IN SHORT>> Jacksonville beats Hall Warriors 12-2
The Jacksonville Red Devils extended their season’s first winning streak to three games Monday night with a 12-2 run-rule victory over Little Rock Hall. Monday’s win over the Warriors follows two victories in last week’s Red Devil Classic over J.A. Fair and Abundant Life.
The Red Devils led 7-2 heading into the fifth inning when a five-run rally, capped by Hall’s pitching walking in the final two runs, invoked the 10 runs after five innings rule and ended the ballgame.
“We’re playing better,” Jacksonville coach Larry Burrows said Tuesday morning. “We’ll still have to play a lot better to-night than we did. Jonesboro is tough. We haven’t seen much hitting and pitching like they have. They’re pretty loaded.”
Burrows’ squad left early Tuesday afternoon for a conference doubleheader against the AAAAA-East’s preseason favorite Jonesboro.
In Monday’s game, the Red Devils got only eight hits, but they were timely hits and capitalized on Hall’s pitching struggles and errors.
John Ottis got a two-out single in the bottom of the fifth with Jacksonville leading 8-2. Ottis’ hit made it 10-2 before the successive walks ended the game.
The highlight of the game came in the second inning when Jacksonville senior Randy Peeples hit a solo home run to put Jacksonville up 1-0.
Sophomores Zach Thomas and Blake Mattison, as well as senior Seth Boatman, turned in multiple-hit performances.
Boatman also started on the mound and got the win, with freshman Cameron Hood stepping to the mound for the last two innings of relief duty.
Burrows was pleased with Hood’s performance, as well as many other young players on the Red Devil roster.
“Hood came in and pitched well,” Burrows said. “He’s got a chance to be one of our best. Our sophomores played pretty good too. We’re getting some production from our younger players. That should help us down the line. They’re getting some experience.”
The win pulls the Red Devils to .500 on the season at 4-4.
Look for details of Tuesday’s matchup with Jonesboro in Saturday’s edition of the Leader.
Jacksonville has no other varsity games scheduled the rest of the week. The Red Devils will go back on the road next Monday for another conference doubleheader against the other league favorite Searcy.
Jacksonville’s next home game is a non-conference match-up against Oak Grove next Wed-nesday. Its first East home game is March 28 against Sylvan Hills.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
SPORTS>> Cabot comes back on Wildcats
IN SHORT>> Three runs in sixth lift Lady Panthers
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Lady Panthers put together a three-run rally in the sixth inning Monday night to mount a 4-3 comeback victory over North Little Rock in non-conference fastpitch softball action.
The Cabot ladies got three hits and took advantage of a couple of Lady Wildcats miscues to pull out the late win.
North Little Rock flew out of the gates, collecting three hits and three runs in the top of the first inning against Cabot senior pitcher Holly Vance. Vance settled in for the remainder of the game, however, and kept the Lady Wildcats bats in check.
NLR catcher Sara Springer singled to centerfield to start the first-inning onslaught. Springer’s hit was followed by an RBI triple over the head of Cabot centerfielder Jamie Sterrenberg. Vance fanned Devin McWayne, but hit third baseman Farren Wright before a two-RBI double down the right-field line by Sara Lapps completed the scoring and gave the Lady Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
The score would remain 3-0 until the bottom of the third, when Cabot capitalized on a NLR error.
Cabot senior April Ellison reached base on a fielder’s choice grounder to second base. Amanda Oates then hit a grounder to third, but Wright’s throw to first was in the dirt and rolled far enough into the right-field corner to allow Ellison to score from first base.
The game settled into a pitchers’ duel the rest of the way until Cabot came alive in the sixth inning.
Ellison got things started with a leadoff single. Oates then doubled to put runners on second and third. Sophomore Jamie Sterrenberg struck out to record the first out of the inning, but catcher Amber Jolly singled to drive in Ellison and make it a one-run ballgame.
With Vance at the plate, Oates scored after a wild pitch from Kelsey Whitlock got past Springer to tie the game.
Jolly then scored the game-winner when Vance put the ball in play.
Vance came out for the top of the seventh and shut down the Wildcats to secure the victory.
The win lifted the Lady Panthers to 4-1 on the season. Cabot also owns a non-conference win over Watson Chapel and conference victories over Sylvan Hills and Forrest City. The one loss so far this season was at the hands of Sheridan.
The Lady Panthers played West Memphis Tuesday night and travel to Searcy for another AAAAA-East matchup Friday.
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Lady Panthers put together a three-run rally in the sixth inning Monday night to mount a 4-3 comeback victory over North Little Rock in non-conference fastpitch softball action.
The Cabot ladies got three hits and took advantage of a couple of Lady Wildcats miscues to pull out the late win.
North Little Rock flew out of the gates, collecting three hits and three runs in the top of the first inning against Cabot senior pitcher Holly Vance. Vance settled in for the remainder of the game, however, and kept the Lady Wildcats bats in check.
NLR catcher Sara Springer singled to centerfield to start the first-inning onslaught. Springer’s hit was followed by an RBI triple over the head of Cabot centerfielder Jamie Sterrenberg. Vance fanned Devin McWayne, but hit third baseman Farren Wright before a two-RBI double down the right-field line by Sara Lapps completed the scoring and gave the Lady Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
The score would remain 3-0 until the bottom of the third, when Cabot capitalized on a NLR error.
Cabot senior April Ellison reached base on a fielder’s choice grounder to second base. Amanda Oates then hit a grounder to third, but Wright’s throw to first was in the dirt and rolled far enough into the right-field corner to allow Ellison to score from first base.
The game settled into a pitchers’ duel the rest of the way until Cabot came alive in the sixth inning.
Ellison got things started with a leadoff single. Oates then doubled to put runners on second and third. Sophomore Jamie Sterrenberg struck out to record the first out of the inning, but catcher Amber Jolly singled to drive in Ellison and make it a one-run ballgame.
With Vance at the plate, Oates scored after a wild pitch from Kelsey Whitlock got past Springer to tie the game.
Jolly then scored the game-winner when Vance put the ball in play.
Vance came out for the top of the seventh and shut down the Wildcats to secure the victory.
The win lifted the Lady Panthers to 4-1 on the season. Cabot also owns a non-conference win over Watson Chapel and conference victories over Sylvan Hills and Forrest City. The one loss so far this season was at the hands of Sheridan.
The Lady Panthers played West Memphis Tuesday night and travel to Searcy for another AAAAA-East matchup Friday.
TOP STORY>> PCSSD’s surplus of $17M is gone
IN SHORT>> The Pulaski County Special School District is among 11 in Arkansas designated as in fiscal distress, a designation that could result in the state imposing its own superintendent or replacing the school board.
The steady erosion of the Pulaski County Special School District’s bottom line over the last several years has landed it fiscal distress designation, according to the state Department of Education.
Only about three years ago, the district had a fund balance of about $17 million, according to Jeff Shaneyfelt, past board president and a certified public accountant. Shaneyfelt estimated the district would have close to nothing left in its fund balance at the end of this year.
“This has been on the horizon for some time,” said Shaneyfelt Tuesday afternoon. He said the designation meant the district had been identified as in financial trouble for two years in a row.
“In three years, we’ve gone from $17 million down to zero. Only way to explain it is our labor costs.”
Salaries and fringe benefits account for about 85 percent of the school’s budget, according to John Artchetko, acting chief
financial officer for the district. Artchetko’s figures show an ending balance this year of $5 million, he said Monday.
“Next year, I don’t know,” said Shaneyfelt. “We have enough money to get through this year. He said the fund balance was even more troubling because the district had received $10 million more this school year, courtesy of the state legislature and the Lake View School case.
“We have nothing new to show for it,” he said.
Shaneyfelt said the state Education Department has the authority to appoint its own superintendent, to reconstitute the new school board or, without going to those extremes, they can have strong input—oversight.”
“Superintendent Don Henderson and I haven’t sat down to discuss grounds for appeal,” said Artchetko. “We will later this week.
“Basically our being placed on list is because of our declining fund balance. We have to cut expenditures.”
The budget process for the 2005-2006 school year has begun, he said. “We’re starting to get requests and budget proposals from the departments.
Part of what we need to do is wait for the bills in front of the legislature that will impact the budget on funding and expenditures. We’re waiting to see how they progress before we begin heavy number crunching. “
He said staffing allocation and enrollment were important factors as well. “So much of the budget is salary and fringe benefits.”
He said the district had thought it had a larger fund balance until the auditor’s adjustment.
“We thought we had more money until they found an error in a prior year that reduced the fund balance.
He said the bottom line had been affected by two years of declining state revenues, commitments to staff contracts, the need to pay competitive salaries and various mandates.
Superintendents and school board presidents were notified of the fiscal distress status March 3.
The districts will have until April 6 to appeal the designation. The state Board of Education will make the final determinations at the April 11 meeting.
The district was one of only 11 statewide identified as in financial distress. The other districts were Altheimer Unified School District, Dierks, Dollarway, Eudora, Flippin, Helena – West Helena, Lead Hill, Midland, Waldo and Western Yell County School District.
The steady erosion of the Pulaski County Special School District’s bottom line over the last several years has landed it fiscal distress designation, according to the state Department of Education.
Only about three years ago, the district had a fund balance of about $17 million, according to Jeff Shaneyfelt, past board president and a certified public accountant. Shaneyfelt estimated the district would have close to nothing left in its fund balance at the end of this year.
“This has been on the horizon for some time,” said Shaneyfelt Tuesday afternoon. He said the designation meant the district had been identified as in financial trouble for two years in a row.
“In three years, we’ve gone from $17 million down to zero. Only way to explain it is our labor costs.”
Salaries and fringe benefits account for about 85 percent of the school’s budget, according to John Artchetko, acting chief
financial officer for the district. Artchetko’s figures show an ending balance this year of $5 million, he said Monday.
“Next year, I don’t know,” said Shaneyfelt. “We have enough money to get through this year. He said the fund balance was even more troubling because the district had received $10 million more this school year, courtesy of the state legislature and the Lake View School case.
“We have nothing new to show for it,” he said.
Shaneyfelt said the state Education Department has the authority to appoint its own superintendent, to reconstitute the new school board or, without going to those extremes, they can have strong input—oversight.”
“Superintendent Don Henderson and I haven’t sat down to discuss grounds for appeal,” said Artchetko. “We will later this week.
“Basically our being placed on list is because of our declining fund balance. We have to cut expenditures.”
The budget process for the 2005-2006 school year has begun, he said. “We’re starting to get requests and budget proposals from the departments.
Part of what we need to do is wait for the bills in front of the legislature that will impact the budget on funding and expenditures. We’re waiting to see how they progress before we begin heavy number crunching. “
He said staffing allocation and enrollment were important factors as well. “So much of the budget is salary and fringe benefits.”
He said the district had thought it had a larger fund balance until the auditor’s adjustment.
“We thought we had more money until they found an error in a prior year that reduced the fund balance.
He said the bottom line had been affected by two years of declining state revenues, commitments to staff contracts, the need to pay competitive salaries and various mandates.
Superintendents and school board presidents were notified of the fiscal distress status March 3.
The districts will have until April 6 to appeal the designation. The state Board of Education will make the final determinations at the April 11 meeting.
The district was one of only 11 statewide identified as in financial distress. The other districts were Altheimer Unified School District, Dierks, Dollarway, Eudora, Flippin, Helena – West Helena, Lead Hill, Midland, Waldo and Western Yell County School District.
TOP STORY>> 39th Infantry women coming home
IN SHORT>> Medics who served in Iraq for a year are closer to their families in Jacksonville and Cabot after returning to Fort Sill, Okla. They’ll be home in early April.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Whether they went to war or stayed behind, these women of the 39th Infantry Brigade say the experience was one they didn’t expect or plan for, but it has made them stronger.
Sgt. Michelle Gonzales of Cabot and Sgt. Michelle Franks of Jacksonville are medics with the 39th Brigade Combat Team, 39th Support Battalion, Company C, in Lonoke, who were stationed at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad. They returned last week to Ft. Sill, Okla., and will be back home in early April.
They enlisted in the National Guard mostly for the college money, drilled once a month for five years and went to camp for two weeks a year. And then, whether they wanted to go or not, they were deployed to the middle of a war zone, where they faced mortar fire and gave medical aid to soldiers whose bodies were mangled in battle.
Nicole Clark of Beebe is the wife of Spc. Joe Clark, who worked as a mechanic in the center of Baghdad. Clark married her high school sweetheart and had always depended on him to earn a living and help with major decisions. But since he’s been gone, she’s found a part time job and moved from an apartment to a house.
All three women are in their mid-20s and they are mothers who are anxious to reunite their families.
“It was very hard at first, but it was just one of those things,” Franks said of being deployed in the fall of 2003. She left behind her husband Michael, a guard at the Pulaski County Detention Center, and a year-old baby boy, Braden, who is now two and a half years old .
“You know you have to do it and there’s no way to get out of it,” she said. “But when I enlisted, the thought never crossed my mind that I would leave home.”
She and her husband met while they were both in the Guard. He served in Egypt for six months in 2000 and has since left the Guard.
“We’ve been married five years, and we’ve been apart for two years,” he said Tuesday.
He’s been playing Mr. Mom, taking Braden to daycare and cooking for him and doing the best under the circumstances.
“We can handle it,” Franks said. “It’s almost over with.”
Clark was pregnant with her second child when her husband, who works in pest control, was transferred from the Beebe unit to the 39th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion 153 Infantry Regi-ment, Headquarters and Head-quarters’ Company in Malvern, which needed a mechanic.
He joined the Guard between his junior and senior years in high school and was one month away from fulfilling his obligation when he was deployed. Their 3-year-old son knows who Daddy is, she said. But her husband is looking forward to getting to really know both his children.
He’ll be home Friday or Saturday. His buddies from Beebe whose combat support work includes creating smoke screens for cover and chemical decontamination and will possibly be back from Iraq until sometime in April.
“It’s been hard with him gone,” Clark said. “It’s been hard being both mommy and daddy, but I’ve learned to be a lot more independent. I think it’s made us appreciate each other more.”
By far the worst experience was the mortar fire, Gonzales and Franks said Tuesday in phone interviews from Ft. Sill, Okla., where they will be until early April.
“It was April 24. We’d been there about two weeks and our pod was hit,” Gonzales said. “We had nine trauma patients and four passed away.”
Franks, an operation room technician at St. Vincent North Medical Center in Sherwood, had seen blood before, but she said that did not prepare her for the work she did in Iraq.
“It was very scary at first,” she said, adding that she would gather the strength to do her job then afterwards she would ask herself, “My God, what did I just do?”
But the people who came to the clinic were not all severe trauma victims. Some had abrasions. Some were simply sick and some were Iraqi police officers in need of physicals.
“The job wasn’t all bad,” Franks said.
When the mortar fire stopped sometime after the second month, life became a lot more bearable and at times enjoyable. In fact, she’s signed on for six more years.
For more than half her time in Iraq, Gonzales had family support close at hand. Her brother, Sgt. Chris Purchase, and her brother-in-law Sgt. Jason George are in her unit and were deployed to Iraq at the same time.
They both left in November for the Sinai. Her sister, Sgt. Melissa George also is in her unit, but she was not deployed out of the states.
To help the time pass, football and softball teams formed. A taste of home was provided by Burger King, Pizza Hut and Subway, Gonzales said.
Like Franks, Gonzales was intrigued by the people she met in the war and like Franks, she has reenlisted for six more years and plans to stay in the Guard for 14 more. Her husband, Domingo, an inspector for the city of Little Rock, has turned into a regular “Mr. Mom” who has learned how to pay the household bills and braid their two daughter’s hair,” she said.
So if she is called upon again, she will leave her job as dispatcher and jailer for the Sherwood Police Department and go wherever the Guard needs her.
She’s accustomed to being in the Guard, she said. Besides, staying in 20 years will mean more retirement money so her daughters won’t have to support her in her old age.
Clark says her husband is getting out like he planned to before he was deployed. She was spending the week before his return tidying their new home and shopping for his favorite foods.
He’ll have some time off before he starts back to work and he’s promised to take her anywhere she would like to go for a family getaway. Anywhere that is except someplace with sand.
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Whether they went to war or stayed behind, these women of the 39th Infantry Brigade say the experience was one they didn’t expect or plan for, but it has made them stronger.
Sgt. Michelle Gonzales of Cabot and Sgt. Michelle Franks of Jacksonville are medics with the 39th Brigade Combat Team, 39th Support Battalion, Company C, in Lonoke, who were stationed at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad. They returned last week to Ft. Sill, Okla., and will be back home in early April.
They enlisted in the National Guard mostly for the college money, drilled once a month for five years and went to camp for two weeks a year. And then, whether they wanted to go or not, they were deployed to the middle of a war zone, where they faced mortar fire and gave medical aid to soldiers whose bodies were mangled in battle.
Nicole Clark of Beebe is the wife of Spc. Joe Clark, who worked as a mechanic in the center of Baghdad. Clark married her high school sweetheart and had always depended on him to earn a living and help with major decisions. But since he’s been gone, she’s found a part time job and moved from an apartment to a house.
All three women are in their mid-20s and they are mothers who are anxious to reunite their families.
“It was very hard at first, but it was just one of those things,” Franks said of being deployed in the fall of 2003. She left behind her husband Michael, a guard at the Pulaski County Detention Center, and a year-old baby boy, Braden, who is now two and a half years old .
“You know you have to do it and there’s no way to get out of it,” she said. “But when I enlisted, the thought never crossed my mind that I would leave home.”
She and her husband met while they were both in the Guard. He served in Egypt for six months in 2000 and has since left the Guard.
“We’ve been married five years, and we’ve been apart for two years,” he said Tuesday.
He’s been playing Mr. Mom, taking Braden to daycare and cooking for him and doing the best under the circumstances.
“We can handle it,” Franks said. “It’s almost over with.”
Clark was pregnant with her second child when her husband, who works in pest control, was transferred from the Beebe unit to the 39th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion 153 Infantry Regi-ment, Headquarters and Head-quarters’ Company in Malvern, which needed a mechanic.
He joined the Guard between his junior and senior years in high school and was one month away from fulfilling his obligation when he was deployed. Their 3-year-old son knows who Daddy is, she said. But her husband is looking forward to getting to really know both his children.
He’ll be home Friday or Saturday. His buddies from Beebe whose combat support work includes creating smoke screens for cover and chemical decontamination and will possibly be back from Iraq until sometime in April.
“It’s been hard with him gone,” Clark said. “It’s been hard being both mommy and daddy, but I’ve learned to be a lot more independent. I think it’s made us appreciate each other more.”
By far the worst experience was the mortar fire, Gonzales and Franks said Tuesday in phone interviews from Ft. Sill, Okla., where they will be until early April.
“It was April 24. We’d been there about two weeks and our pod was hit,” Gonzales said. “We had nine trauma patients and four passed away.”
Franks, an operation room technician at St. Vincent North Medical Center in Sherwood, had seen blood before, but she said that did not prepare her for the work she did in Iraq.
“It was very scary at first,” she said, adding that she would gather the strength to do her job then afterwards she would ask herself, “My God, what did I just do?”
But the people who came to the clinic were not all severe trauma victims. Some had abrasions. Some were simply sick and some were Iraqi police officers in need of physicals.
“The job wasn’t all bad,” Franks said.
When the mortar fire stopped sometime after the second month, life became a lot more bearable and at times enjoyable. In fact, she’s signed on for six more years.
For more than half her time in Iraq, Gonzales had family support close at hand. Her brother, Sgt. Chris Purchase, and her brother-in-law Sgt. Jason George are in her unit and were deployed to Iraq at the same time.
They both left in November for the Sinai. Her sister, Sgt. Melissa George also is in her unit, but she was not deployed out of the states.
To help the time pass, football and softball teams formed. A taste of home was provided by Burger King, Pizza Hut and Subway, Gonzales said.
Like Franks, Gonzales was intrigued by the people she met in the war and like Franks, she has reenlisted for six more years and plans to stay in the Guard for 14 more. Her husband, Domingo, an inspector for the city of Little Rock, has turned into a regular “Mr. Mom” who has learned how to pay the household bills and braid their two daughter’s hair,” she said.
So if she is called upon again, she will leave her job as dispatcher and jailer for the Sherwood Police Department and go wherever the Guard needs her.
She’s accustomed to being in the Guard, she said. Besides, staying in 20 years will mean more retirement money so her daughters won’t have to support her in her old age.
Clark says her husband is getting out like he planned to before he was deployed. She was spending the week before his return tidying their new home and shopping for his favorite foods.
He’ll have some time off before he starts back to work and he’s promised to take her anywhere she would like to go for a family getaway. Anywhere that is except someplace with sand.
TOP STORY>> Support growing for more C-130Js
IN SHORT>> A retired general who once commanded Little Rock Air Force Base told 800 airmen, guests and community leaders that the Secretary of Defense is reconsidering the decision to pull the plus on C-130J procurement.
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is reconsidering his decision to pull the plug on acquisition of the remaining C-130J transport planes on order, according to retired Gen. Alfred G. Hansen, in town last weekend to help celebrate Little Rock Air Force Base’s 50th anniversary.
“There is no doubt that the (Air Force and the U.S. Armed Forces) need the C-130J. It’s a totally different airplane than the old C-130,” he said.
The Pentagon hopes to free about $5 billion for the Army by cutting Air Force-bound C-130Js—at an average cost of $83 million each—from the budgets between 2006 and 2011.
“When the Department of Defense made its decision (to cancel the remaining 70 C-130Js on order from Lockheed-Martin), it was made in a vacuum,” said Hansen, former commander of Little Rock Air Force Base. “They have the information now, and I would be surprised (if the order were cancelled).”
“The secretary of defense says he’s reevaluating the decision,” he added.
“The old C-130s have maintenance problems,” Hansen told a reporter, “and nothing else quite fills the bill.”
The C-27 can handle half the load, he said, and the Army was increasingly counting on the C-130 to move men and materials to minimize mounting casualties from roadside improvised explosive devices.
Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Little Rock, said there was no new, hard news on the fate of the C-130J, but that there were “positive indications” that the Pentagon was actively reconsidering its decision.
“The existing fleet is old and successful, and there’s nothing to replace it with. I’m encouraged we’re moving in the right direction.”
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin stands to lose $5 billion in sales between 2006 and 2011 if the program is cut from the budget.
The Pentagon defense proposal would end production of C-130Js this year.
That’s important locally because Little Rock Air Force Base is the premiere C-130 base in this country, responsible for virtually all flight and maintenance training. Facilities have been updated and expanded to prepare for the next generation of in-theater transport planes, the C-130J.
The Air Force has conditionally accepted 50 C-130J aircraft at a cost of $2.6 billion.
In February, Lockheed began limiting responses to requests for information about the C-130J from the Air Force and from others not under current contract, according to an article published in the Washington Times.
Two studies currently underway are likely to demonstrate the need to reinstate C-130J production to the 2006 defense budget, a top Air Force general testified before the House Armed Services Committee this month.
Currently, the Air Force has more than 500 C-130s, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force vice chief of staff, testified earlier this month. Of those, 200 are the older E models, and 30 of those are grounded.
Nearly a third of the grounded planes are at Little Rock Air Force Base.
Air Force wide, “We’re looking at having to ground another 50 or so because of wing spar and wing box issues,” Moseley said, while “The C-130Js now in the field have a proven mission-capability rate of more than 95 percent.”
In a related matter, about 3,000 striking Lockheed Martin machinists were voting near Atlanta on a new contract. Ob-servers say a second failure to ratify the contract—which was recommended by the union negotiating team—could lead to closure of the plants where the C-130J and A-1 fighter are built.
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is reconsidering his decision to pull the plug on acquisition of the remaining C-130J transport planes on order, according to retired Gen. Alfred G. Hansen, in town last weekend to help celebrate Little Rock Air Force Base’s 50th anniversary.
“There is no doubt that the (Air Force and the U.S. Armed Forces) need the C-130J. It’s a totally different airplane than the old C-130,” he said.
The Pentagon hopes to free about $5 billion for the Army by cutting Air Force-bound C-130Js—at an average cost of $83 million each—from the budgets between 2006 and 2011.
“When the Department of Defense made its decision (to cancel the remaining 70 C-130Js on order from Lockheed-Martin), it was made in a vacuum,” said Hansen, former commander of Little Rock Air Force Base. “They have the information now, and I would be surprised (if the order were cancelled).”
“The secretary of defense says he’s reevaluating the decision,” he added.
“The old C-130s have maintenance problems,” Hansen told a reporter, “and nothing else quite fills the bill.”
The C-27 can handle half the load, he said, and the Army was increasingly counting on the C-130 to move men and materials to minimize mounting casualties from roadside improvised explosive devices.
Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Little Rock, said there was no new, hard news on the fate of the C-130J, but that there were “positive indications” that the Pentagon was actively reconsidering its decision.
“The existing fleet is old and successful, and there’s nothing to replace it with. I’m encouraged we’re moving in the right direction.”
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin stands to lose $5 billion in sales between 2006 and 2011 if the program is cut from the budget.
The Pentagon defense proposal would end production of C-130Js this year.
That’s important locally because Little Rock Air Force Base is the premiere C-130 base in this country, responsible for virtually all flight and maintenance training. Facilities have been updated and expanded to prepare for the next generation of in-theater transport planes, the C-130J.
The Air Force has conditionally accepted 50 C-130J aircraft at a cost of $2.6 billion.
In February, Lockheed began limiting responses to requests for information about the C-130J from the Air Force and from others not under current contract, according to an article published in the Washington Times.
Two studies currently underway are likely to demonstrate the need to reinstate C-130J production to the 2006 defense budget, a top Air Force general testified before the House Armed Services Committee this month.
Currently, the Air Force has more than 500 C-130s, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force vice chief of staff, testified earlier this month. Of those, 200 are the older E models, and 30 of those are grounded.
Nearly a third of the grounded planes are at Little Rock Air Force Base.
Air Force wide, “We’re looking at having to ground another 50 or so because of wing spar and wing box issues,” Moseley said, while “The C-130Js now in the field have a proven mission-capability rate of more than 95 percent.”
In a related matter, about 3,000 striking Lockheed Martin machinists were voting near Atlanta on a new contract. Ob-servers say a second failure to ratify the contract—which was recommended by the union negotiating team—could lead to closure of the plants where the C-130J and A-1 fighter are built.
TOP STORY>> Base marks anniversary
IN SHORT>>LIttle Rock Air Force Base played a secret part in helping Israel win the 1973 Yom Kippur War, a retired general told 800 airmen and guests celebrating the base’s 50th anniversary on Saturday night.
BY JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Little Rock Air Force Base has proven resilient, adaptable and a good community partner, according to retired Gen. Alfred G. Hansen, in town last weekend to help celebrate the base’s 50th anniversary.
Hansen, base commander from 1979 through August 1981, and Larry T. Wilson, president of First Arkansas Bank and Trust, gave keynote addresses Saturday night as about 800 airmen, former airmen and community leaders gathered at the Statehouse Convention Center in dress uniform or black tie to celebrate the occasion with dining, dancing and fireworks.
Wilson’s late father, Kenneth Pat Wilson, was among those instrumental in assembling the 6,500 necessary acres to bring the base to Jacksonville half a century ago, and Wilson himself is past president of the base’s community council.
“(The base’s) founding fathers were focused on the economic benefits,” said Hansen.
They must have been far-sighted, because last year, the base’s economic impact on the surrounding community increased $68 million to $580 million, according to Lt. Jon Quinlan. (See article this page.)
“I wonder if they realized the tremendous impact on hundreds of thousands affected,” Hansen mused aloud.
During the Israeli-Syrian war in 1973, Little Rock Air Force Base was picked for a secret mission as the staging area for subsequent delivery of arms and munitions to Israel, said Hansen. “They were shipped here, then to Tel Aviv. I was told they would have lost the war otherwise,” he said.
He praised the base’s ability over the years to transform itself quickly, going from a reconnaissance base to a bomber base to a tactical airlift base and strategic air command base.
“As the threats change, the mission changes,” he said.
Speaking forcefully and with apparent conviction, Hansen said the U.S. was the only remaining superpower and thus had certain responsibilities—even as policeman of the world.
“Somebody’s got to do it,” he said. “What has made this a great democracy is not turning its back,” he said.
“Fighting to provide freedom around the world, undertaking relief missions—the country and the base have a role to keep the bright light of freedom burning.”
Members of the armed forces are making a great sacrifice and are doing so willingly, Hansen said.
“A lot of people say the U.S. cuts and runs when the body bags (appear),” he said. “In Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. has proven that’s not true.”
Hansen was commander of the 314th Tactical Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base from October 1978 until August 1981.
Currently he is president and chief executive officer of EMS Technologies, Inc., an advanced technology communications company.
Hansen concluded a 37-year the Air Force career in 1989 as a four-star general, going to work for Lockheed Martin, where he served as a corporate vice president and executive vice president of Aero-nautical Systems from 1995 until 1998.
During his career, he served as a member of the Apollo spacecraft recovery team, and later flew 113 combat missions as an A-1 pilot stationed in Thailand.
Sen. Mark Pryor, Cong. Vic Snyder and mayors Tommy Swaim of Jacksonville, Stubby Stumbaugh of Cabot and Art Brooke of Ward were among the guests.
Swaim currently serves as president of the base community council.
Also attending were several other former commanders and spouses.
They were Col. and Mrs. Charles O’Sullivan, 1962 and 1965; Col. and Mrs. James Gaydaux, 1965-66; Col. and Mrs. Theodore Dale, 1970; Brig. Gen. and Mrs. Richard Drury, 1972-73; Col. and Mrs. James Elmer, 1978-79; Col. and Mrs. William Kehler, 1983-85; Col. and Mrs. William Arent, 1985-89; Col. and Mrs. Albert Hart, 1989-91, and Jill Scott, wife of Brig. Gen. David Scott, 2001-03 .
Following the celebration, Pryor said the base was very important to central Arkansas over the last 50 years.
“I’m proud of the community and the Air Force base,” said Pryor.
“It’s been a great partnership. It’s hokey, but true.”
BY JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Little Rock Air Force Base has proven resilient, adaptable and a good community partner, according to retired Gen. Alfred G. Hansen, in town last weekend to help celebrate the base’s 50th anniversary.
Hansen, base commander from 1979 through August 1981, and Larry T. Wilson, president of First Arkansas Bank and Trust, gave keynote addresses Saturday night as about 800 airmen, former airmen and community leaders gathered at the Statehouse Convention Center in dress uniform or black tie to celebrate the occasion with dining, dancing and fireworks.
Wilson’s late father, Kenneth Pat Wilson, was among those instrumental in assembling the 6,500 necessary acres to bring the base to Jacksonville half a century ago, and Wilson himself is past president of the base’s community council.
“(The base’s) founding fathers were focused on the economic benefits,” said Hansen.
They must have been far-sighted, because last year, the base’s economic impact on the surrounding community increased $68 million to $580 million, according to Lt. Jon Quinlan. (See article this page.)
“I wonder if they realized the tremendous impact on hundreds of thousands affected,” Hansen mused aloud.
During the Israeli-Syrian war in 1973, Little Rock Air Force Base was picked for a secret mission as the staging area for subsequent delivery of arms and munitions to Israel, said Hansen. “They were shipped here, then to Tel Aviv. I was told they would have lost the war otherwise,” he said.
He praised the base’s ability over the years to transform itself quickly, going from a reconnaissance base to a bomber base to a tactical airlift base and strategic air command base.
“As the threats change, the mission changes,” he said.
Speaking forcefully and with apparent conviction, Hansen said the U.S. was the only remaining superpower and thus had certain responsibilities—even as policeman of the world.
“Somebody’s got to do it,” he said. “What has made this a great democracy is not turning its back,” he said.
“Fighting to provide freedom around the world, undertaking relief missions—the country and the base have a role to keep the bright light of freedom burning.”
Members of the armed forces are making a great sacrifice and are doing so willingly, Hansen said.
“A lot of people say the U.S. cuts and runs when the body bags (appear),” he said. “In Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. has proven that’s not true.”
Hansen was commander of the 314th Tactical Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base from October 1978 until August 1981.
Currently he is president and chief executive officer of EMS Technologies, Inc., an advanced technology communications company.
Hansen concluded a 37-year the Air Force career in 1989 as a four-star general, going to work for Lockheed Martin, where he served as a corporate vice president and executive vice president of Aero-nautical Systems from 1995 until 1998.
During his career, he served as a member of the Apollo spacecraft recovery team, and later flew 113 combat missions as an A-1 pilot stationed in Thailand.
Sen. Mark Pryor, Cong. Vic Snyder and mayors Tommy Swaim of Jacksonville, Stubby Stumbaugh of Cabot and Art Brooke of Ward were among the guests.
Swaim currently serves as president of the base community council.
Also attending were several other former commanders and spouses.
They were Col. and Mrs. Charles O’Sullivan, 1962 and 1965; Col. and Mrs. James Gaydaux, 1965-66; Col. and Mrs. Theodore Dale, 1970; Brig. Gen. and Mrs. Richard Drury, 1972-73; Col. and Mrs. James Elmer, 1978-79; Col. and Mrs. William Kehler, 1983-85; Col. and Mrs. William Arent, 1985-89; Col. and Mrs. Albert Hart, 1989-91, and Jill Scott, wife of Brig. Gen. David Scott, 2001-03 .
Following the celebration, Pryor said the base was very important to central Arkansas over the last 50 years.
“I’m proud of the community and the Air Force base,” said Pryor.
“It’s been a great partnership. It’s hokey, but true.”
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
OBITUARIES>> March 16, 2005
Derek Balog
Derek Richard Balog, 26, of Cabot, died March 10 at Rebsamen Medical Center in Jacksonville following a car accident.
He was born Sept. 2, 1978, in Jacksonville. Derek graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1996.
He was a senior at University of Arkansas Little Rock. He was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity at the University of Central Arkansas. Derek was a member of “The Contigencies” band.
On Sept. 18, 2004, he married Jennifer Bylthe in Jacksonville. He was preceded in death by his stepfather, Gary B. Long; grandmother, Nanie Armstrong and a great-grandmother, Silva Underwood.
Survivors include his wife, Jennifer of the home; parents, Robert and Kathy Armstrong of Cleveland, Texas; sister, Cheryl Long of Cleveland, Texas; mother and father-in-law, Melody and Tony Blythe of Cabot; grandparents, Sylvia and Billy Williams of Cabot, Jeanette and Raymond Kurka of Oregon; grandfather, Richard Balog of Cleveland, Ohio; two brothers and sisters-in-law, Daniel and Holly Blythe of Cabot, Michael and Christen Blythe of Conway and a host of aunts, uncles and cousins.
Funeral services were conducted Monday at Victory Baptist Church in Cabot. Bro. Ben Leonard and Pastor Mark Eisold officiated. Interment was at Sumner Cemetery in Cabot.
Arrangements were by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
Sharon Kay Campbell
Sharon Kay Campbell, 42, of El Paso, went to be with the Lord March 12.
She was born Oct. 20, 1962. She was a member of Charity Baptist Church in Cabot and worked for Wal-Mart in Cabot. She was preceded in death by her parents, Mary Lee Tozer and Richard Eugene Campbell; and her niece, Brittany Dawn Campbell.
Sharon is survived by three brothers, Royce and Mary Campbell of California, Tony Campbell, and Ronnie and Vallerie Campbell of El Paso; her grandmother, Annie Tozer of Beebe; two nephews and one niece, Ryan Eugene Campbell, Jeffery Allen and Kellie Campbell, and Michelle Renee Campbell.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, with burial in Antioch Cemetery.
Derek Richard Balog, 26, of Cabot, died March 10 at Rebsamen Medical Center in Jacksonville following a car accident.
He was born Sept. 2, 1978, in Jacksonville. Derek graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1996.
He was a senior at University of Arkansas Little Rock. He was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity at the University of Central Arkansas. Derek was a member of “The Contigencies” band.
On Sept. 18, 2004, he married Jennifer Bylthe in Jacksonville. He was preceded in death by his stepfather, Gary B. Long; grandmother, Nanie Armstrong and a great-grandmother, Silva Underwood.
Survivors include his wife, Jennifer of the home; parents, Robert and Kathy Armstrong of Cleveland, Texas; sister, Cheryl Long of Cleveland, Texas; mother and father-in-law, Melody and Tony Blythe of Cabot; grandparents, Sylvia and Billy Williams of Cabot, Jeanette and Raymond Kurka of Oregon; grandfather, Richard Balog of Cleveland, Ohio; two brothers and sisters-in-law, Daniel and Holly Blythe of Cabot, Michael and Christen Blythe of Conway and a host of aunts, uncles and cousins.
Funeral services were conducted Monday at Victory Baptist Church in Cabot. Bro. Ben Leonard and Pastor Mark Eisold officiated. Interment was at Sumner Cemetery in Cabot.
Arrangements were by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
Sharon Kay Campbell
Sharon Kay Campbell, 42, of El Paso, went to be with the Lord March 12.
She was born Oct. 20, 1962. She was a member of Charity Baptist Church in Cabot and worked for Wal-Mart in Cabot. She was preceded in death by her parents, Mary Lee Tozer and Richard Eugene Campbell; and her niece, Brittany Dawn Campbell.
Sharon is survived by three brothers, Royce and Mary Campbell of California, Tony Campbell, and Ronnie and Vallerie Campbell of El Paso; her grandmother, Annie Tozer of Beebe; two nephews and one niece, Ryan Eugene Campbell, Jeffery Allen and Kellie Campbell, and Michelle Renee Campbell.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, with burial in Antioch Cemetery.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
NEIGHBORS>> Three’s not a crowd at the Haley home
No, you’re not seeing triple. There really are three of them.
The Haley home, just outside Cabot, is filled with blond-haired, blue-eyed, 1-year-old boys in matching outfits who are distinguishable to outsiders only by the differences in their height and weight.
But that’s only when they are standing side by side, which isn’t often.
The boys were just 2 months old when the Leader was first invited to meet them.
Arriving a month early and weighing a total of 17 pounds and 1 ounce, they were small for their age. But now, weighing in at 20, 21 and 22 pounds, they’d rather run than walk.
They have a growing vocabulary and they could hold their own in a patty cake contest.
Without a doubt, life has changed dramatically for their parents, Brian and Kelly Haley, who were quite surprised to learn in mid-2003 that their family was about to increase in number and dumbfounded to learn when Kelly was five months pregnant how great that number would be.
They don’t eat out anymore. In fact, they’ve only been out once for two hours on their anniversary since the babies arrived. And they’ve stopped trying to protect the living room carpet by entering through the kitchen. It’s simply easier to bring all those car seats and strollers in the front door and the carpet is starting to show the use.
“Our house isn’t as neat as it used to be,” Brian says of the kid clutter that surrounds him.
The living room is filled with large plastic toys in primary colors that don’t coordinate well with their earth-toned upholstered furniture, and racks of baby bottles and plastic bowls can be found air drying on the kitchen counter.
Mason and Logan, the older brothers, who were 10 and 8 when the triplets were born, now share a bedroom. The triplets’ cribs fill the other one, but Brian says there’s no way three twin beds will fit. It won’t be long before the family will be forced to find a larger house.
“It’s not a big deal now, but we figure it will be in a couple of years,” he said.
And how are they getting by on just one paycheck since Kelly had to quit her job at Magness Creek Elementary to stay home with the babies?
“We don’t know,” she says.
Going back to work before Gage, Gunnar and Greyson start kindergarten is out of the question.
“It’d be negative money to put them in daycare,” Kelly says. “I’d be paying just to get out of the house.”
But don’t think the original members of the Haley family aren’t happy with the new arrivals.
Kelly says the older boys willingly play with the little ones while she tends to household chores.
And the little ones have spent hours in car seats and strollers, if not watching their big brothers play football and basketball, at least not fussing too much about it.
The identical triplets were such a novelty when they were born last February at Baptist Health Medical Center in North Little Rock, that hospital officials were eager to talk about their arrival. And according to their dad, “They still draw a lot of attention even with people who see them all the time.”
They were the first identical triplets Dr. Jimmy Chang had delivered in 19 years as an obstetrician. They are the result of a three-way split of a single egg sometime in the second week of gestation. One internet source says there were 6,742 triplet births in the United States in 2000 compared to 118,916 twin births.
Kelly said she thought since triplets are rare, they would garner more attention and possibly financial help from the corporate world, but she quickly learned that modern treatments for fertility problems have vastly increased the number of multiple births. Her little identical boys may cause strangers to do a double-take, but the big companies are not standing in line to pay for diapers and college.
Relatives and good friends from the older boys’ ball teams have helped clothe the boys. Jeannie Rollins, a teacher at Magness Creek Elementary, took up donations that filled the family’s living room with diapers just before Christmas. And a few companies have donated a few diapers, toys and the like.
“We’ve had a few things done, but Oprah has called,” Brian jokes. “Dr. Phil hasn’t called. Maybe we should call him.”
The hectic days of the first few months are now gone, Kelly says. The boys would sleep until 10 a.m. if she didn’t have to get them up to take their brothers to school. They take two-hour naps in the afternoon, until it’s time to pick up their brothers at school.
School – that’s four and a half years away for the triplets, Kelly says. Not that having them at home is anything less than a joy.
But Brian says they have considered breaking up the set for at least an evening so they can have a little time to themselves.
“Friends and family have volunteered to help out. But three at one time? I wouldn’t do that to anyone,” he said.
The Haley home, just outside Cabot, is filled with blond-haired, blue-eyed, 1-year-old boys in matching outfits who are distinguishable to outsiders only by the differences in their height and weight.
But that’s only when they are standing side by side, which isn’t often.
The boys were just 2 months old when the Leader was first invited to meet them.
Arriving a month early and weighing a total of 17 pounds and 1 ounce, they were small for their age. But now, weighing in at 20, 21 and 22 pounds, they’d rather run than walk.
They have a growing vocabulary and they could hold their own in a patty cake contest.
Without a doubt, life has changed dramatically for their parents, Brian and Kelly Haley, who were quite surprised to learn in mid-2003 that their family was about to increase in number and dumbfounded to learn when Kelly was five months pregnant how great that number would be.
They don’t eat out anymore. In fact, they’ve only been out once for two hours on their anniversary since the babies arrived. And they’ve stopped trying to protect the living room carpet by entering through the kitchen. It’s simply easier to bring all those car seats and strollers in the front door and the carpet is starting to show the use.
“Our house isn’t as neat as it used to be,” Brian says of the kid clutter that surrounds him.
The living room is filled with large plastic toys in primary colors that don’t coordinate well with their earth-toned upholstered furniture, and racks of baby bottles and plastic bowls can be found air drying on the kitchen counter.
Mason and Logan, the older brothers, who were 10 and 8 when the triplets were born, now share a bedroom. The triplets’ cribs fill the other one, but Brian says there’s no way three twin beds will fit. It won’t be long before the family will be forced to find a larger house.
“It’s not a big deal now, but we figure it will be in a couple of years,” he said.
And how are they getting by on just one paycheck since Kelly had to quit her job at Magness Creek Elementary to stay home with the babies?
“We don’t know,” she says.
Going back to work before Gage, Gunnar and Greyson start kindergarten is out of the question.
“It’d be negative money to put them in daycare,” Kelly says. “I’d be paying just to get out of the house.”
But don’t think the original members of the Haley family aren’t happy with the new arrivals.
Kelly says the older boys willingly play with the little ones while she tends to household chores.
And the little ones have spent hours in car seats and strollers, if not watching their big brothers play football and basketball, at least not fussing too much about it.
The identical triplets were such a novelty when they were born last February at Baptist Health Medical Center in North Little Rock, that hospital officials were eager to talk about their arrival. And according to their dad, “They still draw a lot of attention even with people who see them all the time.”
They were the first identical triplets Dr. Jimmy Chang had delivered in 19 years as an obstetrician. They are the result of a three-way split of a single egg sometime in the second week of gestation. One internet source says there were 6,742 triplet births in the United States in 2000 compared to 118,916 twin births.
Kelly said she thought since triplets are rare, they would garner more attention and possibly financial help from the corporate world, but she quickly learned that modern treatments for fertility problems have vastly increased the number of multiple births. Her little identical boys may cause strangers to do a double-take, but the big companies are not standing in line to pay for diapers and college.
Relatives and good friends from the older boys’ ball teams have helped clothe the boys. Jeannie Rollins, a teacher at Magness Creek Elementary, took up donations that filled the family’s living room with diapers just before Christmas. And a few companies have donated a few diapers, toys and the like.
“We’ve had a few things done, but Oprah has called,” Brian jokes. “Dr. Phil hasn’t called. Maybe we should call him.”
The hectic days of the first few months are now gone, Kelly says. The boys would sleep until 10 a.m. if she didn’t have to get them up to take their brothers to school. They take two-hour naps in the afternoon, until it’s time to pick up their brothers at school.
School – that’s four and a half years away for the triplets, Kelly says. Not that having them at home is anything less than a joy.
But Brian says they have considered breaking up the set for at least an evening so they can have a little time to themselves.
“Friends and family have volunteered to help out. But three at one time? I wouldn’t do that to anyone,” he said.
EDITORIAL >> Second unit pushes Social Security reform
The first team having failed to generate even a first down in the big Social Security showdown, the Bush administration this week sent the second unit to Arkansas in the person of Treasury Secretary John Snow. As far as we could tell, the yard marker never moved.
But if personnel were the problem, President Bush was at least as good a quarterback as Snow. Both had their lines down and were as peppy as anyone would want. The object is to persuade a considerable number of Arkansans that Social Security will collapse if we don’t begin to privatize it. Then people will prevail on U. S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln to support the president, she being the only member of the Arkansas delegation who seems the least shaky on Social Security.
No, the problem is the game plan itself. The more the president calls attention to the long-range funding problems of Social Security, the more people learn about it and the more certain they are that the president’s notions would make the problems far worse much quicker. The polls reflect that every week that the president is on the stump preaching Social Security collapse and the wonders of privatization the more unpopular his idea becomes.
In their closely scripted and cloistered Arkansas appearances, Mr. Bush and his treasury secretary warned ominously that Social Security was headed over a cliff. By now, nearly everyone knows the facts. In about 13 years, unless the economy has a robust job-creating streak, benefit payouts will begin to exceed current payroll taxes. Then, sometime after 2042 — after 2052, according to the Congressional Budget Office — the mammoth surplus in the Social Security trust fund will have winnowed away and monthly benefits will have to be cut significantly (although still considerably more than current retirees’ benefits, even adjusted for inflation).
That is all uncontested, but even people in the president’s camp — the vice president, for example — acknowledge that the president’s plan to allow people under the age of 55 to divert two-thirds of their payroll taxes to closely circumscribed private investment accounts would not delay the 2042 or 2052 crisis by even a single day. It would, in fact, speed that day of reckoning.
The still unspoken part of the president’s plan that would address that issue is a reduction in benefits.
Neither Bush nor Snow nor anyone else in the administration will take questions about that, although it is the central feature of the option to which the president vaguely alludes from time to time. A deep reduction in benefits, which would begin in a few years, would not play well in these forums, so it is just left unmentioned.
But while Snow was making his pitch for Arkansas support at Fayetteville, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan let the cat out of the bag in Washington. Regardless of what happens to the president’s privatization plan, he said the country would either have to make adjustments in Social Security taxes or reduce benefits. His preference is to cut benefits.
Greenspan got to the heart of what the sudden Social Security “crisis” is all about. Reining in Social Security payouts will make the country’s deficits shrink. Since soon after Bush took office, the government has been using Social Security payroll taxes (about $170 billion a year of it now) to pay for the wars in Iraq and higher defense and homeland security spending. And that is true as far as the eye can see. The crisis in Social Security will make it easier to do the dirty work of cutting benefits, which will help pay for his extravagance in spending and tax cutting for the wealthy.
And where do private accounts fit in all this? If Bush can sell the idea of great wealth accumulation from private accounts, people will just shrug off the reduction in the regular pensions. But think about this: What if the George W. Bush era and not the Bill Clinton era is the real harbinger of markets in the next 25 years?
Stocks had a fantastic run yesterday, but the Dow Jones still closed below the average on the day of Bush’s election nearly four and a half years ago. The NASDAQ was only about 65 percent of its Nov. 7, 2000 close.
Who would stake her sunset years on that prospect?
But if personnel were the problem, President Bush was at least as good a quarterback as Snow. Both had their lines down and were as peppy as anyone would want. The object is to persuade a considerable number of Arkansans that Social Security will collapse if we don’t begin to privatize it. Then people will prevail on U. S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln to support the president, she being the only member of the Arkansas delegation who seems the least shaky on Social Security.
No, the problem is the game plan itself. The more the president calls attention to the long-range funding problems of Social Security, the more people learn about it and the more certain they are that the president’s notions would make the problems far worse much quicker. The polls reflect that every week that the president is on the stump preaching Social Security collapse and the wonders of privatization the more unpopular his idea becomes.
In their closely scripted and cloistered Arkansas appearances, Mr. Bush and his treasury secretary warned ominously that Social Security was headed over a cliff. By now, nearly everyone knows the facts. In about 13 years, unless the economy has a robust job-creating streak, benefit payouts will begin to exceed current payroll taxes. Then, sometime after 2042 — after 2052, according to the Congressional Budget Office — the mammoth surplus in the Social Security trust fund will have winnowed away and monthly benefits will have to be cut significantly (although still considerably more than current retirees’ benefits, even adjusted for inflation).
That is all uncontested, but even people in the president’s camp — the vice president, for example — acknowledge that the president’s plan to allow people under the age of 55 to divert two-thirds of their payroll taxes to closely circumscribed private investment accounts would not delay the 2042 or 2052 crisis by even a single day. It would, in fact, speed that day of reckoning.
The still unspoken part of the president’s plan that would address that issue is a reduction in benefits.
Neither Bush nor Snow nor anyone else in the administration will take questions about that, although it is the central feature of the option to which the president vaguely alludes from time to time. A deep reduction in benefits, which would begin in a few years, would not play well in these forums, so it is just left unmentioned.
But while Snow was making his pitch for Arkansas support at Fayetteville, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan let the cat out of the bag in Washington. Regardless of what happens to the president’s privatization plan, he said the country would either have to make adjustments in Social Security taxes or reduce benefits. His preference is to cut benefits.
Greenspan got to the heart of what the sudden Social Security “crisis” is all about. Reining in Social Security payouts will make the country’s deficits shrink. Since soon after Bush took office, the government has been using Social Security payroll taxes (about $170 billion a year of it now) to pay for the wars in Iraq and higher defense and homeland security spending. And that is true as far as the eye can see. The crisis in Social Security will make it easier to do the dirty work of cutting benefits, which will help pay for his extravagance in spending and tax cutting for the wealthy.
And where do private accounts fit in all this? If Bush can sell the idea of great wealth accumulation from private accounts, people will just shrug off the reduction in the regular pensions. But think about this: What if the George W. Bush era and not the Bill Clinton era is the real harbinger of markets in the next 25 years?
Stocks had a fantastic run yesterday, but the Dow Jones still closed below the average on the day of Bush’s election nearly four and a half years ago. The NASDAQ was only about 65 percent of its Nov. 7, 2000 close.
Who would stake her sunset years on that prospect?
EDITORIAL>> Deltic Timber tries Trojan Horse gambit
Just when it appears that people in Central Arkansas can celebrate the prospect of another quarter-century of clean water the word comes that the developers have been reading classical mythology. They resurrected the Trojan Horse.
Owing at least partly to the good leadership of House Speaker Bill Stovall of Quitman, the bill to effectively strip Central Arkansas Water of its power to protect the waters of Lake Maumelle looks to be dead in the City, County and Local Affairs Committee of the House of Representa-tives. Deltic Timber Corp., which wants to build a 225-mansion subdivision on the scenic slopes around the intake that supplies water to Jacksonville, Sherwood, Cabot and the rest of the urban community, does not have the votes to get the bill out of the committee.
It turns out that the waterworks’ own governing commission, under pressure from the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and development interests, may be about to back down. Commissioners are weighing resolutions that would accept a moratorium.
Deltic would not start building homes immediately and the water company would not exercise eminent domain for a couple of years while a comprehensive management plan is put into place and an “independent” expert consulted on whether runoff from the huge development would do much harm to the waters.
The waterworks director, Jim Harvey, and the professionals at the agency are mystified and apoplectic, as should be all of us who enjoy or who soon will enjoy the best water in America.
The moratorium would give Deltic, which owns some 400,000 acres of timber and development land in Arkansas, time to influence a few legislative elections and change the composition of the House sufficiently to assure passage of the bill in 2007. Stovall will be gone. The bullheaded and courageous Jim Harvey is retiring.
When hundreds of millions of dollars of profits are hanging in the balance, what’s two more years?
The water commission will meet at 2 p.m. Thursday in Little Rock. It needs to hear the voices of consumers. You can be sure they’ve heard the developers.
Owing at least partly to the good leadership of House Speaker Bill Stovall of Quitman, the bill to effectively strip Central Arkansas Water of its power to protect the waters of Lake Maumelle looks to be dead in the City, County and Local Affairs Committee of the House of Representa-tives. Deltic Timber Corp., which wants to build a 225-mansion subdivision on the scenic slopes around the intake that supplies water to Jacksonville, Sherwood, Cabot and the rest of the urban community, does not have the votes to get the bill out of the committee.
It turns out that the waterworks’ own governing commission, under pressure from the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and development interests, may be about to back down. Commissioners are weighing resolutions that would accept a moratorium.
Deltic would not start building homes immediately and the water company would not exercise eminent domain for a couple of years while a comprehensive management plan is put into place and an “independent” expert consulted on whether runoff from the huge development would do much harm to the waters.
The waterworks director, Jim Harvey, and the professionals at the agency are mystified and apoplectic, as should be all of us who enjoy or who soon will enjoy the best water in America.
The moratorium would give Deltic, which owns some 400,000 acres of timber and development land in Arkansas, time to influence a few legislative elections and change the composition of the House sufficiently to assure passage of the bill in 2007. Stovall will be gone. The bullheaded and courageous Jim Harvey is retiring.
When hundreds of millions of dollars of profits are hanging in the balance, what’s two more years?
The water commission will meet at 2 p.m. Thursday in Little Rock. It needs to hear the voices of consumers. You can be sure they’ve heard the developers.
EDITORIAL>> End death penalty for young people
Arkansas is one of only 21 small dominions on earth where an eye for an eye is still the operating theology with juveniles.
Just the other day, the state Senate moved to correct that by voting solidly to ban the death penalty for people who commit capital crimes before they turn 18. Last week, the U. S. Supreme Court finished the job for the legislature by ending the execution of youngsters forever. Every other nation on earth bars the execution of juveniles.
The brutish Iranians and Pakistanis partnered with us until not long ago but they no longer had the stomach for it. Arkansas and a few other states until this week were the only places on earth that exacted the last full measure of revenge upon the immature, as well as men who are seasoned to kill.
But does the Supreme Court’s decision relieve Arkansas of the burden?
We don’t think it does.
If this is, indeed, the standard of civilized conduct in the United States as well as in the rest of the world — and the Senate’s vote, the backing of the governor and major religious groups and polls say that it is even in Arkansas — then let it be reflected in our own laws even if it is a week or two behind the deed.
Let us join the caravan of civilization, not hide and watch.
The House of Representatives should take up the bill and pass it lustily.
Just the other day, the state Senate moved to correct that by voting solidly to ban the death penalty for people who commit capital crimes before they turn 18. Last week, the U. S. Supreme Court finished the job for the legislature by ending the execution of youngsters forever. Every other nation on earth bars the execution of juveniles.
The brutish Iranians and Pakistanis partnered with us until not long ago but they no longer had the stomach for it. Arkansas and a few other states until this week were the only places on earth that exacted the last full measure of revenge upon the immature, as well as men who are seasoned to kill.
But does the Supreme Court’s decision relieve Arkansas of the burden?
We don’t think it does.
If this is, indeed, the standard of civilized conduct in the United States as well as in the rest of the world — and the Senate’s vote, the backing of the governor and major religious groups and polls say that it is even in Arkansas — then let it be reflected in our own laws even if it is a week or two behind the deed.
Let us join the caravan of civilization, not hide and watch.
The House of Representatives should take up the bill and pass it lustily.
EDITORIAL>> Committee favors slumlord protection
“Tenants have very few rights under current Arkansas law.”
That is the opening line of an informational Web site on landlord-tenant law operated by the Arkansas attorney general. It spells out what those “limited” rights are. All the rights are on the side of the landlord. But someone worries that the Arkansas Supreme Court, in some case involving a particularly heinous disregard of a renter’s safety or dignity, will one day decide that a renter may actually own some inalienable rights that aren’t spelled out in the statutes and hold a landlord liable for what he has done.
Naturally, the Arkansas legislature cannot let that happen. State Rep. Robert Thompson of Paragould filed a bill to put the matter clearly into the law: A landlord is never to be liable for what happens to tenants unless the landlord chooses to assume liability or refuses to make a repair that he had promised to make.
It is the Slumlord Protection Act of 2005. The House of Representatives on Monday passed it 62 to 24 with another 13 who were conscience-stricken enough to vote “present.” The Senate will vote shortly.
Even a couple of landlords on the Senate Judiciary Committee were bothered by the nakedness of the self-interest and greed. Sen. Mary Anne Salmon of North Little Rock, a landlord, said the bill would guarantee the protection of slum landlords whose greed and carelessness put tenants in danger. She recalled the recent incident in which 60 residents of a mobile home park in Little Rock had their natural gas service cut off in the dead of winter when the owner would not repair leaks in pipes to the homes.
The city relocated the tenants to get them out of the cold. Thompson’s bill would see that the owner was never held liable.
Sen. Irma Hunter Brown represents a part of Little Rock rife with slum rental dwellings.
“I am concerned that too many times, especially in the urban areas, we have landlords that have just deplorable situations,” Brown said. “It is awful to even rent some of these properties to people. To allow that kind of landlord not to have any liability is just something that I can’t conscionably sit here and support.” That sort of argument doesn’t work.
There is a wordless doctrine that seems to prevail in the halls where law is made, that it is the mission of the elected to preserve and strengthen the advantages held by the powerful and the propertied.
The framers had in mind that they might make a place for justice, too.
That is the opening line of an informational Web site on landlord-tenant law operated by the Arkansas attorney general. It spells out what those “limited” rights are. All the rights are on the side of the landlord. But someone worries that the Arkansas Supreme Court, in some case involving a particularly heinous disregard of a renter’s safety or dignity, will one day decide that a renter may actually own some inalienable rights that aren’t spelled out in the statutes and hold a landlord liable for what he has done.
Naturally, the Arkansas legislature cannot let that happen. State Rep. Robert Thompson of Paragould filed a bill to put the matter clearly into the law: A landlord is never to be liable for what happens to tenants unless the landlord chooses to assume liability or refuses to make a repair that he had promised to make.
It is the Slumlord Protection Act of 2005. The House of Representatives on Monday passed it 62 to 24 with another 13 who were conscience-stricken enough to vote “present.” The Senate will vote shortly.
Even a couple of landlords on the Senate Judiciary Committee were bothered by the nakedness of the self-interest and greed. Sen. Mary Anne Salmon of North Little Rock, a landlord, said the bill would guarantee the protection of slum landlords whose greed and carelessness put tenants in danger. She recalled the recent incident in which 60 residents of a mobile home park in Little Rock had their natural gas service cut off in the dead of winter when the owner would not repair leaks in pipes to the homes.
The city relocated the tenants to get them out of the cold. Thompson’s bill would see that the owner was never held liable.
Sen. Irma Hunter Brown represents a part of Little Rock rife with slum rental dwellings.
“I am concerned that too many times, especially in the urban areas, we have landlords that have just deplorable situations,” Brown said. “It is awful to even rent some of these properties to people. To allow that kind of landlord not to have any liability is just something that I can’t conscionably sit here and support.” That sort of argument doesn’t work.
There is a wordless doctrine that seems to prevail in the halls where law is made, that it is the mission of the elected to preserve and strengthen the advantages held by the powerful and the propertied.
The framers had in mind that they might make a place for justice, too.
SPORTS>> AL Owls overpower Comets
IN SHORT: Offensive bursts in first and third innings lead Owls to win over Mills
BY RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Abundant Life bounced back from its first loss of the season by pounding Little Rock Mills 12-1 in four innings during the First Arkansas Bank and Trust-Red Devil Classic in Jacksonville.
After winning the Metro Conference preseason tournament, the Owls opened the Red Devil Classic by losing to Little Rock Catholic 7-3 on Saturday.
Missed opportunities was the story for the Owls in the loss to the Rockets.
Abundant Life loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning, but failed to bring a run across the plate.
“That’s hard to overcome against a pitcher like they had going in that one,” Abundant Life coach Wes Johnson said. “We just didn’t take advantage of the chances we had and we lost. It’s pretty simple.”
On Monday, the Owls wasted no time taking advantage of opportunities.
Jake Chambers led off the top of the first inning with a walk, and Payton Seelinger singled two batters later to put runners on first and third for senior right fielder Zac Ray.
Ray responded to the situation by sending the first pitch he saw sailing over the 375-foot sign in straightaway centerfield.
In the second inning, Jerry Lawson walked with one out, and was driven in by a two-out single from Seelinger for the only run of the inning.
Abundant Life made its own opportunities in the third inning, scoring three runs with two outs after the first two batters of the inning failed to reach base.
“This was definitely a different game.” Johnson said. “We made the most of the chances we had and we created some good things on our won. I’m pleased. It was a good win for us after Saturday.”
David Simpson got a two-out single and Lawson then doubled to bring home both runners. He then scored on an RBI single by Colby Woolverton to give the Owls a 7-1 advantage.
The Comets added a single tally in the bottom of the third with a pair of hits sandwiching a Mills walk in the frame, but Abundant Life made certain of an early end to the matchup with five runs in the top of the fourth inning.
junior indfielder Josh Cantrell led off the fourth inning with a double and Seelinger walked to put runners on first and second.
Ray added his fourth RBI with a single and Matt Fink singled to drive in another run.
Two batters later, junior Selby Lawson and Woolverton hit consecutive singles, with Lawson scoring the final run on Woolverton’s base rap.
Junior Richard Eberle got the win on the mound for the Owls, who improved to 5-1 on the season.
It was also Abundant Life’s second win over Mills this season. The Owls beat the Comets 22-10 in a marathon game in the Metro tournament two weekends ago.
“This one was a lot quicker because we didn’t let ‘em back in it like we did last time,” Johnson said.
Ray went 2 for 3 with a home run and four RBIs. Lawson went 2 for 2 with a walk, a double, two RBIs and three runs scored for Abundant Life from the eight hole.
Seelinger was also 2 for 2 with a walk and two runs scored.
Abundant Life’s next game will be against Tuesday night’s winner between Jacksonville and J.A. Fair. The Red Devils lost 8-0 to Greenbrier in the opening round while the War Eagles were on the short end of an 11-2 decision to Sylvan Hills.
Abundant Life gets conference play started later this week when it kicks off a blitz of 5AA-North games.
The Owls will take the field for six conference games in a week, and it starts with a road game against Little Rock Lutheran this Friday.
That will be followed by a doubleheader against Bigelow on Monday, a matchup with Little Rock Epsicopal Tuesday, Arkansas Baptist is scheduled for Thursday and the return match against Lutheran next Friday.
The Owls were undefeated in conference play last year and will be the odds on favorite to repeat as league champions for the third consecutive season.
BY RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Abundant Life bounced back from its first loss of the season by pounding Little Rock Mills 12-1 in four innings during the First Arkansas Bank and Trust-Red Devil Classic in Jacksonville.
After winning the Metro Conference preseason tournament, the Owls opened the Red Devil Classic by losing to Little Rock Catholic 7-3 on Saturday.
Missed opportunities was the story for the Owls in the loss to the Rockets.
Abundant Life loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning, but failed to bring a run across the plate.
“That’s hard to overcome against a pitcher like they had going in that one,” Abundant Life coach Wes Johnson said. “We just didn’t take advantage of the chances we had and we lost. It’s pretty simple.”
On Monday, the Owls wasted no time taking advantage of opportunities.
Jake Chambers led off the top of the first inning with a walk, and Payton Seelinger singled two batters later to put runners on first and third for senior right fielder Zac Ray.
Ray responded to the situation by sending the first pitch he saw sailing over the 375-foot sign in straightaway centerfield.
In the second inning, Jerry Lawson walked with one out, and was driven in by a two-out single from Seelinger for the only run of the inning.
Abundant Life made its own opportunities in the third inning, scoring three runs with two outs after the first two batters of the inning failed to reach base.
“This was definitely a different game.” Johnson said. “We made the most of the chances we had and we created some good things on our won. I’m pleased. It was a good win for us after Saturday.”
David Simpson got a two-out single and Lawson then doubled to bring home both runners. He then scored on an RBI single by Colby Woolverton to give the Owls a 7-1 advantage.
The Comets added a single tally in the bottom of the third with a pair of hits sandwiching a Mills walk in the frame, but Abundant Life made certain of an early end to the matchup with five runs in the top of the fourth inning.
junior indfielder Josh Cantrell led off the fourth inning with a double and Seelinger walked to put runners on first and second.
Ray added his fourth RBI with a single and Matt Fink singled to drive in another run.
Two batters later, junior Selby Lawson and Woolverton hit consecutive singles, with Lawson scoring the final run on Woolverton’s base rap.
Junior Richard Eberle got the win on the mound for the Owls, who improved to 5-1 on the season.
It was also Abundant Life’s second win over Mills this season. The Owls beat the Comets 22-10 in a marathon game in the Metro tournament two weekends ago.
“This one was a lot quicker because we didn’t let ‘em back in it like we did last time,” Johnson said.
Ray went 2 for 3 with a home run and four RBIs. Lawson went 2 for 2 with a walk, a double, two RBIs and three runs scored for Abundant Life from the eight hole.
Seelinger was also 2 for 2 with a walk and two runs scored.
Abundant Life’s next game will be against Tuesday night’s winner between Jacksonville and J.A. Fair. The Red Devils lost 8-0 to Greenbrier in the opening round while the War Eagles were on the short end of an 11-2 decision to Sylvan Hills.
Abundant Life gets conference play started later this week when it kicks off a blitz of 5AA-North games.
The Owls will take the field for six conference games in a week, and it starts with a road game against Little Rock Lutheran this Friday.
That will be followed by a doubleheader against Bigelow on Monday, a matchup with Little Rock Epsicopal Tuesday, Arkansas Baptist is scheduled for Thursday and the return match against Lutheran next Friday.
The Owls were undefeated in conference play last year and will be the odds on favorite to repeat as league champions for the third consecutive season.
OBITUARIES >> March 9, 2005
MILTON BURNS
Milton E. Bruns, 77, of Jacksonville, died March 6 at Fort Roots Hospice in North Little Rock. Born March 6, 1928, in Madison S.D., son of the late, Henry William and Lydia Edinger Bruns. Bruns served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was a member of Second Baptist Church in Jacksonville and a member of the Air Force Sergeant’s Association.
He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Eva Jean Gatlin Bruns of Jacksonville; three daughters and three sons-in-law, Linda C. and David Steele of Benton, Marsha and Larry Jordan of Bedford, Texas, Judy and Paul Carter of Delaware; one sister, Marcella Patton of Ridgefield, Wash.; beloved sister-in-law, Janet Lamb of Shannon Hills; four grandsons, James Steele, Joey Williams, Carl Cleary, and Paul Carter Jr.; three granddaughters Jeana Vanbell, Lauren Cleary, and Jamie Steele; two nephews, James Patton and Steven Sauls; two nieces, Suzan Burns and Sarah Sauls; seven great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be 11:30 a.m., Thursday at Moore’s Jackson-ville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Ron Rains officiating. Burial will follow in Arkansas State Veteran’s Cemetery. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m., Wednesday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home. Military Honors provided by the U.S. Air Force.
Pallbearers are Joey Williams, Carl Cleary, Steven Sauls, Kevin Jordan, Paul Carter, David Steele, and honorary pallbearer, James Steele. Arrangements by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
CLAY ALLISON
Clay Derick Allison, 21, of Austin died March 7.
He was an employee of Fox Quality Pools. He was a 2002 graduate of Cabot High School and had attended ASU-Beebe.
Clay was a member of Sylvania Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his parents, Rodney and Jo Beth Allison; his grandparents, Bonnie and Gene Allison, all of Austin; his half brother, John Greer of Cabot; his aunt and uncle, Bill and Kay Spence and cousins Matt Spence of Austin and Jason Moore of Cabot; his aunt and uncle Dickie and Jan Hughes of Ward, his cousin Bethany and husband Shane Hill and their children, Tyler and Garrett Hill, of Cabot; his godmother, Charlene Patty of Ward, and a host of relatives and friends.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Graveside service will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Sylvania Cemetery.
CHARLES PROVENCIO, JR.
Charles G. Provencio Jr., 85, Jacksonville, departed this life March 7.
He was preceded in death by parents, Charles Provencio, Praxcities Krespin, sons; Richard, Daniel, brother; Carmen, sister; Erma. He leaves to cherish his memory his children Victor Provencio of Jacksonville, Carol and Charlotte Marquez, Dolores Estrada, Ernest, Christine Provencio all of California, Rebecca Provencio of Nevada, brother, Ernest G. Provencio of California, 56 grandchildren, 134 great-grandchildren, and a host of relatives and friends. Family visitation will be Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. at Robinson Mortuary Chapel in Jacksonville. Graveside services will be held Friday at 1 a.m. at State Veterans Cemetery. Arrangements by Robinson Mortuary in Jacksonville.
GARY ROBERTS JR.
Gary Lynn Roberts Jr., 33, of Jacksonville, passed away March 4. He was born on Dec. 21, 1971, in Cherry Point, N.C., to Garyl L. Roberts Sr. and Sandra Pruitt Mahoney. He was employed by North Little Rock SoftWater as a delivery driver.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Otis and Gladys Pruitt and a grandfather Otis Roberts. He is survived by his parents, Sandra and Robert A. Mahoney of Jacksonville, Gary Lynn and Regina Healey Roberts Sr. of Sherwood; four brothers, Robert Mahoney Jr. of Jacksonville, Adam Mahoney of Jacksonville, Marcus Mahoney of Austin and Aaron Roberts of Sherwood; two sisters, Cheryl Ann Roberts and Allison Grace Roberts both of Sherwood; grandparents, Vernon and Lavene Rodgers of North Little Rock and Velma Roberts of Cabot.
Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Sherwood with Rev. Paul McClung and Rev. Royce Lowe officiating. Burial will follow at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Cabot. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Cabot Funeral Home.
Arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
Milton E. Bruns, 77, of Jacksonville, died March 6 at Fort Roots Hospice in North Little Rock. Born March 6, 1928, in Madison S.D., son of the late, Henry William and Lydia Edinger Bruns. Bruns served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was a member of Second Baptist Church in Jacksonville and a member of the Air Force Sergeant’s Association.
He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Eva Jean Gatlin Bruns of Jacksonville; three daughters and three sons-in-law, Linda C. and David Steele of Benton, Marsha and Larry Jordan of Bedford, Texas, Judy and Paul Carter of Delaware; one sister, Marcella Patton of Ridgefield, Wash.; beloved sister-in-law, Janet Lamb of Shannon Hills; four grandsons, James Steele, Joey Williams, Carl Cleary, and Paul Carter Jr.; three granddaughters Jeana Vanbell, Lauren Cleary, and Jamie Steele; two nephews, James Patton and Steven Sauls; two nieces, Suzan Burns and Sarah Sauls; seven great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be 11:30 a.m., Thursday at Moore’s Jackson-ville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Ron Rains officiating. Burial will follow in Arkansas State Veteran’s Cemetery. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m., Wednesday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home. Military Honors provided by the U.S. Air Force.
Pallbearers are Joey Williams, Carl Cleary, Steven Sauls, Kevin Jordan, Paul Carter, David Steele, and honorary pallbearer, James Steele. Arrangements by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
CLAY ALLISON
Clay Derick Allison, 21, of Austin died March 7.
He was an employee of Fox Quality Pools. He was a 2002 graduate of Cabot High School and had attended ASU-Beebe.
Clay was a member of Sylvania Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his parents, Rodney and Jo Beth Allison; his grandparents, Bonnie and Gene Allison, all of Austin; his half brother, John Greer of Cabot; his aunt and uncle, Bill and Kay Spence and cousins Matt Spence of Austin and Jason Moore of Cabot; his aunt and uncle Dickie and Jan Hughes of Ward, his cousin Bethany and husband Shane Hill and their children, Tyler and Garrett Hill, of Cabot; his godmother, Charlene Patty of Ward, and a host of relatives and friends.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Graveside service will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Sylvania Cemetery.
CHARLES PROVENCIO, JR.
Charles G. Provencio Jr., 85, Jacksonville, departed this life March 7.
He was preceded in death by parents, Charles Provencio, Praxcities Krespin, sons; Richard, Daniel, brother; Carmen, sister; Erma. He leaves to cherish his memory his children Victor Provencio of Jacksonville, Carol and Charlotte Marquez, Dolores Estrada, Ernest, Christine Provencio all of California, Rebecca Provencio of Nevada, brother, Ernest G. Provencio of California, 56 grandchildren, 134 great-grandchildren, and a host of relatives and friends. Family visitation will be Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. at Robinson Mortuary Chapel in Jacksonville. Graveside services will be held Friday at 1 a.m. at State Veterans Cemetery. Arrangements by Robinson Mortuary in Jacksonville.
GARY ROBERTS JR.
Gary Lynn Roberts Jr., 33, of Jacksonville, passed away March 4. He was born on Dec. 21, 1971, in Cherry Point, N.C., to Garyl L. Roberts Sr. and Sandra Pruitt Mahoney. He was employed by North Little Rock SoftWater as a delivery driver.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Otis and Gladys Pruitt and a grandfather Otis Roberts. He is survived by his parents, Sandra and Robert A. Mahoney of Jacksonville, Gary Lynn and Regina Healey Roberts Sr. of Sherwood; four brothers, Robert Mahoney Jr. of Jacksonville, Adam Mahoney of Jacksonville, Marcus Mahoney of Austin and Aaron Roberts of Sherwood; two sisters, Cheryl Ann Roberts and Allison Grace Roberts both of Sherwood; grandparents, Vernon and Lavene Rodgers of North Little Rock and Velma Roberts of Cabot.
Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Sherwood with Rev. Paul McClung and Rev. Royce Lowe officiating. Burial will follow at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Cabot. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Cabot Funeral Home.
Arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
OBITUARIES >> March 9, 2005
MILTON BURNS
Milton E. Bruns, 77, of Jacksonville, died March 6 at Fort Roots Hospice in North Little Rock. Born March 6, 1928, in Madison S.D., son of the late, Henry William and Lydia Edinger Bruns. Bruns served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was a member of Second Baptist Church in Jacksonville and a member of the Air Force Sergeant’s Association.
He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Eva Jean Gatlin Bruns of Jacksonville; three daughters and three sons-in-law, Linda C. and David Steele of Benton, Marsha and Larry Jordan of Bedford, Texas, Judy and Paul Carter of Delaware; one sister, Marcella Patton of Ridgefield, Wash.; beloved sister-in-law, Janet Lamb of Shannon Hills; four grandsons, James Steele, Joey Williams, Carl Cleary, and Paul Carter Jr.; three granddaughters Jeana Vanbell, Lauren Cleary, and Jamie Steele; two nephews, James Patton and Steven Sauls; two nieces, Suzan Burns and Sarah Sauls; seven great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be 11:30 a.m., Thursday at Moore’s Jackson-ville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Ron Rains officiating. Burial will follow in Arkansas State Veteran’s Cemetery. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m., Wednesday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home. Military Honors provided by the U.S. Air Force.
Pallbearers are Joey Williams, Carl Cleary, Steven Sauls, Kevin Jordan, Paul Carter, David Steele, and honorary pallbearer, James Steele. Arrangements by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
CLAY ALLISON
Clay Derick Allison, 21, of Austin died March 7.
He was an employee of Fox Quality Pools. He was a 2002 graduate of Cabot High School and had attended ASU-Beebe.
Clay was a member of Sylvania Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his parents, Rodney and Jo Beth Allison; his grandparents, Bonnie and Gene Allison, all of Austin; his half brother, John Greer of Cabot; his aunt and uncle, Bill and Kay Spence and cousins Matt Spence of Austin and Jason Moore of Cabot; his aunt and uncle Dickie and Jan Hughes of Ward, his cousin Bethany and husband Shane Hill and their children, Tyler and Garrett Hill, of Cabot; his godmother, Charlene Patty of Ward, and a host of relatives and friends.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Graveside service will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Sylvania Cemetery.
CHARLES PROVENCIO, JR.
Charles G. Provencio Jr., 85, Jacksonville, departed this life March 7.
He was preceded in death by parents, Charles Provencio, Praxcities Krespin, sons; Richard, Daniel, brother; Carmen, sister; Erma. He leaves to cherish his memory his children Victor Provencio of Jacksonville, Carol and Charlotte Marquez, Dolores Estrada, Ernest, Christine Provencio all of California, Rebecca Provencio of Nevada, brother, Ernest G. Provencio of California, 56 grandchildren, 134 great-grandchildren, and a host of relatives and friends. Family visitation will be Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. at Robinson Mortuary Chapel in Jacksonville. Graveside services will be held Friday at 1 a.m. at State Veterans Cemetery. Arrangements by Robinson Mortuary in Jacksonville.
GARY ROBERTS JR.
Gary Lynn Roberts Jr., 33, of Jacksonville, passed away March 4. He was born on Dec. 21, 1971, in Cherry Point, N.C., to Garyl L. Roberts Sr. and Sandra Pruitt Mahoney. He was employed by North Little Rock SoftWater as a delivery driver.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Otis and Gladys Pruitt and a grandfather Otis Roberts. He is survived by his parents, Sandra and Robert A. Mahoney of Jacksonville, Gary Lynn and Regina Healey Roberts Sr. of Sherwood; four brothers, Robert Mahoney Jr. of Jacksonville, Adam Mahoney of Jacksonville, Marcus Mahoney of Austin and Aaron Roberts of Sherwood; two sisters, Cheryl Ann Roberts and Allison Grace Roberts both of Sherwood; grandparents, Vernon and Lavene Rodgers of North Little Rock and Velma Roberts of Cabot.
Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Sherwood with Rev. Paul McClung and Rev. Royce Lowe officiating. Burial will follow at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Cabot. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Cabot Funeral Home.
Arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
Milton E. Bruns, 77, of Jacksonville, died March 6 at Fort Roots Hospice in North Little Rock. Born March 6, 1928, in Madison S.D., son of the late, Henry William and Lydia Edinger Bruns. Bruns served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was a member of Second Baptist Church in Jacksonville and a member of the Air Force Sergeant’s Association.
He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Eva Jean Gatlin Bruns of Jacksonville; three daughters and three sons-in-law, Linda C. and David Steele of Benton, Marsha and Larry Jordan of Bedford, Texas, Judy and Paul Carter of Delaware; one sister, Marcella Patton of Ridgefield, Wash.; beloved sister-in-law, Janet Lamb of Shannon Hills; four grandsons, James Steele, Joey Williams, Carl Cleary, and Paul Carter Jr.; three granddaughters Jeana Vanbell, Lauren Cleary, and Jamie Steele; two nephews, James Patton and Steven Sauls; two nieces, Suzan Burns and Sarah Sauls; seven great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be 11:30 a.m., Thursday at Moore’s Jackson-ville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Ron Rains officiating. Burial will follow in Arkansas State Veteran’s Cemetery. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m., Wednesday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home. Military Honors provided by the U.S. Air Force.
Pallbearers are Joey Williams, Carl Cleary, Steven Sauls, Kevin Jordan, Paul Carter, David Steele, and honorary pallbearer, James Steele. Arrangements by Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
CLAY ALLISON
Clay Derick Allison, 21, of Austin died March 7.
He was an employee of Fox Quality Pools. He was a 2002 graduate of Cabot High School and had attended ASU-Beebe.
Clay was a member of Sylvania Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his parents, Rodney and Jo Beth Allison; his grandparents, Bonnie and Gene Allison, all of Austin; his half brother, John Greer of Cabot; his aunt and uncle, Bill and Kay Spence and cousins Matt Spence of Austin and Jason Moore of Cabot; his aunt and uncle Dickie and Jan Hughes of Ward, his cousin Bethany and husband Shane Hill and their children, Tyler and Garrett Hill, of Cabot; his godmother, Charlene Patty of Ward, and a host of relatives and friends.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Graveside service will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Sylvania Cemetery.
CHARLES PROVENCIO, JR.
Charles G. Provencio Jr., 85, Jacksonville, departed this life March 7.
He was preceded in death by parents, Charles Provencio, Praxcities Krespin, sons; Richard, Daniel, brother; Carmen, sister; Erma. He leaves to cherish his memory his children Victor Provencio of Jacksonville, Carol and Charlotte Marquez, Dolores Estrada, Ernest, Christine Provencio all of California, Rebecca Provencio of Nevada, brother, Ernest G. Provencio of California, 56 grandchildren, 134 great-grandchildren, and a host of relatives and friends. Family visitation will be Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. at Robinson Mortuary Chapel in Jacksonville. Graveside services will be held Friday at 1 a.m. at State Veterans Cemetery. Arrangements by Robinson Mortuary in Jacksonville.
GARY ROBERTS JR.
Gary Lynn Roberts Jr., 33, of Jacksonville, passed away March 4. He was born on Dec. 21, 1971, in Cherry Point, N.C., to Garyl L. Roberts Sr. and Sandra Pruitt Mahoney. He was employed by North Little Rock SoftWater as a delivery driver.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Otis and Gladys Pruitt and a grandfather Otis Roberts. He is survived by his parents, Sandra and Robert A. Mahoney of Jacksonville, Gary Lynn and Regina Healey Roberts Sr. of Sherwood; four brothers, Robert Mahoney Jr. of Jacksonville, Adam Mahoney of Jacksonville, Marcus Mahoney of Austin and Aaron Roberts of Sherwood; two sisters, Cheryl Ann Roberts and Allison Grace Roberts both of Sherwood; grandparents, Vernon and Lavene Rodgers of North Little Rock and Velma Roberts of Cabot.
Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Sherwood with Rev. Paul McClung and Rev. Royce Lowe officiating. Burial will follow at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Cabot. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Cabot Funeral Home.
Arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
FROM THE PUBLISHER>> Developer determined to win over legislature
BY GARRICK FELDMAN
If you walk into a fancy restaurant in Little Rock, chances are you’ll see a bunch of dark suits entertaining groups of legislators in light polyester sport coats with shirt collars open and ties loose.
Lobbyists from Deltic Timber are among the special interests entertaining our citizen-legislators, and they will let Deltic pollute Lake Maumelle in return for free food and booze, and the public be damned.
Deltic needs the support of legislators because it hates the idea of Central Arkansas Water controlling development near the lake. CAW has made Lake Maumelle the centerpiece of an ambitious project that would meet the region’s water needs for the next half-century.
CAW has the right of eminent domain around the lake, thus preventing future development that would jeopardize the water supply.
This is an old legal concept that protects the public interest: We cannot let developers pollute an important water source for our growing region, which needs a dependable supply of clean water.
Lake Maumelle is that source, but pollution would result if you let Deltic build a couple hundred million-dollar homes there.
This is the reason why Central Arkansas Water has been dead set against the development, and so is virtually every central Arkansas legislator whose communities rely on Lake Maumelle for water.
But Deltic has several tricks up its sleeves. It can pressure the board of CAW into a compromise over the proposed development when no compromise is justified. Lake Maumelle doesn’t need a subdivision anymore than it needs a pig farm.
Deltic has such economic muscle that it could win this battle in the long run, or even in the short run if it can convince CAW commissioners, who meet Thursday in Little Rock, that a compromise might not be a bad idea after all. But the professionals at the water utility oppose any compromise with Deltic.
While trying an end-run around Central Arkansas Water, Deltic convinced the state Senate last month to strip CAW of its right to control development at the lake. Deltic is also working on the state House, where a committee headed by Rep. Will Bond (D-Jacksonville) will hold a hearing March 23 on Deltic’s development plans.
Bond says he’ll give both sides a fair shake, but he believes this is a case where “the needs of the many outweigh the wants of the few.”
Talk about corporate irresponsibility.
Deltic might even pick the next Speaker of the Arkansas House, preferring Rep. Benny Petrus (D-Stuttgart) over Bond, who says he’ll seek the post in two years.
Deltic and its friends in the legislature recently had a big bash at Petrus’ Little Rock pad, with lots of food and beverages for everybody.
Even if Deltic doesn’t have the votes in the House right now, it will find more support during the next session as more experienced legislators leave because of term limits and more amateurs in bright polyester suits show up at the state Capitol, willing to trade votes for fine wine and dining.
Instead of drinking polluted water, Deltic’s friendly legislators can wash down that New York strip with a bottle of fine California wine on the corporate expense account.
We’ll find out pretty soon who runs this state: The people of Arkansas who need safe drinking water, or huge business interests like Deltic Timber, which thinks what Arkansas really needs is more million-dollar mansions.
The rest of us will just have to drink bottled water.
If you walk into a fancy restaurant in Little Rock, chances are you’ll see a bunch of dark suits entertaining groups of legislators in light polyester sport coats with shirt collars open and ties loose.
Lobbyists from Deltic Timber are among the special interests entertaining our citizen-legislators, and they will let Deltic pollute Lake Maumelle in return for free food and booze, and the public be damned.
Deltic needs the support of legislators because it hates the idea of Central Arkansas Water controlling development near the lake. CAW has made Lake Maumelle the centerpiece of an ambitious project that would meet the region’s water needs for the next half-century.
CAW has the right of eminent domain around the lake, thus preventing future development that would jeopardize the water supply.
This is an old legal concept that protects the public interest: We cannot let developers pollute an important water source for our growing region, which needs a dependable supply of clean water.
Lake Maumelle is that source, but pollution would result if you let Deltic build a couple hundred million-dollar homes there.
This is the reason why Central Arkansas Water has been dead set against the development, and so is virtually every central Arkansas legislator whose communities rely on Lake Maumelle for water.
But Deltic has several tricks up its sleeves. It can pressure the board of CAW into a compromise over the proposed development when no compromise is justified. Lake Maumelle doesn’t need a subdivision anymore than it needs a pig farm.
Deltic has such economic muscle that it could win this battle in the long run, or even in the short run if it can convince CAW commissioners, who meet Thursday in Little Rock, that a compromise might not be a bad idea after all. But the professionals at the water utility oppose any compromise with Deltic.
While trying an end-run around Central Arkansas Water, Deltic convinced the state Senate last month to strip CAW of its right to control development at the lake. Deltic is also working on the state House, where a committee headed by Rep. Will Bond (D-Jacksonville) will hold a hearing March 23 on Deltic’s development plans.
Bond says he’ll give both sides a fair shake, but he believes this is a case where “the needs of the many outweigh the wants of the few.”
Talk about corporate irresponsibility.
Deltic might even pick the next Speaker of the Arkansas House, preferring Rep. Benny Petrus (D-Stuttgart) over Bond, who says he’ll seek the post in two years.
Deltic and its friends in the legislature recently had a big bash at Petrus’ Little Rock pad, with lots of food and beverages for everybody.
Even if Deltic doesn’t have the votes in the House right now, it will find more support during the next session as more experienced legislators leave because of term limits and more amateurs in bright polyester suits show up at the state Capitol, willing to trade votes for fine wine and dining.
Instead of drinking polluted water, Deltic’s friendly legislators can wash down that New York strip with a bottle of fine California wine on the corporate expense account.
We’ll find out pretty soon who runs this state: The people of Arkansas who need safe drinking water, or huge business interests like Deltic Timber, which thinks what Arkansas really needs is more million-dollar mansions.
The rest of us will just have to drink bottled water.
TOP STORY>> PCSSD votes to separate boy, girls
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
When some Jacksonville-area students return to classes in August, the boys will head to the junior high campus and the girls to the middle school campus, the Pulaski County Special School District Board decided by a 6-1 vote Tuesday night.
Upon a motion by Bishop James Bolden III and a second by Carol Burgett—both of whom represent some area students—and with assurances that the plan has the blessing of the community and its success would be monitored, all but Gwen Williams approved the motion.
The board approved unanimously a recommendation by its attorney, Sam Jones, to seek release from unitary school status for most provisions of the plan 2000—the desegregation plan under which the district has operated for more than 22 years. Jones said there were three areas in which the district might not be ready to be released from the desegregation plan: assignment of students, discipline and staffing.
The board authorized Jones to continue talking with various parties and negotiating proposed stipulations that would move the district towards getting off unitary status.
Regarding the changes for Jacksonville Middle School students, Marvin W. Jeter III, assistant superintendent for learning services, said that for core curriculum, the boys and girls would be separated, but that for electives, the classes would be coeducational.
Joining the boys in a separate wing of the junior high building will be the area’s alternative education students currently housed at a cost of about $19,000 a year at the old Siam restaurant.
Jacksonville Chamber of Com-merce executive director Bonita Rownd and Pat Griggs, a Pinewood Elementary School parent, were among a small Jacksonville contingent attending the meeting.
Leader staff writer
When some Jacksonville-area students return to classes in August, the boys will head to the junior high campus and the girls to the middle school campus, the Pulaski County Special School District Board decided by a 6-1 vote Tuesday night.
Upon a motion by Bishop James Bolden III and a second by Carol Burgett—both of whom represent some area students—and with assurances that the plan has the blessing of the community and its success would be monitored, all but Gwen Williams approved the motion.
The board approved unanimously a recommendation by its attorney, Sam Jones, to seek release from unitary school status for most provisions of the plan 2000—the desegregation plan under which the district has operated for more than 22 years. Jones said there were three areas in which the district might not be ready to be released from the desegregation plan: assignment of students, discipline and staffing.
The board authorized Jones to continue talking with various parties and negotiating proposed stipulations that would move the district towards getting off unitary status.
Regarding the changes for Jacksonville Middle School students, Marvin W. Jeter III, assistant superintendent for learning services, said that for core curriculum, the boys and girls would be separated, but that for electives, the classes would be coeducational.
Joining the boys in a separate wing of the junior high building will be the area’s alternative education students currently housed at a cost of about $19,000 a year at the old Siam restaurant.
Jacksonville Chamber of Com-merce executive director Bonita Rownd and Pat Griggs, a Pinewood Elementary School parent, were among a small Jacksonville contingent attending the meeting.
TOP STORY>> Franchise tax hike to pay ambulance
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Cabot aldermen meeting as the finance committee Saturday morning discussed raising franchise fees to pay for building an ambulance service for the city.
The matter is now in the hands of City Attorney Ken Williams who is researching whether it is legal to raise the fees of all five companies doing business in Cabot from the current level to the proposed 5 percent that would be needed.
Franchise fees are added to customers’ bills, collected by the company and turned over to the city.
Finance Director Dale Walker says if the fees are raised to 5 percent, the increase in city revenue would be $165,000 a year.
The current fees are as follows: Entergy 4.25 percent, First Electric Coop. 4.5 percent, Centurytel 2 percent, Classic Cable 3 percent and Centerpoint Energy Arkla 4.25 percent.
Alderman David Polantz proposed increasing the franchise fees. Polantz said with the growing tax base from new businesses moving in and increasing the franchise fees, Cabot will be positioned within the next few years to offer better services than any other city in central Arkansas.
But for now, the franchise fee is the only stable funding stream available to pay for building a city-run ambulance service, he said.
Alderman Patrick Hutton said the discussion is a little premature. The council’s public safety committee needs to first decide exactly what sort of emergency program the city needs to build.
He also wants to know exactly how much the increase in fees would generate.
“Write it down,” he said.
Since the full council will eventually have to deal with the issues discussed in committee meetings, Hutton says all the questions need to be answered before any decisions are made.
“What we’re doing here is increasing taxes,” Hutton said of the proposal to raise franchise fees.
Polantz didn’t disagree, but he said the extra money would enable the city to build “the premier ambulance service in the area,” the kind of service city residents expect.
“Yes, we’re increasing taxes. I won’t make any bones about that,” Polantz said.
But while Polantz was drawing the big picture, complete with training the city’s firefighters as paramedics to eventually staff the ambulances and Hutton was concerned about the unanswered questions, Alderman Eddie Cook, wanted to talk about the here and now.
Where is the money coming from to subsidize MEMS?
An increase in the franchise fee would not provide the money needed now to pay the subsidy.
A city-owned and operated ambulance service is at least three years away and until that time a private company will have to provide the service.
MEMS is temporarily providing the service while Cabot puts the contract out to bid, but the city must pay a subsidy to MEMS of $8,000 a month, about half the amount MEMS officials say they are losing in Cabot each month because of low run volume.
The 2005 budget includes $15,000 to pay the firefighters’ tuition for paramedic classes.
Fire Chief Gary Meadows told the committee that he has tentatively selected the program at ASU-Searcy because it is nearby and night courses are available so firefighters could continue working their regular shifts and attend classes during off-hours.
Cook pointed out that the money won’t be needed until fall and could be used to help subsidize MEMS until a new contract is awarded.
Arkansas Emergency Transport held a three-year contract with the city but the council took it away earlier this year following disputes over response times and the number of ambulances AET would keep in the city.
MEMS officials have implied that no subsidy would be required if MEMS is given the three-year contract.
Southern Paramedic Service also wants the contract and its executive director has said no subsidy would be required.
Leader staff writer
Cabot aldermen meeting as the finance committee Saturday morning discussed raising franchise fees to pay for building an ambulance service for the city.
The matter is now in the hands of City Attorney Ken Williams who is researching whether it is legal to raise the fees of all five companies doing business in Cabot from the current level to the proposed 5 percent that would be needed.
Franchise fees are added to customers’ bills, collected by the company and turned over to the city.
Finance Director Dale Walker says if the fees are raised to 5 percent, the increase in city revenue would be $165,000 a year.
The current fees are as follows: Entergy 4.25 percent, First Electric Coop. 4.5 percent, Centurytel 2 percent, Classic Cable 3 percent and Centerpoint Energy Arkla 4.25 percent.
Alderman David Polantz proposed increasing the franchise fees. Polantz said with the growing tax base from new businesses moving in and increasing the franchise fees, Cabot will be positioned within the next few years to offer better services than any other city in central Arkansas.
But for now, the franchise fee is the only stable funding stream available to pay for building a city-run ambulance service, he said.
Alderman Patrick Hutton said the discussion is a little premature. The council’s public safety committee needs to first decide exactly what sort of emergency program the city needs to build.
He also wants to know exactly how much the increase in fees would generate.
“Write it down,” he said.
Since the full council will eventually have to deal with the issues discussed in committee meetings, Hutton says all the questions need to be answered before any decisions are made.
“What we’re doing here is increasing taxes,” Hutton said of the proposal to raise franchise fees.
Polantz didn’t disagree, but he said the extra money would enable the city to build “the premier ambulance service in the area,” the kind of service city residents expect.
“Yes, we’re increasing taxes. I won’t make any bones about that,” Polantz said.
But while Polantz was drawing the big picture, complete with training the city’s firefighters as paramedics to eventually staff the ambulances and Hutton was concerned about the unanswered questions, Alderman Eddie Cook, wanted to talk about the here and now.
Where is the money coming from to subsidize MEMS?
An increase in the franchise fee would not provide the money needed now to pay the subsidy.
A city-owned and operated ambulance service is at least three years away and until that time a private company will have to provide the service.
MEMS is temporarily providing the service while Cabot puts the contract out to bid, but the city must pay a subsidy to MEMS of $8,000 a month, about half the amount MEMS officials say they are losing in Cabot each month because of low run volume.
The 2005 budget includes $15,000 to pay the firefighters’ tuition for paramedic classes.
Fire Chief Gary Meadows told the committee that he has tentatively selected the program at ASU-Searcy because it is nearby and night courses are available so firefighters could continue working their regular shifts and attend classes during off-hours.
Cook pointed out that the money won’t be needed until fall and could be used to help subsidize MEMS until a new contract is awarded.
Arkansas Emergency Transport held a three-year contract with the city but the council took it away earlier this year following disputes over response times and the number of ambulances AET would keep in the city.
MEMS officials have implied that no subsidy would be required if MEMS is given the three-year contract.
Southern Paramedic Service also wants the contract and its executive director has said no subsidy would be required.
TOP STORY>> Overpass faces money hurdles, uncertainty on area annexation
IN SHORT: Federal money to build a railroad overpass in Cabot could become available this year, but the city would need between $600,000 and $800,000 for matching funds. Compli-cating matters is the possibility that Austin might annex a part of the area near Hwy. 367 and Hwy. 38, where the overpass would go up.
BY JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Federal money to build a railroad overpass near Cabot’s industrial park could be available this year, but construction would depend upon whether Cabot comes up with its 20 percent match for the estimated $3 million to $4 million project.
The city has about $250,000 set aside for the project, but another $350,000 to $550,000 would be needed, according to officials with Metroplan, which will dispense the federal funds to pay the balance.
The rest could be borrowed, according to Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, but whether city officials are willing to do so could depend upon whether a planned subdivision is annexed into Cabot or Austin.
If the annexation goes to Austin, Stum-baugh says it’s only fair that Austin pay for part of the construction of the railroad overpass.
Austin Mayor Bernie Chamberlain says she knew the project was on the horizon, but she didn’t know it could possibly be funded this fiscal year. She hasn’t talked to Stumbaugh about Austin paying for part of the overpass, she said. But she points out that the subdivision hasn’t been annexed yet and she says she wonders, “If it stays in the county, are they going to ask the county to pay a part?”
Several members of the Cabot City Council, who briefly discussed the overpass Saturday morning during a finance committee meeting, were dubious about the possibility of starting the project this year. The question of borrowing money did not come up.
Construction of the overpass is scheduled for 2008, not 2005, they said. And the city can save the money by 2008, end of discussion.
Jim McKenzie, executive director of Metroplan, the planning and distributing agency for federal highway project money, said he has talked to Stumbaugh and is aware of his reluctance to pay for an overpass that will increase the value of property that will likely become part of another city.
“I can understand if Cabot is reluctant to pay for something that will increase Austin’s tax base,” McKenzie said.
The subdivision is one of three that might go to Austin rather than Cabot because of the cost of tying onto Cabot sewer. Austin officials say their city must grow or risk being swallowed up by Cabot and bringing in three subdivisions with a total of 500 homes would be a good start. They told the developers last summer that they would work with them on connecting to the Austin sewer.
Cabot will not pay any of the cost of connecting to Cabot sewer.
The overpass will run through Cabot’s industrial park on Highway 367, connecting Highway 367 to Highway 38 near Northside Middle School.
Eventually, the overpass could become part of an $11 million interchange connecting to U.S. Highway 67-167 on Highway 5.
McKenzie said the Cabot project is one of 12 railroad overpasses that have been identified as priorities for several years.
Whether the federal money for the Cabot project is available this year will depend upon whether the cities that were ahead of Cabot on that priority list are able to come up with their 20 percent match, he said.
If they do, the Cabot project won’t be funded, he said.
“Right now, we’re just doing a status check,” he said.
BY JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Federal money to build a railroad overpass near Cabot’s industrial park could be available this year, but construction would depend upon whether Cabot comes up with its 20 percent match for the estimated $3 million to $4 million project.
The city has about $250,000 set aside for the project, but another $350,000 to $550,000 would be needed, according to officials with Metroplan, which will dispense the federal funds to pay the balance.
The rest could be borrowed, according to Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh, but whether city officials are willing to do so could depend upon whether a planned subdivision is annexed into Cabot or Austin.
If the annexation goes to Austin, Stum-baugh says it’s only fair that Austin pay for part of the construction of the railroad overpass.
Austin Mayor Bernie Chamberlain says she knew the project was on the horizon, but she didn’t know it could possibly be funded this fiscal year. She hasn’t talked to Stumbaugh about Austin paying for part of the overpass, she said. But she points out that the subdivision hasn’t been annexed yet and she says she wonders, “If it stays in the county, are they going to ask the county to pay a part?”
Several members of the Cabot City Council, who briefly discussed the overpass Saturday morning during a finance committee meeting, were dubious about the possibility of starting the project this year. The question of borrowing money did not come up.
Construction of the overpass is scheduled for 2008, not 2005, they said. And the city can save the money by 2008, end of discussion.
Jim McKenzie, executive director of Metroplan, the planning and distributing agency for federal highway project money, said he has talked to Stumbaugh and is aware of his reluctance to pay for an overpass that will increase the value of property that will likely become part of another city.
“I can understand if Cabot is reluctant to pay for something that will increase Austin’s tax base,” McKenzie said.
The subdivision is one of three that might go to Austin rather than Cabot because of the cost of tying onto Cabot sewer. Austin officials say their city must grow or risk being swallowed up by Cabot and bringing in three subdivisions with a total of 500 homes would be a good start. They told the developers last summer that they would work with them on connecting to the Austin sewer.
Cabot will not pay any of the cost of connecting to Cabot sewer.
The overpass will run through Cabot’s industrial park on Highway 367, connecting Highway 367 to Highway 38 near Northside Middle School.
Eventually, the overpass could become part of an $11 million interchange connecting to U.S. Highway 67-167 on Highway 5.
McKenzie said the Cabot project is one of 12 railroad overpasses that have been identified as priorities for several years.
Whether the federal money for the Cabot project is available this year will depend upon whether the cities that were ahead of Cabot on that priority list are able to come up with their 20 percent match, he said.
If they do, the Cabot project won’t be funded, he said.
“Right now, we’re just doing a status check,” he said.
TOP STORY>> Air Force favors keeping C-130Js
IN SHORT: Vice Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley has joined a top Marine general in calling for a review of the Pentagon’s decision to end the C-130J acquisition program, which, the generals say, would leave a hole in the nation’s ability to deliver troops and supplies where they are needed.
Leader Staff and News Service
A pair of studies currently underway are likely to demonstrate the need to reinstate C-130J production to the 2006 defense budget, a top Air Force general testified before the House Armed Services Committee late last week.
The Pentagon defense proposal would pull the plug on C-130J production in hopes of saving $5 billion. Little Rock Air Force Base is the premiere C-130 base in this country, responsible for virtually all flight and maintenance training.
Facilities here have been updated and expanded to prepare for the next generation of transport planes, the C-130J. The air base would get only a handful of new planes if the rest of the program is scrapped and would train far fewer C-130J pilots.
In his testimony before Congress, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force vice chief of staff, mentioned the 2005 mobility capability study and another by the joint chiefs of staff that the Air Force requested. “I think both of those will suggest we take another look at the C-130J,” said Moseley.
He said the Air Force has more than 500 C-130s. Two hundred are E models, more than 30 of which are grounded.
“And we’re looking at having to ground another 50 or so because of wing-spar and wing-box issues,” Moseley said.
On the other hand, the general said the C-130Js now in the field have a proven mission-capability rate of more than 95 percent.
The Pentagon hopes to free about $5 billion for the Army by cutting 51 Air Force-bound C-130Js—at an average cost of $83 million each—from the budgets between 2006 and 2011. Lockheed, which makes the planes, has delivered about 75 C-130Js to the U.S. military.
“We’ve got about 6,100 airplanes,” said Moseley, “and we’ve got about 2,200 airplanes that are either grounded or operating under some flight restriction.
“That flight restriction could be something very minimal. But, it could be something very significant, like the C-130Es, where we can’t carry the fuel, or we can’t carry the weight, or we can’t maneuver the airplane because of the wing box or the spar assembly (problems).”
Currently 35 of the workhorse transports assigned to Little Rock Air Force Base are either grounded or restricted, according to a base spokesman.
“We’re facing readiness challenges in a number of platforms,” Moseley said in his opening statement. “Our No. 1 challenge is to recapitalize aging systems.”
Also last week, Marine Corps Gen. James L. Jones, Jr., commander of U.S. Command and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that production of the C-130Js should continue.
Jones said the C-130J program was a much-needed program while he served as commandant of the Marine Corps because of the age of the C-130s in the fleet particularly during Operation Enduring Freeom.
He said it was only the skill of the pilots flying some very old aircraft that prompted him to elevate the C-130J program to the very top of the Marine acquisition objectives.
“The C-130Es are getting old,” Maj. Gen. William W. “Wayne” Hodges told members of LRAFB Community Council in January. “We’ll continue to modernize the avionics, but the metal is getting old.”
Hodges is chief of procurement for the Air Force airlift operations. He told the council the civilian supporters of the program would have to carry the fight to save the C-130Js.
Members of the Arkansas congressional delegation have been supportive of the program.
The Air Force Print News, John Hofheimer and Garrick Feldman contributed to this report.
Leader Staff and News Service
A pair of studies currently underway are likely to demonstrate the need to reinstate C-130J production to the 2006 defense budget, a top Air Force general testified before the House Armed Services Committee late last week.
The Pentagon defense proposal would pull the plug on C-130J production in hopes of saving $5 billion. Little Rock Air Force Base is the premiere C-130 base in this country, responsible for virtually all flight and maintenance training.
Facilities here have been updated and expanded to prepare for the next generation of transport planes, the C-130J. The air base would get only a handful of new planes if the rest of the program is scrapped and would train far fewer C-130J pilots.
In his testimony before Congress, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force vice chief of staff, mentioned the 2005 mobility capability study and another by the joint chiefs of staff that the Air Force requested. “I think both of those will suggest we take another look at the C-130J,” said Moseley.
He said the Air Force has more than 500 C-130s. Two hundred are E models, more than 30 of which are grounded.
“And we’re looking at having to ground another 50 or so because of wing-spar and wing-box issues,” Moseley said.
On the other hand, the general said the C-130Js now in the field have a proven mission-capability rate of more than 95 percent.
The Pentagon hopes to free about $5 billion for the Army by cutting 51 Air Force-bound C-130Js—at an average cost of $83 million each—from the budgets between 2006 and 2011. Lockheed, which makes the planes, has delivered about 75 C-130Js to the U.S. military.
“We’ve got about 6,100 airplanes,” said Moseley, “and we’ve got about 2,200 airplanes that are either grounded or operating under some flight restriction.
“That flight restriction could be something very minimal. But, it could be something very significant, like the C-130Es, where we can’t carry the fuel, or we can’t carry the weight, or we can’t maneuver the airplane because of the wing box or the spar assembly (problems).”
Currently 35 of the workhorse transports assigned to Little Rock Air Force Base are either grounded or restricted, according to a base spokesman.
“We’re facing readiness challenges in a number of platforms,” Moseley said in his opening statement. “Our No. 1 challenge is to recapitalize aging systems.”
Also last week, Marine Corps Gen. James L. Jones, Jr., commander of U.S. Command and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that production of the C-130Js should continue.
Jones said the C-130J program was a much-needed program while he served as commandant of the Marine Corps because of the age of the C-130s in the fleet particularly during Operation Enduring Freeom.
He said it was only the skill of the pilots flying some very old aircraft that prompted him to elevate the C-130J program to the very top of the Marine acquisition objectives.
“The C-130Es are getting old,” Maj. Gen. William W. “Wayne” Hodges told members of LRAFB Community Council in January. “We’ll continue to modernize the avionics, but the metal is getting old.”
Hodges is chief of procurement for the Air Force airlift operations. He told the council the civilian supporters of the program would have to carry the fight to save the C-130Js.
Members of the Arkansas congressional delegation have been supportive of the program.
The Air Force Print News, John Hofheimer and Garrick Feldman contributed to this report.
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