By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports writer
With one of the best point guards in the state able to control just about every Russellville possession, Cabot’s six- and eight-point deficits in the second half seemed a whole lot deeper on Friday night, while each of its own possessions seemed a whole lot more precious.
Fortunately, for the Panthers, Adam Sterrenberg turned desperation into gold, scoring 22 points over the final four minutes and 55 seconds of the game to lift Cabot to a much-needed 60-54 win at Panther Pavilion.
With first-place Con-way coming in (last night) and with the Panthers tied with the Cylcones at 3-2 entering the game, the importance of the win was not lost on head coach Jerry Bridges.
“It would have been a very tough loss with what lies ahead,” said Bridges, whose team improved to 14-5 overall, 4-2 in 7A-Central play. “We were very fortunate. We had every reason to lose that game and we found a way to win. Adam did what he’s capable of doing, but heck, all of kids did their jobs, too. We worked hard defensively to get back in it.”
In fact, the Panthers forced 12 second-half turnovers against a team that boasts one of the top point guards in A.J. Broadnax, who scored 18 points, including making 9 of 10 free throws in the second half to keep Cabot on the uphill climb almost the entire way.
Cabot trailed by nine points with 5:55 left in the contest when it began to make its move. Austin Johnson hit a three and 50 seconds later, Sterrenberg began his one-man Russellville wrecking party with a three to cut the lead to 42-39 at the 4:55 mark.
But Johnson’s quick miss of a three led to a fast-break bucket on the other end and the Cylcones were still in control at 47-39 with less than four minutes remaining.
Sterrenberg scored on a baseline reverse and Johnson hit one of two free throws. While Broadnax was making 5 of 6 free throws over the next 53 seconds, Sterrenberg hit a step-back three and a well-guarded pull-up three. He added a pair of free throws with 1:42 left to narrow the Cyclone lead all the way to a single point.
Broadnax finally missed a free throw and Sterrenberg gave Cabot its first lead of the second half with yet another pull-up three and the Panthers went on top 53-52 with a minute-and-a-half remaining.
Thirteen seconds later, Sterrenberg stepped in front of a pass on the sideline, got the steal and the foul and made two free throws, fouling out Broadnax in the process and extending the Cabot lead to 55-52. After Russellville scored in the lane, Sterrenberg made two more at the stripe with 46 seconds left as Cabot scored the game’s final five points. The Cyclones missed a three and a two on the other end and Cabot held on.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like that before, maybe at the state tournament last year,” Sterrenberg said when asked to assess his fourth-quarter performance, which included 17 points over the final 2:20. “Coach told me he wanted the ball in my hand. I was kind of down and I started firing and a made a couple and started feeling it.”
Sterrenberg, who finished with 29 points after entering the final period with only seven, struggled all night just to get decent looks. When he did, they didn’t fall. Early anyway. He missed only one shot in his remarkable run when a lay-up rimmed out. He knocked down 4 of 4 from beyond the arc, 2 of 3 two-pointers and 6 of 6 at the line.
“They took it from us,” said Russellville head coach Joe Sitkowski. “We were guarding (Sterrenberg). My kids would come back to the bench and say, ‘What are we supposed to do?’”
Good ball movement led to three quick Cabot baskets and a 6-0 lead, but Russellville made three consecutive three-pointers and 6-5 post player Hunter Hawkins blocked four shots as the Cylcones began to turn up the defensive pressure. They led 27-25 at the half. Cabot continued to struggle offensively in a 4-point third quarter when it made only 2 of 10 shots.
Russellville’s largest lead of the game was nine points at the 5:55 mark. Bridges said even then his club didn’t panic.
“One time out, I told them, ‘Guys, there’s a lot of time left,’” he said. “We were pressing and I told them just to play basketball and let the game come to them. Man, those kids knew the importance of this game. I put our five seniors on the floor and told them, ‘It’s you now. You want to win this game; I’m going to go with you five.’”
Cabot outscored Russellville 31-19 in the final period. Johnson added 15 points and seven rebounds, while Miles Monroe had seven points and four boards. Cabot made 19 of 45 from the field, 6 of 20 from deep. They knocked down 16 of 22 from the stripe.
Russellville finished the game 17 of 38, including 5 of 17 from three. They made 15 of 18 free throws.
“We played with a little of this tonight,” Bridges said, pounding his heart with his palm. “That’s the only reason we won this game.”
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
SPORTS>>Sterrenberg outburst a reminder of why I got into this business
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
You’ve probably heard by now about Adam Sterrenberg’s remarkable one-man show last Friday night at Panther Pavilion. You’ve probably heard he scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to almost single-handedly help salvage Cabot’s season in a come-from-behind win over Russellville.
The story is only half true. Sterrenberg, the Arkansas State signee and all-around scorer, actually compiled those 22 points over a span of four minutes and 55 seconds. The final 17 of those came in the last two minutes and 20 seconds when the Panthers were rallying from a seven-point deficit for a critical home victory.
If you weren’t there — and with a raucous, near-capacity crowd on hand, there’s a good chance you were — you have no idea just how dynamic a performance Sterrenberg turned in. Crunching the numbers doesn’t do it justice, mainly because they’re so otherworldy as to be cartoon-like.
Twenty-two points over a five-minute span translates to 140 points in a full 32-minute game. Think that’s ridiculous? Try extrapolating 17 points in two minutes and 20 seconds into an entire game. That’ll net you 246 points.
Those numbers are too absurd to wrap your mind around so let’s do it this way. Let’s itemize Sterrenberg’s final four minutes and 55 seconds on Friday night. Cabot trailed 42-33 when Sterrenberg delivered an assist to Austin Johnson for a three-pointer to whittle the lead to six at the 5:45 mark. The rest, aside from a pair of Johnson free throws, was all Sterrenberg.
4:55 Pull-up three from the left of the circle (39-42 Russellville).
3:45 Baseline drive, reverse lay-up (41-47) … This came 10 seconds after Russellville’s breakaway basket that pushed the lead to eight and threatened to salt it away.
2:40 Lane drive, missed lay-up that went around and came out … his only miss during his run.
2:20 Answers two A.J. Broadnax free throws with a step-back three (45-49).
1:59 Pull-up three from left of the key (48-49).
1:42 Answers two Broadnax free throws with two of his own (50-51).
1:30 Pull-up three to give Cabot first lead since first period (53-52).
1:17 Steal and two free throws (55-52).
:46 Two free throws (57-54).
:02 Lay-up at buzzer (60-54).
Keep in mind that Sterrenberg had struggled all night from the field, struggled even to get any good looks with Broadnax often hounding him all over the court. And it wasn’t like any of his four threes in the final period were uncontested. None of them were, in fact.
“Our kids came up to me and said, ‘What do we do, Coach?’” Russellville head coach Joe Sitkowski said afterward. “What can you do? We guarded him.”
The Cyclones are blessed with an outstanding point guard in Broadnax. He allowed them to control every possession, making Russellville’s six- and eight-point leads throughout the second half seem more like 12- and 14-point cushions. Cabot needed a super-human performance. Sterrenberg provided it.
In my seven years of covering high school sports, I’ve been fortunate enough to witness some outings that have left me smiling and shaking my head, capable of saying nothing more than ‘Wow.’ I watched Abundant Life’s Dane Lottner light up Atkins in the final quarter of a regional game last February, saw Cabot’s Leah Watts rain down five straight threes over five-and-a-half minutes against Bentonville last March in the state tournament.
Less than two hours before Sterrenberg torched Russellville on Friday, Jenna Bailey had the crowd oohing and aahing when she re-entered the game late against the Lady Cyclones to squelch a comeback attempt. That, she did, by hitting three threes and a lay-up in the span of a minute and 20 seconds. (Memo: Check circumference of Panther Pavilion rims).
You see the Lebron Jameses and the Kobe Bryants of the world enter that rarefied realm once or twice a season, but it doesn’t have the same effect as watching one of your local players do it in person.
There have been nights in my career as a sportswriter when I’ve watched teams rack up twice as many turnovers as baskets, when out-of-position, pointless fouling prolonged an already endless game. There are nights, in other words, when I’ve questioned my career choice.
Then there are the nights like last Friday when I realize that, hey, this beats working.
Leader sports editor
You’ve probably heard by now about Adam Sterrenberg’s remarkable one-man show last Friday night at Panther Pavilion. You’ve probably heard he scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to almost single-handedly help salvage Cabot’s season in a come-from-behind win over Russellville.
The story is only half true. Sterrenberg, the Arkansas State signee and all-around scorer, actually compiled those 22 points over a span of four minutes and 55 seconds. The final 17 of those came in the last two minutes and 20 seconds when the Panthers were rallying from a seven-point deficit for a critical home victory.
If you weren’t there — and with a raucous, near-capacity crowd on hand, there’s a good chance you were — you have no idea just how dynamic a performance Sterrenberg turned in. Crunching the numbers doesn’t do it justice, mainly because they’re so otherworldy as to be cartoon-like.
Twenty-two points over a five-minute span translates to 140 points in a full 32-minute game. Think that’s ridiculous? Try extrapolating 17 points in two minutes and 20 seconds into an entire game. That’ll net you 246 points.
Those numbers are too absurd to wrap your mind around so let’s do it this way. Let’s itemize Sterrenberg’s final four minutes and 55 seconds on Friday night. Cabot trailed 42-33 when Sterrenberg delivered an assist to Austin Johnson for a three-pointer to whittle the lead to six at the 5:45 mark. The rest, aside from a pair of Johnson free throws, was all Sterrenberg.
4:55 Pull-up three from the left of the circle (39-42 Russellville).
3:45 Baseline drive, reverse lay-up (41-47) … This came 10 seconds after Russellville’s breakaway basket that pushed the lead to eight and threatened to salt it away.
2:40 Lane drive, missed lay-up that went around and came out … his only miss during his run.
2:20 Answers two A.J. Broadnax free throws with a step-back three (45-49).
1:59 Pull-up three from left of the key (48-49).
1:42 Answers two Broadnax free throws with two of his own (50-51).
1:30 Pull-up three to give Cabot first lead since first period (53-52).
1:17 Steal and two free throws (55-52).
:46 Two free throws (57-54).
:02 Lay-up at buzzer (60-54).
Keep in mind that Sterrenberg had struggled all night from the field, struggled even to get any good looks with Broadnax often hounding him all over the court. And it wasn’t like any of his four threes in the final period were uncontested. None of them were, in fact.
“Our kids came up to me and said, ‘What do we do, Coach?’” Russellville head coach Joe Sitkowski said afterward. “What can you do? We guarded him.”
The Cyclones are blessed with an outstanding point guard in Broadnax. He allowed them to control every possession, making Russellville’s six- and eight-point leads throughout the second half seem more like 12- and 14-point cushions. Cabot needed a super-human performance. Sterrenberg provided it.
In my seven years of covering high school sports, I’ve been fortunate enough to witness some outings that have left me smiling and shaking my head, capable of saying nothing more than ‘Wow.’ I watched Abundant Life’s Dane Lottner light up Atkins in the final quarter of a regional game last February, saw Cabot’s Leah Watts rain down five straight threes over five-and-a-half minutes against Bentonville last March in the state tournament.
Less than two hours before Sterrenberg torched Russellville on Friday, Jenna Bailey had the crowd oohing and aahing when she re-entered the game late against the Lady Cyclones to squelch a comeback attempt. That, she did, by hitting three threes and a lay-up in the span of a minute and 20 seconds. (Memo: Check circumference of Panther Pavilion rims).
You see the Lebron Jameses and the Kobe Bryants of the world enter that rarefied realm once or twice a season, but it doesn’t have the same effect as watching one of your local players do it in person.
There have been nights in my career as a sportswriter when I’ve watched teams rack up twice as many turnovers as baskets, when out-of-position, pointless fouling prolonged an already endless game. There are nights, in other words, when I’ve questioned my career choice.
Then there are the nights like last Friday when I realize that, hey, this beats working.
SPORTS>>Badgers beat Mills, move into 3rd place
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Beebe’s best offensive player came up with the Badgers’ biggest defensive play of the night in a 58-57 win over Mills University Studies on Friday.
Zach Kersey’s 18 points led the way offensively for what was a balanced scoring game by the Badgers (12-5, 4-2 5A-Southeast), but his forced turnover in front of the Comets’ bench with four seconds left was the play that preserved the win for Beebe.
The final margin was set with 15 seconds remaining when Nick Hansbury hit a jumper to pull Mills to within one. Trey Smith then went to the line for the Badgers, but missed the front end of a one and one. Mills was setting up for one final shot when Kersey rushed in and tapped the ball off Chris Dobbins’ forearm out of bounds to give possession back to Beebe.
“That was big for us,” said Beebe coach Brian Martin. “We played well for most of the game, and I give Mills a lot of credit. They really spread their defense out and slowed us down a little bit. We were in a rhythm, and they made a good adjustment at halftime.”
The Badgers now sit alone in third place in the 5A-Southeast Conference standings, two games behind co-leaders North Pulaski and McClellan. Mills is tied with Sylvan Hills for fourth.
The Comets (11-7, 3-3) used their usual M.O. of tightening things up in the second half after giving up big numbers in the first. The Badgers rushed out to a 17-11 lead after one, and built their advantage further to 32-22 at halftime.
Beebe held Comets leading scorer Hansbury in check for the most part in the third quarter, but it was an eight-point performance by forward Montez Peterson in that time that sparked the Mills rally. The Comets shot only 10 of 30 in the first half, but hit 7 of 14 in the third quarter and 7 of 11 in the final period to go 24 of 55 for the game.
The Badgers shot 12 of 26 at the end of the first half, and 21 of 44 overall.
Mills’ considerable height advantage resulted in a 29-19 rebounding edge. The Badgers were 10 of 15 from the free throw line, while Mills went 6 of 13.
Mills came out on fire in the third quarter and scored on its first six possessions, including an 8-0 run mid-way through the period to cut the Badgers’ lead down to 38-33 at the 4:37 mark. Dobbins hit a three-pointer at the 1:36 mark to cut it to 44-40 heading into the final quarter.
“They were doing a good job of pushing the ball,” Martin said. “We had to stop that, because that got them in a rhythm, and that’s when they went on their run. That really fueled them for the second half.”
The sixth-man made its voice heard on Friday, as the Badger student section whooped it up late.
“Our student section has been great here of late,” Martin said. “I told the guys that if you win at home, the students will come. We’ve lost only two games at home this year. We like playing here. We feel comfortable here, and we want it to be tough to come here and leave with a ‘W’.”
Kersey went scoreless in the third quarter before finding his way back to the basket at the start of the fourth. He started out the period with a three-point basket that gave the Badgers a 47-40 lead, and hit his fourth and final trey of the night at the 3:21 mark on a no-look assist from Will Scott to put Beebe back up by four.
“You’ve got to win your games at home,” said Martin. “And hope to play well on the road, but you’ve got to defend your home court, so I was really elated to see that tonight.”
Kersey also added four assists to his team-high 18 points. Smith finished with 12 points and six assists, while Scott and Anthony Forte each added 10 points. Donte Myles led the Badgers in rebounding with seven boards.
Leader sportswriter
Beebe’s best offensive player came up with the Badgers’ biggest defensive play of the night in a 58-57 win over Mills University Studies on Friday.
Zach Kersey’s 18 points led the way offensively for what was a balanced scoring game by the Badgers (12-5, 4-2 5A-Southeast), but his forced turnover in front of the Comets’ bench with four seconds left was the play that preserved the win for Beebe.
The final margin was set with 15 seconds remaining when Nick Hansbury hit a jumper to pull Mills to within one. Trey Smith then went to the line for the Badgers, but missed the front end of a one and one. Mills was setting up for one final shot when Kersey rushed in and tapped the ball off Chris Dobbins’ forearm out of bounds to give possession back to Beebe.
“That was big for us,” said Beebe coach Brian Martin. “We played well for most of the game, and I give Mills a lot of credit. They really spread their defense out and slowed us down a little bit. We were in a rhythm, and they made a good adjustment at halftime.”
The Badgers now sit alone in third place in the 5A-Southeast Conference standings, two games behind co-leaders North Pulaski and McClellan. Mills is tied with Sylvan Hills for fourth.
The Comets (11-7, 3-3) used their usual M.O. of tightening things up in the second half after giving up big numbers in the first. The Badgers rushed out to a 17-11 lead after one, and built their advantage further to 32-22 at halftime.
Beebe held Comets leading scorer Hansbury in check for the most part in the third quarter, but it was an eight-point performance by forward Montez Peterson in that time that sparked the Mills rally. The Comets shot only 10 of 30 in the first half, but hit 7 of 14 in the third quarter and 7 of 11 in the final period to go 24 of 55 for the game.
The Badgers shot 12 of 26 at the end of the first half, and 21 of 44 overall.
Mills’ considerable height advantage resulted in a 29-19 rebounding edge. The Badgers were 10 of 15 from the free throw line, while Mills went 6 of 13.
Mills came out on fire in the third quarter and scored on its first six possessions, including an 8-0 run mid-way through the period to cut the Badgers’ lead down to 38-33 at the 4:37 mark. Dobbins hit a three-pointer at the 1:36 mark to cut it to 44-40 heading into the final quarter.
“They were doing a good job of pushing the ball,” Martin said. “We had to stop that, because that got them in a rhythm, and that’s when they went on their run. That really fueled them for the second half.”
The sixth-man made its voice heard on Friday, as the Badger student section whooped it up late.
“Our student section has been great here of late,” Martin said. “I told the guys that if you win at home, the students will come. We’ve lost only two games at home this year. We like playing here. We feel comfortable here, and we want it to be tough to come here and leave with a ‘W’.”
Kersey went scoreless in the third quarter before finding his way back to the basket at the start of the fourth. He started out the period with a three-point basket that gave the Badgers a 47-40 lead, and hit his fourth and final trey of the night at the 3:21 mark on a no-look assist from Will Scott to put Beebe back up by four.
“You’ve got to win your games at home,” said Martin. “And hope to play well on the road, but you’ve got to defend your home court, so I was really elated to see that tonight.”
Kersey also added four assists to his team-high 18 points. Smith finished with 12 points and six assists, while Scott and Anthony Forte each added 10 points. Donte Myles led the Badgers in rebounding with seven boards.
SPORTS>>’Rabbits bounce back, hold off late Southside charge
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
A win is a win, but for Lonoke coach Wes Swift, a close win on the road was exactly what his team needed.
The ’Rabbits held off a strong second-half rally by Southside Batesville for a 66-59 win on Friday. The Southerners trailed by as much as 23 points early in the third quarter before finding their rhythm mid-way through the period.
“That’s the first time we’ve won a game like that all year,” said Swift, whose team bounced back from a dismal home loss to Stuttgart and improved to 14-5 overall and 7-3 in the 2-4A Conference. “I was pleased with the way we played in the first half, but I warned them about letting up.”
While Stuttgart has all but clinched the 2-4A Conference title with a 9-1 record, the ’Rabbits sit alone in second with only four games left in league play.
Momentum appeared to stay with Lonoke to start the second half as it put up six straight points to go up 42-19. Southside answered with its own six-point run, and continued to nibble away at the deficit until it pulled to within 49-48 with three minutes left to play.
“We got inside time after time and couldn’t finish,” said Swift. “On their side, we had a hand in their face every time, and they couldn’t miss. I wish we could have come out in the third quarter and put them away; that’s been the only way we’ve won games up to this point is just blowing people out.
“But I was pleased how we turned it around once they got the momentum. We flipped the momentum back to our side, which is something we haven’t done all year.”
Sending the Southerners to the line was not an option for Lonoke. The hosts were 13 of 14 from the stripe in the second half, 14 of 17 for the game. Southside forward Mikey Fulcher also gave the ’Rabbit defense fits with his long-distance shots from the baseline.
An 8-0 run by the Jackrabbits late in the fourth quarter after they began to press Southside helped them pull out the tough win.
“We did a great job of pressing without fouling, especially on the road,” said Swift. “Our defense didn’t play totally bad in the second half. We were just letting their best players catch the ball instead of denying.”
Michael Howard led the Jackrabbits with 21 points. Pierre Smith added 18 for Lonoke.
Lonoke hosted Marianna last night, and will host Bald Knob on Friday.
SS BATESVILLE 62,
LONOKE GIRLS 55, OT
Asiah Scribner led the way for the Lady Jackrabbits with 18 points, with 14 points from Ashleigh Himstedt, but it was not enough, as the Lady Southerners dominated the overtime period to hand Lonoke its second 2-4A Conference loss of the season.
Lonoke went up 47-45 with less than 30 seconds left in regulation before Kelly Jackson hit two free throws for Southside.
The Lady Jackrabbits (17-5, 8-2) are still in second place in the 2-4A standings, two games behind league-leading Bald Knob.
“It severely dampens our chance at a conference title,” said Lady Jackrabbits coach Nathan Morris. “We held our own destiny before, but now we’re down to winning out and needing help.”
Kelly Jackson led all scorers for Southside Batesville with 27 points. Cara Neighbors added 10 points for Lonoke.
Leader sportswriter
A win is a win, but for Lonoke coach Wes Swift, a close win on the road was exactly what his team needed.
The ’Rabbits held off a strong second-half rally by Southside Batesville for a 66-59 win on Friday. The Southerners trailed by as much as 23 points early in the third quarter before finding their rhythm mid-way through the period.
“That’s the first time we’ve won a game like that all year,” said Swift, whose team bounced back from a dismal home loss to Stuttgart and improved to 14-5 overall and 7-3 in the 2-4A Conference. “I was pleased with the way we played in the first half, but I warned them about letting up.”
While Stuttgart has all but clinched the 2-4A Conference title with a 9-1 record, the ’Rabbits sit alone in second with only four games left in league play.
Momentum appeared to stay with Lonoke to start the second half as it put up six straight points to go up 42-19. Southside answered with its own six-point run, and continued to nibble away at the deficit until it pulled to within 49-48 with three minutes left to play.
“We got inside time after time and couldn’t finish,” said Swift. “On their side, we had a hand in their face every time, and they couldn’t miss. I wish we could have come out in the third quarter and put them away; that’s been the only way we’ve won games up to this point is just blowing people out.
“But I was pleased how we turned it around once they got the momentum. We flipped the momentum back to our side, which is something we haven’t done all year.”
Sending the Southerners to the line was not an option for Lonoke. The hosts were 13 of 14 from the stripe in the second half, 14 of 17 for the game. Southside forward Mikey Fulcher also gave the ’Rabbit defense fits with his long-distance shots from the baseline.
An 8-0 run by the Jackrabbits late in the fourth quarter after they began to press Southside helped them pull out the tough win.
“We did a great job of pressing without fouling, especially on the road,” said Swift. “Our defense didn’t play totally bad in the second half. We were just letting their best players catch the ball instead of denying.”
Michael Howard led the Jackrabbits with 21 points. Pierre Smith added 18 for Lonoke.
Lonoke hosted Marianna last night, and will host Bald Knob on Friday.
SS BATESVILLE 62,
LONOKE GIRLS 55, OT
Asiah Scribner led the way for the Lady Jackrabbits with 18 points, with 14 points from Ashleigh Himstedt, but it was not enough, as the Lady Southerners dominated the overtime period to hand Lonoke its second 2-4A Conference loss of the season.
Lonoke went up 47-45 with less than 30 seconds left in regulation before Kelly Jackson hit two free throws for Southside.
The Lady Jackrabbits (17-5, 8-2) are still in second place in the 2-4A standings, two games behind league-leading Bald Knob.
“It severely dampens our chance at a conference title,” said Lady Jackrabbits coach Nathan Morris. “We held our own destiny before, but now we’re down to winning out and needing help.”
Kelly Jackson led all scorers for Southside Batesville with 27 points. Cara Neighbors added 10 points for Lonoke.
SPORTS>>Ware steps up in Falcons’ rout of White Hall
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
White Hall proved no match for North Pulaski on Friday, as the Falcons routed the Bulldogs 79-48 to keep their 5A-Southeast Conference record unblemished.
Junior forward Kyron Ware scored a career-high 25 points, including 6 of 7 at the foul line. Most of those points came in the third quarter, as North Pulaski pulled away and extended a slim five-point advantage at halftime.
“I knew he was capable,” Falcons coach Ray Cooper said of Ware. “It didn’t surprise me one bit. He’s too unselfish at times, and while everyone else was struggling, he seemed to be the only one in rhythm. We talked to him at halftime about staying aggressive, and that’s what he did. He got on a roll and played great in the second half.”
North Pulaski used its speed and depth in the second half, along with its stifling full-court press, to wear down the Bulldogs. Aaron Cooper and point guard Joe Agee drew in the White Hall defense with drives to the basket to give room for Ware.
“Overall, it was a good game,” said Cooper. “We shot terrible in the first half. We were putting up too many threes and missing. We talked about penetrating more in the second half.
“We pressed most of the half, and their guards finally started getting tired and made some mistakes.”
Duquan Bryant added 18 points for North Pulaski. The Falcons are 15-5 overall and 6-0 in the 5A-Southeast Conference, tied for first with Little Rock McClellan. Both are two games ahead of third-place Beebe at 4-2. Mills sits in fourth at 3-3.
Cooper has some confidence in his team’s chances at winning the league title at this point, but still many reservations.
“It means that we know what we have to do,” Cooper said. “We’ve seen everyone with the exception of McClellan that we have to make a game up with, but there’s not going to be any surprises. We know our opponents and they know us – it’s just a matter of getting it finished.”
Leader sportswriter
White Hall proved no match for North Pulaski on Friday, as the Falcons routed the Bulldogs 79-48 to keep their 5A-Southeast Conference record unblemished.
Junior forward Kyron Ware scored a career-high 25 points, including 6 of 7 at the foul line. Most of those points came in the third quarter, as North Pulaski pulled away and extended a slim five-point advantage at halftime.
“I knew he was capable,” Falcons coach Ray Cooper said of Ware. “It didn’t surprise me one bit. He’s too unselfish at times, and while everyone else was struggling, he seemed to be the only one in rhythm. We talked to him at halftime about staying aggressive, and that’s what he did. He got on a roll and played great in the second half.”
North Pulaski used its speed and depth in the second half, along with its stifling full-court press, to wear down the Bulldogs. Aaron Cooper and point guard Joe Agee drew in the White Hall defense with drives to the basket to give room for Ware.
“Overall, it was a good game,” said Cooper. “We shot terrible in the first half. We were putting up too many threes and missing. We talked about penetrating more in the second half.
“We pressed most of the half, and their guards finally started getting tired and made some mistakes.”
Duquan Bryant added 18 points for North Pulaski. The Falcons are 15-5 overall and 6-0 in the 5A-Southeast Conference, tied for first with Little Rock McClellan. Both are two games ahead of third-place Beebe at 4-2. Mills sits in fourth at 3-3.
Cooper has some confidence in his team’s chances at winning the league title at this point, but still many reservations.
“It means that we know what we have to do,” Cooper said. “We’ve seen everyone with the exception of McClellan that we have to make a game up with, but there’s not going to be any surprises. We know our opponents and they know us – it’s just a matter of getting it finished.”
Monday, February 02, 2009
TOP STORY>>Jacksonville to get small rate increase
By NANCY DOCKTER
Leader staff writer
A 1 percent rate increase for all Jacksonville Water Works customers will be in effect on February bills.
On Wednesday, the Jacksonville Board of Water Commissioners approved the rate increase in response to an increase enacted the first of January by Central Arkansas Water for all its wholesale customers, which includes Jacksonville Water Works. The last increase by CAW was in 2005.
The pass-through increase ap-plies to all residential and comm-ercial customers in and outside Jacksonville city limits; included are the Jacksonville utility’s wholesale customers – Cabot, Bayou Two, and Furlow.
Under its current agreement with CAW, Jacksonville Water Works purchases 2 million gallons of water a day in winter and 3 million gallons a day in summer. The rest is supplied by local wells.
Total output averages 4.9 million gallons a day. Commissioners also approved a 45 cent watershed protection fee to go into effect in May.
The fee is being levied by CAW to protect the region that drains into Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona, sources of water supplied by CAW.
The anticipated annual revenue of $900,000 would be used to fund the watershed management program and associated projects.
The actual rate increase by CAW for its wholesale customers was 5.6 percent. Further increases are planned by CAW — in 2010 and 7.8 percent in 2011 – to meet increasing production costs, according to Gary Pittman, chief financial officer for CAW.
In the last three years, the cost of fuel has risen 100 percent, electrical power by 30 percent, water treatment chemicals by 60 percent and iron pipe by 150 percent. For Jacksonville water ratepayers, the proposed increases will be a continuation of a series of four annual “in-house” rate increases by Jacksonville Water Works that started in 2005.
A rate study is under way to better assess all costs associated with providing water to Jacksonville’s retail and wholesale customers.
The study will conclude in March and will guide commissioners’ decisions on any future changes in rates. Under study are costs of daily operations and upgrades to the local utility infrastructure, as well as Jacksonville’s share in improvements to the CAW system.
By the year 2050, daily demand on the Jacksonville utility is projected to reach 7.5 million gallons a day.
Improvements to the local and larger CAW systems will cost Jacksonville Water Works an estimated $32 million. Short-term loans and bond issues will likely be sought to “spread out extra costs to get all the improvements needed,” said Mike Simpson, Jacksonville Water Works manager.
Leader staff writer
A 1 percent rate increase for all Jacksonville Water Works customers will be in effect on February bills.
On Wednesday, the Jacksonville Board of Water Commissioners approved the rate increase in response to an increase enacted the first of January by Central Arkansas Water for all its wholesale customers, which includes Jacksonville Water Works. The last increase by CAW was in 2005.
The pass-through increase ap-plies to all residential and comm-ercial customers in and outside Jacksonville city limits; included are the Jacksonville utility’s wholesale customers – Cabot, Bayou Two, and Furlow.
Under its current agreement with CAW, Jacksonville Water Works purchases 2 million gallons of water a day in winter and 3 million gallons a day in summer. The rest is supplied by local wells.
Total output averages 4.9 million gallons a day. Commissioners also approved a 45 cent watershed protection fee to go into effect in May.
The fee is being levied by CAW to protect the region that drains into Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona, sources of water supplied by CAW.
The anticipated annual revenue of $900,000 would be used to fund the watershed management program and associated projects.
The actual rate increase by CAW for its wholesale customers was 5.6 percent. Further increases are planned by CAW — in 2010 and 7.8 percent in 2011 – to meet increasing production costs, according to Gary Pittman, chief financial officer for CAW.
In the last three years, the cost of fuel has risen 100 percent, electrical power by 30 percent, water treatment chemicals by 60 percent and iron pipe by 150 percent. For Jacksonville water ratepayers, the proposed increases will be a continuation of a series of four annual “in-house” rate increases by Jacksonville Water Works that started in 2005.
A rate study is under way to better assess all costs associated with providing water to Jacksonville’s retail and wholesale customers.
The study will conclude in March and will guide commissioners’ decisions on any future changes in rates. Under study are costs of daily operations and upgrades to the local utility infrastructure, as well as Jacksonville’s share in improvements to the CAW system.
By the year 2050, daily demand on the Jacksonville utility is projected to reach 7.5 million gallons a day.
Improvements to the local and larger CAW systems will cost Jacksonville Water Works an estimated $32 million. Short-term loans and bond issues will likely be sought to “spread out extra costs to get all the improvements needed,” said Mike Simpson, Jacksonville Water Works manager.
EDITORIAL>>Stimulus plan for schools
With the state treasury still relatively flush and unemployment running a little below national levels, Arkansas may not expect rich dividends from the giant economic stimulus package that Congress will enact in the next two weeks. It will provide a sizable booster to the economy through some traditional avenues like student aid, food stamps and extended unemployment, but the governor and the congressional delegation ought to seize the opportunity to do much more — if that opportunity has not passed.
One of the biggest objectives of President Obama’s stimulus plan is modernization of the public schools, and that is where Arkansas is perhaps neediest of all the states. Arkansas has $500 million or more of immediate needs for new, expanded and rehabilitated schools, all of it identified by a survey ordered by the courts in the Lake View school case. The state has dedicated hundreds of millions of surplus state funds for the improvements, but a major problem has been that most schools have been unable to produce their matching share of the construction costs.
Why couldn’t or shouldn’t the schools’ share come in the form of federal assistance? With the state matching it would provide a construction boom around the state that would create thousands of jobs at a federal cost that ought to be appealing to Washington. Nowhere, we would guess, would the president get more bang for the federal buck. That might require some tinkering with the statutes, but the legislature is in session with little of importance on the agenda.
Governor Beebe’s executive secretary said they had urged the state’s senators and congressmen to make the case to the administration that Arkansas should not be shoved to the margins because its treasury and job market are not as decimated as Michigan, California or Ohio or nearby states like Mississippi. Arkansas’ desperate problems with education infrastructure ought to make that case easy.
In the old days, Arkansas would have been in particularly perilous straits with pork barrel since it gave the new president one of the worst clobberings in the nation. We can be thankful that Lyndon B. Johnson is not still president. Those slights were not forgotten. But this president says that political rewards and punishment will not be part of his policy, and the evidence so far suggests that deeds will follow words.
We have a fearful suspicion also that while economic doom has been slow to reach Arkansas, the worst is yet to come. By summer, the cupboard at the state Capitol may be as bare as those of the big manufacturing states. No one can predict that now, so the governor and our congressional delegation, which is not a powerhouse, will have to make the case eloquently for the state now. There may not be another stimulus program.
One of the biggest objectives of President Obama’s stimulus plan is modernization of the public schools, and that is where Arkansas is perhaps neediest of all the states. Arkansas has $500 million or more of immediate needs for new, expanded and rehabilitated schools, all of it identified by a survey ordered by the courts in the Lake View school case. The state has dedicated hundreds of millions of surplus state funds for the improvements, but a major problem has been that most schools have been unable to produce their matching share of the construction costs.
Why couldn’t or shouldn’t the schools’ share come in the form of federal assistance? With the state matching it would provide a construction boom around the state that would create thousands of jobs at a federal cost that ought to be appealing to Washington. Nowhere, we would guess, would the president get more bang for the federal buck. That might require some tinkering with the statutes, but the legislature is in session with little of importance on the agenda.
Governor Beebe’s executive secretary said they had urged the state’s senators and congressmen to make the case to the administration that Arkansas should not be shoved to the margins because its treasury and job market are not as decimated as Michigan, California or Ohio or nearby states like Mississippi. Arkansas’ desperate problems with education infrastructure ought to make that case easy.
In the old days, Arkansas would have been in particularly perilous straits with pork barrel since it gave the new president one of the worst clobberings in the nation. We can be thankful that Lyndon B. Johnson is not still president. Those slights were not forgotten. But this president says that political rewards and punishment will not be part of his policy, and the evidence so far suggests that deeds will follow words.
We have a fearful suspicion also that while economic doom has been slow to reach Arkansas, the worst is yet to come. By summer, the cupboard at the state Capitol may be as bare as those of the big manufacturing states. No one can predict that now, so the governor and our congressional delegation, which is not a powerhouse, will have to make the case eloquently for the state now. There may not be another stimulus program.
TOP STORY>>Col. Otey: It’s a homecoming
Col. Gregory S. Otey took command of the 19th Airlift Wing from Brig. Gen. Rowayne A. Schatz Jr. at Little Rock Air Force Base on Wednesday during a ceremony attended by Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott III, commander of the 18th Air Force at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.
“It is an honor, and I am very humbled to stand before you today as the commander of the 19th Airlift Wing. This is truly like coming home for the Otey family,” said the colonel, who was a weapons officer at the C-130 Weapons School at the air base from 1995 through 1997.
“I’m not saying I will not task you with multiple deployments and hard work,” Otey said at the ceremony held inside Hangar 276. “When I ask a lot of you, I owe you a lot. I owe you the resources and the training to accomplish the mission. I owe you and your family support when you prepare to deploy, while you’re deployed, and upon your return.”
Otey takes over the premier C-130 training and combat center whose mission is critical to America’s mission around the world, Scott said.
Scott also noted the contributions the air base has made to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The base has sent several C-130s and hundreds of airmen in support of both wars.
The delivery of supplies and personnel on C-130s has reduced the use of truck convoys in Iraq, keeping U.S. soldiers away from roadside bombs.
Scott praised Schatz’s “record of excellence,” adding that “under General Schatz’s leadership, the 19th (Airlift) Wing’s dedication and commitment has remained nothing less than impressive.
“Just under two years ago, Team Little Rock welcomed Brig. Gen. Rowayne A. Schatz, Jr. and his family to the Rock…the home of the C-130 Center of Excellence and the largest C-130 fleet in the world,” Scott said.
“Under General Schatz’s leadership, the 19th [Airlift] Wing’s dedication and commitment has remained nothing less than impressive.”
“We must win today’s fight while preparing for the future. That is exactly what Little Rock has done and continues to do. Your leadership will be critical to this success. This is an awesome responsibility and it rests with you,” Scott added.
Schatz has been promoted to the Pentagon, where he will be deputy director of joint operations. This is the largest deputy directorate on the staff, with responsibility for nuclear weapons, surveillance, reconnaissance, information operations, cyber warfare and for maintaining command and control for the national military command center.
The Air Force Expeditionary Center at Fort Dix, N.J., that Otey had previously commanded is the Air Force’s Center of Excellence for advanced expeditionary combat support training and education. The center houses the Mobility Operations School, Expeditionary Operations School and the Expeditionary Center Resources Directorate.
Otey is a 1987 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and earned his pilot’s wings in 1989.
Otey, a Bronze Star recipient, is a command pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours in military aircraft including the C-130E and the state of the art C-130J.
Among 11 other awards, Otey received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.
Schatz took command of the 314th Airlift Wing in May 2007, just as construction of privatized base housing under American Eagle Communities ground to a halt, and he leaves just as Hunt-Pinnacle LLC takes over the contract and resurrects construction of base housing.
Schatz was presented with the Legion of Merit for his service to Little Rock Air Force Base, which included securing more than $28.7 million in construction projects.
They included two $10 million appropriations for the joint education center financed in partnership with the city of Jacksonville, as well as funding for fitness, sports and wellness centers, and family housing.
Schatz said, “Kim and I have been in many communities, but the community support here is second to none. We’ll leave here with a big chunk taken out of our hearts. It’s been a privilege to serve you.”
Leader senior writer John Hofheimer and the Combat Air-lifter newspaper contributed to this report.
“It is an honor, and I am very humbled to stand before you today as the commander of the 19th Airlift Wing. This is truly like coming home for the Otey family,” said the colonel, who was a weapons officer at the C-130 Weapons School at the air base from 1995 through 1997.
“I’m not saying I will not task you with multiple deployments and hard work,” Otey said at the ceremony held inside Hangar 276. “When I ask a lot of you, I owe you a lot. I owe you the resources and the training to accomplish the mission. I owe you and your family support when you prepare to deploy, while you’re deployed, and upon your return.”
Otey takes over the premier C-130 training and combat center whose mission is critical to America’s mission around the world, Scott said.
Scott also noted the contributions the air base has made to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The base has sent several C-130s and hundreds of airmen in support of both wars.
The delivery of supplies and personnel on C-130s has reduced the use of truck convoys in Iraq, keeping U.S. soldiers away from roadside bombs.
Scott praised Schatz’s “record of excellence,” adding that “under General Schatz’s leadership, the 19th (Airlift) Wing’s dedication and commitment has remained nothing less than impressive.
“Just under two years ago, Team Little Rock welcomed Brig. Gen. Rowayne A. Schatz, Jr. and his family to the Rock…the home of the C-130 Center of Excellence and the largest C-130 fleet in the world,” Scott said.
“Under General Schatz’s leadership, the 19th [Airlift] Wing’s dedication and commitment has remained nothing less than impressive.”
“We must win today’s fight while preparing for the future. That is exactly what Little Rock has done and continues to do. Your leadership will be critical to this success. This is an awesome responsibility and it rests with you,” Scott added.
Schatz has been promoted to the Pentagon, where he will be deputy director of joint operations. This is the largest deputy directorate on the staff, with responsibility for nuclear weapons, surveillance, reconnaissance, information operations, cyber warfare and for maintaining command and control for the national military command center.
The Air Force Expeditionary Center at Fort Dix, N.J., that Otey had previously commanded is the Air Force’s Center of Excellence for advanced expeditionary combat support training and education. The center houses the Mobility Operations School, Expeditionary Operations School and the Expeditionary Center Resources Directorate.
Otey is a 1987 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and earned his pilot’s wings in 1989.
Otey, a Bronze Star recipient, is a command pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours in military aircraft including the C-130E and the state of the art C-130J.
Among 11 other awards, Otey received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.
Schatz took command of the 314th Airlift Wing in May 2007, just as construction of privatized base housing under American Eagle Communities ground to a halt, and he leaves just as Hunt-Pinnacle LLC takes over the contract and resurrects construction of base housing.
Schatz was presented with the Legion of Merit for his service to Little Rock Air Force Base, which included securing more than $28.7 million in construction projects.
They included two $10 million appropriations for the joint education center financed in partnership with the city of Jacksonville, as well as funding for fitness, sports and wellness centers, and family housing.
Schatz said, “Kim and I have been in many communities, but the community support here is second to none. We’ll leave here with a big chunk taken out of our hearts. It’s been a privilege to serve you.”
Leader senior writer John Hofheimer and the Combat Air-lifter newspaper contributed to this report.
TOP STORY>>State is making land purchase a top priority
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Buying North Belt right-of-way land in Sherwood near Brockington Road is “priority one,” according to the state Highway Department.
“We had hoped to have it wrapped up by the end of January,” said David Niles, spokesman with the Highway Department, on Friday, “but it looks like it’ll be next week now. It is on the top of our list of priorities.”
The state has about $4 million to buy right-of-way for the proposed North Belt route from Hwy. 67/167 through Sherwood over to Hwy. 107.
The $4 million won’t buy all the land the state needs for the bypass that has been on the books since the late 1940s, but it will help move the project forward.
The Sherwood City Council effectively put the state Highway Department on notice last week when aldermen delayed approving again the master street plan for another month.
Alderman Charlie Harmon recommended the delay. “I’m of the opinion that we should continue to table this until we see movement,” he said.
Harmon was afraid that approval would allow the state to slow its efforts in making the necessary right-of-way purchases.
Alderman Becki Vassar called that area of Hwy. 107 and Brockington Road a major growth area for the city. “We need to allow it to grow, but we also need the North Belt. I want both. If 30 days will help, then by all means lets table this.”
Once the city officially places the approved route on the master plan then it will no longer be able to hold back developers who want to build in or near the right-of-way of the proposed bypass.
When the city’s planning commission approves these projects—and there are at least two developers pounding to get approval—it starts the clock ticking, giving the state one year to buy or at least make an offer to purchase the right-of-ways in those subdivisions.
If the year goes by with no movement from the state, then developers can build in the right-of-way, which could alter, delay or kill the North Belt.
Niles said the state has been negotiating with the owners of the two parcels the highway department needs near Brockington Road but was unable to work out an agreement. That led to an outside appraisal being done. Niles said the department was that appraisal and it is going through a final review.
“We hope to have it completed quickly,” he said.
The proposed North Belt cuts a 200-foot chunk across the proposed 63-acre Brockington Crossing, located just north of Brockington Road and west of Hwy. 107. That right-of-way purchase the state hopes to wrap up in about a week.
The other two development companies—Deere Properties and 107-Oakdale, LLC--are wanting to build to the east of Hwy. 107.
In fact at the January Sherwood planning commission meeting, developer Steve Deere said, “The North Belt will be a detriment to Sherwood.”
Deere, who wants to develop the 586-acre Oakdale North Addition, just west of Hwy. 107, believes the state is holding him and other developers hostage by not going in and buying up the property it needs for the freeway.
Deere has been told that property acquisition could be 10 years away. “How long am I expected to wait?” he asked the commission.
In the late 1990s, Sherwood developers, tired of waiting for the state to move ahead with plans for the North Belt freeway, built a subdivision smack in the middle of the approved route, causing what has turned out to be at least a 10-year delay of the project.
The proposed I-440 route cuts Deere’s development almost in half from east to west. “Not only does it take 66 acres for the freeway, it landlocks about 150 acres in the northern half of the subdivision, according to David Jones with Marlar Engineering.
“There’s no provisions from the state for grade separations and we would need two of them to be able to develop that section,” Jones explained.
Deere says that the proposed route renders most of his property useless for development.
Former city engineer Michael Clayton, representing the developer of Miller’s Crossroads, Phase II, is more adamant than Deere. He believes the state has already had more than a year to purchase the property in Miller’s Crossroads.
“It’s been well over a year since the Mehlberger Firm submitted plans on this 48-acre parcel of land,” Clayton said. He added that the plans do show the old corridor for the North Belt, and that’s the one currently on the master street plan.
In other council business:
– Aldermen condemned a commercial structure at 7300 Hwy. 107 known as North Hills Shopping Center and a residential structure at 7225 Jacksonville Cut Off Road as public nuisances. The owners have 30 days to bring the structures up to code or the city will make arrangements to tear the buildings down.
– The council approved a 2009 budget of $1.73 million for the wastewater department, up from $995,505 in 2008. The $650,000 increase covers sewer improvement work required by the state and will be funded by an approved sales tax.
– The council revised the boundaries of the Gravel Ridge land it annexed last year, kicking loose about 68 acres of land near the southern end of Jacksonville’s Northlake subdivision. Most of that land will become part of a lake for that subdivision and eventually be annexed into Jacksonville.
Leader staff writer
Buying North Belt right-of-way land in Sherwood near Brockington Road is “priority one,” according to the state Highway Department.
“We had hoped to have it wrapped up by the end of January,” said David Niles, spokesman with the Highway Department, on Friday, “but it looks like it’ll be next week now. It is on the top of our list of priorities.”
The state has about $4 million to buy right-of-way for the proposed North Belt route from Hwy. 67/167 through Sherwood over to Hwy. 107.
The $4 million won’t buy all the land the state needs for the bypass that has been on the books since the late 1940s, but it will help move the project forward.
The Sherwood City Council effectively put the state Highway Department on notice last week when aldermen delayed approving again the master street plan for another month.
Alderman Charlie Harmon recommended the delay. “I’m of the opinion that we should continue to table this until we see movement,” he said.
Harmon was afraid that approval would allow the state to slow its efforts in making the necessary right-of-way purchases.
Alderman Becki Vassar called that area of Hwy. 107 and Brockington Road a major growth area for the city. “We need to allow it to grow, but we also need the North Belt. I want both. If 30 days will help, then by all means lets table this.”
Once the city officially places the approved route on the master plan then it will no longer be able to hold back developers who want to build in or near the right-of-way of the proposed bypass.
When the city’s planning commission approves these projects—and there are at least two developers pounding to get approval—it starts the clock ticking, giving the state one year to buy or at least make an offer to purchase the right-of-ways in those subdivisions.
If the year goes by with no movement from the state, then developers can build in the right-of-way, which could alter, delay or kill the North Belt.
Niles said the state has been negotiating with the owners of the two parcels the highway department needs near Brockington Road but was unable to work out an agreement. That led to an outside appraisal being done. Niles said the department was that appraisal and it is going through a final review.
“We hope to have it completed quickly,” he said.
The proposed North Belt cuts a 200-foot chunk across the proposed 63-acre Brockington Crossing, located just north of Brockington Road and west of Hwy. 107. That right-of-way purchase the state hopes to wrap up in about a week.
The other two development companies—Deere Properties and 107-Oakdale, LLC--are wanting to build to the east of Hwy. 107.
In fact at the January Sherwood planning commission meeting, developer Steve Deere said, “The North Belt will be a detriment to Sherwood.”
Deere, who wants to develop the 586-acre Oakdale North Addition, just west of Hwy. 107, believes the state is holding him and other developers hostage by not going in and buying up the property it needs for the freeway.
Deere has been told that property acquisition could be 10 years away. “How long am I expected to wait?” he asked the commission.
In the late 1990s, Sherwood developers, tired of waiting for the state to move ahead with plans for the North Belt freeway, built a subdivision smack in the middle of the approved route, causing what has turned out to be at least a 10-year delay of the project.
The proposed I-440 route cuts Deere’s development almost in half from east to west. “Not only does it take 66 acres for the freeway, it landlocks about 150 acres in the northern half of the subdivision, according to David Jones with Marlar Engineering.
“There’s no provisions from the state for grade separations and we would need two of them to be able to develop that section,” Jones explained.
Deere says that the proposed route renders most of his property useless for development.
Former city engineer Michael Clayton, representing the developer of Miller’s Crossroads, Phase II, is more adamant than Deere. He believes the state has already had more than a year to purchase the property in Miller’s Crossroads.
“It’s been well over a year since the Mehlberger Firm submitted plans on this 48-acre parcel of land,” Clayton said. He added that the plans do show the old corridor for the North Belt, and that’s the one currently on the master street plan.
In other council business:
– Aldermen condemned a commercial structure at 7300 Hwy. 107 known as North Hills Shopping Center and a residential structure at 7225 Jacksonville Cut Off Road as public nuisances. The owners have 30 days to bring the structures up to code or the city will make arrangements to tear the buildings down.
– The council approved a 2009 budget of $1.73 million for the wastewater department, up from $995,505 in 2008. The $650,000 increase covers sewer improvement work required by the state and will be funded by an approved sales tax.
– The council revised the boundaries of the Gravel Ridge land it annexed last year, kicking loose about 68 acres of land near the southern end of Jacksonville’s Northlake subdivision. Most of that land will become part of a lake for that subdivision and eventually be annexed into Jacksonville.
TOP STORY>>Schools have leaky roofs
By NANCY DOCKTER
Leader staff writer
Leaky roofs at Cato Elementary School and Northwood Middle School are slated for repairs, say officials at Pulaski County Special School District.
The district will ask for bids within four weeks and work should begin in the spring to replace the roof over the west addition at Cato. For now, temporary patches have stopped the leaks in the hall affecting a few classrooms in the back of the Cato school building, said Jerry Holder, a school facilities official for the district.
“A couple of classrooms, you had to have umbrellas, but James Warren (PCSSD facilities supervisor) has been very supportive and worked real hard to do anything he can,” said Danny Gilliland, PCSSD board member, Zone 5.
Gilliland lauded district officials for sending out crews to Cato after rains to dry and clean moldy carpets and to try to patch roof leaks.
“Whenever Cato called, they’d be out there immediately,” he said.
At Northwood, an internal gutter under the roof will be sealed to stop leaks into the library. Past repairs were effective for awhile, but rains are again creating mold, ruining books, and saturating the carpet in some parts of the library, according to parents and school personnel.
“Every time you get a hard rain, you lose books,” said Northwood principal Veronica Perkins. “Along the back wall, it is going to get very wet, and have water squishing under your feet.”
“There is a leak, and it has been put on our list of things to be done as soon as we get a break in the weather,” said Holder.
The roofs at both schools have been leak-prone because of their low pitch, which causes water to collect and seep through any opening.
The original building at Cato was built in three phases. The roof over the original section was replaced a few years ago. The roof over the third section does not leak, but to be prepared, the district is exploring costs for its replacement.
The new roof on the west addition will be a plastic membrane, “kind of like a swimming pool liner,” Holder said. It is guaranteed to last 15 years.
Northwood’s faulty roof has a long history of causing water to accumulate in light fixtures and ceiling panels to sag, some say. Now retired Northwood maintenance supervisor Mike Steele, worked at the school when it opened in 1980 until 2004. He recalls that the metal roof leaked wherever there is a change in pitch, seams, or cuts to insert a fan or vent.
“It has leaked from day one,” Steele said, adding that the district repeatedly sent maintenance crews to patch the roof. That would help some, but the problem has never gone away entirely.
“I believe it needs some professional help,” Steele said. “It is beyond the scope of what the maintenance crews can do.”
Warren said budget constraints make it impossible to fix everything at once at every facility in the district. According to one study by the state, he said, all the needed repairs would cost the district $300 million.
“That is a lot of repairs, and I don’t get but a very small amount of money each year to make repairs,” Warren said. “If we don’t pass the millage and get the correct amount of money to fix all the things that need to be fixed, we will continue to put Band-Aids on buildings.”
Leaky roofs are an ongoing issue for the district, Gilliland said. Even the new Chenal Elementary School has some roof leaks, he noted.
“That is a brand new school, and its roof leaks. I was just shocked. You’d be hard pressed to find one without leaks. They (the district) are always working on trying to get them done.”
Leader staff writer
Leaky roofs at Cato Elementary School and Northwood Middle School are slated for repairs, say officials at Pulaski County Special School District.
The district will ask for bids within four weeks and work should begin in the spring to replace the roof over the west addition at Cato. For now, temporary patches have stopped the leaks in the hall affecting a few classrooms in the back of the Cato school building, said Jerry Holder, a school facilities official for the district.
“A couple of classrooms, you had to have umbrellas, but James Warren (PCSSD facilities supervisor) has been very supportive and worked real hard to do anything he can,” said Danny Gilliland, PCSSD board member, Zone 5.
Gilliland lauded district officials for sending out crews to Cato after rains to dry and clean moldy carpets and to try to patch roof leaks.
“Whenever Cato called, they’d be out there immediately,” he said.
At Northwood, an internal gutter under the roof will be sealed to stop leaks into the library. Past repairs were effective for awhile, but rains are again creating mold, ruining books, and saturating the carpet in some parts of the library, according to parents and school personnel.
“Every time you get a hard rain, you lose books,” said Northwood principal Veronica Perkins. “Along the back wall, it is going to get very wet, and have water squishing under your feet.”
“There is a leak, and it has been put on our list of things to be done as soon as we get a break in the weather,” said Holder.
The roofs at both schools have been leak-prone because of their low pitch, which causes water to collect and seep through any opening.
The original building at Cato was built in three phases. The roof over the original section was replaced a few years ago. The roof over the third section does not leak, but to be prepared, the district is exploring costs for its replacement.
The new roof on the west addition will be a plastic membrane, “kind of like a swimming pool liner,” Holder said. It is guaranteed to last 15 years.
Northwood’s faulty roof has a long history of causing water to accumulate in light fixtures and ceiling panels to sag, some say. Now retired Northwood maintenance supervisor Mike Steele, worked at the school when it opened in 1980 until 2004. He recalls that the metal roof leaked wherever there is a change in pitch, seams, or cuts to insert a fan or vent.
“It has leaked from day one,” Steele said, adding that the district repeatedly sent maintenance crews to patch the roof. That would help some, but the problem has never gone away entirely.
“I believe it needs some professional help,” Steele said. “It is beyond the scope of what the maintenance crews can do.”
Warren said budget constraints make it impossible to fix everything at once at every facility in the district. According to one study by the state, he said, all the needed repairs would cost the district $300 million.
“That is a lot of repairs, and I don’t get but a very small amount of money each year to make repairs,” Warren said. “If we don’t pass the millage and get the correct amount of money to fix all the things that need to be fixed, we will continue to put Band-Aids on buildings.”
Leaky roofs are an ongoing issue for the district, Gilliland said. Even the new Chenal Elementary School has some roof leaks, he noted.
“That is a brand new school, and its roof leaks. I was just shocked. You’d be hard pressed to find one without leaks. They (the district) are always working on trying to get them done.”
TOP STORY>>Tobacco tax gets mixed reaction from lawmakers
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Everyone seems to favor the Level I trauma system Gov. Mike Beebe is promoting, but the notion of increasing cigarette taxes to pay for it has its detractors.
The governor has proposed a 56-cent-a-pack increase in the state tax on cigarettes and new taxes require approval by 75 percent of each body of the General Assembly, a rigorous standard to meet.
Combined with a proposed 61-cent-a-pack increase in federal cigarette taxes to fund the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, smokers could be paying an additional $1.17 a pack.
The current cost of a pack of cigarettes at one discount outlet is $3.89, so smokers could be paying $5.06 a pack. Cigarette industry lobbyists have come to town, although none of the area representatives say they were contacted by the lobbyists.
Locally, Bill Bevis and Joe Bell are registered as industry lobbyists.
It will be more difficult to approve the state increase with the federal increase looming, according to state Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle. But Glover says he completely supports the governor’s initiative.
Those opposed to the cigarette tax are taking “a normal blocking pattern,” said one observer. “Get Republicans and a few anti-tax rural Democrats,” and the issue isn’t likely to get the necessary votes.
Like the General Assembly as a whole, local delegates are split on the issue.
State Sen. John Paul Capps, D-Searcy, like Glover, favors funding the trauma system through the increased cigarette tax.
Among the local representatives, however, two Republicans oppose the tax increase, two Democrats are still making up their minds and one Democrat supports the tax, saying, “I’ve seen the devastation of smoking personally.”
Like many legislators, state Rep. Walls McCrary, D-Lonoke, received a donation from a tobacco company during the campaign. “I sent the check back,” McCrary said Thursday.
“When I was 29 my father died of lung cancer,” he said. “He came back from World War II and couldn’t kick the habit. Ten years later I lost mom to second-hand smoke. I wondered how long I was going to make it.”
But passing the tax, “it’s going to be really hard to do,” McCrary said. “The Governor and speaker (state Rep. Robbie Wills, D-Conway) are working real hard. It’s going to be real close, but to me it’s the right thing to do.”
“I’m still doing a lot of studying,” said state Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jacksonville. “I haven’t made a decision one way or another. I like the trauma center system as far as the service, but how to fund it is still undecided.”
During the campaign, Perry received a $250 donation from Reynolds American, as did many other legislators. He said that wouldn’t affect his vote and that he wasn’t aware of the tobacco lobby hosting any hospitality rooms for after session drinks and eats.
State Rep. Jane English, R-north Pulaski County, called the trauma center a great idea but “I’m totally against any new taxes. Arkansas is the 13th-highest taxed state.
English insisted that the system could be paid for out of the $300 million state surplus.
Tax proponents say that’s one-time money, not suitable for ongoing expenses.
“Most of the people in this district get up, pay their bills, pay their way and they are not looking for a lot of people to take care of them,” English said.
She promised not to raise taxes during her campaign.
“I’m against it,” said state Rep. Davy Carter, R-Cabot. “Not when there’s a $300 million surplus, 85,000 people out of work with 6.2 percent unemployment (in Arkansas.) Raising taxes is a bad idea.
“I don’t smoke and my family doesn’t smoke,” Carter said “I have no smoker empathy, but it seems a little unfair to me.
“I’d like to have a doctor (living in) everybody’s house, but you have to pay for this stuff,” he insisted.
“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” said Rep. Jim Nickels, D-Sherwood. “I see the merit on both sides. It’s a regressive tax, hitting a small group of Arkansans to benefit a lot more. I see the health-related things that could be funded.”
Nickels said he had received a lot of e-mails and phone calls favoring the tax as well as those against it. “It’s cut and paste, the same message,” he said, “or I get a little pink slip (from the switchboard) saying no cigarette tax.”
Glover said he heard there were some out-of-town cigarette lobbyists in town about a week ago but no one contacted him.
Glover said that the threat of a higher federal cigarette tax could make it harder to pass the Arkansas tax increase.
“The governor keeps saying it’s going to be a tough fight,” said Capps, “but a lot of members I’ve talked to, I find a lot of support.”
“This governor is real popular. When a governor is strongly for an issue, it has a lot of weight,” Capps said.
“I’m not a tax-happy guy,” he continued, “but I think in the final analysis, I’m going to vote for it. I strongly feel we need the trauma center.”
Capps said he always votes as if he won’t run for re-election, and this time it’s true. Term limits will prohibit him from running again for the state Senate or to be a state representative.
“Somebody is working the smokers,” said state Rep. Gregg Reep, D-Warren. “They are doing (automated) calls, and if you say you don’t want the cigarette tax, they patch the calls through (to the state Legislature switchboard).”
Reep, who is the primary sponsor of the cigarette tax bill in the House, says supportive people are calling and sending emails.
He said he hadn’t seen overt lobbying by the cigarette and smokeless tobacco people.
Reep says he’s got about 28 co-sponsors for his bill and probably 50 representatives or more who have said they favored the bill.
“I am cautiously optimistic,” Reep said. He expects that the governor will get out into the corridors and talk to the senators and representatives. “He’s very committed to it.
“Tobacco is the best source to generate the kind of income we need,” he said.
Leader senior staff writer
Everyone seems to favor the Level I trauma system Gov. Mike Beebe is promoting, but the notion of increasing cigarette taxes to pay for it has its detractors.
The governor has proposed a 56-cent-a-pack increase in the state tax on cigarettes and new taxes require approval by 75 percent of each body of the General Assembly, a rigorous standard to meet.
Combined with a proposed 61-cent-a-pack increase in federal cigarette taxes to fund the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, smokers could be paying an additional $1.17 a pack.
The current cost of a pack of cigarettes at one discount outlet is $3.89, so smokers could be paying $5.06 a pack. Cigarette industry lobbyists have come to town, although none of the area representatives say they were contacted by the lobbyists.
Locally, Bill Bevis and Joe Bell are registered as industry lobbyists.
It will be more difficult to approve the state increase with the federal increase looming, according to state Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle. But Glover says he completely supports the governor’s initiative.
Those opposed to the cigarette tax are taking “a normal blocking pattern,” said one observer. “Get Republicans and a few anti-tax rural Democrats,” and the issue isn’t likely to get the necessary votes.
Like the General Assembly as a whole, local delegates are split on the issue.
State Sen. John Paul Capps, D-Searcy, like Glover, favors funding the trauma system through the increased cigarette tax.
Among the local representatives, however, two Republicans oppose the tax increase, two Democrats are still making up their minds and one Democrat supports the tax, saying, “I’ve seen the devastation of smoking personally.”
Like many legislators, state Rep. Walls McCrary, D-Lonoke, received a donation from a tobacco company during the campaign. “I sent the check back,” McCrary said Thursday.
“When I was 29 my father died of lung cancer,” he said. “He came back from World War II and couldn’t kick the habit. Ten years later I lost mom to second-hand smoke. I wondered how long I was going to make it.”
But passing the tax, “it’s going to be really hard to do,” McCrary said. “The Governor and speaker (state Rep. Robbie Wills, D-Conway) are working real hard. It’s going to be real close, but to me it’s the right thing to do.”
“I’m still doing a lot of studying,” said state Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jacksonville. “I haven’t made a decision one way or another. I like the trauma center system as far as the service, but how to fund it is still undecided.”
During the campaign, Perry received a $250 donation from Reynolds American, as did many other legislators. He said that wouldn’t affect his vote and that he wasn’t aware of the tobacco lobby hosting any hospitality rooms for after session drinks and eats.
State Rep. Jane English, R-north Pulaski County, called the trauma center a great idea but “I’m totally against any new taxes. Arkansas is the 13th-highest taxed state.
English insisted that the system could be paid for out of the $300 million state surplus.
Tax proponents say that’s one-time money, not suitable for ongoing expenses.
“Most of the people in this district get up, pay their bills, pay their way and they are not looking for a lot of people to take care of them,” English said.
She promised not to raise taxes during her campaign.
“I’m against it,” said state Rep. Davy Carter, R-Cabot. “Not when there’s a $300 million surplus, 85,000 people out of work with 6.2 percent unemployment (in Arkansas.) Raising taxes is a bad idea.
“I don’t smoke and my family doesn’t smoke,” Carter said “I have no smoker empathy, but it seems a little unfair to me.
“I’d like to have a doctor (living in) everybody’s house, but you have to pay for this stuff,” he insisted.
“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” said Rep. Jim Nickels, D-Sherwood. “I see the merit on both sides. It’s a regressive tax, hitting a small group of Arkansans to benefit a lot more. I see the health-related things that could be funded.”
Nickels said he had received a lot of e-mails and phone calls favoring the tax as well as those against it. “It’s cut and paste, the same message,” he said, “or I get a little pink slip (from the switchboard) saying no cigarette tax.”
Glover said he heard there were some out-of-town cigarette lobbyists in town about a week ago but no one contacted him.
Glover said that the threat of a higher federal cigarette tax could make it harder to pass the Arkansas tax increase.
“The governor keeps saying it’s going to be a tough fight,” said Capps, “but a lot of members I’ve talked to, I find a lot of support.”
“This governor is real popular. When a governor is strongly for an issue, it has a lot of weight,” Capps said.
“I’m not a tax-happy guy,” he continued, “but I think in the final analysis, I’m going to vote for it. I strongly feel we need the trauma center.”
Capps said he always votes as if he won’t run for re-election, and this time it’s true. Term limits will prohibit him from running again for the state Senate or to be a state representative.
“Somebody is working the smokers,” said state Rep. Gregg Reep, D-Warren. “They are doing (automated) calls, and if you say you don’t want the cigarette tax, they patch the calls through (to the state Legislature switchboard).”
Reep, who is the primary sponsor of the cigarette tax bill in the House, says supportive people are calling and sending emails.
He said he hadn’t seen overt lobbying by the cigarette and smokeless tobacco people.
Reep says he’s got about 28 co-sponsors for his bill and probably 50 representatives or more who have said they favored the bill.
“I am cautiously optimistic,” Reep said. He expects that the governor will get out into the corridors and talk to the senators and representatives. “He’s very committed to it.
“Tobacco is the best source to generate the kind of income we need,” he said.
TOP STORY>>Jacksonville mayoral race more crowded
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
Saying the passion for governing has long been absent from city hall, veteran Jacksonville Alderman Gary Fletcher has announced he is running for mayor.
Mayor Tommy Swaim told the city council two weeks ago that he would resign July 1 with 18 months left in his term. The council will set the date next week for a special election.
Kenny Elliott, another longtime alderman, has also said he is running for mayor, as has Randy (Doc) Rhodd of Motorcyle Ministry. Banker Donny Farmer is also said to be considering a race.
Fletcher, who has been on the city council for 30 years, says he’s ready to become mayor.
“I want to bring passion to the job,” said Fletcher, who is 54. “We’ve lost that passion when it comes to running the city.
“I want to bring back the human factor to government,” Fletcher said in an interview. “We need to make some changes. We need someone with fresh ideas. We need someone with passion, energy and vision and try to inspire others.”
Fletcher said he believes in the three R’s to move forward — “re-identify ourselves, reinvest in ourselves and rejuvenate the community.”
He said his platform includes annexing land to Jacksonville wherever possible, improving housing, reducing crime, reinvigorating downtown, ensuring the future of the city’s hospital, bringing new industry to the city, rehabilitating the Sunnyside neighborhood and considering reopening the Graham Road railroad crossing, whose closing has divided the city.
He also supports an independent school district for Jacksonville and more investment in the city’s infrastructure. He’s hoping the federal economic-stimulus plan will help pay for improvements in the city.
“I will appoint a citizens advisory board on where the people want to go,” Fletcher said.
“I’ve always been interested in politics. I went to my first city council meeting when I was 17, when John Harden was mayor. I ran for alderman when I was 19 in 1974 and in 1976 and lost both times, but I won in 1978 and have been on the council ever since.”
Fletcher, who is a homebuilder, ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1982 and 1986. He has been re-elected to the city council 14 times.
Fletcher wants to see new housing to replace the city’s older homes, which attract more renters than the new ones. About half the city’s residential properties are rented.
The candidate says the city’s industrial zone in underutilized.
“We have the best industrial area,” Fletcher said. “Industry is still interested in staying in the U.S. The city needs to pick up the ball in the recruiting area.”
He said he’s concerned about the new management at North Metro Medical Center. Allegiance Health of Shreveport, La., has signed a long-term contract to manage the troubled hospital.
“The contract with Allegiance may not be the solution to our problem,” Fletcher said.
He was born in Little Rock and moved to Jacksonville with his family in 1968. He was the first Jacksonville Jaycee to join at the age of 18 and was named Jaycee of the year in 1975. He is also a former president of the Jaycees.
Fletcher was also named Out-standing Young Man of America in 1976 and 1984, Noteworthy American Leader, Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, and Arkansas Home-builder of the Year.
He is an active member of Second Baptist Church of Jacksonville and has a diploma in Christian ministry from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.
Fletcher is married to the former Glenda Kyzer, and they have two children, Ray and Autumn, and five grandchildren.
“I’m not going to run my campaign on negatives,” Fletcher said. “Jacksonville was the fastest-growing community in the state in the 1960s and 1970s. We’d like to see it come back.”
Leader executive editor
Saying the passion for governing has long been absent from city hall, veteran Jacksonville Alderman Gary Fletcher has announced he is running for mayor.
Mayor Tommy Swaim told the city council two weeks ago that he would resign July 1 with 18 months left in his term. The council will set the date next week for a special election.
Kenny Elliott, another longtime alderman, has also said he is running for mayor, as has Randy (Doc) Rhodd of Motorcyle Ministry. Banker Donny Farmer is also said to be considering a race.
Fletcher, who has been on the city council for 30 years, says he’s ready to become mayor.
“I want to bring passion to the job,” said Fletcher, who is 54. “We’ve lost that passion when it comes to running the city.
“I want to bring back the human factor to government,” Fletcher said in an interview. “We need to make some changes. We need someone with fresh ideas. We need someone with passion, energy and vision and try to inspire others.”
Fletcher said he believes in the three R’s to move forward — “re-identify ourselves, reinvest in ourselves and rejuvenate the community.”
He said his platform includes annexing land to Jacksonville wherever possible, improving housing, reducing crime, reinvigorating downtown, ensuring the future of the city’s hospital, bringing new industry to the city, rehabilitating the Sunnyside neighborhood and considering reopening the Graham Road railroad crossing, whose closing has divided the city.
He also supports an independent school district for Jacksonville and more investment in the city’s infrastructure. He’s hoping the federal economic-stimulus plan will help pay for improvements in the city.
“I will appoint a citizens advisory board on where the people want to go,” Fletcher said.
“I’ve always been interested in politics. I went to my first city council meeting when I was 17, when John Harden was mayor. I ran for alderman when I was 19 in 1974 and in 1976 and lost both times, but I won in 1978 and have been on the council ever since.”
Fletcher, who is a homebuilder, ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1982 and 1986. He has been re-elected to the city council 14 times.
Fletcher wants to see new housing to replace the city’s older homes, which attract more renters than the new ones. About half the city’s residential properties are rented.
The candidate says the city’s industrial zone in underutilized.
“We have the best industrial area,” Fletcher said. “Industry is still interested in staying in the U.S. The city needs to pick up the ball in the recruiting area.”
He said he’s concerned about the new management at North Metro Medical Center. Allegiance Health of Shreveport, La., has signed a long-term contract to manage the troubled hospital.
“The contract with Allegiance may not be the solution to our problem,” Fletcher said.
He was born in Little Rock and moved to Jacksonville with his family in 1968. He was the first Jacksonville Jaycee to join at the age of 18 and was named Jaycee of the year in 1975. He is also a former president of the Jaycees.
Fletcher was also named Out-standing Young Man of America in 1976 and 1984, Noteworthy American Leader, Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, and Arkansas Home-builder of the Year.
He is an active member of Second Baptist Church of Jacksonville and has a diploma in Christian ministry from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.
Fletcher is married to the former Glenda Kyzer, and they have two children, Ray and Autumn, and five grandchildren.
“I’m not going to run my campaign on negatives,” Fletcher said. “Jacksonville was the fastest-growing community in the state in the 1960s and 1970s. We’d like to see it come back.”
Friday, January 30, 2009
SPORTS>>Lady Jackrabbits survive
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
Even when the Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits fell behind by eight points early to Stuttgart on Wednesday night, no one really believed they wouldn’t come back.
And when they finally took the lead after a 7-0 run in the second period, it seemed order had been restored. But Stuttgart wasn’t about to roll over for anybody, even big, bad 2-4A perennial power Lonoke. Not even when the Lady ’Rabbits scored 12 straight points in the third period and led by seven with seven minutes left in the game.
The Lady Ricebirds kept firing and connecting and eventually forced an overtime. It was at that point that order actually was restored as Lonoke escaped with a 61-53 win to move within a game of Bald Knob.
“It was exciting if you were in the stands,” said Lonoke coach Nathan Morris, whose Lady Jackrabbits improved to 17-4 overall and 8-1 in league play. “It wasn’t for us coaches. We were a little sluggish early. (Stuttgart) is not the kind of team people want to play down the stretch.
“Fortunately, we’ll be able to draw on this one in late February and early March.”
It took the heady, experienced play of juniors Michaela Brown, Ashleigh Himstedt and Ashia Scribner, along with a couple of big assists from sophomore Cara Neighbors, to pull this one out of the fire. Scribner led the way with 21 points and 17 rebounds, but Lonoke still had to withstand the torrid shooting of Stuttgart’s Kayla Robinson, who led all scorers with 24 points. The Lady Ricebirds knocked down 5 of 12 from beyond the arc, but Lonoke used an eight-rebound advantage and five fewer turnovers to get off 13 more shots, just enough to hold on.
After Himstedt hit a baseline shot to open the final period, Lonoke led 45-38, and it seemed that the Lady ’Rabbits might finally squelch Stuttgart’s upset bid. But Lonoke committed three of its 11 turnovers over the next three minutes, and the Lady Ricebirds stormed back to take a 47-45 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Twice over the next two minutes, Stuttgart went ahead, but each time, Lonoke responded. Emily Shoemaker got a rebound basket to knot it at 49 with 2:32 left, and Scribner hit a 10-footer in the lane with 24 seconds to send it into overtime.
Robinson opened the extra period with an end-to-end drive off a rebound to give Stuttgart the lead again 33 seconds into overtime. But it was Stuttgart’s last points of the game. Neigbors got a steal and a breakaway bucket to tie it with 2:46 left. The Lady Ricebirds twice had chances to reclaim the lead, but missed on a runner, then missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Scribner’s putback basket at the two-minute mark gave Lonoke the lead for good, though Stuttgart missed a game-tying lay-up at the other end. Neighbors gave Lonoke some breathing room by knocking down a six-footer along the baseline to make it 57-53 with 1:20 left. Brown finished it off by going 4 of 4 at the line over the final 41 seconds.
“We’ve had kids that have been in that position before,” Morris said. “Michaela has been in that game 20 times over and so has Asiah. Ashleigh, maybe 15 times. It’s no secret that we’re going as far as our guards and Asiah inside take us, as long as they stay cool under pressure.
“When you see Michaela bite that lower lip, you better get out of the way, because she’s fixing to take to team to where it needs to be.”
The Lady Ricebirds stormed out to a 14-6 lead and out-rebounded Lonoke 9-3 in the first period. The Lady Rabbits trailed by three after one and the teams went into the locker room tied at 27.
Though Lonoke began to assert its dominance on the glass, Stuttgart used a 9-4 run to start the third period to take a 36-31 lead. But Lonoke used two lay-ups and a free throw by Scribner and Himstedt’s nifty baseline drive and two free throws to stage a 12-0 run and take a 43-36 lead. The Lady Rabbits led 43-38 after three quarters.
Himstedt added 14 points while Neigbors had 11. Brown scored nine points and dished out three assists while Lauren Harper had three assists and three steals. Shoemaker scord four points and pulled down five rebounds.
Lonoke made 24 of 59 shots overall, 2 of 12 from beyond the arc. They made 10 of 11 free throws in the second half to finish the night 11 of 15. Stuttgart was 19 of 46 from the field, 10 of 13 from the stripe.
Lonoke traveled to Southside Batesville last night. Next Friday, the Lady Jackrabbits host Bald Knob in what well could determine the 2-4A championship.
Leader sports editor
Even when the Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits fell behind by eight points early to Stuttgart on Wednesday night, no one really believed they wouldn’t come back.
And when they finally took the lead after a 7-0 run in the second period, it seemed order had been restored. But Stuttgart wasn’t about to roll over for anybody, even big, bad 2-4A perennial power Lonoke. Not even when the Lady ’Rabbits scored 12 straight points in the third period and led by seven with seven minutes left in the game.
The Lady Ricebirds kept firing and connecting and eventually forced an overtime. It was at that point that order actually was restored as Lonoke escaped with a 61-53 win to move within a game of Bald Knob.
“It was exciting if you were in the stands,” said Lonoke coach Nathan Morris, whose Lady Jackrabbits improved to 17-4 overall and 8-1 in league play. “It wasn’t for us coaches. We were a little sluggish early. (Stuttgart) is not the kind of team people want to play down the stretch.
“Fortunately, we’ll be able to draw on this one in late February and early March.”
It took the heady, experienced play of juniors Michaela Brown, Ashleigh Himstedt and Ashia Scribner, along with a couple of big assists from sophomore Cara Neighbors, to pull this one out of the fire. Scribner led the way with 21 points and 17 rebounds, but Lonoke still had to withstand the torrid shooting of Stuttgart’s Kayla Robinson, who led all scorers with 24 points. The Lady Ricebirds knocked down 5 of 12 from beyond the arc, but Lonoke used an eight-rebound advantage and five fewer turnovers to get off 13 more shots, just enough to hold on.
After Himstedt hit a baseline shot to open the final period, Lonoke led 45-38, and it seemed that the Lady ’Rabbits might finally squelch Stuttgart’s upset bid. But Lonoke committed three of its 11 turnovers over the next three minutes, and the Lady Ricebirds stormed back to take a 47-45 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Twice over the next two minutes, Stuttgart went ahead, but each time, Lonoke responded. Emily Shoemaker got a rebound basket to knot it at 49 with 2:32 left, and Scribner hit a 10-footer in the lane with 24 seconds to send it into overtime.
Robinson opened the extra period with an end-to-end drive off a rebound to give Stuttgart the lead again 33 seconds into overtime. But it was Stuttgart’s last points of the game. Neigbors got a steal and a breakaway bucket to tie it with 2:46 left. The Lady Ricebirds twice had chances to reclaim the lead, but missed on a runner, then missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Scribner’s putback basket at the two-minute mark gave Lonoke the lead for good, though Stuttgart missed a game-tying lay-up at the other end. Neighbors gave Lonoke some breathing room by knocking down a six-footer along the baseline to make it 57-53 with 1:20 left. Brown finished it off by going 4 of 4 at the line over the final 41 seconds.
“We’ve had kids that have been in that position before,” Morris said. “Michaela has been in that game 20 times over and so has Asiah. Ashleigh, maybe 15 times. It’s no secret that we’re going as far as our guards and Asiah inside take us, as long as they stay cool under pressure.
“When you see Michaela bite that lower lip, you better get out of the way, because she’s fixing to take to team to where it needs to be.”
The Lady Ricebirds stormed out to a 14-6 lead and out-rebounded Lonoke 9-3 in the first period. The Lady Rabbits trailed by three after one and the teams went into the locker room tied at 27.
Though Lonoke began to assert its dominance on the glass, Stuttgart used a 9-4 run to start the third period to take a 36-31 lead. But Lonoke used two lay-ups and a free throw by Scribner and Himstedt’s nifty baseline drive and two free throws to stage a 12-0 run and take a 43-36 lead. The Lady Rabbits led 43-38 after three quarters.
Himstedt added 14 points while Neigbors had 11. Brown scored nine points and dished out three assists while Lauren Harper had three assists and three steals. Shoemaker scord four points and pulled down five rebounds.
Lonoke made 24 of 59 shots overall, 2 of 12 from beyond the arc. They made 10 of 11 free throws in the second half to finish the night 11 of 15. Stuttgart was 19 of 46 from the field, 10 of 13 from the stripe.
Lonoke traveled to Southside Batesville last night. Next Friday, the Lady Jackrabbits host Bald Knob in what well could determine the 2-4A championship.
SPORTS>>Lonoke boys show up flat as Ricebirds take over first
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
Lonoke’s game with Stuttgart started 24 hours late due to bad weather on Tuesday.
But all indications were that the Jackrabbits never did show up for it. The Ricebirds completed a regular-season sweep of Lonoke with a 64-46 dismantling of the Jackrabbits on Wednesday night at Lonoke.
The loss in the battle for first in the 2-4A Conference dropped Lonoke to 6-3 (13-5 overall), while Stuttgart improved to 7-2.
“Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom,” said Lonoke head coach Wes Swift, who quietly watched his club go through the mo-tions against Stuttgart. “I kind of sensed that was what was going on. We had poor practices on Monday and Tuesday and that fed into the game.
“It was for first place, and you expect the kids to be ready. I probably learned a lesson last night. Every team is different. I obviously didn’t have them motivated.”
Leading scorer Clarence Harris was held scoreless on a night when the Jackrabbits made only 17 of 51 shots and launched 24 from beyond the arc. Only six of those went in. Their free throw woes continued, too, as they went 6 of 17 at the stripe.
But maybe the real disappointment for Swift was the continued defensive breakdowns. Swift had emphasized defensive commitment after the Jackrabbits gave up 63 points in back-to-back games two weeks ago. On Wednesday, Stuttgart ran past Lonoke all night long, making 18 lay-ups, 10 of which came on fast breaks off missed shots at the other end.
“How much talent does it take to get back down the floor?” Swift said. “All night long, they did that to us. I think they saw in our first meeting (a 49-48 Stuttgart victory) that our transition defense was a little slow.”
Those breakdowns led to 61 percent shooting for the Ricebirds, who made 25 of 41 shots. They also dominated the boards for a 31-24 rebounding advantage.
Despite making only 5 of their first 15 shots, the Jackrabbits trailed only 13-12 after one period. Lance Jackson’s two free throws with 5:25 left in the first half gave Lonoke it’s final lead of the night and Stuttgart took advantage of the Rabbits’ seven-minute scoring drought to launch a 15-0 run into the third period.
Michael Howard’s weave through the lane ended that run, but by then, Lonoke trailed 30-19. The Jackrabbits never got it back under 11 points. The lone bright spot was Dontrell Richard’s four second-half three-pointers. The first of those closed Stuttgart’s lead to 40-29 with 1:40 left in the third.
But it was Lonoke’s final hurrah as Stuttgart exploited the Jackrabbits’ defense for six consecutive easy baskets to put the game out of reach at 55-30 with 5:51 left in the game.
Stuttgart got big games from Cody Burnett, who led the way with 19 points, Glen King (17 points) and DeSean Osby (12 points).
Richard led Lonoke with 12 points, while Pierre Smith scored 11 and grabbed five rebounds. Howard added 10 points. Of Lonoke’s 17 field goals, only three had assists.
Post man Juice Lambert scored only three points, but he looked a lot more comfortable on the blocks in his fifth game back from injury. He made some nice post moves, but couldn’t get his shots to fall.
“He’s coming along a lot better,” Swift said. “We’re still trying to adjust our style of game to him. Without him, our guards are trying to get to the rim. We were throwing it in to him but then we were doing a lot of standing around on the perimeter. Stuttgart doubled down on Juice and he had no one to kick it back out to.”
Despite the fact that his Jackrabbits are continuing to search for senior leadership a year after winning the 4A state championship, Swift is conceding nothing.
“We are never going to give up,” he said. “We’re going to prepare for Southside (last night) and we’ll expect a much better effort. It’s never too late to start doing things right.”
Leader sports editor
Lonoke’s game with Stuttgart started 24 hours late due to bad weather on Tuesday.
But all indications were that the Jackrabbits never did show up for it. The Ricebirds completed a regular-season sweep of Lonoke with a 64-46 dismantling of the Jackrabbits on Wednesday night at Lonoke.
The loss in the battle for first in the 2-4A Conference dropped Lonoke to 6-3 (13-5 overall), while Stuttgart improved to 7-2.
“Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom,” said Lonoke head coach Wes Swift, who quietly watched his club go through the mo-tions against Stuttgart. “I kind of sensed that was what was going on. We had poor practices on Monday and Tuesday and that fed into the game.
“It was for first place, and you expect the kids to be ready. I probably learned a lesson last night. Every team is different. I obviously didn’t have them motivated.”
Leading scorer Clarence Harris was held scoreless on a night when the Jackrabbits made only 17 of 51 shots and launched 24 from beyond the arc. Only six of those went in. Their free throw woes continued, too, as they went 6 of 17 at the stripe.
But maybe the real disappointment for Swift was the continued defensive breakdowns. Swift had emphasized defensive commitment after the Jackrabbits gave up 63 points in back-to-back games two weeks ago. On Wednesday, Stuttgart ran past Lonoke all night long, making 18 lay-ups, 10 of which came on fast breaks off missed shots at the other end.
“How much talent does it take to get back down the floor?” Swift said. “All night long, they did that to us. I think they saw in our first meeting (a 49-48 Stuttgart victory) that our transition defense was a little slow.”
Those breakdowns led to 61 percent shooting for the Ricebirds, who made 25 of 41 shots. They also dominated the boards for a 31-24 rebounding advantage.
Despite making only 5 of their first 15 shots, the Jackrabbits trailed only 13-12 after one period. Lance Jackson’s two free throws with 5:25 left in the first half gave Lonoke it’s final lead of the night and Stuttgart took advantage of the Rabbits’ seven-minute scoring drought to launch a 15-0 run into the third period.
Michael Howard’s weave through the lane ended that run, but by then, Lonoke trailed 30-19. The Jackrabbits never got it back under 11 points. The lone bright spot was Dontrell Richard’s four second-half three-pointers. The first of those closed Stuttgart’s lead to 40-29 with 1:40 left in the third.
But it was Lonoke’s final hurrah as Stuttgart exploited the Jackrabbits’ defense for six consecutive easy baskets to put the game out of reach at 55-30 with 5:51 left in the game.
Stuttgart got big games from Cody Burnett, who led the way with 19 points, Glen King (17 points) and DeSean Osby (12 points).
Richard led Lonoke with 12 points, while Pierre Smith scored 11 and grabbed five rebounds. Howard added 10 points. Of Lonoke’s 17 field goals, only three had assists.
Post man Juice Lambert scored only three points, but he looked a lot more comfortable on the blocks in his fifth game back from injury. He made some nice post moves, but couldn’t get his shots to fall.
“He’s coming along a lot better,” Swift said. “We’re still trying to adjust our style of game to him. Without him, our guards are trying to get to the rim. We were throwing it in to him but then we were doing a lot of standing around on the perimeter. Stuttgart doubled down on Juice and he had no one to kick it back out to.”
Despite the fact that his Jackrabbits are continuing to search for senior leadership a year after winning the 4A state championship, Swift is conceding nothing.
“We are never going to give up,” he said. “We’re going to prepare for Southside (last night) and we’ll expect a much better effort. It’s never too late to start doing things right.”
SPORTS>>Family affair
By Jason King
Leader sportswriter
There are several new faces on Abundant Life’s girls’ basketball team this season, but few new names.
That’s because Lady Owl seniors Brittany Sharp, Andrea Venus and Hannah Pastor have been joined by their sophomore sisters.
And they’re not just teammates, they’re courtmates as well. While the seniors make up an experienced core of returning starters at the Sherwood school, Carmyn Sharp and Sydney Venus have earned starting spots, while Sarah Pastor has seen significant time off the bench.
“It is extremely unique,” said Lady Owls coach Justin Moseley. “In my time here, I’ve not had a set of sisters other than these three. When they were seventh and ninth graders it was different then because they were in there practicing with us. But the seventh-grade girls weren’t real contributors on the junior high team.”
The Lady Owls are currently in the thick of the 5-2A North Conference chase, and have amassed a 20-9 record so far this season, the best in the program’s history.
Despite the two-year difference in their ages, it can be hard to tell which ones are the big sisters. The younger of each of the sets of sisters is taller than the elder. The Venuses provided the most striking example. Andrea is just 5-3, while little sister Sydney towers over her at 5-8.
“She’s bigger than me, but that’s okay,” Andrea said. “Size doesn’t matter. God gave us this amazing group of girls. We have this awesome group of big sisters, and also, we have a big group of little sisters, because they’re bigger than all of the older sisters.
“They’ve come up and played their role as sophomores. Two of them are starters now, so they’ve played an amazing role.”
Sydney said that while she and Andrea have the inevitable sibling spats on occasion, it’s been fun.
“We fight sometimes — almost all the time — but I enjoy it,” said Sydney. “It’s been a good experience.”
Brittany Sharp has been a three-year starting guard for the Lady Owls, and now has a familiar face on the low block in younger sister and starting post player Carmyn.
“I think it’s pretty cool — not a lot of teams have what we have,” Brittany said. “We’ve played together forever and we’re going to graduate together, and they will all graduate together, so it’s kind of cool.”
Like Sydney, Carmyn said the experience of playing with her big sister has been well worth the occasional problems.
“Brittany and I yell at each other on the court a lot,” said Carmyn, “but I have been blessed to have my older sister play with me. They’re leaving this year, which makes me sad, but we will still be a good team when we come back.”
All three sophomores will have big shoes to fill, but none more so than Sarah Pastor. Hannah has been a two-sport star at Abundant Life, landing state titles in the 200-meters and the triple jump in track and leading the Lady Owls in scoring last season.
“Andrea, Brittany and I have had to step up and be more mature, even though it’s really fun to goof off with our younger sisters,” said Hannah. “We’re the only seniors, and the rest are sophomores. I feel like we are all really close. This is one of the closest teams we’ve had, because we are sisters, and it just brings everybody else closer together. We’re a bonded team.”
The Pastors get along well until things on the court get chaotic, according to Sarah.
“It’s interesting,” Sarah said. “If the moment is intense, we kind of bite at each other’s heads. So most of the time, we’re pretty close.
“The rest of the team is like the family. In my head, when I think of the girls, there are the sisters and the family. We have a family bond, and it’s also a bond through Christ.”
Post player Savannah Lancaster is one of that family. Lancaster said that while she and the rest of the team may not have a blood kinship, it still feels that way.
“We may as well be,” said Lancaster. “If we’re not with them here, we’re usually with them some other place. We live at each other’s houses, so we’re pretty much sisters anyway.”
The same goes for teammate Jennifer Thomas.
“They have their sister bond, and we all have our team bond,” said Thomas. “I know I could go to any of these girls and tell them anything, and they would give me great advice.”
The novelty of having three sets of sisters playing for him aside, Moseley is just thrilled to have such a strong group of players.
“They’re close, and they have times when they get on each other’s nerves,” Moseley said. “But they’ve done real well with it, and we’ve got four other girls that are close with them as well, so it’s almost like they may as well be sisters to them too.
“They all contribute, and they’re all different. It’s weird how they are all different from each other, but they fill in all the roles that we need.”
Leader sportswriter
There are several new faces on Abundant Life’s girls’ basketball team this season, but few new names.
That’s because Lady Owl seniors Brittany Sharp, Andrea Venus and Hannah Pastor have been joined by their sophomore sisters.
And they’re not just teammates, they’re courtmates as well. While the seniors make up an experienced core of returning starters at the Sherwood school, Carmyn Sharp and Sydney Venus have earned starting spots, while Sarah Pastor has seen significant time off the bench.
“It is extremely unique,” said Lady Owls coach Justin Moseley. “In my time here, I’ve not had a set of sisters other than these three. When they were seventh and ninth graders it was different then because they were in there practicing with us. But the seventh-grade girls weren’t real contributors on the junior high team.”
The Lady Owls are currently in the thick of the 5-2A North Conference chase, and have amassed a 20-9 record so far this season, the best in the program’s history.
Despite the two-year difference in their ages, it can be hard to tell which ones are the big sisters. The younger of each of the sets of sisters is taller than the elder. The Venuses provided the most striking example. Andrea is just 5-3, while little sister Sydney towers over her at 5-8.
“She’s bigger than me, but that’s okay,” Andrea said. “Size doesn’t matter. God gave us this amazing group of girls. We have this awesome group of big sisters, and also, we have a big group of little sisters, because they’re bigger than all of the older sisters.
“They’ve come up and played their role as sophomores. Two of them are starters now, so they’ve played an amazing role.”
Sydney said that while she and Andrea have the inevitable sibling spats on occasion, it’s been fun.
“We fight sometimes — almost all the time — but I enjoy it,” said Sydney. “It’s been a good experience.”
Brittany Sharp has been a three-year starting guard for the Lady Owls, and now has a familiar face on the low block in younger sister and starting post player Carmyn.
“I think it’s pretty cool — not a lot of teams have what we have,” Brittany said. “We’ve played together forever and we’re going to graduate together, and they will all graduate together, so it’s kind of cool.”
Like Sydney, Carmyn said the experience of playing with her big sister has been well worth the occasional problems.
“Brittany and I yell at each other on the court a lot,” said Carmyn, “but I have been blessed to have my older sister play with me. They’re leaving this year, which makes me sad, but we will still be a good team when we come back.”
All three sophomores will have big shoes to fill, but none more so than Sarah Pastor. Hannah has been a two-sport star at Abundant Life, landing state titles in the 200-meters and the triple jump in track and leading the Lady Owls in scoring last season.
“Andrea, Brittany and I have had to step up and be more mature, even though it’s really fun to goof off with our younger sisters,” said Hannah. “We’re the only seniors, and the rest are sophomores. I feel like we are all really close. This is one of the closest teams we’ve had, because we are sisters, and it just brings everybody else closer together. We’re a bonded team.”
The Pastors get along well until things on the court get chaotic, according to Sarah.
“It’s interesting,” Sarah said. “If the moment is intense, we kind of bite at each other’s heads. So most of the time, we’re pretty close.
“The rest of the team is like the family. In my head, when I think of the girls, there are the sisters and the family. We have a family bond, and it’s also a bond through Christ.”
Post player Savannah Lancaster is one of that family. Lancaster said that while she and the rest of the team may not have a blood kinship, it still feels that way.
“We may as well be,” said Lancaster. “If we’re not with them here, we’re usually with them some other place. We live at each other’s houses, so we’re pretty much sisters anyway.”
The same goes for teammate Jennifer Thomas.
“They have their sister bond, and we all have our team bond,” said Thomas. “I know I could go to any of these girls and tell them anything, and they would give me great advice.”
The novelty of having three sets of sisters playing for him aside, Moseley is just thrilled to have such a strong group of players.
“They’re close, and they have times when they get on each other’s nerves,” Moseley said. “But they’ve done real well with it, and we’ve got four other girls that are close with them as well, so it’s almost like they may as well be sisters to them too.
“They all contribute, and they’re all different. It’s weird how they are all different from each other, but they fill in all the roles that we need.”
SPORTS>>All-Stars named for volleyball, football games
The Arkansas Activities Association has released the rosters for both the football and volleyball All-Star games this June in Fayetteville.
Quarterback Rollins Elam and linebacker/receiver Joel Harris of Lonoke, lineman Matt Jackson of Cabot, lineman Michaiah Davis of Jacksonville and lineman Tyler Wahlin of Beebe will play on the East squad in the June 26 All-Star game. Kick off is set for 7 p.m. at Razorback Stadium.
Former Des Arc and incoming Searcy head coach Tim Harper will join former Lonoke head coach Jeff Jones as assistants on the East squad, which will be coached by Little Rock Catholic’s Ellis Register.
The volleyball game will feature two area players — Cabot’s Morgan Young and Sylvan Hills’ Courtney Luth.
Quarterback Rollins Elam and linebacker/receiver Joel Harris of Lonoke, lineman Matt Jackson of Cabot, lineman Michaiah Davis of Jacksonville and lineman Tyler Wahlin of Beebe will play on the East squad in the June 26 All-Star game. Kick off is set for 7 p.m. at Razorback Stadium.
Former Des Arc and incoming Searcy head coach Tim Harper will join former Lonoke head coach Jeff Jones as assistants on the East squad, which will be coached by Little Rock Catholic’s Ellis Register.
The volleyball game will feature two area players — Cabot’s Morgan Young and Sylvan Hills’ Courtney Luth.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
EDITORIAL>>No honor for patriots
State Rep. Lindsley Smith’s only error was asking the Arkansas legislature to reflect upon philosophy and history because it almost inevitably will get it wrong. The legislature doesn’t do history and philosophy.
Smith introduced a resolution proposing to memorialize the patriot Thomas Paine one day a year, not an official holiday but a day on which people might reflect on the contributions that the great pamphleteer made to the republic. The resolution failed two years ago and Smith hoped that lawmakers might be wiser and more reflective in 2009. She seemed to be right because the House of Representatives adopted the resolution handily last week.
But in a Senate committee Monday two supporters who would move the resolution to a vote could not be found. Rep. Randy Laverty said he was troubled by some things that he had read indicating that Paine became an atheist. He did not think the state should be honoring an atheist.
That would be no reason not to honor a man if he made an important contribution to the nation’s founding, as Paine did, but is not quite accurate. Back in Europe after the American Revolution, Paine became increasingly disillusioned with the official church and indeed all organized religions, which he did not believe promoted universal virtues. Instead, he embraced deism, a philosophy if not a spiritual doctrine that was popular among the founding fathers in America, including Ben Franklin, James Monroe, John Adams and perhaps Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, all of whom uttered some deist thoughts from time to time. This is what Paine wrote in The Age of Reason about the beliefs that got him into so much trouble with monarchs and clerics:
“[T]he only true religion is Deism, by which I then meant, and mean now, the belief of one God, and an imitation of his moral character, or the practice of what are called moral virtues – and that it was upon this only (so far as religion is concerned) that I rested all my hopes of happiness hereafter. So say I now – and so help me God.”
But Rep. Smith did not propose to canonize Paine anyway, only to recognize what he did for the universal cause of liberty and for the formation of this nation. Common Sense, a pamphlet circulated early in 1776, stirred the colonies into revolt and influenced the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Generations of youngsters studied Paine in American literature and, when such techniques were still in vogue, had to memorize the opening lines from Crisis, which was published in the first winter of the revolution:
“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”
General Washington had Crisis read aloud to the enlisted men in the beleaguered Revolutionary Army at Valley Forge in hopes that it would stir them to fight on against the mounting odds in the war against the British.
After fighting in the revolution, Paine returned to Europe, where his writings against monarchies and tyranny inflamed the continent and propelled the revolution in France. Jailed by the tyrant Robespierre, Paine eventually won his freedom with the intervention of James Monroe. His old friend and admirer Jefferson, president by then, sent word that he should return to the country whose birth he had helped midwife.
He died in New York, never having achieved the stature and worth that would merit a salute by the Arkansas Senate.
Smith introduced a resolution proposing to memorialize the patriot Thomas Paine one day a year, not an official holiday but a day on which people might reflect on the contributions that the great pamphleteer made to the republic. The resolution failed two years ago and Smith hoped that lawmakers might be wiser and more reflective in 2009. She seemed to be right because the House of Representatives adopted the resolution handily last week.
But in a Senate committee Monday two supporters who would move the resolution to a vote could not be found. Rep. Randy Laverty said he was troubled by some things that he had read indicating that Paine became an atheist. He did not think the state should be honoring an atheist.
That would be no reason not to honor a man if he made an important contribution to the nation’s founding, as Paine did, but is not quite accurate. Back in Europe after the American Revolution, Paine became increasingly disillusioned with the official church and indeed all organized religions, which he did not believe promoted universal virtues. Instead, he embraced deism, a philosophy if not a spiritual doctrine that was popular among the founding fathers in America, including Ben Franklin, James Monroe, John Adams and perhaps Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, all of whom uttered some deist thoughts from time to time. This is what Paine wrote in The Age of Reason about the beliefs that got him into so much trouble with monarchs and clerics:
“[T]he only true religion is Deism, by which I then meant, and mean now, the belief of one God, and an imitation of his moral character, or the practice of what are called moral virtues – and that it was upon this only (so far as religion is concerned) that I rested all my hopes of happiness hereafter. So say I now – and so help me God.”
But Rep. Smith did not propose to canonize Paine anyway, only to recognize what he did for the universal cause of liberty and for the formation of this nation. Common Sense, a pamphlet circulated early in 1776, stirred the colonies into revolt and influenced the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Generations of youngsters studied Paine in American literature and, when such techniques were still in vogue, had to memorize the opening lines from Crisis, which was published in the first winter of the revolution:
“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”
General Washington had Crisis read aloud to the enlisted men in the beleaguered Revolutionary Army at Valley Forge in hopes that it would stir them to fight on against the mounting odds in the war against the British.
After fighting in the revolution, Paine returned to Europe, where his writings against monarchies and tyranny inflamed the continent and propelled the revolution in France. Jailed by the tyrant Robespierre, Paine eventually won his freedom with the intervention of James Monroe. His old friend and admirer Jefferson, president by then, sent word that he should return to the country whose birth he had helped midwife.
He died in New York, never having achieved the stature and worth that would merit a salute by the Arkansas Senate.
TOP STORY>>Winter weather closes schools, causes wrecks
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
A six-vehicle pileup involving four 18-wheelers and two cars along Interstate 40 near Lonoke around 5 p.m. Tuesday closed the interstate for more than an hour. No one was killed, but there were injuries reported.
The threat of winter weather continued through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service called for below-freezing temperatures to hit the area Tuesday night along with up to an inch of freezing rain and snow possibly causing a multitude of problems this morning.
The weather service predicted that most drivers would encounter slushy roads again on Wednesday morning, but expect the bridges and overpasses to be dangerously icy. The winter weather hit the top one-third of the state pretty hard Monday and Tuesday. By late Tuesday, most of Springdale was without power.
From 3 p.m. Monday to 7 a.m. Tuesday, the State Police responded to 214 accidents or crashes, with 83 happening in central Arkansas.
So far, three individuals have died in two weather-related crashes: Two in a single crash in Pulaski County Tuesday morning and one in Benton County Monday afternoon. The state police have not released the names of those killed.
Even those responding to accidents Monday night to help ended up in accidents. The Jacksonville Fire Department had a fire truck and an ambulance slid into the rail while responding to help motorists stranded on I-440 and Hwy. 67/167 at the southern edge of Jacksonville, and then a state trooper’s vehicle slid into the fire truck. Luckily damage to all three vehicles was minimal.
Tuesday’s anticipated ice storm stayed about 20 miles farther north than expected and some warm air snuck in from Tennessee, raising area temperatures to 34 or 35 degrees for most of the day instead of the expected 29 to 30 degrees.
That meant fairly clear roads Tuesday morning, but Monday evening was a different story with the State Police in Troop A, which encompasses Pulaski, Lonoke and Faulkner counties, responding to 83 vehicle accidents.
“Our power outages are concentrated in the northern tier of Arkansas,” explained Rob Roedel, a spokesman for Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas. He said that about 100,000 cooperative members were without power by Tuesday afternoon.
Roedel added that 10 of the state’s 17 electric-distribution cooperatives have power outages, including First Electric.
First Electric Cooperative, which provides electricity for 84,000 customers in 17 counties in central and southeast Arkansas, had about 1,400 customers without power as of 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Most of those without power are in the communities of Brownsville, Drasco, Edgemont, Pangburn, Pearson, Rose Bud and Tannenbaum in Cleburne County.
The winter storm closed the Pulaski County Special School District and other area schools on Tuesday.
Leader staff writer
A six-vehicle pileup involving four 18-wheelers and two cars along Interstate 40 near Lonoke around 5 p.m. Tuesday closed the interstate for more than an hour. No one was killed, but there were injuries reported.
The threat of winter weather continued through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service called for below-freezing temperatures to hit the area Tuesday night along with up to an inch of freezing rain and snow possibly causing a multitude of problems this morning.
The weather service predicted that most drivers would encounter slushy roads again on Wednesday morning, but expect the bridges and overpasses to be dangerously icy. The winter weather hit the top one-third of the state pretty hard Monday and Tuesday. By late Tuesday, most of Springdale was without power.
From 3 p.m. Monday to 7 a.m. Tuesday, the State Police responded to 214 accidents or crashes, with 83 happening in central Arkansas.
So far, three individuals have died in two weather-related crashes: Two in a single crash in Pulaski County Tuesday morning and one in Benton County Monday afternoon. The state police have not released the names of those killed.
Even those responding to accidents Monday night to help ended up in accidents. The Jacksonville Fire Department had a fire truck and an ambulance slid into the rail while responding to help motorists stranded on I-440 and Hwy. 67/167 at the southern edge of Jacksonville, and then a state trooper’s vehicle slid into the fire truck. Luckily damage to all three vehicles was minimal.
Tuesday’s anticipated ice storm stayed about 20 miles farther north than expected and some warm air snuck in from Tennessee, raising area temperatures to 34 or 35 degrees for most of the day instead of the expected 29 to 30 degrees.
That meant fairly clear roads Tuesday morning, but Monday evening was a different story with the State Police in Troop A, which encompasses Pulaski, Lonoke and Faulkner counties, responding to 83 vehicle accidents.
“Our power outages are concentrated in the northern tier of Arkansas,” explained Rob Roedel, a spokesman for Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas. He said that about 100,000 cooperative members were without power by Tuesday afternoon.
Roedel added that 10 of the state’s 17 electric-distribution cooperatives have power outages, including First Electric.
First Electric Cooperative, which provides electricity for 84,000 customers in 17 counties in central and southeast Arkansas, had about 1,400 customers without power as of 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Most of those without power are in the communities of Brownsville, Drasco, Edgemont, Pangburn, Pearson, Rose Bud and Tannenbaum in Cleburne County.
The winter storm closed the Pulaski County Special School District and other area schools on Tuesday.
TOP STORY>>New commander arrives at LRAFB
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
After nearly two years of activist leadership, Brig. Gen. Rowayne Schatz Jr., 19th Airlift Wing commander, will relinquish command to Col. Gregory S. Otey.
Otey, the former Air Force Expeditionary Center vice commander at Fort Dix, N.J., takes over in a change-of-command ceremony here today.
Schatz is headed for the Pentagon, where he will be deputy director of joint operations. This is the largest deputy directorate on the staff, with responsibility for nuclear weapons, surveillance, reconnaissance, information operations, cyber warfare and for maintaining command and control of the national military command center.
“I’ve known the man since he raised his hand to become a second lieutenant,” retired Col. William Kehler, head of the LRAFB Community Council, said of Schatz.
“He was a great team leader inside the fence and out,” said Kehler, himself a LRAFB wing commander from 1983 to 1985. “He worked on the joint education center, and it came to pass, helped get new schools for kids on and off the base and has been a strong supporter of independent schools for Jacksonville. He was great to work with.”
Base reorganization occurred on Schatz’s watch and he was a vigilant advocate for getting a new builder/management team to take over the base’s privatized housing for failed developer American Eagle.
Kehler said he looked forward to working with Otey. “He worked for Gen. (Kip) Self in New Jersey.” He said he had heard good things about Otey.
Brig. Gen. Self was Schatz’s predecessor as wing commander.
Schatz has been extremely accessible to the media, friendly and forthcoming, according to the general agreement of the reporters who most closely covered the base.
Schatz took command of the 314th Airlift Wing in May 2007, just as construction of privatized base housing under American Eagle Communities ground to a halt, and he leaves just as Hunt-Pinnacle LLC takes over the contract and resurrects construction of base housing.
The Air Force Expeditionary Center that Otey is leaving is the Air Force’s Center of Excellence for advanced expeditionary combat support training and education.
The center houses the Mobility Operations School, Expeditionary Operations School and the Expeditionary Center Resources Directorate.
Otey served as a weapons officer at the C-130 Weapons School at LRAFB from 1995 through 1997, Elkins said.
Otey, a Bronze Star recipient, is a command pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours in military aircraft including the C-130E and the state-of-the-art C-130J.
Among 11 other awards, Otey received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.
He is a 1987 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and earned his pilot wings in 1989.
Leader senior staff writer
After nearly two years of activist leadership, Brig. Gen. Rowayne Schatz Jr., 19th Airlift Wing commander, will relinquish command to Col. Gregory S. Otey.
Otey, the former Air Force Expeditionary Center vice commander at Fort Dix, N.J., takes over in a change-of-command ceremony here today.
Schatz is headed for the Pentagon, where he will be deputy director of joint operations. This is the largest deputy directorate on the staff, with responsibility for nuclear weapons, surveillance, reconnaissance, information operations, cyber warfare and for maintaining command and control of the national military command center.
“I’ve known the man since he raised his hand to become a second lieutenant,” retired Col. William Kehler, head of the LRAFB Community Council, said of Schatz.
“He was a great team leader inside the fence and out,” said Kehler, himself a LRAFB wing commander from 1983 to 1985. “He worked on the joint education center, and it came to pass, helped get new schools for kids on and off the base and has been a strong supporter of independent schools for Jacksonville. He was great to work with.”
Base reorganization occurred on Schatz’s watch and he was a vigilant advocate for getting a new builder/management team to take over the base’s privatized housing for failed developer American Eagle.
Kehler said he looked forward to working with Otey. “He worked for Gen. (Kip) Self in New Jersey.” He said he had heard good things about Otey.
Brig. Gen. Self was Schatz’s predecessor as wing commander.
Schatz has been extremely accessible to the media, friendly and forthcoming, according to the general agreement of the reporters who most closely covered the base.
Schatz took command of the 314th Airlift Wing in May 2007, just as construction of privatized base housing under American Eagle Communities ground to a halt, and he leaves just as Hunt-Pinnacle LLC takes over the contract and resurrects construction of base housing.
The Air Force Expeditionary Center that Otey is leaving is the Air Force’s Center of Excellence for advanced expeditionary combat support training and education.
The center houses the Mobility Operations School, Expeditionary Operations School and the Expeditionary Center Resources Directorate.
Otey served as a weapons officer at the C-130 Weapons School at LRAFB from 1995 through 1997, Elkins said.
Otey, a Bronze Star recipient, is a command pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours in military aircraft including the C-130E and the state-of-the-art C-130J.
Among 11 other awards, Otey received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.
He is a 1987 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and earned his pilot wings in 1989.
TOP STORY>>Beebe battles deadly tobacco lobby in ledge
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader editor-in-chief
Gov. Mike Beebe led a rally at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock on Monday for his proposed 56-cent tax increase on tobacco to pay for health services, including a statewide trauma system.
He called the rally to respond to propaganda by tobacco lobbyists who are up in arms over the tax bill that’s making its way through the state legislature.
In addition to paying for trauma centers, the $85 million raised in tax revenues could go toward better health care for smokers and nonsmokers.
Those programs are needed because Arkansas ranks seventh in the nation from smoking-related deaths: Tobacco kills about 4,900 Arkansans a year.
It’s usually the smokers who put the worst strain on health care because of their smoking-related illnesses: Lung cancer, heart disease, liver failure, sexual dysfunction, just to name a few.
If the bill passes, the tax would rise to $1.15 per pack, nearly double the current rate but close to the national average of $1.18.
The lobbyists Phillip Morris has sent to Arkansas look like siding salesmen, but they’re blowing smoke to obscure their real intentions: To keep people hooked on the deadliest product openly available in stores. Their junk would be banned if it just came out today on the market.
The lobbyists and their mouthpieces pretend they’re the friends of working people who are already taxed too much. But what these merchants of death fear is that too many people will give up the stinking, deadly habit if it gets too expensive.
Phillip Morris and its lobbyists are all over the state fighting the tax.
The tobacco industry has good reason to worry: Every time the tax goes up, hundreds of thousands of people quit and lead healthier lives and live longer.
Even Mississippi — where Gov. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco lobbyist, has long opposed raising the tax — is about to adopt a $1 a pack increase.
Since 2002, 44 states and the District of Columbia have raised cigarette taxes, increasing the average state cigarette tax from 43.4 cents to $1.184 a pack.
Consider these statistics:
– Every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes lowers youth smoking about 7 percent and overall smoking about 4 percent. About 84,000 Arkansans have quit smoking in the last six years. That figure could double in the next five years if the Legislature approves the tax hike.
– Higher cigarette taxes bring in more revenue even as more people quit because the hardcore smokers can’t give it up.
– In nationwide polls, Democrats, Republicans and independents overwhelmingly support higher taxes on this deadly product.
Smokers should pay more for the cost of health care. They’re a terrible burden on the healthcare system.
Did I say the lobbyists represent Phillip Morris, the most reviled name in business before the financial meltdown? Well, Phillip Morris’ tobacco unit has changed its name to Altria Group, to hide its real business, which is to hook people to a terrible addiction before they die horrible deaths — lung cancer, heart disease, liver failure, you name it.
Osama Bin Laden couldn’t inflict worse torture on human beings.
The cigarette lobbyists represent the worst mass killers in history.
They’ve killed more people than Hitler, Stalin, Mao and all the wars in history combined.
Tobacco has killed hundreds of millions of smokers. Even the tobacco companies admit as much.
According to the Center for Tobacco Control Research at the University of California, Phillip Morris/Altria now acknowledges on its Web site “that cigarettes are addictive and dangerous — ending decades of denial. A genuinely responsible company, faced with its role in the deaths of millions, would — at minimum — stop marketing this addictive product that would not be allowed on the market if introduced today.”
Beebe’s legislation needs a three-fourths supermajority to pass. The governor knows how to count votes. He says passage is far from assured — but failure would mean victory for the killers.
Leader editor-in-chief
Gov. Mike Beebe led a rally at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock on Monday for his proposed 56-cent tax increase on tobacco to pay for health services, including a statewide trauma system.
He called the rally to respond to propaganda by tobacco lobbyists who are up in arms over the tax bill that’s making its way through the state legislature.
In addition to paying for trauma centers, the $85 million raised in tax revenues could go toward better health care for smokers and nonsmokers.
Those programs are needed because Arkansas ranks seventh in the nation from smoking-related deaths: Tobacco kills about 4,900 Arkansans a year.
It’s usually the smokers who put the worst strain on health care because of their smoking-related illnesses: Lung cancer, heart disease, liver failure, sexual dysfunction, just to name a few.
If the bill passes, the tax would rise to $1.15 per pack, nearly double the current rate but close to the national average of $1.18.
The lobbyists Phillip Morris has sent to Arkansas look like siding salesmen, but they’re blowing smoke to obscure their real intentions: To keep people hooked on the deadliest product openly available in stores. Their junk would be banned if it just came out today on the market.
The lobbyists and their mouthpieces pretend they’re the friends of working people who are already taxed too much. But what these merchants of death fear is that too many people will give up the stinking, deadly habit if it gets too expensive.
Phillip Morris and its lobbyists are all over the state fighting the tax.
The tobacco industry has good reason to worry: Every time the tax goes up, hundreds of thousands of people quit and lead healthier lives and live longer.
Even Mississippi — where Gov. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco lobbyist, has long opposed raising the tax — is about to adopt a $1 a pack increase.
Since 2002, 44 states and the District of Columbia have raised cigarette taxes, increasing the average state cigarette tax from 43.4 cents to $1.184 a pack.
Consider these statistics:
– Every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes lowers youth smoking about 7 percent and overall smoking about 4 percent. About 84,000 Arkansans have quit smoking in the last six years. That figure could double in the next five years if the Legislature approves the tax hike.
– Higher cigarette taxes bring in more revenue even as more people quit because the hardcore smokers can’t give it up.
– In nationwide polls, Democrats, Republicans and independents overwhelmingly support higher taxes on this deadly product.
Smokers should pay more for the cost of health care. They’re a terrible burden on the healthcare system.
Did I say the lobbyists represent Phillip Morris, the most reviled name in business before the financial meltdown? Well, Phillip Morris’ tobacco unit has changed its name to Altria Group, to hide its real business, which is to hook people to a terrible addiction before they die horrible deaths — lung cancer, heart disease, liver failure, you name it.
Osama Bin Laden couldn’t inflict worse torture on human beings.
The cigarette lobbyists represent the worst mass killers in history.
They’ve killed more people than Hitler, Stalin, Mao and all the wars in history combined.
Tobacco has killed hundreds of millions of smokers. Even the tobacco companies admit as much.
According to the Center for Tobacco Control Research at the University of California, Phillip Morris/Altria now acknowledges on its Web site “that cigarettes are addictive and dangerous — ending decades of denial. A genuinely responsible company, faced with its role in the deaths of millions, would — at minimum — stop marketing this addictive product that would not be allowed on the market if introduced today.”
Beebe’s legislation needs a three-fourths supermajority to pass. The governor knows how to count votes. He says passage is far from assured — but failure would mean victory for the killers.
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