By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
A pair of National Guard helicopters bearing Gov. Mike Beebe and others touched down at Carlisle Municipal Airport Monday on his whirlwind tour of the latest natural disaster to ravage Arkansans.
Greeted at the airport by state Senator Bobby Glover, state Rep. Lenville Evans, County Judge Charlie Troutman and others, Beebe led a motorcade of officials and reporters on a one-hour tour through the worst of the town’s damage, stopping to inspect the Carlisle Fire Department and a neighborhood where the roof of one home was damaged and another torn off right down to the brick walls.
Speaking from the shaded porch at the Carlisle Police Department, across from the twisted-but-standing shell of the fire department, Beebe said the tornado that tore up houses, uprooted trees, knocked down power poles and sent people scurrying for cover about 1 p.m. Friday apparently was smaller than the twisters earlier in the day that killed seven and tore wider swaths east and south of Carlisle.
“But small or wide, it doesn’t make much difference if you’re in the middle of it,” Beebe said.
Fences were torn up, businesses and homes destroyed or knocked off their foundation blocks or else large trees crashed into homes or were uprooted.
“Lives were turned upside down,” he said, and the terrifying events of the day may stay with some residents forever.
SCHOOL SHELTERS
Beebe said Carlisle school children took shelter in tornado safe rooms during the storms and he hoped schools throughout the state would consider tornado shelters when remodeling or building schools.
“Tornadoes are not as wide as floods,” Beebe said, “but they are awfully intense.”
He praised the television and radio stations that pinpointed the path of the storm and gave five or 10 minutes warning of approaching storms and tornadoes.
“Just enough to save lives,” the governor added.
He said the recovery process already had begun and praised the quick work of officials and neighbors.
Beebe reminded reporters that he had been critical of FEMA’s slow response to the Dumas tornado in February, but this time around, he said, “they were calling us before we even had time to call them.”
Beebe praised the resiliency of residents in towns torn asunder.
“I don’t think FEMA has left the state since February,” he said.
Ironically, the same storms that have caused so much damage throughout the state this year have also kept builders busy in an otherwise sluggish economy.
He said that President Bush had called twice this year to see if there was anything the federal government could do.
PRETTY HOPEFUL
“They are all pretty hopeful, almost to a person. All they lost were houses and possessions and they are ready to get started building back,” the governor said.
He said insurance companies and agents have been helpful and attentive but that if anyone needed help with the companies, the governor’s office and the state Insurance Commission could help.
The governor stopped to talk to Mike Hardke, who was moving possessions from his home, the roof and rafters of which were nowhere in sight. Hardke, who said he took shelter in the master bedroom away from the storm, was expecting a check Monday from his insurance agent.
Including the fire station and the old train depot, Friday’s tornado damaged about two dozen homes, destroying maybe a quarter of them, according to Brent Doney, a volunteer fireman, deputy sheriff and nurse who served as the incident commander at the time of the tornado. He said the tornado siren worked.
PLENTY OF HELP
Volunteers and crews from Carlisle and surrounding communities worked through the weekend, and Monday, chainsaws were still whining and spewing sawdust, while tree trunks were turned to firewood and limbs were chipped into a mountain of mulch.
There were no injuries or deaths caused by the tornado, although there was one minor chainsaw-related injury and a heat problem for one person, Doney said.
Doney, who is also a Carlisle alderman, said crews from CenturyTel and Entergy worked through the weekend and Monday to restore service. All electrical service had been restored except lines to individual damaged homes, he said.
He estimated that Entergy had 50 crews on hand. They also helped put the communications tower back up for the police and fire departments. In the interim, the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office brought its mobile command center, which provided communications.
A Centerpoint Crew stood by at a home being demolished to cut the gas off. Stuttgart sent a dump truck and a hydraulic clamshell truck to pick up limbs and debris. They had shut off three or four gas leaks in the immediate aftermath of the tornado.
JACKSONVILLE CREW
Jacksonville sent a clam-shell dump truck, operated by Sandy Poe and Steve Medlin.
The Red Cross was providing food for workers, Doney said.
Others providing equipment or manpower in the tornado’s wake were Prairie County—dump trucks and deputies—the Hazen
Police Department, the Lonoke Sheriff’s Office, Lonoke Office of Emergency Management, the England Police Department, the Cabot Police Chief and some officers and a pair of dump trucks and a chipper from the city of Lonoke.
McRrae sent fire and police help, Oak Grove sent some volunteer fire men and Center Point also provided the sue of a back hoe and a dump truck.
Carlisle had recently bought a generator, so Road and Water Superintendent Richard Sumner was able to keep water pressure up and was able to pump water up into its towers, meaning that residents never went without drinking water, nor were they under a boil order, Doney said.
Sumner also coordinated the heavy equipment that was used to help.
The state Correction Depart-ment sent 32 inmates, dressed in their usual white prison garb, to help with the cleanup.
Doney said he thought only one person needed emergency shelter, spending the evenings at Immanuel Baptist Church. He said the church also was feeding people.
The southeast corner of Glover’s office, which is the old railroad depot, was destroyed.
“There wasn’t a trampoline left in town,” Doney said.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
TOP STORY > >Health study aimed at youth
By ALIYA FELDMAN
Leader editor
Concerned Jacksonville residents have devoted themselves to discussing the state of children’s health, and their ideas will potentially be used to help improve young people’s lives across the state.
The project, part of the statewide Study Circles network, is a community effort to find ways to improve the health of children.
“Jacksonville was selected as one of five communities across the state to participate in the study,” said Kristen Burton of North Metro Medical Center, who served as coordinator for the Jacksonville site. The Jacksonville Health Coalition, the Arkansas School Boards Association and the Arkansas Natural Wonders Partnership collaborated on the effort.
Jacksonville Study Circle members — including Karen Cunningham of the Department of Health, Patricia Henderson, director of the Jacksonville Health Unit, and Dana Rozenski of the Jacksonville Parks Department — created action plans for Jacksonville.
The initiative began with a report released last year on children’s health across the state.
“The goal of the project is assist in developing plans of action to improve the state of children in Arkansas,” Connie Whitfield of the Arkansas School Boards Associa-tion said. “Jacksonville was the site chosen to represent the Central Arkansas Public Health Region.”
“Jacksonville as a community and site of this Study Circles discussion… really got it and took the extra step to ensure that they, the community began working on local actions for improvement to the lives of Jacksonville residents,” Whitfield added.
Ideas and suggestions that resulted from the meetings will be used to begin planning for statewide changes for children.
“To find long-term solutions, we must begin with a safe and productive process that will help us talk about how families can partner with the community to help them shape the health and well being of its children and their families,” Burton said.
The group first defined problems families face in Jacksonville and then worked to find ways to solve them to help families be healthy.
Jacksonville Study Circle drafted an action plan to achieve this goal. This includes writing letters to local politicians about advocating expanding coverage to the uninsured, specifically college-age students ages 18-25 and parents who are making above the maximum income to qualify for ArKids First but do not make enough to afford private insurance.
The Study Circles members also pledged to help support the local police program Police and Kids Together by providing staff for the end-of-summer cookout at the Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club and helping find sponsors for the program.
Members also discussed having a Jacksonville health resource guide available to be distributed at fairs, expos, and clinics and through the Jacksonville Health Coalition. A local fitness challenge may also be organized, similar to the Lonoke County fitness challenge.
“As followup, the participants and other invited guests have met to form a committee to look at ways to address the action ideas listed during the Study Circles discussion as ways for the community to begin making improvements for the children and their families in the Jacksonville community,” Whitfield said.
Members will follow up on these ideas and work to involve other people in Jacksonville.
Leader editor
Concerned Jacksonville residents have devoted themselves to discussing the state of children’s health, and their ideas will potentially be used to help improve young people’s lives across the state.
The project, part of the statewide Study Circles network, is a community effort to find ways to improve the health of children.
“Jacksonville was selected as one of five communities across the state to participate in the study,” said Kristen Burton of North Metro Medical Center, who served as coordinator for the Jacksonville site. The Jacksonville Health Coalition, the Arkansas School Boards Association and the Arkansas Natural Wonders Partnership collaborated on the effort.
Jacksonville Study Circle members — including Karen Cunningham of the Department of Health, Patricia Henderson, director of the Jacksonville Health Unit, and Dana Rozenski of the Jacksonville Parks Department — created action plans for Jacksonville.
The initiative began with a report released last year on children’s health across the state.
“The goal of the project is assist in developing plans of action to improve the state of children in Arkansas,” Connie Whitfield of the Arkansas School Boards Associa-tion said. “Jacksonville was the site chosen to represent the Central Arkansas Public Health Region.”
“Jacksonville as a community and site of this Study Circles discussion… really got it and took the extra step to ensure that they, the community began working on local actions for improvement to the lives of Jacksonville residents,” Whitfield added.
Ideas and suggestions that resulted from the meetings will be used to begin planning for statewide changes for children.
“To find long-term solutions, we must begin with a safe and productive process that will help us talk about how families can partner with the community to help them shape the health and well being of its children and their families,” Burton said.
The group first defined problems families face in Jacksonville and then worked to find ways to solve them to help families be healthy.
Jacksonville Study Circle drafted an action plan to achieve this goal. This includes writing letters to local politicians about advocating expanding coverage to the uninsured, specifically college-age students ages 18-25 and parents who are making above the maximum income to qualify for ArKids First but do not make enough to afford private insurance.
The Study Circles members also pledged to help support the local police program Police and Kids Together by providing staff for the end-of-summer cookout at the Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club and helping find sponsors for the program.
Members also discussed having a Jacksonville health resource guide available to be distributed at fairs, expos, and clinics and through the Jacksonville Health Coalition. A local fitness challenge may also be organized, similar to the Lonoke County fitness challenge.
“As followup, the participants and other invited guests have met to form a committee to look at ways to address the action ideas listed during the Study Circles discussion as ways for the community to begin making improvements for the children and their families in the Jacksonville community,” Whitfield said.
Members will follow up on these ideas and work to involve other people in Jacksonville.
FROM THE PUBLISHER > >Tornado gets too close for comfort
Sen. Bobby Glover was in his car early Friday afternoon when a storm roared into Carlisle.
He was just a couple of blocks away from the old railroad depot on Main Street, where he has his insurance office, and he was worried about his daughter Robin and was desperate to find her.
“It lasted about 15 to 20 seconds,” Glover recalled Sunday. “I’m thankful to the good Lord I’m still here.”
The twister continued behind him, hitting several homes in the northeast part of town. It had plowed through Hwy. 70, damaging several homes and businesses there.
The Little Rock TV stations had warned area residents that the tornado was in their path, and many went to the safest spots they could find in their homes. Others, like Glover, had hoped they could ride out the storm.
“It’s amazing how quiet it gets afterward,” Glover said.
The good news was that his daughter and her mother were safe in the basement of the First Methodist Church, where many of the town’s residents had taken shelter.
In front of him, he could now see his office was badly hit, and farther down the street, the back of the fire station was ripped off.
But across the street, none of the old downtown buildings were hit.
When the tornado approached downtown, Carlisle Mayor Ray Glover, the senator’s cousin, was looking out the window where the municipal offices are located in a couple of storefronts on Main Street.
“If it had moved across the street, it would have wiped out downtown,” the mayor said Sunday afternoon.
He was still getting calls on his cell phone from residents who needed help clearing their homes and yards.
Crews were taking tree limbs from people’s yards to the outskirts of town, where they were burned in a pile of other debris.
You could see the smoke from I-40 a couple of miles away.
The mayor said Jacksonville and Stuttgart were sending clamp trucks that are used for picking up yard waste, which should help with the cleanup.
Glover was grateful for all the help the town was getting from its neighbors: The Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department let Carlisle use a new mobile command center. The South Bend Volunteer Fire Department also helped out after Carlisle’s fire station was hit.
Immanuel Baptist Church of Carlisle and Lonoke Presbyterian Church fed people all weekend along with volunteers from St. Rose Catholic in Carlisle.
“We’re not doing anything Carlisle wouldn’t do for us,” said Alex Fletcher, a Lonoke church member. The Lonoke church sends members all over the state during a disaster. They’re usually there before FEMA arrives and stay long after FEMA is gone.
Glover was grateful no one was injured and grateful also that Gov. Mike Beebe flew in on Monday to view the damage.
Beebe’s old legislative colleague, Sen. Glover, was there to greet him. Glover has been mayor, state representative and state senator for 30 years – his cousin has been mayor for just over a year — and the veteran politician can’t run again because he’s term-limited, but the veteran politician was pressing Beebe to line up funds to repair the damage.
The old depot stands where Glover used to take the Rock Island line to Little Rock on class trips.
The tracks are covered up and no train stops there anymore, but if you look around, Carlisle is not much different than it was 60 years ago, except for the tornado damage. People haven’t changed much either. They’re still down home. It may take a while to rebuild some of the worst-hit homes and businesses, but the town will be fixed up before the year’s over.
He was just a couple of blocks away from the old railroad depot on Main Street, where he has his insurance office, and he was worried about his daughter Robin and was desperate to find her.
“It lasted about 15 to 20 seconds,” Glover recalled Sunday. “I’m thankful to the good Lord I’m still here.”
The twister continued behind him, hitting several homes in the northeast part of town. It had plowed through Hwy. 70, damaging several homes and businesses there.
The Little Rock TV stations had warned area residents that the tornado was in their path, and many went to the safest spots they could find in their homes. Others, like Glover, had hoped they could ride out the storm.
“It’s amazing how quiet it gets afterward,” Glover said.
The good news was that his daughter and her mother were safe in the basement of the First Methodist Church, where many of the town’s residents had taken shelter.
In front of him, he could now see his office was badly hit, and farther down the street, the back of the fire station was ripped off.
But across the street, none of the old downtown buildings were hit.
When the tornado approached downtown, Carlisle Mayor Ray Glover, the senator’s cousin, was looking out the window where the municipal offices are located in a couple of storefronts on Main Street.
“If it had moved across the street, it would have wiped out downtown,” the mayor said Sunday afternoon.
He was still getting calls on his cell phone from residents who needed help clearing their homes and yards.
Crews were taking tree limbs from people’s yards to the outskirts of town, where they were burned in a pile of other debris.
You could see the smoke from I-40 a couple of miles away.
The mayor said Jacksonville and Stuttgart were sending clamp trucks that are used for picking up yard waste, which should help with the cleanup.
Glover was grateful for all the help the town was getting from its neighbors: The Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department let Carlisle use a new mobile command center. The South Bend Volunteer Fire Department also helped out after Carlisle’s fire station was hit.
Immanuel Baptist Church of Carlisle and Lonoke Presbyterian Church fed people all weekend along with volunteers from St. Rose Catholic in Carlisle.
“We’re not doing anything Carlisle wouldn’t do for us,” said Alex Fletcher, a Lonoke church member. The Lonoke church sends members all over the state during a disaster. They’re usually there before FEMA arrives and stay long after FEMA is gone.
Glover was grateful no one was injured and grateful also that Gov. Mike Beebe flew in on Monday to view the damage.
Beebe’s old legislative colleague, Sen. Glover, was there to greet him. Glover has been mayor, state representative and state senator for 30 years – his cousin has been mayor for just over a year — and the veteran politician can’t run again because he’s term-limited, but the veteran politician was pressing Beebe to line up funds to repair the damage.
The old depot stands where Glover used to take the Rock Island line to Little Rock on class trips.
The tracks are covered up and no train stops there anymore, but if you look around, Carlisle is not much different than it was 60 years ago, except for the tornado damage. People haven’t changed much either. They’re still down home. It may take a while to rebuild some of the worst-hit homes and businesses, but the town will be fixed up before the year’s over.
TOP STORY > >People reach out after storms
By EILEEN FELDMAN
AND THERESA KOMOR
Leader staff writers
When the small town of Carlisle was hit by a tornado last Friday, friends and neighbors in the area gathered together and quickly set up their own disaster-relief center and feeding stations.
In a demonstration of true Christian charity and interdenominational bonhomie, the folks at Carlisle’s Immanuel Baptist Church, First Methodist Church and St. Rose’s Catholic Church and a large group of volunteers from Lonoke Presbyterian Church, gathered their forces together to feed and nourish those affected by the storm, as well as those who came to Carlisle to help by cutting up downed trees and limbs, clearing lots and gathering debris.
Emmett Powers, pastor of Lonoke Presbyterian Church, said, “It’s a real joy to do this and give hope to people who’ve been through so much.”
He said his church volunteers, who arrived in a mobile feeding-station truck equipped with tables, chairs, a long canopy, cooking equipment and utensils, can feed 100 to 150 people an hour.
“Three hundred meals in a day is typical for this group,” he said, as Alex Fletcher, Shane Hamilton and Bill Shinn stirred up an industrial-sized pot of mashed potatoes to accompany the hundred or so pork chops they were preparing for supper. (See editorial, p. 14A.)
The truck was purchased with $25,000 donated by St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Minnesota. Powers and a group of volunteers from his church have shown up to help each time this year a tornado has struck in Arkansas — Mountain View, Clinton, Atkins, Damascus and Gassville.
The group has also responded in areas that were flooded this spring.
Powell said Lutheran Social Services (which donated the money for the truck) often stays on the scene of a disaster long after FEMA has left, said Powers, who serves as director of the disaster response team for the Arkansas Presbytery.
He thanked Bill Cunningham and other volunteers who came to help from St. Rose’s.
Immanuel Baptist opened its doors to help those left without shelter and prepared food for those who needed to eat.
TORNADO ALLEY
Carlisle was left without power after the storm and because of downed lines, power was not restored until Saturday evening. A nighttime curfew imposed Friday night was lifted Sunday morning.
National Weather Service radar and professional tornado watchers alerted the town in plenty of time for everyone to take cover. Three tornadoes were sighted, but only one touched down inside Carlisle.
In the 25 years that Carlisle Police Chief Eric Frank has lived in town, he hadn’t been through a tornado, even though the city is in the part of Arkansas referred to by natives as “tornado alley.” That changed on Friday when the F1 storm blew through town at more than 100 miles per hour. No one was injured.
Alderman Brent Doney, the city’s emergency manager, said the storm which came in just before 1 p.m., was four city blocks wide, cutting a path a mile across the city from southwest to the northeast just nicking the edge of the school’s awning as it left town.
“At 12:15, I saw a tornado come up over town, a narrow rope that never hit,” Doney said.
Then 30 or 40 minutes later, he saw a “rain-wrapped huge circle” with windspeeds he guessed were the equivalent of an F1 or F2 storm come in at the southwest corner of Carlisle cutting a path of damage which included the city’s fire station and a business at the corner of Hwy. 70 and Greenlaw. The business, an automotive garage, may be a total loss.
REBUILD FIRE STATION
Doney said he suspects the fire station will need to be rebuilt as the tornado bent and twisted the structure’s supporting beams. When the warnings came in, Doney said firemen scattered the trucks throughout the city to prevent damage.
Doney said everyone was grateful there were no injuries in spite of extensive damage and he commended Lonoke Presbyterian Church volunteers who, he said, “rolled in right away.”
Carlisle Police Chief Eric Frank said that he didn’t hear the tornado, didn’t hear the train sound. His main concern was getting the students out of the school once the tornado passed and left downed trees and power lines in its wake. “We got them out.
Thankfully, it went right over the school,” he said.
Three hours after the tornado hit, the chief and Doney had a command post set up in the middle of Main Street in front of the damaged Carlisle Fire Department.
Kathy Zasimovich from the office of emergency management in Lonoke was already there and volunteer disaster teams from Cabot were out with chainsaws to cut up trees that had fallen on houses. “We had to tell them to stop cutting up the trees,”
Zasimovich said. “The power company shut down the electricity to the area in Little Rock, but would not say it’s safe until they are able to come out themselves.”
SOUND OF CHAINSAWS
Henry McDonald of Cabot was sitting on a tree that had fallen over his mother-in-law’s home.
“I had to come down quick. My son was in that school,” he said, pointing to a red-headed boy. “This tree would’ve been gone if they hadn’t stopped those guys with the chainsaws. But we’re lucky. Only the carport was damaged.”
At 6 a.m. Saturday, Carlisle awoke to the sound of chainsaws. Crews from West Tree Service and Entergy arrived and got to work.
“We’re not positive that everything is dead,” said Ricky Felton, West Tree Service crew chief. “You have to be careful of backfeed. A tree could lay across a dead wire and a live wire, and that will make the dead wire live too. We get in there as soon as the power guys tell us it’s safe.”
Chris Hunt agreed with his boss and said, “And we can turn on the power as we go as soon as we get things cleared and rewired.”
As he spoke, Larry McKinny started his chainsaw and started to work on a downed tree, sawdust fanning in an arc.
Police Chief Eric Frank was on traffic duty, directing cars away from the Entergy crew that was running new wire across Court St. with two cherry pickers. Mitch Duncan would attach the wiring to his post, then Wayne Wright would attach his side and fasten everything down.
“This is the third time I’ve been called out for tornadoes,” said Thomas Bynum, an Entergy lineman who lives in Hot Springs.
“This time, I was told to pack for five,” meaning he could expect to be on this particular job for five days.
Back at the command post, Zasimovich pointed out the progress made so far. “That huge pile of wood chips over there was done by the inmates from the Tucker detention center. There are 50 trucks from the tree service and Entergy here restoring the power. I’m here to help if there is anything they need that they don’t have.”
MAYOR SURVEYS DAMAGE
Carlisle Mayor Ray Glover sat down at a picnic table Saturday and looked down his city’s Main Street.
“There’s no business as usual here,” he said.
“The hardest hit was the Eastwood Subdivision, Third and Fourth Streets, and Second all in the middle of town. A third of the town is without power,” Glover said Saturday.
“The fire station may have to be torn down and rebuilt because of bent support beams. Thankfully, the school wasn’t damaged at all.”
Driving through East-wood, Zasimovich pointed out the areas hardest hit. “One home’s roof was lifted off and set down right in its back yard,” she said. “We can’t get to it now, there’s trees blocking the road. You have to see it to believe it. ”
“The governor and FEMA will be here on Monday and we can start getting things back together. FEMA will help us get the town’s infrastructure back together and help the people too,” Glover said from Carlisle’s command post.
“There are a lot of people I’d like to thank, “ the mayor said. “Those I’ve already mentioned and the rest on this list.”
Caroline Baptist Disaster Relief, Presbyterian Relief Ministry, the city of Lonoke, the Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief, Des Arc
Police and Fire, the England police, Faith Baptist Church, the Hazen police and Mayor Mike Watson of Maumelle were among others Glover mentioned.
“We’ll be back to business as usual because of them,” he said.
AND THERESA KOMOR
Leader staff writers
When the small town of Carlisle was hit by a tornado last Friday, friends and neighbors in the area gathered together and quickly set up their own disaster-relief center and feeding stations.
In a demonstration of true Christian charity and interdenominational bonhomie, the folks at Carlisle’s Immanuel Baptist Church, First Methodist Church and St. Rose’s Catholic Church and a large group of volunteers from Lonoke Presbyterian Church, gathered their forces together to feed and nourish those affected by the storm, as well as those who came to Carlisle to help by cutting up downed trees and limbs, clearing lots and gathering debris.
Emmett Powers, pastor of Lonoke Presbyterian Church, said, “It’s a real joy to do this and give hope to people who’ve been through so much.”
He said his church volunteers, who arrived in a mobile feeding-station truck equipped with tables, chairs, a long canopy, cooking equipment and utensils, can feed 100 to 150 people an hour.
“Three hundred meals in a day is typical for this group,” he said, as Alex Fletcher, Shane Hamilton and Bill Shinn stirred up an industrial-sized pot of mashed potatoes to accompany the hundred or so pork chops they were preparing for supper. (See editorial, p. 14A.)
The truck was purchased with $25,000 donated by St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Minnesota. Powers and a group of volunteers from his church have shown up to help each time this year a tornado has struck in Arkansas — Mountain View, Clinton, Atkins, Damascus and Gassville.
The group has also responded in areas that were flooded this spring.
Powell said Lutheran Social Services (which donated the money for the truck) often stays on the scene of a disaster long after FEMA has left, said Powers, who serves as director of the disaster response team for the Arkansas Presbytery.
He thanked Bill Cunningham and other volunteers who came to help from St. Rose’s.
Immanuel Baptist opened its doors to help those left without shelter and prepared food for those who needed to eat.
TORNADO ALLEY
Carlisle was left without power after the storm and because of downed lines, power was not restored until Saturday evening. A nighttime curfew imposed Friday night was lifted Sunday morning.
National Weather Service radar and professional tornado watchers alerted the town in plenty of time for everyone to take cover. Three tornadoes were sighted, but only one touched down inside Carlisle.
In the 25 years that Carlisle Police Chief Eric Frank has lived in town, he hadn’t been through a tornado, even though the city is in the part of Arkansas referred to by natives as “tornado alley.” That changed on Friday when the F1 storm blew through town at more than 100 miles per hour. No one was injured.
Alderman Brent Doney, the city’s emergency manager, said the storm which came in just before 1 p.m., was four city blocks wide, cutting a path a mile across the city from southwest to the northeast just nicking the edge of the school’s awning as it left town.
“At 12:15, I saw a tornado come up over town, a narrow rope that never hit,” Doney said.
Then 30 or 40 minutes later, he saw a “rain-wrapped huge circle” with windspeeds he guessed were the equivalent of an F1 or F2 storm come in at the southwest corner of Carlisle cutting a path of damage which included the city’s fire station and a business at the corner of Hwy. 70 and Greenlaw. The business, an automotive garage, may be a total loss.
REBUILD FIRE STATION
Doney said he suspects the fire station will need to be rebuilt as the tornado bent and twisted the structure’s supporting beams. When the warnings came in, Doney said firemen scattered the trucks throughout the city to prevent damage.
Doney said everyone was grateful there were no injuries in spite of extensive damage and he commended Lonoke Presbyterian Church volunteers who, he said, “rolled in right away.”
Carlisle Police Chief Eric Frank said that he didn’t hear the tornado, didn’t hear the train sound. His main concern was getting the students out of the school once the tornado passed and left downed trees and power lines in its wake. “We got them out.
Thankfully, it went right over the school,” he said.
Three hours after the tornado hit, the chief and Doney had a command post set up in the middle of Main Street in front of the damaged Carlisle Fire Department.
Kathy Zasimovich from the office of emergency management in Lonoke was already there and volunteer disaster teams from Cabot were out with chainsaws to cut up trees that had fallen on houses. “We had to tell them to stop cutting up the trees,”
Zasimovich said. “The power company shut down the electricity to the area in Little Rock, but would not say it’s safe until they are able to come out themselves.”
SOUND OF CHAINSAWS
Henry McDonald of Cabot was sitting on a tree that had fallen over his mother-in-law’s home.
“I had to come down quick. My son was in that school,” he said, pointing to a red-headed boy. “This tree would’ve been gone if they hadn’t stopped those guys with the chainsaws. But we’re lucky. Only the carport was damaged.”
At 6 a.m. Saturday, Carlisle awoke to the sound of chainsaws. Crews from West Tree Service and Entergy arrived and got to work.
“We’re not positive that everything is dead,” said Ricky Felton, West Tree Service crew chief. “You have to be careful of backfeed. A tree could lay across a dead wire and a live wire, and that will make the dead wire live too. We get in there as soon as the power guys tell us it’s safe.”
Chris Hunt agreed with his boss and said, “And we can turn on the power as we go as soon as we get things cleared and rewired.”
As he spoke, Larry McKinny started his chainsaw and started to work on a downed tree, sawdust fanning in an arc.
Police Chief Eric Frank was on traffic duty, directing cars away from the Entergy crew that was running new wire across Court St. with two cherry pickers. Mitch Duncan would attach the wiring to his post, then Wayne Wright would attach his side and fasten everything down.
“This is the third time I’ve been called out for tornadoes,” said Thomas Bynum, an Entergy lineman who lives in Hot Springs.
“This time, I was told to pack for five,” meaning he could expect to be on this particular job for five days.
Back at the command post, Zasimovich pointed out the progress made so far. “That huge pile of wood chips over there was done by the inmates from the Tucker detention center. There are 50 trucks from the tree service and Entergy here restoring the power. I’m here to help if there is anything they need that they don’t have.”
MAYOR SURVEYS DAMAGE
Carlisle Mayor Ray Glover sat down at a picnic table Saturday and looked down his city’s Main Street.
“There’s no business as usual here,” he said.
“The hardest hit was the Eastwood Subdivision, Third and Fourth Streets, and Second all in the middle of town. A third of the town is without power,” Glover said Saturday.
“The fire station may have to be torn down and rebuilt because of bent support beams. Thankfully, the school wasn’t damaged at all.”
Driving through East-wood, Zasimovich pointed out the areas hardest hit. “One home’s roof was lifted off and set down right in its back yard,” she said. “We can’t get to it now, there’s trees blocking the road. You have to see it to believe it. ”
“The governor and FEMA will be here on Monday and we can start getting things back together. FEMA will help us get the town’s infrastructure back together and help the people too,” Glover said from Carlisle’s command post.
“There are a lot of people I’d like to thank, “ the mayor said. “Those I’ve already mentioned and the rest on this list.”
Caroline Baptist Disaster Relief, Presbyterian Relief Ministry, the city of Lonoke, the Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief, Des Arc
Police and Fire, the England police, Faith Baptist Church, the Hazen police and Mayor Mike Watson of Maumelle were among others Glover mentioned.
“We’ll be back to business as usual because of them,” he said.
SPORTS>>Panthers storm back twice to stun No. 2 Catholic
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
They took it as far down to the wire as humanly possible, but the Cabot Panthers managed to pull out two huge wins over Little Rock Catholic on Monday night.
The 11-5 and 9-8 decisions for the Panthers over the second-ranked Class 7A Rockets not only guarantees them a spot in the state playoffs starting this Friday, it keeps head coach Jay Fitch’s streak of non-losing seasons intact after nine years at Cabot.
A win over Central last night, and a Conway win over Pine Bluff will give the Panthers a No. 5 seed, but the doubleheader wins over Catholic guarantees Cabot at least a No. 6 seed, regardless of how Tuesday’s action played out.
Cabot (13-11 overall, 5-8 league) had to rally in both games after giving up early leads to the Rockets, but two of the best pitching performances of the season for the Panthers from a pair of sophomores held Catholic scoreless in the final three innings of both games.
“These were really big wins for us,” Fitch said. “It’s been an up-and-down year for us. We had some rough games early [in conference play], but hopefully, we’re peaking at the right time. We have played well for the last few weeks.
“It would have been easy to get down like we did and say, OK, it’s the second- or third-ranked team in thestate, and given up, but give these kids credit, they never folded.”
Tyler Erickson improved his record to 2-1 with the complete-game win in Game 1. Erickson gave up three runs in the second inning when a single into center by the Rockets scored two, and a sacrifice fly made it 4-0.
After that, it was mostly smooth sailing for the young hurler, as he gave up only one more run in the fourth inning.
The Panthers faced a 4-0 deficit heading into the third inning, but a walk to Jeremy Wilson and a single by Jackson Chism began a Cabot rally. Drew Burks followed with a three-run homer to bring the Panthers to within 4-3.
Singles by Chad Bryant, Wilson Matt Evans to start out the fourth, and a double by Chism scored two runs, and a run-scoring single by Burks scored another to put the Panthers up 6-3.
Cabot held onto its narrow lead until the sixth inning, when a three-run home run by Sam Bates gave the Panthers a cushion.
The Panthers put up two more runs in the top of the seventh inning for good measure to earn Erickson the win.
It took a trio of Panther pitchers to down the Catholic in the nightcap. Sophomore Matt Evans had a solid night on the mound until the top of the fourth, when the Rocket bats picked up steam. Senior Josh Brown came in to try and ease the Catholic rally, but a seven-run spree for the Rockets against Evans and Brown forced Cabot to go with yet another sophomore in C.J. Jacoby.
The southpaw proved up to task, earning his first varsity win with three innings of shutout baseball.
“I’m so proud of him,” Fitch said. “C.J. is one of those guys who works his tail off to get better. He’s done a great job for us during JV games this year, but to come in and get your first varsity win under those circumstances, that’s big.”
After Catholic’s big inning, Cabot answered with five runs of its own to stay within a run, and a two-strike home run by Turner in the top of the fifth tied the game at 8-8.
The winning run scored in the top of the sixth when Burgan beat out an infield hit to drive in Burks.
Leader sportswriter
They took it as far down to the wire as humanly possible, but the Cabot Panthers managed to pull out two huge wins over Little Rock Catholic on Monday night.
The 11-5 and 9-8 decisions for the Panthers over the second-ranked Class 7A Rockets not only guarantees them a spot in the state playoffs starting this Friday, it keeps head coach Jay Fitch’s streak of non-losing seasons intact after nine years at Cabot.
A win over Central last night, and a Conway win over Pine Bluff will give the Panthers a No. 5 seed, but the doubleheader wins over Catholic guarantees Cabot at least a No. 6 seed, regardless of how Tuesday’s action played out.
Cabot (13-11 overall, 5-8 league) had to rally in both games after giving up early leads to the Rockets, but two of the best pitching performances of the season for the Panthers from a pair of sophomores held Catholic scoreless in the final three innings of both games.
“These were really big wins for us,” Fitch said. “It’s been an up-and-down year for us. We had some rough games early [in conference play], but hopefully, we’re peaking at the right time. We have played well for the last few weeks.
“It would have been easy to get down like we did and say, OK, it’s the second- or third-ranked team in thestate, and given up, but give these kids credit, they never folded.”
Tyler Erickson improved his record to 2-1 with the complete-game win in Game 1. Erickson gave up three runs in the second inning when a single into center by the Rockets scored two, and a sacrifice fly made it 4-0.
After that, it was mostly smooth sailing for the young hurler, as he gave up only one more run in the fourth inning.
The Panthers faced a 4-0 deficit heading into the third inning, but a walk to Jeremy Wilson and a single by Jackson Chism began a Cabot rally. Drew Burks followed with a three-run homer to bring the Panthers to within 4-3.
Singles by Chad Bryant, Wilson Matt Evans to start out the fourth, and a double by Chism scored two runs, and a run-scoring single by Burks scored another to put the Panthers up 6-3.
Cabot held onto its narrow lead until the sixth inning, when a three-run home run by Sam Bates gave the Panthers a cushion.
The Panthers put up two more runs in the top of the seventh inning for good measure to earn Erickson the win.
It took a trio of Panther pitchers to down the Catholic in the nightcap. Sophomore Matt Evans had a solid night on the mound until the top of the fourth, when the Rocket bats picked up steam. Senior Josh Brown came in to try and ease the Catholic rally, but a seven-run spree for the Rockets against Evans and Brown forced Cabot to go with yet another sophomore in C.J. Jacoby.
The southpaw proved up to task, earning his first varsity win with three innings of shutout baseball.
“I’m so proud of him,” Fitch said. “C.J. is one of those guys who works his tail off to get better. He’s done a great job for us during JV games this year, but to come in and get your first varsity win under those circumstances, that’s big.”
After Catholic’s big inning, Cabot answered with five runs of its own to stay within a run, and a two-strike home run by Turner in the top of the fifth tied the game at 8-8.
The winning run scored in the top of the sixth when Burgan beat out an infield hit to drive in Burks.
SPORTS>>Searcy boys, girls repeat as state champs
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Another year, another state title sweep for Searcy soccer.
The Lions avenged their only 6A-East Conference loss of the season with a 3-1 win over Mountain Home on Saturday in the state championship game at LadyBack Field. The Lady Lions did what they have done all year — shut down a stout Jonesboro team for their fourth and biggest win of the year over the Lady Hurricane, 5-0, to secure their second state crown in as many years.
“We’re losing some great seniors,” Lions coach Jeff Davis said. “They were big leaders for us, so it will be a challenge to fill everyone’s shoes, but I think these kids are up for the challenge. It is difficult to winw one state championship, let alone two, so I am very proud of what these kids have accomplished.”
Girls coach Cindy Emfinger was every bit as proud. Rachel Maina scored four goals for Searcy to take home MVP honors, but Emfinger insisted it took every one to pull of the feat.
“We had 32 girls this season,” she said. “And everyone of them had something unique to offer to the team. There were some that may not have been the fastest or the strongest or had the most skill, but every one combined to give us a great team effort all year.”
The Bombers struck first on Saturday, taking an early 1-0 lead before freshman Steven Seitz took an assist from Spencer May to tie the game before intermission. The second half was all Searcy, as Kiefer Keichline and May each scored in the final 40 minutes for the Lions, while senior goalkeeper Ryan Wilburn earned MVP honors by holding the MH strikers at bay.
The only Bomber goal in the game came on a free kick. Wilburn thought the kicker was offsides, and therefore did not put up a complete attempt at blocking.
“Ryan knew he made a mistake,” Davis said. “He hesitated, and it cost us a goal, but he shut them down in the second half. He ended up with some pretty big stops. They had two or three other opportunities, but he was solid.”
Team captain Wilburn is one of nine departing seniors, eight of whom had starting spots on the team this year. Davis says the rebuilding process won’t be easy, but said he thinks there is adequate talent to replace the departing team members.
Searcy’s success last season was off the radar for much of the year, but Davis said taking everyone’s best shot and still prevailing makes this season’s title even sweeter.
“We knew we were going into the season with a target on our backs,” Davis said. “We had to take everyone’s best game, and we had to fight for the win no matter who we were taking on. The second title is always harder to win than the first one, but these kids fought all year long.”
The Lady Lions’ defense thwarted all but three Jonesboro attempts. The midfielder combo of Brittany Falcinelli and Caleigh Woodruff kept the Lady Hurricane strikers out of the scoring zones, and allowed Searcy to control tempo most of the night. For the few attempts that got by the duo, Emfinger said Elizabeth Naglak was there for additional stops.
“They didn’t have many shots,” Emfinger said. “Our defense was solid. Jonesboro is a well-coached team, very aggressive. We expected them to put us on our heels early.”
Maina’s hat trick gave the Lady Lions a comfortable lead early on, and a second-half goal by McKenzie Clark ended up as the only non-Maina score of the game, before the tourney MVP closed out the season by putting one more in the net.
Leader sportswriter
Another year, another state title sweep for Searcy soccer.
The Lions avenged their only 6A-East Conference loss of the season with a 3-1 win over Mountain Home on Saturday in the state championship game at LadyBack Field. The Lady Lions did what they have done all year — shut down a stout Jonesboro team for their fourth and biggest win of the year over the Lady Hurricane, 5-0, to secure their second state crown in as many years.
“We’re losing some great seniors,” Lions coach Jeff Davis said. “They were big leaders for us, so it will be a challenge to fill everyone’s shoes, but I think these kids are up for the challenge. It is difficult to winw one state championship, let alone two, so I am very proud of what these kids have accomplished.”
Girls coach Cindy Emfinger was every bit as proud. Rachel Maina scored four goals for Searcy to take home MVP honors, but Emfinger insisted it took every one to pull of the feat.
“We had 32 girls this season,” she said. “And everyone of them had something unique to offer to the team. There were some that may not have been the fastest or the strongest or had the most skill, but every one combined to give us a great team effort all year.”
The Bombers struck first on Saturday, taking an early 1-0 lead before freshman Steven Seitz took an assist from Spencer May to tie the game before intermission. The second half was all Searcy, as Kiefer Keichline and May each scored in the final 40 minutes for the Lions, while senior goalkeeper Ryan Wilburn earned MVP honors by holding the MH strikers at bay.
The only Bomber goal in the game came on a free kick. Wilburn thought the kicker was offsides, and therefore did not put up a complete attempt at blocking.
“Ryan knew he made a mistake,” Davis said. “He hesitated, and it cost us a goal, but he shut them down in the second half. He ended up with some pretty big stops. They had two or three other opportunities, but he was solid.”
Team captain Wilburn is one of nine departing seniors, eight of whom had starting spots on the team this year. Davis says the rebuilding process won’t be easy, but said he thinks there is adequate talent to replace the departing team members.
Searcy’s success last season was off the radar for much of the year, but Davis said taking everyone’s best shot and still prevailing makes this season’s title even sweeter.
“We knew we were going into the season with a target on our backs,” Davis said. “We had to take everyone’s best game, and we had to fight for the win no matter who we were taking on. The second title is always harder to win than the first one, but these kids fought all year long.”
The Lady Lions’ defense thwarted all but three Jonesboro attempts. The midfielder combo of Brittany Falcinelli and Caleigh Woodruff kept the Lady Hurricane strikers out of the scoring zones, and allowed Searcy to control tempo most of the night. For the few attempts that got by the duo, Emfinger said Elizabeth Naglak was there for additional stops.
“They didn’t have many shots,” Emfinger said. “Our defense was solid. Jonesboro is a well-coached team, very aggressive. We expected them to put us on our heels early.”
Maina’s hat trick gave the Lady Lions a comfortable lead early on, and a second-half goal by McKenzie Clark ended up as the only non-Maina score of the game, before the tourney MVP closed out the season by putting one more in the net.
SPORTS>>Jacksonville rallies, then sweeps
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
On the calendar, it took nearly a month for Jacksonville to erase a 4-run deficit to West Memphis.
In actual game time, it was 2/3 of an inning and seven batters. The Red Devils rallied from a 6-2 hole to win a suspended game, 11-8, on Monday night at Dupree Park.
The Red Devils concluded the sweep with an 11-2 win in the second game to secure a No. 4 seed in this weekend’s 6A state tournament in Texarkana. Jacksonville (15-13 overall, 8-6 in the 6A-East) will take on Sheridan, the No. 5 seed from the South at 3 p.m. on Friday.
“Our No. 1 goal was to make the playoffs,” said Jacksonville head coach Larry Burrows. “Seeding is nice, but if you’re not No. 1 or 2, it doesn’t make any difference. What’s important is that we’re playing well.”
Michael Harmon picked up the win in the opener, throwing three innings and striking out six, while allowing three hits and two runs. The game, suspended by rain on April 8, picked up in the bottom of the fourth inning with the Red Devils having two on and no one out.
Terrell Brown was hit with a pitch to load the bases, and Cameron Hood hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.
Patrick Castleberry and Caleb Mitchell then delivered two-out singles to tie the game at 6. Brown ripped an RBI double to the fence in left-center one inning later to give Jacksonville a 7-6 lead. West Memphis tied it in the sixth, but the Red Devils took advantage of three walks and a hit batsman in the sixth to score four runs. Castleberry had an RBI double and Mitchell a run-scoring single.
The Red Devils had ample opportunity to bust open the nightcap early, but couldn’t take full advantage of West Memphis’ generosity. Despite receiving four walks, two errors and a hit batsman, Jacksonville led only 3-0 after two innings. The big hit was Jason Regnas’ 2-run single in the second.
Seth Tomboli took the mound for Jacksonville and pitched hitless ball over three innings, though he walked two and hit another. Brown’s 3-run double in the third opened the lead to 6-0, and Hood made it 7-0 in the fourth after a double, an error and a wild pitch.
Burrows opted to give his other pitchers some work and lifted Tomboli after three innings in favor of Regnas. Regnas struggled with his control, and a pair of walks and a triple cut the lead to 7-2 in the fifth.
A heads-up play in the inning kept West Memphis from drawing closer. Caleb Mitchell threw out a runner at first, and Regnas, who had returned to first base in favor of reliever Noah Sanders, threw home to catch the West Memphis player in a rundown along the third-base line. Red Devil catcher Patrick Castleberry threw him out trying to retreat to third base.
It was a big play because the next two Blue Devils singled. Jacksonville got those runs back in the sixth, thanks largely to more West Memphis wildness. The Blue Devils issued two more of their 11 walks ahead of Tomboli’s 2-run double. Tomboli scored on a passed ball to make it 10-2.
“We expected a lot coming into this season, but at times, we were playing three freshmen,” Burrows said. “When [freshman] Logan Perry went down, we had to readjust some. Then we lost a pitcher.
“Now, you look back, and you’re glad maybe things weren’t clicking as good early. It made them a little tougher.”
As for Sheridan, Burrows is quite familiar with them, he said.
“We play them every summer, and Coach Mike Moore does a great job,” Burrows said. “They do it with pitching and defense and they scratch runs out. We’re going to have to execute.”
Leader sports editor
On the calendar, it took nearly a month for Jacksonville to erase a 4-run deficit to West Memphis.
In actual game time, it was 2/3 of an inning and seven batters. The Red Devils rallied from a 6-2 hole to win a suspended game, 11-8, on Monday night at Dupree Park.
The Red Devils concluded the sweep with an 11-2 win in the second game to secure a No. 4 seed in this weekend’s 6A state tournament in Texarkana. Jacksonville (15-13 overall, 8-6 in the 6A-East) will take on Sheridan, the No. 5 seed from the South at 3 p.m. on Friday.
“Our No. 1 goal was to make the playoffs,” said Jacksonville head coach Larry Burrows. “Seeding is nice, but if you’re not No. 1 or 2, it doesn’t make any difference. What’s important is that we’re playing well.”
Michael Harmon picked up the win in the opener, throwing three innings and striking out six, while allowing three hits and two runs. The game, suspended by rain on April 8, picked up in the bottom of the fourth inning with the Red Devils having two on and no one out.
Terrell Brown was hit with a pitch to load the bases, and Cameron Hood hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.
Patrick Castleberry and Caleb Mitchell then delivered two-out singles to tie the game at 6. Brown ripped an RBI double to the fence in left-center one inning later to give Jacksonville a 7-6 lead. West Memphis tied it in the sixth, but the Red Devils took advantage of three walks and a hit batsman in the sixth to score four runs. Castleberry had an RBI double and Mitchell a run-scoring single.
The Red Devils had ample opportunity to bust open the nightcap early, but couldn’t take full advantage of West Memphis’ generosity. Despite receiving four walks, two errors and a hit batsman, Jacksonville led only 3-0 after two innings. The big hit was Jason Regnas’ 2-run single in the second.
Seth Tomboli took the mound for Jacksonville and pitched hitless ball over three innings, though he walked two and hit another. Brown’s 3-run double in the third opened the lead to 6-0, and Hood made it 7-0 in the fourth after a double, an error and a wild pitch.
Burrows opted to give his other pitchers some work and lifted Tomboli after three innings in favor of Regnas. Regnas struggled with his control, and a pair of walks and a triple cut the lead to 7-2 in the fifth.
A heads-up play in the inning kept West Memphis from drawing closer. Caleb Mitchell threw out a runner at first, and Regnas, who had returned to first base in favor of reliever Noah Sanders, threw home to catch the West Memphis player in a rundown along the third-base line. Red Devil catcher Patrick Castleberry threw him out trying to retreat to third base.
It was a big play because the next two Blue Devils singled. Jacksonville got those runs back in the sixth, thanks largely to more West Memphis wildness. The Blue Devils issued two more of their 11 walks ahead of Tomboli’s 2-run double. Tomboli scored on a passed ball to make it 10-2.
“We expected a lot coming into this season, but at times, we were playing three freshmen,” Burrows said. “When [freshman] Logan Perry went down, we had to readjust some. Then we lost a pitcher.
“Now, you look back, and you’re glad maybe things weren’t clicking as good early. It made them a little tougher.”
As for Sheridan, Burrows is quite familiar with them, he said.
“We play them every summer, and Coach Mike Moore does a great job,” Burrows said. “They do it with pitching and defense and they scratch runs out. We’re going to have to execute.”
SPORTS>>Going to Kansas City
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
Robert Dacus says he knew from the time Weston Dacus was in fourth grade that he was going to play in the National Football League some day.
Maybe it was his son’s intensity or his single-mindedness. Maybe it was the fact he could be heard upstairs in his bedroom shouting at the TV during NFL highlights, or that he taped his ankles for Pee Wee games … just like the pros do. Or the fact that, even in high school, he would forgo a night with friends to watch and re-watch film from that weekend’s Searcy game.
“He’s been saying, ‘I’m going to play in the NFL’ since he was 10 years old,” Robert says.
So, yeah, there was reason to think he might just make it to the big time, especially after the Arkansas Razorback middle linebacker led his team in total tackles over the past two seasons.
It was a week ago Sunday that Robert began to have some doubts about Weston’s dream. Robert and Weston and the entire Dacus clan, along with a couple of Weston’s best friends, gathered at the house of Weston’s older brother, Joe, to watch the draft that weekend and to hopefully hear Weston’s name called. And, barring that, to hear Weston’s phone ring with a free agent offer from a team.
DISAPPOINTED DACUSES
Neither happened.
“We were all a little long-faced when we got in our cars to leave on Sunday,” Robert admits. “You could tell Weston was disappointed.”
Weston’s agent, Storm Kirschenbaum, told Robert that free agents weren’t in as big of demand this season with the demise of the European football league. In fact, free agent signings as of Sunday were somewhere around 100, down from 500 or more in previous seasons.
Still, Weston had just put on an impressive show at Pro Day in Fayetteville, a performance that moved him well up the charts for middle linebackers – from the mid-40s to as high as No. 12 in some rating services.
Robert says he was certain that if any NFL team got a look at his talented boy – the All-State running back from Searcy, the second-leading tackler for the Razorbacks in each of the past two seasons – he was a certainty to be drafted.
“I felt pretty much in my heart that if anybody put eyes on him, and he got to do his thing, he’d get his shot,” Robert says.
Weston finally got that chance last weekend, when he attended the Kansas City Chiefs minicamp, an event specifically designed forunsigned free agents to show their stuff.
And that’s what Weston did.
“I had one of the best practices I’ve ever had,” Weston says of Thursday’s camp, the first of three straight days of tryouts. “I didn’t want to talk too much about it at first, because I was afraid I might jinx myself. But I noticed the defensive coordinator giving me some pointers, and paying attention to me.”
What really got Weston’s hopes up, though, was when the coaches started calling him by his name and not his number.
HONORED AND PRIVILEGED
When they did finally call his number again, it was his cell phone. The call came less than 30 minutes after the camp ended on Saturday, as Weston was heading back to Fayetteville.
“‘How would you like to be a Kansas City Chief?’” Weston says he recalls the person on the other end asking. “I told them I’d be honored and privileged.”
On Monday afternoon, the 6-1, 237-pound Weston Dacus signed a two-year deal with the Chiefs – a team which didn’t draft a linebacker this season and which has a 7-year veteran at the middle linebacker spot. As of press time on Tuesday, no particulars of the contract had been worked out between Kirschenbaum and the Chiefs.
Even more impressive, Dacus was one of only three players from the Chiefs’ minicamp to receive a free agent contract.
The deal concluded a fairly tumultuous ride for the Dacuses after several teams, including Indianapolis, New England and the New York Jets, among others, had flirted with Weston over the previous months.
“Indianapolis called the Sunday night of the draft,” Robert says. “They told us that Weston would be the very next free agent to be offered, but the roster was full. Storm told them they better do something because he’s fixing to go to Kansas City.”
Robert says as many as nine or 10 teams were high on Weston and he says Houston Nutt told him an additional five or six teams were calling him asking about Weston.
Storm Kirschenbaum says he started paying attention to Weston in his junior season, but he didn’t actually go watch him play until this year’s Cotton Bowl. It was there he became aware of Weston’s potential.
‘I HAD NO IDEA’
“He called me on my cell phone at the game and said, ‘I need to talk to you,’” Robert recalls. “He said, ‘I had no idea how fast he was.’”
At that point, the Dacuses were still very much undecided on an agent, though they had been in contact with Kirschenbaum for the past month or so. Robert, Weston, and Kirschenbaum sat down to discuss Weston’s future.
“I thought Weston might be more comfortable talking to Storm alone so [Robert’s wife] Nancy and I left after about an hour,” Robert says. “When we came back in the room, Weston was saying, ‘Where do I sign?’
“I said, ‘Whoa!’ and Weston said, ‘Dad, this is the guy. He’s straightforward and truthful.’”
That admiration is mutual. Kirschenbaum, who works for Metis Sports Management out of Detroit, says he fell in love with Weston almost immediately.
“It feels like I’ve known him [a long time],” Kirschenbaum says. “I fell in love with the entire family. When you’ve had a little experience in this industry, you get vibes from kids, and Weston’s personality fits the mold of an NFL linebacker. I could see him making an impact on special teams right away.”
And Kirschenbaum doesn’t stop there.
“I see him becoming a mainstay at Kansas City. I could see him as a Pro Bowl player one day.”
Robert says Kirschenbaum stressed Weston’s character to the NFL teams he contacted.
“He was telling them this is the kind of kid you want on your team,” Robert says. “He’s never going to loaf, never going to get in trouble, never going to quit on you. He’s all about football.”
Though Weston started two years at middle linebacker for a Razorback team that reached as high as No. 4 in the nation in 2006, his ranking in the draft languished around 40 or lower as Draft Day neared. But his agent had sent him to a training camp in Nashville to work on various aspects of his game … and it paid off.
MOVING UP
At Pro Day in Fayetteville on March 28, Weston improved his 40-yard-dash time to 4.58, his vertical leap to 37 ½ inches, and his broad jump to 10 feet, 2 inches. His shuttle drill time was the fastest in the nation among middle linebackers. Robert says the Nashville camp was “a lot of money well spent.”
That Pro Day showing quickly moved Weston up the charts of middle linebacker draft prospects, but Kirschenbaum said the timing couldn’t have been worse, that it was difficult to get Weston much exposure.
It also didn’t help that the demand for linebackers was not particularly high in this year’s draft.
“My feeling initially was that Weston wouldn’t get drafted and that he would sign a free agent deal,” Robert says. “But when he started moving up on the ratings on the Internet, people were predicting the sixth or seventh round.”
Which was why when Sunday came and went, Robert was left feeling puzzled and concerned. Robert says Nancy called Weston later that evening and told him that everything happens for a reason, that this was not over by a long shot.
After Weston got word from the Chiefs on Sunday that they wanted him on the team, he called Nancy to confirm her earlier sentiments.
“He told her, ‘Nancy, you were right,’” Robert says. “’There’s no better place for me to be than Kansas City. This is where I need to be.’”
Now, Robert and company will be heading to Kansas City on Sundays. The Searcy optometrist had grown used to taking off Fridays in the fall the past four years to watch Weston and the Razorbacks play each weekend.
“Now, instead of Fridays, I’ll be taking Mondays off,” he said. “We’re going to go watch our son play in the NFL.”
Leader sports editor
Robert Dacus says he knew from the time Weston Dacus was in fourth grade that he was going to play in the National Football League some day.
Maybe it was his son’s intensity or his single-mindedness. Maybe it was the fact he could be heard upstairs in his bedroom shouting at the TV during NFL highlights, or that he taped his ankles for Pee Wee games … just like the pros do. Or the fact that, even in high school, he would forgo a night with friends to watch and re-watch film from that weekend’s Searcy game.
“He’s been saying, ‘I’m going to play in the NFL’ since he was 10 years old,” Robert says.
So, yeah, there was reason to think he might just make it to the big time, especially after the Arkansas Razorback middle linebacker led his team in total tackles over the past two seasons.
It was a week ago Sunday that Robert began to have some doubts about Weston’s dream. Robert and Weston and the entire Dacus clan, along with a couple of Weston’s best friends, gathered at the house of Weston’s older brother, Joe, to watch the draft that weekend and to hopefully hear Weston’s name called. And, barring that, to hear Weston’s phone ring with a free agent offer from a team.
DISAPPOINTED DACUSES
Neither happened.
“We were all a little long-faced when we got in our cars to leave on Sunday,” Robert admits. “You could tell Weston was disappointed.”
Weston’s agent, Storm Kirschenbaum, told Robert that free agents weren’t in as big of demand this season with the demise of the European football league. In fact, free agent signings as of Sunday were somewhere around 100, down from 500 or more in previous seasons.
Still, Weston had just put on an impressive show at Pro Day in Fayetteville, a performance that moved him well up the charts for middle linebackers – from the mid-40s to as high as No. 12 in some rating services.
Robert says he was certain that if any NFL team got a look at his talented boy – the All-State running back from Searcy, the second-leading tackler for the Razorbacks in each of the past two seasons – he was a certainty to be drafted.
“I felt pretty much in my heart that if anybody put eyes on him, and he got to do his thing, he’d get his shot,” Robert says.
Weston finally got that chance last weekend, when he attended the Kansas City Chiefs minicamp, an event specifically designed forunsigned free agents to show their stuff.
And that’s what Weston did.
“I had one of the best practices I’ve ever had,” Weston says of Thursday’s camp, the first of three straight days of tryouts. “I didn’t want to talk too much about it at first, because I was afraid I might jinx myself. But I noticed the defensive coordinator giving me some pointers, and paying attention to me.”
What really got Weston’s hopes up, though, was when the coaches started calling him by his name and not his number.
HONORED AND PRIVILEGED
When they did finally call his number again, it was his cell phone. The call came less than 30 minutes after the camp ended on Saturday, as Weston was heading back to Fayetteville.
“‘How would you like to be a Kansas City Chief?’” Weston says he recalls the person on the other end asking. “I told them I’d be honored and privileged.”
On Monday afternoon, the 6-1, 237-pound Weston Dacus signed a two-year deal with the Chiefs – a team which didn’t draft a linebacker this season and which has a 7-year veteran at the middle linebacker spot. As of press time on Tuesday, no particulars of the contract had been worked out between Kirschenbaum and the Chiefs.
Even more impressive, Dacus was one of only three players from the Chiefs’ minicamp to receive a free agent contract.
The deal concluded a fairly tumultuous ride for the Dacuses after several teams, including Indianapolis, New England and the New York Jets, among others, had flirted with Weston over the previous months.
“Indianapolis called the Sunday night of the draft,” Robert says. “They told us that Weston would be the very next free agent to be offered, but the roster was full. Storm told them they better do something because he’s fixing to go to Kansas City.”
Robert says as many as nine or 10 teams were high on Weston and he says Houston Nutt told him an additional five or six teams were calling him asking about Weston.
Storm Kirschenbaum says he started paying attention to Weston in his junior season, but he didn’t actually go watch him play until this year’s Cotton Bowl. It was there he became aware of Weston’s potential.
‘I HAD NO IDEA’
“He called me on my cell phone at the game and said, ‘I need to talk to you,’” Robert recalls. “He said, ‘I had no idea how fast he was.’”
At that point, the Dacuses were still very much undecided on an agent, though they had been in contact with Kirschenbaum for the past month or so. Robert, Weston, and Kirschenbaum sat down to discuss Weston’s future.
“I thought Weston might be more comfortable talking to Storm alone so [Robert’s wife] Nancy and I left after about an hour,” Robert says. “When we came back in the room, Weston was saying, ‘Where do I sign?’
“I said, ‘Whoa!’ and Weston said, ‘Dad, this is the guy. He’s straightforward and truthful.’”
That admiration is mutual. Kirschenbaum, who works for Metis Sports Management out of Detroit, says he fell in love with Weston almost immediately.
“It feels like I’ve known him [a long time],” Kirschenbaum says. “I fell in love with the entire family. When you’ve had a little experience in this industry, you get vibes from kids, and Weston’s personality fits the mold of an NFL linebacker. I could see him making an impact on special teams right away.”
And Kirschenbaum doesn’t stop there.
“I see him becoming a mainstay at Kansas City. I could see him as a Pro Bowl player one day.”
Robert says Kirschenbaum stressed Weston’s character to the NFL teams he contacted.
“He was telling them this is the kind of kid you want on your team,” Robert says. “He’s never going to loaf, never going to get in trouble, never going to quit on you. He’s all about football.”
Though Weston started two years at middle linebacker for a Razorback team that reached as high as No. 4 in the nation in 2006, his ranking in the draft languished around 40 or lower as Draft Day neared. But his agent had sent him to a training camp in Nashville to work on various aspects of his game … and it paid off.
MOVING UP
At Pro Day in Fayetteville on March 28, Weston improved his 40-yard-dash time to 4.58, his vertical leap to 37 ½ inches, and his broad jump to 10 feet, 2 inches. His shuttle drill time was the fastest in the nation among middle linebackers. Robert says the Nashville camp was “a lot of money well spent.”
That Pro Day showing quickly moved Weston up the charts of middle linebacker draft prospects, but Kirschenbaum said the timing couldn’t have been worse, that it was difficult to get Weston much exposure.
It also didn’t help that the demand for linebackers was not particularly high in this year’s draft.
“My feeling initially was that Weston wouldn’t get drafted and that he would sign a free agent deal,” Robert says. “But when he started moving up on the ratings on the Internet, people were predicting the sixth or seventh round.”
Which was why when Sunday came and went, Robert was left feeling puzzled and concerned. Robert says Nancy called Weston later that evening and told him that everything happens for a reason, that this was not over by a long shot.
After Weston got word from the Chiefs on Sunday that they wanted him on the team, he called Nancy to confirm her earlier sentiments.
“He told her, ‘Nancy, you were right,’” Robert says. “’There’s no better place for me to be than Kansas City. This is where I need to be.’”
Now, Robert and company will be heading to Kansas City on Sundays. The Searcy optometrist had grown used to taking off Fridays in the fall the past four years to watch Weston and the Razorbacks play each weekend.
“Now, instead of Fridays, I’ll be taking Mondays off,” he said. “We’re going to go watch our son play in the NFL.”
Friday, May 02, 2008
EDITORIAL >>PCSSD’s war on Jacksonville
The Pulaski County Special School District continues its war against Jacksonville. The latest outrage is a refusal by PCSSD officials to approve two grant applications for Jacksonville schools, which were seeking federal grants for enrichment programs that the district refused to submit for approval.
The children were denied access to $150,000 in-tended for Kareer Kids Child Development Center in partnership with Warren Dupree Elementary School and money for an after-school summer program at Jacksonville Boys Middle School.
Since the city wants to break away from PCSSD, why channel money to local kids? The district is telling Jacksonville patrons: Drop dead.
Through its actions, the Pulaski County Special School District has confirmed once again what Jack-sonville patrons have suspected for years: The district doesn’t give a hoot about the students in the area and never will. PCSSD is punishing the children for the sins of their parents, who believe that in a smaller district, they would improve education standards and have better facilities than the decrepit buildings their children attend now.
Jacksonville has felt cut off from the district for a long time and has gone to court to win approval for a Jacksonville-area school district. It’s an uphill battle, but what can they lose? There’s little chance the Pulaski County Special School District will ever treat them fairly or care about their community. (District officials almost never return our phone calls.)
Patrons can save their schools by working harder to win court approval for their independent district.
The children were denied access to $150,000 in-tended for Kareer Kids Child Development Center in partnership with Warren Dupree Elementary School and money for an after-school summer program at Jacksonville Boys Middle School.
Since the city wants to break away from PCSSD, why channel money to local kids? The district is telling Jacksonville patrons: Drop dead.
Through its actions, the Pulaski County Special School District has confirmed once again what Jack-sonville patrons have suspected for years: The district doesn’t give a hoot about the students in the area and never will. PCSSD is punishing the children for the sins of their parents, who believe that in a smaller district, they would improve education standards and have better facilities than the decrepit buildings their children attend now.
Jacksonville has felt cut off from the district for a long time and has gone to court to win approval for a Jacksonville-area school district. It’s an uphill battle, but what can they lose? There’s little chance the Pulaski County Special School District will ever treat them fairly or care about their community. (District officials almost never return our phone calls.)
Patrons can save their schools by working harder to win court approval for their independent district.
TOP STORY > >Audit finds more problems in Cabot parks’ books
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
The State Police investigation into Cabot Parks that started this week will include several thousand dollars held out of employees’ paychecks for state taxes but not paid to the state.
The exact amount that was withheld but not remitted is unclear, though one source said it was about $13,000.
Mike Brannon, chairman of the commission that runs the parks, said he should have more information later, but it is likely that the unpaid tax bill is connected to the embezzlement by a park bookkeeper.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a tremendous amount, but it’s going to be some,” Brannon said. “I think it happened when all the other stuff did.”
Lonoke County Prosecutor Lona McCastlain called for the State Police investigation in January after Sarah Michelle Rye, a former bookkeeper for the parks department, admitted to embezzling $8,063.44 by writing herself duplicate paychecks over a two-year period.
Brannon said he doesn’t think that sort of thing will happen again. He also believes the parks commission, which has four new members who were appointed since Mayor Eddie Joe Williams took office, is taking a more hands-on approach to the parks’ finances, especially since a shortfall at the end of 2007 required the commission to ask the city for about $100,000 to start 2008.
“The people on the board right now – all of them – it’s like we’re not going to put up with this stuff anymore,” Brannon said.
Carroll Astin, hired as parks director about 10 years ago, resigned in April, saying he had been a public servant most of his adult life and it was time to move on to the private sector.
Rye was sentenced in circuit court April 9 to five years probation, three of which are supervised. At the end of the five years, she may petition the court to have her criminal record sealed.
Rye also had to make restitution of $8,063.44 that day and pay a fine of $500 and other fees, including $150 court cost and $250 for DNA testing.
If the State Police investigation shows that Rye is connected to the failure to remit the state income tax and she is found guilty of other felony charges, she would face jail time and lose her ability to petition the court to have her record sealed.
Larry Tarrant, the program director for parks, took over as interim director when Astin resigned and is one of nine applicants for the director’s position.
Tarrant attended the regular commission meeting Thursday and talked about ways to increase revenue and cut down on expenses.
To increase revenue, for example, Camp Cabot, parks’ summer daycare program, will cost $12 this year instead of $5. To cut down on cost, Tarrant proposed giving up sponsorship of Strawberry Fest, which he said lost money for parks this year.
Instead, Tarrant proposed leasing the space for the festival but asking a nonprofit organization to host the annual event.
Leader staff writer
The State Police investigation into Cabot Parks that started this week will include several thousand dollars held out of employees’ paychecks for state taxes but not paid to the state.
The exact amount that was withheld but not remitted is unclear, though one source said it was about $13,000.
Mike Brannon, chairman of the commission that runs the parks, said he should have more information later, but it is likely that the unpaid tax bill is connected to the embezzlement by a park bookkeeper.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a tremendous amount, but it’s going to be some,” Brannon said. “I think it happened when all the other stuff did.”
Lonoke County Prosecutor Lona McCastlain called for the State Police investigation in January after Sarah Michelle Rye, a former bookkeeper for the parks department, admitted to embezzling $8,063.44 by writing herself duplicate paychecks over a two-year period.
Brannon said he doesn’t think that sort of thing will happen again. He also believes the parks commission, which has four new members who were appointed since Mayor Eddie Joe Williams took office, is taking a more hands-on approach to the parks’ finances, especially since a shortfall at the end of 2007 required the commission to ask the city for about $100,000 to start 2008.
“The people on the board right now – all of them – it’s like we’re not going to put up with this stuff anymore,” Brannon said.
Carroll Astin, hired as parks director about 10 years ago, resigned in April, saying he had been a public servant most of his adult life and it was time to move on to the private sector.
Rye was sentenced in circuit court April 9 to five years probation, three of which are supervised. At the end of the five years, she may petition the court to have her criminal record sealed.
Rye also had to make restitution of $8,063.44 that day and pay a fine of $500 and other fees, including $150 court cost and $250 for DNA testing.
If the State Police investigation shows that Rye is connected to the failure to remit the state income tax and she is found guilty of other felony charges, she would face jail time and lose her ability to petition the court to have her record sealed.
Larry Tarrant, the program director for parks, took over as interim director when Astin resigned and is one of nine applicants for the director’s position.
Tarrant attended the regular commission meeting Thursday and talked about ways to increase revenue and cut down on expenses.
To increase revenue, for example, Camp Cabot, parks’ summer daycare program, will cost $12 this year instead of $5. To cut down on cost, Tarrant proposed giving up sponsorship of Strawberry Fest, which he said lost money for parks this year.
Instead, Tarrant proposed leasing the space for the festival but asking a nonprofit organization to host the annual event.
TOP STORY > >Tornadoes, storms slam through area
By THERESA KOMOR
AND JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writers
The little town of Carlisle is now shut down. A tornado tore through the center of town Friday, three city blocks wide by a mile long, leaving behind downed trees, power lines and debris, leaving residents without power.
Despite the widespread destruction, no one was seriously injured.
“There is a 9 p.m. curfew tonight and tomorrow,” said Chief Eric Frank of the Carlisle Police Department as he surveyed the damage Friday afternoon.
“Right now, we are not restricting access to any part of the town, but you have to be careful of the downed lines,” said Frank.
“Our chief concern was getting the students out of the school after the tornado went through, which wasn’t easy because of the power lines and trees blocking the roads,” he said.
But, everyone got out safely.
He said an advanced warning system alerted the town’s residents to get out of harm’s way.
The tornado was three blocks wide and touched down for about a mile through town, the chief said.
Kathy Zasimovich, from the state Office of Emergency Management, was in Carlisle to help the town coordinate the efforts to clear roadways and make sure everyone was safe. “There are no injuries and no fatalities,” she said.
“The main line into the town is Line 104, and Entergy shut it off in Little Rock,” said Zasimovich.
Entergy crews were expected to arrive Saturday to move the downed lines. Entergy will not declare the town safe until then.
Alta Snider’s home had a tree limb go through the roof and into her dining room.
The home is safe, as long as it doesn’t rain. The tree that fell on her house was quickly removed and the hole covered with tarp by volunteer workers.
There was damage to several area homes and mobile homes and to the roof of the fire station, according to Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman, who had a backhoe, chainsaw and some county workers standing by for downed electrical lines to be cleared, he said Friday afternoon.
“We can’t get our equipment in,” he said.
“There’s some damage but nothing earthshaking,” Troutman added.
Most of the damage appeared to be confined to the area east of Hwy. 13, toward Carlisle schools.
Emmanuelle Baptist Church and the Methodist Family Life Center were setting up relief stations for the town’s 2,500 residents.
There will be food and water available there.
Structural damage was done to some homes around the Hwy. 13-Hwy. 70 intersection, Troutman said.
“Out toward Keo, one house on Hwy. 15 was damaged, several farm shops and a lot of equipment,” the judge said.
Lonoke itself received no significant damage, a city worker said, and Cabot seemed to have escaped any major damage.
Lt. James Kulesa of the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office said additional officers, county deputies, and state troopers will be patrolling the areas and anyone who does not live in the areas will be asked to leave.
Lonoke County Sheriff Jim Roberson said, “I cannot thank enough all the agencies and citizens who came together today to ensure the safety and welfare of Lonoke’s citizens. I also ask people to cooperate and remain clear of these areas until it is safe.”
Seven people died in tornadoes in Arkansas on Friday.
For area information, residents may call the Carlisle Police Department at 870-552-7893.
AND JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writers
The little town of Carlisle is now shut down. A tornado tore through the center of town Friday, three city blocks wide by a mile long, leaving behind downed trees, power lines and debris, leaving residents without power.
Despite the widespread destruction, no one was seriously injured.
“There is a 9 p.m. curfew tonight and tomorrow,” said Chief Eric Frank of the Carlisle Police Department as he surveyed the damage Friday afternoon.
“Right now, we are not restricting access to any part of the town, but you have to be careful of the downed lines,” said Frank.
“Our chief concern was getting the students out of the school after the tornado went through, which wasn’t easy because of the power lines and trees blocking the roads,” he said.
But, everyone got out safely.
He said an advanced warning system alerted the town’s residents to get out of harm’s way.
The tornado was three blocks wide and touched down for about a mile through town, the chief said.
Kathy Zasimovich, from the state Office of Emergency Management, was in Carlisle to help the town coordinate the efforts to clear roadways and make sure everyone was safe. “There are no injuries and no fatalities,” she said.
“The main line into the town is Line 104, and Entergy shut it off in Little Rock,” said Zasimovich.
Entergy crews were expected to arrive Saturday to move the downed lines. Entergy will not declare the town safe until then.
Alta Snider’s home had a tree limb go through the roof and into her dining room.
The home is safe, as long as it doesn’t rain. The tree that fell on her house was quickly removed and the hole covered with tarp by volunteer workers.
There was damage to several area homes and mobile homes and to the roof of the fire station, according to Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman, who had a backhoe, chainsaw and some county workers standing by for downed electrical lines to be cleared, he said Friday afternoon.
“We can’t get our equipment in,” he said.
“There’s some damage but nothing earthshaking,” Troutman added.
Most of the damage appeared to be confined to the area east of Hwy. 13, toward Carlisle schools.
Emmanuelle Baptist Church and the Methodist Family Life Center were setting up relief stations for the town’s 2,500 residents.
There will be food and water available there.
Structural damage was done to some homes around the Hwy. 13-Hwy. 70 intersection, Troutman said.
“Out toward Keo, one house on Hwy. 15 was damaged, several farm shops and a lot of equipment,” the judge said.
Lonoke itself received no significant damage, a city worker said, and Cabot seemed to have escaped any major damage.
Lt. James Kulesa of the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office said additional officers, county deputies, and state troopers will be patrolling the areas and anyone who does not live in the areas will be asked to leave.
Lonoke County Sheriff Jim Roberson said, “I cannot thank enough all the agencies and citizens who came together today to ensure the safety and welfare of Lonoke’s citizens. I also ask people to cooperate and remain clear of these areas until it is safe.”
Seven people died in tornadoes in Arkansas on Friday.
For area information, residents may call the Carlisle Police Department at 870-552-7893.
TOP STORY > >Races for judges in White County
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
In White County, Circuit Judge Bill Mills, 17th Judicial District, is not running for reelection. The candidates for that position are Mark Derrick, the city attorney in Beebe, and Tom Hughes, former district court judge in Beebe.
Since the 17th Judicial District also includes Prairie County, voters there will help determine the winner in the May 20 voting.
The death of Searcy District Judge Phil Shoffner in February created a vacancy temporarily filled by Watson Bell, who was appointed by the governor.
Now, four lawyers are vying for the position: State Rep. Mark Pate of Bald Knob and Greg Niblock, Phyllis Worley and Robert Hudgins, all of Searcy.
White County has district courts in Searcy and Beebe, but voters all across the county get to decide who presides over them.
In Beebe, however, there is no choice to make. Judge Teresa Hughes is unopposed for the district court there.
Leader staff writer
In White County, Circuit Judge Bill Mills, 17th Judicial District, is not running for reelection. The candidates for that position are Mark Derrick, the city attorney in Beebe, and Tom Hughes, former district court judge in Beebe.
Since the 17th Judicial District also includes Prairie County, voters there will help determine the winner in the May 20 voting.
The death of Searcy District Judge Phil Shoffner in February created a vacancy temporarily filled by Watson Bell, who was appointed by the governor.
Now, four lawyers are vying for the position: State Rep. Mark Pate of Bald Knob and Greg Niblock, Phyllis Worley and Robert Hudgins, all of Searcy.
White County has district courts in Searcy and Beebe, but voters all across the county get to decide who presides over them.
In Beebe, however, there is no choice to make. Judge Teresa Hughes is unopposed for the district court there.
TOP STORY > >Jacksonville to spend Gravel Ridge money
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
What to do with a million dollars? That was the question before the Jacksonville City Council Thursday night.
The city had been holding back about that much in anticipation of annexing Gravel Ridge, but that community opted to join Sherwood instead.
“We have no deadline on spending this money,” Mayor Tommy Swaim told the council, “but it is one-time money, so it can’t be used on salaries. It needs to be used on capital improvement projects.”
The mayor presented the council with four major road projects ranging from $2.1 million to just under $500,000 that the money could help fund.
“We’ve had these four projects in mind for quite a while, and they need to be done sooner or later,” the mayor said.
The project ideas include a 2,200-foot extension of Oneida south toward the proposed North Belt Loop.
“This project would help with flooding with the area and give us earlier access to land the Stone Ridge developer is going to give the city for a park. The extension would run from Main Street south to Oneida, giving the city better access to North Lake subdivision.
Looking at the map, Alderman Terry Sansing said that the extension would also open up a lot of land for development even though drainage and flooding would be issues.
The cost of the project is estimated at $2.18 million. More than half of that is for a needed bridge over the Bayou Meto. “We can probably get some bridge construction money from the county to help us,” the mayor said.
Another option the council looked at was the realignment of West Main Street to take out dangerous double curves. The estimated cost of the project is $920,330. The project would involving a new 2,100-foot portion of Main Street and the placement of a large four-lane box culvert, effectively moving a segment of West Main Street to the south. This would also open up some land for development.
A third project the council looked at was extending Emma Street north from West Main Street to General Samuels. This would be a 1,400-foot extension, opening up land for development and giving residents another way to move between Main and General Samuels Road. The cost is estimated at $471,110.
Another possible use for the Gravel Ridge money is to make the intersection of West Main and Harris Road safer by adding a traffic signal light and doing some necessary roadwork.
“This is a very busy intersection,” the mayor said, “and the site of fatalities in the past. We are going to have to fix this intersection sooner or later.” The estimated cost of the project is $463,174.
City Administrator Jay Whisker added that none of the estimates include the cost of buying needed property for the required rights-of-way.
“These are four projects we have been looking at. This doesn’t mean there aren’t others,” the mayor said.
And other projects are what Alderman Bob Stroud had in mind. “These are all good projects and I wish we could do them all right now. But we need to look at the biggest bang for our bucks for our residents to see…something downtown,” he said.
Stroud added that he’d like to look at some other things before voting.
The mayor reiterated that the city was not under any deadline and not locked into any one project.
Leader staff writer
What to do with a million dollars? That was the question before the Jacksonville City Council Thursday night.
The city had been holding back about that much in anticipation of annexing Gravel Ridge, but that community opted to join Sherwood instead.
“We have no deadline on spending this money,” Mayor Tommy Swaim told the council, “but it is one-time money, so it can’t be used on salaries. It needs to be used on capital improvement projects.”
The mayor presented the council with four major road projects ranging from $2.1 million to just under $500,000 that the money could help fund.
“We’ve had these four projects in mind for quite a while, and they need to be done sooner or later,” the mayor said.
The project ideas include a 2,200-foot extension of Oneida south toward the proposed North Belt Loop.
“This project would help with flooding with the area and give us earlier access to land the Stone Ridge developer is going to give the city for a park. The extension would run from Main Street south to Oneida, giving the city better access to North Lake subdivision.
Looking at the map, Alderman Terry Sansing said that the extension would also open up a lot of land for development even though drainage and flooding would be issues.
The cost of the project is estimated at $2.18 million. More than half of that is for a needed bridge over the Bayou Meto. “We can probably get some bridge construction money from the county to help us,” the mayor said.
Another option the council looked at was the realignment of West Main Street to take out dangerous double curves. The estimated cost of the project is $920,330. The project would involving a new 2,100-foot portion of Main Street and the placement of a large four-lane box culvert, effectively moving a segment of West Main Street to the south. This would also open up some land for development.
A third project the council looked at was extending Emma Street north from West Main Street to General Samuels. This would be a 1,400-foot extension, opening up land for development and giving residents another way to move between Main and General Samuels Road. The cost is estimated at $471,110.
Another possible use for the Gravel Ridge money is to make the intersection of West Main and Harris Road safer by adding a traffic signal light and doing some necessary roadwork.
“This is a very busy intersection,” the mayor said, “and the site of fatalities in the past. We are going to have to fix this intersection sooner or later.” The estimated cost of the project is $463,174.
City Administrator Jay Whisker added that none of the estimates include the cost of buying needed property for the required rights-of-way.
“These are four projects we have been looking at. This doesn’t mean there aren’t others,” the mayor said.
And other projects are what Alderman Bob Stroud had in mind. “These are all good projects and I wish we could do them all right now. But we need to look at the biggest bang for our bucks for our residents to see…something downtown,” he said.
Stroud added that he’d like to look at some other things before voting.
The mayor reiterated that the city was not under any deadline and not locked into any one project.
TOP STORY > >Early voting set to begin on Monday
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
When early voting in the May preferential primary elections gets underway Monday, Lonoke County voters will decide on a sales tax to build a new jail and also choose between a sitting circuit judge being challenged by the prosecuting attorney for a circuit judgeship.
Meanwhile, in Pulaski County, the county judge is being challenged both in the primary and, if he wins, in the general election.
Lonoke County long ago outgrew its decrepit jail and officials have been trying for years to expand and update the existing jail or to build a new one. The quorum court voted unanimously to put the sales tax before voters in the primary election and a meeting of the county Republican Party signed off on the tax nearly unanimously.
Lonoke Republicans, who usually work against new taxes, have gotten behind the effort to pass the one-cent, 12-month sales tax, expected to raise about $5 million for the construction of a new, 140-bed jail.
No one seems to think a new jail isn’t necessary. Those who oppose it seem to think it should be paid for in some other fashion.
CIRCUIT JUDGE HOPEFULS
Circuit Judge Lance Hanshaw is retiring after 30 years on the bench and all three circuit judgeships are up for grabs. By state law, the primary serves as the election of record for all judgeships, which are nonpartisan.
That said, candidates Lona McCastlain and Chuck Graham have been active in Lonoke County Republican politics. McCastlain, the Lonoke County prosecutor, will serve out the final two years of her four-year term if she fails to beat Judge Philip Whiteaker in the race for the Division 2 judgeship. If she wins, Gov. Mike Beebe will appoint a Lonoke County prosecutor to serve out her term.
McCastlain successfully prosecuted former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell and his wife Kelly Harrison Campbell on a variety of drug and theft charges last year.
Whiteaker has been reelected without opposition since he won over Cabot District Judge Joe O’Bryan 11 years ago.
Graham, who serves as a deputy prosecutor under McCastlain, is running against Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore for the Division 1 circuit judgeship. Elmore served as district judge until Beebe appointed her circuit judge beginning last July after the state Legislature created a third division in Lonoke County.
Sandy Huckabee, Hanshaw’s son-in-law, is running unopposed for the Division 3 judgeship.
PULASKI JAIL CONCERNS
Dissatisfaction with the current, 880-bed Pulaski County Detention Center has spilled over into both the Democratic primary and November general election races for County Judge.
County Judge Buddy Villines, 60, seeking his sixth two-year term, is being challenged for the second consecutive time by Buddy York, 70, a bail bondsman in the Democratic primary.
In the November general election, the winner will face Phil Wyrick, 58, a businessman, former legislator and former head of the state’s Livestock and Poultry Commission.
York, a bail bondsman for 30 years, says he would “cut off some of the fat from all of the departments,” to fund expansion of the jail.
LONOKE
On the Lonoke County Quorum Court, these races will be on the primary ballot: In the Republican Primary, District 2, JP Jannette Minton against Larry Ridgeway; District 3, JP Larry Odom against Lisa F. Shotts; District 4, JP Donna Pedersen against Tim Lemons; District 6, JP Alexis Malham against Harry Roderick.
Davy Carter of Cabot faces Randy Minton of Ward in the Republican Primary for the state Representative 48 seat currently held by Susan Schulte. Schulte can’t run again because of term limits. The winner of this race faces John W. Harty, a Cabot independent.
Tom Raley and Steven Meck-fessel, both of Sherwood, are competing for the Republican nomination for the state Representative seat now held by Jeff Wood. The winner will face Democrat Jim Nickels.
These races will be on the ballot for the Democratic Primary: District 7, Adam Sims against Robert I. Depriest III; District 8, JP Roger Dale Lynch against Richard Kyzer; District 10, Wes Clement, Ronald L. Evans and Bill Ryker.
Kyzer recently moved and resigned from the quorum court, but will now challenge Lynch for the District 6 seat.
If no one wins more than 50 percent of the vote in the District 10 race between Clement, Evans and Ryker, it will be settled in a June 10 runoff election.
PULASKI EARLY VOTING
Early voting sites include Jacksonville City Hall, Jack Evans Senior Center in Sherwood and in Little Rock, a new site at the Pulaski County Regional Building at 501 Markham St, across Broadway from the previous early voting site, the Pulaski County Courthouse.
Early voting at Jacksonville and Sherwood sites will be weekdays, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday, May 17 is the last day of early voting.
At the Pulaski County Regional Building, voters can go weekdays, 8 a.m.- 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The last day for early voting at this site will be Monday, May 19, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Moving early voting from the Pulaski County Courthouse to the Regional Building will help alleviate overcrowding in the courthouse and also voters won’t have to go through the metal detectors, according to Susan Inman, election coordinator.
LONOKE EARLY VOTING
In Lonoke County, early voting will be at the Lonoke County Courthouse and in Cabot at the Veterans Park Community Center, according to Larry Clarke, chairman of the Lonoke County Election Commission.
Early voting at the courthouse will be weekdays from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. through Monday, May 19.
Voting at the community center in Cabot will be weekdays from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Leader senior staff writer
When early voting in the May preferential primary elections gets underway Monday, Lonoke County voters will decide on a sales tax to build a new jail and also choose between a sitting circuit judge being challenged by the prosecuting attorney for a circuit judgeship.
Meanwhile, in Pulaski County, the county judge is being challenged both in the primary and, if he wins, in the general election.
Lonoke County long ago outgrew its decrepit jail and officials have been trying for years to expand and update the existing jail or to build a new one. The quorum court voted unanimously to put the sales tax before voters in the primary election and a meeting of the county Republican Party signed off on the tax nearly unanimously.
Lonoke Republicans, who usually work against new taxes, have gotten behind the effort to pass the one-cent, 12-month sales tax, expected to raise about $5 million for the construction of a new, 140-bed jail.
No one seems to think a new jail isn’t necessary. Those who oppose it seem to think it should be paid for in some other fashion.
CIRCUIT JUDGE HOPEFULS
Circuit Judge Lance Hanshaw is retiring after 30 years on the bench and all three circuit judgeships are up for grabs. By state law, the primary serves as the election of record for all judgeships, which are nonpartisan.
That said, candidates Lona McCastlain and Chuck Graham have been active in Lonoke County Republican politics. McCastlain, the Lonoke County prosecutor, will serve out the final two years of her four-year term if she fails to beat Judge Philip Whiteaker in the race for the Division 2 judgeship. If she wins, Gov. Mike Beebe will appoint a Lonoke County prosecutor to serve out her term.
McCastlain successfully prosecuted former Lonoke Police Chief Jay Campbell and his wife Kelly Harrison Campbell on a variety of drug and theft charges last year.
Whiteaker has been reelected without opposition since he won over Cabot District Judge Joe O’Bryan 11 years ago.
Graham, who serves as a deputy prosecutor under McCastlain, is running against Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore for the Division 1 circuit judgeship. Elmore served as district judge until Beebe appointed her circuit judge beginning last July after the state Legislature created a third division in Lonoke County.
Sandy Huckabee, Hanshaw’s son-in-law, is running unopposed for the Division 3 judgeship.
PULASKI JAIL CONCERNS
Dissatisfaction with the current, 880-bed Pulaski County Detention Center has spilled over into both the Democratic primary and November general election races for County Judge.
County Judge Buddy Villines, 60, seeking his sixth two-year term, is being challenged for the second consecutive time by Buddy York, 70, a bail bondsman in the Democratic primary.
In the November general election, the winner will face Phil Wyrick, 58, a businessman, former legislator and former head of the state’s Livestock and Poultry Commission.
York, a bail bondsman for 30 years, says he would “cut off some of the fat from all of the departments,” to fund expansion of the jail.
LONOKE
On the Lonoke County Quorum Court, these races will be on the primary ballot: In the Republican Primary, District 2, JP Jannette Minton against Larry Ridgeway; District 3, JP Larry Odom against Lisa F. Shotts; District 4, JP Donna Pedersen against Tim Lemons; District 6, JP Alexis Malham against Harry Roderick.
Davy Carter of Cabot faces Randy Minton of Ward in the Republican Primary for the state Representative 48 seat currently held by Susan Schulte. Schulte can’t run again because of term limits. The winner of this race faces John W. Harty, a Cabot independent.
Tom Raley and Steven Meck-fessel, both of Sherwood, are competing for the Republican nomination for the state Representative seat now held by Jeff Wood. The winner will face Democrat Jim Nickels.
These races will be on the ballot for the Democratic Primary: District 7, Adam Sims against Robert I. Depriest III; District 8, JP Roger Dale Lynch against Richard Kyzer; District 10, Wes Clement, Ronald L. Evans and Bill Ryker.
Kyzer recently moved and resigned from the quorum court, but will now challenge Lynch for the District 6 seat.
If no one wins more than 50 percent of the vote in the District 10 race between Clement, Evans and Ryker, it will be settled in a June 10 runoff election.
PULASKI EARLY VOTING
Early voting sites include Jacksonville City Hall, Jack Evans Senior Center in Sherwood and in Little Rock, a new site at the Pulaski County Regional Building at 501 Markham St, across Broadway from the previous early voting site, the Pulaski County Courthouse.
Early voting at Jacksonville and Sherwood sites will be weekdays, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday, May 17 is the last day of early voting.
At the Pulaski County Regional Building, voters can go weekdays, 8 a.m.- 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The last day for early voting at this site will be Monday, May 19, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Moving early voting from the Pulaski County Courthouse to the Regional Building will help alleviate overcrowding in the courthouse and also voters won’t have to go through the metal detectors, according to Susan Inman, election coordinator.
LONOKE EARLY VOTING
In Lonoke County, early voting will be at the Lonoke County Courthouse and in Cabot at the Veterans Park Community Center, according to Larry Clarke, chairman of the Lonoke County Election Commission.
Early voting at the courthouse will be weekdays from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. through Monday, May 19.
Voting at the community center in Cabot will be weekdays from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
SPORTS>>In search of a repeat performance
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
For the second straight year, both Searcy teams will play for the 6A state soccer championship in Fayetteville at Lady’Back Field. The Lions and Lady Lions both won the title last year, and have a chance to make history today by winning back-to-back crowns.
The Lions will enter Saturday’s championship match against Mountain Home with a 20-2-2 record. After clinching their second straight conference title in April, they cruised through the playoffs over the week with a 4-0 second-round win over Benton, and recorded another shutout over Texarkana in the semifinals 3-0.
The Bombers have the distinction of being the only 6A East opponent to hand a loss to Searcy during the regular season. Their only other loss came at the hands of 7A quarterfinalist Russellville.
The Lions are led offensively by freshman Steven Seitz, who comes into the title game with 14 goals for the season. Junior Brandon West is a close second with 11 goals, and another freshman, Isca Garcia, has eight goals on the season.
“We’re pretty well balanced,” Searcy coach Jeff Davis said. “We know what (Mountain Home’s) strengths are, and our kids know what to expect.”
Davis says that he has no shortage of capable scorers, but it’s the Lions’ defensive prowess that has gotten them to this point.
Senior goalkeeper Ryan Wilburn leads that front. Wilburn has posted 10 shutouts this season, including both playoff games, and had a four-save performance against Texarkana in Tuesday’s semifinal game.
“He has had some key saves in a couple of games,” Davis said. “But our defensive four in the front is such a quality bunch, that he doesn’t have to make a lot of saves. Our defense has played well all season; they do not allow a lot of goals.”
For the second straight year, Jonesboro stands in the way of the Lady Lions and a state championship. They downed the Lady Hurricane in a thrilling 3-1 championship match in 2007, and Searcy coach Cindy Emfinger said her squad should be even more comfortable entering this year’s game. Only two players graduated from last year’s team, and Emfinger is hoping the experience will pay off.
“We know what to expect a lot more this year,” Emfinger said. “Things won’t be quite as suspenseful for us. There will always be nerves before any game, but the overall anxiety should be diminished.
The Lady Lions are 19-2-1. They went 12-0 through their East schedule this season to capture their second-straight league title, and have already beaten Jonesboro three times this year.
McKenzie Clark, Jamie Lancaster, Rachel Mina and Lindsey McGary are Searcy’s biggest scoring threats. The Lady Lions outscored conference opponents by a total of 80-2 over a 12-game span.
Three different players have spent time in front of the net for the Lady Lions this year. Jordan Fust, Aly Eaves and Rachel Brumon have started at goalkeeper.
“Everyone is on an even playing level now,” Emfinger said. “No one team has any advantage or disadvantage. We’ve been trying to guard against having any false senses of security. Jonesboro is a really tough team to play, and we don’t want to be overconfident and end up not being prepared.
The Lady Lions will take on Jonesboro at 4 p.m. today, followed by the boys match at 6 p.m.
Leader sportswriter
For the second straight year, both Searcy teams will play for the 6A state soccer championship in Fayetteville at Lady’Back Field. The Lions and Lady Lions both won the title last year, and have a chance to make history today by winning back-to-back crowns.
The Lions will enter Saturday’s championship match against Mountain Home with a 20-2-2 record. After clinching their second straight conference title in April, they cruised through the playoffs over the week with a 4-0 second-round win over Benton, and recorded another shutout over Texarkana in the semifinals 3-0.
The Bombers have the distinction of being the only 6A East opponent to hand a loss to Searcy during the regular season. Their only other loss came at the hands of 7A quarterfinalist Russellville.
The Lions are led offensively by freshman Steven Seitz, who comes into the title game with 14 goals for the season. Junior Brandon West is a close second with 11 goals, and another freshman, Isca Garcia, has eight goals on the season.
“We’re pretty well balanced,” Searcy coach Jeff Davis said. “We know what (Mountain Home’s) strengths are, and our kids know what to expect.”
Davis says that he has no shortage of capable scorers, but it’s the Lions’ defensive prowess that has gotten them to this point.
Senior goalkeeper Ryan Wilburn leads that front. Wilburn has posted 10 shutouts this season, including both playoff games, and had a four-save performance against Texarkana in Tuesday’s semifinal game.
“He has had some key saves in a couple of games,” Davis said. “But our defensive four in the front is such a quality bunch, that he doesn’t have to make a lot of saves. Our defense has played well all season; they do not allow a lot of goals.”
For the second straight year, Jonesboro stands in the way of the Lady Lions and a state championship. They downed the Lady Hurricane in a thrilling 3-1 championship match in 2007, and Searcy coach Cindy Emfinger said her squad should be even more comfortable entering this year’s game. Only two players graduated from last year’s team, and Emfinger is hoping the experience will pay off.
“We know what to expect a lot more this year,” Emfinger said. “Things won’t be quite as suspenseful for us. There will always be nerves before any game, but the overall anxiety should be diminished.
The Lady Lions are 19-2-1. They went 12-0 through their East schedule this season to capture their second-straight league title, and have already beaten Jonesboro three times this year.
McKenzie Clark, Jamie Lancaster, Rachel Mina and Lindsey McGary are Searcy’s biggest scoring threats. The Lady Lions outscored conference opponents by a total of 80-2 over a 12-game span.
Three different players have spent time in front of the net for the Lady Lions this year. Jordan Fust, Aly Eaves and Rachel Brumon have started at goalkeeper.
“Everyone is on an even playing level now,” Emfinger said. “No one team has any advantage or disadvantage. We’ve been trying to guard against having any false senses of security. Jonesboro is a really tough team to play, and we don’t want to be overconfident and end up not being prepared.
The Lady Lions will take on Jonesboro at 4 p.m. today, followed by the boys match at 6 p.m.
SPORTS>>Panthers grab a critical win over Cyclones
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
You could do a whole lot worse than drawing a comparison to Willie Mays.
But that was the inevitable response to a spectacular over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-infield, falling-down catch by Cabot’s Drew Burks on Tuesday in the Panthers’ dramatic, nine-inning 7-6 win over Russellville.
“Phenomenal,” said Cabot head coach Jay Fitch of the acrobatic catch that saved at least two runs in the first inning. “It was almost better than (Mays’ famous over-the-shoulder catch). Willie made it standing up. Drew just full laid out and caught it over his shoulder. One of the best plays in my high school career.”
Cabot finally won the game when Jackson Chism laced a walk-off single down the right-field line with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. It was a critical win in the race for the final state tournament berth from the 7A Central. It completed a season-sweep of Russellville.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, they followed the rousing win over the Cyclones with a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to second-place Conway on Thursday when the Wampus Cats rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the sixth and seventh innings. The 1-1 week for the Panthers pushed their record to 3-8 in league play, and still very much in the race for the sixth and final state tournament berth.
They currently lead 2-10 Little Rock Central by 1 ½ games, and Russellville by two games. The Panthers (11-11 overall) travel to first-place Little Rock Catholic on Monday and finish the regular season with what could prove to be a do-or-die finale with Central. Central beat Cabot earlier this season.
“We’ve got to win one more game to get in there and get a shot [in the state tournament],” Fitch said.
Against Russellville, the Panthers got a sterling relief performance from winning sophomore pitcher Tyler Erickson, who allowed only one hit over five shutout innings. Burks and catcher Ben Wainright bailed Erickson out of his only jam after Kyle Johnson led off Russellville’s seventh with a triple to center.
Nathan Cathcart sent what appeared to be a tie-breaking sacrifice fly to Burks in right field. But Burks delivered a one-hop throw a couple of feet up the third-base line, which Wainright caught and held on to as Johnson bulled into him and knocked him over. The big-hitting Johnson was not only out on the play, but was tossed from the game for running into the catcher.
“Ben’s a tough kid and just works his tail off,” Fitch said. “And that’s why Drew Burks is a Division I prospect, because he makes those kinds of plays. That was a big, big turning point in that game.”
Cathcart had battled Erickson goose egg for goose egg in relief after coming on in the fourth inning. Russellville jumped to a 1-0 lead, but an error, two wild pitches and Sam Bates’ ground out tied it in the bottom of the inning.
The Cyclones led again 2-1 in the third, but Cabot collected three of its seven hits in the bottom half to claim the lead. Powell Bryant singled, stole second and scored on Burks’ single to left. Bates brought him home with a base hit.
But Russellville cashed in a pair of Cabot errors for four runs in the fourth to reclaim the lead, 6-3.
Chism and Shayne Burgan drew one-out walks in the bottom of the fourth and, after a wild pitch, Matt Turner lined a single to right to bring them home and make it 6-5. Bryant’s double tied it.
But after all the fireworks through the first four innings, neither team could dent the plate over the next five innings. Cabot’s best chance to end it came in the seventh after Wainright was hit and Chad Bryant was intentionally walked. A wild pitch got the winning run to third with one out, but Cathcart got a strikeout and a pop out.
In the winning rally, Bates drew a one-out walk. Wainright sacrificed courtesy runner Chase Thompson to second. Cathcart intentionally walked Chad Bryant. Chism, who had struggled in his three previous plate appearances, lined a solid single over the first baseman’s head to easily score Thompson.
“Chad’s a senior and I wanted to try to let him drive in [the winning run],” Fitch said of his decision to have Wainright sacrifice.
“But they walk Chad and Jackson steps up and gets the big hit. He’s a lot better than what he showed in those first three at-bats. He looked lost.
“But he’s a good hitter and he stepped right up there. I’m extremely proud of him. We needed that in the worst way.”
As for Erickson’s performance, Fitch didn’t seem all that surprised.
“We’ve been needing him all year, but his elbow’s been tender,” Fitch said. “I’d been telling him to stay ready, we may need you. And sure enough, he came in and didn’t give them anything at all.
“He threw great in the Jacksonville tourney [early in the year]. But he’s been tender ever since. Tonight’s the first night he looked full speed.”
Erickson picked up all three RBI against Conway. Sean Clarkson started and allowed just one earned run over 3 1/3 innings, striking out three and walking two.
Cabot played severely shorthanded against the Cats. Wainright injured his thumb on the collision at the plate on Tuesday and sat out, while Drew Burks and Powell Bryant were away at the conference track meet.
Leader sports editor
You could do a whole lot worse than drawing a comparison to Willie Mays.
But that was the inevitable response to a spectacular over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-infield, falling-down catch by Cabot’s Drew Burks on Tuesday in the Panthers’ dramatic, nine-inning 7-6 win over Russellville.
“Phenomenal,” said Cabot head coach Jay Fitch of the acrobatic catch that saved at least two runs in the first inning. “It was almost better than (Mays’ famous over-the-shoulder catch). Willie made it standing up. Drew just full laid out and caught it over his shoulder. One of the best plays in my high school career.”
Cabot finally won the game when Jackson Chism laced a walk-off single down the right-field line with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. It was a critical win in the race for the final state tournament berth from the 7A Central. It completed a season-sweep of Russellville.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, they followed the rousing win over the Cyclones with a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to second-place Conway on Thursday when the Wampus Cats rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the sixth and seventh innings. The 1-1 week for the Panthers pushed their record to 3-8 in league play, and still very much in the race for the sixth and final state tournament berth.
They currently lead 2-10 Little Rock Central by 1 ½ games, and Russellville by two games. The Panthers (11-11 overall) travel to first-place Little Rock Catholic on Monday and finish the regular season with what could prove to be a do-or-die finale with Central. Central beat Cabot earlier this season.
“We’ve got to win one more game to get in there and get a shot [in the state tournament],” Fitch said.
Against Russellville, the Panthers got a sterling relief performance from winning sophomore pitcher Tyler Erickson, who allowed only one hit over five shutout innings. Burks and catcher Ben Wainright bailed Erickson out of his only jam after Kyle Johnson led off Russellville’s seventh with a triple to center.
Nathan Cathcart sent what appeared to be a tie-breaking sacrifice fly to Burks in right field. But Burks delivered a one-hop throw a couple of feet up the third-base line, which Wainright caught and held on to as Johnson bulled into him and knocked him over. The big-hitting Johnson was not only out on the play, but was tossed from the game for running into the catcher.
“Ben’s a tough kid and just works his tail off,” Fitch said. “And that’s why Drew Burks is a Division I prospect, because he makes those kinds of plays. That was a big, big turning point in that game.”
Cathcart had battled Erickson goose egg for goose egg in relief after coming on in the fourth inning. Russellville jumped to a 1-0 lead, but an error, two wild pitches and Sam Bates’ ground out tied it in the bottom of the inning.
The Cyclones led again 2-1 in the third, but Cabot collected three of its seven hits in the bottom half to claim the lead. Powell Bryant singled, stole second and scored on Burks’ single to left. Bates brought him home with a base hit.
But Russellville cashed in a pair of Cabot errors for four runs in the fourth to reclaim the lead, 6-3.
Chism and Shayne Burgan drew one-out walks in the bottom of the fourth and, after a wild pitch, Matt Turner lined a single to right to bring them home and make it 6-5. Bryant’s double tied it.
But after all the fireworks through the first four innings, neither team could dent the plate over the next five innings. Cabot’s best chance to end it came in the seventh after Wainright was hit and Chad Bryant was intentionally walked. A wild pitch got the winning run to third with one out, but Cathcart got a strikeout and a pop out.
In the winning rally, Bates drew a one-out walk. Wainright sacrificed courtesy runner Chase Thompson to second. Cathcart intentionally walked Chad Bryant. Chism, who had struggled in his three previous plate appearances, lined a solid single over the first baseman’s head to easily score Thompson.
“Chad’s a senior and I wanted to try to let him drive in [the winning run],” Fitch said of his decision to have Wainright sacrifice.
“But they walk Chad and Jackson steps up and gets the big hit. He’s a lot better than what he showed in those first three at-bats. He looked lost.
“But he’s a good hitter and he stepped right up there. I’m extremely proud of him. We needed that in the worst way.”
As for Erickson’s performance, Fitch didn’t seem all that surprised.
“We’ve been needing him all year, but his elbow’s been tender,” Fitch said. “I’d been telling him to stay ready, we may need you. And sure enough, he came in and didn’t give them anything at all.
“He threw great in the Jacksonville tourney [early in the year]. But he’s been tender ever since. Tonight’s the first night he looked full speed.”
Erickson picked up all three RBI against Conway. Sean Clarkson started and allowed just one earned run over 3 1/3 innings, striking out three and walking two.
Cabot played severely shorthanded against the Cats. Wainright injured his thumb on the collision at the plate on Tuesday and sat out, while Drew Burks and Powell Bryant were away at the conference track meet.
SPORTS>>Lady Devils suffer 10th-inning heartbreak
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Jacksonville catcher Alexis Oakley was there for the tag, but Mountain Home’s Jenna Gilbert was somehow able to slide underneath it for the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
A single to left field by Miranda Manchester one inning later brought in the winning run for the Lady Bombers on their way to a 3-2 win on Thursday night at Dupree Park. Mountain Home completed the sweep with a 9-0 win in the nightcap.
The two wins gave Mountain Home the outright 6A-East Conference title, while Jacksonville, which finished league play at 10-4, must await the Marion-West Memphis games to determine what seed it will take into the state tournament next week.
The winner-take-all format provided for one of the most competitive softball games of the season in the opener, but the emotional letdown, combined with sophomore pitcher Jessica Lanier’s lingering illness in the waning innings led to the Game 2 blowout for the Lady Bombers.
“These kids are nothing but overachievers in my book,” Jacksonville head coach Tanya Ganey said of her young team. “I can’t say enough about what they’ve been able to accomplish this season. We don’t have what I would consider to be a superstar athlete. What we do have are a bunch of unique young ladies who play from the heart and go out and give everything they have when they’re out there. I’m very proud of all of them.”
Mountain Home grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the opener with an RBI by Shelby Anderson that drove in Domino Miller. They held that lead until the top of the sixth, when Bailee Herlacher charged all the way home from first base on a sacrifice bunt by Jennifer Bock.
Herlacher never slowed when she got to second, and after MH third-baseman Miller missed the throw from first, the Lady Red Devils’ fastest base runner had a clear path home for the tying run that eventually forced extra innings.
The Lady Devils managed to load the bases in the top of the eighth, but Mountain Home pitcher Manchester got out of the jam, striking out the side in the process. Jacksonville then sent the Lady Bombers three-and-out in the bottom of the eighth.
Paula Burr took second base to start out the top of the ninth, and eventually came in for the score on a sacrifice bunt by Alana Whatley to give Jacksonville its only lead of the night.
Gilbert started at second base for Mountain Home in the bottom of the ninth. After Gilbert moved to third on a ground out, Herlacher fielded a ground ball deep in the hole at short and made a strong throw home. But Gilbert made a spectacular slide to avoid the tag by Oakley to knot the game at 2.
“They’re hurt, and that’s understandable,” Ganey said. “To play as well as we played and not be able to win the conference championship is disappointing, but these girls have earned the right to go to the state tournament. We’re not going in as a five or a six seed, we’re right there in the top half of the conference, and that’s a tribute to how hard they’ve worked this year.”
The Lady Red Devils dug a hole early in Game 2 when Mountain Home scored five runs in the first inning, but they were able to regroup defensively, and gave up only one more run through the next three innings.
Lanier, who threw a total of 17 innings on Thursday while still recovering from sickness, collapsed outside the batter’s box while at the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Trainer Jason Cates got her back on her feet, and she was able to make it back out to the mound to start out the fifth inning. The umpires questioned Cates as to whether she was able to continue, but the longtime JHS trainer checked her reflexes and vision, and deemed her fit to continue.
“How many people are going to do that?” Ganey said. “She’s been sick, and she has asthma. Between those two, she just lost her breath. For her to get back in there shows a lot of determination. I’m pretty proud of the fact that even with that kind of setback, she still got back in there to do what she could.”
Lanier looked weakened on the mound, but she still managed to strike out three batters in the top of the fifth.
The Lady Red Devils were still able to keep the game within reach until the top of the sixth, when Adams’ three-run, inside-the-park home run set the game’s final margin.
Lanier finished with 18 strikeouts on the evening, while giving up six hits in Game 1, and only one walk for both contests. The Lady Red Devils had eight errors over the two games. Herlacher went 3 of 5 for Jacksonville in Game 1.
The Lady Red Devils finished the regular season with a record of 12-6 overall and 10-4 in the 6A East Conference. Mountain Home is 23-4 overall and finished 12-2 in the East.
Mountain Home’s Keller Park will be the sight of the 6A state tournament next week. Tournament play will begin Friday at 4 p.m.
Leader sportswriter
Jacksonville catcher Alexis Oakley was there for the tag, but Mountain Home’s Jenna Gilbert was somehow able to slide underneath it for the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
A single to left field by Miranda Manchester one inning later brought in the winning run for the Lady Bombers on their way to a 3-2 win on Thursday night at Dupree Park. Mountain Home completed the sweep with a 9-0 win in the nightcap.
The two wins gave Mountain Home the outright 6A-East Conference title, while Jacksonville, which finished league play at 10-4, must await the Marion-West Memphis games to determine what seed it will take into the state tournament next week.
The winner-take-all format provided for one of the most competitive softball games of the season in the opener, but the emotional letdown, combined with sophomore pitcher Jessica Lanier’s lingering illness in the waning innings led to the Game 2 blowout for the Lady Bombers.
“These kids are nothing but overachievers in my book,” Jacksonville head coach Tanya Ganey said of her young team. “I can’t say enough about what they’ve been able to accomplish this season. We don’t have what I would consider to be a superstar athlete. What we do have are a bunch of unique young ladies who play from the heart and go out and give everything they have when they’re out there. I’m very proud of all of them.”
Mountain Home grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the opener with an RBI by Shelby Anderson that drove in Domino Miller. They held that lead until the top of the sixth, when Bailee Herlacher charged all the way home from first base on a sacrifice bunt by Jennifer Bock.
Herlacher never slowed when she got to second, and after MH third-baseman Miller missed the throw from first, the Lady Red Devils’ fastest base runner had a clear path home for the tying run that eventually forced extra innings.
The Lady Devils managed to load the bases in the top of the eighth, but Mountain Home pitcher Manchester got out of the jam, striking out the side in the process. Jacksonville then sent the Lady Bombers three-and-out in the bottom of the eighth.
Paula Burr took second base to start out the top of the ninth, and eventually came in for the score on a sacrifice bunt by Alana Whatley to give Jacksonville its only lead of the night.
Gilbert started at second base for Mountain Home in the bottom of the ninth. After Gilbert moved to third on a ground out, Herlacher fielded a ground ball deep in the hole at short and made a strong throw home. But Gilbert made a spectacular slide to avoid the tag by Oakley to knot the game at 2.
“They’re hurt, and that’s understandable,” Ganey said. “To play as well as we played and not be able to win the conference championship is disappointing, but these girls have earned the right to go to the state tournament. We’re not going in as a five or a six seed, we’re right there in the top half of the conference, and that’s a tribute to how hard they’ve worked this year.”
The Lady Red Devils dug a hole early in Game 2 when Mountain Home scored five runs in the first inning, but they were able to regroup defensively, and gave up only one more run through the next three innings.
Lanier, who threw a total of 17 innings on Thursday while still recovering from sickness, collapsed outside the batter’s box while at the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Trainer Jason Cates got her back on her feet, and she was able to make it back out to the mound to start out the fifth inning. The umpires questioned Cates as to whether she was able to continue, but the longtime JHS trainer checked her reflexes and vision, and deemed her fit to continue.
“How many people are going to do that?” Ganey said. “She’s been sick, and she has asthma. Between those two, she just lost her breath. For her to get back in there shows a lot of determination. I’m pretty proud of the fact that even with that kind of setback, she still got back in there to do what she could.”
Lanier looked weakened on the mound, but she still managed to strike out three batters in the top of the fifth.
The Lady Red Devils were still able to keep the game within reach until the top of the sixth, when Adams’ three-run, inside-the-park home run set the game’s final margin.
Lanier finished with 18 strikeouts on the evening, while giving up six hits in Game 1, and only one walk for both contests. The Lady Red Devils had eight errors over the two games. Herlacher went 3 of 5 for Jacksonville in Game 1.
The Lady Red Devils finished the regular season with a record of 12-6 overall and 10-4 in the 6A East Conference. Mountain Home is 23-4 overall and finished 12-2 in the East.
Mountain Home’s Keller Park will be the sight of the 6A state tournament next week. Tournament play will begin Friday at 4 p.m.
SPORTS>>Jacksonville, Cabot will field teams in NDFL this summer
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
For those disappointed by the false start from the newly formed All-American Football League this summer, there is another option in town. The eight-team National Developmental Football League will be centered in the central Arkansas area, with teams representing Cabot, Jacksonville, North Little Rock, Conway and Pine Bluff.
The league is being put together by longtime football coach and New York transplant Michael Merritt. Merritt is CEO and President of the NDFL, but will also serve as head coach of the Arkansas Golden Knights, which are based out of North Little Rock.
“This is going to be a different style of football from what people around here are used to seeing,” Merritt told the Leader.
“We’re going to be playing that East-coast style football. We use the Delaware offense, and spread it out also.”
Arkansas football fans should be familiar with the spread offense, but the Delaware set is most comparable to a double-wing or wishbone, with two offset backs set up for misdirection snaps.
The NDFL will consist of eight teams, grouped into two conferences. The Independent Division will consist of the Golden Knights, Pine Bluff Cobras, Central Arkansas Generals and Texas Outlaws, one of two out-of-state teams in the league.
The Pioneers Division will feature the Jacksonville Golden Eagles, Memphis Panthers, Cabot Silver Lions and Conway Red Bears.
Each team will play a 10-game schedule starting June 7 and ending in late August. The top six teams will then begin playoff games, with the No. 1 seed from each conference taking a first-round bye while the second and third place teams will play a wildcard game to determine who will meet to decide the division crown.
The two division winners will then play to determine the overall NDFL champion. The NDFL champ also gets to play a challenge game against the champion from the Premiere Football League in Texas.
The format for the NDFL is as follows: Players hoping to go pro can earn money by selling tickets for each of the games, but those still looking to grab a scholarship can play in the league without compensation and still maintain amateur status.
Bryant graduate Robert Wheeler played for the Golden Knights last season, and will move up to the coaching ranks in the new league as head coach of the Cabot Silver Lions.
Wheeler, 20, says that despite his prime playing age, he is happy to stay on the sidelines.
Among notable names for the Cabot team will be Chaz Robinson and current track standout Will Paschel.
Although it is an upstart team, the Silver Lions have already acquired 46 players on their roster. The Silver Lions will use
Panther Stadium as their home field when the season starts on June 7.
Leader sportswriter
For those disappointed by the false start from the newly formed All-American Football League this summer, there is another option in town. The eight-team National Developmental Football League will be centered in the central Arkansas area, with teams representing Cabot, Jacksonville, North Little Rock, Conway and Pine Bluff.
The league is being put together by longtime football coach and New York transplant Michael Merritt. Merritt is CEO and President of the NDFL, but will also serve as head coach of the Arkansas Golden Knights, which are based out of North Little Rock.
“This is going to be a different style of football from what people around here are used to seeing,” Merritt told the Leader.
“We’re going to be playing that East-coast style football. We use the Delaware offense, and spread it out also.”
Arkansas football fans should be familiar with the spread offense, but the Delaware set is most comparable to a double-wing or wishbone, with two offset backs set up for misdirection snaps.
The NDFL will consist of eight teams, grouped into two conferences. The Independent Division will consist of the Golden Knights, Pine Bluff Cobras, Central Arkansas Generals and Texas Outlaws, one of two out-of-state teams in the league.
The Pioneers Division will feature the Jacksonville Golden Eagles, Memphis Panthers, Cabot Silver Lions and Conway Red Bears.
Each team will play a 10-game schedule starting June 7 and ending in late August. The top six teams will then begin playoff games, with the No. 1 seed from each conference taking a first-round bye while the second and third place teams will play a wildcard game to determine who will meet to decide the division crown.
The two division winners will then play to determine the overall NDFL champion. The NDFL champ also gets to play a challenge game against the champion from the Premiere Football League in Texas.
The format for the NDFL is as follows: Players hoping to go pro can earn money by selling tickets for each of the games, but those still looking to grab a scholarship can play in the league without compensation and still maintain amateur status.
Bryant graduate Robert Wheeler played for the Golden Knights last season, and will move up to the coaching ranks in the new league as head coach of the Cabot Silver Lions.
Wheeler, 20, says that despite his prime playing age, he is happy to stay on the sidelines.
Among notable names for the Cabot team will be Chaz Robinson and current track standout Will Paschel.
Although it is an upstart team, the Silver Lions have already acquired 46 players on their roster. The Silver Lions will use
Panther Stadium as their home field when the season starts on June 7.
SPORTS>>Bears take two from Devils
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
As doubleheader losses go, this one was among the easiest to take.
The Jacksonville Red Devils dropped a pair of games to top-ranked Sylvan Hills on Wednesday at Dupree Park, but showed they may be ready for prime time.
Sylvan Hills’ Hunter Miller out-dueled Michael Harmon to complete the sweep with a 3-0 win in the nightcap after the Bears shook off the pesky Red Devils, 9-4, in the opener.
“There’s no doubt about it,” said Jacksonville head coach Larry Burrows. “We’ve come a long way [since the first of the year]. We played that well against Forrest City [two weeks ago] and we’ve talkedabout it all year: Get a little better each week.”
Not that the Red Devils were happy to lose two, but the performance they got on the mound from Harmon in the nightcap gives Burrows plenty of reason for optimism as they prepare for state tournament play next week.
Harmon tossed a five-hitter and carried a two-hit shutout into the sixth inning before D.J. Baxendale lined a sharp single to left to score Hunter Miller and break the scoreless tie.
As good as Harmon was, Miller was just a little better, allowing three hits through six innings before Nathan Ellers closed it out with a 1-2-3 seventh.
“Harmon threw a great game,” said Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton. “We didn’t hit it very well, but I give him a lot of credit.
“Hunter pitched really well, too. That was six good, quality innings. We needed that before state.”
The losses evened the Red Devils overall record at 13-13 and their 6A-East Conference mark at 6-6. They close out the conference season with the completion of a doubleheader with West Memphis on Monday at Dupree. The Blue Devils led the Red Devils 6-2 when the game was suspended on April 8 because of rain.
A pair of wins over West Memphis would secure a No. 4 seed for Jacksonville, but they could drop to as far as a six seed with two losses.
Sylvan Hills, which improved to 24-6, and finished the 6A-East 13-1, clinched the conference title last week and will take a No. 1 seed into state tournament play. The Bears added a pair of insurance runs in the nightcap on Wednesday when Jordan Spears lined a single to right and moved to second on Tyler Van Schuyck’s bunt single. Spears eventually scored on Clint Thornton’s sacrifice fly, while Van Schuyck plated the final run on a wild pitch.
Harmon struck out five, walked one and hit two batters. He threw his best game by far this season, Burrows said.
“Our coaches, at the beginning of the season, thought he had shut-down potential,” Burrows said. “He’s shown glimpses of that the last two relief appearances. He shut the door against Forrest City, and threw well against Mountain Home.”
The Red Devils managed only five base runners in the nightcap, and had their best scoring opportunity in the fourth after a one-out single by Cameron Hood and a walk to Patrick Castleberry. The only other baserunner to reach second came on Jason Regnas’ one-out double in the sixth.
After Regnas moved to third on Hood’s sacrifice fly, Castleberry, who homered in the first inning of Game 1, brought the fans to their feet with a deep fly to left, but it was caught on the warning track for the final out.
The Red Devils got off to a good start in the opener against Sylvan Hills ace D.J. Baxendale when, with two outs, Hood singled and Castleberry homered to left. Baxendale settled down after that, retiring the next 13 Jacksonville batters.
That gave the Bears’ offense plenty of time to mount a comeback. They tied it in the second on Chambers’ RBI single and a double steal. Miller gave them a 4-2 lead by following Mark Turpin’s leadoff single in the third with his 11th home run of the season.
The Bears put it away by scoring five runs on just one hit in the fifth and sixth innings. But that hit was a big one — a three-run shot by Thornton over the fence in left-center that made it 7-2.
The Red Devils loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth on a walk to Noah Sanders, Terrell Brown’s single and an error. Hood grounded into a force at third that allowed Sanders to score, and Regnas came around on the play when Ellers throw to first was wild. But Ellers made up for it by starting a sterling 5-4-3 double play to end the game in the seventh.
Tyler Wisdom took the loss for Jacksonville, allowing five hits, three walks and four earned runs over 2 1/3 innings. Baxendale went the distance for the Bears, allowing four hits and a walk, while fanning eight.
Sylvan Hills finished with seven hits in the opener, two by Miller.
The Red Devils trail West Memphis, 6-2, in the fourth inning when they resume play on Monday. Forrest City (5-7) finishes with a pair at Jonesboro, while Searcy finished 7-7.
“We obviously wanted to win today,” Burrows said. “But we haven’t really talked about wins and losses this year. We’ve talked about what we can do better. We try to play a little better each week. We wanted to be close to clicking come tournament time, and I think we’re there.”
Leader sports editor
As doubleheader losses go, this one was among the easiest to take.
The Jacksonville Red Devils dropped a pair of games to top-ranked Sylvan Hills on Wednesday at Dupree Park, but showed they may be ready for prime time.
Sylvan Hills’ Hunter Miller out-dueled Michael Harmon to complete the sweep with a 3-0 win in the nightcap after the Bears shook off the pesky Red Devils, 9-4, in the opener.
“There’s no doubt about it,” said Jacksonville head coach Larry Burrows. “We’ve come a long way [since the first of the year]. We played that well against Forrest City [two weeks ago] and we’ve talkedabout it all year: Get a little better each week.”
Not that the Red Devils were happy to lose two, but the performance they got on the mound from Harmon in the nightcap gives Burrows plenty of reason for optimism as they prepare for state tournament play next week.
Harmon tossed a five-hitter and carried a two-hit shutout into the sixth inning before D.J. Baxendale lined a sharp single to left to score Hunter Miller and break the scoreless tie.
As good as Harmon was, Miller was just a little better, allowing three hits through six innings before Nathan Ellers closed it out with a 1-2-3 seventh.
“Harmon threw a great game,” said Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton. “We didn’t hit it very well, but I give him a lot of credit.
“Hunter pitched really well, too. That was six good, quality innings. We needed that before state.”
The losses evened the Red Devils overall record at 13-13 and their 6A-East Conference mark at 6-6. They close out the conference season with the completion of a doubleheader with West Memphis on Monday at Dupree. The Blue Devils led the Red Devils 6-2 when the game was suspended on April 8 because of rain.
A pair of wins over West Memphis would secure a No. 4 seed for Jacksonville, but they could drop to as far as a six seed with two losses.
Sylvan Hills, which improved to 24-6, and finished the 6A-East 13-1, clinched the conference title last week and will take a No. 1 seed into state tournament play. The Bears added a pair of insurance runs in the nightcap on Wednesday when Jordan Spears lined a single to right and moved to second on Tyler Van Schuyck’s bunt single. Spears eventually scored on Clint Thornton’s sacrifice fly, while Van Schuyck plated the final run on a wild pitch.
Harmon struck out five, walked one and hit two batters. He threw his best game by far this season, Burrows said.
“Our coaches, at the beginning of the season, thought he had shut-down potential,” Burrows said. “He’s shown glimpses of that the last two relief appearances. He shut the door against Forrest City, and threw well against Mountain Home.”
The Red Devils managed only five base runners in the nightcap, and had their best scoring opportunity in the fourth after a one-out single by Cameron Hood and a walk to Patrick Castleberry. The only other baserunner to reach second came on Jason Regnas’ one-out double in the sixth.
After Regnas moved to third on Hood’s sacrifice fly, Castleberry, who homered in the first inning of Game 1, brought the fans to their feet with a deep fly to left, but it was caught on the warning track for the final out.
The Red Devils got off to a good start in the opener against Sylvan Hills ace D.J. Baxendale when, with two outs, Hood singled and Castleberry homered to left. Baxendale settled down after that, retiring the next 13 Jacksonville batters.
That gave the Bears’ offense plenty of time to mount a comeback. They tied it in the second on Chambers’ RBI single and a double steal. Miller gave them a 4-2 lead by following Mark Turpin’s leadoff single in the third with his 11th home run of the season.
The Bears put it away by scoring five runs on just one hit in the fifth and sixth innings. But that hit was a big one — a three-run shot by Thornton over the fence in left-center that made it 7-2.
The Red Devils loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth on a walk to Noah Sanders, Terrell Brown’s single and an error. Hood grounded into a force at third that allowed Sanders to score, and Regnas came around on the play when Ellers throw to first was wild. But Ellers made up for it by starting a sterling 5-4-3 double play to end the game in the seventh.
Tyler Wisdom took the loss for Jacksonville, allowing five hits, three walks and four earned runs over 2 1/3 innings. Baxendale went the distance for the Bears, allowing four hits and a walk, while fanning eight.
Sylvan Hills finished with seven hits in the opener, two by Miller.
The Red Devils trail West Memphis, 6-2, in the fourth inning when they resume play on Monday. Forrest City (5-7) finishes with a pair at Jonesboro, while Searcy finished 7-7.
“We obviously wanted to win today,” Burrows said. “But we haven’t really talked about wins and losses this year. We’ve talked about what we can do better. We try to play a little better each week. We wanted to be close to clicking come tournament time, and I think we’re there.”
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
SPORTS>> Lady Panthers reach quarters but come up short to Belles
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot Lady Panthers made it to the quarterfinal round of the 7A state soccer playoffs in Bentonville over the weekend. The Lady Panthers took a 1-0 win against Springdale Har-Ber during Saturday’s opening round in a defensive struggle, but couldn’t answer a four-goal performance by Mount St. Mary standout Katie Udron on Monday.
The Belles, who entered as the No. 1 seed from the Lady Panthers’ own Central Conference, ended Cabot’s season with a 5-0 shutout.
Saturday’s game was scoreless through the first half, but the Lady Panthers got the only score of the game mid-way through the second half when Jamie Dillon took an assist from Calli Anderson off a throw-in by Kaitlin Spry.
The Lady Wildcats had opportunities to tie late, but Cabot goalkeeperRicci Brooke thwarted all comers on her way to posting the shutout.
Brooke was much busier on Monday. Udron’s four strikes, and another goal by Lucia Trujillo proved too much for the Lady Panthers, who finished with a final record of 5-11.
The Cabot boys had anything but a defensive struggle during their 6-3 opening-round loss to Van Buren. Alfonso Olvera, Matt Zenddejas and Frederico Ferrari all had successful strikes for the Panthers, but the difference maker was Van Buren’s Alex Rodriquez, who scored half of the Pointer’s goals in the contest. The Panthers finished with a final record of 8-12.
6A STATE SOCCER
The defending champion Searcy Lions and Lady Lions advanced to the semifinals of the state soccer tournament at the Letain DaVore Soccer Complex in Searcy.
The Lions dispatched Benton, 4-0, on Monday and took on Texarkana in one seminfinal matchup last night after Leader deadlines.
El Dorado and Mountain Home will tangle in the other semi.
The Lady Lions beat Benton, 2-0, and will take on Mountain Home in a girls’ semi tonight, while Sheridan and Jonesboro will do battle in the other game.
The Sylvan Hills boys advanced to the quarterfinals with a 4-0 win over Lake Hamilton on Saturday. The Bears fell 3-0 to El Dorado on Saturday.
The Lady Bears lost in the opening round, 3-1, to Benton.
Jacksonville’s boys lost 1-0 to Benton in the first round.
The winners of last night’s games will play for the state title on Saturday afternoon at the University of Arkansas.
Leader sportswriter
The Cabot Lady Panthers made it to the quarterfinal round of the 7A state soccer playoffs in Bentonville over the weekend. The Lady Panthers took a 1-0 win against Springdale Har-Ber during Saturday’s opening round in a defensive struggle, but couldn’t answer a four-goal performance by Mount St. Mary standout Katie Udron on Monday.
The Belles, who entered as the No. 1 seed from the Lady Panthers’ own Central Conference, ended Cabot’s season with a 5-0 shutout.
Saturday’s game was scoreless through the first half, but the Lady Panthers got the only score of the game mid-way through the second half when Jamie Dillon took an assist from Calli Anderson off a throw-in by Kaitlin Spry.
The Lady Wildcats had opportunities to tie late, but Cabot goalkeeperRicci Brooke thwarted all comers on her way to posting the shutout.
Brooke was much busier on Monday. Udron’s four strikes, and another goal by Lucia Trujillo proved too much for the Lady Panthers, who finished with a final record of 5-11.
The Cabot boys had anything but a defensive struggle during their 6-3 opening-round loss to Van Buren. Alfonso Olvera, Matt Zenddejas and Frederico Ferrari all had successful strikes for the Panthers, but the difference maker was Van Buren’s Alex Rodriquez, who scored half of the Pointer’s goals in the contest. The Panthers finished with a final record of 8-12.
6A STATE SOCCER
The defending champion Searcy Lions and Lady Lions advanced to the semifinals of the state soccer tournament at the Letain DaVore Soccer Complex in Searcy.
The Lions dispatched Benton, 4-0, on Monday and took on Texarkana in one seminfinal matchup last night after Leader deadlines.
El Dorado and Mountain Home will tangle in the other semi.
The Lady Lions beat Benton, 2-0, and will take on Mountain Home in a girls’ semi tonight, while Sheridan and Jonesboro will do battle in the other game.
The Sylvan Hills boys advanced to the quarterfinals with a 4-0 win over Lake Hamilton on Saturday. The Bears fell 3-0 to El Dorado on Saturday.
The Lady Bears lost in the opening round, 3-1, to Benton.
Jacksonville’s boys lost 1-0 to Benton in the first round.
The winners of last night’s games will play for the state title on Saturday afternoon at the University of Arkansas.
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