By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot softball team won its first three games of the annual Beebe/Cabot Highway 67 Softball Tournament on Saturday, but fell hard to Benton in the championship game at Beebe High School, losing 12-1 in six innings.
Cabot (9-2) beat Benton (9-1) earlier in the season, but Saturday night’s tournament final was a much different game. Cabot scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first inning, but Benton took over the game in the top of the sixth with six runs scored – all of which came with two outs.
Cabot was never able to recover. Benton added six more runs to its side of the board in the top of the sixth, and when Cabot failed to score in the bottom part of the inning, the game was called because of the mercy rule, which is invoked when one team’s lead reaches at least 10 runs after five innings of play.
Even though it wasn’t the ending Cabot and head coach Chris Cope were hoping for, Cope said it was a good day, overall, for his group.
“We went 3-1 and we beat some good teams,” said Cope. “We didn’t want it to end that way, but it happens.”
The Lady Panthers opened the tournament with a dominant 15-0 win over Harrisburg at the CHS softball field, and in the second round, Cabot got another mercy-rule victory at home, this one a 12-2 rout of Perryville.
Cabot had to go to extra innings in its semifinal game against perennial powerhouse Bryant, but won that home game in the eighth inning on a run scored by second baseman Rachel Allgood, which set the final score at 4-3.
In the championship game against Benton at Beebe, Cabot got on the board in the top of the first with a two-out, solo home run by Megan Goodnight. Pitcher Lauren McCluskey kept the Benton bats at bay through the first four and two-third innings, but Benton’s bats came alive in a big way after that.
Hannah Word got the two-out rally started with a double down the left-field line, and she scored the next at-bat on a single to center field by leadoff hitter Jordan Herbner.
That tied the game at 1-1, and Benton took the lead for good the next at-bat on a stand-up double to deep right center by Delaney Bono, which allowed the speedy Herbner to score with ease.
Bre Langford singled to center the next at-bat, scoring Bono, and giving Benton a 3-1 lead. Clean-up hitter Kylee McClendon then came to the plate, and she reached base on a dropped line drive in right field. Langford scored on the play, putting Benton up 4-1.
The next at-bat, Kylea Brimhall doubled to left field, which drove in McClendon, and the rally was capped the next at-bat with a Madi Mehlin line drive in left field that was dropped, allowing Brimhall to score and make it a 6-1 game.
Cabot failed to score in the bottom of the fifth, and Benton scored six more runs in the top of the sixth to set the final score. The highlight of the sixth inning was a two-out, three-run home run by Mehlin, which made the score 12-1.
Benton outhit Cabot 13-4 Saturday. Brimhall led all batters with three hits. She also earned the win in the circle – finishing the six innings pitched with six strikeouts. She gave up four hits, two walks and one earned run.
Shauna Attendorn led Cabot at the plate. She went 2 for 2 with two singles.
In the Lady Panthers’ win over Harrisburg, they scored five runs in the first inning, four in the second and six in the third to set the final score. Shortstop Heather Hill led Cabot at the plate in that game. She went 3 for 3 with three singles.
Four other Lady Panthers had multiple hits in that game. Goodnight, Allgood, Kaitlyn Felder and Macee Abbott had two hits apiece.
Goodnight earned the win in the circle against Harrisburg. She threw all three innings of the mercy rule-shortened game, finishing with four strikeouts, while giving up just one hit and no walks.
In the second round against Perryville, Cabot broke a scoreless game with nine runs scored in the bottom of the second inning to take control of the game. The Lady Panthers added three more runs in the third inning before allowing one run in the fourth and fifth inning, which set the final score at 12-2.
Cabot outhit Perryville 13-6, with Hill leading all batters at the plate. She went 3 for 3 in that game and was a triple shy of the cycle. Goodnight got the win in the circle in that game as well. She threw all five innings, finishing with five strikeouts.
Against Bryant in the semifinal round, Cabot overcame a 3-0 deficit with three runs scored in the fifth inning, which tied the game at 3-3 and eventually sent it to extra innings.
McCluskey, Goodnight and Felder led the Lady Panthers at the plate against the Lady Hornets. Each of them had two hits. McCluskey pitched the latter part of that game and earned the win in the circle as a result.
Cabot played its first pair of 7A/6A-East Conference games in a doubleheader at Searcy last night after deadlines, and the Lady Panthers will play another conference doubleheader Friday at home against Marion. The first game Friday is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
Wednesday, April 01, 2015
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
EDITORIAL >> Broken glass still lies in parking lot
Someone’s sideview mirror must have broken during a visit to the Jacksonville post office during the ice storm early last month.
There’s broken glass in two parking spots in front of the entrance, but most visitors don’t realize they parked their cars on the glass and stepped on it until it’s too late. They’ll mutter something unmentionable here, although post office employees must see the glass every day as they cross the parking lot to get the mail out of the mail boxes in the evening.
The employees have been told several times about the broken glass. Some of them shrug and say they’ll tell someone to clean it up. Others are busy making dinner plans with their spouses on the phone. Don’t they have a broom and a dust pan at the post office?
There’s broken glass in two parking spots in front of the entrance, but most visitors don’t realize they parked their cars on the glass and stepped on it until it’s too late. They’ll mutter something unmentionable here, although post office employees must see the glass every day as they cross the parking lot to get the mail out of the mail boxes in the evening.
The employees have been told several times about the broken glass. Some of them shrug and say they’ll tell someone to clean it up. Others are busy making dinner plans with their spouses on the phone. Don’t they have a broom and a dust pan at the post office?
EDITORIAL >> District says it will be fair
The Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District is not quite off the ground yet — it’s still a two-person operation with a couple of part-timers and an interim school board — but teachers are concerned about future pay and even if they’ll have a job once the district completes its separation from the Pulaski County Special School District.
Interim Superintendent Bobby Lester and Phyllis Stewart, his chief of staff, want to calm fears about salaries and staffing, although nothing is final until a personnel policy committee and ultimately the state, which still controls the county district, approve them.
But Lester and Stewart, both veterans of the Pulaski County Special School District, insist that starting teachers in Jacksonville can count on better pay than those in the PCSSD. They admit that veteran teachers, once they join the Jacksonville district, will probably make less since the new district cannot afford to pay the high salaries achieved through seniority, which are among the most generous in the state.
Lester and Stewart say those high salaries and fringe benefits helped make PCSSD insolvent, which resulted in the state taking the district over. That takeover continues as Jacksonville looks to running its own district in 2016-17.
More than 310 PCSSD teachers could then apply to work for the new district. Some may not get hired as Jacksonville and North Pulaski High Schools will merge by then and fewer teachers will be needed. They might apply elsewhere or retire. A 10 percent reduction in personnel could save the district millions of dollars a year.
That figure could be determined by the number of students who will attend the new district. Some students may leave, while new ones might sign up if they like what the new district is doing. Lester and Stewart say new principals will be hired, as will be bus drivers and others, but some jobs will be eliminated, including a band director and executive positions as the district reduces the number of schools.
A new superintendent will start July 1, when Lester will step down, having helped bring the new district into existence. Much more work remains to be done as they negotiate with PCSSD on how to divide the district’s assets.
The district will soon move into permanent quarters to help launch a new era for Jacksonville far from Dixon Road headquarters in Little Rock. They’re off to a good start.
Interim Superintendent Bobby Lester and Phyllis Stewart, his chief of staff, want to calm fears about salaries and staffing, although nothing is final until a personnel policy committee and ultimately the state, which still controls the county district, approve them.
But Lester and Stewart, both veterans of the Pulaski County Special School District, insist that starting teachers in Jacksonville can count on better pay than those in the PCSSD. They admit that veteran teachers, once they join the Jacksonville district, will probably make less since the new district cannot afford to pay the high salaries achieved through seniority, which are among the most generous in the state.
Lester and Stewart say those high salaries and fringe benefits helped make PCSSD insolvent, which resulted in the state taking the district over. That takeover continues as Jacksonville looks to running its own district in 2016-17.
More than 310 PCSSD teachers could then apply to work for the new district. Some may not get hired as Jacksonville and North Pulaski High Schools will merge by then and fewer teachers will be needed. They might apply elsewhere or retire. A 10 percent reduction in personnel could save the district millions of dollars a year.
That figure could be determined by the number of students who will attend the new district. Some students may leave, while new ones might sign up if they like what the new district is doing. Lester and Stewart say new principals will be hired, as will be bus drivers and others, but some jobs will be eliminated, including a band director and executive positions as the district reduces the number of schools.
A new superintendent will start July 1, when Lester will step down, having helped bring the new district into existence. Much more work remains to be done as they negotiate with PCSSD on how to divide the district’s assets.
The district will soon move into permanent quarters to help launch a new era for Jacksonville far from Dixon Road headquarters in Little Rock. They’re off to a good start.
TOP STORY >> Tycoon who built Sherwood
By DARRELL W. BROWN
Sherwood History Commission
Justin Matthews Sr. was a prominent Arkansas businessman, real estate developer and community leader best known for his role in the development of the North Little Rock and Sherwood areas.
Matthews was born on a farm near Monticello, Arkansas, to Samuel James Matthews and Anna Wilson Matthews on Dec. 23, 1875. The Matthews were a very wealthy family in Drew County, as Samuel Matthews owned a law firm, a large nursery and a fruit business. Samuel Matthews also served as Drew County Judge and encouraged his son to study law, but Justin decided to pursue a career as a pharmacist.
He married Mary Agnes Somers in 1901; they had three children. Around that time, Matthews sold the three drugstores he owned in the Monticello area, and the couple moved to Little Rock. In 1902, Matthews founded the Rose City Cotton Oil Mill near the eastern edge of North Little Rock. A couple of years later, he invested the money made from his cottonseed oil business into real estate on both sides of the Arkansas River.
Within a short time of arriving in central Arkansas, Matthews was engaged in two controversial projects, one aimed at paving streets in North Little Rock and the other concerning the construction of two new bridges across the Arkansas River linking Little Rock and North Little Rock. According to his obituary, Matthews “circulated petitions in 1913 for the formation of two improvement districts to pave 152 blocks of North Little Rock streets, projects which had bitter opposition.” In addition, “when it was proposed in 1913 to build the present Main Street Bridge (across the Arkansas River), Mr. Matthews led a campaign to build the Broadway Bridge at the same time although many persons thought one bridge would be sufficient.” Both of these projects, financed publicly through improvement districts, were crucial to Matthews’ land development plans.
The early years of development in Park Hill — as Matthews christened the new residential area — were characterized by the construction of modest houses, usually bungalows or two-story, Craftsman-influenced residences. Aimed at first-time home buyers, houses in Park Hill were built as efficiently and inexpensively as possible by Matthews’ own company, first called the Matthews Land Company and later the Justin Matthews Company. Comparing his method of building houses to an automobile assembly line, Matthews announced in 1923: “We have launched into a home building campaign; we have built and equipped a complete wood work plant...(and) we are buying all materials in carload lots.” Although his plan called for Park Hill eventually to consist of 1,600 acres, the area was platted bit by bit as Matthews waited for several houses to be built in one section before opening another section for development.
In 1927, after six years of cautiously opening sections of Park Hill to a modest scale of development, Matthews apparently decided the time was ripe for a grander development that would compete for the upper-income residents who were buying homes almost exclusively in several recently opened “restricted” additions in Pulaski Heights. The plat of Edgemont in Park Hill, officially blocks 101 through 107 of the Park Hill Addition, was recorded in 1927 with typical deed restrictions of the year, notably one pertaining to the size and cost of houses and one to the race of property owners, who were required to be “wholly of the Caucasian Race.”
During the same time, he began building homes in the area on the Ark-Mo Highway (now Highway 107) north of North Little Rock, an area he named Sylvan Hills. As part of his plans for this subdivision, Matthews began building the Sylvan Hills Country Club (now known as The Greens at North Hills) in 1926. In 1927, Matthews was appointed to the Arkansas State Highway Commission by Governor John Martineau.
Unfortunately, the Great Depression complicated the opening of Edgemont in Park Hill and Sylvan Hills. Only 16 houses in Edgemont and a handful of homes in Sylvan Hills, including the Matthews-Clauson-McCullough House on Miller Road in Sherwood, were built before construction was brought to a halt.
From 1931 to 1933, Matthews developed a park in the Lakewood subdivision, which he named T. R. Pugh Memorial Park in honor of Thomas R. Pugh of Portland, Arkansas, who was a close friend and a benefactor of Matthews. Today, the park is more commonly known as “The Old Mill.” The park features a re-creation of an 1880s water-powered grist mill and other structures, which were designed and created by Mexican sculptor Dionicio Rodriguez.
In 1936, the Sinclair Refining Company operating as Pierce Oil contracted with Matthews’ company to build a uniquely-shaped filling station on Highway 67 between North Little Rock and Jacksonville. Now known as the Roundtop Filling Station, the historic building has been rehabilitated by the Sherwood History and Heritage Committee and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program for use as a police substation.
Matthews died on March 21, 1955, at his residence on Cherry Hill in North Little Rock. He was survived by his second wife, Robin, his first wife having died in 1933. Matthews is buried in Little Rock’s historic Mount Holly Cemetery. An Arkansas Gazette editorial paid tribute to the man who, “on the high ground overlooking North Little Rock,” had “transformed a wilderness into a great community with homes, stores, schools, churches and services.”
Sherwood History Commission
Justin Matthews Sr. was a prominent Arkansas businessman, real estate developer and community leader best known for his role in the development of the North Little Rock and Sherwood areas.
Matthews was born on a farm near Monticello, Arkansas, to Samuel James Matthews and Anna Wilson Matthews on Dec. 23, 1875. The Matthews were a very wealthy family in Drew County, as Samuel Matthews owned a law firm, a large nursery and a fruit business. Samuel Matthews also served as Drew County Judge and encouraged his son to study law, but Justin decided to pursue a career as a pharmacist.
He married Mary Agnes Somers in 1901; they had three children. Around that time, Matthews sold the three drugstores he owned in the Monticello area, and the couple moved to Little Rock. In 1902, Matthews founded the Rose City Cotton Oil Mill near the eastern edge of North Little Rock. A couple of years later, he invested the money made from his cottonseed oil business into real estate on both sides of the Arkansas River.
Within a short time of arriving in central Arkansas, Matthews was engaged in two controversial projects, one aimed at paving streets in North Little Rock and the other concerning the construction of two new bridges across the Arkansas River linking Little Rock and North Little Rock. According to his obituary, Matthews “circulated petitions in 1913 for the formation of two improvement districts to pave 152 blocks of North Little Rock streets, projects which had bitter opposition.” In addition, “when it was proposed in 1913 to build the present Main Street Bridge (across the Arkansas River), Mr. Matthews led a campaign to build the Broadway Bridge at the same time although many persons thought one bridge would be sufficient.” Both of these projects, financed publicly through improvement districts, were crucial to Matthews’ land development plans.
The early years of development in Park Hill — as Matthews christened the new residential area — were characterized by the construction of modest houses, usually bungalows or two-story, Craftsman-influenced residences. Aimed at first-time home buyers, houses in Park Hill were built as efficiently and inexpensively as possible by Matthews’ own company, first called the Matthews Land Company and later the Justin Matthews Company. Comparing his method of building houses to an automobile assembly line, Matthews announced in 1923: “We have launched into a home building campaign; we have built and equipped a complete wood work plant...(and) we are buying all materials in carload lots.” Although his plan called for Park Hill eventually to consist of 1,600 acres, the area was platted bit by bit as Matthews waited for several houses to be built in one section before opening another section for development.
In 1927, after six years of cautiously opening sections of Park Hill to a modest scale of development, Matthews apparently decided the time was ripe for a grander development that would compete for the upper-income residents who were buying homes almost exclusively in several recently opened “restricted” additions in Pulaski Heights. The plat of Edgemont in Park Hill, officially blocks 101 through 107 of the Park Hill Addition, was recorded in 1927 with typical deed restrictions of the year, notably one pertaining to the size and cost of houses and one to the race of property owners, who were required to be “wholly of the Caucasian Race.”
During the same time, he began building homes in the area on the Ark-Mo Highway (now Highway 107) north of North Little Rock, an area he named Sylvan Hills. As part of his plans for this subdivision, Matthews began building the Sylvan Hills Country Club (now known as The Greens at North Hills) in 1926. In 1927, Matthews was appointed to the Arkansas State Highway Commission by Governor John Martineau.
Unfortunately, the Great Depression complicated the opening of Edgemont in Park Hill and Sylvan Hills. Only 16 houses in Edgemont and a handful of homes in Sylvan Hills, including the Matthews-Clauson-McCullough House on Miller Road in Sherwood, were built before construction was brought to a halt.
From 1931 to 1933, Matthews developed a park in the Lakewood subdivision, which he named T. R. Pugh Memorial Park in honor of Thomas R. Pugh of Portland, Arkansas, who was a close friend and a benefactor of Matthews. Today, the park is more commonly known as “The Old Mill.” The park features a re-creation of an 1880s water-powered grist mill and other structures, which were designed and created by Mexican sculptor Dionicio Rodriguez.
In 1936, the Sinclair Refining Company operating as Pierce Oil contracted with Matthews’ company to build a uniquely-shaped filling station on Highway 67 between North Little Rock and Jacksonville. Now known as the Roundtop Filling Station, the historic building has been rehabilitated by the Sherwood History and Heritage Committee and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program for use as a police substation.
Matthews died on March 21, 1955, at his residence on Cherry Hill in North Little Rock. He was survived by his second wife, Robin, his first wife having died in 1933. Matthews is buried in Little Rock’s historic Mount Holly Cemetery. An Arkansas Gazette editorial paid tribute to the man who, “on the high ground overlooking North Little Rock,” had “transformed a wilderness into a great community with homes, stores, schools, churches and services.”
TOP STORY >> New life at old Hastings
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Game Zone Alpha, renamed The Game Store, has moved into the old Hastings building in Jacksonville and expanded its offerings by adding comic books and video games to board, tabletop and card games.
The grand opening is set for May 2, after a sign and more inventory arrives.
Owner Brian Blevins, who has run the Jacksonville business for eight years, called the relocation part of its “gradual evolution.”
A previous tenant of the Jacksonville Shopping Center on Main Street, he needed a bigger space and got an “amazing deal” on the twice-as-large, 20,000-square-foot facility.
The old Hastings building has been rewired and painted. A wall and private game rooms were also added.
Blevins is not hiring right now, but he and his staff of four are experts with several years of experience in their chosen subjects — comic books, Magic cards (the owner’s specialty) and board games.
Employee Brad James said, “Our whole goal is basically to bring a crossover...We’re not a jack of all trades and master of none. We’re a jack of all trades and master of all.”
Blevins touted The Game Store as one of the largest, if not the largest, of its kind in Arkansas. “I’ve been in many, many a game store, and I’m not just saying this because I own the store…This is light years beyond anything I imagined I could possible have,” he said.
The owner also asserted that it has the best selection of board games in the state.
“We were able to open an amazing comic book section,” Blevins continued, adding that he collects them and has issues people in Arkansas haven’t seen. “In my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined being able to do something like that.”
Blevins also brought his retro video game collection to the store and joked that, because hobbies and business shouldn’t mix, he’d have to find new hobbies.
Locals have thrown their support behind his venture, the owner added. And that’s great because Blevins “always wanted this place to be something great for the community.”
That is why his store is hosting several weekly events: family board game nights from 6 to 10 p.m. on Wednesdays, Friday Night Magic games from 6 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and tournaments nearly every day.
Also at the same time on Wednesdays, staffer John Stoltenberg hosts Dungeons and Dragons Encounters for new and old players of all skill levels. There isn’t enough time for the role-playing aspect, but the group engages in a two- or three-hour strategy games and helps new players learn how to play.
About the shop, Stoltenberg added, “It’s the best store in the state. We have the space. We have the selection. And, it may be a little conceited to say, but we have the staff.”
Two one-time festivities coming up are International TableTop Day on Saturday, April 11 and Free Comic Book Day, which coincides with the May 2 grand opening.
Those who register for the tabletop day will be entered into a drawing for game giveaways, and one lucky winner will receive free board games for a year from the store.
On Free Comic Book Day, customers may be able to pick up three free comics at the store.
And business has been “overwhelming” since the store had its soft opening two months ago, Blevins said.
Last weekend, 150 people came out to play games, he noted. “They were from all walks of life.”
One man thanked the owner for bringing together those who have a shared interest and providing a space where gender, racial and other bias could disappear.
The store is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from noon to midnight Friday through Saturday and from 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Blevins has also started a blog called “Talking Nerdy” and is looking into more innovative happenings that could be unveiled later.
The owner wanted to thank his family and friends, too. He said, without them, none of this would have been possible.
The Hastings building is Blevins’ fourth location. The business started at the Indian Hill Shopping Center in North Little Rock, but that shop was “burned to the ground” by an arsonist. It moved to Dupree Drive next and then to the Jacksonville Shopping Center.
Leader staff writer
Game Zone Alpha, renamed The Game Store, has moved into the old Hastings building in Jacksonville and expanded its offerings by adding comic books and video games to board, tabletop and card games.
The grand opening is set for May 2, after a sign and more inventory arrives.
Owner Brian Blevins, who has run the Jacksonville business for eight years, called the relocation part of its “gradual evolution.”
A previous tenant of the Jacksonville Shopping Center on Main Street, he needed a bigger space and got an “amazing deal” on the twice-as-large, 20,000-square-foot facility.
The old Hastings building has been rewired and painted. A wall and private game rooms were also added.
Blevins is not hiring right now, but he and his staff of four are experts with several years of experience in their chosen subjects — comic books, Magic cards (the owner’s specialty) and board games.
Employee Brad James said, “Our whole goal is basically to bring a crossover...We’re not a jack of all trades and master of none. We’re a jack of all trades and master of all.”
Blevins touted The Game Store as one of the largest, if not the largest, of its kind in Arkansas. “I’ve been in many, many a game store, and I’m not just saying this because I own the store…This is light years beyond anything I imagined I could possible have,” he said.
The owner also asserted that it has the best selection of board games in the state.
“We were able to open an amazing comic book section,” Blevins continued, adding that he collects them and has issues people in Arkansas haven’t seen. “In my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined being able to do something like that.”
Blevins also brought his retro video game collection to the store and joked that, because hobbies and business shouldn’t mix, he’d have to find new hobbies.
Locals have thrown their support behind his venture, the owner added. And that’s great because Blevins “always wanted this place to be something great for the community.”
That is why his store is hosting several weekly events: family board game nights from 6 to 10 p.m. on Wednesdays, Friday Night Magic games from 6 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and tournaments nearly every day.
Also at the same time on Wednesdays, staffer John Stoltenberg hosts Dungeons and Dragons Encounters for new and old players of all skill levels. There isn’t enough time for the role-playing aspect, but the group engages in a two- or three-hour strategy games and helps new players learn how to play.
About the shop, Stoltenberg added, “It’s the best store in the state. We have the space. We have the selection. And, it may be a little conceited to say, but we have the staff.”
Two one-time festivities coming up are International TableTop Day on Saturday, April 11 and Free Comic Book Day, which coincides with the May 2 grand opening.
Those who register for the tabletop day will be entered into a drawing for game giveaways, and one lucky winner will receive free board games for a year from the store.
On Free Comic Book Day, customers may be able to pick up three free comics at the store.
And business has been “overwhelming” since the store had its soft opening two months ago, Blevins said.
Last weekend, 150 people came out to play games, he noted. “They were from all walks of life.”
One man thanked the owner for bringing together those who have a shared interest and providing a space where gender, racial and other bias could disappear.
The store is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from noon to midnight Friday through Saturday and from 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Blevins has also started a blog called “Talking Nerdy” and is looking into more innovative happenings that could be unveiled later.
The owner wanted to thank his family and friends, too. He said, without them, none of this would have been possible.
The Hastings building is Blevins’ fourth location. The business started at the Indian Hill Shopping Center in North Little Rock, but that shop was “burned to the ground” by an arsonist. It moved to Dupree Drive next and then to the Jacksonville Shopping Center.
TOP STORY >> Community Center marks its 20th year
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
The Jacksonville Community Center is celebrating its 20-year milestone from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 11, with free admission all day.
There will be fitness classes, aquatic classes, kids activities, inflatables, music, refreshments and free T-shirts for the first 100 people.
Membership fees will be 20 percent off for six-month and one-year contracts.
Mayor Gary Fletcher said the community center is, “the jewel of the community. It has brought people from all around the region.”
Former Mayor Tommy Swaim said, “I think it’s been a great asset with the community, and I’m pleased with success of it.”
The $4 million community center opened April 10, 1995. Plans for the community center started rolling in 1992 with then-direction of parks director Annabelle Davis and the parks commission, led by Pat Bond.
“They did a lot of hard work,” said aquatics manager Diane Novotny, who has been with community center since it opened.
A special election was held and Jacksonville voters passed a one-cent sales tax to support the facility. At the same time, the millage rate on personal property taxes was reduced from five mills to two mills.
“We didn’t have to borrow money or sell bonds. We were able use the new incoming sales tax money to pay it off,” Swaim said.
He is proud that the community center stays busy.
“It has been used to recruit people and businesses to come to Jacksonville,” Swaim added.
Fletcher said it holds meetings that are scheduled for several days in a row, bringing in money, especially when visitors buy food here and stay at local hotels. Many cities have used the Jacksonville Community Center as a model in the construction of their own, he added.
Swaim said, at the time it was built, the center was one of the larger facilities in the area.
“It was built to serve the community,” Novotny said
Novotny said, before, people would have to go to Little Rock to swim at an indoor community pool.
She said plans for the community center at the time it was built were for the pool to have a hydraulic floor that raised and lowered its depth plus a slide. Four racquetball courts and small classrooms were also planned.
The community center banquet rooms have been used for town hall meetings, public education and college graduations. They are booked for weddings, receptions, chamber of commerce and air base functions. During the year, the center holds a coin, stamp, book and paper show. It has holiday craft sales, train shows, gem and mineral shows and is an election polling site.
Fletcher said the center could use larger meeting rooms.
Programs manager Marlo Jackson said the number of programs and attendance has increased over the years. The aquatics programs have always been popular.
“We are always looking for programs that will do more for the community,” Jackson said.
Novotny said the center tries to get the whole community involved, not just specific groups. “We are very diverse, with all ages, races, religions and cultures. We can adapt for people hard of hearing to using a seeing-eye dog,” she said.
While step aerobics and kickboxing have faded in popularity over the last 20 years, other programs have sprung up, like Zumba, fitness camps and Silver Sneakers program for seniors.
The community center also has a basketball and volleyball court, two racquetball courts, an indoor track, an outdoor track, a fitness mezzanine, aerobics rooms, a skate park and a farmer’s market pavilion.
Leader staff writer
The Jacksonville Community Center is celebrating its 20-year milestone from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 11, with free admission all day.
There will be fitness classes, aquatic classes, kids activities, inflatables, music, refreshments and free T-shirts for the first 100 people.
Membership fees will be 20 percent off for six-month and one-year contracts.
Mayor Gary Fletcher said the community center is, “the jewel of the community. It has brought people from all around the region.”
Former Mayor Tommy Swaim said, “I think it’s been a great asset with the community, and I’m pleased with success of it.”
The $4 million community center opened April 10, 1995. Plans for the community center started rolling in 1992 with then-direction of parks director Annabelle Davis and the parks commission, led by Pat Bond.
“They did a lot of hard work,” said aquatics manager Diane Novotny, who has been with community center since it opened.
A special election was held and Jacksonville voters passed a one-cent sales tax to support the facility. At the same time, the millage rate on personal property taxes was reduced from five mills to two mills.
“We didn’t have to borrow money or sell bonds. We were able use the new incoming sales tax money to pay it off,” Swaim said.
He is proud that the community center stays busy.
“It has been used to recruit people and businesses to come to Jacksonville,” Swaim added.
Fletcher said it holds meetings that are scheduled for several days in a row, bringing in money, especially when visitors buy food here and stay at local hotels. Many cities have used the Jacksonville Community Center as a model in the construction of their own, he added.
Swaim said, at the time it was built, the center was one of the larger facilities in the area.
“It was built to serve the community,” Novotny said
Novotny said, before, people would have to go to Little Rock to swim at an indoor community pool.
She said plans for the community center at the time it was built were for the pool to have a hydraulic floor that raised and lowered its depth plus a slide. Four racquetball courts and small classrooms were also planned.
The community center banquet rooms have been used for town hall meetings, public education and college graduations. They are booked for weddings, receptions, chamber of commerce and air base functions. During the year, the center holds a coin, stamp, book and paper show. It has holiday craft sales, train shows, gem and mineral shows and is an election polling site.
Fletcher said the center could use larger meeting rooms.
Programs manager Marlo Jackson said the number of programs and attendance has increased over the years. The aquatics programs have always been popular.
“We are always looking for programs that will do more for the community,” Jackson said.
Novotny said the center tries to get the whole community involved, not just specific groups. “We are very diverse, with all ages, races, religions and cultures. We can adapt for people hard of hearing to using a seeing-eye dog,” she said.
While step aerobics and kickboxing have faded in popularity over the last 20 years, other programs have sprung up, like Zumba, fitness camps and Silver Sneakers program for seniors.
The community center also has a basketball and volleyball court, two racquetball courts, an indoor track, an outdoor track, a fitness mezzanine, aerobics rooms, a skate park and a farmer’s market pavilion.
TOP STORY>> Air Force hit with $10B in budget cuts
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Barring a last-minute deal — and none is in sight — sequestration will force cuts at Little Rock Air Force Base and steep cuts to the 2016 military budget, but keep $96 billion earmarked for the discretionary overseas military contingencies, according to a spokesman for Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.).
Similar versions of the 2016 budget passed both the House and Senate last week and are being resolved in the Joint Budget Conference, according to Chad Sybnor, Boozman’s military legislative assistant. The new budget should be law within the next month or so.
The 2015 federal budget expires Sept. 30, and the 2016 budget under consideration begins Oct. 1.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James wants $10 billion above what sequestration-level funding provides to meet its global responsibilities. Otherwise, she said, every part of the Air Force would be touched, including a new round of furloughs and cuts in research and active-duty personnel.
The Republican-controlled Congress wants to spend about $38 billion less on defense than the Pentagon has requested.
BUDGET CAPPED
“Right now, we are anticipating continuation of the Budget Control Act of 2011,” Sybnor said. “Back in 2013, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) worked out a deal, which raised defense budget caps. That’s expiring.”
He said the Defense Department maintenance and operation will be capped at $499 billion. The war fighting and other overseas contingency, which is not subject to sequestration, will be $96 billion and is not in the budget.
Sybnor said the only flexibility open to the Air Force’s base budget on larger appropriations would be changes within line-item components, and only then with approval of armed services committees.
He said no new military construction is in the budget for Little Rock Air Force Base, but that funding continues in an effort to find alternatives to the avionics modernization program for C-130Hs. The AMP was grounded about three years ago as it was too expensive.
“The Air Force and the National Guard Bureau have all publicly stated they want alternatives to the current AMP,” Sybnor said. “We want to get the older C-130s compliant with new national airspace regulations taking effect in 2020.”
Air Force Secretary James spoke out as recently as March 24 against planned reductions.
“We are literally standing on a precipice,” James told the Council on Foreign Relations last week.
“We’ve got to stop downsizing,” she said. “We’ve been going through this for 20 years.
THREE-PART STRATEGY
On one side of that precipice is the ability of the Air Force and the military to carry out its three-part mandate.
“A lot is expected of us as the best (Air Force) in the world,” James said. “On the other side is sequester.”
The military’s charge is three-fold — to maintain a force with the ability to defeat an adversary in one part of the world, to meet and deny a separate adversary in another and to defend the homeland.
“Sequestration is the dark cloud up ahead and it could affect us in readiness,” Col. Patrick Rhatigan told The Leader in late February.
Rhatigan, commander of Little Rock Air Force Base, said eventually the Air Force has to get back to pre-sequestration funding levels and beyond.
“We took a hit in Little Rock on flying, then got some relief in FY 2015, and we thought we turned the corner,” the colonel said.
But sequestration again will be imposed by Congress this year unless there’s a compromise.
He said that other programs could fall off the plan, including modernization, facilities and infrastructure.
SEQUSTRATION REDUCTIONS
The furlough that began in May 2013 affected 650 civilian workers at Little Rock Air Force Base and about half of the 800,000 throughout the military.
Originally, those civilian workers were expected to be laid off one day a week for 22 weeks, but then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel reduced that to 11 days, then to six.
Sequestration changes at the base included reorganizing the four wings to increase savings through efficiency in organizing, training and equipping airmen, Brig. Gen. select Brian Robinson, 19th Airlift Wing commander, said at the time.
The base curtailed non-readiness or non-mission-essential flying and travel, curtailed or stopped minor purchases, such as furniture and information technology refresh, implemented a civilian hiring freeze and decreased aircrew temporary duty travel, a spokesman said.
The 19th Airlift Wing cut its flying hours by 35 percent.
THREE EMERGENCIES
With the winddown of the war in Afghanistan, the Air Force plan to “regroup, retrain and reset went out the window,” James said. “When Russia invaded Ukraine, ISIS began a calculated offensive and the U.S. got involved in preventing an Ebola pandemic.”
Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, James said Congress needed to lift sequestration.
“It would allow for the most pressing needs of combatant commanders and make the most important investments,” she said.
READINESS V. PREPARATION
“We need a new balance between readiness for today and preparation for tomorrow. We need vital space programs, weapons systems sustainment and flight time,” the Air Force secretary said.
“We need modernization—to strengthen our nuclear enterprise and upgrade important weapons systems and to make every dollar count, not to pay more and more for less and less. That includes maximizing energy savings and reducing headquarters spending.”
She also called for a new round of base realignment and closure studies, but noted that the current finding that the military had 30 percent excess capacity didn’t mean 30 percent more bases than needed.
“We need to free up what we can and plow it back into readiness,” the secretary said.
Leader senior staff writer
Barring a last-minute deal — and none is in sight — sequestration will force cuts at Little Rock Air Force Base and steep cuts to the 2016 military budget, but keep $96 billion earmarked for the discretionary overseas military contingencies, according to a spokesman for Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.).
Similar versions of the 2016 budget passed both the House and Senate last week and are being resolved in the Joint Budget Conference, according to Chad Sybnor, Boozman’s military legislative assistant. The new budget should be law within the next month or so.
The 2015 federal budget expires Sept. 30, and the 2016 budget under consideration begins Oct. 1.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James wants $10 billion above what sequestration-level funding provides to meet its global responsibilities. Otherwise, she said, every part of the Air Force would be touched, including a new round of furloughs and cuts in research and active-duty personnel.
The Republican-controlled Congress wants to spend about $38 billion less on defense than the Pentagon has requested.
BUDGET CAPPED
“Right now, we are anticipating continuation of the Budget Control Act of 2011,” Sybnor said. “Back in 2013, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) worked out a deal, which raised defense budget caps. That’s expiring.”
He said the Defense Department maintenance and operation will be capped at $499 billion. The war fighting and other overseas contingency, which is not subject to sequestration, will be $96 billion and is not in the budget.
Sybnor said the only flexibility open to the Air Force’s base budget on larger appropriations would be changes within line-item components, and only then with approval of armed services committees.
He said no new military construction is in the budget for Little Rock Air Force Base, but that funding continues in an effort to find alternatives to the avionics modernization program for C-130Hs. The AMP was grounded about three years ago as it was too expensive.
“The Air Force and the National Guard Bureau have all publicly stated they want alternatives to the current AMP,” Sybnor said. “We want to get the older C-130s compliant with new national airspace regulations taking effect in 2020.”
Air Force Secretary James spoke out as recently as March 24 against planned reductions.
“We are literally standing on a precipice,” James told the Council on Foreign Relations last week.
“We’ve got to stop downsizing,” she said. “We’ve been going through this for 20 years.
THREE-PART STRATEGY
On one side of that precipice is the ability of the Air Force and the military to carry out its three-part mandate.
“A lot is expected of us as the best (Air Force) in the world,” James said. “On the other side is sequester.”
The military’s charge is three-fold — to maintain a force with the ability to defeat an adversary in one part of the world, to meet and deny a separate adversary in another and to defend the homeland.
“Sequestration is the dark cloud up ahead and it could affect us in readiness,” Col. Patrick Rhatigan told The Leader in late February.
Rhatigan, commander of Little Rock Air Force Base, said eventually the Air Force has to get back to pre-sequestration funding levels and beyond.
“We took a hit in Little Rock on flying, then got some relief in FY 2015, and we thought we turned the corner,” the colonel said.
But sequestration again will be imposed by Congress this year unless there’s a compromise.
He said that other programs could fall off the plan, including modernization, facilities and infrastructure.
SEQUSTRATION REDUCTIONS
The furlough that began in May 2013 affected 650 civilian workers at Little Rock Air Force Base and about half of the 800,000 throughout the military.
Originally, those civilian workers were expected to be laid off one day a week for 22 weeks, but then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel reduced that to 11 days, then to six.
Sequestration changes at the base included reorganizing the four wings to increase savings through efficiency in organizing, training and equipping airmen, Brig. Gen. select Brian Robinson, 19th Airlift Wing commander, said at the time.
The base curtailed non-readiness or non-mission-essential flying and travel, curtailed or stopped minor purchases, such as furniture and information technology refresh, implemented a civilian hiring freeze and decreased aircrew temporary duty travel, a spokesman said.
The 19th Airlift Wing cut its flying hours by 35 percent.
THREE EMERGENCIES
With the winddown of the war in Afghanistan, the Air Force plan to “regroup, retrain and reset went out the window,” James said. “When Russia invaded Ukraine, ISIS began a calculated offensive and the U.S. got involved in preventing an Ebola pandemic.”
Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, James said Congress needed to lift sequestration.
“It would allow for the most pressing needs of combatant commanders and make the most important investments,” she said.
READINESS V. PREPARATION
“We need a new balance between readiness for today and preparation for tomorrow. We need vital space programs, weapons systems sustainment and flight time,” the Air Force secretary said.
“We need modernization—to strengthen our nuclear enterprise and upgrade important weapons systems and to make every dollar count, not to pay more and more for less and less. That includes maximizing energy savings and reducing headquarters spending.”
She also called for a new round of base realignment and closure studies, but noted that the current finding that the military had 30 percent excess capacity didn’t mean 30 percent more bases than needed.
“We need to free up what we can and plow it back into readiness,” the secretary said.
Monday, March 30, 2015
TOP STORY >> Loans will modernize businesses' power use
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
The Pulaski County Quorum Court has established a creative funding mechanism that allows commercial property owners to borrow money to improve energy efficiency, install renewable energy or promote water conservation improvements on their property through a new Energy Improvement District Board, according to County Judge Barry Hyde.
An ordinance approved this week establishes a seven-member board to oversee PACE, Property Assessed Clean Energy district, and Hyde’s been busy trying to get the cities to buy in.
The program is not for residential housing, according to County Attorney Amanda Mitchell, because two of the largest lenders in the nation — Fanny Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association,) and Freddy Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) — won’t accept it.
The funding mechanism could be through the sale of bonds, private funds or public funds, according Mitchell.
Hyde or his designate will sit on that board. He’ll nominate and the quorum court will approve qualified people for the other six seats.
Fayetteville has a PACE program, a turnkey operation which is both funded and administered by a third party, according to Mitchell.
The state General Assembly passed a law in 2013 to allow formation of such districts.
Mitchell said Little Rock and North Little Rock seem to be on board and Hyde has reached out to the mayors of Sherwood and Jacksonville, even though it appears that the county has the authority to implement the program throughout, even in incorporated areas.
“I met with the county judge, and he’s wanting to come out in a couple of weeks to see about getting the city involved,” said Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher. “I think it has a lot of merit. It saves money, and it’s a green initiative, reducing the businesses’ carbon footprint.”
“He’s going to come to our Rotary meeting April 15 to talk about it,” said Sherwood Mayor Virginia Hillman. “It sounds like it could be a good thing for us,” she said. “I need to get some more information.”
“This ordinance is a job creator,” says Hyde. “Pulaski County is leading the way with smart options for developers and property owners by creating the state’s largest PACE district. PACE financing will provide a practical way to save energy, reduce emissions and improve air quality while adding to the value of property. Through PACE, Pulaski County is demonstrating its commitment to renewable energy development, energy efficiency and the creation of local jobs.”
A commercial enterprise anywhere in Pulaski County, not just the unincorporated areas, could apply for money — $25,000 or more — to make their building or enterprise more energy efficient or renewable or to conserve water.
A properly set up deal would essentially be free to the property owner because the loan payments would be less than the amount saved by a new, more efficient system.
PACE is an innovative financing program that allows property owners to borrow 100 percent of project costs and pay for them through a special assessment on their annual property tax bill.
The board or its designate would check to see that the payment on the borrowed money would not exceed the money saved for the project and that the enterprise’s cash flow was sufficient.
Once a property owner decides to make a qualified improvement to his property, a PACE loan will pay for 100 percent of the project and a PACE lien will be added to the property assessment.
PACE liens will be paid on an annual basis with property taxes until the loan is satisfied.
The U.S. Energy Department estimates that, if all businesses and institutions in this county took advantage of the cost-effective upgrades, the country’s average annual energy use could be reduced by 25 percent.
“Through job creation and lower energy bills, every dollar invested will produce a positive return in savings,” according to the judge’s office.
A recent joint-study released by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University estimated the creation of nearly 11,000 new Arkansas jobs in the next 15 years and $1.7 billion in total energy savings.
Arkansas residents spent $3.2 billion on electricity in 2007 alone.
The program should be up and running by this fall, Mitchell said.
Leader senior staff writer
The Pulaski County Quorum Court has established a creative funding mechanism that allows commercial property owners to borrow money to improve energy efficiency, install renewable energy or promote water conservation improvements on their property through a new Energy Improvement District Board, according to County Judge Barry Hyde.
An ordinance approved this week establishes a seven-member board to oversee PACE, Property Assessed Clean Energy district, and Hyde’s been busy trying to get the cities to buy in.
The program is not for residential housing, according to County Attorney Amanda Mitchell, because two of the largest lenders in the nation — Fanny Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association,) and Freddy Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) — won’t accept it.
The funding mechanism could be through the sale of bonds, private funds or public funds, according Mitchell.
Hyde or his designate will sit on that board. He’ll nominate and the quorum court will approve qualified people for the other six seats.
Fayetteville has a PACE program, a turnkey operation which is both funded and administered by a third party, according to Mitchell.
The state General Assembly passed a law in 2013 to allow formation of such districts.
Mitchell said Little Rock and North Little Rock seem to be on board and Hyde has reached out to the mayors of Sherwood and Jacksonville, even though it appears that the county has the authority to implement the program throughout, even in incorporated areas.
“I met with the county judge, and he’s wanting to come out in a couple of weeks to see about getting the city involved,” said Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher. “I think it has a lot of merit. It saves money, and it’s a green initiative, reducing the businesses’ carbon footprint.”
“He’s going to come to our Rotary meeting April 15 to talk about it,” said Sherwood Mayor Virginia Hillman. “It sounds like it could be a good thing for us,” she said. “I need to get some more information.”
“This ordinance is a job creator,” says Hyde. “Pulaski County is leading the way with smart options for developers and property owners by creating the state’s largest PACE district. PACE financing will provide a practical way to save energy, reduce emissions and improve air quality while adding to the value of property. Through PACE, Pulaski County is demonstrating its commitment to renewable energy development, energy efficiency and the creation of local jobs.”
A commercial enterprise anywhere in Pulaski County, not just the unincorporated areas, could apply for money — $25,000 or more — to make their building or enterprise more energy efficient or renewable or to conserve water.
A properly set up deal would essentially be free to the property owner because the loan payments would be less than the amount saved by a new, more efficient system.
PACE is an innovative financing program that allows property owners to borrow 100 percent of project costs and pay for them through a special assessment on their annual property tax bill.
The board or its designate would check to see that the payment on the borrowed money would not exceed the money saved for the project and that the enterprise’s cash flow was sufficient.
Once a property owner decides to make a qualified improvement to his property, a PACE loan will pay for 100 percent of the project and a PACE lien will be added to the property assessment.
PACE liens will be paid on an annual basis with property taxes until the loan is satisfied.
The U.S. Energy Department estimates that, if all businesses and institutions in this county took advantage of the cost-effective upgrades, the country’s average annual energy use could be reduced by 25 percent.
“Through job creation and lower energy bills, every dollar invested will produce a positive return in savings,” according to the judge’s office.
A recent joint-study released by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University estimated the creation of nearly 11,000 new Arkansas jobs in the next 15 years and $1.7 billion in total energy savings.
Arkansas residents spent $3.2 billion on electricity in 2007 alone.
The program should be up and running by this fall, Mitchell said.
TOP STORY >> First-term reflections
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Three first-time state legislators representing The Leader’s coverage area have been hard at work and learning the ropes this session.
They sponsored a combined 34 bills and co-sponsored countless other measures. Several of their bills have been signed into law.
TIM LEMONS
Rep. Tim Lemons (R-Cabot), a former Lonoke County justice of the peace, sponsored 12 bills plus a resolution.
Of the session, he said, “It has been amazing, humbling…It has been an awesome experience, one that I will treasure forever. I really feel like this is where I need to be politically.”
Lemons added that he’d made life-long friends.
The first of his bills to become state law helps free up county monies.
Quorum courts are required to allocate only 90 percent of their anticipated revenues, and the other 10 percent must be set aside for use in an emergency, Lemons explained.
His bill doesn’t change that but instead removes three offices — those of the treasurer, collector and assessor — from being included in the total budget of which only 90 percent can be allocated.
Lemons said the new law would have helped Lonoke on its last budget, when the budgets of those three offices made up $1 million of a $7 million total and $700,000 was set aside. Instead of $700,000, the quorum court could have set aside $600,000 and had another $100,000 to use.
Lemons added that the budgets of those offices are separate from the general fund budget in other instances. The “common-sense” approach has the approval of auditors, and the idea originated with Lonoke County Treasurer Patti Weathers several years ago, he noted.
The freshman legislator is particularly proud of his bill that establishes a suicide prevention council. Both houses have approved the measure.
Veterans, the survivor of a suicide attempt, house and state representatives, an attorney general’s office staffer and others will serve on the council.
There have been different agencies addressing the same problem but not working together, Lemons explained. “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing; they’re spinning their wheels…There is no doubt this will save some lives.”
He said Arkansas receives a $760,000 grant every year for suicide prevention and lawmakers didn’t know which group to give that to.
The bill would have it go to the council and “we’re bringing as many people into this as we possibly can to make this thing successful,” Lemons said.
The resolution he sponsored asks that the post office assign mailing addresses to annexed areas that match the city they annexed into.
He explained how this issue impacted Ward and Austin when homes annexed into Ward had Austin mailing addresses.
Sales taxes were sent to Austin, which had to forward them to Ward. Then the annexed homeowners had to provide a letter to their insurance providers stating that they were in Ward city limits to avoid being overcharged because Ward’s fire rating is better than Austin’s.
The resolution, unanimously approved by both houses at the state level, has been sent to Congressman Rick Crawford and Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton.
Of the measure, Lemons said, “We can’t tell (the post office) what to do, but we can persuade them on what to do.” And, he noted, another state’s effort to do the same was a success.
A second annexation-related piece of legislation, which has been sent to the governor for his signature, allows an annexed area to leave one city for another if the first city fails to provide utility service within 18 months.
Lemons also sponsored three firearm-related bills.
One, which is in committee, would allow elected officials who work in a courthouse and have a concealed carry permit to possess their firearms while on the job.
Another, which was sent to the governor’s office, would let auxiliary police officers carry their service weapons when they are not on duty — just like full- and part-time officers can.
The third, sent to the governor’s office for signing, would give law enforcement chiefs who have to sign off on applications by gun owners who want to modify their firearms 15 days to take action on an application.
Lemons said some chiefs, because of their personal beliefs, have sat on applications, hoping the applicant would forget about his or her plans.
After the 15 days, the bill would allow the applicant an appeal to the district judge, who would then determine whether there is a reason their request should not be approved. If there is not, the judge can then order the chief to sign it.
Another of Lemons’ bills, passed by both houses, gives “direction” to funds already in the budget that support programs for kids with autism so that about 50 more kids can receive help without any tax increase and at no additional cost to the state.
One bill he sponsored that is now law protects someone buying a house by having the warranty that covers foundation repair stay with a home rather than follow its previous owner.
Two bills deal with elections — one returned by committee with the recommendation that it do pass streamlines the way they are run, Lemons said, while the other, which is awaiting votes by both houses, allows officials to have things like bumper stickers that support an issue as long as the official doesn’t endorse a candidate.
His final bill, which likely won’t be acted on until the legislature sees what money is available after recently approved tax cuts are implemented, makes it to where a company that donates goods won’t be charged sales tax on those goods.
KARILYN BROWN
“Everything is going well. I think the freshmen are getting a good rapport, being efficient, moving through the bills,” said Rep. Karilyn Brown (R-Sherwood). “It’s a learning process, but I am enjoying it.
It has been a tiring session, she continued. “It’ll be nice to have a little time to spend with some constituents” when it wraps up, Brown said.
She serves on the transportation committee and helped pass a bill that would help the state determine whether charging taxes based on mileage would be a better way to fund highways.
The program it could participate in would accept 5,000 volunteers. The volunteers would attach GPS devices to their vehicles that would track miles driven on Arkansas roads.
Brown explained that other states are doing this and the program could lead to those driving through the state but not purchasing gas here still paying their fair share for using Ark-ansas highways.
Her other bills allow the Department of Human Services access to paternity statements for use in child support cases and requires transparency when the attorney general’s office hires independent lawyers.
The paternity bill is now law, while the other has been delivered to the governor’s office.
One of Brown’s bills didn’t get very far, she said. It would have required delegates sent to a constitutional convention to refrain from voting on any measure they weren’t sent there to vote on.
CAMILLE BENNETT
“It’s a lot of work crammed into a very short period of time,” Rep. Camille Bennett (D-Lonoke) said of the session. “Forging relationships and getting things done is a real challenge.”
She continued, “There’s been a lot of really good bipartisan cooperation and open channels of communication…I feel very honored to be here. You can’t help but walk into that room and think of all the people that have come before you, the humility of being in that place.”
Both houses have passed most of her 19 bills. Nine are now laws.
One that didn’t make it was quite a disappointment, Bennett said.
Right now, committees can ask for a fiscal impact study on any bill that shows likely savings, expenses and how it would affect existing laws.
Her bill would have expanded that by having the study also show how probable it is that the bill, upon becoming law, would be constitutionally challenged and how much the state would likely have to spend on defending its constitutionality.
“Completely down party lines, it was defeated in committee,” Bennett said of the measure.
But she was proud of a bill that is now a law requiring DNA testing when someone is arrested for a felony offense. That law existed in 28 states already, Bennett said, and could exonerate individuals or tie them to other crimes.
And, she continued, “It’s going to cost the state almost nothing” because a grant would cover the $30 kits needed for the first year.
Another bill allows employers to provide references electronically and those hiring the former worker to check their references within six months of that worker signing a release. Both houses passed that measure.
The state is in the process of turning district courts into full-time courts, Bennett said about her next bill, which extended the deadline from 2017 to 2021 for that transition.
She said the measure would save counties money and keep current part-time judges, especially in Lonoke County, happy because several were not ready to work on a full-time basis.
One bill removes the mandatory $10 credit on a traffic ticket drivers received for wearing their seatbelts.
Municipal courts were sued over the matter because it couldn’t be proven whether drivers were wearing their seatbelts during a violation, Bennett explained.
Her bill, which was passed by both houses, would allow the credit to still be given, but it wouldn’t be automatic like before.
Another of Bennett’s bills that is now law better defines how long certain records must be kept.
And one bill, re-referred to a committee, levies a $25 fine on those who commit a violent crime in front of or to a child. The fine would go to help kids who witness or are victims of violent crimes.
Bennett said the legislature has been working as a whole to improve workforce training.
She’s helped by supporting measures that put more money into current programs and encourage two- and four-year colleges to add programs and provide scholarships for students interested in enrolling in them.
The governor, Bennett continued, has spearheaded a new criminal justice reform act that “if properly funded, it should make a huge difference, a direct, immediate difference.”
It institutes a drug court-system to provide substance-abuse treatment to those charged with crimes like possession and sets up regional detention facilities for inmates transferring to state prisons. They’re currently housed in overcrowded and underfunded county jails.
Rep. Bob Johnson (D-Jacksonville) and Rep. Donnie Copeland (R-North Little Rock), who represents a slice of Sherwood, did not return calls from The Leader by press time.
Johnson sponsored 10 bills and Copeland sponsored nine.
Leader staff writer
Three first-time state legislators representing The Leader’s coverage area have been hard at work and learning the ropes this session.
They sponsored a combined 34 bills and co-sponsored countless other measures. Several of their bills have been signed into law.
TIM LEMONS
Rep. Tim Lemons (R-Cabot), a former Lonoke County justice of the peace, sponsored 12 bills plus a resolution.
Of the session, he said, “It has been amazing, humbling…It has been an awesome experience, one that I will treasure forever. I really feel like this is where I need to be politically.”
Lemons added that he’d made life-long friends.
The first of his bills to become state law helps free up county monies.
Quorum courts are required to allocate only 90 percent of their anticipated revenues, and the other 10 percent must be set aside for use in an emergency, Lemons explained.
His bill doesn’t change that but instead removes three offices — those of the treasurer, collector and assessor — from being included in the total budget of which only 90 percent can be allocated.
Lemons said the new law would have helped Lonoke on its last budget, when the budgets of those three offices made up $1 million of a $7 million total and $700,000 was set aside. Instead of $700,000, the quorum court could have set aside $600,000 and had another $100,000 to use.
Lemons added that the budgets of those offices are separate from the general fund budget in other instances. The “common-sense” approach has the approval of auditors, and the idea originated with Lonoke County Treasurer Patti Weathers several years ago, he noted.
The freshman legislator is particularly proud of his bill that establishes a suicide prevention council. Both houses have approved the measure.
Veterans, the survivor of a suicide attempt, house and state representatives, an attorney general’s office staffer and others will serve on the council.
There have been different agencies addressing the same problem but not working together, Lemons explained. “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing; they’re spinning their wheels…There is no doubt this will save some lives.”
He said Arkansas receives a $760,000 grant every year for suicide prevention and lawmakers didn’t know which group to give that to.
The bill would have it go to the council and “we’re bringing as many people into this as we possibly can to make this thing successful,” Lemons said.
The resolution he sponsored asks that the post office assign mailing addresses to annexed areas that match the city they annexed into.
He explained how this issue impacted Ward and Austin when homes annexed into Ward had Austin mailing addresses.
Sales taxes were sent to Austin, which had to forward them to Ward. Then the annexed homeowners had to provide a letter to their insurance providers stating that they were in Ward city limits to avoid being overcharged because Ward’s fire rating is better than Austin’s.
The resolution, unanimously approved by both houses at the state level, has been sent to Congressman Rick Crawford and Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton.
Of the measure, Lemons said, “We can’t tell (the post office) what to do, but we can persuade them on what to do.” And, he noted, another state’s effort to do the same was a success.
A second annexation-related piece of legislation, which has been sent to the governor for his signature, allows an annexed area to leave one city for another if the first city fails to provide utility service within 18 months.
Lemons also sponsored three firearm-related bills.
One, which is in committee, would allow elected officials who work in a courthouse and have a concealed carry permit to possess their firearms while on the job.
Another, which was sent to the governor’s office, would let auxiliary police officers carry their service weapons when they are not on duty — just like full- and part-time officers can.
The third, sent to the governor’s office for signing, would give law enforcement chiefs who have to sign off on applications by gun owners who want to modify their firearms 15 days to take action on an application.
Lemons said some chiefs, because of their personal beliefs, have sat on applications, hoping the applicant would forget about his or her plans.
After the 15 days, the bill would allow the applicant an appeal to the district judge, who would then determine whether there is a reason their request should not be approved. If there is not, the judge can then order the chief to sign it.
Another of Lemons’ bills, passed by both houses, gives “direction” to funds already in the budget that support programs for kids with autism so that about 50 more kids can receive help without any tax increase and at no additional cost to the state.
One bill he sponsored that is now law protects someone buying a house by having the warranty that covers foundation repair stay with a home rather than follow its previous owner.
Two bills deal with elections — one returned by committee with the recommendation that it do pass streamlines the way they are run, Lemons said, while the other, which is awaiting votes by both houses, allows officials to have things like bumper stickers that support an issue as long as the official doesn’t endorse a candidate.
His final bill, which likely won’t be acted on until the legislature sees what money is available after recently approved tax cuts are implemented, makes it to where a company that donates goods won’t be charged sales tax on those goods.
KARILYN BROWN
“Everything is going well. I think the freshmen are getting a good rapport, being efficient, moving through the bills,” said Rep. Karilyn Brown (R-Sherwood). “It’s a learning process, but I am enjoying it.
It has been a tiring session, she continued. “It’ll be nice to have a little time to spend with some constituents” when it wraps up, Brown said.
She serves on the transportation committee and helped pass a bill that would help the state determine whether charging taxes based on mileage would be a better way to fund highways.
The program it could participate in would accept 5,000 volunteers. The volunteers would attach GPS devices to their vehicles that would track miles driven on Arkansas roads.
Brown explained that other states are doing this and the program could lead to those driving through the state but not purchasing gas here still paying their fair share for using Ark-ansas highways.
Her other bills allow the Department of Human Services access to paternity statements for use in child support cases and requires transparency when the attorney general’s office hires independent lawyers.
The paternity bill is now law, while the other has been delivered to the governor’s office.
One of Brown’s bills didn’t get very far, she said. It would have required delegates sent to a constitutional convention to refrain from voting on any measure they weren’t sent there to vote on.
CAMILLE BENNETT
“It’s a lot of work crammed into a very short period of time,” Rep. Camille Bennett (D-Lonoke) said of the session. “Forging relationships and getting things done is a real challenge.”
She continued, “There’s been a lot of really good bipartisan cooperation and open channels of communication…I feel very honored to be here. You can’t help but walk into that room and think of all the people that have come before you, the humility of being in that place.”
Both houses have passed most of her 19 bills. Nine are now laws.
One that didn’t make it was quite a disappointment, Bennett said.
Right now, committees can ask for a fiscal impact study on any bill that shows likely savings, expenses and how it would affect existing laws.
Her bill would have expanded that by having the study also show how probable it is that the bill, upon becoming law, would be constitutionally challenged and how much the state would likely have to spend on defending its constitutionality.
“Completely down party lines, it was defeated in committee,” Bennett said of the measure.
But she was proud of a bill that is now a law requiring DNA testing when someone is arrested for a felony offense. That law existed in 28 states already, Bennett said, and could exonerate individuals or tie them to other crimes.
And, she continued, “It’s going to cost the state almost nothing” because a grant would cover the $30 kits needed for the first year.
Another bill allows employers to provide references electronically and those hiring the former worker to check their references within six months of that worker signing a release. Both houses passed that measure.
The state is in the process of turning district courts into full-time courts, Bennett said about her next bill, which extended the deadline from 2017 to 2021 for that transition.
She said the measure would save counties money and keep current part-time judges, especially in Lonoke County, happy because several were not ready to work on a full-time basis.
One bill removes the mandatory $10 credit on a traffic ticket drivers received for wearing their seatbelts.
Municipal courts were sued over the matter because it couldn’t be proven whether drivers were wearing their seatbelts during a violation, Bennett explained.
Her bill, which was passed by both houses, would allow the credit to still be given, but it wouldn’t be automatic like before.
Another of Bennett’s bills that is now law better defines how long certain records must be kept.
And one bill, re-referred to a committee, levies a $25 fine on those who commit a violent crime in front of or to a child. The fine would go to help kids who witness or are victims of violent crimes.
Bennett said the legislature has been working as a whole to improve workforce training.
She’s helped by supporting measures that put more money into current programs and encourage two- and four-year colleges to add programs and provide scholarships for students interested in enrolling in them.
The governor, Bennett continued, has spearheaded a new criminal justice reform act that “if properly funded, it should make a huge difference, a direct, immediate difference.”
It institutes a drug court-system to provide substance-abuse treatment to those charged with crimes like possession and sets up regional detention facilities for inmates transferring to state prisons. They’re currently housed in overcrowded and underfunded county jails.
Rep. Bob Johnson (D-Jacksonville) and Rep. Donnie Copeland (R-North Little Rock), who represents a slice of Sherwood, did not return calls from The Leader by press time.
Johnson sponsored 10 bills and Copeland sponsored nine.
TOP STORY >> Son of Delta: Be a winner
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader Editor-in-chief
Lloyd E. Shefsky is a retired international lawyer and entrepreneur who was born in Arkansas, raised in Chicago and is now semi-retired in Florida. He’s still lecturing, consulting and writing books about living the American Dream through hard work, personal vision and playing by the rules.
He’s the best-selling author of “Entrepreneurs Are Made, Not Born.” In his latest book, “Invent, Reinvent, Thrive: The Keys to Success for Any Startup, Entrepreneur or Family Business” (McGraw-Hill, $26), he celebrates the lives of individuals whose names are associated with products and services that offer great value, never skimp on quality and are crazy about customer service.
Shefsky traces his roots to McGehee (Desha County), where his uncle owned a dry-goods store that Lloyd’s dad helped run for a few months before heading back to Chicago during the Second World War. Lloyd was born in Lake Village in 1941 and still returns, occasionally, to the Delta.
A savvy business lawyer, lecturer and educator, Shefsky has more than 40 years of experience advising and drawing inspiration from the titans of Chicago business, such as the Crown and Pritzker families of Chicago.
He’s a cheerleader for capitalism, grateful for the opportunities America has offered his family, while so many of his relatives who stayed behind in the old country perished in the Holocaust.
Shefsky graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and has taught for many years at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management near Chicago. Several prominent Arkansans went to Northwestern, where former Sen. Dale Bumpers and former Illinois politician Cecil Partee, who was born in Blytheville, earned their law degrees.
Shefsky is a graceful writer whose book is filled with sound business advice and folksy aphorisms, such as, “When focus causes you to wear blinders, you are more than likely to be blindsided,” along with such Yiddish aphorisms as, “You can’t control the wind, but you can adjust your sail.”
Shefsky has taught and lectured in China, Japan, Thailand, Israel, Canada and the U.S. He has known prominent business leaders who have built nationwide businesses from the ground up. He includes insights from the founders of Starbucks, Staples, Costco, Charles Schwab and the families who still run General Dynamics, Seagram’s, Hyatt and Radisson Hotels, Ebony and Jet magazines and others.
Like Shefsky, John Johnson was born in Desha County — in Arkansas City, a dozen miles from McGehee. The Johnsons also moved up to Chicago, where John and his wife Eunice launched Negro Digest and Ebony and many other businesses, all of them filling important needs for the growing African American middle class.
The companies profiled in “Invent, Reinvent, Thrive” are famous for being ahead of the times and focusing on customer service. When companies refuse to change with the times, they falter and go out of business. Shefsky points to Kodak, which bet its business on film even as foreign competitors were cutting its market share. More shockingly, Shefsky points out, Kodak took out a patent on a digital camera 40 years ago but decided to shelve it.
Yet Kodak, although it’s a much smaller company, has remained in business, moving into high-tech. The Leader uses thin Kodak aluminum plates that reproduce two pages at a time that are sent from our computers to plate makers and are placed on our printing presses in a couple of minutes. This process used to take several hours. We have a Kodak moment every time we print a paper and will keep using this process as long as people pick up a newspaper.
“I was born in Lake Village,” Shefsky told us. “My parents were living in McGehee, where my uncle owned the general store. We moved from Arkansas when I was six months old, which explains my lack of accent.
“My parents were from Chicago. My mother’s sister was a law firm receptionist in Chicago. One day, a gentleman with a peculiar accent (combination U.S. Southerner and Romanian) came to see one of the lawyers. Upon being ushered in, he told the receptionist, ‘Don’t you leave, because I want to see you when I come out and I intend to marry you.’
“And so that gentleman married that receptionist, becoming my uncle and taking my aunt with him to his home in McGehee, the location of one of the half dozen general stores that he and his brothers owned in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana,” Shefsky said.
“In 1940, my uncle purchased an extremely large, and advantageously priced, inventory that lay in escrowed storage pending his obtaining financing to take down the inventory. To free him up to visit banks in surrounding states, he asked my father to come down and help him with the store.
“My dad was a young podiatrist whose practice wasn’t gaining steam — both were affected by the still lingering Depression. So my parents moved to McGehee. They were there just briefly when I was born, in the Lake Village Hospital,” he said.
“Unable to find the financing, my uncle was in jeopardy of losing the inventory and likely their entire business…My parents and I returned to Chicago with time to spare for celebrating my first birthday, and I remained in Chicago ever since, until a few years ago when I moved to Florida,” Shefsky said.
“I visited Arkansas when I was 7 years old and have vivid memories of my uncle’s store, my aunt and uncle’s home, and the railroad station — as a 7-year-old, I found the train stopping by the main street exciting and quite different than Chicago’s Union Station. It was my first exposure to the South. Even then, I wondered why the train station wasn’t referred to as ‘the Confederate Station,’” Shefsky recalled.
“A few years ago, I revisited McGehee and Lake Village. Mayor Jack May of McGehee was kind enough to take us on a tour of McGehee. The train no longer stopped in McGehee, and the station had become a museum, a source of pride to the mayor who developed it, but a major disappointment to the 7-year-old still in me who had wanted the train to still stop in McGehee,” he said.
“Over the years, my having been born in Arkansas has proven beneficial on a few occasions: (1) I was in a receiving line to shake hands with then-President Clinton. I quickly mentioned where I was born, which led to an additional minute of conversation, which was cool; (2) it got me an interview for ‘Entrepreneurs Are Made Not Born’ with Witt Stephens, the founder of Little Rock-based Stephens Inc. and one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever interviewed; (3) It enabled me to close a deal back in 1973, when I was actively practicing law, after opposing counsel told my client that he’d never done a deal with a Jew and didn’t intend to start then (apparently my Dixie ties trumped his bigotries),” Shefsky said.
“Invent, Reinvent, Thrive” belongs in business classrooms and boardrooms. The Walton School of Business should buy 5,000 copies of this book and give one to every student.
Leader Editor-in-chief
Lloyd E. Shefsky is a retired international lawyer and entrepreneur who was born in Arkansas, raised in Chicago and is now semi-retired in Florida. He’s still lecturing, consulting and writing books about living the American Dream through hard work, personal vision and playing by the rules.
He’s the best-selling author of “Entrepreneurs Are Made, Not Born.” In his latest book, “Invent, Reinvent, Thrive: The Keys to Success for Any Startup, Entrepreneur or Family Business” (McGraw-Hill, $26), he celebrates the lives of individuals whose names are associated with products and services that offer great value, never skimp on quality and are crazy about customer service.
Shefsky traces his roots to McGehee (Desha County), where his uncle owned a dry-goods store that Lloyd’s dad helped run for a few months before heading back to Chicago during the Second World War. Lloyd was born in Lake Village in 1941 and still returns, occasionally, to the Delta.
A savvy business lawyer, lecturer and educator, Shefsky has more than 40 years of experience advising and drawing inspiration from the titans of Chicago business, such as the Crown and Pritzker families of Chicago.
He’s a cheerleader for capitalism, grateful for the opportunities America has offered his family, while so many of his relatives who stayed behind in the old country perished in the Holocaust.
Shefsky graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and has taught for many years at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management near Chicago. Several prominent Arkansans went to Northwestern, where former Sen. Dale Bumpers and former Illinois politician Cecil Partee, who was born in Blytheville, earned their law degrees.
Shefsky is a graceful writer whose book is filled with sound business advice and folksy aphorisms, such as, “When focus causes you to wear blinders, you are more than likely to be blindsided,” along with such Yiddish aphorisms as, “You can’t control the wind, but you can adjust your sail.”
Shefsky has taught and lectured in China, Japan, Thailand, Israel, Canada and the U.S. He has known prominent business leaders who have built nationwide businesses from the ground up. He includes insights from the founders of Starbucks, Staples, Costco, Charles Schwab and the families who still run General Dynamics, Seagram’s, Hyatt and Radisson Hotels, Ebony and Jet magazines and others.
Like Shefsky, John Johnson was born in Desha County — in Arkansas City, a dozen miles from McGehee. The Johnsons also moved up to Chicago, where John and his wife Eunice launched Negro Digest and Ebony and many other businesses, all of them filling important needs for the growing African American middle class.
The companies profiled in “Invent, Reinvent, Thrive” are famous for being ahead of the times and focusing on customer service. When companies refuse to change with the times, they falter and go out of business. Shefsky points to Kodak, which bet its business on film even as foreign competitors were cutting its market share. More shockingly, Shefsky points out, Kodak took out a patent on a digital camera 40 years ago but decided to shelve it.
Yet Kodak, although it’s a much smaller company, has remained in business, moving into high-tech. The Leader uses thin Kodak aluminum plates that reproduce two pages at a time that are sent from our computers to plate makers and are placed on our printing presses in a couple of minutes. This process used to take several hours. We have a Kodak moment every time we print a paper and will keep using this process as long as people pick up a newspaper.
“I was born in Lake Village,” Shefsky told us. “My parents were living in McGehee, where my uncle owned the general store. We moved from Arkansas when I was six months old, which explains my lack of accent.
“My parents were from Chicago. My mother’s sister was a law firm receptionist in Chicago. One day, a gentleman with a peculiar accent (combination U.S. Southerner and Romanian) came to see one of the lawyers. Upon being ushered in, he told the receptionist, ‘Don’t you leave, because I want to see you when I come out and I intend to marry you.’
“And so that gentleman married that receptionist, becoming my uncle and taking my aunt with him to his home in McGehee, the location of one of the half dozen general stores that he and his brothers owned in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana,” Shefsky said.
“In 1940, my uncle purchased an extremely large, and advantageously priced, inventory that lay in escrowed storage pending his obtaining financing to take down the inventory. To free him up to visit banks in surrounding states, he asked my father to come down and help him with the store.
“My dad was a young podiatrist whose practice wasn’t gaining steam — both were affected by the still lingering Depression. So my parents moved to McGehee. They were there just briefly when I was born, in the Lake Village Hospital,” he said.
“Unable to find the financing, my uncle was in jeopardy of losing the inventory and likely their entire business…My parents and I returned to Chicago with time to spare for celebrating my first birthday, and I remained in Chicago ever since, until a few years ago when I moved to Florida,” Shefsky said.
“I visited Arkansas when I was 7 years old and have vivid memories of my uncle’s store, my aunt and uncle’s home, and the railroad station — as a 7-year-old, I found the train stopping by the main street exciting and quite different than Chicago’s Union Station. It was my first exposure to the South. Even then, I wondered why the train station wasn’t referred to as ‘the Confederate Station,’” Shefsky recalled.
“A few years ago, I revisited McGehee and Lake Village. Mayor Jack May of McGehee was kind enough to take us on a tour of McGehee. The train no longer stopped in McGehee, and the station had become a museum, a source of pride to the mayor who developed it, but a major disappointment to the 7-year-old still in me who had wanted the train to still stop in McGehee,” he said.
“Over the years, my having been born in Arkansas has proven beneficial on a few occasions: (1) I was in a receiving line to shake hands with then-President Clinton. I quickly mentioned where I was born, which led to an additional minute of conversation, which was cool; (2) it got me an interview for ‘Entrepreneurs Are Made Not Born’ with Witt Stephens, the founder of Little Rock-based Stephens Inc. and one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever interviewed; (3) It enabled me to close a deal back in 1973, when I was actively practicing law, after opposing counsel told my client that he’d never done a deal with a Jew and didn’t intend to start then (apparently my Dixie ties trumped his bigotries),” Shefsky said.
“Invent, Reinvent, Thrive” belongs in business classrooms and boardrooms. The Walton School of Business should buy 5,000 copies of this book and give one to every student.
EDITORIAL >> Districts' split turns messy
The separation between the Pulaski County Special School District and the new Jacksonville district is much like a divorce, albeit a somewhat friendly one.
In a divorce, rumors and accusations run rampant, and that’s what is happening here.
Both districts owe it to students, parents, teachers and staff to be very transparent and get the word out so the “friendly” remains in this divorce.
The latest rumor has many Jacksonville-based teachers and administrators scrambling to find work, and many of those leaving are bright, wonderful, caring staff members the new district would be privileged to have, but the district may not even have the opportunity to keep them.
The fear is that Jacksonville-based teachers will not go into the county district job pool—that is, if the new district doesn’t hire the teachers already here, they will have to go to the unemployment line.
This rumor got some traction when outgoing state Education Commissioner Tony Wood, acting as the school board, approved the idea, which does not guarantee jobs for all Jacksonville teachers. The plan will now go to the PCSSD personnel policy committee for final approval. If approved, it will send many Jacksonville-based staff scrambling to find new jobs, and the students will suffer.
This, coupled with word that the new district wants young and innovative teachers, could lead to lawsuits. Veteran teachers worry the new district will be pay them less. As these rumors fly, many teachers could start looking elsewhere. The Jacksonville district must assure qualified teachers that they will be fairly compensated and pay cuts shouldn’t be expected.
And then there’s added confusion as the state Board of Education considers having only two districts in Pulaski County instead of a new Jacksonville district. After all the hard work, it’s easy to see how tensions can rise, accusations can fly and what starts as a friendly separation turns into a big mess.
The way to quash these rumors is to be as transparent as possible. Send home fliers detailing plans, let the local media know so facts can be published in print rather than passed from ear to ear much like a childhood game of telephone.
District officials will not be able to quash all rumors, but they need to try harder to make things clear to all the stakeholders.
Both districts need to use social media even if there is nothing new to say.
The new district is supposed to be the shining star that brings decades of glory to the city, but that star will be snuffed out quickly if this separation gets nasty and the foundation of the new district is not built solidly.
What the Jacksonville district needs to do is offer all Jacksonville-based teachers first right to work for the new district. Why? Continuity and experience. It’s good for the students to have teachers who know them during this divorce.
Interim Superintendent Bobby Lester can allay these fears with frank talk and a promise that the new district will be among the best in the state.
Our children’s future is at stake. We’ve all seen friendly divorces turn nasty; let this not be one of those splits where only the lawyers benefit.
In a divorce, rumors and accusations run rampant, and that’s what is happening here.
Both districts owe it to students, parents, teachers and staff to be very transparent and get the word out so the “friendly” remains in this divorce.
The latest rumor has many Jacksonville-based teachers and administrators scrambling to find work, and many of those leaving are bright, wonderful, caring staff members the new district would be privileged to have, but the district may not even have the opportunity to keep them.
The fear is that Jacksonville-based teachers will not go into the county district job pool—that is, if the new district doesn’t hire the teachers already here, they will have to go to the unemployment line.
This rumor got some traction when outgoing state Education Commissioner Tony Wood, acting as the school board, approved the idea, which does not guarantee jobs for all Jacksonville teachers. The plan will now go to the PCSSD personnel policy committee for final approval. If approved, it will send many Jacksonville-based staff scrambling to find new jobs, and the students will suffer.
This, coupled with word that the new district wants young and innovative teachers, could lead to lawsuits. Veteran teachers worry the new district will be pay them less. As these rumors fly, many teachers could start looking elsewhere. The Jacksonville district must assure qualified teachers that they will be fairly compensated and pay cuts shouldn’t be expected.
And then there’s added confusion as the state Board of Education considers having only two districts in Pulaski County instead of a new Jacksonville district. After all the hard work, it’s easy to see how tensions can rise, accusations can fly and what starts as a friendly separation turns into a big mess.
The way to quash these rumors is to be as transparent as possible. Send home fliers detailing plans, let the local media know so facts can be published in print rather than passed from ear to ear much like a childhood game of telephone.
District officials will not be able to quash all rumors, but they need to try harder to make things clear to all the stakeholders.
Both districts need to use social media even if there is nothing new to say.
The new district is supposed to be the shining star that brings decades of glory to the city, but that star will be snuffed out quickly if this separation gets nasty and the foundation of the new district is not built solidly.
What the Jacksonville district needs to do is offer all Jacksonville-based teachers first right to work for the new district. Why? Continuity and experience. It’s good for the students to have teachers who know them during this divorce.
Interim Superintendent Bobby Lester can allay these fears with frank talk and a promise that the new district will be among the best in the state.
Our children’s future is at stake. We’ve all seen friendly divorces turn nasty; let this not be one of those splits where only the lawyers benefit.
SPORTS STORY >> Carlisle girls strong in their two games
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Carlisle Lady Bison softball team entered spring break this week with a 2-0 record, and would’ve won its 2A-6 Conference opener last week had it not been rained out in the second inning.
Due to the recent winter weather and rainfall, the Lady Bison didn’t play their first game until March 16, when they beat Class 4A Riverview 3-2. The next day, the Carlisle softball team played another nonconference game against England, and won that game by the final score of 19-9.
Carlisle began its conference opener last week against Augusta, and led 10-0 before that game was rained out in the second inning. Even though they’ve been on spring break this past week, the Carlisle girls still had a few practice sessions in preparation for their busy schedule next week.
“We’re practicing this week,” said Carlisle coach Lonnie Roberson on Tuesday. “We’ll practice (Wednesday), Thursday and Sunday. Then next week, we’ve got Lonoke on Monday, KIPP Delta on Tuesday, which will now be our conference opener.
“Then Thursday we’ll play Clarendon and on Friday we’ll go to the Lonoke tournament and play Searcy in the first round of that tournament. We’re excited to get out and play. Getting out and playing has been a problem with the weather this year. That’s made it hard to get out there.”
Carlisle’s softball team is young this year – starting a lot of freshmen and sophomores. Taylor Mealler is the lone senior on the team. She’s also Carlisle’s ace in the circle.
“We’re young,” Roberson said, “but being young is a good thing because they’re just going to continue to get better.”
Roberson has also been pleased with the play and progress of his second pitcher, sophomore Maggye McCallie.
“She’s gotten tremendously better this year as far as her specialty pitches and she really bats well,” Roberson said.
Roberson mentioned shortstop Ashby Perry and first baseman Kylie Warren as some of the key players in his infield, but a lot of his players have just recently gotten re-introduced to the game.
“We’ve got several girls that haven’t played in a while,” Roberson said. “We’ve got Kylie Warren starting at first base. She hasn’t played softball in a long time, but she’s really picked up. My shortstop, Ashby Perry, she’s our leadoff batter and is a really good player for us.”
Roberson said he’d like to see his team be more productive at the plate, but pointed out Emily Merritt as one of the team’s better hitters. Roberson also calls Merritt one of the more versatile players on the team, as far as in the field.
“She’s probably one of our best hitters right now,” Roberson said. “She’s a girl that you can count on to come up and hit. She can play just about anywhere on the field, and she can hit the ball really well.”
Despite its youth, Carlisle is among the top teams in the 2A-6 Conference this season, along with Hazen and Des Arc, and Roberson said he’d really like for his group to be able to compete against those rivals for the top spot in the league by the end of the regular season.
“We really want to compete with Hazen,” Roberson said. “Hazen’s our biggest rival in conference. We’d love to beat them. We’d love to beat Des Arc. We want to beat them all. We shouldn’t have any problems beating the other teams, but those two will be tough games for us.”
The Carlisle softball team will play host to Lonoke in a nonconference game Monday. That game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Leader sportswriter
The Carlisle Lady Bison softball team entered spring break this week with a 2-0 record, and would’ve won its 2A-6 Conference opener last week had it not been rained out in the second inning.
Due to the recent winter weather and rainfall, the Lady Bison didn’t play their first game until March 16, when they beat Class 4A Riverview 3-2. The next day, the Carlisle softball team played another nonconference game against England, and won that game by the final score of 19-9.
Carlisle began its conference opener last week against Augusta, and led 10-0 before that game was rained out in the second inning. Even though they’ve been on spring break this past week, the Carlisle girls still had a few practice sessions in preparation for their busy schedule next week.
“We’re practicing this week,” said Carlisle coach Lonnie Roberson on Tuesday. “We’ll practice (Wednesday), Thursday and Sunday. Then next week, we’ve got Lonoke on Monday, KIPP Delta on Tuesday, which will now be our conference opener.
“Then Thursday we’ll play Clarendon and on Friday we’ll go to the Lonoke tournament and play Searcy in the first round of that tournament. We’re excited to get out and play. Getting out and playing has been a problem with the weather this year. That’s made it hard to get out there.”
Carlisle’s softball team is young this year – starting a lot of freshmen and sophomores. Taylor Mealler is the lone senior on the team. She’s also Carlisle’s ace in the circle.
“We’re young,” Roberson said, “but being young is a good thing because they’re just going to continue to get better.”
Roberson has also been pleased with the play and progress of his second pitcher, sophomore Maggye McCallie.
“She’s gotten tremendously better this year as far as her specialty pitches and she really bats well,” Roberson said.
Roberson mentioned shortstop Ashby Perry and first baseman Kylie Warren as some of the key players in his infield, but a lot of his players have just recently gotten re-introduced to the game.
“We’ve got several girls that haven’t played in a while,” Roberson said. “We’ve got Kylie Warren starting at first base. She hasn’t played softball in a long time, but she’s really picked up. My shortstop, Ashby Perry, she’s our leadoff batter and is a really good player for us.”
Roberson said he’d like to see his team be more productive at the plate, but pointed out Emily Merritt as one of the team’s better hitters. Roberson also calls Merritt one of the more versatile players on the team, as far as in the field.
“She’s probably one of our best hitters right now,” Roberson said. “She’s a girl that you can count on to come up and hit. She can play just about anywhere on the field, and she can hit the ball really well.”
Despite its youth, Carlisle is among the top teams in the 2A-6 Conference this season, along with Hazen and Des Arc, and Roberson said he’d really like for his group to be able to compete against those rivals for the top spot in the league by the end of the regular season.
“We really want to compete with Hazen,” Roberson said. “Hazen’s our biggest rival in conference. We’d love to beat them. We’d love to beat Des Arc. We want to beat them all. We shouldn’t have any problems beating the other teams, but those two will be tough games for us.”
The Carlisle softball team will play host to Lonoke in a nonconference game Monday. That game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
SPORTS STORY >> Bears can't get that third out
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Sylvan Hills Bears dropped their second-straight game on Thursday to another traditional powerhouse, falling 9-1 to Benton in the first round of the Central Arkansas Invitational at Benton High School. The Panthers only out-hit the Bears 9-6, but got several timely hits that led to seven two-out runs.
“We just couldn’t get that third out,” said Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton. “That’s all it boils down to. They made plays and we didn’t make the plays.”
Sylvan Hills scored its lone run in the first inning on a one-out double by Blake Maddox, followed by a single by Hunter Heslep that drove in Maddox. Heslep was later called out on a controversial fielder’s choice by James Franco. It proved to be Sylvan Hills’ last serious threat until the fifth inning.
Benton pitcher Ryan Rickford gave up no hits and one walk over the next three innings before the Bears got two on base with one out in the fifth. Nick Fakhouri got a leadoff single and Lukas Burrow followed with a one-out single that put runners on the corners with the top of the lineup coming to the plate, but Mackenzie Seats and Maddox each flew out to end the threat.
Franco, who hit the ball hard every at-bat, finally found a gap in the sixth inning and moved into scoring position on an error off the bat of Ryan Lumpkin. But another pop-up to first base got Rickford out of the jam.
Benton went to bat in the bottom of the sixth with a 6-1 lead, and scored three runs on two base hits to end the game on the tournament’s mercy rule of eight runs after five innings. All three runs were with two outs.
Sylvan Hills relief pitcher Carson Sanders walked one and hit one in the inning. Benton also got the benefit of an error at shortstop and scored one run on a wild pitch.
Benton’s three and four hitters Colten Nix and Brinson Williams combined for more than half of the team’s base hits, while six-hole hitter Drew Dyer went 2 for 4 with a huge home run to right field in the third inning.
Benton’s first two-out run came in the first inning when Colten Nix hit a two-out solo home run. All three Panther runs in the second inning came with two outs, including a two-RBI triple by Chase Nix and an RBI single by Colten Nix.
Dyer’s solo shot in the third came with one out and Kyler Nitchske scored on a passed ball with one out in the fifth to make it 6-1.
Maddox went five innings on the mound, giving up seven hits and six earned runs while striking out five and walking four. Rickford threw six innings, giving up one earned run while fanning four and walking none.
The Bears, 6-2, added a win Friday afternoon, beating Watson Chapel 4-0 at Benton. Hunter Heslep went the distance on the mound for the shutout. The win earned Sylvan Hills another game at 8:30 p.m. Friday after deadlines. Look for details of that game and the rest of the tournament in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
Leader sports editor
The Sylvan Hills Bears dropped their second-straight game on Thursday to another traditional powerhouse, falling 9-1 to Benton in the first round of the Central Arkansas Invitational at Benton High School. The Panthers only out-hit the Bears 9-6, but got several timely hits that led to seven two-out runs.
“We just couldn’t get that third out,” said Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton. “That’s all it boils down to. They made plays and we didn’t make the plays.”
Sylvan Hills scored its lone run in the first inning on a one-out double by Blake Maddox, followed by a single by Hunter Heslep that drove in Maddox. Heslep was later called out on a controversial fielder’s choice by James Franco. It proved to be Sylvan Hills’ last serious threat until the fifth inning.
Benton pitcher Ryan Rickford gave up no hits and one walk over the next three innings before the Bears got two on base with one out in the fifth. Nick Fakhouri got a leadoff single and Lukas Burrow followed with a one-out single that put runners on the corners with the top of the lineup coming to the plate, but Mackenzie Seats and Maddox each flew out to end the threat.
Franco, who hit the ball hard every at-bat, finally found a gap in the sixth inning and moved into scoring position on an error off the bat of Ryan Lumpkin. But another pop-up to first base got Rickford out of the jam.
Benton went to bat in the bottom of the sixth with a 6-1 lead, and scored three runs on two base hits to end the game on the tournament’s mercy rule of eight runs after five innings. All three runs were with two outs.
Sylvan Hills relief pitcher Carson Sanders walked one and hit one in the inning. Benton also got the benefit of an error at shortstop and scored one run on a wild pitch.
Benton’s three and four hitters Colten Nix and Brinson Williams combined for more than half of the team’s base hits, while six-hole hitter Drew Dyer went 2 for 4 with a huge home run to right field in the third inning.
Benton’s first two-out run came in the first inning when Colten Nix hit a two-out solo home run. All three Panther runs in the second inning came with two outs, including a two-RBI triple by Chase Nix and an RBI single by Colten Nix.
Dyer’s solo shot in the third came with one out and Kyler Nitchske scored on a passed ball with one out in the fifth to make it 6-1.
Maddox went five innings on the mound, giving up seven hits and six earned runs while striking out five and walking four. Rickford threw six innings, giving up one earned run while fanning four and walking none.
The Bears, 6-2, added a win Friday afternoon, beating Watson Chapel 4-0 at Benton. Hunter Heslep went the distance on the mound for the shutout. The win earned Sylvan Hills another game at 8:30 p.m. Friday after deadlines. Look for details of that game and the rest of the tournament in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
SPORTS STORY >> Panther rally in final inning tops Cyclones
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot baseball team overcame a one-run deficit by scoring two runs in the final inning of play to beat Russellville 3-2 in the first round of the Central Arkansas Invitational tournament at Lamar Porter Field in Little Rock on Thursday.
Cabot trailed 2-1 heading into the last inning, but got a much-needed hit to start it off. Second baseman Blake McCutchen led off the top of the seventh with a single up the middle of the diamond. It was Cabot’s fourth hit of the game.
Cabot leadoff hitter Evan Hooper then came to the plate, and walked, giving the Panthers two runners on the bases with no outs. Third baseman Logan Kirkendoll was next up, and he laid down a sacrifice bunt.
McCutchen and Hooper both had good running starts on the bunt. Russellville pitcher Garrett Freeman picked up the bunt and first looked to third base. When he realized he wouldn’t be able to throw out McCutchen at third, he went to first, but had to rush his throw because of his first look at third.
Freeman’s throw to first was too high as a result, leaving all runners safe for three-hole hitter Tristan Bulice. With no outs, Bulice hammered a stand-up double to deep center field, scoring McCutchen and Hooper and setting the final score in the process.
Relief pitcher Logan Gilbertson retired the side in the bottom of the seventh, giving himself and the Panthers the win.
It was quite a comeback considering the Panthers’ bats had been relatively quiet for most of the game. Russellville standout pitcher Mark Moyer had a lot to do with that. He gave up three hits and one earned run in his five innings of work, and had seven strikeouts to just one walk.
“I knew coming into it if it was going to be high-scoring it might not be on our end, just because that’s one of the best arms in the state,” said Cabot coach Ronnie Goodwin of Moyer. “That’s a Division-1 kid on the mound.
“He had a really good breaking ball, threw a slider, and when you have an upper 80s, 90 mile-per-hour fastball, and three complimentary pitches for strikes, it’s tough on a high school hitter, especially a group as young as us – only returning one hitter from last year’s lineup. But I thought our kids actually did really well against him.
“We hit a lot of balls hard and created a lot of opportunities. He (Moyer) made some pitches to get out of some of those, but we did a nice a job of creating opportunities, and we definitely didn’t lay over against him. I thought we really competed well against him.”
Goodwin credited his pitching for giving Cabot an opportunity in the seventh inning. Brett Brockinton started on the mound for Cabot, and threw the first four and one-third innings before being relieved by Gilbertson.
Brockinton gave up only one earned run on two hits, and recorded three strikeouts while walking four. Gilbertson officially earned the win. He finished the game with six strikeouts and one walk, and gave up only one hit and no earned runs.
“What really gave us a chance was our pitching,” Goodwin said. “The game could’ve gotten away from us. Our kids just kept competing. They believe that they can win games with coaching and good competition up to this point.
“I think we had five sophomores in the lineup today. So for young guys to get a win against a quality opponent, and against two arms like that, that’s big for our program.”
Cabot scored its first run of the game on a 6-3 groundout by catcher Denver Mullins in the top of the first inning. Hooper scored on the play. He hit an infield single to start the game, and advanced to second base on a Kirkendoll walk the next at-bat and to third base on a 6-4 fielder’s choice by Bulice.
Russellville’s two runs came in the bottom part of the inning. The Cyclones’ first run came on a RBI single to right field by Moyer, which drove in Freeman, who doubled to left field the previous at-bat.
With two outs, Russellville scored its final run on an error at third base off the bat of Brock Mathis.
Cabot outhit Russellville 5-3. Hooper, Kirkendoll, Bulice, Mullins and McCutchen each had one hit for the Panthers, and Moyer, Freeman and Ryan Meador each had one hit for the Cyclones.
The Panthers (3-2, 2-0) continued play in the Central Arkansas Invitational yesterday, and they’ll wrap up the tournament this weekend. Look for details of how Cabot finished the tournament in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot baseball team overcame a one-run deficit by scoring two runs in the final inning of play to beat Russellville 3-2 in the first round of the Central Arkansas Invitational tournament at Lamar Porter Field in Little Rock on Thursday.
Cabot trailed 2-1 heading into the last inning, but got a much-needed hit to start it off. Second baseman Blake McCutchen led off the top of the seventh with a single up the middle of the diamond. It was Cabot’s fourth hit of the game.
Cabot leadoff hitter Evan Hooper then came to the plate, and walked, giving the Panthers two runners on the bases with no outs. Third baseman Logan Kirkendoll was next up, and he laid down a sacrifice bunt.
McCutchen and Hooper both had good running starts on the bunt. Russellville pitcher Garrett Freeman picked up the bunt and first looked to third base. When he realized he wouldn’t be able to throw out McCutchen at third, he went to first, but had to rush his throw because of his first look at third.
Freeman’s throw to first was too high as a result, leaving all runners safe for three-hole hitter Tristan Bulice. With no outs, Bulice hammered a stand-up double to deep center field, scoring McCutchen and Hooper and setting the final score in the process.
Relief pitcher Logan Gilbertson retired the side in the bottom of the seventh, giving himself and the Panthers the win.
It was quite a comeback considering the Panthers’ bats had been relatively quiet for most of the game. Russellville standout pitcher Mark Moyer had a lot to do with that. He gave up three hits and one earned run in his five innings of work, and had seven strikeouts to just one walk.
“I knew coming into it if it was going to be high-scoring it might not be on our end, just because that’s one of the best arms in the state,” said Cabot coach Ronnie Goodwin of Moyer. “That’s a Division-1 kid on the mound.
“He had a really good breaking ball, threw a slider, and when you have an upper 80s, 90 mile-per-hour fastball, and three complimentary pitches for strikes, it’s tough on a high school hitter, especially a group as young as us – only returning one hitter from last year’s lineup. But I thought our kids actually did really well against him.
“We hit a lot of balls hard and created a lot of opportunities. He (Moyer) made some pitches to get out of some of those, but we did a nice a job of creating opportunities, and we definitely didn’t lay over against him. I thought we really competed well against him.”
Goodwin credited his pitching for giving Cabot an opportunity in the seventh inning. Brett Brockinton started on the mound for Cabot, and threw the first four and one-third innings before being relieved by Gilbertson.
Brockinton gave up only one earned run on two hits, and recorded three strikeouts while walking four. Gilbertson officially earned the win. He finished the game with six strikeouts and one walk, and gave up only one hit and no earned runs.
“What really gave us a chance was our pitching,” Goodwin said. “The game could’ve gotten away from us. Our kids just kept competing. They believe that they can win games with coaching and good competition up to this point.
“I think we had five sophomores in the lineup today. So for young guys to get a win against a quality opponent, and against two arms like that, that’s big for our program.”
Cabot scored its first run of the game on a 6-3 groundout by catcher Denver Mullins in the top of the first inning. Hooper scored on the play. He hit an infield single to start the game, and advanced to second base on a Kirkendoll walk the next at-bat and to third base on a 6-4 fielder’s choice by Bulice.
Russellville’s two runs came in the bottom part of the inning. The Cyclones’ first run came on a RBI single to right field by Moyer, which drove in Freeman, who doubled to left field the previous at-bat.
With two outs, Russellville scored its final run on an error at third base off the bat of Brock Mathis.
Cabot outhit Russellville 5-3. Hooper, Kirkendoll, Bulice, Mullins and McCutchen each had one hit for the Panthers, and Moyer, Freeman and Ryan Meador each had one hit for the Cyclones.
The Panthers (3-2, 2-0) continued play in the Central Arkansas Invitational yesterday, and they’ll wrap up the tournament this weekend. Look for details of how Cabot finished the tournament in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
SPORTS STORY >> Red Devils trounce Alma
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils moved their record above .500 for the first time this season, hammering the Alma Airedales 14-2 in four innings in the opening round of the Central Arkansas Invitational at Lamar Porter Field in Little Rock. The game didn’t start until almost 10 p.m. and didn’t end until almost midnight, and head coach Larry Burrows wasn’t entirely pleased, despite the lopsided final score.
“I just thought we were kind of sloppy,” said Burrows. “It wasn’t as dominant pitching as we’ve seen recently and I thought we did a decent job of adjusting at the plate. But overall I didn’t think our approach was real solid and just thought it was kind of sloppy. It’s a good win, but we can do better.”
Two-hole hitter Ryan Mallison got Jacksonville rolling in the top of the first inning with a double off the wall in left field. Shortstop Caleb McMunn followed that with an RBI single to the left-center gap.
Greg Jones hit the ball deep to right field for the second out. James Tucker then hit a pop-up down the line in shallow left field, where Alma’s Nick Fletcher dropped the routine play, allowing McMunn to score and leaving Tucker safe at second base.
The Red Devils added five more in the top of the third on five hits and two free bases. It started when Jones drew a one-out walk to begin a string of seven-straight batters to reach base safely. Tucker singled to left to set up an RBI double by Derek St. Clair.
Brandon Hickingbotham was hit for the second time in the game to load the bases, and D.J. Scott singled to left to score Tucker. St. Clair scored on a wild pitch and Laderrious Perry smacked a two-RBI single to straightaway center field to cap the inning’s scoring and force an Alma pitching change.
Courtland McDonald then singled to put runners on the corners and still just one out, but Mallison and McMunn popped up in the infield to end the rally.
Alma got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third due to a two-run error by McMunn. St. Clair gave up a leadoff walk of Alma’s nine-hole hitter, then gave up a single to start the third. After a strikeout, St. Clair walked another batter to load the bases.
He then got just what Jacksonville needed, a perfect double-play grounder to the base side of Mallison, who scooped the ball and dished to McMunn for the first out, but McMunn threw way wide of Hickingbotham at first, allowing two runs to score and leaving another runner in scoring position. But St. Clair got the next batter to fly out to McDonald in center field to end the inning.
Jacksonville then put its first seven batters on base in the top of the fourth before recording three-straight outs.
Again Jones drew a leadoff walk to start the rally. Tucker hit a sacrifice grounder to third, but the throw was wild, allowing Jones to score and leaving Tucker safe at third. St. Clair walked and stole second, setting up a two-RBI base hit to right field by Hickingbotham that made it 10-2.
Scott got his second hit of the game, a slow grounder to first in which he out-ran the fielder to the bag. Perry then walked to load the bases and Hickingbotham scored on a wild pitch. Scott scored when a pickoff throw to first to get Perry sailed into foul territory and out to right field. Perry then scored from third on a sacrifice grounder to second base by McDonald, but McDonald was also safe on another bad throw. McDonald then stole second and scored on another errant throw to set the final margin.
Scott was the only player in the game with multiple base hits, going 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
St. Clair gave up two hits and zero earned runs while striking out nine and walking three in four innings of work.
Jacksonville, 4-3, played yesterday in the second round and finishes tournament play today. Look for details of those games in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils moved their record above .500 for the first time this season, hammering the Alma Airedales 14-2 in four innings in the opening round of the Central Arkansas Invitational at Lamar Porter Field in Little Rock. The game didn’t start until almost 10 p.m. and didn’t end until almost midnight, and head coach Larry Burrows wasn’t entirely pleased, despite the lopsided final score.
“I just thought we were kind of sloppy,” said Burrows. “It wasn’t as dominant pitching as we’ve seen recently and I thought we did a decent job of adjusting at the plate. But overall I didn’t think our approach was real solid and just thought it was kind of sloppy. It’s a good win, but we can do better.”
Two-hole hitter Ryan Mallison got Jacksonville rolling in the top of the first inning with a double off the wall in left field. Shortstop Caleb McMunn followed that with an RBI single to the left-center gap.
Greg Jones hit the ball deep to right field for the second out. James Tucker then hit a pop-up down the line in shallow left field, where Alma’s Nick Fletcher dropped the routine play, allowing McMunn to score and leaving Tucker safe at second base.
The Red Devils added five more in the top of the third on five hits and two free bases. It started when Jones drew a one-out walk to begin a string of seven-straight batters to reach base safely. Tucker singled to left to set up an RBI double by Derek St. Clair.
Brandon Hickingbotham was hit for the second time in the game to load the bases, and D.J. Scott singled to left to score Tucker. St. Clair scored on a wild pitch and Laderrious Perry smacked a two-RBI single to straightaway center field to cap the inning’s scoring and force an Alma pitching change.
Courtland McDonald then singled to put runners on the corners and still just one out, but Mallison and McMunn popped up in the infield to end the rally.
Alma got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third due to a two-run error by McMunn. St. Clair gave up a leadoff walk of Alma’s nine-hole hitter, then gave up a single to start the third. After a strikeout, St. Clair walked another batter to load the bases.
He then got just what Jacksonville needed, a perfect double-play grounder to the base side of Mallison, who scooped the ball and dished to McMunn for the first out, but McMunn threw way wide of Hickingbotham at first, allowing two runs to score and leaving another runner in scoring position. But St. Clair got the next batter to fly out to McDonald in center field to end the inning.
Jacksonville then put its first seven batters on base in the top of the fourth before recording three-straight outs.
Again Jones drew a leadoff walk to start the rally. Tucker hit a sacrifice grounder to third, but the throw was wild, allowing Jones to score and leaving Tucker safe at third. St. Clair walked and stole second, setting up a two-RBI base hit to right field by Hickingbotham that made it 10-2.
Scott got his second hit of the game, a slow grounder to first in which he out-ran the fielder to the bag. Perry then walked to load the bases and Hickingbotham scored on a wild pitch. Scott scored when a pickoff throw to first to get Perry sailed into foul territory and out to right field. Perry then scored from third on a sacrifice grounder to second base by McDonald, but McDonald was also safe on another bad throw. McDonald then stole second and scored on another errant throw to set the final margin.
Scott was the only player in the game with multiple base hits, going 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
St. Clair gave up two hits and zero earned runs while striking out nine and walking three in four innings of work.
Jacksonville, 4-3, played yesterday in the second round and finishes tournament play today. Look for details of those games in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
TOP STORY >> Elevator funds for courthouse
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
The Lonoke County Quorum Court last Thursday approved $35,000 toward the installation of an elevator for the courthouse.
The funds were taken out of the county’s housing bond money to cover the difference needed to complete the $282,000 elevator project.
“There were five bids that came in for the elevator. We were originally quoted $180,000. In reality, the lowest bid was $282,000. It was $100,000 more than we anticipated in the beginning,” County Judge Doug Erwin said.
Erwin said the county received a $140,000 grant along with General Improvement Funds grant money — $30,000 from Sen. Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot), $30,000 from Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R-Beebe) and $50,000 from former Rep. Davy Carter (R-Cabot).
Adding the elevator required that staff offices, including the one used by Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham, be relocated to the old sheriff’s office and call center.
JP Bill Ryker said there is $63,000 available with additional GIF funds that were promised for renovations and remodeling of the old sheriff’s office and call center.
In other business, the quorum court will have to vote again during the next meeting on an ordinance amending the 2014 operating budget for a cost-of-living adjustment of $300 per employee and elected officials.
The total cost of the raises would be $25,000.
The vote was 8-4 for, with one absent. But, since it was an apportion, them measure needed nine votes to pass.
Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley commended the CS and Z Volunteer Fire Department for rescuing a woman during the icy weather on Feb. 17 along Forbus Road.
The woman’s truck ran off the road and was on its side in a water-filled ditch. She had been stuck in the truck for two hours until a passerby reported the vehicle to emergency official.
The woman could not get out because there was a tree limb on the truck door.
Staley said CS and Z firefighter Nathan Duncan was the first person to the scene. CS and Z crews arrived with their trucks and were able use ladder and winch to rescue the woman.
State Rep. Tim Lemons (R-Cabot) presented a Senate citation on behalf of state Sen. Williams to former Lonoke County Coroner Sherry Stracener. She was a coroner for more than 20 years.
“She is the person none of us wanted to see in a professional manner, but we loved to see when she wasn’t doing her job,” Lemons said.
Lemons read, “In her job duties, her compassion far surpassed the responsibilities of her office.
“She once held a baby in her arms because she could not bear for the family to see it put into a body bag.
“She would let the family spend as much time as they needed after a family member had passed away. When a family did not attend a church where they could hold funeral services, she would find a church for them. She would also sing at funerals when the family wanted to hear ‘Amazing Grace’ one more time for Grandma.
“She would send a family card letting them know she was thinking of them.”
Leader staff writer
The Lonoke County Quorum Court last Thursday approved $35,000 toward the installation of an elevator for the courthouse.
The funds were taken out of the county’s housing bond money to cover the difference needed to complete the $282,000 elevator project.
“There were five bids that came in for the elevator. We were originally quoted $180,000. In reality, the lowest bid was $282,000. It was $100,000 more than we anticipated in the beginning,” County Judge Doug Erwin said.
Erwin said the county received a $140,000 grant along with General Improvement Funds grant money — $30,000 from Sen. Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot), $30,000 from Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R-Beebe) and $50,000 from former Rep. Davy Carter (R-Cabot).
Adding the elevator required that staff offices, including the one used by Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham, be relocated to the old sheriff’s office and call center.
JP Bill Ryker said there is $63,000 available with additional GIF funds that were promised for renovations and remodeling of the old sheriff’s office and call center.
In other business, the quorum court will have to vote again during the next meeting on an ordinance amending the 2014 operating budget for a cost-of-living adjustment of $300 per employee and elected officials.
The total cost of the raises would be $25,000.
The vote was 8-4 for, with one absent. But, since it was an apportion, them measure needed nine votes to pass.
Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley commended the CS and Z Volunteer Fire Department for rescuing a woman during the icy weather on Feb. 17 along Forbus Road.
The woman’s truck ran off the road and was on its side in a water-filled ditch. She had been stuck in the truck for two hours until a passerby reported the vehicle to emergency official.
The woman could not get out because there was a tree limb on the truck door.
Staley said CS and Z firefighter Nathan Duncan was the first person to the scene. CS and Z crews arrived with their trucks and were able use ladder and winch to rescue the woman.
State Rep. Tim Lemons (R-Cabot) presented a Senate citation on behalf of state Sen. Williams to former Lonoke County Coroner Sherry Stracener. She was a coroner for more than 20 years.
“She is the person none of us wanted to see in a professional manner, but we loved to see when she wasn’t doing her job,” Lemons said.
Lemons read, “In her job duties, her compassion far surpassed the responsibilities of her office.
“She once held a baby in her arms because she could not bear for the family to see it put into a body bag.
“She would let the family spend as much time as they needed after a family member had passed away. When a family did not attend a church where they could hold funeral services, she would find a church for them. She would also sing at funerals when the family wanted to hear ‘Amazing Grace’ one more time for Grandma.
“She would send a family card letting them know she was thinking of them.”
TOP STORY >> Farmers looking to plant
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
There is water on some fields in the southern part of Lonoke County and in drainage furrows in the lighter soils after recent rains, according to Lonoke County Extension Chief Jeff Welch.
“Wheat that’s been fertilized looks pretty good,” he said. “But we need to get fertilizer out with a nitrogen stabilizer, which will prevent the ammonia from going into the air instead of the ground.”
Welch said that’s a problem when the ground is wet and the weather warm. The nitrogen becomes a gas and goes directly into the atmosphere.
“Weather has delayed the wheat crop,” he said. The cold weather has slowed it, but, if the farmers can get into the field soon, they may make a decent crop. He said they need that because the price is down near break-even.
“The planting schedule will be very compressed,” he said. “They’ll be working long days.”
Some of the wheat has tillered and some is tillering now, which results in a larger harvest. The heads should start to elongate soon, he said.
Wet fields have delayed field preparation for rice, soybeans and corn.
“If we can start preparing the ground next week, and if temperatures are in the 70s with wind and sun to help dry the fields, then a good yield is still possible,” he said.
“We’re going to have delayed planting on those three crops. If we’re delayed two or three weeks, we’ll have reduced yields.
“If it’s warm and sunny and we don’t get more than a fifth of an inch of rain on Wednesday or Thursday, then next Tuesday or Wednesday farmers with sandier soils can take to the fields,” he said.
“Normally, we start rice in the last week of March. Now we’re looking at April 10,” he said — and that’s if the rain lets up.
“Same with corn,” he said. “It’ll be about April 10, with the assumption we don’t get into a weather pattern.”
But Welch said it was starting to get critical. “Within the next (week or so), if we’re in the same shape, we’re in trouble for early planted crops, and they usually have better yields — especially rice.”
Corn prices are expected to be down this year and maybe unstable, so Welch said farmers will be converting to milo, a feed grain with price stability.
Milo was subject to the sugarcane aphid last year and could force farmers to use the one insecticide with some effect on it.
“Soybeans, we’re on time. We usually plant earlier beans April 10,” Welch said.
But, if weather-related events hit at the wrong time, that could be trouble.
“We have enough moisture for pastures and hayfields, especially fescue-type pastures,” Welch said. Most local pastures are Bermuda.
All the ponds are full and irrigation reservoirs are full.
The deadline for farmers to upgrade expected yields and basis and to choose between different kinds of protective programs was been extended from Feb. 27 to March 31, he added.
Leader senior staff writer
There is water on some fields in the southern part of Lonoke County and in drainage furrows in the lighter soils after recent rains, according to Lonoke County Extension Chief Jeff Welch.
“Wheat that’s been fertilized looks pretty good,” he said. “But we need to get fertilizer out with a nitrogen stabilizer, which will prevent the ammonia from going into the air instead of the ground.”
Welch said that’s a problem when the ground is wet and the weather warm. The nitrogen becomes a gas and goes directly into the atmosphere.
“Weather has delayed the wheat crop,” he said. The cold weather has slowed it, but, if the farmers can get into the field soon, they may make a decent crop. He said they need that because the price is down near break-even.
“The planting schedule will be very compressed,” he said. “They’ll be working long days.”
Some of the wheat has tillered and some is tillering now, which results in a larger harvest. The heads should start to elongate soon, he said.
Wet fields have delayed field preparation for rice, soybeans and corn.
“If we can start preparing the ground next week, and if temperatures are in the 70s with wind and sun to help dry the fields, then a good yield is still possible,” he said.
“We’re going to have delayed planting on those three crops. If we’re delayed two or three weeks, we’ll have reduced yields.
“If it’s warm and sunny and we don’t get more than a fifth of an inch of rain on Wednesday or Thursday, then next Tuesday or Wednesday farmers with sandier soils can take to the fields,” he said.
“Normally, we start rice in the last week of March. Now we’re looking at April 10,” he said — and that’s if the rain lets up.
“Same with corn,” he said. “It’ll be about April 10, with the assumption we don’t get into a weather pattern.”
But Welch said it was starting to get critical. “Within the next (week or so), if we’re in the same shape, we’re in trouble for early planted crops, and they usually have better yields — especially rice.”
Corn prices are expected to be down this year and maybe unstable, so Welch said farmers will be converting to milo, a feed grain with price stability.
Milo was subject to the sugarcane aphid last year and could force farmers to use the one insecticide with some effect on it.
“Soybeans, we’re on time. We usually plant earlier beans April 10,” Welch said.
But, if weather-related events hit at the wrong time, that could be trouble.
“We have enough moisture for pastures and hayfields, especially fescue-type pastures,” Welch said. Most local pastures are Bermuda.
All the ponds are full and irrigation reservoirs are full.
The deadline for farmers to upgrade expected yields and basis and to choose between different kinds of protective programs was been extended from Feb. 27 to March 31, he added.
TOP STORY >> City gets store for Dirt Cheap
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Things are going to get Dirt Cheap in Jacksonville by the end of summer as the Mississippi discount chain has announced it will expand into Arkansas.
Jacksonville, along with Blytheville, are the first two stops for the 57-store chain in Arkansas.
The Jacksonville store will take over most of the remaining space in the old Walmart building near Hwy. 67/167. A portion of that space is already occupied by Cost-Plus Furniture.
The exact size of the new store and its opening are not available as the building owner, Tommy Lassiter, did not return a phone call.
Dirt Cheap’s marketing department didn’t respond either, and the firm’s president doesn’t take phone calls.
According to Dirt Cheap’s website, the first store opened in Hattiesburg, Miss. Dirt Cheap and its sister outlet, Treasure Hunt, have since grown into local favorites throughout Mississippi, offering deep discounts in all departments.
“Over the past 25 years, our business has expanded, growing to be the largest buyer of insurance claims in the United States, while also adding other distressed situations such as manufacturer and retailer buybacks, closeouts, bankruptcies, overstocks, liquidations, customer returns and out-of-season goods,” according to the company’s web site.
So how did the name Dirt Cheap come about?
In October 1997, the Treasure Hunt warehouse shelves became so full of excess inventory that the company had a special sale.
All merchandise was sold at “dirt cheap” prices until gone, and the Dirt Cheap concept was born.
As business progressed, the amount of inventory only grew, establishing a need for more than just a warehouse sale.
The first Dirt Cheap store opened in 1998, in Petal, Miss. The chain has since grown to 57 stores and counting.
Today, Dirt Cheap is a standalone company purchasing its own merchandise and exhibiting its own unique selling strategies.
In 2006, the company created a wholesale division, selling the excess inventory the stores could not handle.
Merchandise changes frequently and are priced up to 90 percent less than retail.
With prices that low, the company has a “no return” policy. It also offers a military and senior discount on certain days.
Leader staff writer
Things are going to get Dirt Cheap in Jacksonville by the end of summer as the Mississippi discount chain has announced it will expand into Arkansas.
Jacksonville, along with Blytheville, are the first two stops for the 57-store chain in Arkansas.
The Jacksonville store will take over most of the remaining space in the old Walmart building near Hwy. 67/167. A portion of that space is already occupied by Cost-Plus Furniture.
The exact size of the new store and its opening are not available as the building owner, Tommy Lassiter, did not return a phone call.
Dirt Cheap’s marketing department didn’t respond either, and the firm’s president doesn’t take phone calls.
According to Dirt Cheap’s website, the first store opened in Hattiesburg, Miss. Dirt Cheap and its sister outlet, Treasure Hunt, have since grown into local favorites throughout Mississippi, offering deep discounts in all departments.
“Over the past 25 years, our business has expanded, growing to be the largest buyer of insurance claims in the United States, while also adding other distressed situations such as manufacturer and retailer buybacks, closeouts, bankruptcies, overstocks, liquidations, customer returns and out-of-season goods,” according to the company’s web site.
So how did the name Dirt Cheap come about?
In October 1997, the Treasure Hunt warehouse shelves became so full of excess inventory that the company had a special sale.
All merchandise was sold at “dirt cheap” prices until gone, and the Dirt Cheap concept was born.
As business progressed, the amount of inventory only grew, establishing a need for more than just a warehouse sale.
The first Dirt Cheap store opened in 1998, in Petal, Miss. The chain has since grown to 57 stores and counting.
Today, Dirt Cheap is a standalone company purchasing its own merchandise and exhibiting its own unique selling strategies.
In 2006, the company created a wholesale division, selling the excess inventory the stores could not handle.
Merchandise changes frequently and are priced up to 90 percent less than retail.
With prices that low, the company has a “no return” policy. It also offers a military and senior discount on certain days.
EDITORIAL >> Cabot board sounds alarm
The Cabot School Board last week released an open letter criticizing proposed legislation that could hurt the district. The Leader ran an article Saturday under the headline, “Board warns on state cuts.” The school board is worried that more open-enrollment charter schools and more taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools will drain aid for public education.
“In our opinion, some of the proposed legislation does not serve the best interests of public education and, in particular, the Cabot School District,” warned the letter, which was signed by board president Donna Nash, vice president Brian Evans, secretary Ricky Hill and members Fred Campbell, Mark Russell, Dean Martin and Corey Williams.
They are worried that funding for public schools isn’t keeping up with rising expenses. The implication is that the Cabot School District will need a millage increase if the state keeps allocating funds away from public schools.
“For example, the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research predicts a 2 percent increase in the cost-of-living expense for a school district over the next two years. However, the recommendation by the legislature was for a 0.84 percent increase to funding for public school districts. So, essentially, the funding to cover the increased costs of fuel, utilities, instructional materials and maintenance will be less than actual costs. The increase being proposed does not cover the cost of mandatory step increases for the faculty and staff of the Cabot School District.”
But that’s not all: “While the funding for traditional public education is being only slightly increased,” the letter continued, “funding for charter schools and even private schools continues to be increased without addressing the accountability of these schools (SB703 and SB789).
“There is also legislation (HB1552 and HB 1593) being considered to provide funding to private schools for students who transfer from public to private schools. This bill would essentially create a ‘voucher’ system which can be found in other states. If this bill becomes law, funding would be deducted from public schools and provided to private and parochial schools with none of the accountability expected of your local public school system,” the board wrote in the letter.
There’s more: “Two bills, SB847 and HB1733, even allow for the state to force a local school district to lease ‘underutilized’ property to an open-enrollment charter school. Charter schools are not required to complete the facility needs assessment, nor are they required to submit a facility plan. Traditional schools must submit both. Public schools, including the Cabot School District, compete for facilities funds based on needs and plans. This legislation means that taxpayer funds would simply be ‘granted’ to charter schools based upon the number of students enrolled without any of the requirements placed on public schools.
The school board says one day the state could take over not just failing school districts but also successful districts like Cabot, which will see funds directed away from them and spent on troubled districts and new charter schools.
Under proposed legislation, “a district may be taken over by the Arkansas Department of Education when a single school is placed in academic distress. ADE or a contracted entity may operate the district for an unlimited length of time. Though this may not impact the Cabot School District at this time, it will only be a matter of time before a push is made to control even high-performing districts. This happens because there is money to be made...Not only do these entities take resources from public schools, they also have the potential to eliminate community control of the local district.
“Additionally, under HB 1733, there are no appeals procedures and the proposed legislation does not provide a provision for removal from the achievement district status. The school/district could be under the control of the commission forever. Provisions of fair dismissal, employee hearings, personnel policies and negotiated contracts may be waived by the commissioner of education.
The board also criticizes HB1422 and HB1743, “which would move school board elections from September to the same date as primaries and the general election. This division from the general elections in November allows voters to focus on school issues and separates school board elections from the overly political nature of general elections.
“These two bills would...highly politicize the school board positions. To date, school board elections have been spared from the usual negativity associated with general elections and the focus has been on what is best for the local community.”
Let’s hope legislators from the Cabot area and all around the state heed to warnings of the Cabot School Board before an outstanding school district falls victim to politics and ideology. The children in Cabot and everywhere deserve better. Thank you, Cabot School Board, for speaking out in their behalf.
“In our opinion, some of the proposed legislation does not serve the best interests of public education and, in particular, the Cabot School District,” warned the letter, which was signed by board president Donna Nash, vice president Brian Evans, secretary Ricky Hill and members Fred Campbell, Mark Russell, Dean Martin and Corey Williams.
They are worried that funding for public schools isn’t keeping up with rising expenses. The implication is that the Cabot School District will need a millage increase if the state keeps allocating funds away from public schools.
“For example, the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research predicts a 2 percent increase in the cost-of-living expense for a school district over the next two years. However, the recommendation by the legislature was for a 0.84 percent increase to funding for public school districts. So, essentially, the funding to cover the increased costs of fuel, utilities, instructional materials and maintenance will be less than actual costs. The increase being proposed does not cover the cost of mandatory step increases for the faculty and staff of the Cabot School District.”
But that’s not all: “While the funding for traditional public education is being only slightly increased,” the letter continued, “funding for charter schools and even private schools continues to be increased without addressing the accountability of these schools (SB703 and SB789).
“There is also legislation (HB1552 and HB 1593) being considered to provide funding to private schools for students who transfer from public to private schools. This bill would essentially create a ‘voucher’ system which can be found in other states. If this bill becomes law, funding would be deducted from public schools and provided to private and parochial schools with none of the accountability expected of your local public school system,” the board wrote in the letter.
There’s more: “Two bills, SB847 and HB1733, even allow for the state to force a local school district to lease ‘underutilized’ property to an open-enrollment charter school. Charter schools are not required to complete the facility needs assessment, nor are they required to submit a facility plan. Traditional schools must submit both. Public schools, including the Cabot School District, compete for facilities funds based on needs and plans. This legislation means that taxpayer funds would simply be ‘granted’ to charter schools based upon the number of students enrolled without any of the requirements placed on public schools.
The school board says one day the state could take over not just failing school districts but also successful districts like Cabot, which will see funds directed away from them and spent on troubled districts and new charter schools.
Under proposed legislation, “a district may be taken over by the Arkansas Department of Education when a single school is placed in academic distress. ADE or a contracted entity may operate the district for an unlimited length of time. Though this may not impact the Cabot School District at this time, it will only be a matter of time before a push is made to control even high-performing districts. This happens because there is money to be made...Not only do these entities take resources from public schools, they also have the potential to eliminate community control of the local district.
“Additionally, under HB 1733, there are no appeals procedures and the proposed legislation does not provide a provision for removal from the achievement district status. The school/district could be under the control of the commission forever. Provisions of fair dismissal, employee hearings, personnel policies and negotiated contracts may be waived by the commissioner of education.
The board also criticizes HB1422 and HB1743, “which would move school board elections from September to the same date as primaries and the general election. This division from the general elections in November allows voters to focus on school issues and separates school board elections from the overly political nature of general elections.
“These two bills would...highly politicize the school board positions. To date, school board elections have been spared from the usual negativity associated with general elections and the focus has been on what is best for the local community.”
Let’s hope legislators from the Cabot area and all around the state heed to warnings of the Cabot School Board before an outstanding school district falls victim to politics and ideology. The children in Cabot and everywhere deserve better. Thank you, Cabot School Board, for speaking out in their behalf.
SPORTS STORY >> Beebe gets second at Devil Dogs
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Beebe boys’ track team took second place in the 11-team meet at Morrilton last Friday. The Badgers scored 147 points, finishing far behind track power Vilonia’s 268, but well ahead the 53 points put up by Dardanelle and Greenbrier for third place. The host Devil Dogs took fifth with 40 points.
The Badgers won just one event. Senior Jesse Crisco took first place in the discus with a toss of 127-feet, 3-inches. Dusty Grier took fourth and Wade Jones seventh in that event.
Beebe junior Connor Patrom tied for first with Dardanelle’s Chris Kershner in the 100-meter dash, each finishing in 11.81. Patrom’s teammate and classmate Keishaun Davidson finished third with an 11.90.
Justin Burlison and Nathan Clifton took fourth and fifth in the 200m for Beebe while John Paul Savage and Gus McCoy took third and fifth respectively in the 800m. Savage also took fourth in the mile while teammate Rob Swafford finished seventh. McCoy finished fourth in the two mile. Vilonia runners took the top three spots in both distance races.
Patrom and Davidson were back in the points in the 110-meter high hurdles, taking sixth and seventh place. Micah Dubose picked up a point for Beebe in the 300m hurdles with an eighth-place finish.
The Badgers’ 4x100 relay team of Jo’Vaughn Wyrick, Clayton Meurer, Trip Smith and Burlison finished second behind Greenbrier. The Badgers replaced Smith with Dubose and took third in the 4x400.
Beebe’s 4x800 relay team also took second, but finished 39 seconds behind Vilonia’s blazing fast 8:35.75.
Sophomore Kirkland Miller tied for second in the high jump with a leap of 5-10, and Patrom finished sixth.
The Badgers placed four in the top six of the pole vault, but Vilonia’s Tripp Reed won it by going 10 feet.
Nathan Clifton and Patrom finished sixth and seventh respectively in the long jump. Clifton also took fourth in the triple jump while teammates Wyrick and Tyler Childress finished tied for fifth. Grier finished third and Jones seventh in the shot put.
On the same day, the Lady Badgers took part in the Heber Springs Relays and finished fifth overall out of 18 teams with 43 points. The host team narrowly edged out Batesville 119 to 116, with Des Arc and Harding Academy taking third and fourth with 87 and 47 points.
Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School was also at Heber Springs, with the boys finishing eighth out of 20 teams with 33 points and the Lady Wolves getting seven total points for 15th place.
In the girls’ competition, Lighthouse’s Naje’ Harper took sixth in the 100-meter dash while Beebe’s Jabria Coleman finished eighth. Harper also finished seventh in the 200m.
Beebe’s Taylor McGraw finished fourth and Coleman fifth in the 400, and Beebe’s Allie Lane took fifth in the 800. Lady Badger Sydnye Shuttleworth finished seventh in the two-mile race and sixth in the pole vault.
McGraw took fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 30 feet. Shea Holland and Kierston Miller took seventh and eighth in the shot put and Tori Lovelady finished third and Natalie Biggs sixth for Beebe in the discus throw.
In the boys’ meet, sprinter Jordan McNair took second in the 100-meter dash, finishing in 11.34 behind Highland’s Deon Stewart. The same duo finished one and two in the 200m as well, with Stewart’s 22.97 edging out McNair by less than 3/10ths.
Leader sports editor
The Beebe boys’ track team took second place in the 11-team meet at Morrilton last Friday. The Badgers scored 147 points, finishing far behind track power Vilonia’s 268, but well ahead the 53 points put up by Dardanelle and Greenbrier for third place. The host Devil Dogs took fifth with 40 points.
The Badgers won just one event. Senior Jesse Crisco took first place in the discus with a toss of 127-feet, 3-inches. Dusty Grier took fourth and Wade Jones seventh in that event.
Beebe junior Connor Patrom tied for first with Dardanelle’s Chris Kershner in the 100-meter dash, each finishing in 11.81. Patrom’s teammate and classmate Keishaun Davidson finished third with an 11.90.
Justin Burlison and Nathan Clifton took fourth and fifth in the 200m for Beebe while John Paul Savage and Gus McCoy took third and fifth respectively in the 800m. Savage also took fourth in the mile while teammate Rob Swafford finished seventh. McCoy finished fourth in the two mile. Vilonia runners took the top three spots in both distance races.
Patrom and Davidson were back in the points in the 110-meter high hurdles, taking sixth and seventh place. Micah Dubose picked up a point for Beebe in the 300m hurdles with an eighth-place finish.
The Badgers’ 4x100 relay team of Jo’Vaughn Wyrick, Clayton Meurer, Trip Smith and Burlison finished second behind Greenbrier. The Badgers replaced Smith with Dubose and took third in the 4x400.
Beebe’s 4x800 relay team also took second, but finished 39 seconds behind Vilonia’s blazing fast 8:35.75.
Sophomore Kirkland Miller tied for second in the high jump with a leap of 5-10, and Patrom finished sixth.
The Badgers placed four in the top six of the pole vault, but Vilonia’s Tripp Reed won it by going 10 feet.
Nathan Clifton and Patrom finished sixth and seventh respectively in the long jump. Clifton also took fourth in the triple jump while teammates Wyrick and Tyler Childress finished tied for fifth. Grier finished third and Jones seventh in the shot put.
On the same day, the Lady Badgers took part in the Heber Springs Relays and finished fifth overall out of 18 teams with 43 points. The host team narrowly edged out Batesville 119 to 116, with Des Arc and Harding Academy taking third and fourth with 87 and 47 points.
Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School was also at Heber Springs, with the boys finishing eighth out of 20 teams with 33 points and the Lady Wolves getting seven total points for 15th place.
In the girls’ competition, Lighthouse’s Naje’ Harper took sixth in the 100-meter dash while Beebe’s Jabria Coleman finished eighth. Harper also finished seventh in the 200m.
Beebe’s Taylor McGraw finished fourth and Coleman fifth in the 400, and Beebe’s Allie Lane took fifth in the 800. Lady Badger Sydnye Shuttleworth finished seventh in the two-mile race and sixth in the pole vault.
McGraw took fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 30 feet. Shea Holland and Kierston Miller took seventh and eighth in the shot put and Tori Lovelady finished third and Natalie Biggs sixth for Beebe in the discus throw.
In the boys’ meet, sprinter Jordan McNair took second in the 100-meter dash, finishing in 11.34 behind Highland’s Deon Stewart. The same duo finished one and two in the 200m as well, with Stewart’s 22.97 edging out McNair by less than 3/10ths.
SPORTS STORY >> 4A champs battle back on Bears
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Sylvan Hills baseball team held a seven-run lead after the first inning of Friday’s nonconference game against two-time defending Class 4A state champion Arkadelphia, but the visiting Badgers finished the game with eight unanswered runs, including the go-ahead run in the seventh, to beat the Bears 8-7 in Sherwood.
Sylvan Hills (5-1, 2-0) looked as if it might run away with the game early, as the Bears scored all seven of their runs in the first inning to lead 7-0 after one.
Arkadelphia (2-2), though, showed its championship poise and was able to steadily chip away at the Bears’ lead.
After the first inning, the Bears’ batters went the rest of the game without a hit, and the Badgers scored three runs in the second inning, two in the third, two in the fourth and one in the seventh to leave Mike Bromley Field with the narrow victory.
“That was a lot of it,” said Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton of his team’s struggles at the plate Friday. “We had a couple of opportunities late and we could never get the hit back. I give them (Arkadelphia) credit. They just kind of grinded back.
“You could see why they’re the two-time defending state champs. They just kind of grinded their way back. I think our youthfulness came into play. Instead of continuing to play to win, we started worrying about how they might come back and beat us. But, hey, it’s good for us.
“It’s something that we can really learn from and, hopefully, it won’t happen again.”
Mackenzie Seats led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple, and he scored the game’s first run three batters later on a one-out single by clean-up hitter Jacob Franco.
Lukas Burrow walked with the bases loaded later on in the inning – giving him an easy RBI and the Bears a 4-0 lead. That brought Seats back to the plate, and with the bases loaded and two outs, Seats hit a bases-clearing single to right field, putting the hosts on top 7-0.
Unfortunately for the Bears, their bats went quiet for the remainder of the game. After a three-run second inning, the Badgers scored their two runs in the third on a two-run home run by three-hole hitter Clay Wilson, which made it a 7-5 ballgame.
The Bears’ pitching struggled with placement in the fourth inning, and as a result, the Badgers’ next two runs were scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball – tying the game at 7-7.
Errant throws once again plagued the Bears in the top of the seventh. With the score still at seven apiece, Arkadelphia’s Cutter Jester reached base after being hit by a pitch. He then stole second, and on the same play, stole third because of a wild throw from behind home plate.
Just before Jester made it safely to third, the throw from right field to third base ended up in the Badgers’ dugout, which allowed Jester to safely cross home plate and set the final score in the process.
Dillon Parnham got the official win on the mound for the Badgers. He took to the hill at the start of the fourth inning, and pitched the remainder of the game – giving up no walks and no hits while striking out five Bears’ batters.
Seats led Sylvan Hills Friday with two hits, while Franco and Hunter Heslep each had one. Brandon Matros and Wilson led the Badgers with two hits apiece.
Leader sportswriter
The Sylvan Hills baseball team held a seven-run lead after the first inning of Friday’s nonconference game against two-time defending Class 4A state champion Arkadelphia, but the visiting Badgers finished the game with eight unanswered runs, including the go-ahead run in the seventh, to beat the Bears 8-7 in Sherwood.
Sylvan Hills (5-1, 2-0) looked as if it might run away with the game early, as the Bears scored all seven of their runs in the first inning to lead 7-0 after one.
Arkadelphia (2-2), though, showed its championship poise and was able to steadily chip away at the Bears’ lead.
After the first inning, the Bears’ batters went the rest of the game without a hit, and the Badgers scored three runs in the second inning, two in the third, two in the fourth and one in the seventh to leave Mike Bromley Field with the narrow victory.
“That was a lot of it,” said Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton of his team’s struggles at the plate Friday. “We had a couple of opportunities late and we could never get the hit back. I give them (Arkadelphia) credit. They just kind of grinded back.
“You could see why they’re the two-time defending state champs. They just kind of grinded their way back. I think our youthfulness came into play. Instead of continuing to play to win, we started worrying about how they might come back and beat us. But, hey, it’s good for us.
“It’s something that we can really learn from and, hopefully, it won’t happen again.”
Mackenzie Seats led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple, and he scored the game’s first run three batters later on a one-out single by clean-up hitter Jacob Franco.
Lukas Burrow walked with the bases loaded later on in the inning – giving him an easy RBI and the Bears a 4-0 lead. That brought Seats back to the plate, and with the bases loaded and two outs, Seats hit a bases-clearing single to right field, putting the hosts on top 7-0.
Unfortunately for the Bears, their bats went quiet for the remainder of the game. After a three-run second inning, the Badgers scored their two runs in the third on a two-run home run by three-hole hitter Clay Wilson, which made it a 7-5 ballgame.
The Bears’ pitching struggled with placement in the fourth inning, and as a result, the Badgers’ next two runs were scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball – tying the game at 7-7.
Errant throws once again plagued the Bears in the top of the seventh. With the score still at seven apiece, Arkadelphia’s Cutter Jester reached base after being hit by a pitch. He then stole second, and on the same play, stole third because of a wild throw from behind home plate.
Just before Jester made it safely to third, the throw from right field to third base ended up in the Badgers’ dugout, which allowed Jester to safely cross home plate and set the final score in the process.
Dillon Parnham got the official win on the mound for the Badgers. He took to the hill at the start of the fourth inning, and pitched the remainder of the game – giving up no walks and no hits while striking out five Bears’ batters.
Seats led Sylvan Hills Friday with two hits, while Franco and Hunter Heslep each had one. Brandon Matros and Wilson led the Badgers with two hits apiece.
SPORTS STORY >> Wolff clear leader for Arkansas next season
By NATE ALLEN
Special to The Leader
FAYETTEVILLE – This spring break becomes Melissa Wolff’s last responsibility-free week until the 2015-2016 Razorbacks Women’s basketball team ends its season next spring.
For from Monday’s resumption of UA classes, Arkansas Women’s coach Jimmy Dykes expects his Cabot native guard/forward and lone senior-to-be to lead his 2015-2016 team in all things intangible, and plenty of tangibles, too.
“Melissa Wolff has to take ownership of the team right now for next year,” Dykes said in Monday’s season wrap-up press conference.
Wolff already was quite the partner to the graduating senior leaders Calli Berna and Jhasmin Bowen, on a nine-woman 18-14 team that advanced two rounds deep into the NCAA Tournament.
“I love the two seniors that I have,” Dykes said. “I learned a lot from Calli Berna and Jhasmin Bowen, things I will take with me going forth in my life. And Melissa Wolff has those same kind of qualities in her that we can take from here as a leader.
“She has kind of been the pulse and the heartbeat of our team all season long in terms of her fight. As a first year head coach to have Calli and Jhas and my second year to have a leader like Melissa Wolff, that’s really, really good. Those are three good ones right there.”
Listed as 6-feet but truly more like 5-11, Dykes said, Wolff hobbled throughout much of the season until game days. Then she led the Razorbacks in rebounding, a 7.8 average, while averaging 8.4 points.
She posted six double-doubles, capped by 13 points and 15 rebounds in the 10th-seeded Razorbacks’ 57-55 first-round NCAA Tournament upset of seventh-seeded Northwestern last Friday in Waco, Texas.
“Melissa Wolff didn’t practice the last five weeks of the season with a bad hip,” Dykes said. “But she always showed up in a game and got 13 points and 15 boards against Northwestern on Friday.”
“There’s no reason why for Melissa Wolff to have that kind of a game on that big of a stage other than her heart is bigger than anyone I’ve ever been around. There is no reason in the world that 5-11 Melissa Wolff from Cabot, Arkansas, should have 15 and 13 against Northwestern in this NCAA Tournament game but the size of her heart,” Dykes said.
Arkansas was outsized in most games, but Wolff and Bowen consistently played bigger than themselves inside, Dykes said.
Arkansas’ biggest player, 6-3 Jessica Jackson of Jacksonville, was the best shooter outside, a team-leading 56 of 163 3-pointers for a .344 percentage.
Jackson was the team’s leading scorer, 14.9, and shot-blocker, 33, with Wolff next at 30, and a strong 6.3 rebounder as the Razorbacks gathered 1,283 rebounds to their opponents’ 1,150.
Jackson was second-team All-SEC under Tom Collen two seasons ago as a freshman but played even better this past season in Dykes’ view.
“I expect her to make just as much progress in her second year under me as she did in her first year,” Dykes said. “I know her scoring numbers were down a little bit and maybe her rebounding was down a little bit but she is a better all-round player. She runs better. Her energy has been better.
“Defensively she is better. Boxing off she is better. She scores the ball from different spots on the floor now better. She made a lot of progress and she made a lot of progress off the floor,” Dykes said.
Jackson and returning junior-to-be starting guard Kelsey Brooks, Dykes said, also will be counted upon heavily to help next season’s young team that signed five freshmen in November and seeks to sign more in April.
“Melissa Wolff is ready to step up and be one of the leaders on the team,” Dykes said.
“But I am also very big on not having just one leader. Everybody has to be a leader. All those things that Melissa is going to give to this team starting when we get back from spring break, everybody has to fall in line with that.”
Special to The Leader
FAYETTEVILLE – This spring break becomes Melissa Wolff’s last responsibility-free week until the 2015-2016 Razorbacks Women’s basketball team ends its season next spring.
For from Monday’s resumption of UA classes, Arkansas Women’s coach Jimmy Dykes expects his Cabot native guard/forward and lone senior-to-be to lead his 2015-2016 team in all things intangible, and plenty of tangibles, too.
“Melissa Wolff has to take ownership of the team right now for next year,” Dykes said in Monday’s season wrap-up press conference.
Wolff already was quite the partner to the graduating senior leaders Calli Berna and Jhasmin Bowen, on a nine-woman 18-14 team that advanced two rounds deep into the NCAA Tournament.
“I love the two seniors that I have,” Dykes said. “I learned a lot from Calli Berna and Jhasmin Bowen, things I will take with me going forth in my life. And Melissa Wolff has those same kind of qualities in her that we can take from here as a leader.
“She has kind of been the pulse and the heartbeat of our team all season long in terms of her fight. As a first year head coach to have Calli and Jhas and my second year to have a leader like Melissa Wolff, that’s really, really good. Those are three good ones right there.”
Listed as 6-feet but truly more like 5-11, Dykes said, Wolff hobbled throughout much of the season until game days. Then she led the Razorbacks in rebounding, a 7.8 average, while averaging 8.4 points.
She posted six double-doubles, capped by 13 points and 15 rebounds in the 10th-seeded Razorbacks’ 57-55 first-round NCAA Tournament upset of seventh-seeded Northwestern last Friday in Waco, Texas.
“Melissa Wolff didn’t practice the last five weeks of the season with a bad hip,” Dykes said. “But she always showed up in a game and got 13 points and 15 boards against Northwestern on Friday.”
“There’s no reason why for Melissa Wolff to have that kind of a game on that big of a stage other than her heart is bigger than anyone I’ve ever been around. There is no reason in the world that 5-11 Melissa Wolff from Cabot, Arkansas, should have 15 and 13 against Northwestern in this NCAA Tournament game but the size of her heart,” Dykes said.
Arkansas was outsized in most games, but Wolff and Bowen consistently played bigger than themselves inside, Dykes said.
Arkansas’ biggest player, 6-3 Jessica Jackson of Jacksonville, was the best shooter outside, a team-leading 56 of 163 3-pointers for a .344 percentage.
Jackson was the team’s leading scorer, 14.9, and shot-blocker, 33, with Wolff next at 30, and a strong 6.3 rebounder as the Razorbacks gathered 1,283 rebounds to their opponents’ 1,150.
Jackson was second-team All-SEC under Tom Collen two seasons ago as a freshman but played even better this past season in Dykes’ view.
“I expect her to make just as much progress in her second year under me as she did in her first year,” Dykes said. “I know her scoring numbers were down a little bit and maybe her rebounding was down a little bit but she is a better all-round player. She runs better. Her energy has been better.
“Defensively she is better. Boxing off she is better. She scores the ball from different spots on the floor now better. She made a lot of progress and she made a lot of progress off the floor,” Dykes said.
Jackson and returning junior-to-be starting guard Kelsey Brooks, Dykes said, also will be counted upon heavily to help next season’s young team that signed five freshmen in November and seeks to sign more in April.
“Melissa Wolff is ready to step up and be one of the leaders on the team,” Dykes said.
“But I am also very big on not having just one leader. Everybody has to be a leader. All those things that Melissa is going to give to this team starting when we get back from spring break, everybody has to fall in line with that.”
SPORTS STORY >> Panthers secure a sweep in twin bill
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers picked up their first and second wins of the season on Friday, and moved to 2-0 in conference play with a doubleheader sweep of the Searcy Lions in Searcy.
Southpaw pitcher Gavin Tillery threw a complete-game four hitter in leading the Panthers to a 3-0 win in game one. In game two, Cabot had a big second inning at the plate and got six innings of three-hit ball from pitcher Chase Kyzer to earn a 6-2 victory.
The first two innings of game one went by in a flash. Cabot’s first six batters went down in order and Tillery gave up just one base hit in the bottom of the second.
The Panthers finally got some offense going in the top of the third. Playing as the visiting team in game one, Dylan Bowers led off the inning with a bloop single to right field, which was followed by a line-drive single by Eric Larsen. Blake McCutchen was asked to sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position, but he laid a perfect one and reached base safely, leaving the bases loaded.
Leadoff hitter Evan Hooper hit a fly ball to center field for the first out, but it was deep enough to score Bowers after tagging up. Denver Mullins then walked to load the bases again with one out, but a strikeout and a groundout followed to end the rally.
Searcy got a leadoff single to start the bottom of the third, but Tillery got a pop-up to center field and struck out two batters to hold the Lions at bay.
The Panthers got a pair of one-out base hits in the fourth, but were unable again to capitalize.
The Panthers got two runners on with one out in the top of the fifth when Hooper singled and Mullins walked. One out later, Tristan Bulice singled to right field, where an error was made on the hop. Hooper scored on the error, but courtesy runner Jake Slunder was thrown out at home on the play.
Searcy got a one-out base hit in the top of the fifth, but still went down in order. Tillery got a groundout and a strikeout in the inning, and catcher Landon James threw out the runner attempting to steal third base to end the inning.
Logan Kirkendoll got a leading single to start the top of the sixth for Cabot and stole second base. He advanced to third on a groundout by Jonathan Latture. After a fly out to right field by Bowers, Kirkendoll stole home during Larsen’s at bat to set the final margin.
Tillery was outstanding on the mound, striking out nine and walking no one.
Bowers went 2 for 3 to lead Cabot offensively while Hooper, Mullins, Bulice, Kirkendoll, Latture and McCutchen each got one base hit. Bulice went 2 for 3 with an RBI in game two and Bowers got a two-RBI base hit to aid the Panthers’ cause.
Searcy scored first in the top of the first inning, but Cabot answered with four runs in the second. Bulice started the rally with a leadoff, line-drive double to right field. Kirkendoll then reached on a throwing error that also scored Bulice. Latture then hit a double deep into the gap in left-center field.
Bowers then made it three doubles in the inning with his two-RBI shot to straightaway center to make it 3-1. With one out, McCutchen put down a sacrifice bunt but another error left him safe at second base and allowed Bowers to score from second.
The rally finally ended with back-to-back grounders to shortstop by Mullins and Hooper.
Cabot made it 5-1 in the third on a double by James and another Searcy error. In the fifth inning, Mullins singled to lead things off and scored on a single by Bulice with one out.
Searcy got a little offense going in its last at-bat with a leadoff double and an RBI single with one out, but Larsen fanned the last two batters to seal the victory.
Kyzer struck out eight and walked two in his six innings of work, while giving up just one earned run.
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers picked up their first and second wins of the season on Friday, and moved to 2-0 in conference play with a doubleheader sweep of the Searcy Lions in Searcy.
Southpaw pitcher Gavin Tillery threw a complete-game four hitter in leading the Panthers to a 3-0 win in game one. In game two, Cabot had a big second inning at the plate and got six innings of three-hit ball from pitcher Chase Kyzer to earn a 6-2 victory.
The first two innings of game one went by in a flash. Cabot’s first six batters went down in order and Tillery gave up just one base hit in the bottom of the second.
The Panthers finally got some offense going in the top of the third. Playing as the visiting team in game one, Dylan Bowers led off the inning with a bloop single to right field, which was followed by a line-drive single by Eric Larsen. Blake McCutchen was asked to sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position, but he laid a perfect one and reached base safely, leaving the bases loaded.
Leadoff hitter Evan Hooper hit a fly ball to center field for the first out, but it was deep enough to score Bowers after tagging up. Denver Mullins then walked to load the bases again with one out, but a strikeout and a groundout followed to end the rally.
Searcy got a leadoff single to start the bottom of the third, but Tillery got a pop-up to center field and struck out two batters to hold the Lions at bay.
The Panthers got a pair of one-out base hits in the fourth, but were unable again to capitalize.
The Panthers got two runners on with one out in the top of the fifth when Hooper singled and Mullins walked. One out later, Tristan Bulice singled to right field, where an error was made on the hop. Hooper scored on the error, but courtesy runner Jake Slunder was thrown out at home on the play.
Searcy got a one-out base hit in the top of the fifth, but still went down in order. Tillery got a groundout and a strikeout in the inning, and catcher Landon James threw out the runner attempting to steal third base to end the inning.
Logan Kirkendoll got a leading single to start the top of the sixth for Cabot and stole second base. He advanced to third on a groundout by Jonathan Latture. After a fly out to right field by Bowers, Kirkendoll stole home during Larsen’s at bat to set the final margin.
Tillery was outstanding on the mound, striking out nine and walking no one.
Bowers went 2 for 3 to lead Cabot offensively while Hooper, Mullins, Bulice, Kirkendoll, Latture and McCutchen each got one base hit. Bulice went 2 for 3 with an RBI in game two and Bowers got a two-RBI base hit to aid the Panthers’ cause.
Searcy scored first in the top of the first inning, but Cabot answered with four runs in the second. Bulice started the rally with a leadoff, line-drive double to right field. Kirkendoll then reached on a throwing error that also scored Bulice. Latture then hit a double deep into the gap in left-center field.
Bowers then made it three doubles in the inning with his two-RBI shot to straightaway center to make it 3-1. With one out, McCutchen put down a sacrifice bunt but another error left him safe at second base and allowed Bowers to score from second.
The rally finally ended with back-to-back grounders to shortstop by Mullins and Hooper.
Cabot made it 5-1 in the third on a double by James and another Searcy error. In the fifth inning, Mullins singled to lead things off and scored on a single by Bulice with one out.
Searcy got a little offense going in its last at-bat with a leadoff double and an RBI single with one out, but Larsen fanned the last two batters to seal the victory.
Kyzer struck out eight and walked two in his six innings of work, while giving up just one earned run.
SPORTS STORY >> Lady Panthers display power
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Lady Panther softball team suffered its first loss of the season at the North Little Rock Tournament of Champions, but not before winning two games in the two-day event. Cabot opened the tournament on Friday by beating White Hall 5-1, then hammered perennial 2A powerhouse Foreman 14-0 early Saturday. Later that day, the Lady Panthers were shutout in a 4-0 loss to Bald Knob.
Megan Goodnight shined against the Lady Bulldogs on Friday. She went the distance on the mound, giving up just two hits and zero earned runs while striking out five and walking two. At the plate, the southpaw hurler went 1 for 3, including a three-run home run in the bottom of the third that broke a 1-1 tie.
Hannah Montgomery also got to touch them all in the third. Her home run led off the inning and tied the game. Rachel Allgood followed that by drawing a walk. Macee Abbott sacrificed her to second before Lauren McCluskey singled to center to put runners on the corners, setting up Montgomery’s big shot to right field.
Cabot added a run in the bottom of the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Bethany Knowles and Heather Hill.
The Lady Panthers piled up 13 base hits against Foreman, including two more home runs. They scored three runs in the top of the first inning, and then broke the game open with an eight-run second.
Kaitlyn Felder hit a three-run shot in the second inning and Hill drilled a solo shot in the fifth to set the final margin. McCluskey went 3 for 3 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored. Erin Eckert went 2 for 4 with two runs batted in.
Knowles went 2 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs.
Goodnight started on the mound and threw just 10 pitches in one inning of work. McCluskey finished out the mercy rule shortened game, giving up one hit in four innings of work.
Despite the one-hit shutout, no Foreman players struck out. However, only two balls left the infield. Of the 15 outs recorded, there were 13 groundouts, one fly ball to right field and one pop-up to second base.
All the offensive fireworks ceased against Bald Knob. Cabot managed just two base hits while giving up all four runs in the second inning.
The Lady Bulldogs got three singles, one walk, one hit batter and a home run for all the runs they would need in that inning.
After getting knocked around in that second frame, Goodnight gave up just one other hit the rest of the way, and retired the last nine Bald Knob batters in order.
Cabot is set to host the third-annual Beebe/Cabot multi-site tournament on Saturday.
Leader sports editor
The Lady Panther softball team suffered its first loss of the season at the North Little Rock Tournament of Champions, but not before winning two games in the two-day event. Cabot opened the tournament on Friday by beating White Hall 5-1, then hammered perennial 2A powerhouse Foreman 14-0 early Saturday. Later that day, the Lady Panthers were shutout in a 4-0 loss to Bald Knob.
Megan Goodnight shined against the Lady Bulldogs on Friday. She went the distance on the mound, giving up just two hits and zero earned runs while striking out five and walking two. At the plate, the southpaw hurler went 1 for 3, including a three-run home run in the bottom of the third that broke a 1-1 tie.
Hannah Montgomery also got to touch them all in the third. Her home run led off the inning and tied the game. Rachel Allgood followed that by drawing a walk. Macee Abbott sacrificed her to second before Lauren McCluskey singled to center to put runners on the corners, setting up Montgomery’s big shot to right field.
Cabot added a run in the bottom of the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Bethany Knowles and Heather Hill.
The Lady Panthers piled up 13 base hits against Foreman, including two more home runs. They scored three runs in the top of the first inning, and then broke the game open with an eight-run second.
Kaitlyn Felder hit a three-run shot in the second inning and Hill drilled a solo shot in the fifth to set the final margin. McCluskey went 3 for 3 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored. Erin Eckert went 2 for 4 with two runs batted in.
Knowles went 2 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs.
Goodnight started on the mound and threw just 10 pitches in one inning of work. McCluskey finished out the mercy rule shortened game, giving up one hit in four innings of work.
Despite the one-hit shutout, no Foreman players struck out. However, only two balls left the infield. Of the 15 outs recorded, there were 13 groundouts, one fly ball to right field and one pop-up to second base.
All the offensive fireworks ceased against Bald Knob. Cabot managed just two base hits while giving up all four runs in the second inning.
The Lady Bulldogs got three singles, one walk, one hit batter and a home run for all the runs they would need in that inning.
After getting knocked around in that second frame, Goodnight gave up just one other hit the rest of the way, and retired the last nine Bald Knob batters in order.
Cabot is set to host the third-annual Beebe/Cabot multi-site tournament on Saturday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)