BY JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: With 10 stops planned by the end of today, Cabot Mayor Stumbaugh launched his campaign for Congress with a speech in Cabot on Monday.
Cong. Marion Berry has failed first district farmers and senior citizens, Cabot Mayor Mickey (Stubby) Stumbaugh told about 35 people assembled to help him kick off a three-day, 10-city tour of the district in pursuit of Berry’s Dist. 1 House seat Monday morning.
With American and Arkansas flags and his “cheese-wagon” van as a backdrop at the plaza behind Cabot City Hall, Stumbaugh re-peated his campaign mantra, putting people before politics.
Stumbaugh said he was not concerned that Berry has name recognition, personal wealth and a lopsided lead in campaign money raised.
“There’s races won all across the country by candidates with less money,” he said.
“Now that the primary elections are over, we’ll see more people come out and donate.”
To be competitive in this race, Stumbaugh has his work cut out for him.
Through May 3, Berry had outraised him $858,346 to $43,493, a margin of 20 to 1. In funds available, Stumbaugh had $4,711 compared to $421,781, a margin of 90 to one.
Stumbaugh said he had gotten good response from the people at the public events he had been attending, such as the Newport Park Fest and Steamboat Days at Des Arc.
“I don’t want to be a congressman, I want to be your representative,” he said.
He signed the Taxpayer Protec-tion Pledge sponsored by Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform.
“I was one of seven children, born in Beebe but we got here as quick as we could,” Stumbaugh said. When his dad died and his mom had to raise all seven children alone, Santa was a Jaycee for three years in a row. “People want a hand up, not a handout,” he said.
Stumbaugh said that even as a 13-year-old pumping gas at the nearby station, he told people that some day he would be mayor.
When he finally ran, after 15 years as a Little Rock police officer, the incumbent was favored to win with 70 percent of the votes, Stumbaugh said. But by the time the smoke settled, Stumbaugh got 60 percent of the votes and former Mayor Joe Allman lost.
Stumbaugh’s itinerary this week through Wednesday included stops in Stuttgart, Blytheville, Jonesboro, Paragould, Walnut Ridge, Moun-tain Home, Mountain View, Batesville and Heber Springs.
Monday, he accused Berry, himself a farmer, of abandoning the farmers by leaving the House Agriculture Committee for the House Appropriations Committee.
Stumbaugh charged that Berry said eight months ago that he knew 30 years ago that high fuel prices and eventual shortages were on the way.
Then two months ago, he said “there was no way we could have anticipated this,” Stumbaugh said.
“My opponent doesn’t know how to tell the truth, he talks terrible about our president’s….leadership, but we haven’t been attacked since 9-11,” he added.
He added that proportionately, the $38.4 million Berry’s district got was the smallest of any of the state’s districts. While in Arkansas and nationally, about 45 percent of Medicare recipients qualify for part D prescription drug benefits, in the First District, 65 percent qualify, according to Stumbaugh.
Every congressional district has about 600,000 people in it, but of the 435 districts in the U.S., only 24 have more people eligible for those additional benefits than in the First District, he said.
Stumbaugh said Berry opposed the president’s prescription-drug plan because it was sponsored by a Republican.
Berry calls it a giveaway to insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
“I have introduced legislation that would create a Medicare-administered drug benefit with negotiated prices. . . that (can save) taxpayers as much as $40 billion a year in prescription costs,” he said.
Stumbaugh promised to get federal spending under control and noted that Cabot was building a $4.5 million community center “without a new tax.”
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
OBITUARIES >> 06-06-06
BOBBY WEST
U.S. Army Specialist Bobby Russell West, 23, of Beebe was killed May 30, while serving in Iraq. He attended Beebe High School.
He is survived by his father, Ricky West of Carlisle; his mother, Linda Wiggins West of Beebe; one brother, Patrick West, stationed with the Ar-my in Iraq; grandmother, Syble West of Car-lisle; aunts, Marge Liddle of North Little Rock, Marcella Wiggins of Little Rock, Marie Smith of Alabama and Jan Anderson of Carlisle; and uncle, Leonard Wig-gins of Searcy.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Beebe First Baptist Church, with burial in Meadow-brook Memorial Gardens by Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Memorials may be made to National Guard Family Assistance, 6402 Missouri Avenue, Bldg. 6402, North Little Rock, Ark., 72199.
VIRTREE PEELER
Virtree Peeler, 79, of Cabot, was born Aug. 1, 1926, at Beebe to Arthur and Rosie Wilson Moss. She passed away June 3.
She was a Baptist and was retired from Remington Arms. She was preceded in death by her husband, O.D. Peeler Jr. and her parents. She is survived by son, James Peeler of Cabot; daughters, Glenda Achten and Dianne Cathey and husband, Mark all of Mau-melle; her sister, Tempie Wells of Indio, California; grandchildren, Angie Heffner and husband Bobby of Romance, Stephanie Cathey of Little Rock, Sara Servin and husband Luis of San Antonio, Texas, and Matthew Peeler of North Carolina; great-grandchildren, Bobby Heffner, Jr. and Emmalee Heffner both of Romance.
Funeral will be held at 10 a.m. today Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe with burial in Old Austin Cemetery.
RAY STURGIS II
Ray Benard Sturgis II, 17, of Jacksonville died June 3.
He was born Sept. 1, 1988, in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, to Ray B., and Tyres Garland Sturgis, Sr.
He was a student at North Pulaski High School where he was a member of the chorus choir. He was a member of St. Luke’s Baptist Church in Jacksonville. He was a former member and served on the usher board at Mt. Olive Mission-ary Baptist Church in Lebanon, Illinois.
In addition to his parents, he is survived by a brother, O’Donnis K. Garland of De Kalb, Texas, and sister, Eboné C. Sturgis, all of Jacksonville; maternal grandparents; Jerrie D. and Donald K. Garland of De Kalb, Texas, and great-grandfather, Isaac Whitaker, Jr. of De Kalb, Texas. Other survivors in-clude his aunts, Pennie V. Jackson of Lancaster, Texas, Donna J. Lamar of Victorville, Calif., La-Honda Boyd and Juanita Garland both of Ft. Worth, Texas, Ellawees (Terry) Jones of El Dorado, Joy Andrews and Betty Usher, both of Camden, Helen Stanley and Emily Young, both of Las Vegas; uncles; Robert Sturgis of Rockford, Ill., Terry (Annette) Sturgis and Lavelle Sturgis, both of El Dorado, Stacy Boyd of Fort Worth, Texas, Ronald Lamar of Victorville, Calif.; great uncle, Peter Butler of Sagi-naw, Michigan; great aunt, Gertha Butler of Camden; and his best friend, Yoshi.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Luke’s Baptist Church in Jacksonville Baptist Church with Rev. Eric Alexander officiating.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Interment will follow at Garland Community Cemetery in De Kalb, Texas. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
FAYE KULSA
Faye Kulsa, 90, of McRae, was born Dec. 12, 1915, in Timbo, to John and Amanda Ward Good-win, and she joined her husband, Pete, son John, daughter Carol and sister Blanche on June 3.
She attended First Baptist Church, McRae. She loved spending time with her family and always had a story to tell. Faye and her stories will be greatly missed.
Faye leaves four grandchildren, John Kulsa, Brian Weston, Matt Oldham and Lisa Petriches; four great-grandchildren and a nephew, David Gibbs.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Meadow-brook Memorial Gardens, Beebe.
MARY AKIN
Mary Elizabeth Akin, 91, of North Little Rock passed away June 5. She was born April 25, 1915, to the late Eagle Walker and Alice Marie Baker Walker.
She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, James K. Akin and her son, James W. Akin.
She is survived by her son William “Billy” Akin of Jacksonville, grandsons, James and wife Kathy Akin, and Chris Akin of Antioch; nieces, Jimme Lou and husband Harry Hulett of North Little Rock, Dianne Wilson of Sherwood; and nephew Tom and wife Susan of Tucson, Ariz.
The family appreciates the care provided by the nursing staff at Woodland Hills in Jacksonville and Arkansas Hospice.
The family requests no visitation. Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Bayou Meto Cemetery in Jacksonville.
Arrangements are by Griffin Leggett Rest Hills Funeral Home in North Little Rock.
JACQUELINE KEEFOVER
On June 2, Jacqueline Hazel Keefover of Jacksonville joined her husband Cecil and other family in heaven at the age of 90. She is preceded in death by her mother Gertrude, father Homer, brothers Bill, John and Frank and sisters Lucille and Irma.
She loved bingo, jigsaw puzzles and sci-fi movies. She was an independent spirited outspoken wo-man until her last moments. She loved to go out to eat with her friends and have spaghetti dinners with her family. Christmas was her favorite holiday because she had everyone she loved in one room.
In her last days sick in bed when a relative asked Jackie what she was doing Jackie simply replied, “I’m playing bingo!”
Her family takes comfort in the fact that she is playing bingo with family in heaven now waiting for the rest of us to join the game.
She leaves behind her sister, Helen and her brother, Donald; her daughter Carla Nolen and husband Jim; her son, Chuck Keefover and wife Kathy. Jackie was also blessed with grandchildren, Chris and wife Casey, Jamie and fiancé Ricky, Chase, Lauren, CJ, Ben, Anna, Michael and great grandson Jacob. Many friends will remember Jackie including Edith, Daisy, Ted, Quida and Frank.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Floyd Hines Jr. officiating.
Interment followed in Chapel Hill Cemetery.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
DENISE FUHRMAN
Denise Fuhrman, 66, of Jack-sonville, passed away June 1 at her home. Denise Schwartz Fuhrman was born in Napoleon, N.D., the daughter of Jacob and Bertha (Schauer) Schwartz.
She was raised in Dawson, N.D., and graduated from Dawson High School in 1957. After graduation, she moved to Fargo, N.D., where she was employed with Northwest Bell Telephone Company.
On June 17, 1961, she married Duane Fuhrman in San Francisco. She worked for many years as a dental assistant, then went on to get her LPN. At the time of her death, she was employed at the Veterans Administration Hospital in North Little Rock for more than 20 years.
She was an avid bowler and rarely missed a National Bowling Tournament. She loved to travel and lived in and visited many parts of the United States. She cherished her grandchildren and included them in her many trips to North Dakota where she loved to spend her weekends with her husband, children and grandchildren at their lake home in Greers Ferry.
She is preceded in death by her father, Jacob Schwartz; mother and father-in-law Theodore and Marie Fuhrman; and brothers-in-law Vern Bahm, Harold Bullis and Robert Morton.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by a son, Darin and wife, Lisa; daughter, Dana and husband, Scotty; two grandchildren, Danielle Fuhrman and Jake Otto; her mother Bertha Schwartz of Bismark, N.D.; three sisters and brothers-in-law, Dorothy and Ar-land Grunseth of Bismark, N.D., Calista Bahm of Mandan, N.D., Louise and husband, Dick Lawson of Fort Collins, Colo.; one brother, Dale and wife, Pam Schwartz of Mandan, N.D., three sisters-in-law, Arlene Morton of Houston, Dolores Bullis of Fargo, N.D., and Janice and husband, Jim Lahman of Bismark, N.D.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Griffin Leggett Funeral Home-Rest Hill Chapel in North Little Rock, officiated by Tim McMinn.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the American Heart Association, 909 W. 12th St., Little Rock, Ark. 72201.
Arrangements were by Griffin Leggett Rest Hills Funeral Home in North Little Rock.
DAWN LANDRUM
Dawn Yvette Landrum of Jacksonville born Sept. 4, 1965, died and went to be with her grandparents, Louise and Charlie Webb and uncle, Lewis A. Webb on June 3.
She is survived by her mother, Janie Lavonne Webb Mistric and her mother’s husband, Tim, and her father, Clarence Richard Land-rum and wife JoAnn; her sister, Delores Wil-son and husband Jeff and her best friend Carla Holmes.
She is also survived by two nephews, Nick Page and Marcus Holmes; two nieces, Melody Page and Jennifer McKinzie; grandniece Elizabeth “Bubbles” McKinzie; uncles, Charlie F. Webb and wife, Martha, John Webb and wife, Angie; aunts, M.R. Long and husband, Richard, Beverly Parker, and Helen Campbell and husband, Michael.
She also leaves behind her special friend Glenn Hollis and many other cousins and friends. She will be missed by all. A private memorial was held Sunday.
U.S. Army Specialist Bobby Russell West, 23, of Beebe was killed May 30, while serving in Iraq. He attended Beebe High School.
He is survived by his father, Ricky West of Carlisle; his mother, Linda Wiggins West of Beebe; one brother, Patrick West, stationed with the Ar-my in Iraq; grandmother, Syble West of Car-lisle; aunts, Marge Liddle of North Little Rock, Marcella Wiggins of Little Rock, Marie Smith of Alabama and Jan Anderson of Carlisle; and uncle, Leonard Wig-gins of Searcy.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Beebe First Baptist Church, with burial in Meadow-brook Memorial Gardens by Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe.
Memorials may be made to National Guard Family Assistance, 6402 Missouri Avenue, Bldg. 6402, North Little Rock, Ark., 72199.
VIRTREE PEELER
Virtree Peeler, 79, of Cabot, was born Aug. 1, 1926, at Beebe to Arthur and Rosie Wilson Moss. She passed away June 3.
She was a Baptist and was retired from Remington Arms. She was preceded in death by her husband, O.D. Peeler Jr. and her parents. She is survived by son, James Peeler of Cabot; daughters, Glenda Achten and Dianne Cathey and husband, Mark all of Mau-melle; her sister, Tempie Wells of Indio, California; grandchildren, Angie Heffner and husband Bobby of Romance, Stephanie Cathey of Little Rock, Sara Servin and husband Luis of San Antonio, Texas, and Matthew Peeler of North Carolina; great-grandchildren, Bobby Heffner, Jr. and Emmalee Heffner both of Romance.
Funeral will be held at 10 a.m. today Wednesday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe with burial in Old Austin Cemetery.
RAY STURGIS II
Ray Benard Sturgis II, 17, of Jacksonville died June 3.
He was born Sept. 1, 1988, in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, to Ray B., and Tyres Garland Sturgis, Sr.
He was a student at North Pulaski High School where he was a member of the chorus choir. He was a member of St. Luke’s Baptist Church in Jacksonville. He was a former member and served on the usher board at Mt. Olive Mission-ary Baptist Church in Lebanon, Illinois.
In addition to his parents, he is survived by a brother, O’Donnis K. Garland of De Kalb, Texas, and sister, Eboné C. Sturgis, all of Jacksonville; maternal grandparents; Jerrie D. and Donald K. Garland of De Kalb, Texas, and great-grandfather, Isaac Whitaker, Jr. of De Kalb, Texas. Other survivors in-clude his aunts, Pennie V. Jackson of Lancaster, Texas, Donna J. Lamar of Victorville, Calif., La-Honda Boyd and Juanita Garland both of Ft. Worth, Texas, Ellawees (Terry) Jones of El Dorado, Joy Andrews and Betty Usher, both of Camden, Helen Stanley and Emily Young, both of Las Vegas; uncles; Robert Sturgis of Rockford, Ill., Terry (Annette) Sturgis and Lavelle Sturgis, both of El Dorado, Stacy Boyd of Fort Worth, Texas, Ronald Lamar of Victorville, Calif.; great uncle, Peter Butler of Sagi-naw, Michigan; great aunt, Gertha Butler of Camden; and his best friend, Yoshi.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Luke’s Baptist Church in Jacksonville Baptist Church with Rev. Eric Alexander officiating.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Interment will follow at Garland Community Cemetery in De Kalb, Texas. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
FAYE KULSA
Faye Kulsa, 90, of McRae, was born Dec. 12, 1915, in Timbo, to John and Amanda Ward Good-win, and she joined her husband, Pete, son John, daughter Carol and sister Blanche on June 3.
She attended First Baptist Church, McRae. She loved spending time with her family and always had a story to tell. Faye and her stories will be greatly missed.
Faye leaves four grandchildren, John Kulsa, Brian Weston, Matt Oldham and Lisa Petriches; four great-grandchildren and a nephew, David Gibbs.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Meadow-brook Memorial Gardens, Beebe.
MARY AKIN
Mary Elizabeth Akin, 91, of North Little Rock passed away June 5. She was born April 25, 1915, to the late Eagle Walker and Alice Marie Baker Walker.
She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, James K. Akin and her son, James W. Akin.
She is survived by her son William “Billy” Akin of Jacksonville, grandsons, James and wife Kathy Akin, and Chris Akin of Antioch; nieces, Jimme Lou and husband Harry Hulett of North Little Rock, Dianne Wilson of Sherwood; and nephew Tom and wife Susan of Tucson, Ariz.
The family appreciates the care provided by the nursing staff at Woodland Hills in Jacksonville and Arkansas Hospice.
The family requests no visitation. Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Bayou Meto Cemetery in Jacksonville.
Arrangements are by Griffin Leggett Rest Hills Funeral Home in North Little Rock.
JACQUELINE KEEFOVER
On June 2, Jacqueline Hazel Keefover of Jacksonville joined her husband Cecil and other family in heaven at the age of 90. She is preceded in death by her mother Gertrude, father Homer, brothers Bill, John and Frank and sisters Lucille and Irma.
She loved bingo, jigsaw puzzles and sci-fi movies. She was an independent spirited outspoken wo-man until her last moments. She loved to go out to eat with her friends and have spaghetti dinners with her family. Christmas was her favorite holiday because she had everyone she loved in one room.
In her last days sick in bed when a relative asked Jackie what she was doing Jackie simply replied, “I’m playing bingo!”
Her family takes comfort in the fact that she is playing bingo with family in heaven now waiting for the rest of us to join the game.
She leaves behind her sister, Helen and her brother, Donald; her daughter Carla Nolen and husband Jim; her son, Chuck Keefover and wife Kathy. Jackie was also blessed with grandchildren, Chris and wife Casey, Jamie and fiancé Ricky, Chase, Lauren, CJ, Ben, Anna, Michael and great grandson Jacob. Many friends will remember Jackie including Edith, Daisy, Ted, Quida and Frank.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Floyd Hines Jr. officiating.
Interment followed in Chapel Hill Cemetery.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
DENISE FUHRMAN
Denise Fuhrman, 66, of Jack-sonville, passed away June 1 at her home. Denise Schwartz Fuhrman was born in Napoleon, N.D., the daughter of Jacob and Bertha (Schauer) Schwartz.
She was raised in Dawson, N.D., and graduated from Dawson High School in 1957. After graduation, she moved to Fargo, N.D., where she was employed with Northwest Bell Telephone Company.
On June 17, 1961, she married Duane Fuhrman in San Francisco. She worked for many years as a dental assistant, then went on to get her LPN. At the time of her death, she was employed at the Veterans Administration Hospital in North Little Rock for more than 20 years.
She was an avid bowler and rarely missed a National Bowling Tournament. She loved to travel and lived in and visited many parts of the United States. She cherished her grandchildren and included them in her many trips to North Dakota where she loved to spend her weekends with her husband, children and grandchildren at their lake home in Greers Ferry.
She is preceded in death by her father, Jacob Schwartz; mother and father-in-law Theodore and Marie Fuhrman; and brothers-in-law Vern Bahm, Harold Bullis and Robert Morton.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by a son, Darin and wife, Lisa; daughter, Dana and husband, Scotty; two grandchildren, Danielle Fuhrman and Jake Otto; her mother Bertha Schwartz of Bismark, N.D.; three sisters and brothers-in-law, Dorothy and Ar-land Grunseth of Bismark, N.D., Calista Bahm of Mandan, N.D., Louise and husband, Dick Lawson of Fort Collins, Colo.; one brother, Dale and wife, Pam Schwartz of Mandan, N.D., three sisters-in-law, Arlene Morton of Houston, Dolores Bullis of Fargo, N.D., and Janice and husband, Jim Lahman of Bismark, N.D.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Griffin Leggett Funeral Home-Rest Hill Chapel in North Little Rock, officiated by Tim McMinn.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the American Heart Association, 909 W. 12th St., Little Rock, Ark. 72201.
Arrangements were by Griffin Leggett Rest Hills Funeral Home in North Little Rock.
DAWN LANDRUM
Dawn Yvette Landrum of Jacksonville born Sept. 4, 1965, died and went to be with her grandparents, Louise and Charlie Webb and uncle, Lewis A. Webb on June 3.
She is survived by her mother, Janie Lavonne Webb Mistric and her mother’s husband, Tim, and her father, Clarence Richard Land-rum and wife JoAnn; her sister, Delores Wil-son and husband Jeff and her best friend Carla Holmes.
She is also survived by two nephews, Nick Page and Marcus Holmes; two nieces, Melody Page and Jennifer McKinzie; grandniece Elizabeth “Bubbles” McKinzie; uncles, Charlie F. Webb and wife, Martha, John Webb and wife, Angie; aunts, M.R. Long and husband, Richard, Beverly Parker, and Helen Campbell and husband, Michael.
She also leaves behind her special friend Glenn Hollis and many other cousins and friends. She will be missed by all. A private memorial was held Sunday.
NEIGHBORS >> Summer has begun
BY PEGGY KENYON
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: The Splash Zone started off the summer season at full capacity on Saturday.
Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water, it is thanks to Splash Zone, Jacksonville’s outdoor pool complex.
Children laughing, adults sunning, lifeguards watching, toddlers dogpaddling, teens water-sliding under sunny skies at the Splash Zone.
At the ever-popular diving board swimmers perform an amazing array of dives. A few half-gainers, numerous belly-busters and several fabulous flips signaled both fun and fitness at the diving board.
Saturday kicked off Splash Zone’s second regular season. The three pool water-theme park is located on Martin Street just off First.
Before 2 p.m. on Saturday, Splash Zone reached its capacity of 353 people but a line of hopefuls formed outside the gate.
Diane Novotny, aquatics director for Jacksonville Parks and Recreation, had to shut the gates to admissions for awhile. With a birthday party for 50 people and regular admissions, the pool reached its capacity at 1:42 p.m., according to Novotny.
Through word of mouth, Kim Webster of Ward heard about Splash Zone and she brought her children here.
“I really like it and it’s a reasonable price,” Webster told The Leader.
Admission is $4 per person plus an additional $1 to use the slide all day long. Swimmers must be 48 inches tall to use the slide.
Children under 2 years old get in free.
Another out-of-towner, Bonnie Jones of Cabot, brought four children to visit the pool.
“This is the first summer I’ve brought them up here, and they’re having a ball,” she said.
Shirl Holmes, a Jacksonville resident of 20 years, lounged in a poolside chair and watched her two daughters take to the water like a couple of ducks. “It’s family-oriented and someplace to enjoy the day,” she said.
Meanwhile, Beth Sheppard, serving her first year as pool manager, says she is definitely pleased with the large turnouts the facility has already generated when it opened for a limited time over the Memorial Day holiday. On May 27, 422 came through the gates.
“That beat last year’s opening,” Sheppard said.
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: The Splash Zone started off the summer season at full capacity on Saturday.
Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water, it is thanks to Splash Zone, Jacksonville’s outdoor pool complex.
Children laughing, adults sunning, lifeguards watching, toddlers dogpaddling, teens water-sliding under sunny skies at the Splash Zone.
At the ever-popular diving board swimmers perform an amazing array of dives. A few half-gainers, numerous belly-busters and several fabulous flips signaled both fun and fitness at the diving board.
Saturday kicked off Splash Zone’s second regular season. The three pool water-theme park is located on Martin Street just off First.
Before 2 p.m. on Saturday, Splash Zone reached its capacity of 353 people but a line of hopefuls formed outside the gate.
Diane Novotny, aquatics director for Jacksonville Parks and Recreation, had to shut the gates to admissions for awhile. With a birthday party for 50 people and regular admissions, the pool reached its capacity at 1:42 p.m., according to Novotny.
Through word of mouth, Kim Webster of Ward heard about Splash Zone and she brought her children here.
“I really like it and it’s a reasonable price,” Webster told The Leader.
Admission is $4 per person plus an additional $1 to use the slide all day long. Swimmers must be 48 inches tall to use the slide.
Children under 2 years old get in free.
Another out-of-towner, Bonnie Jones of Cabot, brought four children to visit the pool.
“This is the first summer I’ve brought them up here, and they’re having a ball,” she said.
Shirl Holmes, a Jacksonville resident of 20 years, lounged in a poolside chair and watched her two daughters take to the water like a couple of ducks. “It’s family-oriented and someplace to enjoy the day,” she said.
Meanwhile, Beth Sheppard, serving her first year as pool manager, says she is definitely pleased with the large turnouts the facility has already generated when it opened for a limited time over the Memorial Day holiday. On May 27, 422 came through the gates.
“That beat last year’s opening,” Sheppard said.
NEIGHBORS >> Cabot author reads to children
BY MELISSA TUCKER
Leader managing editor
IN SHORT: Cabot author and resident Katy Duffield read her book about Farmer McPeepers to children and their families at the Arlene Cherry Memorial Library, where the summer reading program kicked off on Monday.
Arlene Cherry Memorial Library hosted children’s author and Cabot resident Katy Duffield on May 31. She read her new book “Farmer McPeepers and His Missing Milk Cows” and “Click, Clack, Moo,” written by Doreen Cronin to 30 children and 17 parents who attended.
Duffield also played games with the children including one called “This little cow eats grass,” which was a play off of the “this little piggy” finger game children play.
It ended on the pinky finger with “and this little one eats grass and just lays around,” said head librarian Christine Williams.
Duffield also autographed and sold several of her books at the event. The library kicked off the summer reading program for children and young adults on Monday. “We usually have about 700 sign up each year,” Williams said.
Participants keep a log of the books they’ve read and for each level — 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 books — they will get a prize, which could be a toy or coupon from an area restaurant.
“We stop counting at 100,” Williams said.
The theme for the program this year is “Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales” for children and “Creature Features” for young adults.
Williams said the program is “a good way for children to keep up with their reading over the summer, and I think the teachers appreciate that also.”
On July 13, a party will be held to celebrate the end of the reading program. Almost like a carnival, games, food and activities outside, as well as a magic show inside the library.
Leader managing editor
IN SHORT: Cabot author and resident Katy Duffield read her book about Farmer McPeepers to children and their families at the Arlene Cherry Memorial Library, where the summer reading program kicked off on Monday.
Arlene Cherry Memorial Library hosted children’s author and Cabot resident Katy Duffield on May 31. She read her new book “Farmer McPeepers and His Missing Milk Cows” and “Click, Clack, Moo,” written by Doreen Cronin to 30 children and 17 parents who attended.
Duffield also played games with the children including one called “This little cow eats grass,” which was a play off of the “this little piggy” finger game children play.
It ended on the pinky finger with “and this little one eats grass and just lays around,” said head librarian Christine Williams.
Duffield also autographed and sold several of her books at the event. The library kicked off the summer reading program for children and young adults on Monday. “We usually have about 700 sign up each year,” Williams said.
Participants keep a log of the books they’ve read and for each level — 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 books — they will get a prize, which could be a toy or coupon from an area restaurant.
“We stop counting at 100,” Williams said.
The theme for the program this year is “Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales” for children and “Creature Features” for young adults.
Williams said the program is “a good way for children to keep up with their reading over the summer, and I think the teachers appreciate that also.”
On July 13, a party will be held to celebrate the end of the reading program. Almost like a carnival, games, food and activities outside, as well as a magic show inside the library.
SPORTS >> Searcy, Harding Academy do well in ‘Raid’
BY JASON KING
Leader sports writer
IN SHORT: The Searcy Lions finished third and the Wildcats fourth in the Sonic 7-on-7 football tournament.
A total of 16 teams competed in the Sonic Air-Raid 7-on-7 football tournament at Harding University on Saturday. Local teams Searcy and Harding Academy, along with 13 other Arkansas schools and Boyd-Buchanon High School from Tennessee took to the eight different fields in the double elimination tourney.
Each team played three games in the preliminary round, and the eight teams with the best records moved into the afternoon championship bracket, while the rest played in the Land-O-Frost consolation bracket.
Shiloh Christian eventually went on to win the overall championship, defeating Fayetteville in the championship game and going undefeated in the tournament. Searcy finished third overall, with Harding ending up fourth in the final standings.
The Lions finished with a final tournament record of 6-2, with HA just one shy of Searcy’s winning mark with a 5-2 record.
Searcy and HA both made it to the championship bracket, and eventually squared off in a rare cross-town rivalry game in the quarterfinals of the losers bracket after both teams lost in the first round of the championships.
Both schools went 3-0 in the preliminaries, but Harding had a difficult time with the CAC 2 squad in the first round of the championship, losing 29-6. Searcy led Stuttgart through most of its first-round matchup, but a last-second play for Stuttgart stole the win from the Lions 22-21.
The Lions and the Wildcats both ended up in the loser’s bracket, but both teams were determined to still make it to the championship. Harding Academy pulled out a 27-19 win over Forrest City in the first round of the losers bracket, while Searcy held off a stubborn Bryant team 20-14 to advance to the next round.
In the 3 p.m. games, HA beat Stuttgart 28-18, while the Lions easily handled CAC 2 33-12, setting up a much-anticipated game between the two schools.
Neither team scored on their first possessions. The 30-minute scrimmage went scoreless until 20:38 remaining, when Justin Rowden hit Matt Cramblett from nine-yards out for the first Searcy score. The extra-point throw was completed, and the Lions went up 7-0.
Harding Academy answered on the following possession, when Luke Tribble made a 1-yard shovel pass into the end zone for the score.
Tribble found another receiver for the extra-point conversion, but the Lion defenders stopped him on the 1-yard line to keep a slim 7-6 lead.
Searcy’s next score came on a hail-Mary looking pass from Rowden to a crowd of Searcy and HA players. The Lion receiver caught the ball, and was pushed out of the back of the end zone by the Wildcats. The pass was deemed a catch by the officials, and Searcy added to its lead 13-6.
Searcy intercepted Tribble on the next possession, but gave the ball right back to Harding on downs.
The Wildcats would score this time when a pass from Tribble was scooped up at the 2-yard line after the intended receiver fell down.
The receiver behind the play snagged the ball just before it hit the ground and ran in for the score. The touchdown cut Searcy’s lead to 13-12 with only 5:54 remaining, but both teams still had another score left.
The Lions scored their final TD with 2:18 left on a 1-yard toss from Cramblett to Easton Valentine. The extra point was no good, leaving the score at 19-12 in favor of Searcy.
The Wildcats had to hustle with the continuous clock, but managed to put it in the end zone with a little more than 30 seconds remaining.
HA had the option to go for the one-point conversion from the 5-yard line for the tie, or go for the win with a 2-point conversion from the 10-yard line. Coach Tommy Shoemaker opted for it all, with a 2-point attempt on the final play of the game.
Tribble launched the ball into the end zone, but it bounced off the HA receiver’s extended hand, giving Searcy the win 19-18, and putting the Wildcats out of the tournament.
“That was a lot of fun,” Shoemaker said after the game. “We were about out of gas, so we went for the win there. I thought we had a good play; we just didn’t get it done. It was a good game, and good for the city. I know there are probably a lot of people who were excited to see the two of us mix it up.”
Even with a light practice schedule over the spring, Shoemaker was impressed with his young team, especially receiver-turned-quarterback Luke Tribble.
“Luke done a great job,” Shoemaker said. “He was a little shaky in the first game and threw a couple of interceptions, but he was right on the money in the rest of the games. He’s a good competitor, and I was impressed with how well he threw the ball.
“We have a lot of young guys, and I thought they did really well. We have some technique stuff to work on, and we have to decide where some guys fit, but they picked up things well, especially with so little time to practice.”
Searcy faced Fayetteville in the semifinals with the winner moving on to face Shiloh Christian for the championship.
The Lions led 15-14 with seven minutes remaining, but the Bulldogs scored two touchdowns in the final minutes to take the win 26-15, and ending Searcy’s impressive run.
Lions second-year coach Bart McFarland was very pleased with the team’s effort, especially the leadership he got from the seniors.
“We have come a long way from last year,” McFarland said. “To reach the final three is a great accomplishment for this team. Everybody stepped it up today. All of these guys were tired, but we came back and competed. Justin did great all day, I think he only had one interception the whole tournament. Easton and Matt both made some unbelievable catches out there.
“We’re doing exactly what we’re going to do on Friday night, right here. We had a lot of guys take it to the next level out there, and that’s what we’re going to have to do all season during the fall in order to be successful.”
Leader sports writer
IN SHORT: The Searcy Lions finished third and the Wildcats fourth in the Sonic 7-on-7 football tournament.
A total of 16 teams competed in the Sonic Air-Raid 7-on-7 football tournament at Harding University on Saturday. Local teams Searcy and Harding Academy, along with 13 other Arkansas schools and Boyd-Buchanon High School from Tennessee took to the eight different fields in the double elimination tourney.
Each team played three games in the preliminary round, and the eight teams with the best records moved into the afternoon championship bracket, while the rest played in the Land-O-Frost consolation bracket.
Shiloh Christian eventually went on to win the overall championship, defeating Fayetteville in the championship game and going undefeated in the tournament. Searcy finished third overall, with Harding ending up fourth in the final standings.
The Lions finished with a final tournament record of 6-2, with HA just one shy of Searcy’s winning mark with a 5-2 record.
Searcy and HA both made it to the championship bracket, and eventually squared off in a rare cross-town rivalry game in the quarterfinals of the losers bracket after both teams lost in the first round of the championships.
Both schools went 3-0 in the preliminaries, but Harding had a difficult time with the CAC 2 squad in the first round of the championship, losing 29-6. Searcy led Stuttgart through most of its first-round matchup, but a last-second play for Stuttgart stole the win from the Lions 22-21.
The Lions and the Wildcats both ended up in the loser’s bracket, but both teams were determined to still make it to the championship. Harding Academy pulled out a 27-19 win over Forrest City in the first round of the losers bracket, while Searcy held off a stubborn Bryant team 20-14 to advance to the next round.
In the 3 p.m. games, HA beat Stuttgart 28-18, while the Lions easily handled CAC 2 33-12, setting up a much-anticipated game between the two schools.
Neither team scored on their first possessions. The 30-minute scrimmage went scoreless until 20:38 remaining, when Justin Rowden hit Matt Cramblett from nine-yards out for the first Searcy score. The extra-point throw was completed, and the Lions went up 7-0.
Harding Academy answered on the following possession, when Luke Tribble made a 1-yard shovel pass into the end zone for the score.
Tribble found another receiver for the extra-point conversion, but the Lion defenders stopped him on the 1-yard line to keep a slim 7-6 lead.
Searcy’s next score came on a hail-Mary looking pass from Rowden to a crowd of Searcy and HA players. The Lion receiver caught the ball, and was pushed out of the back of the end zone by the Wildcats. The pass was deemed a catch by the officials, and Searcy added to its lead 13-6.
Searcy intercepted Tribble on the next possession, but gave the ball right back to Harding on downs.
The Wildcats would score this time when a pass from Tribble was scooped up at the 2-yard line after the intended receiver fell down.
The receiver behind the play snagged the ball just before it hit the ground and ran in for the score. The touchdown cut Searcy’s lead to 13-12 with only 5:54 remaining, but both teams still had another score left.
The Lions scored their final TD with 2:18 left on a 1-yard toss from Cramblett to Easton Valentine. The extra point was no good, leaving the score at 19-12 in favor of Searcy.
The Wildcats had to hustle with the continuous clock, but managed to put it in the end zone with a little more than 30 seconds remaining.
HA had the option to go for the one-point conversion from the 5-yard line for the tie, or go for the win with a 2-point conversion from the 10-yard line. Coach Tommy Shoemaker opted for it all, with a 2-point attempt on the final play of the game.
Tribble launched the ball into the end zone, but it bounced off the HA receiver’s extended hand, giving Searcy the win 19-18, and putting the Wildcats out of the tournament.
“That was a lot of fun,” Shoemaker said after the game. “We were about out of gas, so we went for the win there. I thought we had a good play; we just didn’t get it done. It was a good game, and good for the city. I know there are probably a lot of people who were excited to see the two of us mix it up.”
Even with a light practice schedule over the spring, Shoemaker was impressed with his young team, especially receiver-turned-quarterback Luke Tribble.
“Luke done a great job,” Shoemaker said. “He was a little shaky in the first game and threw a couple of interceptions, but he was right on the money in the rest of the games. He’s a good competitor, and I was impressed with how well he threw the ball.
“We have a lot of young guys, and I thought they did really well. We have some technique stuff to work on, and we have to decide where some guys fit, but they picked up things well, especially with so little time to practice.”
Searcy faced Fayetteville in the semifinals with the winner moving on to face Shiloh Christian for the championship.
The Lions led 15-14 with seven minutes remaining, but the Bulldogs scored two touchdowns in the final minutes to take the win 26-15, and ending Searcy’s impressive run.
Lions second-year coach Bart McFarland was very pleased with the team’s effort, especially the leadership he got from the seniors.
“We have come a long way from last year,” McFarland said. “To reach the final three is a great accomplishment for this team. Everybody stepped it up today. All of these guys were tired, but we came back and competed. Justin did great all day, I think he only had one interception the whole tournament. Easton and Matt both made some unbelievable catches out there.
“We’re doing exactly what we’re going to do on Friday night, right here. We had a lot of guys take it to the next level out there, and that’s what we’re going to have to do all season during the fall in order to be successful.”
SPORTS >> Cabot closes 7-Up Classic with win over Brinkley
BY JASON KING
Leader sports writer
IN SHORT: The Cabot American Legion team went 1-2 at Paragould’s annual 7-Up baseball tournament.
The Cabot Home Depot Class AAA team lost two out of three games at the 7-Up Classic tournament in Paragould last weekend. Losses in the first two rounds to Benton and Searcy’s B & B Oil AA team put Cabot at a deficit in the tourney, but they closed out bracket play strong on the final day with an 8-1 win over Brinkley.
“We rebounded pretty well on Sunday,” Cabot coach Andy Runyon said. “We were in a position to win two out of the three games. We had some errors that killed us on Friday. Saturday, we just played like a team that was tired and not all there; I think the score reflects that. It was good to see them bounce back on Sunday and respond the way they did; they really played tough against Brinkley. If you take those errors away from the Benton game, we would have had two wins over quality teams for the weekend.”
The overall 1-2 record for the weekend looks worse on paper than it was in actuality. Cabot led Benton through most of Friday’s opener until two late errors from the Home Depot team allowed four runs from the Panthers. The Saturday game against Searcy was played with a skeleton lineup due to basketball camp, with two of its strongest players at a college prospect camp. B & B Oil took advantage of the situation with a 10-1 rout over Cabot.
The Sunday game with Brinkley closed Home Depot out on a strong note for the tourney. The defense turned in its strongest performance in the third-round outing, with starting pitcher Sam Bates going the distance for Cabot.
Bates gave up six hits and two walks to the Brinkley batters in 84 pitches, and allowed no earned runs.
Justin Free gave the strongest offensive performance for Home Depot, going 2 for 3 with a triple and scoring three runs.
Corey Wade led in bases stolen with two, as Cabot racked up seven total team hits and seven walks in the dominating performance.
Colin Fuller had the best single play of the game defensively, snagging a ball barehanded after a rock changed the direction of the Brinkley grounder.
Fuller grabbed the ball with his left hand and made the play to first to get the out and help protect what was then a 5-1 Cabot lead at the time of the play.
“I think that play pretty well took all the wind out of their sails,” Runyon said of Fuller’s amazing play. “As a coach, when you see kids make a play like that against you, you start to get the feeling that maybe things aren’t going to go your way.”
Home Depot took on Sylvan Hills on Tuesday after Leader deadlines, and will host a double- header against Heber Springs on Thursday before traveling to Pine Bluff Sunday.
Leader sports writer
IN SHORT: The Cabot American Legion team went 1-2 at Paragould’s annual 7-Up baseball tournament.
The Cabot Home Depot Class AAA team lost two out of three games at the 7-Up Classic tournament in Paragould last weekend. Losses in the first two rounds to Benton and Searcy’s B & B Oil AA team put Cabot at a deficit in the tourney, but they closed out bracket play strong on the final day with an 8-1 win over Brinkley.
“We rebounded pretty well on Sunday,” Cabot coach Andy Runyon said. “We were in a position to win two out of the three games. We had some errors that killed us on Friday. Saturday, we just played like a team that was tired and not all there; I think the score reflects that. It was good to see them bounce back on Sunday and respond the way they did; they really played tough against Brinkley. If you take those errors away from the Benton game, we would have had two wins over quality teams for the weekend.”
The overall 1-2 record for the weekend looks worse on paper than it was in actuality. Cabot led Benton through most of Friday’s opener until two late errors from the Home Depot team allowed four runs from the Panthers. The Saturday game against Searcy was played with a skeleton lineup due to basketball camp, with two of its strongest players at a college prospect camp. B & B Oil took advantage of the situation with a 10-1 rout over Cabot.
The Sunday game with Brinkley closed Home Depot out on a strong note for the tourney. The defense turned in its strongest performance in the third-round outing, with starting pitcher Sam Bates going the distance for Cabot.
Bates gave up six hits and two walks to the Brinkley batters in 84 pitches, and allowed no earned runs.
Justin Free gave the strongest offensive performance for Home Depot, going 2 for 3 with a triple and scoring three runs.
Corey Wade led in bases stolen with two, as Cabot racked up seven total team hits and seven walks in the dominating performance.
Colin Fuller had the best single play of the game defensively, snagging a ball barehanded after a rock changed the direction of the Brinkley grounder.
Fuller grabbed the ball with his left hand and made the play to first to get the out and help protect what was then a 5-1 Cabot lead at the time of the play.
“I think that play pretty well took all the wind out of their sails,” Runyon said of Fuller’s amazing play. “As a coach, when you see kids make a play like that against you, you start to get the feeling that maybe things aren’t going to go your way.”
Home Depot took on Sylvan Hills on Tuesday after Leader deadlines, and will host a double- header against Heber Springs on Thursday before traveling to Pine Bluff Sunday.
SPORTS >> Jacksonville rallies past Benton in tourney final
BY RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
IN SHORT: The Gwatney Class A team beat Benton 4-3 on the game’s last at bat to close its tournament.
They saved their best for last, and it was just enough for Jacksonville’s Gwatney A American Legion team to close out their tournament Sunday with a 4-3 win over Benton.
Gwatney scored one run in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a Ben-ton error, but Benton took the lead in the top of the second and didn’t trail again until the last at bat of the game.
All three of Benton’s runs were unearned. Gwatney committed three errors in the inning, including two with two outs that gave Sports Shop three runs and a 3-1 lead.
Gwatney got one run back in the bottom of the second, but blew a golden opportunity for a big inning.
Benton pitcher Chase John-son walked Jacksonville’s seven, eight and nine hole hitters to start the inning. Leadoff hitter Adam Ussery then struck out, and Shane Graham hit into a 5-2 fielder’s choice.
Cameron Hood then singled to score Devin McMunn from third, but Graham rounded second base and headed to third with Cody Spears still standing there. Graham tried to stop and got caught in a rundown. Spears broke for home during the rundown and was thrown out to end the inning.
Benton returned the favor by blowing a crucial scoring opportunity in the top of the seventh and last inning.
Bo Mitcham hit a one-out double down the left-field line, but made a big base-running error on the next at bat.
Nine-hole hitter Alce Mann executed a perfect bunt that left him safe at first, but Mitcham tried to stretch two bases out of it and was easily thrown out at home. It certainly cost Benton a run because leadoff hitter Justin Mills singled on the next at bat. Justin Pfieffer then popped up to second base to end the inning.
Jacksonville took the lead and the game in the bottom of the frame. Seth Tomboli fell behind 1-2 in the count, but responded by bouncing a line drive off the fence in centerfield. He stretched the stand-up double into a triple by sliding in just safe at third base.
Benton elected to intentionally walk the next two batters to load the bases with no outs. Ussery then doubled to right field to score Tomboli and secure the victory.
While base-running errors cost each team runs, Jacksonville tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with a heads-up play on the path by Cameron Hood.
Hood singled to lead off the inning. Adrian Baker grounded out to third base, and Hood rounded second on the throw from third to first.
The throw back to third was wild, and Hood scored from third.
Graham got the win on the mound. He gave up six hits, struck out three, walked one and gave up zero earned runs in the complete-game effort.
Hood and Tomboli, as well as Benton’s Mills, were the only players with multiple hits in the game. Tomboli went 2 for 2 with a walk and a triple.
Gwatney went 2-1 overall in the tournament. It beat Woodlawn 10-7 Friday, then lost 10-3 to Sheridan Saturday in a game that turned ugly after a collision at home plate.
Leader sports editor
IN SHORT: The Gwatney Class A team beat Benton 4-3 on the game’s last at bat to close its tournament.
They saved their best for last, and it was just enough for Jacksonville’s Gwatney A American Legion team to close out their tournament Sunday with a 4-3 win over Benton.
Gwatney scored one run in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a Ben-ton error, but Benton took the lead in the top of the second and didn’t trail again until the last at bat of the game.
All three of Benton’s runs were unearned. Gwatney committed three errors in the inning, including two with two outs that gave Sports Shop three runs and a 3-1 lead.
Gwatney got one run back in the bottom of the second, but blew a golden opportunity for a big inning.
Benton pitcher Chase John-son walked Jacksonville’s seven, eight and nine hole hitters to start the inning. Leadoff hitter Adam Ussery then struck out, and Shane Graham hit into a 5-2 fielder’s choice.
Cameron Hood then singled to score Devin McMunn from third, but Graham rounded second base and headed to third with Cody Spears still standing there. Graham tried to stop and got caught in a rundown. Spears broke for home during the rundown and was thrown out to end the inning.
Benton returned the favor by blowing a crucial scoring opportunity in the top of the seventh and last inning.
Bo Mitcham hit a one-out double down the left-field line, but made a big base-running error on the next at bat.
Nine-hole hitter Alce Mann executed a perfect bunt that left him safe at first, but Mitcham tried to stretch two bases out of it and was easily thrown out at home. It certainly cost Benton a run because leadoff hitter Justin Mills singled on the next at bat. Justin Pfieffer then popped up to second base to end the inning.
Jacksonville took the lead and the game in the bottom of the frame. Seth Tomboli fell behind 1-2 in the count, but responded by bouncing a line drive off the fence in centerfield. He stretched the stand-up double into a triple by sliding in just safe at third base.
Benton elected to intentionally walk the next two batters to load the bases with no outs. Ussery then doubled to right field to score Tomboli and secure the victory.
While base-running errors cost each team runs, Jacksonville tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with a heads-up play on the path by Cameron Hood.
Hood singled to lead off the inning. Adrian Baker grounded out to third base, and Hood rounded second on the throw from third to first.
The throw back to third was wild, and Hood scored from third.
Graham got the win on the mound. He gave up six hits, struck out three, walked one and gave up zero earned runs in the complete-game effort.
Hood and Tomboli, as well as Benton’s Mills, were the only players with multiple hits in the game. Tomboli went 2 for 2 with a walk and a triple.
Gwatney went 2-1 overall in the tournament. It beat Woodlawn 10-7 Friday, then lost 10-3 to Sheridan Saturday in a game that turned ugly after a collision at home plate.
SPORTS >> Bruins handle Gwatney in AAA Legion matchup
BY JASON KING
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: The Sylvan Hills AAA team won its second game of the year over Jacksonville Monday night, beating the Gwatney Chevy Boys 16-5 at Dupree Park in Jacksonville.
Gwatney and Sylvan Hills faced off in a Class A and Class AAA Legion doubleheader at Dupree Park Monday night. The Chevy boys took the A game 6-1, but the Bruins rolled in the AAA affair, blasting an unsuspecting Jacksonville team 16-5.
The Bruins got off to a rapid start, scoring four unearned runs off Gwatney errors in the top of the first. They added three more earned runs in the top of the second, until the Jacksonville defense started to make a stand in the third inning.
Gwatney looked like they had gathered it together in the top of the third, with starting pitcher Trey Smith sending SH three-and-out with two F8 pop-ups and a strikeout.
The four-and three-run innings for the Bruins in the top two were only a sign of things to come in the top of the fourth, when Sylvan Hills went through 13 at-bats while scoring nine runs on two hits and five Gwatney errors to take an overwhelming 16-2 lead.
Jacksonville had its best moment at the plate in the bottom of the third, closing the Bruins’ lead to 7-2.
After the Bruins’ spirit-deflating run in the fourth, the final inning was essentially a batting practice for both teams’ substitutes until the run-rule was activated.
advantage of seven unforced Jacksonville errors in the contest. Tony Pavan took the win for the Bruins from the mound, giving up five hits and five walks to Gwatney, and striking out four.
The most significant fact about Pavan’s performance on Monday was that he still looked relatively fresh after four innings, struggling slightly in the fifth before putting it away and going the distance.
Ross Bogard started off the second inning for the Bruins with a solo home run over the left-field wall. Two batters later, Austin Gwatney sent it over the right field wall to improve Sylvan Hills’ lead to 6-0.
One more run was added in the top of the second with an RBI double to deep centerfield from Ritchie Irvan that scored Ashur Toliver, who had reached just before Irvan with a single to left.
Jacksonville finally got on the scoreboard late in the second inning when Tyler Uptergrove made it in off a fielder’s choice shot to shortstop from Josh Mansfield.
The Chevy boys managed another run in the third with an RBI double from Uptergrove that scored Kyle West. The pair of runs brought them to within five points at 7-2, but the fourth inning would get as ugly as they come for Jacksonville fans.
Jacksonville went through a pitcher change and gave up five runs on three errors and two hits before capturing its first out of the inning in the top of the fourth. Two more fielding errors were committed before the end of the Bruins’ turn, allowing four more runs for SH before a strikeout on Irvan ended the painful frame for Gwatney.
Jacksonville did manage three more runs in the bottom of the fifth on a slightly fading Pavan, but the Bruins starter finally closed the deal after eight Chevy batters. Pavan walked the first two batters of the inning, before giving up a third walk four batters later to face bases loaded.
Cary Wright RBI’d to center to score the first run, followed by a shot to third from Neil Hatcher that resulted in the only Bruins’ error in the entire contest to score two more and set the final margin at 16-5.
Austin Gwatney was 2 for 2 with a home run and reached twice on errors. Irvan was 2 for 3 with two doubles. Nathan Van Schoyck was 2 for 3 with a double and Bogard was 1 for 3 with a home run.
For Jacksonville, Uptergrove was 2 for 2 with a double and West was 2 for 3 with a pair of singles. Gwatney finished with five total hits.
Seth Tombolli started at the mound for Jacksonville in the Class A game, throwing until the top of the fourth when Clayton Fenton came in to relieve him.
A solo home run for Ross Bogard in the top of the second inning was the only Bruins’ score in the game, with Gwatney scoring four in the bottom of the fourth, and adding the final two runs in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double to center from Tombolli that brought in Adrian Baker and Terrell Brown.
Jacksonville Class A will play at Maumelle today, with both A and AAA back in action at home against Benton on Thursday starting at 6 p.m. Sylvan Hills will face NLR at Burns park on Wednesday night in a Class A and Class AAA double header. The Bruins played a Class AAA game against Cabot Tuesday after Leader deadlines.
The Bruins finished with nine total hits in the game, and also took
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: The Sylvan Hills AAA team won its second game of the year over Jacksonville Monday night, beating the Gwatney Chevy Boys 16-5 at Dupree Park in Jacksonville.
Gwatney and Sylvan Hills faced off in a Class A and Class AAA Legion doubleheader at Dupree Park Monday night. The Chevy boys took the A game 6-1, but the Bruins rolled in the AAA affair, blasting an unsuspecting Jacksonville team 16-5.
The Bruins got off to a rapid start, scoring four unearned runs off Gwatney errors in the top of the first. They added three more earned runs in the top of the second, until the Jacksonville defense started to make a stand in the third inning.
Gwatney looked like they had gathered it together in the top of the third, with starting pitcher Trey Smith sending SH three-and-out with two F8 pop-ups and a strikeout.
The four-and three-run innings for the Bruins in the top two were only a sign of things to come in the top of the fourth, when Sylvan Hills went through 13 at-bats while scoring nine runs on two hits and five Gwatney errors to take an overwhelming 16-2 lead.
Jacksonville had its best moment at the plate in the bottom of the third, closing the Bruins’ lead to 7-2.
After the Bruins’ spirit-deflating run in the fourth, the final inning was essentially a batting practice for both teams’ substitutes until the run-rule was activated.
advantage of seven unforced Jacksonville errors in the contest. Tony Pavan took the win for the Bruins from the mound, giving up five hits and five walks to Gwatney, and striking out four.
The most significant fact about Pavan’s performance on Monday was that he still looked relatively fresh after four innings, struggling slightly in the fifth before putting it away and going the distance.
Ross Bogard started off the second inning for the Bruins with a solo home run over the left-field wall. Two batters later, Austin Gwatney sent it over the right field wall to improve Sylvan Hills’ lead to 6-0.
One more run was added in the top of the second with an RBI double to deep centerfield from Ritchie Irvan that scored Ashur Toliver, who had reached just before Irvan with a single to left.
Jacksonville finally got on the scoreboard late in the second inning when Tyler Uptergrove made it in off a fielder’s choice shot to shortstop from Josh Mansfield.
The Chevy boys managed another run in the third with an RBI double from Uptergrove that scored Kyle West. The pair of runs brought them to within five points at 7-2, but the fourth inning would get as ugly as they come for Jacksonville fans.
Jacksonville went through a pitcher change and gave up five runs on three errors and two hits before capturing its first out of the inning in the top of the fourth. Two more fielding errors were committed before the end of the Bruins’ turn, allowing four more runs for SH before a strikeout on Irvan ended the painful frame for Gwatney.
Jacksonville did manage three more runs in the bottom of the fifth on a slightly fading Pavan, but the Bruins starter finally closed the deal after eight Chevy batters. Pavan walked the first two batters of the inning, before giving up a third walk four batters later to face bases loaded.
Cary Wright RBI’d to center to score the first run, followed by a shot to third from Neil Hatcher that resulted in the only Bruins’ error in the entire contest to score two more and set the final margin at 16-5.
Austin Gwatney was 2 for 2 with a home run and reached twice on errors. Irvan was 2 for 3 with two doubles. Nathan Van Schoyck was 2 for 3 with a double and Bogard was 1 for 3 with a home run.
For Jacksonville, Uptergrove was 2 for 2 with a double and West was 2 for 3 with a pair of singles. Gwatney finished with five total hits.
Seth Tombolli started at the mound for Jacksonville in the Class A game, throwing until the top of the fourth when Clayton Fenton came in to relieve him.
A solo home run for Ross Bogard in the top of the second inning was the only Bruins’ score in the game, with Gwatney scoring four in the bottom of the fourth, and adding the final two runs in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double to center from Tombolli that brought in Adrian Baker and Terrell Brown.
Jacksonville Class A will play at Maumelle today, with both A and AAA back in action at home against Benton on Thursday starting at 6 p.m. Sylvan Hills will face NLR at Burns park on Wednesday night in a Class A and Class AAA double header. The Bruins played a Class AAA game against Cabot Tuesday after Leader deadlines.
The Bruins finished with nine total hits in the game, and also took
Friday, June 02, 2006
EDITORIAL>> Let Justice do its job
Congress picked a fine time to become unhinged over the Bush administration’s trampling upon the Constitution: when government agents are getting too close for comfort to the security of politicians. Americans are right to be cynical about this overblown constitutional crisis.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker in history we were reminded this week, is also the most partisan in a somnolent sort of way. People go to sleep shaking his hand. But the speaker was an inferno after the Justice Department sent agents carrying a warrant into the offices of U. S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who is under investigation for soliciting bribes. They carried away boxes of files and hard drives from the congressman’s computers.
Joined by the other Republican leaders and the less voluble Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Hastert said the administration was eviscerating the separation-of-powers doctrine. Republicans were talking about impeaching the attorney general, who himself was supposed to be telling President Bush that he would resign if he were forced to kowtow to Hastert.
Poor George Bush must have been baffled at first at the uproar over an incident that he had expected Republicans to applaud.
After all, taking down a Democratic congressman for corruption would change the subject in Washington, where the influence-peddling and bribery scandals emanating from the Republican lobbyist kingpin, Jack Abramoff, keeps catching more and more Republicans in its sticky web. But, to scotch the revolt, Bush told the Justice Department to close Jefferson’s files for 45 days while a compromise was found.
The congressmen said the warrant and the search of Jefferson’s offices violated the Constitution, which provides that members of Congress are immune to arrest while in session or coming and going for congressional sessions and prohibits questioning them for their speech or debate. They point out that the search of Jefferson’s offices marked the first such executive incursion into a member of Congress’ office in history. That may be, but they read far more into the Constitution than it says or that anyone has any grounds to infer. Jefferson is suspected of having committed criminal acts. FBI agents videotaped him taking a $100,000 bribe to use his office to promote a business deal in Africa. Most of the money was subsequently found wrapped and stuffed in his home freezer. That is when the Justice Department got a warrant to search his office as well.
What the founders intended was to prevent the president and his agents from interfering with a representative’s or senator’s ability to represent his constituents at a congressional session, not to prevent a well-grounded search for evidence of criminal activity.
Here are the questions that Hastert and every American need to ask: Is the same protection available to any other American and, if not, why should a congressman be entitled to greater protections than every other citizen?
It isn’t, and he shouldn’t be.
Rep. Barney Frank, the liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, had it right. The Constitution, he said, “should not in any way be interpreted as meaning that we, as members of Congress, have legal protections superior to those of the average citizen.”
Justice Department sources told a television network that Hastert was under investigation himself in the expanding Abramoff probe, implying a reason for the alarm of the speaker and other Republicans over the raid of Jefferson’s offices. They want to pre-empt such incursions when the gumshoes get to them. Hastert hotly denied that he was a target or that he was acting from self-preservation.
Congress has drowsed under the imperial presidency. The president appended statements to bills that he signed reserving the right, nowhere found in the Constitution, to ignore the law if he wished. Congress shrugged. When it was discovered that the administration was intercepting telephone and computer messages of millions of Americans, in violation of acts of Congress and the Constitution, Hastert and his men thought it was not such a big deal. They are crafting legislation to give the administration at least statutory authority to do what they have been doing covertly and illegally for three years. Now they want Americans to stop this administration’s usurpation of power and prevent law enforcement officers from doing their lawful duty to investigate a crime.
President Bush can recover some standing with Americans if he tells congressional leaders that he will tell the Justice Department to do their duty.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker in history we were reminded this week, is also the most partisan in a somnolent sort of way. People go to sleep shaking his hand. But the speaker was an inferno after the Justice Department sent agents carrying a warrant into the offices of U. S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who is under investigation for soliciting bribes. They carried away boxes of files and hard drives from the congressman’s computers.
Joined by the other Republican leaders and the less voluble Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Hastert said the administration was eviscerating the separation-of-powers doctrine. Republicans were talking about impeaching the attorney general, who himself was supposed to be telling President Bush that he would resign if he were forced to kowtow to Hastert.
Poor George Bush must have been baffled at first at the uproar over an incident that he had expected Republicans to applaud.
After all, taking down a Democratic congressman for corruption would change the subject in Washington, where the influence-peddling and bribery scandals emanating from the Republican lobbyist kingpin, Jack Abramoff, keeps catching more and more Republicans in its sticky web. But, to scotch the revolt, Bush told the Justice Department to close Jefferson’s files for 45 days while a compromise was found.
The congressmen said the warrant and the search of Jefferson’s offices violated the Constitution, which provides that members of Congress are immune to arrest while in session or coming and going for congressional sessions and prohibits questioning them for their speech or debate. They point out that the search of Jefferson’s offices marked the first such executive incursion into a member of Congress’ office in history. That may be, but they read far more into the Constitution than it says or that anyone has any grounds to infer. Jefferson is suspected of having committed criminal acts. FBI agents videotaped him taking a $100,000 bribe to use his office to promote a business deal in Africa. Most of the money was subsequently found wrapped and stuffed in his home freezer. That is when the Justice Department got a warrant to search his office as well.
What the founders intended was to prevent the president and his agents from interfering with a representative’s or senator’s ability to represent his constituents at a congressional session, not to prevent a well-grounded search for evidence of criminal activity.
Here are the questions that Hastert and every American need to ask: Is the same protection available to any other American and, if not, why should a congressman be entitled to greater protections than every other citizen?
It isn’t, and he shouldn’t be.
Rep. Barney Frank, the liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, had it right. The Constitution, he said, “should not in any way be interpreted as meaning that we, as members of Congress, have legal protections superior to those of the average citizen.”
Justice Department sources told a television network that Hastert was under investigation himself in the expanding Abramoff probe, implying a reason for the alarm of the speaker and other Republicans over the raid of Jefferson’s offices. They want to pre-empt such incursions when the gumshoes get to them. Hastert hotly denied that he was a target or that he was acting from self-preservation.
Congress has drowsed under the imperial presidency. The president appended statements to bills that he signed reserving the right, nowhere found in the Constitution, to ignore the law if he wished. Congress shrugged. When it was discovered that the administration was intercepting telephone and computer messages of millions of Americans, in violation of acts of Congress and the Constitution, Hastert and his men thought it was not such a big deal. They are crafting legislation to give the administration at least statutory authority to do what they have been doing covertly and illegally for three years. Now they want Americans to stop this administration’s usurpation of power and prevent law enforcement officers from doing their lawful duty to investigate a crime.
President Bush can recover some standing with Americans if he tells congressional leaders that he will tell the Justice Department to do their duty.
TOP STORY>> Three republicans get recounts
BY JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: Two Lonoke County JPs, apparently turned out of office in an intraparty feud, say they distrust the results of a
troubled vote count and will have recounts, as will a Cabot alderman.
At the petition of three Republican candidates, one of whom lost by a single vote, the Lonoke County Election Commis-sion has scheduled recounts in their races for 10 a.m., Saturday, June 10 at the county courthouse, according to Jean McCanliss, commission chairman.
Carl Schmidt, who lost 586 to 585 to Virgil Teague Jr. in a Republican primary race for Cabot alderman Ward 2, Position 1, was the first to ask for a recount.
Two members of the Lonoke County Quorum Court, who lost to candidates fielded and supported by the conservative Republican Assembly, say their races were close enough and the election irregular enough, to ask for hand recounts of the ballots.
The cost of a recount is 25 cents per ballot.
Dist. 12 JP Gina Burton, who lost her race to newcomer Casey VanBuskirk by only six votes, 115 to 109, decided Tuesday evening to challenge the count.
Burton said that her decision to ask for a recount stemmed from the closeness of the race combined with the irregularities in counting the ballots in Lonoke County.
Ballot counting was stopped about six hours after the May 23 primary ended because of problems in the programming of the optical scanner, and despite attempted fixes by the contractor, ES&S, the ballots went uncounted until last Saturday, when the paper ballots were hand counted.
The county election commission certified those counts Thursday.
Dist. 13 JP Marty Stumbaugh decided he also would challenge his loss to newcomer Mark Edward, 151 to 125.
Both Stumbaugh and Burton say they've kept quiet long enough about ultra-conservative Cabot Republicans who worked to oust them for their occasional independence.
Stumbaugh added that he might run as an independent for Cabot mayor. Filing is still open in Cabot for office seekers.
His brother Stubby Stumbaugh is stepping down from the mayor’s office and is running for Congress against Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett.
Stumbaugh said he was disturbed that the amount of his loss so far has increased from 18 votes to 26. “How did that happen?” he asked.
He blamed Randy Minton and JP Lynn Clarke by name for contributing to his defeat, although Stumbaugh said his promotion to shift commander at the Cabot Fire Department had kept him too busy to campaign door to door.
“I want to show the (counting) inconsistencies. (The commission) refused to count by hand Tuesday night, Thursday and Friday and I'm leery."
Stumbaugh said Minton and his followers turned on him after Stumbaugh voted to let residents consider a new county tax instead of trying to take money from the cities, including Cabot, to repair and expand the jail.
“I didn’t support his reapportionment,” Stumbaugh said.
Minton, a former state representative, holds no elected office.
“With everything that went on, too many things went awry,” Burton said.
“I want to know that the vote is accurate,” she added.
Burton said that her break with the Republican Assembly, including Minton, Pete Pedersen and Constable Vince Scarlatta, among others — had become personal, exacerbated by her winning the Lonoke County Republican Party chairmanship over Larry Clarke and later Minton's loss of the chairmanship by a single vote to Chuck Graham, a more mainstream Republican.
“It's got to the point that someone's got to stand up, and I'm there,” Burton said.
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: Two Lonoke County JPs, apparently turned out of office in an intraparty feud, say they distrust the results of a
troubled vote count and will have recounts, as will a Cabot alderman.
At the petition of three Republican candidates, one of whom lost by a single vote, the Lonoke County Election Commis-sion has scheduled recounts in their races for 10 a.m., Saturday, June 10 at the county courthouse, according to Jean McCanliss, commission chairman.
Carl Schmidt, who lost 586 to 585 to Virgil Teague Jr. in a Republican primary race for Cabot alderman Ward 2, Position 1, was the first to ask for a recount.
Two members of the Lonoke County Quorum Court, who lost to candidates fielded and supported by the conservative Republican Assembly, say their races were close enough and the election irregular enough, to ask for hand recounts of the ballots.
The cost of a recount is 25 cents per ballot.
Dist. 12 JP Gina Burton, who lost her race to newcomer Casey VanBuskirk by only six votes, 115 to 109, decided Tuesday evening to challenge the count.
Burton said that her decision to ask for a recount stemmed from the closeness of the race combined with the irregularities in counting the ballots in Lonoke County.
Ballot counting was stopped about six hours after the May 23 primary ended because of problems in the programming of the optical scanner, and despite attempted fixes by the contractor, ES&S, the ballots went uncounted until last Saturday, when the paper ballots were hand counted.
The county election commission certified those counts Thursday.
Dist. 13 JP Marty Stumbaugh decided he also would challenge his loss to newcomer Mark Edward, 151 to 125.
Both Stumbaugh and Burton say they've kept quiet long enough about ultra-conservative Cabot Republicans who worked to oust them for their occasional independence.
Stumbaugh added that he might run as an independent for Cabot mayor. Filing is still open in Cabot for office seekers.
His brother Stubby Stumbaugh is stepping down from the mayor’s office and is running for Congress against Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett.
Stumbaugh said he was disturbed that the amount of his loss so far has increased from 18 votes to 26. “How did that happen?” he asked.
He blamed Randy Minton and JP Lynn Clarke by name for contributing to his defeat, although Stumbaugh said his promotion to shift commander at the Cabot Fire Department had kept him too busy to campaign door to door.
“I want to show the (counting) inconsistencies. (The commission) refused to count by hand Tuesday night, Thursday and Friday and I'm leery."
Stumbaugh said Minton and his followers turned on him after Stumbaugh voted to let residents consider a new county tax instead of trying to take money from the cities, including Cabot, to repair and expand the jail.
“I didn’t support his reapportionment,” Stumbaugh said.
Minton, a former state representative, holds no elected office.
“With everything that went on, too many things went awry,” Burton said.
“I want to know that the vote is accurate,” she added.
Burton said that her break with the Republican Assembly, including Minton, Pete Pedersen and Constable Vince Scarlatta, among others — had become personal, exacerbated by her winning the Lonoke County Republican Party chairmanship over Larry Clarke and later Minton's loss of the chairmanship by a single vote to Chuck Graham, a more mainstream Republican.
“It's got to the point that someone's got to stand up, and I'm there,” Burton said.
TOP STORY>> Paper ballots used for runoff
BY JOHN HOFHEIMER and JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writers
IN SHORT: Pulaski, Lonoke and White counties will put aside electronic voting for
June 13 contest.
Among the counties not depending on electronic touch-screen voting machines for the primary runoff election already underway are Pulaski, Lonoke and White, none of which reported heavy voting in the May 23 primary election.
In the first week of early voting for the primary runoff elections which began Tuesday, 265 people had cast ballots at the courthouse as of Thursday afternoon.
Beginning Monday, voters may cast paper ballots in the runoff at any one of the eight satellite locations as well, according to Susan Inman, director of the county election commission. Among those voting locations are the Jacksonville Community Center and the Bill Harmon Recreation Center in Sherwood.
Of the 259,494 registered voters in Pulaski County, 179,134 of them considered active voters, about 38,140 voted in the primary, according to County Clerk Pat O’Brien.
Statewide races on the Democratic runoff ballot pits state Rep. Tim Wooldridge against Bill Halter for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor and city attorney Paul Suskie and state Rep. Dustin McDaniel for the Dem-ocratic nomination for attorney general. Martha Schoffner and Mac Campbell are in a runoff for Dem-ocratic nominee for state treasurer.
In addition to the three state-wide Democratic primary runoffs, voters in parts of Sherwood, McAlmont and Jacksonville can settle the runoff for Pulaski County Justice of the Peace Dist. 10 between the incumbent Rev. Robert E. Green, Sr., and former justice John Mass.
Although all early voting sites will be active, the IvoTronic touch-screens may not be in use again (in Pulaski County) until early voting for the Nov. 7 general election, according to O’Brien.
In the Pulaski County primaries, 29,021 Democrats voted as well as 8,877 Republicans and 242 nonpartisan voters. The turnout for a primary in a non-presidential voting year was pretty average, according to O’Brien.
In the 2004 primary, 38,584 residents voted but two years later, that was closer to 53,000, O’Brien said.
“There will be a lot more voting in the general election,” he said.
About 75 early ballots had been cast in Lonoke County’s Democratic primary runoff by late afternoon Friday, according to county clerk Prudie Percefull.
While only about 7,000 of the county’s 31,798 registered voters participated in the May primary, Percefull said that’s about the state average.
In the primary, 5,186 residents voted on paper ballots and another 1,800 people voted using the touch-screen IvoTronic.
Although the first week’s early voting runoff numbers seemed low, there is only one local runoff of significance.
Alderman Wayne McGee and former Alderman Jim Parks were the top vote getters in a race that turned Lonoke Mayor Thomas Pri-vett out of office and all but ignored Roy Henderson.
But because no candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote, the runoff is necessary.
McGee, a local businessman, got 42 percent of the 1,053 votes cast for mayor and Parks got 34 percent.
About 22 percent of the county’s registered voters participated in the primary. “We’ve had better ones, but we ran about the state average,” said Percefull.
White County officials say even though the 8,332 voters in the primary make up less than one-fifth of the 43,163 registered voters in the county, the turnout was a good one for a primary.
Early voting also is going about as expected with 124 voters so far for runoff elections for the state offices of attorney general and treasurer as well as two city offices in Bald Knob.
The only problem so far, said Leslie Miller in the voter registration office, is the one shared by neighboring counties: ES&S didn’t get the software ready for the voting machines in time, so they have been forced to use paper ballots.
“We’re hoping it’s ready for the runoff,” Miller said.
Leader staff writers
IN SHORT: Pulaski, Lonoke and White counties will put aside electronic voting for
June 13 contest.
Among the counties not depending on electronic touch-screen voting machines for the primary runoff election already underway are Pulaski, Lonoke and White, none of which reported heavy voting in the May 23 primary election.
In the first week of early voting for the primary runoff elections which began Tuesday, 265 people had cast ballots at the courthouse as of Thursday afternoon.
Beginning Monday, voters may cast paper ballots in the runoff at any one of the eight satellite locations as well, according to Susan Inman, director of the county election commission. Among those voting locations are the Jacksonville Community Center and the Bill Harmon Recreation Center in Sherwood.
Of the 259,494 registered voters in Pulaski County, 179,134 of them considered active voters, about 38,140 voted in the primary, according to County Clerk Pat O’Brien.
Statewide races on the Democratic runoff ballot pits state Rep. Tim Wooldridge against Bill Halter for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor and city attorney Paul Suskie and state Rep. Dustin McDaniel for the Dem-ocratic nomination for attorney general. Martha Schoffner and Mac Campbell are in a runoff for Dem-ocratic nominee for state treasurer.
In addition to the three state-wide Democratic primary runoffs, voters in parts of Sherwood, McAlmont and Jacksonville can settle the runoff for Pulaski County Justice of the Peace Dist. 10 between the incumbent Rev. Robert E. Green, Sr., and former justice John Mass.
Although all early voting sites will be active, the IvoTronic touch-screens may not be in use again (in Pulaski County) until early voting for the Nov. 7 general election, according to O’Brien.
In the Pulaski County primaries, 29,021 Democrats voted as well as 8,877 Republicans and 242 nonpartisan voters. The turnout for a primary in a non-presidential voting year was pretty average, according to O’Brien.
In the 2004 primary, 38,584 residents voted but two years later, that was closer to 53,000, O’Brien said.
“There will be a lot more voting in the general election,” he said.
About 75 early ballots had been cast in Lonoke County’s Democratic primary runoff by late afternoon Friday, according to county clerk Prudie Percefull.
While only about 7,000 of the county’s 31,798 registered voters participated in the May primary, Percefull said that’s about the state average.
In the primary, 5,186 residents voted on paper ballots and another 1,800 people voted using the touch-screen IvoTronic.
Although the first week’s early voting runoff numbers seemed low, there is only one local runoff of significance.
Alderman Wayne McGee and former Alderman Jim Parks were the top vote getters in a race that turned Lonoke Mayor Thomas Pri-vett out of office and all but ignored Roy Henderson.
But because no candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote, the runoff is necessary.
McGee, a local businessman, got 42 percent of the 1,053 votes cast for mayor and Parks got 34 percent.
About 22 percent of the county’s registered voters participated in the primary. “We’ve had better ones, but we ran about the state average,” said Percefull.
White County officials say even though the 8,332 voters in the primary make up less than one-fifth of the 43,163 registered voters in the county, the turnout was a good one for a primary.
Early voting also is going about as expected with 124 voters so far for runoff elections for the state offices of attorney general and treasurer as well as two city offices in Bald Knob.
The only problem so far, said Leslie Miller in the voter registration office, is the one shared by neighboring counties: ES&S didn’t get the software ready for the voting machines in time, so they have been forced to use paper ballots.
“We’re hoping it’s ready for the runoff,” Miller said.
TOP STORY>> Dead soldier from Beebe comes home
BY JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: Bobby West is the second one to die from his hometown in recent combat.
A second soldier from Beebe has been killed in the war on terror in less than a year.
Army Spec. Bobby West, 23, was killed in Baghdad on Tuesday, when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated while he was on foot patrol with his unit.
West, a graduate of Beebe High School, had been in Iraq five months when he was killed. His unit was scheduled to leave Iraq this fall.
He was part of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas.
Lance Cpl. Steven Valdez, 20, was killed Sept. 26 at Camp Blessing in Aghanistan’s Pesh Valley. A machine gun operator assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Valdez was running to his post when shrapnel from a mortar round struck him in the neck.
To date, 33 Arkansans have been killed and 278 wounded in both wars.
A total of 2,749 American military personnel have died and 19,001 have been wounded, according to information put out by the Department of Defense.
At press time, West’s body had not arrived in Beebe, and no funeral arrangements had been made at Westbrook Funeral Home in Bee-be, which will receive the body.
It also is unclear whether the IED that killed West was detonated by pressure when he walked on it or was set off by a cellular phone by someone close enough to see the results.
An Army spokesman in Fort Hood said Friday that the incident is under investigation.
Family members are referring questions to the Army so they may grieve in peace, but Margie Little, West’s aunt, said it is frustrating that so many thousand American service people are in harm’s way, fighting an enemy who by Ame-rica’s standards seem cowardly in their war tactics.
West’s older brother Patrick West, 25, was just 45 miles away from Baghdad when his brother was killed, Little said, adding that he tried to call his mother, Linda West of Beebe, but a blackout because of the death prevented calls in or out.
Both Bobby and Patrick West enlisted after the terrorist attack on New York and the Pentagon.
Patrick, with the 101st Airborne, is supposed to be home in time for his brother’s funeral.
The army spokesman at Fort Hood gave this list of medals Bobby West has earned: Army Service Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and National Defense Service Medal.
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: Bobby West is the second one to die from his hometown in recent combat.
A second soldier from Beebe has been killed in the war on terror in less than a year.
Army Spec. Bobby West, 23, was killed in Baghdad on Tuesday, when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated while he was on foot patrol with his unit.
West, a graduate of Beebe High School, had been in Iraq five months when he was killed. His unit was scheduled to leave Iraq this fall.
He was part of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas.
Lance Cpl. Steven Valdez, 20, was killed Sept. 26 at Camp Blessing in Aghanistan’s Pesh Valley. A machine gun operator assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Valdez was running to his post when shrapnel from a mortar round struck him in the neck.
To date, 33 Arkansans have been killed and 278 wounded in both wars.
A total of 2,749 American military personnel have died and 19,001 have been wounded, according to information put out by the Department of Defense.
At press time, West’s body had not arrived in Beebe, and no funeral arrangements had been made at Westbrook Funeral Home in Bee-be, which will receive the body.
It also is unclear whether the IED that killed West was detonated by pressure when he walked on it or was set off by a cellular phone by someone close enough to see the results.
An Army spokesman in Fort Hood said Friday that the incident is under investigation.
Family members are referring questions to the Army so they may grieve in peace, but Margie Little, West’s aunt, said it is frustrating that so many thousand American service people are in harm’s way, fighting an enemy who by Ame-rica’s standards seem cowardly in their war tactics.
West’s older brother Patrick West, 25, was just 45 miles away from Baghdad when his brother was killed, Little said, adding that he tried to call his mother, Linda West of Beebe, but a blackout because of the death prevented calls in or out.
Both Bobby and Patrick West enlisted after the terrorist attack on New York and the Pentagon.
Patrick, with the 101st Airborne, is supposed to be home in time for his brother’s funeral.
The army spokesman at Fort Hood gave this list of medals Bobby West has earned: Army Service Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and National Defense Service Medal.
TOP STORY>> Aldermen vote against Sherwood getting land
BY PAUL PETERSON
Leader staff writer
ON SHORT: Jacksonville adopts resolution opposing property annexation to Sherwood and receives $25,000 in scholarship funds from Waste Management.
The Jacksonville City Council voted unanimously Thursday to oppose proposed annexation of unincorporated land east of Bayou Meto, which serves as a “natural boundary” between the cities of Jacksonville and Sherwood, and as far north as one mile behind Little Rock Air Force Base.
Resolution 594, opposing annexation of “certain real property” into Sherwood, maintains Jacksonville’s planning jurisdiction over the proposed boundaries, including master plans by water and wastewater utilities to extend obligatory services within them.
The resolution cites unnamed land-owners who have filed petitions at the Pulaski County Courthouse and deems their proposed annexation as “neither productive nor beneficial.” Sherwood has not sought to annex the land.
Citing a 20-year study by Jacksonville water and wastewater officials, council members agreed that the city could provide water and sewer service to the tracts of land with the water plant currently in operation, and that Sherwood would face difficulty providing water and sewer services because of a large land ridge within and outside proposed annexation boundaries.
Jacksonville and Sherwood city engineers were not available for comment as of press time Friday regarding landowner identity, proposed square mileage or what determining factors are influencing landowners’ preference to incorporate into Sherwood instead of Jacksonville.
The matter, however, will ultimately be decided Tuesday, June 20, before a judge in Pulaski County Quorum Court chambers at a hearing scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim, City Clerk Susan Davitt and other city representatives will be called upon at the hearing to voice the city’s opposition to the potential annexation.
In other business, George Wheatley presented a check to Alderman Robert Stroud awarding the city scholarship funds totaling $25,000 for the eighth consecutive year on behalf of Waste Management.
“As long as I’m with Waste Management, you can count on that $25,000 every year,” Wheatley said.
Absent at roll call were Gary Fletcher and Robert Lewis.
A Reed’s Bridge Battlefield study presentation on the agenda was canceled because of equipment unavailability and will be rescheduled for a future council meeting.
Swaim encouraged those in attendance to view an AETN program scheduled Sunday evening on PBS that will feature a history of the Jacksonville Ordnance Plant.
Following the opening prayer, father-son trio Raymond, Neal and Danny Graham, of Boy Scouts of America Troop 355, led attendees in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Leader staff writer
ON SHORT: Jacksonville adopts resolution opposing property annexation to Sherwood and receives $25,000 in scholarship funds from Waste Management.
The Jacksonville City Council voted unanimously Thursday to oppose proposed annexation of unincorporated land east of Bayou Meto, which serves as a “natural boundary” between the cities of Jacksonville and Sherwood, and as far north as one mile behind Little Rock Air Force Base.
Resolution 594, opposing annexation of “certain real property” into Sherwood, maintains Jacksonville’s planning jurisdiction over the proposed boundaries, including master plans by water and wastewater utilities to extend obligatory services within them.
The resolution cites unnamed land-owners who have filed petitions at the Pulaski County Courthouse and deems their proposed annexation as “neither productive nor beneficial.” Sherwood has not sought to annex the land.
Citing a 20-year study by Jacksonville water and wastewater officials, council members agreed that the city could provide water and sewer service to the tracts of land with the water plant currently in operation, and that Sherwood would face difficulty providing water and sewer services because of a large land ridge within and outside proposed annexation boundaries.
Jacksonville and Sherwood city engineers were not available for comment as of press time Friday regarding landowner identity, proposed square mileage or what determining factors are influencing landowners’ preference to incorporate into Sherwood instead of Jacksonville.
The matter, however, will ultimately be decided Tuesday, June 20, before a judge in Pulaski County Quorum Court chambers at a hearing scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Swaim, City Clerk Susan Davitt and other city representatives will be called upon at the hearing to voice the city’s opposition to the potential annexation.
In other business, George Wheatley presented a check to Alderman Robert Stroud awarding the city scholarship funds totaling $25,000 for the eighth consecutive year on behalf of Waste Management.
“As long as I’m with Waste Management, you can count on that $25,000 every year,” Wheatley said.
Absent at roll call were Gary Fletcher and Robert Lewis.
A Reed’s Bridge Battlefield study presentation on the agenda was canceled because of equipment unavailability and will be rescheduled for a future council meeting.
Swaim encouraged those in attendance to view an AETN program scheduled Sunday evening on PBS that will feature a history of the Jacksonville Ordnance Plant.
Following the opening prayer, father-son trio Raymond, Neal and Danny Graham, of Boy Scouts of America Troop 355, led attendees in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
TOP STORY>> Library site cleanup
BY SARA GREENE
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: Couple may have to spend $25,000 to remove gasoline tanks before construction can begin on Main Street in Jacksonville.
It may end up costing Paul and Dee Shaeffer as much as $25,000 to clean up the site of their Texaco station on Main Street in Jacksonville before turning over the property they had sold to the city for construction of a new library.
This week, workers began digging up and removing the underground gasoline storage tanks at the Texaco station to prepare the site for an environmental inspection.
“As part of the land deal, the sellers agreed to remove the tanks and get the site inspected by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality,” Jack-sonville Mayor Tommy Swaim told The Leader.
Doug Szenher, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, said each gas station cleanup inspections include water and soil and water testing of the property.
”We test the ground below where the tanks were to see if any significant amounts of contamination is in the soil or ground water,” Szenher said. Bobby Roberts, director of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), says building on the site of the gas station shouldn’t pose any health risks for library employees or patrons.
“The ground will be tested, and assuming it meets all the test requirements, it should be fine,” Roberts said. The Shaeffers agreed to sell the last full-service gas station in Jacksonville two weeks ago as part of a land deal for the new city library.
The city also has agreed to buy the adjacent building from Mrs. Mike Abdin which housed Dis-count Tobacco and Fish Net Mis-sions thrift store on the west. The two lots, totaling slightly more than an acre, will cost the city $380,300. The city is negotiating the purchase additional property, including a building and lot owned by the Dougherty family on the east side of the block.
In July 2004, Jacksonville residents approved a one-mill property tax increase to pay off $2.5 million in bonds to build the new library building.
The new library building will be approximately 13,500 square feet. The building and property will be owned by the city while CALS provides the employees and materials.
Once the land is cleared of existing structures, CALS will host several public meetings before designing the building.
“We’ll have several meetings in Jacksonville to see what the residents would like the library to look like and what materials they want inside,” Roberts said.
Jacksonville’s existing library at 308 W. Main was named the Esther D. Nixon Library in 1992 to honor of Jacksonville’s first librarian.
The 9,265-square-foot Nixon library was built in 1969, making it one of the oldest and smallest buildings in CALS. The average CALS building is 5 years old and has about 14,000 square feet.
In 2004, the Nixon library was closed for a month while a leak in the roof was repaired.
About 200 books and several computers were damaged from the leak.
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: Couple may have to spend $25,000 to remove gasoline tanks before construction can begin on Main Street in Jacksonville.
It may end up costing Paul and Dee Shaeffer as much as $25,000 to clean up the site of their Texaco station on Main Street in Jacksonville before turning over the property they had sold to the city for construction of a new library.
This week, workers began digging up and removing the underground gasoline storage tanks at the Texaco station to prepare the site for an environmental inspection.
“As part of the land deal, the sellers agreed to remove the tanks and get the site inspected by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality,” Jack-sonville Mayor Tommy Swaim told The Leader.
Doug Szenher, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, said each gas station cleanup inspections include water and soil and water testing of the property.
”We test the ground below where the tanks were to see if any significant amounts of contamination is in the soil or ground water,” Szenher said. Bobby Roberts, director of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), says building on the site of the gas station shouldn’t pose any health risks for library employees or patrons.
“The ground will be tested, and assuming it meets all the test requirements, it should be fine,” Roberts said. The Shaeffers agreed to sell the last full-service gas station in Jacksonville two weeks ago as part of a land deal for the new city library.
The city also has agreed to buy the adjacent building from Mrs. Mike Abdin which housed Dis-count Tobacco and Fish Net Mis-sions thrift store on the west. The two lots, totaling slightly more than an acre, will cost the city $380,300. The city is negotiating the purchase additional property, including a building and lot owned by the Dougherty family on the east side of the block.
In July 2004, Jacksonville residents approved a one-mill property tax increase to pay off $2.5 million in bonds to build the new library building.
The new library building will be approximately 13,500 square feet. The building and property will be owned by the city while CALS provides the employees and materials.
Once the land is cleared of existing structures, CALS will host several public meetings before designing the building.
“We’ll have several meetings in Jacksonville to see what the residents would like the library to look like and what materials they want inside,” Roberts said.
Jacksonville’s existing library at 308 W. Main was named the Esther D. Nixon Library in 1992 to honor of Jacksonville’s first librarian.
The 9,265-square-foot Nixon library was built in 1969, making it one of the oldest and smallest buildings in CALS. The average CALS building is 5 years old and has about 14,000 square feet.
In 2004, the Nixon library was closed for a month while a leak in the roof was repaired.
About 200 books and several computers were damaged from the leak.
TOP STORY>> Several races shaping up in Sherwood for November
BY JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: With Bill Harmon
retiring, voters will decide on whether Dan Stedman or Mike Presson should be the new mayor. There are also races on for
aldermen and clerk-treasurer. The city will also begin its transition from two-year terms to four-year terms for aldermen this election.
Come January, someone other than Bill Harmon will be Sherwood mayor for the first time in over a decade, with Alderman Dan Stedman and restaurateur Mike Presson competing for the honor.
Because Sherwood city elections, like those in Jacksonville, are non-partisan, there were no primaries. Sherwood electors will choose their city officials during the Nov. 7 general elections.
Presson, 53, owns and operates Press 1s Pizza, 8403 Hwy. 107. A Sherwood resident since 1960, the Sylvan Hills High School graduate says he’s been in and around politics for past 20 years, but this is his first run for office.
Presson’s serving his third term on the Sherwood Parks and Recreation Commission and has been involved as an officer in the PTA and area baseball, associations he believes gives him a good base of support. He says he would
continue the path Harmon has blazed.
Stedman, 57, served as a lieutenant colonel in Arkansas Air Force and Air National Guard for 28 years.
He teaches introduction to management and state and local government at ASU-Beebe. A small business owner, Stedman has served on the Sherwood City Council since appointed in April 2002. He was elected to a full term in 2004. He has been president of the Chamber of Commerce, the Sherwood Rotary and the Sherwood Civil Service Commission.
“The hallmark of citizenship is public service,” Stedman says. “I’d like to see the city continue to grow in a progressive way.”
Sherwood begins its transition from two-year terms to four-year terms for aldermen this election. The Position 1 Position 2 seats will be for two years.
Beginning in 2008, all terms will be for four years, meaning that half the seats will be up for grabs each two years after that.
CLERK/TREASURER
City Clerk Virginia R. Hillman faces a challenge from Sharon McMinn.
Hillman, 42, is seeking her second full term. She has worked for the city nearly half her life, in the city clerk’s office, accounts payable, vehicle insurance and planning and engineering.
She holds double master’s de-grees from Webster University in public administration and human resource development and is an adjunct professor for the University of Phoenix.
McMinn, 55, has a voice and music school, where she coaches pageant contestants. She has worked as a paralegal and for the city of Sherwood since 1980. She said she has all the qualifications for the job.
McMinn also founded the Epi-lepsy Education Association for the state.
Sherwood city attorney Steve Cobb is running unopposed for reelection.
Robert J. Walla, an officer for a large municipal fire department, is challenging incumbent Becki Vassar for the Ward 1, Position 1 alderman seat.
Vassar, 62, a former teacher, runs a truck-leasing business with her husband Larry. She’s been on the council more than 20 years, “and I enjoy every minute of it,” she says. She considers herself an advocate for senior citizens and is proud of the senior citizens center she helped create in Sherwood.
Walla, 46, says he’s been involved in public service all his “grown-up life.”
“We need some new ideas in Sherwood,” he said. “We need to get that North Belt Loop through Sherwood built. Sherwood’s been a stumbling block.” Walla also would like to see a widespread recycling program in town.
HARMON VS. CHASTINE
Charlie Harmon and Greg Chastine will face off for the Ward 1 Position 1 seat being vacated by Stedman, the mayoral candidate.
Harmon is the son of the current mayor, and Chastine cut his teeth as an organizer of the grassroots movement that stopped the North Belt Freeway from plowing through several subdivisions.
Harmon, 43, is a real-estate attorney for Dillard’s Inc. “I’ve lived in Sherwood over 40 years, my hometown.”
He said he was raising his children in Sherwood and thus has a vested interest in continued, controlled growth of the city. This is his first run for elected office. He served as a Sylvan Hills Fire Department commissioner. “I’m coming into office with no preset agenda,” he said.
Chastine, 44, owns GFW Computer Services, a company that repairs computers, sets up and services networks and does Webpage design and development. He lost his first race for alderman two years ago. He is vice president of the Arkansas Better Business Bureau. Trained by IBM and NCR, Chastine is pursuing a degree in business at Pulaski Tech. He’s lived 18 years in central Arkansas, the last 12 of them in Sherwood.
Running unopposed for reelection are aldermen Butch Davis, David Henry, Sheila Sulcer, Mart-ina Brooks, Keith Rankin and Steve K. Fender.
Leader staff writer
IN SHORT: With Bill Harmon
retiring, voters will decide on whether Dan Stedman or Mike Presson should be the new mayor. There are also races on for
aldermen and clerk-treasurer. The city will also begin its transition from two-year terms to four-year terms for aldermen this election.
Come January, someone other than Bill Harmon will be Sherwood mayor for the first time in over a decade, with Alderman Dan Stedman and restaurateur Mike Presson competing for the honor.
Because Sherwood city elections, like those in Jacksonville, are non-partisan, there were no primaries. Sherwood electors will choose their city officials during the Nov. 7 general elections.
Presson, 53, owns and operates Press 1s Pizza, 8403 Hwy. 107. A Sherwood resident since 1960, the Sylvan Hills High School graduate says he’s been in and around politics for past 20 years, but this is his first run for office.
Presson’s serving his third term on the Sherwood Parks and Recreation Commission and has been involved as an officer in the PTA and area baseball, associations he believes gives him a good base of support. He says he would
continue the path Harmon has blazed.
Stedman, 57, served as a lieutenant colonel in Arkansas Air Force and Air National Guard for 28 years.
He teaches introduction to management and state and local government at ASU-Beebe. A small business owner, Stedman has served on the Sherwood City Council since appointed in April 2002. He was elected to a full term in 2004. He has been president of the Chamber of Commerce, the Sherwood Rotary and the Sherwood Civil Service Commission.
“The hallmark of citizenship is public service,” Stedman says. “I’d like to see the city continue to grow in a progressive way.”
Sherwood begins its transition from two-year terms to four-year terms for aldermen this election. The Position 1 Position 2 seats will be for two years.
Beginning in 2008, all terms will be for four years, meaning that half the seats will be up for grabs each two years after that.
CLERK/TREASURER
City Clerk Virginia R. Hillman faces a challenge from Sharon McMinn.
Hillman, 42, is seeking her second full term. She has worked for the city nearly half her life, in the city clerk’s office, accounts payable, vehicle insurance and planning and engineering.
She holds double master’s de-grees from Webster University in public administration and human resource development and is an adjunct professor for the University of Phoenix.
McMinn, 55, has a voice and music school, where she coaches pageant contestants. She has worked as a paralegal and for the city of Sherwood since 1980. She said she has all the qualifications for the job.
McMinn also founded the Epi-lepsy Education Association for the state.
Sherwood city attorney Steve Cobb is running unopposed for reelection.
Robert J. Walla, an officer for a large municipal fire department, is challenging incumbent Becki Vassar for the Ward 1, Position 1 alderman seat.
Vassar, 62, a former teacher, runs a truck-leasing business with her husband Larry. She’s been on the council more than 20 years, “and I enjoy every minute of it,” she says. She considers herself an advocate for senior citizens and is proud of the senior citizens center she helped create in Sherwood.
Walla, 46, says he’s been involved in public service all his “grown-up life.”
“We need some new ideas in Sherwood,” he said. “We need to get that North Belt Loop through Sherwood built. Sherwood’s been a stumbling block.” Walla also would like to see a widespread recycling program in town.
HARMON VS. CHASTINE
Charlie Harmon and Greg Chastine will face off for the Ward 1 Position 1 seat being vacated by Stedman, the mayoral candidate.
Harmon is the son of the current mayor, and Chastine cut his teeth as an organizer of the grassroots movement that stopped the North Belt Freeway from plowing through several subdivisions.
Harmon, 43, is a real-estate attorney for Dillard’s Inc. “I’ve lived in Sherwood over 40 years, my hometown.”
He said he was raising his children in Sherwood and thus has a vested interest in continued, controlled growth of the city. This is his first run for elected office. He served as a Sylvan Hills Fire Department commissioner. “I’m coming into office with no preset agenda,” he said.
Chastine, 44, owns GFW Computer Services, a company that repairs computers, sets up and services networks and does Webpage design and development. He lost his first race for alderman two years ago. He is vice president of the Arkansas Better Business Bureau. Trained by IBM and NCR, Chastine is pursuing a degree in business at Pulaski Tech. He’s lived 18 years in central Arkansas, the last 12 of them in Sherwood.
Running unopposed for reelection are aldermen Butch Davis, David Henry, Sheila Sulcer, Mart-ina Brooks, Keith Rankin and Steve K. Fender.
OBITUARIES
Gary Boyles
Gary L. Boyles, 55, of Lonoke, went to be with the Lord Thursday, June 1 after a long battle with cancer. He was born March 23, 1951 in Little Rock.
Gary was a dedicated employee of Remington Arms, Inc., in Lo-noke where he worked for 34 years making his way up to shift supervisor. He was a proud graduate of Lonoke High School and a dedicated Jackrabbit.
He played on the 1969 state champion teams in baseball and basketball and was captain of the undefeated Jackrabbit football team. Gary also ran track, played in the band and was president of his class. Gary would say, “The way of a leader is long and hard.”
Gary attended Arkansas Tech where he played football before starting his career at Remington Arms Inc. Gary was a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 51 in Lonoke and Lonoke First United Methodist Church.
He was an avid outdoorsman and loved to have time with his friends.
Most of all Gary was a devoted husband, a loving father and proud son. Gary was a team player and was loved by all.
He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Jimmie Cheek Boyles; his daughter, Tammy Rowe of Sher-wood; one son Matt Boyles and daughter-in-law Janette, and a grandson to be of Lonoke; his parents, Pete W. and Regina Boyles of Lonoke; brothers, Harrell (Renee) Boyles of Bryant and Brad (Debbie) Boyles of Arlington, Texas; sisters, Tanya (Ted) Hensley and Tina Boyles of Lonoke and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral Services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Lonoke First United Methodist Church with ar-rangements by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
Burial will follow at Concord Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Lonoke First United Methodist Church.
Helen Garner
Helen Louise Garner, 63, died May 31.
She is survived by her husband Ricky Lee Garner; children, De-wayne Haynes of Illinois and Tina Warsa of Arizona; four grandchildren; one brother, Daniel Mixon of Illinois; and a sister, Marie Wilson of Pocahontas and many other relatives.
Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Highland Cemetery, Highland with arrangements by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
Jack Bookout
Jack Bookout, 66, of Beebe, died Wednesday, May 31 after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer.
He was born Nov. 21, 1939, in Lawrence County, to Van and Ruby Dobbs Bookout.
He was an engineer for Union Pacific Railroad for 42 years and a member of Midway Assembly of God Church at Walnut Ridge.
Jack is survived by his wife, Jean Bookout; two daughters, Kimberlie Harris and husband Benjy of Newport and Shannon Owen and husband Jeff of Harri-son; four grandchildren, Tyler Harris, Logan Owen, Tara Harris and Emily Owen.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Meadow-brook Memorial Gardens, Beebe.
Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, Arkan-sas Division, Inc., 901 N. University, Little Rock, Ark., 72207.
Robert Rogers
Robert Rogers, 72, of North Little Rock passed away on Wed-nesday, May 31 in North Little Rock.
He was born August 16, 1933 in Hughes, a son of the late Charles and Tula Hendrix Rogers. He is also preceded in death by his first and second wives, a son and four brothers.
He will be remembered as an outdoors man who loved to fish.
Survivors include his son, Steven Rogers and wife Duwanna of Jacksonville; two daughters, Brenda Nalley of Whitehouse, Texas, and Glenda Wayson of Little Rock; a sister, Linda Turnage and husband, Clint of North Little Rock; a brother, Leon Rogers and wife Faye of Malvern; seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and many nieces, nephews, friends and other family.
A graveside memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Monday at Chapel Hill Memorial Park in Jacksonville with Rev. John Lindsey officiating.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
Gary L. Boyles, 55, of Lonoke, went to be with the Lord Thursday, June 1 after a long battle with cancer. He was born March 23, 1951 in Little Rock.
Gary was a dedicated employee of Remington Arms, Inc., in Lo-noke where he worked for 34 years making his way up to shift supervisor. He was a proud graduate of Lonoke High School and a dedicated Jackrabbit.
He played on the 1969 state champion teams in baseball and basketball and was captain of the undefeated Jackrabbit football team. Gary also ran track, played in the band and was president of his class. Gary would say, “The way of a leader is long and hard.”
Gary attended Arkansas Tech where he played football before starting his career at Remington Arms Inc. Gary was a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 51 in Lonoke and Lonoke First United Methodist Church.
He was an avid outdoorsman and loved to have time with his friends.
Most of all Gary was a devoted husband, a loving father and proud son. Gary was a team player and was loved by all.
He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Jimmie Cheek Boyles; his daughter, Tammy Rowe of Sher-wood; one son Matt Boyles and daughter-in-law Janette, and a grandson to be of Lonoke; his parents, Pete W. and Regina Boyles of Lonoke; brothers, Harrell (Renee) Boyles of Bryant and Brad (Debbie) Boyles of Arlington, Texas; sisters, Tanya (Ted) Hensley and Tina Boyles of Lonoke and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral Services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Lonoke First United Methodist Church with ar-rangements by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
Burial will follow at Concord Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Lonoke First United Methodist Church.
Helen Garner
Helen Louise Garner, 63, died May 31.
She is survived by her husband Ricky Lee Garner; children, De-wayne Haynes of Illinois and Tina Warsa of Arizona; four grandchildren; one brother, Daniel Mixon of Illinois; and a sister, Marie Wilson of Pocahontas and many other relatives.
Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Highland Cemetery, Highland with arrangements by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
Jack Bookout
Jack Bookout, 66, of Beebe, died Wednesday, May 31 after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer.
He was born Nov. 21, 1939, in Lawrence County, to Van and Ruby Dobbs Bookout.
He was an engineer for Union Pacific Railroad for 42 years and a member of Midway Assembly of God Church at Walnut Ridge.
Jack is survived by his wife, Jean Bookout; two daughters, Kimberlie Harris and husband Benjy of Newport and Shannon Owen and husband Jeff of Harri-son; four grandchildren, Tyler Harris, Logan Owen, Tara Harris and Emily Owen.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Meadow-brook Memorial Gardens, Beebe.
Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, Arkan-sas Division, Inc., 901 N. University, Little Rock, Ark., 72207.
Robert Rogers
Robert Rogers, 72, of North Little Rock passed away on Wed-nesday, May 31 in North Little Rock.
He was born August 16, 1933 in Hughes, a son of the late Charles and Tula Hendrix Rogers. He is also preceded in death by his first and second wives, a son and four brothers.
He will be remembered as an outdoors man who loved to fish.
Survivors include his son, Steven Rogers and wife Duwanna of Jacksonville; two daughters, Brenda Nalley of Whitehouse, Texas, and Glenda Wayson of Little Rock; a sister, Linda Turnage and husband, Clint of North Little Rock; a brother, Leon Rogers and wife Faye of Malvern; seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and many nieces, nephews, friends and other family.
A graveside memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Monday at Chapel Hill Memorial Park in Jacksonville with Rev. John Lindsey officiating.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Moore’s Jacksonville Funeral Home.
SPORTS>> Cabot splits with Catholic’s LR-ASO
BY JASON KING
Leader sports writer
IN SHORT: The Cabot American Legion team won one and lost one to the Catholic High legion team Wednesday night.
The Cabot AA Home Depot American Legion team won only one out of four games through the first part of the week. A visit to Stuttgart on Saturday saw Home Depot drop both ends of a doubleheader 7-2 and 10-1.
Cabot hosted Little Rock Catholic on Tuesday, splitting a twin bill with the Rockets. Home Depot took game one 4-2, but Catholic rallied back in the nightcap to take the win 3-1 in a two-hitter for the Rockets.
After two innings of the opener, the game was tied at 1-1. Cabot added two runs in the bottom of the third inning, while holding Catholic to only one run in the third.
It would be the only other run for the Rockets in the contest, as pitcher Justin Haas took the win, allowing six hits and giving up one earned run through six innings while striking out three batters. Colin Fuller relieved Haas for the final inning, securing the win for Cabot. Home Depot added one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning to set the final margin.
Sam Bates took to the plate only once for Cabot in game one, but was very effective, driving in two runs. Justin Free was 2 for 2 with an RBI, and Logan Lucas was 1 for 3 with an RBI. Cabot finished the game with five total hits.
Game two would not go quite as smoothly for Cabot. The Home Depot boys only managed two hits in the entire game.
The only run for Cabot came in the top of the fourth inning, when Fuller drove in Haas with an RBI for the score on a Catholic fielding error.
Wade and Drew Burks were the only Cabot batters to walk away with hits in the game. Catholic broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth with two runs to take the win.
The AA Home Depot team earned a record of 1-5 through the opening week of play after Wednesday losses to Conway.
Next up for Cabot will be the 7-Up Classic in Paragould. Home Depot played Benton last night after Leader deadlines in the opening round of the tourney.
After the weekend tourney at Paragould, the Home Depot team will return to weekly action starting Tuesday at Sylvan Hills. Cabot will then host Hot Springs on Thursday.
Leader sports writer
IN SHORT: The Cabot American Legion team won one and lost one to the Catholic High legion team Wednesday night.
The Cabot AA Home Depot American Legion team won only one out of four games through the first part of the week. A visit to Stuttgart on Saturday saw Home Depot drop both ends of a doubleheader 7-2 and 10-1.
Cabot hosted Little Rock Catholic on Tuesday, splitting a twin bill with the Rockets. Home Depot took game one 4-2, but Catholic rallied back in the nightcap to take the win 3-1 in a two-hitter for the Rockets.
After two innings of the opener, the game was tied at 1-1. Cabot added two runs in the bottom of the third inning, while holding Catholic to only one run in the third.
It would be the only other run for the Rockets in the contest, as pitcher Justin Haas took the win, allowing six hits and giving up one earned run through six innings while striking out three batters. Colin Fuller relieved Haas for the final inning, securing the win for Cabot. Home Depot added one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning to set the final margin.
Sam Bates took to the plate only once for Cabot in game one, but was very effective, driving in two runs. Justin Free was 2 for 2 with an RBI, and Logan Lucas was 1 for 3 with an RBI. Cabot finished the game with five total hits.
Game two would not go quite as smoothly for Cabot. The Home Depot boys only managed two hits in the entire game.
The only run for Cabot came in the top of the fourth inning, when Fuller drove in Haas with an RBI for the score on a Catholic fielding error.
Wade and Drew Burks were the only Cabot batters to walk away with hits in the game. Catholic broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth with two runs to take the win.
The AA Home Depot team earned a record of 1-5 through the opening week of play after Wednesday losses to Conway.
Next up for Cabot will be the 7-Up Classic in Paragould. Home Depot played Benton last night after Leader deadlines in the opening round of the tourney.
After the weekend tourney at Paragould, the Home Depot team will return to weekly action starting Tuesday at Sylvan Hills. Cabot will then host Hot Springs on Thursday.
SPORTS>> Determined baller achieves dream
BY RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
IN SHORT: Jacksonville High graduate Airic Hughes turned down academic scholarships from major universities to realize his dream of playing college basketball. Hughes will play for Ecclesia.
Things have been working out for Jacksonville’s Airic Hughes lately. He finally broke into the starting lineup for the Red Devil basketball team this year. He helped them to a third-place conference finish and helped them get back into the state playoffs. He just graduated eighth in his class, and most recently, he was offered a scholarship to play college basketball.
He accepted that offer and Friday signed with Ecclesia College in Springdale. The 5-foot-8 sharpshooter was the fourth player to sign with the first-year program that will compete in the Nationall Christian College Athletic Association.
He joins Calvin Woods of CAC, his cousin Keith Richardson Jr. of LR Central, and Malcom Jones of Muskogee, Okla.
Hughes had already been accepted into several universities based on his academic acumen, but he has always wanted to play basketball at the next level. After two years of toiling on the junior-varsity squad, his work ethic and determination ultimately culminated in the honor grad achieving his dream.
“I knew if I got an offer from a smaller school I was going to take it,” Hughes said of his decision to play for Ecclesia rather than attend one of the larger, more acclaimed institutions that accepted him. “I didn’t know if it was going to happen, but when things started working out that way, I knew it was what I wanted to do.”
Hughes has receieved some interest from other colleges for basketball, but has yet to receive any other official offers. He waited a few weeks to commit to Ecclesia, just to see if any other offers would come.
“There are some schools that are saying they’re interested in me, but coach (John) Parker made the offer, and I didn’t want to make him wait too long,” Hughes said.
Several factors went into Parker’s decision to sign the small guard. It all started with a tape of Jacksonville’s season-opening win over North Little Rock. It was Hughes’ first start of his career, and he led the team with 18 points, including four three pointers.
“I liked his shot when I saw that tape,” Parker said. “He doesn’t hold it too long and he shoots it well.”
Parker called Hughes the next day and told him he was very interested, and asked him to visit and work out. The workout was the clincher.
“I had him do some things that he wasn’t used to, things that challenged him quite a bit,” Parker said. “What I saw was that determination and attitude of never giving up that coach (Jerry) Wilson told me about. He just wasn’t going to let it beat him. He stayed with it until he got it. I had been told how determined he was and how hard he worked, but it made a big difference to see it for myself. He’s an impressive young man that obviously puts everything into whatever he takes on. We can use players like that.”
Sheer grit wasn’t the only thing that impressed Parker. Hughes played basketball pretty well during the workout as well.
“He also shot it very well while he was here too, so that just affirmed what I saw in the tape. It proved to me that it wasn’t just a one-game hot streak or anything like that. He’s able to do that consistently. ”
Ecclesia won’t just offer its players a chance to play basketball, they will also have the opportunity to go on missions. Parker says interested students could go to China next year, and could even be involved in helping out with Olympic preparation if Bejing is awarded the next games.
“Those are opportunities that not a lot of schools can give players,” Parker said. “The Olympic thing may or may not happen, but there will be opportunities to go lots of different places and do great mission work.”
Hughes already has plans to spend this summer in an unfamiliar environment. He will be working construction in Florida with friend and teammate Will Christian, but plans to keep working on his basketball skills and staying in shape. He’s already improved his strength dramatically since his senior season ended, adding nearly 60 pounds to his bench press.
“I report up there in August or September,” Hughes said. “I’m looking forward to it; I plan to be ready.”
Leader sports editor
IN SHORT: Jacksonville High graduate Airic Hughes turned down academic scholarships from major universities to realize his dream of playing college basketball. Hughes will play for Ecclesia.
Things have been working out for Jacksonville’s Airic Hughes lately. He finally broke into the starting lineup for the Red Devil basketball team this year. He helped them to a third-place conference finish and helped them get back into the state playoffs. He just graduated eighth in his class, and most recently, he was offered a scholarship to play college basketball.
He accepted that offer and Friday signed with Ecclesia College in Springdale. The 5-foot-8 sharpshooter was the fourth player to sign with the first-year program that will compete in the Nationall Christian College Athletic Association.
He joins Calvin Woods of CAC, his cousin Keith Richardson Jr. of LR Central, and Malcom Jones of Muskogee, Okla.
Hughes had already been accepted into several universities based on his academic acumen, but he has always wanted to play basketball at the next level. After two years of toiling on the junior-varsity squad, his work ethic and determination ultimately culminated in the honor grad achieving his dream.
“I knew if I got an offer from a smaller school I was going to take it,” Hughes said of his decision to play for Ecclesia rather than attend one of the larger, more acclaimed institutions that accepted him. “I didn’t know if it was going to happen, but when things started working out that way, I knew it was what I wanted to do.”
Hughes has receieved some interest from other colleges for basketball, but has yet to receive any other official offers. He waited a few weeks to commit to Ecclesia, just to see if any other offers would come.
“There are some schools that are saying they’re interested in me, but coach (John) Parker made the offer, and I didn’t want to make him wait too long,” Hughes said.
Several factors went into Parker’s decision to sign the small guard. It all started with a tape of Jacksonville’s season-opening win over North Little Rock. It was Hughes’ first start of his career, and he led the team with 18 points, including four three pointers.
“I liked his shot when I saw that tape,” Parker said. “He doesn’t hold it too long and he shoots it well.”
Parker called Hughes the next day and told him he was very interested, and asked him to visit and work out. The workout was the clincher.
“I had him do some things that he wasn’t used to, things that challenged him quite a bit,” Parker said. “What I saw was that determination and attitude of never giving up that coach (Jerry) Wilson told me about. He just wasn’t going to let it beat him. He stayed with it until he got it. I had been told how determined he was and how hard he worked, but it made a big difference to see it for myself. He’s an impressive young man that obviously puts everything into whatever he takes on. We can use players like that.”
Sheer grit wasn’t the only thing that impressed Parker. Hughes played basketball pretty well during the workout as well.
“He also shot it very well while he was here too, so that just affirmed what I saw in the tape. It proved to me that it wasn’t just a one-game hot streak or anything like that. He’s able to do that consistently. ”
Ecclesia won’t just offer its players a chance to play basketball, they will also have the opportunity to go on missions. Parker says interested students could go to China next year, and could even be involved in helping out with Olympic preparation if Bejing is awarded the next games.
“Those are opportunities that not a lot of schools can give players,” Parker said. “The Olympic thing may or may not happen, but there will be opportunities to go lots of different places and do great mission work.”
Hughes already has plans to spend this summer in an unfamiliar environment. He will be working construction in Florida with friend and teammate Will Christian, but plans to keep working on his basketball skills and staying in shape. He’s already improved his strength dramatically since his senior season ended, adding nearly 60 pounds to his bench press.
“I report up there in August or September,” Hughes said. “I’m looking forward to it; I plan to be ready.”
SPORTS >> Youngster making presence known
BY JASON KING
Leader sports writer
IN SHORT: In only his first full year of driving hobby stocks, 16-year-old McRae resident Blake Jones already has a feature win under his belt. The young driver races his F3 hobby-stock car weekly at Beebe Speedway.
In a short period of time, 16-year-old Blake Jones of McRae has made a name for himself on the local racing circuit. In his first full season in the hobby-stock class, Jones has already racked up a feature win, along with several top-five finishes.
Many youngsters in his situation would be on cloud nine, but Jones is an unusually free spirit for his age.
“I don’t get excited about too much of anything,” Jones says in a demeanor sounding twice his actual age. “I just try to take things as they come.”
As a member of one of local racing’s most successful families, Jones has been going to Beebe Speedway since his grade-school days. He got the call to race the F3 hobby car late last season from car owner and uncle Steve Fox, when his cousin Eric Denappoli could no longer drive the car due to work obligations.
“I said, ‘Yeah, I want to drive’,” Jones said. “We knew we would have to talk my mom into it first. It took a little time for her to make up her mind, but we finally talked her into it.”
Since that time, Jones’ mother Jackie has become his biggest fan. She can be seen in the pits at Beebe on any given weekend cheering her son on during the heats and hobby features.
Jones credits a lot of his early success to teammates Randy Weaver and Jason Young, the drivers of the F1 modified and F1 e-mod for the Fox team. Both drivers have track championships under their belts, and have given advice whenever needed.
“I’ve learned quite a bit about motors from them,” Jones said. “I always go to Randy and Jason before the races to ask them about setups and stagger and things like that. They have definitely helped me out a bunch.”
A lot of younger drivers have visions of becoming the next big NASCAR superstar, but not Jones. His future plans include attending college, and pursuing a degree in accounting.
“I just want to be one of those week-to-week racers,” Jones said. “I eventually would like to end up in the modified class. They are quite a bit faster, and they are not too expensive.
“With late models, you pretty much have to travel with a tour to make all the races. With a modified, you can race them every week at Beebe or I-30, or wherever.”
When asked about his first feature win earlier this year in which he outlasted notable veterans such as Eddie Hoyer and Tracy Clemons, Jones was his usual unexcitable self.
“I probably didn’t deserve to win that race,” Jones said. “I was happy that I won, but I realize there were guys out there who are a lot faster than me. I just don’t think I’m that good.”
For someone who lacks confidence in his own ability, Jones showed promise his first time out in a racecar. During a ‘B’ main transfer race late last season, Jones was leading during his first weekend behind the wheel with three laps to go when a rear-end failure took him out of contention.
Jones is the first to admit he still has some learning to do. Although he has come a long way in a short time, Jones says he still needs to develop more patience behind the wheel. He also says that he still has a steep learning curve in understanding setups and track conditions.
If Jones continues to race through his adult years after starting at such a young age, he could become one of the longest- running veterans in central Arkansas racing. Just don’t act like it’s a big deal in front of him if he does.
Leader sports writer
IN SHORT: In only his first full year of driving hobby stocks, 16-year-old McRae resident Blake Jones already has a feature win under his belt. The young driver races his F3 hobby-stock car weekly at Beebe Speedway.
In a short period of time, 16-year-old Blake Jones of McRae has made a name for himself on the local racing circuit. In his first full season in the hobby-stock class, Jones has already racked up a feature win, along with several top-five finishes.
Many youngsters in his situation would be on cloud nine, but Jones is an unusually free spirit for his age.
“I don’t get excited about too much of anything,” Jones says in a demeanor sounding twice his actual age. “I just try to take things as they come.”
As a member of one of local racing’s most successful families, Jones has been going to Beebe Speedway since his grade-school days. He got the call to race the F3 hobby car late last season from car owner and uncle Steve Fox, when his cousin Eric Denappoli could no longer drive the car due to work obligations.
“I said, ‘Yeah, I want to drive’,” Jones said. “We knew we would have to talk my mom into it first. It took a little time for her to make up her mind, but we finally talked her into it.”
Since that time, Jones’ mother Jackie has become his biggest fan. She can be seen in the pits at Beebe on any given weekend cheering her son on during the heats and hobby features.
Jones credits a lot of his early success to teammates Randy Weaver and Jason Young, the drivers of the F1 modified and F1 e-mod for the Fox team. Both drivers have track championships under their belts, and have given advice whenever needed.
“I’ve learned quite a bit about motors from them,” Jones said. “I always go to Randy and Jason before the races to ask them about setups and stagger and things like that. They have definitely helped me out a bunch.”
A lot of younger drivers have visions of becoming the next big NASCAR superstar, but not Jones. His future plans include attending college, and pursuing a degree in accounting.
“I just want to be one of those week-to-week racers,” Jones said. “I eventually would like to end up in the modified class. They are quite a bit faster, and they are not too expensive.
“With late models, you pretty much have to travel with a tour to make all the races. With a modified, you can race them every week at Beebe or I-30, or wherever.”
When asked about his first feature win earlier this year in which he outlasted notable veterans such as Eddie Hoyer and Tracy Clemons, Jones was his usual unexcitable self.
“I probably didn’t deserve to win that race,” Jones said. “I was happy that I won, but I realize there were guys out there who are a lot faster than me. I just don’t think I’m that good.”
For someone who lacks confidence in his own ability, Jones showed promise his first time out in a racecar. During a ‘B’ main transfer race late last season, Jones was leading during his first weekend behind the wheel with three laps to go when a rear-end failure took him out of contention.
Jones is the first to admit he still has some learning to do. Although he has come a long way in a short time, Jones says he still needs to develop more patience behind the wheel. He also says that he still has a steep learning curve in understanding setups and track conditions.
If Jones continues to race through his adult years after starting at such a young age, he could become one of the longest- running veterans in central Arkansas racing. Just don’t act like it’s a big deal in front of him if he does.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
EDITORIAL 05-31-06 >> We're making real progress
A study by the Rural School and Community Trust concluded last week that the effect of a school consolidation law enacted in 2004 was to close 47 schools, primarily schools that were predominantly black and poor. The head of the rural school advocates that paid for the study said she was “shocked” that the study told the group what it wanted to hear.
Tiny rural schools in the Mississippi Delta region, the poorest and often predominantly black, were the ones most often closed after legislation required school districts with 350 or fewer students to be annexed or consolidated. Rep. Will Bond of Jacksonville was a prime sponsor of the law.
The advocacy group that hired the study, which fights school consolidation, thought those results showed discrimination and were proof that children in those districts were penalized.
The administrators of those little districts who lost their jobs may have a gripe, but for the children it is a victory that most of them will one day have cause to celebrate, not mourn. For 60 years, Arkansas has been consolidating these tiny districts and sending children to high schools that offer them far more opportunities. That and not mere economics was the reason, we like to think, that the legislature in its wisdom decided again to consolidate districts with fewer than 350 students. An initiated law by Arkansas voters in 1948 at once shuttered 1,165 schools smaller than 350. It is the single greatest advance in public education in Arkansas, which has precious few advances to hail.
Who really could be shocked that the schools most likely to be closed after administrative consolidation would be in the Delta? The all- or mostly black schools were so poor of resources that they could not offer a solid curriculum, compete for good teachers or provide modern facilities or equipment, and they begged for closing. Three-fourths of the majority-black schools in districts under 350 were closed.
Little Gould south of here, very poor and overwhelmingly black, closed last fall and the kids went to nearby Dumas, a thriving district with a solid program. The superintendent at Dumas said patrons at Gould supported the merger. Wise they are. Their children will one day thank them. We have been in that circumstance ourselves.
This is not an argument over which is better, a big school or a small school. There is much to be said for educating students in units that are small enough to maintain community and to recognize individual achievement. But these are not reasonable compact units. The schools are so small and generally so poor that they can never give children, at least secondary students, more than the most meager fare. There is one caveat. Taxpayers willing, the state could provide far greater subsidies to those schools to overcome their deprivation. There is no evidence that Arkansas taxpayers are so obliging.
After the mergers, not one of the children from the little schools is now attending what anyone could rationally call a large school. The consolidated schools are still small and rural — ever been to metropolitan Dumas or Barton? — and in some cases children are only marginally better off than they were because the merged schools are still relatively small and poor. But still better off.
Advocates for Community and Rural Education want to turn the consolidation act into a tragedy in hopes of rolling it back or discouraging more. Let us resist making this small stride for the neediest kids in our care a setback and compliment our lawmakers— and the good Gov. Huckabee — when they do something right.
Tiny rural schools in the Mississippi Delta region, the poorest and often predominantly black, were the ones most often closed after legislation required school districts with 350 or fewer students to be annexed or consolidated. Rep. Will Bond of Jacksonville was a prime sponsor of the law.
The advocacy group that hired the study, which fights school consolidation, thought those results showed discrimination and were proof that children in those districts were penalized.
The administrators of those little districts who lost their jobs may have a gripe, but for the children it is a victory that most of them will one day have cause to celebrate, not mourn. For 60 years, Arkansas has been consolidating these tiny districts and sending children to high schools that offer them far more opportunities. That and not mere economics was the reason, we like to think, that the legislature in its wisdom decided again to consolidate districts with fewer than 350 students. An initiated law by Arkansas voters in 1948 at once shuttered 1,165 schools smaller than 350. It is the single greatest advance in public education in Arkansas, which has precious few advances to hail.
Who really could be shocked that the schools most likely to be closed after administrative consolidation would be in the Delta? The all- or mostly black schools were so poor of resources that they could not offer a solid curriculum, compete for good teachers or provide modern facilities or equipment, and they begged for closing. Three-fourths of the majority-black schools in districts under 350 were closed.
Little Gould south of here, very poor and overwhelmingly black, closed last fall and the kids went to nearby Dumas, a thriving district with a solid program. The superintendent at Dumas said patrons at Gould supported the merger. Wise they are. Their children will one day thank them. We have been in that circumstance ourselves.
This is not an argument over which is better, a big school or a small school. There is much to be said for educating students in units that are small enough to maintain community and to recognize individual achievement. But these are not reasonable compact units. The schools are so small and generally so poor that they can never give children, at least secondary students, more than the most meager fare. There is one caveat. Taxpayers willing, the state could provide far greater subsidies to those schools to overcome their deprivation. There is no evidence that Arkansas taxpayers are so obliging.
After the mergers, not one of the children from the little schools is now attending what anyone could rationally call a large school. The consolidated schools are still small and rural — ever been to metropolitan Dumas or Barton? — and in some cases children are only marginally better off than they were because the merged schools are still relatively small and poor. But still better off.
Advocates for Community and Rural Education want to turn the consolidation act into a tragedy in hopes of rolling it back or discouraging more. Let us resist making this small stride for the neediest kids in our care a setback and compliment our lawmakers— and the good Gov. Huckabee — when they do something right.
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