younger siblings, Nunn said.
She also remembered riding on a truck to the last bakery left standing where she received half of a loaf of bread.
“There were people screaming you couldn’t help. I will not forget that,” Nunn said.
Germany was divided into four sections after the Third Reich was defeated. The British, French, Americans and Russian took over one section each.
Usedom was part of the Soviet-controlled section of East Germany at the end of the war and the area’s residents weren’t safe.
Nunn said, “(The Russians) came in droves. I screamed at the top of my voice and then I prayed. I just expected to die every minute.”
Nunn’s family left on the last train heading west.
Each family member had just one suitcase and the journey was long.
“For my family, cold and hunger became very real, but God helped us through,” Nunn said.
Nunn continued, “Here was Germany at the end of the war, a huge pile of rubble.”
Areas the size of Jacksonville and Cabot were nothing but debris, she added.
America eventually shipped cornmeal to the Germans. “(They) began to feel sorry for us,” Nunn said.
She noted that her fellow citizens weren’t warmongers.
“They were hardworking, nose-to-the ground people and they didn’t believe in debt. (The government) sent you to where you were needed and you had better do your best,” Nunn said.
But the Germans rebuilt and her homeland no longer shows the scars of that dark time, Nunn said.
She said the four most prominent Nazis “took the coward’s way out.”
Hitler married his longtime girlfriend, Eva Braun, hours before they both committed suicide in his bunker while the Red Army was advancing.
Braun bit into a cyanide capsule and Hitler shot himself. Nunn said witnesses claimed the bodies were burned and taken to Russia.
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife poisoned their seven children and killed themselves as the Soviets closed in on Berlin.
Herman Goering, the Nazi party leader, was captured and committed suicide in his cell before he could be tried for war crimes at Nuremberg.
Erwin Rommel, one of Germany’s most well-known generals, committed suicide rather than being shot by a firing squad after being implicated in a plot against Hitler.
At the end of her talk, Nunn offered the students advice.
“I suggest you learn all you can in school and in college because no one can take from you what you have learned,” she said.
Nunn then urged the students to be informed about candidates for political offices so that they can vote for the person they think will do the best job.
She left Germany in 1950 and married an American soldier. He was in the Army and had just one stripe, but it took nine months for her family to be declared “deNazified.”
The couple had three daughters and all of them served in the military against Nunn’s wishes. She told the students she was proud of them anyway. One daughter became a nurse and the others teachers.
David Copeland and history teacher Mike Nash organized the presentation.
Leader staff writer
“War is the most devastating, unheroic activity that man has ever devised. No one wins,” Ilse Nunn told Cabot High School history and psychology students Wednesday morning.
Nunn was “not quite” 9 years old when World War II began with the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. The German native was 14 when the devastation ended.
Betrayal and deception haunted her family throughout the war.
She described how “a pall or rather pervasive fear hung over our daily lives. For six years, Hitler ruled and he did it with an iron hand.”
She explained how their leaders kept Germans in the dark. “Horrors about the concentration camps were whispered behind closed doors, but no one knew anything for sure,” Nunn said.
Nunn, who lives in Jacksonville, admired her grandmother’s acts of defiance. Her grandmother was friends with an elderly Jewish couple and Nunn played with their grandchildren before the war.
The Gestapo, the secret police, told her grandmother that her son would lose his job if she didn’t stop being friends with the couple. Nunn’s grandmother told the couple to come to her house at night and the friendship continued until Nazis took the family away.
“There was nothing we could do,” Nunn said. The Jewish grandfather was hung in the square.
Many Germans who wanted to help or simply wanted to find out what was going on paid the ultimate price. A close friend of Nunn’s cousins informed the Gestapo about the couple listening to BBC news on a radio in their basement.
“One couldn’t trust anyone. Suspicion held sway over the population,” she recalled.
Nunn, whose maiden name was Kalmering, added that she heard her parents talking about how their country would lose the war.
Even as a child, she knew instinctively not to mention the conversation to anyone because her mother and father would have been killed for not being loyal to Hitler.
Instead of “good morning,” Germans were required to salute and say, “Heil, Hitler!,” Nunn recalled.
Her cousins, who were also a mother and a father, were shot to death by a firing squad. Their bodies were donated for scientific research.
Nunn said, “It is still unknown what happened to their three sons.”
Her uncle committed suicide after the couple was executed.
“There is still no end to our tragedies,” Nunn continued.
Four of her family members died in bombings.
Nunn also described the ration cards her family used to get food and supplies during the war. The cards told you what you could buy and that depended on the size of your family.
Nunn’s family didn’t starve because they lived near the Baltic Sea where a lot of fishing was done, she said.
The family’s cellar was cold enough to keep potatoes and other foodstuffs that weren’t rationed.
Clothing and candy were rationed too, Nunn said.
The children could have candy for Easter and Christmas only.
She described to the Cabot students the destroyer her father served on as an engineer.
“It was so beautiful,” she said.
Nunn said she saw the ship as a little girl. The sailors served her a refreshing nonalcoholic red drink. They let her see the engine room, which was so clean it shined.
Nunn said her father’s cabin was so nice she wanted to bring it home to live in.
This imagery stands in stark contrast to what her young eyes saw later.
The ship was sunk when the British and the Germans violated Norway’s neutrality in pursuit of iron ore.
On March 12, 1945, Usedom — a Baltic Sea island on the border between Germany and Poland — where Nunn lived, was bombed.
“The bodies were piled a mile high on the walk. Everything shook that wasn’t nailed down,” she said.
At one point during the war, Nunn recalled, she was the one who ran into the open to get what the family needed. Her life could be risked, but her mother couldn’t die because she had to take care of her younger siblings, Nunn said.
She also remembered riding on a truck to the last bakery left standing where she received half of a loaf of bread.
“There were people screaming you couldn’t help. I will not forget that,” Nunn said.
Germany was divided into four sections after the Third Reich was defeated. The British, French, Americans and Russian took over one section each.
Usedom was part of the Soviet-controlled section of East Germany at the end of the war and the area’s residents weren’t safe.
Nunn said, “(The Russians) came in droves. I screamed at the top of my voice and then I prayed. I just expected to die every minute.”
Nunn’s family left on the last train heading west.
Each family member had just one suitcase and the journey was long.
“For my family, cold and hunger became very real, but God helped us through,” Nunn said.
Nunn continued, “Here was Germany at the end of the war, a huge pile of rubble.”
Areas the size of Jacksonville and Cabot were nothing but debris, she added.
America eventually shipped cornmeal to the Germans. “(They) began to feel sorry for us,” Nunn said.
She noted that her fellow citizens weren’t warmongers.
“They were hardworking, nose-to-the ground people and they didn’t believe in debt. (The government) sent you to where you were needed and you had better do your best,” Nunn said.
But the Germans rebuilt and her homeland no longer shows the scars of that dark time, Nunn said.
She said the four most prominent Nazis “took the coward’s way out.”
Hitler married his longtime girlfriend, Eva Braun, hours before they both committed suicide in his bunker while the Red Army was advancing.
Braun bit into a cyanide capsule and Hitler shot himself. Nunn said witnesses claimed the bodies were burned and taken to Russia.
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife poisoned their seven children and killed themselves as the Soviets closed in on Berlin.
Herman Goering, the Nazi party leader, was captured and committed suicide in his cell before he could be tried for war crimes at Nuremberg.
Erwin Rommel, one of Germany’s most well-known generals, committed suicide rather than being shot by a firing squad after being implicated in a plot against Hitler.
At the end of her talk, Nunn offered the students advice.
“I suggest you learn all you can in school and in college because no one can take from you what you have learned,” she said.
Nunn then urged the students to be informed about candidates for political offices so that they can vote for the person they think will do the best job.
She left Germany in 1950 and married an American soldier. He was in the Army and had just one stripe, but it took nine months for her family to be declared “deNazified.”
The couple had three daughters and all of them served in the military against Nunn’s wishes. She told the students she was proud of them anyway. One daughter became a nurse and the others teachers.
David Copeland and history teacher Mike Nash organized the presentation.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
EDITORIAL >> Our military biggest target
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) visited Little Rock Air Force Base yesterday, concerned about automatic budget cuts that will go into effect if Congress doesn’t find a sensible way to reduce spending this month. A strange mechanism called sequestration will kick in March 1, resulting in about 10 percent cuts in federal spending.
You might say that’s a great idea, but for a military community like ours, that’s a big hit. About half of the cuts would come from the military budget. That figure may be a bit higher since the Pentagon had previously agreed to reductions to reflect U.S. withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq and a reduction in forces. The Air Force will shrink to about 300,000, about half what it was in the 1990s with the end of the Soviet empire.
If sequestration takes effect next week, the Pentagon will immediately lose $54.6 billion from its approximately $530 billion budget and will be cut at least $50 billion every year for a decade. The cuts are already being felt at Little Rock Air Force Base, where the 19th Operations Group has reduced flight training from five days to four. Hundreds of civilians will go on furlough if the cuts go into effect.
The Air Force has more than 180,000 civilian employees, and many of them will lose their jobs as the military downsizes.
What’s more, those who will continue to serve will see a vastly different military. Starting March 1, the Pentagon will only have money for emergency facility repairs at military bases.
“That results in a 90 percent reduction in those expenditures through the rest of the fiscal year,” Jamie Morin, acting under secretary of the Air Force, said recently. More than 400 projects at more than 140 bases will be frozen, saving $2.9 billion.
But if there’s sequestration, the Air Force will have to cut $12.4 billion more this year and still come up with $1.8 billion for overseas contingency operations. So more cuts will have to be made elsewhere.
“We’ve taken a series of initial actions, but those actions don’t come close to covering $12.4 billion,” Morin said. “There’s a lot more we’d have to do.” He said aircraft needing maintenance will be grounded until funds become available to service them later.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, sees more cuts on the horizon because military planners had agreed to several hundred billion dollars in cuts over the next decade long before there was talk of sequestration.
“Now on top of that with sequestration, we’ll take an additional $500 billion worth of cuts in the Department of Defense, so we’re now up to $1.2 trillion,” he said in a speech last week at the liberal Brookings Institution. “Add in another $100 billion that DoD needs to find in its base budget to preserve programs, like technology to defeat roadside bombs, which were paid for out of wartime supplemental funds that are going away (formally called ‘overseas contingency operations’ funding or OCO), and we’re now up to $1.3 trillion worth of cuts.”
Sure, they speak a different language in Washington and sometimes it’s hard to understand how Congress spends your money. But after a decade of service in two wars, military members will make the biggest sacrifice once again. As one colonel at the air base told us, “Our command is prepared. We will follow their guidance.” May that guidance be wise and just.
You might say that’s a great idea, but for a military community like ours, that’s a big hit. About half of the cuts would come from the military budget. That figure may be a bit higher since the Pentagon had previously agreed to reductions to reflect U.S. withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq and a reduction in forces. The Air Force will shrink to about 300,000, about half what it was in the 1990s with the end of the Soviet empire.
If sequestration takes effect next week, the Pentagon will immediately lose $54.6 billion from its approximately $530 billion budget and will be cut at least $50 billion every year for a decade. The cuts are already being felt at Little Rock Air Force Base, where the 19th Operations Group has reduced flight training from five days to four. Hundreds of civilians will go on furlough if the cuts go into effect.
The Air Force has more than 180,000 civilian employees, and many of them will lose their jobs as the military downsizes.
What’s more, those who will continue to serve will see a vastly different military. Starting March 1, the Pentagon will only have money for emergency facility repairs at military bases.
“That results in a 90 percent reduction in those expenditures through the rest of the fiscal year,” Jamie Morin, acting under secretary of the Air Force, said recently. More than 400 projects at more than 140 bases will be frozen, saving $2.9 billion.
But if there’s sequestration, the Air Force will have to cut $12.4 billion more this year and still come up with $1.8 billion for overseas contingency operations. So more cuts will have to be made elsewhere.
“We’ve taken a series of initial actions, but those actions don’t come close to covering $12.4 billion,” Morin said. “There’s a lot more we’d have to do.” He said aircraft needing maintenance will be grounded until funds become available to service them later.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, sees more cuts on the horizon because military planners had agreed to several hundred billion dollars in cuts over the next decade long before there was talk of sequestration.
“Now on top of that with sequestration, we’ll take an additional $500 billion worth of cuts in the Department of Defense, so we’re now up to $1.2 trillion,” he said in a speech last week at the liberal Brookings Institution. “Add in another $100 billion that DoD needs to find in its base budget to preserve programs, like technology to defeat roadside bombs, which were paid for out of wartime supplemental funds that are going away (formally called ‘overseas contingency operations’ funding or OCO), and we’re now up to $1.3 trillion worth of cuts.”
Sure, they speak a different language in Washington and sometimes it’s hard to understand how Congress spends your money. But after a decade of service in two wars, military members will make the biggest sacrifice once again. As one colonel at the air base told us, “Our command is prepared. We will follow their guidance.” May that guidance be wise and just.
TOP STORY >> Cancer victim warns Cabot students
Cancer survivor Rick Bender had four
operations after using smokeless tobacco.
operations after using smokeless tobacco.
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Cancer survivor Rick Bender, 50, of Kentucky is the face of how smokeless tobacco can take on toll on one’s health.
Bender was at Cabot Middle School North and South last Thursday to give a presentation on the harm chewing tobacco does first hand. Bender’s visit was arranged by the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas.
Bender started using chewing tobacco as a 12-year-old influenced by peer pressure, advertising and baseball.
When Bender asked the 860 Middle School North students how many have tried smokeless tobacco, four students raised their hand. Over half the students in the gym knew someone who used tobacco all the time.
“Smokeless tobacco sounds nice, neat — pretty harmless. I didn’t want to smoke. I didn’t want anything to do with cigarettes but wanted to fit in with the crowd who smoked,” Bender said.
He remembered seeing the smokeless tobacco advertisements catchphrase, “Take a pinch instead of a puff.”
Copenhagen was once his preferred brand of snuff. With aspirations of playing baseball in the major leagues using spit tobacco went hand in hand.
In high school Bender was using a couple cans of tobacco a week. In February 1988, at age 25, he was up to a can a day. He noticed a white bump on his tongue and white patches on his mouth. Some had not healed up.
The tobacco irritated the sores. He quit dipping, but by Christmas the sore came back. The pencil point sore had grown to the size of a dime. He went to the doctor and the doctor cut a hunk of tongue with the sore for a biopsy.
In March 1989, Bender was diagnosed with an aggressive, fast-growing cancer. It had no remission. It wasn’t going to stop growing and had to be cut out or he would die. Doctors gave him two years to live.
A month later, he underwent his first of four surgeries to cut out the cancer that spread from his mouth down into his neck.
He lost a third of his tongue. Surgery destroyed the nerves in his neck run ning down to his right arm. He has 25 percent use of his right arm. Doctors had to cut through his jaw to get at the cancer. Complications and infection caused his jaw to fall apart. He has six teeth remaining.
Twenty years later, in 2009, infection developed in the other side of his jaw. He speaks with a little bit of a lisp and slurs some of his words. “I can’t even lick my lips,” Bender said.
“Spit tobacco causes heart disease, high blood pressure and gum disease and cancer. The survival rate from cancer is 50 percent after five years. If cancer occurs under the age of 30, it’s almost zero,” Bender told students. He told them if they know someone who has a sore in their mouth that does not heal and go away in 10 days, then they need to go to the dentist or see a doctor right away.
One can of snuff has the same amount of nicotine as three to four packs of cigarettes. It has 28 cancer-causing ingredients, Bender said. “I thought it was safer than smoking,” Bender said.
He then talked about electronic cigarettes. Nearly half to three-fourth of students raised their hand for knowing someone who used e-cigarettes.
Bender said the e-cigarettes contain nicotine that leads to heart disease. They also have nitrosamines, a cancer-causing compound in the vapor.
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