Enough Republicans — three, to be exact — agreed on Friday to support a $780 billion stimulus package to get it passed in the Senate. But the virtually solid Republican opposition to President Obama’s big stimulus program is as mysterious as it is dangerous. Either the party leaders remain wedded to the economic doctrines that guided the Bush administration — cut taxes on the well-to-do and wait for the good times to roll — or else they embrace the ideas of its most vocal Republican ideologue, Rush Limbaugh, who says the party’s task is to see that the United States collapses under Barack Obama to prove that his liberal ideas do not work.
We ought to be satisfied now that cutting taxes and doing nothing in the face of economic withdrawal are not a remedy but a failed experiment. In eight years that featured three major tax cuts for corporations and high incomes the country gained a net of fewer than 2 million jobs, the worst economic performance for any eight-year period since the Great Depression. Compare it with 22.6 million under eight years of Bill Clinton. The country shed 3.6 million jobs in President Bush’s final year, which ended two weeks ago, and a million pink slips are now being handed out every seven weeks. Economists say the worst is yet to come. We pray that they are wrong.
Everyone should be a little nervous about borrowing $780 billion in a gamble that it will restart the country’s great economic engine. After all, the massive deficits incurred by the profligacy of the Bush years were not an inconsiderable factor in the troubles. He inherited a mighty economy fueled by the first back-to-back treasury surpluses in two generations.
But there is hardly an economist of any stripe who does not now believe that the risk should be taken to stimulate the economy. Some say that the $780 billion is too much. Others, even conservatives, wonder if it is far too little. President Franklin Roosevelt’s spending programs moved the country out of the Depression’s depths but it took the truly mammoth investment in war industries to kick the economy into high gear.
The president’s program includes large tax cuts both for business and middle-class taxpayers, but Republican critics want more relief for people with investment incomes. A few say it includes too little for infrastructure work and too much for people down on their luck: extended unemployment benefits, food stamps, education and medical care. They are wrong. Human relief is just as effective a stimulus as building a bridge. It puts money into the pockets of people who will spend it on goods and services.
What the country needs is productive economic activity, even if it puts food on the table of a hungry family, and the stimulus will provide it. If the Republicans have a better idea besides collapse, the country is waiting. Cataclysm may be a desirable goal for Rush Limbaugh, but Congress will find that the strategy will be little appreciated by the American people.
Monday, February 09, 2009
EDITORIAL>>No-dough Garner
President Obama uttered words Thursday that we thought we would never hear from a president of the United States again, “I screwed up.” He was talking about nominating a cabinet officer who was discovered later to have ducked a considerable sum of income taxes on perks that he had received from a contractor. It was the third hire of the president to acknowledge tax problems, and two of them withdrew with the president’s assent if not his encouragement.
This was no niggling matter, although some said such nitpicking deprived the president and the country of the services of some astute people. But we expect the government and its agents to oblige the same rules that it punishes ordinary citizens for flouting. We have a tax system that is functionally voluntary and that depends upon everyone faithfully meeting their duty as citizens to remit the taxes they owe or collect. It cannot work if people who duck their duty are rewarded with high responsibility.
That is true at every level of government. On the same day that Obama’s health and human services nominee withdrew, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that the ranking Republican member of the Arkansas House Revenue and Taxation Committee had failed for many years to remit to the state treasury sales taxes that he had collected at his bakery business in Little Rock and the income taxes that he had withheld from his employees’ checks. The state filed tax liens against Rep. Ed Garner, Republican of Maumelle, last year seeking recovery of some $50,000 that he had not remitted. The employees’ withholding that he had kept dated as far back as 1995.
Rep. Garner said it was no big deal, that his bakery business had struggled for a while and that, anyway, he had been making payments on the debt since the state got after him. He did not think his delinquency impaired his ability to influence tax policy as a member of the Revenue and Taxation Committee, where most tax bills are lodged. Garner led the fight in the House this week against the cigarette tax.
Garner’s problem is far more grievous than that of Tom Daschle, though the sum was smaller. These were not his own taxes but taxes he had collected from others and kept for his own use.
“I think I have plenty of credibility in that committee,” Garner said. If he does, he shouldn’t. He has none with the taxpaying public.
This was no niggling matter, although some said such nitpicking deprived the president and the country of the services of some astute people. But we expect the government and its agents to oblige the same rules that it punishes ordinary citizens for flouting. We have a tax system that is functionally voluntary and that depends upon everyone faithfully meeting their duty as citizens to remit the taxes they owe or collect. It cannot work if people who duck their duty are rewarded with high responsibility.
That is true at every level of government. On the same day that Obama’s health and human services nominee withdrew, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that the ranking Republican member of the Arkansas House Revenue and Taxation Committee had failed for many years to remit to the state treasury sales taxes that he had collected at his bakery business in Little Rock and the income taxes that he had withheld from his employees’ checks. The state filed tax liens against Rep. Ed Garner, Republican of Maumelle, last year seeking recovery of some $50,000 that he had not remitted. The employees’ withholding that he had kept dated as far back as 1995.
Rep. Garner said it was no big deal, that his bakery business had struggled for a while and that, anyway, he had been making payments on the debt since the state got after him. He did not think his delinquency impaired his ability to influence tax policy as a member of the Revenue and Taxation Committee, where most tax bills are lodged. Garner led the fight in the House this week against the cigarette tax.
Garner’s problem is far more grievous than that of Tom Daschle, though the sum was smaller. These were not his own taxes but taxes he had collected from others and kept for his own use.
“I think I have plenty of credibility in that committee,” Garner said. If he does, he shouldn’t. He has none with the taxpaying public.
TOP STORY>>Otey glad he’s back at LRAFB
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Good things happen to Col. Gregory S. Otey, new commander of Little Rock Air Force Base, when he’s stationed at the Rock, and the big, affable former football player says he’s glad to be back.
“This is a wing commander’s dream; the community support is so strong,” he said.
“I met Lisa here,” he said of his wife of 15 years. She was working at the Excelsior Hotel (now the Peabody) as a sales representative when Otey was stationed at the base in 1991 for Air Force Commanders’ School. When he returned to the base in 1995 to help stand up the C-130 Weapons School and near the beginning of that assignment, their first son Jacob was born at Baptist Hospital in North Little Rock.
Before the Oteys left in 1997, their second son, Lukas, was born. The couple has another son, Chris.
The Oteys bought their first house in Cabot during that period.
Now he’s back as base commander and commander of the 19th Airlift Wing, an expeditionary wing of war fighters.
He said two of his predecessors, Maj. Gen. Kip Self and Brig. Gen. Rowayne Schatz told him, “You will not find community support any better in the Air Force than at Little Rock Air Force Base.”
Otey said he has several goals for the time he spends at the base.
“I would like to improve educational opportunities for military families,” he said, and also to see the privatized military housing contract successfully implemented.
Schatz, Otey’s immediate predecessor, arrived at the base in May 2007 just as Carabetta-American Eagle’s failure as the developer became clear, and Schatz left just weeks after a new, trusted team of developers and managers has bought out Carabetta’s contract. Hunt-Pinnacle LLD is ramping up to demolish some houses Carabetta left unfinished, to finish others and to build and remodel hundreds more.
“Mission first, people always,” Otey said. “That’s nothing I thought up on my own. It’s a cliché, but it works.”
He said he would continue Schatz’s advocacy for better local public schools, for a new elementary school serving the children of airmen in place of Arnold Drive Elementary School, and that he would continue support for a standalone Jacksonville school district.
Ground should be broken soon for the $15 million Joint Education Center, funded two-thirds by the federal government and one-third by Jacksonville residents who voted to tax themselves. That center will house representatives of several colleges that provide classes for airmen and also area residents.
It is likely to be completed on Otey’s watch.
Otey was born at Roanoke, Va.
“I always wanted to fly planes,” said Otey, who soloed in a Cessna C-172 before he was old enough for a driver’s license.
He attended Virginia Military Institute on a football scholarship as a tight end. From VMI, he was accepted into pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, Ariz.
“I worked hard and asked (to pilot) a C-130 and I got C-130s,” he recalled.
He came to Little Rock Air Force Base for co-pilot school around June 1989 and returned in 1991 for Air Force Commander’s School. That was when he met the woman he would later marry.
“I came back in 1993 for an instructor pilot upgrade,” he said.
Otey’s most recent posting was as vice commander of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center at Fort Dix, N.J. Otey said he knew he was getting close to Arkansas when a Memphis waitress said, “Mornin’, darlin’, what do you want for breakfast?”
Otey said he and Col. Charles K. Hyde served at the same time in Iraq and Afghanistan and knew each other, though they hadn’t actually worked together.
Hyde is commander of the 314th Airlift Wing, the base’s other Air Force wing. The 19th is the host wing, and the 314th, which trains virtually all C-130 pilots, crews and maintainers for the U.S. and its allies, is the tenant.
The base is also home to the Air Guard’s 189th Wing, which trains C-130 teachers for the schools maintained by the 314th.
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.
Leader senior staff writer
Good things happen to Col. Gregory S. Otey, new commander of Little Rock Air Force Base, when he’s stationed at the Rock, and the big, affable former football player says he’s glad to be back.
“This is a wing commander’s dream; the community support is so strong,” he said.
“I met Lisa here,” he said of his wife of 15 years. She was working at the Excelsior Hotel (now the Peabody) as a sales representative when Otey was stationed at the base in 1991 for Air Force Commanders’ School. When he returned to the base in 1995 to help stand up the C-130 Weapons School and near the beginning of that assignment, their first son Jacob was born at Baptist Hospital in North Little Rock.
Before the Oteys left in 1997, their second son, Lukas, was born. The couple has another son, Chris.
The Oteys bought their first house in Cabot during that period.
Now he’s back as base commander and commander of the 19th Airlift Wing, an expeditionary wing of war fighters.
He said two of his predecessors, Maj. Gen. Kip Self and Brig. Gen. Rowayne Schatz told him, “You will not find community support any better in the Air Force than at Little Rock Air Force Base.”
Otey said he has several goals for the time he spends at the base.
“I would like to improve educational opportunities for military families,” he said, and also to see the privatized military housing contract successfully implemented.
Schatz, Otey’s immediate predecessor, arrived at the base in May 2007 just as Carabetta-American Eagle’s failure as the developer became clear, and Schatz left just weeks after a new, trusted team of developers and managers has bought out Carabetta’s contract. Hunt-Pinnacle LLD is ramping up to demolish some houses Carabetta left unfinished, to finish others and to build and remodel hundreds more.
“Mission first, people always,” Otey said. “That’s nothing I thought up on my own. It’s a cliché, but it works.”
He said he would continue Schatz’s advocacy for better local public schools, for a new elementary school serving the children of airmen in place of Arnold Drive Elementary School, and that he would continue support for a standalone Jacksonville school district.
Ground should be broken soon for the $15 million Joint Education Center, funded two-thirds by the federal government and one-third by Jacksonville residents who voted to tax themselves. That center will house representatives of several colleges that provide classes for airmen and also area residents.
It is likely to be completed on Otey’s watch.
Otey was born at Roanoke, Va.
“I always wanted to fly planes,” said Otey, who soloed in a Cessna C-172 before he was old enough for a driver’s license.
He attended Virginia Military Institute on a football scholarship as a tight end. From VMI, he was accepted into pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, Ariz.
“I worked hard and asked (to pilot) a C-130 and I got C-130s,” he recalled.
He came to Little Rock Air Force Base for co-pilot school around June 1989 and returned in 1991 for Air Force Commander’s School. That was when he met the woman he would later marry.
“I came back in 1993 for an instructor pilot upgrade,” he said.
Otey’s most recent posting was as vice commander of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center at Fort Dix, N.J. Otey said he knew he was getting close to Arkansas when a Memphis waitress said, “Mornin’, darlin’, what do you want for breakfast?”
Otey said he and Col. Charles K. Hyde served at the same time in Iraq and Afghanistan and knew each other, though they hadn’t actually worked together.
Hyde is commander of the 314th Airlift Wing, the base’s other Air Force wing. The 19th is the host wing, and the 314th, which trains virtually all C-130 pilots, crews and maintainers for the U.S. and its allies, is the tenant.
The base is also home to the Air Guard’s 189th Wing, which trains C-130 teachers for the schools maintained by the 314th.
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.
TOP STORY>>Period for filing opens Tuesday in Jacksonville
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The Jacksonville City Council made only one change to the plans to elect a new mayor to succeed Tommy Swaim.
The proposed ordinance had the last date to file to run as March 12, but City Attorney Robert Bamburg explained that the day was a “typo” and the last date to file would be noon March 2.
The election will be May 12 with at least five polling sites open in the city. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The winning candidate will be just the city’s third mayor in 34 years. Swaim, when he retires July 1, will have served as the city’s leader for 22 and a half years. He defeated former Mayor James Reid, who served 12 years.
According to the unanimously passed ordinance, the filing period will run from Tuesday through noon March 2. All necessary paperwork must be filed with the Pulaski County clerk’s office in Little Rock, but candidacy packets can be picked up in the city clerk’s office at city hall.
The first step in becoming a candidate is turning in a petition with the signatures of 30 registered Jacksonville voters. City Clerk Susan Davitt said that may seem like a small number, but many people will sign the petitions and say they are a registered voter of Jacksonville when they aren’t.”
Besides the petition, candidates must sign a political practice pledge that, among other things, states that the candidate has never been convicted of a felony.
So far four people—Aldermen Kenny Elliot and Gary Fletcher, businessman Tommy Dupree and motorcycle minister Doc Rhodd have announced that they plan to seek Swaim’s seat.
If none of the candidates have a majority of the vote (50 percent, plus one vote) then a run-off will be held June 2 between the two candidates receiving the most votes.
The ordinance states that the “duly elected candidate, shall, upon proper certification, take the oath and office of the mayor on or about July 1.”
The election is coming about because Swaim, after more than 22 years of running the city, announced in mid-January that he was resigning as of July 1, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
He told the council in January that he missed a lot of his children’s activities while mayor and didn’t want to do the same with his grandchildren.
“It was a hard decision to make, but the right one,” he said. “I’m comfortable with leaving. The city’s in good financial shape and has good employees.”
When Swaim retires he will immediately be eligible for retirement pay of half his current salary of $95,499.
For an elected official to be eligible for retirement pay, they must serve at least 10 years in their elected position. Retirement pay is half of their final year’s salary. They may start to collect when they turn 60.
Former Mayor James Reid has been collecting his mayoral retirement of $14,640 (half of his final year’s salary) since the early 1990s.
Alderman Bob Stroud felt the long dragged out negotiations to save the city’s hospital did the mayor in. “He agonized for that for months,” Stroud said, adding, “I appreciate that he got us through numerous trouble spots and has the city on a super foundation.”
Leader staff writer
The Jacksonville City Council made only one change to the plans to elect a new mayor to succeed Tommy Swaim.
The proposed ordinance had the last date to file to run as March 12, but City Attorney Robert Bamburg explained that the day was a “typo” and the last date to file would be noon March 2.
The election will be May 12 with at least five polling sites open in the city. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The winning candidate will be just the city’s third mayor in 34 years. Swaim, when he retires July 1, will have served as the city’s leader for 22 and a half years. He defeated former Mayor James Reid, who served 12 years.
According to the unanimously passed ordinance, the filing period will run from Tuesday through noon March 2. All necessary paperwork must be filed with the Pulaski County clerk’s office in Little Rock, but candidacy packets can be picked up in the city clerk’s office at city hall.
The first step in becoming a candidate is turning in a petition with the signatures of 30 registered Jacksonville voters. City Clerk Susan Davitt said that may seem like a small number, but many people will sign the petitions and say they are a registered voter of Jacksonville when they aren’t.”
Besides the petition, candidates must sign a political practice pledge that, among other things, states that the candidate has never been convicted of a felony.
So far four people—Aldermen Kenny Elliot and Gary Fletcher, businessman Tommy Dupree and motorcycle minister Doc Rhodd have announced that they plan to seek Swaim’s seat.
If none of the candidates have a majority of the vote (50 percent, plus one vote) then a run-off will be held June 2 between the two candidates receiving the most votes.
The ordinance states that the “duly elected candidate, shall, upon proper certification, take the oath and office of the mayor on or about July 1.”
The election is coming about because Swaim, after more than 22 years of running the city, announced in mid-January that he was resigning as of July 1, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
He told the council in January that he missed a lot of his children’s activities while mayor and didn’t want to do the same with his grandchildren.
“It was a hard decision to make, but the right one,” he said. “I’m comfortable with leaving. The city’s in good financial shape and has good employees.”
When Swaim retires he will immediately be eligible for retirement pay of half his current salary of $95,499.
For an elected official to be eligible for retirement pay, they must serve at least 10 years in their elected position. Retirement pay is half of their final year’s salary. They may start to collect when they turn 60.
Former Mayor James Reid has been collecting his mayoral retirement of $14,640 (half of his final year’s salary) since the early 1990s.
Alderman Bob Stroud felt the long dragged out negotiations to save the city’s hospital did the mayor in. “He agonized for that for months,” Stroud said, adding, “I appreciate that he got us through numerous trouble spots and has the city on a super foundation.”
TOP STORY>>Murder suspect ruled insane
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Ronald Dean Charles, 31, of Jacksonville lacks the mental capacity to stand trial for the capital murder of Sandra Ann Givens and prosecutors can’t proceed against his co-defendant without Charles’ testimony.
“That puts us in a bind with George Smith,” said Deputy Pulaski County Prosecutor Marianne Satterfield. At a Friday morning hearing, she dropped the capital murder charge against Smith, 33, also of Jacksonville, and he had been released from the Pulaski County Detention Center by 2 p.m., according to a sheriff’s office spokesman.
Charles had implicated himself and Smith in Givens’ murder, but without Charles’ testimony, Satterfield said she had insufficient evidence to convict Smith. He could be charged again later if there is a change in Charles’ mental capacity.
Charles’ Pulaski County mental evaluation was not yet completed Friday, Satterfield said. But a completed evaluation filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court in a separate murder case found Charles mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Charles has been returned to the Faulkner County Jail pending further developments, she said.
He could end up in the Arkansas State Hospital, she said.
Charles led lawmen to the remains of Givens, a White County native who was 32 when she was killed. Family members reported her missing in October 2007.
Her remains were found on the grounds of Wright’s Cabinet Shop at Redmond Road in Jacksonville.
At the time of the discovery Charles was already was in the Faulkner County Jail with Troy Allen Crook, 29, awaiting trial for the April 9, 2008 murders of cousins Bobby Don Brock, 45, and Lonnie Franklin Brock, 62. The Brocks lived near Vilonia. Crook was not implicated in the Givens murder.
In addition to two capital murder charges, Charles and Crook each face a bevy of other charges related to the Brock killings.
Charles is charged as a habitual criminal with four or more prior felonies, Satterfield said.
Both men have prior records, Charles’ stretching back to a 1995 Pulaski County conviction for two counts of commercial burglary and two counts of theft of property. He was 18 at the time, and was sentenced to two years in prison. In 1999, he was sentenced to six years for residential burglary and theft of property.
Crook was convicted in Pulaski County for residential burglary in 2000, probation revocation in 2001, and was convicted in 2006 of fraudulent use of a credit card.
At the time that Charles led officials to Givens’ remains, he told Faulkner County deputies that he had been involved in another area murder and maybe 15 more in different states.
The search for the second local body was fruitless, although local residents say the search area floods easily and floodwaters could have carried a body off.
Charles was appointed a lawyer soon after making those claims and refused to cooperate with officials after that, according to Maj. Andy Shock of the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office.
Leader senior staff writer
Ronald Dean Charles, 31, of Jacksonville lacks the mental capacity to stand trial for the capital murder of Sandra Ann Givens and prosecutors can’t proceed against his co-defendant without Charles’ testimony.
“That puts us in a bind with George Smith,” said Deputy Pulaski County Prosecutor Marianne Satterfield. At a Friday morning hearing, she dropped the capital murder charge against Smith, 33, also of Jacksonville, and he had been released from the Pulaski County Detention Center by 2 p.m., according to a sheriff’s office spokesman.
Charles had implicated himself and Smith in Givens’ murder, but without Charles’ testimony, Satterfield said she had insufficient evidence to convict Smith. He could be charged again later if there is a change in Charles’ mental capacity.
Charles’ Pulaski County mental evaluation was not yet completed Friday, Satterfield said. But a completed evaluation filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court in a separate murder case found Charles mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Charles has been returned to the Faulkner County Jail pending further developments, she said.
He could end up in the Arkansas State Hospital, she said.
Charles led lawmen to the remains of Givens, a White County native who was 32 when she was killed. Family members reported her missing in October 2007.
Her remains were found on the grounds of Wright’s Cabinet Shop at Redmond Road in Jacksonville.
At the time of the discovery Charles was already was in the Faulkner County Jail with Troy Allen Crook, 29, awaiting trial for the April 9, 2008 murders of cousins Bobby Don Brock, 45, and Lonnie Franklin Brock, 62. The Brocks lived near Vilonia. Crook was not implicated in the Givens murder.
In addition to two capital murder charges, Charles and Crook each face a bevy of other charges related to the Brock killings.
Charles is charged as a habitual criminal with four or more prior felonies, Satterfield said.
Both men have prior records, Charles’ stretching back to a 1995 Pulaski County conviction for two counts of commercial burglary and two counts of theft of property. He was 18 at the time, and was sentenced to two years in prison. In 1999, he was sentenced to six years for residential burglary and theft of property.
Crook was convicted in Pulaski County for residential burglary in 2000, probation revocation in 2001, and was convicted in 2006 of fraudulent use of a credit card.
At the time that Charles led officials to Givens’ remains, he told Faulkner County deputies that he had been involved in another area murder and maybe 15 more in different states.
The search for the second local body was fruitless, although local residents say the search area floods easily and floodwaters could have carried a body off.
Charles was appointed a lawyer soon after making those claims and refused to cooperate with officials after that, according to Maj. Andy Shock of the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office.
TOP STORY>>Junkyard in Beebe is told to clean up
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
The owner of Dave’s Core in Beebe is in trouble with city and state officials who say he must screen his unsightly scrap metal business from public view.
Located between U.S. Hwy. 67-167 and Arkansas Hwy. 367, David Hepp’s business is visible from both and even he admits that it is an eyesore.
For several months, Mayor Mike Robertson has been unable to get the Arkansas Highway Department to force Hepp to erect a screen around his property. So he turned the matter over to the city attorney and Hepp will be prosecuted in Beebe District Court.
But The Leader learned Thurs-day, after Robertson ran an ad asking residents to call the Arkansas Highway Department and not the city with their complaints, that the Highway Department also plans to prosecute Hepp.
Although Hwy. 367, where the business is technically located, is not on the list of state roads where screening of junkyards is required, Hwy. 67-167 is on the list.
“If you can see it from the highway, you’ve got to keep it reasonably clean,” David Nilles, a spokesman for the Highway Department, said Thursday. “We’ve been out there and given him two or three chances to clean it up and he’s done nothing. We’re going to the (circuit court) prosecutor (Chris Raff) next week.
Like the city, Nilles said the state wants a screen erected.
Robertson also learned on Thursday that the Highway Department intends to prosecute Hepp and says it must have been all the calls that finally moved them to action.
“They have an office in Batesville and an office in Little Rock and they go up and down that road every day,” the mayor said. “They saw it and they should have taken care of it.”
The department is always out on Saturday pulling up yard sale signs, church revival signs and campaign signs, he said. And there can be no good reason for neglecting the condition of Hepp’s property for so long.
Hepp, whose property was annexed into the city about two years ago, told The Leader in late September that he was getting bids for a screening fence around his property as the city had already requested. But he said this week that since his profit from the sale of scrap metal was cut in half when prices dropped in the fall, he can no longer afford to build the fence.
“I’m just barely scraping by,” he said.
He proposes instead to stop using the area beside the freeway for storage. That way the junk beside the “Welcome to Beebe” sign that is so offensive to the mayor and others would no longer be an issue.
Since the price for scrap metal fell, he isn’t buying much from the local scrap dealers who keep him supplied, so he doesn’t need as much storage room, Hepp said he told the mayor this week.
“If I clean it up, I wouldn’t need a fence, but they’re telling me I need a fence anyway,” Hepp said.
The mayor said that is exactly what he told Hepp, who is willing to move the scrap metal away from the freeway now because business is bad and he doesn’t need the storage space. But if business picks up the junk will be back.
The law says Hepp’s business is supposed to be screened and the mayor says he wants it screened.
“Complying with rules and regulations is not based on the economy,” he said.
Leader staff writer
The owner of Dave’s Core in Beebe is in trouble with city and state officials who say he must screen his unsightly scrap metal business from public view.
Located between U.S. Hwy. 67-167 and Arkansas Hwy. 367, David Hepp’s business is visible from both and even he admits that it is an eyesore.
For several months, Mayor Mike Robertson has been unable to get the Arkansas Highway Department to force Hepp to erect a screen around his property. So he turned the matter over to the city attorney and Hepp will be prosecuted in Beebe District Court.
But The Leader learned Thurs-day, after Robertson ran an ad asking residents to call the Arkansas Highway Department and not the city with their complaints, that the Highway Department also plans to prosecute Hepp.
Although Hwy. 367, where the business is technically located, is not on the list of state roads where screening of junkyards is required, Hwy. 67-167 is on the list.
“If you can see it from the highway, you’ve got to keep it reasonably clean,” David Nilles, a spokesman for the Highway Department, said Thursday. “We’ve been out there and given him two or three chances to clean it up and he’s done nothing. We’re going to the (circuit court) prosecutor (Chris Raff) next week.
Like the city, Nilles said the state wants a screen erected.
Robertson also learned on Thursday that the Highway Department intends to prosecute Hepp and says it must have been all the calls that finally moved them to action.
“They have an office in Batesville and an office in Little Rock and they go up and down that road every day,” the mayor said. “They saw it and they should have taken care of it.”
The department is always out on Saturday pulling up yard sale signs, church revival signs and campaign signs, he said. And there can be no good reason for neglecting the condition of Hepp’s property for so long.
Hepp, whose property was annexed into the city about two years ago, told The Leader in late September that he was getting bids for a screening fence around his property as the city had already requested. But he said this week that since his profit from the sale of scrap metal was cut in half when prices dropped in the fall, he can no longer afford to build the fence.
“I’m just barely scraping by,” he said.
He proposes instead to stop using the area beside the freeway for storage. That way the junk beside the “Welcome to Beebe” sign that is so offensive to the mayor and others would no longer be an issue.
Since the price for scrap metal fell, he isn’t buying much from the local scrap dealers who keep him supplied, so he doesn’t need as much storage room, Hepp said he told the mayor this week.
“If I clean it up, I wouldn’t need a fence, but they’re telling me I need a fence anyway,” Hepp said.
The mayor said that is exactly what he told Hepp, who is willing to move the scrap metal away from the freeway now because business is bad and he doesn’t need the storage space. But if business picks up the junk will be back.
The law says Hepp’s business is supposed to be screened and the mayor says he wants it screened.
“Complying with rules and regulations is not based on the economy,” he said.
TOP STORY>>Principal lashes out at accusers
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
The president of the Pulaski County Special School District Board has accused an outspoken principal of slandering him and has instigated an investigation, which the principal calls “an inquisition.”
Board president Tim Clark, Super-intendent James Sharpe, district administrators and the district’s lawyer are investigating the charge that Jacksonville Boys Middle School Principal Mike Nellums told a second principal that Clark had paid board member Gwen Williams for her vote impeaching then-president Mildred Tatum and electing Clark to the position.
Clark alleged that Nellums made the slanderous comment at a Jan. 14 meeting of principals.
Nellums says the alleged slander never occurred, that the board president doesn’t have the authority to authorize an investigation and that even if Nellums had made the comment, it would have been protected speech under the Constitution.
It’s difficult to libel or slander public figures, who are said to be in the limelight.
Those investigating the incident — Deborah Coley, Bill Barnes and Jay Bequette — interviewed several principals and at least two teachers.
Coley is assistant superintendent for human resources.
Barnes is director of secondary education and Bequette is the district’s lawyer.
Clark and Coley said they couldn’t discuss a personnel matter and Sharpe didn’t return a call.
Neither of the two teachers — both PACT members — who reported Nellums’ alleged slander to the union was at the principals’ meeting, but according to Nellums, they reported to PACT leaders who forwarded the hearsay comments to Clark.
Nellums said the investigation is prompted by his longstanding enmity with the union.
PACT has been supportive of and supported by three of the seven sitting board members — Clark, Williams and Bill Vasquez.
A message left on the PACT answering machine was not returned.
Clark signed his Jan. 19 letter to Sharpe requesting the investigation, “Tim Clark, president, PCSSD School Board.”
“It was reported to me that Mr. Nellums made slanderous/defamatory statements about me and fellow Board Member Gwen Williams to other PCSSD administrators who attended a meeting of PCSSD principals…”
Clark called his letter a formal complaint and asked for an investigation including interviews of all PCSSD administrators who attended the meeting.
In a Jan. 29 letter to Barnes and Coley, Nellums said the statement attributed to him was incorrect.
“I am the most credible source, and I simply did not say anything about a paid-for activity to (Principal) Karne Sullards or anyone else.”
Sullards is the principal to whom Nellums allegedly made the statements to which Clark objects.
Nellums asserted that Sullards first told administrators that it hadn’t happened.
“At the behest of Mr. Clark,” Nellums said, “she was browbeaten by Mr. Bequette because her first statement, which exonerated me, simply did not satisfy Mr. Clark’s need to punish and intimidate me.”
Sullard finally submitted a third letter in which she said she really didn’t remember what was said, if anything.
Nellums wants Clark to reimburse the district for several thousand dollars worth of time that Coley, Barnes and the other principals interviewed spent improperly on the investigation and also for Bequette’s time, which Nellums says is billed at $200 an hour.
Leader senior staff writer
The president of the Pulaski County Special School District Board has accused an outspoken principal of slandering him and has instigated an investigation, which the principal calls “an inquisition.”
Board president Tim Clark, Super-intendent James Sharpe, district administrators and the district’s lawyer are investigating the charge that Jacksonville Boys Middle School Principal Mike Nellums told a second principal that Clark had paid board member Gwen Williams for her vote impeaching then-president Mildred Tatum and electing Clark to the position.
Clark alleged that Nellums made the slanderous comment at a Jan. 14 meeting of principals.
Nellums says the alleged slander never occurred, that the board president doesn’t have the authority to authorize an investigation and that even if Nellums had made the comment, it would have been protected speech under the Constitution.
It’s difficult to libel or slander public figures, who are said to be in the limelight.
Those investigating the incident — Deborah Coley, Bill Barnes and Jay Bequette — interviewed several principals and at least two teachers.
Coley is assistant superintendent for human resources.
Barnes is director of secondary education and Bequette is the district’s lawyer.
Clark and Coley said they couldn’t discuss a personnel matter and Sharpe didn’t return a call.
Neither of the two teachers — both PACT members — who reported Nellums’ alleged slander to the union was at the principals’ meeting, but according to Nellums, they reported to PACT leaders who forwarded the hearsay comments to Clark.
Nellums said the investigation is prompted by his longstanding enmity with the union.
PACT has been supportive of and supported by three of the seven sitting board members — Clark, Williams and Bill Vasquez.
A message left on the PACT answering machine was not returned.
Clark signed his Jan. 19 letter to Sharpe requesting the investigation, “Tim Clark, president, PCSSD School Board.”
“It was reported to me that Mr. Nellums made slanderous/defamatory statements about me and fellow Board Member Gwen Williams to other PCSSD administrators who attended a meeting of PCSSD principals…”
Clark called his letter a formal complaint and asked for an investigation including interviews of all PCSSD administrators who attended the meeting.
In a Jan. 29 letter to Barnes and Coley, Nellums said the statement attributed to him was incorrect.
“I am the most credible source, and I simply did not say anything about a paid-for activity to (Principal) Karne Sullards or anyone else.”
Sullards is the principal to whom Nellums allegedly made the statements to which Clark objects.
Nellums asserted that Sullards first told administrators that it hadn’t happened.
“At the behest of Mr. Clark,” Nellums said, “she was browbeaten by Mr. Bequette because her first statement, which exonerated me, simply did not satisfy Mr. Clark’s need to punish and intimidate me.”
Sullard finally submitted a third letter in which she said she really didn’t remember what was said, if anything.
Nellums wants Clark to reimburse the district for several thousand dollars worth of time that Coley, Barnes and the other principals interviewed spent improperly on the investigation and also for Bequette’s time, which Nellums says is billed at $200 an hour.
Friday, February 06, 2009
SPORTS>>Harris signs with Red Wolves
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports writer
Jacksonville’s Demetrius Harris made it official on Wednesday morning, signing a letter of intent to play football for Arkansas State University.
Harris, a 6-foot, 6-inch wide receiver/safety was The Leader’s Defensive Player of the Year last fall after racking up 146 total tackles, picking off four passes and breaking up 12 others. Harris also recovered two fumbles, one of which he returned for a touchdown.
He was every bit as prolific on the offensive side, where he used his size and exceptional hands to haul in 47 passes totaling 738 yards and nine touchdowns.
The 220-pound Harris has 4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash.
Harris, the son of Linda Harris, is also one of the basketball Red Devils’ top scorers and rebounders, helping lead Jacksonville to a 12-3 overall record.
Leader sports writer
Jacksonville’s Demetrius Harris made it official on Wednesday morning, signing a letter of intent to play football for Arkansas State University.
Harris, a 6-foot, 6-inch wide receiver/safety was The Leader’s Defensive Player of the Year last fall after racking up 146 total tackles, picking off four passes and breaking up 12 others. Harris also recovered two fumbles, one of which he returned for a touchdown.
He was every bit as prolific on the offensive side, where he used his size and exceptional hands to haul in 47 passes totaling 738 yards and nine touchdowns.
The 220-pound Harris has 4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash.
Harris, the son of Linda Harris, is also one of the basketball Red Devils’ top scorers and rebounders, helping lead Jacksonville to a 12-3 overall record.
SPORTS>>Déja vu at Panther Pavilion as Cabot wins another late
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
When post man Miles Monroe fouled out midway through the third period with Conway already up five points, the Panthers’ hopes of ending the Wampus Cats’ five-game winning streak against them dimmed significantly.
When the Cats converted Monroe’s technical foul into an eight-point lead one minute later, that streak seemed destined for six.
Even Cabot head coach Jerry Bridges admitted to a lapse of faith.
“I don’t have guys that are 6-8 to bring in for Miles off the bench,” Bridges said. “I didn’t know what (the game) was going to become at that point. You just have to move on. You can’t dwell on it.”
But for the second game in five days at the Panther Pavilion, the Cabot Panthers overcame the exact same deficit of 42-33 to win by the exact same score, 60-54, to finally bring the Cats’ frustrating streak to an end. Just as in Friday night’s 60-54 win over Russellville, Adam Sterrenberg was the key, though he got help from some unlikely sources down the stretch as Cabot improved to 5-2 in the 7A Central, 15-5 overall, and moved into a second-place tie with the Wampus Cats, a game behind first-place North Little Rock.
Sterrenberg matched his 29 points against Russellville, 11 of those in the final period. Against Russellville, Sterrenberg erupted for 22 points over the final four minutes and 55 seconds. In both games, Cabot trailed 42-33 in the second half.
Cabot began its comeback late in the third on Tuesday by turning up the defensive pressure and forcing eight Wampus Cat turnovers in the quarter.
“If you’re going to beat teams like Conway, you’re going to have to play some defense,” Bridges said. “It hasn’t been one of our strengths, but we’re getting better at it. We were trying to pinch them to keep them from getting to the gut on us. And in the first game, they beat us down court all night because we were lazy and slow getting back.”
The Panthers trailed 42-35 heading into the fourth period, but Austin Johnson, who added 14 points, narrowed that to four by making three free throws 11 seconds in.
Sterrenberg’s three from the left corner with seven minutes left whittled the Conway lead to 42-41. Cabot finally knotted the game on Jack Bridges’ three with 6:20 left, and claimed a 46-44 lead on two more Johnson free throws with 5:17 remaining.
Reserve Seth Bloomberg answered Conway’s tying basket with a rare three, but four consecutive Conway free throws put the ’Cats on top again at 50-49 with 3:09 left.
“Seth is ice,” Bridges said. “He’s a football player and a competitor. He loves to win and he’s going to give me everything he’s got. And Christian Armstrong came in and got some great rebounds. Gary (Clark) did a great job of filling that void in the middle defensively. (Alex) Baker took a charge or two. Jack hit a big three. Everybody stepped up and made key plays that helped us.”
Cabot trailed 52-50 when Sterrenberg went end to end for a lay-up, but Conway beat the Panthers down court on the inbounds pass for a bucket and a 54-52 lead at the 1:55 mark.
Sterrenberg provided more magic by hitting his fifth three of the game that put Cabot on top for good with 1:27 left.
Conway’s Kenyon McNeaill missed a six-footer in the lane and Cabot got possession on a scramble for the rebound. Sterrenberg hit one of two free throws with 29 seconds to extend the lead to 56-54. Sterrenberg then picked off an interior pass at the other end and hit two free throws with 16.8 seconds for a four-point lead. Bridges nailed two more free throws to set the final margin.
“That’s a big win,” Bridges said. “The schedule doesn’t favor us and we’re trying to get into that state tournament. We held serve at home and that’s what you have to do to have a chance.”
Cabot used a 13-0 run late in the first period to turn an 11-5 deficit into an 18-11 advantage after one period. Sterrenberg’s buzzer-beating three-pointer, the result of a long rebound in the corner, gave the Panthers a 27-25 halftime advantage.
“We wanted a game in the twenties at half,” Bridges said. “I thought we played a little fast at times. We can’t run with them, they’re too athletic. But once we got it knotted up, we were able to play more at our tempo.”
Cabot still led 29-27, but after falling behind 34-29, Monroe drew his fourth foul on the offensive end, then was hit with his fifth after drawing a technical arguing the call.
“Miles was as tickled as anybody that we got the win,” Bridges said. “Miles is emotional and emotions got the best of him. He’s going to learn from it. The important thing is we found a way to win.”
And the Panthers found a way to get Conway out of their heads.
“It’s become a good rivalry,” Bridges said. “They’ve had our numbers so it was really good to get that monkey off our backs. The home crowd and student body and the whole community was great for coming out. That made a big difference.”
The Panthers were able to overcome a 32-23 rebounding deficit by making 8 of 16 three-pointers and by committing four fewer turnovers than Conway. Johnson and Sterrenberg scored 43 of the Panthers’ 64 points, with Bridges adding five and Monroe and Baker chipping in four apiece. Sterrenberg added three assists and two steals.
Cabot visited Catholic last night in a game played after Leader deadlines.
Leader sports editor
When post man Miles Monroe fouled out midway through the third period with Conway already up five points, the Panthers’ hopes of ending the Wampus Cats’ five-game winning streak against them dimmed significantly.
When the Cats converted Monroe’s technical foul into an eight-point lead one minute later, that streak seemed destined for six.
Even Cabot head coach Jerry Bridges admitted to a lapse of faith.
“I don’t have guys that are 6-8 to bring in for Miles off the bench,” Bridges said. “I didn’t know what (the game) was going to become at that point. You just have to move on. You can’t dwell on it.”
But for the second game in five days at the Panther Pavilion, the Cabot Panthers overcame the exact same deficit of 42-33 to win by the exact same score, 60-54, to finally bring the Cats’ frustrating streak to an end. Just as in Friday night’s 60-54 win over Russellville, Adam Sterrenberg was the key, though he got help from some unlikely sources down the stretch as Cabot improved to 5-2 in the 7A Central, 15-5 overall, and moved into a second-place tie with the Wampus Cats, a game behind first-place North Little Rock.
Sterrenberg matched his 29 points against Russellville, 11 of those in the final period. Against Russellville, Sterrenberg erupted for 22 points over the final four minutes and 55 seconds. In both games, Cabot trailed 42-33 in the second half.
Cabot began its comeback late in the third on Tuesday by turning up the defensive pressure and forcing eight Wampus Cat turnovers in the quarter.
“If you’re going to beat teams like Conway, you’re going to have to play some defense,” Bridges said. “It hasn’t been one of our strengths, but we’re getting better at it. We were trying to pinch them to keep them from getting to the gut on us. And in the first game, they beat us down court all night because we were lazy and slow getting back.”
The Panthers trailed 42-35 heading into the fourth period, but Austin Johnson, who added 14 points, narrowed that to four by making three free throws 11 seconds in.
Sterrenberg’s three from the left corner with seven minutes left whittled the Conway lead to 42-41. Cabot finally knotted the game on Jack Bridges’ three with 6:20 left, and claimed a 46-44 lead on two more Johnson free throws with 5:17 remaining.
Reserve Seth Bloomberg answered Conway’s tying basket with a rare three, but four consecutive Conway free throws put the ’Cats on top again at 50-49 with 3:09 left.
“Seth is ice,” Bridges said. “He’s a football player and a competitor. He loves to win and he’s going to give me everything he’s got. And Christian Armstrong came in and got some great rebounds. Gary (Clark) did a great job of filling that void in the middle defensively. (Alex) Baker took a charge or two. Jack hit a big three. Everybody stepped up and made key plays that helped us.”
Cabot trailed 52-50 when Sterrenberg went end to end for a lay-up, but Conway beat the Panthers down court on the inbounds pass for a bucket and a 54-52 lead at the 1:55 mark.
Sterrenberg provided more magic by hitting his fifth three of the game that put Cabot on top for good with 1:27 left.
Conway’s Kenyon McNeaill missed a six-footer in the lane and Cabot got possession on a scramble for the rebound. Sterrenberg hit one of two free throws with 29 seconds to extend the lead to 56-54. Sterrenberg then picked off an interior pass at the other end and hit two free throws with 16.8 seconds for a four-point lead. Bridges nailed two more free throws to set the final margin.
“That’s a big win,” Bridges said. “The schedule doesn’t favor us and we’re trying to get into that state tournament. We held serve at home and that’s what you have to do to have a chance.”
Cabot used a 13-0 run late in the first period to turn an 11-5 deficit into an 18-11 advantage after one period. Sterrenberg’s buzzer-beating three-pointer, the result of a long rebound in the corner, gave the Panthers a 27-25 halftime advantage.
“We wanted a game in the twenties at half,” Bridges said. “I thought we played a little fast at times. We can’t run with them, they’re too athletic. But once we got it knotted up, we were able to play more at our tempo.”
Cabot still led 29-27, but after falling behind 34-29, Monroe drew his fourth foul on the offensive end, then was hit with his fifth after drawing a technical arguing the call.
“Miles was as tickled as anybody that we got the win,” Bridges said. “Miles is emotional and emotions got the best of him. He’s going to learn from it. The important thing is we found a way to win.”
And the Panthers found a way to get Conway out of their heads.
“It’s become a good rivalry,” Bridges said. “They’ve had our numbers so it was really good to get that monkey off our backs. The home crowd and student body and the whole community was great for coming out. That made a big difference.”
The Panthers were able to overcome a 32-23 rebounding deficit by making 8 of 16 three-pointers and by committing four fewer turnovers than Conway. Johnson and Sterrenberg scored 43 of the Panthers’ 64 points, with Bridges adding five and Monroe and Baker chipping in four apiece. Sterrenberg added three assists and two steals.
Cabot visited Catholic last night in a game played after Leader deadlines.
SPORTS>>Falcons get defensive, stay perfect in conference
By Jason King
Leader sportswriter
High-powered offense has been the North Pulaski Falcons’ calling card this season, but that took a backseat to solid defensive play in Tuesday’s 68-47 home win over Beebe in 5A-Southeast Conference play.
The Falcons (16-5, 7-0) held Beebe (12-6, 4-3) without a field goal from the 1:23 mark of the first quarter until the 5:26 mark of the third quarter. A pair of free throws by Devonte Young in the final 30 seconds was the only thing the Badgers had to show for the second quarter.
The win keeps the Falcons perfect in league play and tied for first place with Little Rock McClellan in the conference standings, while Beebe, at 4-3, is now tied with Sylvan Hills and Mills for third.
“I thought defensively that was our best effort,” said North Pulaski coach Raymond Cooper. “There wasn’t a whole lot of gambling, it was just solid defense. We communicated better. We didn’t have the breakdowns, and then when we did have the breakdowns, we communicated and were able to recover. And so I’m really pleased with that.”
Despite the stellar defensive effort in the first half, the Falcons did not put the game away until they outscored Beebe 25-10 in the third quarter. Kyron Ware single-handedly outscored the Badgers with 11 points in that period, mostly off transition opportunities.
“I think that defense carried us, because we were really ragged offensively in the first half,” Cooper said. “They had a good game plan. They packed it in real tight, and we didn’t adjust to it there at first.
“I was thinking that we weren’t playing very good, and I looked up at the scoreboard and saw that they only had fourteen points, and that’s when I said I’m looking at the wrong thing. Because if we’re holding a team to only 14 points in a half, we’re doing some things right.”
It was point guard Joe Agee that kept the Falcons’ offense going early on, while Beebe enjoyed balanced scoring. Six Badgers found their way to the hoop in the first eight minutes, while Agee kept pace with a pair of three-point baskets and an inside jumper for eight of his 11 points in the game.
Zach Kersey finished with 17 points for the Badgers, but 11 of those came in the fourth quarter after North Pulaski had already put the game away. The senior shooting guard received plenty of attention from the Falcons in the first three periods, as they held Beebe’s dynamic scorer to only six points during that time.
“He’s the kind of kid that you’ve got to be aware of at all times,” Cooper said. “Because he’s got so much range. And then he’s deceptive because if you approach him wrong, he will put it on the floor and get to the basket.
“Even when we were rotating, we made sure if you were the next one, even if it wasn’t your guy, that you would leave your guy and get him. We wanted to run him off the three-point line and make him pass to someone that we were banking on wasn’t as good a shooter.”
Ware started the third quarter with a three-point shot that put the Falcons up 25-14, and extended the lead to 29-14 at the 5:43 mark when he scored off a steal and dish from Aaron Cooper.
He had two more inside shots before he capped the period off with a dunk, once again assisted by Cooper, which put the Falcons up 40-18.
Agee hit the last of his threes in the final two minutes, and Cooper got a steal that he took all the way to give North Pulaski a 47-24 lead at the end of three.
“My hat’s off to the kids,” Cooper said. “That’s the best we’ve stuck to a game plan all year long. The things we’ve talked about all season – they’re finally starting to get it.”
Ware led the Falcons with 18 points. Cooper joined Agee with 11 points and had four steals. T.J. Green led rebounding with 11 boards, while junior Duquan Bryant finished with six points and five rebounds.
For Beebe, Kersey led with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Anthony Forte added eight points for the Badgers.
BEEBE GIRLS 62,
NORTH PULASKI 44
Senior guard Ty O’Neill led the way for the Lady Badgers with 23 points, including an 11-point outburst in the second quarter.
The Lady Falcons were outscored 20-9 in the decisive second quarter, and trailed 31-14 at halftime. Two North Pulaski players finished in double figures. Bianca Harper led with 22 points, with 15 from Laura Dortch.
Beebe sophomore post Danna Jackson added 16 points for a career best, and Amanda Wheeler finished with nine. Megan Martinez had eight points, including a 4-of-5 performance at the foul line for half of her points.
The Lady Badgers are 12-9 overall and 7-0 in the 5A-Southeast Conference, still tied for first with Sylvan Hills. The Lady Falcons fell to 1-6 in league play.
North Pulaski played at Mills last night, and will play at Sylvan Hills on Tuesday. Beebe hosted Crossett last night, and will be at McClellan on Friday.
Leader sportswriter
High-powered offense has been the North Pulaski Falcons’ calling card this season, but that took a backseat to solid defensive play in Tuesday’s 68-47 home win over Beebe in 5A-Southeast Conference play.
The Falcons (16-5, 7-0) held Beebe (12-6, 4-3) without a field goal from the 1:23 mark of the first quarter until the 5:26 mark of the third quarter. A pair of free throws by Devonte Young in the final 30 seconds was the only thing the Badgers had to show for the second quarter.
The win keeps the Falcons perfect in league play and tied for first place with Little Rock McClellan in the conference standings, while Beebe, at 4-3, is now tied with Sylvan Hills and Mills for third.
“I thought defensively that was our best effort,” said North Pulaski coach Raymond Cooper. “There wasn’t a whole lot of gambling, it was just solid defense. We communicated better. We didn’t have the breakdowns, and then when we did have the breakdowns, we communicated and were able to recover. And so I’m really pleased with that.”
Despite the stellar defensive effort in the first half, the Falcons did not put the game away until they outscored Beebe 25-10 in the third quarter. Kyron Ware single-handedly outscored the Badgers with 11 points in that period, mostly off transition opportunities.
“I think that defense carried us, because we were really ragged offensively in the first half,” Cooper said. “They had a good game plan. They packed it in real tight, and we didn’t adjust to it there at first.
“I was thinking that we weren’t playing very good, and I looked up at the scoreboard and saw that they only had fourteen points, and that’s when I said I’m looking at the wrong thing. Because if we’re holding a team to only 14 points in a half, we’re doing some things right.”
It was point guard Joe Agee that kept the Falcons’ offense going early on, while Beebe enjoyed balanced scoring. Six Badgers found their way to the hoop in the first eight minutes, while Agee kept pace with a pair of three-point baskets and an inside jumper for eight of his 11 points in the game.
Zach Kersey finished with 17 points for the Badgers, but 11 of those came in the fourth quarter after North Pulaski had already put the game away. The senior shooting guard received plenty of attention from the Falcons in the first three periods, as they held Beebe’s dynamic scorer to only six points during that time.
“He’s the kind of kid that you’ve got to be aware of at all times,” Cooper said. “Because he’s got so much range. And then he’s deceptive because if you approach him wrong, he will put it on the floor and get to the basket.
“Even when we were rotating, we made sure if you were the next one, even if it wasn’t your guy, that you would leave your guy and get him. We wanted to run him off the three-point line and make him pass to someone that we were banking on wasn’t as good a shooter.”
Ware started the third quarter with a three-point shot that put the Falcons up 25-14, and extended the lead to 29-14 at the 5:43 mark when he scored off a steal and dish from Aaron Cooper.
He had two more inside shots before he capped the period off with a dunk, once again assisted by Cooper, which put the Falcons up 40-18.
Agee hit the last of his threes in the final two minutes, and Cooper got a steal that he took all the way to give North Pulaski a 47-24 lead at the end of three.
“My hat’s off to the kids,” Cooper said. “That’s the best we’ve stuck to a game plan all year long. The things we’ve talked about all season – they’re finally starting to get it.”
Ware led the Falcons with 18 points. Cooper joined Agee with 11 points and had four steals. T.J. Green led rebounding with 11 boards, while junior Duquan Bryant finished with six points and five rebounds.
For Beebe, Kersey led with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Anthony Forte added eight points for the Badgers.
BEEBE GIRLS 62,
NORTH PULASKI 44
Senior guard Ty O’Neill led the way for the Lady Badgers with 23 points, including an 11-point outburst in the second quarter.
The Lady Falcons were outscored 20-9 in the decisive second quarter, and trailed 31-14 at halftime. Two North Pulaski players finished in double figures. Bianca Harper led with 22 points, with 15 from Laura Dortch.
Beebe sophomore post Danna Jackson added 16 points for a career best, and Amanda Wheeler finished with nine. Megan Martinez had eight points, including a 4-of-5 performance at the foul line for half of her points.
The Lady Badgers are 12-9 overall and 7-0 in the 5A-Southeast Conference, still tied for first with Sylvan Hills. The Lady Falcons fell to 1-6 in league play.
North Pulaski played at Mills last night, and will play at Sylvan Hills on Tuesday. Beebe hosted Crossett last night, and will be at McClellan on Friday.
SPORTS>>Red Devils out-muscle foe in key league win
By RAY BENTON
Special to The Leader
The Jacksonville Red Devils broke a mid-season tie and now stand alone in second place in the 6A-East standing after beating West Memphis 63-53 Tuesday night in the Devils’ Den at Jacksonville High.
Jacksonville is now 5-1 in league play and one game behind league-leading Little Rock Hall, while West Memphis fell to 5-2.
West Memphis is one of the few teams this season to enjoy a height advantage over the Red Devils, but the Blue Devil big men couldn’t match Jacksonville in intensity. The Red Devils out-rebounded the taller Blue Devils 38-21.
Jacksonville senior forward Cortrell Eskridge picked up five rebounds in the first five minutes of the game before being taken out and given a rest. His substitute, Antonio Roy, was just as effective. Jacksonville’s four big men, Eskridge, Roy, and starters Demetrius Harris and Antwan Lockhart, combined for 32 of Jacksonville’s 38 rebounds.
“We’ve got four guys that are battling for minutes,” Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner said. “They battle like that against each other every day in practice. They’re just bringing that to the game.”
Jacksonville ran out to an early 7-0 lead. Eskridge started things off with a putback, followed by a three by junior DeShone McClure. When senior guard LaQuentin Miles hit a driving lay-up in traffic, West Memphis coach Larry Bray called time-out with 6:40 left in the first quarter to halt the home team’s momentum.
The time-out was a wise one. After the break, Jacksonville couldn’t find the rim. West Memphis wasn’t lighting up the scoreboard either, but the momentum was gone. Gradually, the Blue Devils worked their way back into the game, even tying the score at 12-12 with 18 seconds left in the opening period. Jacksonville senior guard Stan Appleby gave the Red Devils the lead for good when he hit a running 10-footer at the buzzer.
Roy made his presence known in the second quarter, picking up five rebounds, including two on the offensive end that resulted in second-chance baskets. Four of Jacksonville’s five two-point baskets in the second quarter came off offensive rebounds. Lockhart and Miles each got second-chance buckets. Eskridge scored on a spin move in the lane and McClure hit another of his four three-pointers as the Red Devils took a 31-26 lead into the break.
True to form for Jacksonville this season, the Red Devils came out strong in the third quarter and took control of the game. McClure hit two threes and Jacksonville added 12 more in the paint. The lead grew to as much as 17 before settling at 49-35 at the end of three.
Jacksonville’s struggles from the free-throw line emerged again in the final period as the Red Devils were unable to put the visitors away until late. Jacksonville was 10 of 16 from the charity stripe through three quarters, but hit just 6 of 16 in the final quarter when the Blue Devils began to foul to extend the game.
Jacksonville, though, continued to play tough defense and West Memphis found capitalizing on all the missed free throws a difficult task.
“We had our game plan and they had theirs, and they just put theirs together better than we did,” West Memphis head coach Larry Bray said. “We missed some close shots in the first quarter, but I think Jacksonville’s defense had something to do with that. I give them all the credit.”
West Memphis shot just 34 percent from the field, hitting 19 of 56 attempts. Jacksonville was just below 40 percent, hitting 21 of 53 attempts.
The Red Devils defense held the Blue Devil post duo of 6-foot-10 Anthony Borden and 6-7 B.J. Rossell to 20 points. The two have averaged a combined 37 points per game this season. Rossell led the way with 12 points for West Memphis.
McClure was Jacksonville’s leading scorer with 21 points. Miles added 15 while Eskridge chalked up 12 points, 12 rebounds, two steals, two blocks and two assists.
Jacksonville improved to 14-3 overall while West Memphis fell to 14-5.
“Really, I just thought the ball rolled our way early,” Joyner said. “The bounces went our way. That’s a good basketball team over there.”
W. MEMPHIS GIRLS 57,
JACKSONVILLE 37
The Lady Devils dropped their game to the perennial powerhouse West Memphis girls. West Memphis led 37-11 at halftime, and a 50-foot shot at the buzzer spared Jacksonville the mercy rule, pulling the Lady Devils to within 50-21 to start the fourth period.
Most of the fourth quarter was played with reserves, and Jacksonville out-scored their visitors 16-7 in the final frame to set the final margin.
Tyra Terry led Jacksonville with 11 points. West Memphis senior guard Simone Young led her team with 16 points while junior Shelby Fenter added 13.
Jacksonville falls to 5-11 overall and 1-5 in league play with the loss. West Memphis improved to 14-6 and 6-1.
Special to The Leader
The Jacksonville Red Devils broke a mid-season tie and now stand alone in second place in the 6A-East standing after beating West Memphis 63-53 Tuesday night in the Devils’ Den at Jacksonville High.
Jacksonville is now 5-1 in league play and one game behind league-leading Little Rock Hall, while West Memphis fell to 5-2.
West Memphis is one of the few teams this season to enjoy a height advantage over the Red Devils, but the Blue Devil big men couldn’t match Jacksonville in intensity. The Red Devils out-rebounded the taller Blue Devils 38-21.
Jacksonville senior forward Cortrell Eskridge picked up five rebounds in the first five minutes of the game before being taken out and given a rest. His substitute, Antonio Roy, was just as effective. Jacksonville’s four big men, Eskridge, Roy, and starters Demetrius Harris and Antwan Lockhart, combined for 32 of Jacksonville’s 38 rebounds.
“We’ve got four guys that are battling for minutes,” Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner said. “They battle like that against each other every day in practice. They’re just bringing that to the game.”
Jacksonville ran out to an early 7-0 lead. Eskridge started things off with a putback, followed by a three by junior DeShone McClure. When senior guard LaQuentin Miles hit a driving lay-up in traffic, West Memphis coach Larry Bray called time-out with 6:40 left in the first quarter to halt the home team’s momentum.
The time-out was a wise one. After the break, Jacksonville couldn’t find the rim. West Memphis wasn’t lighting up the scoreboard either, but the momentum was gone. Gradually, the Blue Devils worked their way back into the game, even tying the score at 12-12 with 18 seconds left in the opening period. Jacksonville senior guard Stan Appleby gave the Red Devils the lead for good when he hit a running 10-footer at the buzzer.
Roy made his presence known in the second quarter, picking up five rebounds, including two on the offensive end that resulted in second-chance baskets. Four of Jacksonville’s five two-point baskets in the second quarter came off offensive rebounds. Lockhart and Miles each got second-chance buckets. Eskridge scored on a spin move in the lane and McClure hit another of his four three-pointers as the Red Devils took a 31-26 lead into the break.
True to form for Jacksonville this season, the Red Devils came out strong in the third quarter and took control of the game. McClure hit two threes and Jacksonville added 12 more in the paint. The lead grew to as much as 17 before settling at 49-35 at the end of three.
Jacksonville’s struggles from the free-throw line emerged again in the final period as the Red Devils were unable to put the visitors away until late. Jacksonville was 10 of 16 from the charity stripe through three quarters, but hit just 6 of 16 in the final quarter when the Blue Devils began to foul to extend the game.
Jacksonville, though, continued to play tough defense and West Memphis found capitalizing on all the missed free throws a difficult task.
“We had our game plan and they had theirs, and they just put theirs together better than we did,” West Memphis head coach Larry Bray said. “We missed some close shots in the first quarter, but I think Jacksonville’s defense had something to do with that. I give them all the credit.”
West Memphis shot just 34 percent from the field, hitting 19 of 56 attempts. Jacksonville was just below 40 percent, hitting 21 of 53 attempts.
The Red Devils defense held the Blue Devil post duo of 6-foot-10 Anthony Borden and 6-7 B.J. Rossell to 20 points. The two have averaged a combined 37 points per game this season. Rossell led the way with 12 points for West Memphis.
McClure was Jacksonville’s leading scorer with 21 points. Miles added 15 while Eskridge chalked up 12 points, 12 rebounds, two steals, two blocks and two assists.
Jacksonville improved to 14-3 overall while West Memphis fell to 14-5.
“Really, I just thought the ball rolled our way early,” Joyner said. “The bounces went our way. That’s a good basketball team over there.”
W. MEMPHIS GIRLS 57,
JACKSONVILLE 37
The Lady Devils dropped their game to the perennial powerhouse West Memphis girls. West Memphis led 37-11 at halftime, and a 50-foot shot at the buzzer spared Jacksonville the mercy rule, pulling the Lady Devils to within 50-21 to start the fourth period.
Most of the fourth quarter was played with reserves, and Jacksonville out-scored their visitors 16-7 in the final frame to set the final margin.
Tyra Terry led Jacksonville with 11 points. West Memphis senior guard Simone Young led her team with 16 points while junior Shelby Fenter added 13.
Jacksonville falls to 5-11 overall and 1-5 in league play with the loss. West Memphis improved to 14-6 and 6-1.
SPORTS>>Lady Owls fall in rugged contest
By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
It may have been a contest between two Christian schools, but no one was willing to turn the other cheek on Thursday night at Abundant Life gym.
In a game in which more bodies than shots fell, Conway Christian barely outmuscled Abundant Life to hold on for a 52-45 victory in the final 2-5A North regular season game. A total of 47 fouls were called and another 20 might have been. The teams combined to shoot 58 free throws.
“That was just a battle,” said Abundant Life coach Justin Moseley. “We showed a lot of heart hanging in there after we got in foul trouble. It’s hard to explain just how physical that was.”
In a sign of what was to come, a Conway Christian Lady Eagle was stitched up in the early going after busting open her chin on a tangle on the floor. The Lady Eagles employed a box-and-one on Lady Owl leading scorer Hannah Pastor, and to good effect. Pastor finished with 11 points, but spent most of the second and third quarters on the bench in foul trouble.
The loss pretty much guaranteed the Lady Owls a four seed at the district tournament at Conway St. Joe’s in two weeks as they finished 7-5 in league play and dropped to 22-11 overall.
Abundant Life was able to make only one field goal in the first half, but 15-of-16 free-throw shooting kept them within shouting distance at 27-17. The Lady Owls got few good looks in the half with Pastor being bottled up or on the bench, and launched a series of off-balance shots in traffic.
“We had a lot of frustrations,” Moseley said. “Maybe we didn’t get some calls we wanted to get or some scores we wanted to get, and then we were fouling out of frustration.”
Despite a 1-of-15 shooting performance in the first half, the Owls began to get back in it in the third period, when they made seven of their 11 field goals on the night. Making 7 of 10 shots in the quarter, the Lady Owls drew as close as they would get when Brittney Sharp’s lay-up with 45 seconds left whittled the lead to 38-34.
But Christian Demhertog, a thorn in Abundant Life’s side all night, hit her third three of the night to extend the lead to seven to start the final period. Conway Christian hit 9 of 12 free throws down the stretch to hold on and finish league play at 10-2.
It was the fourth game since Friday for the Lady Owls, and Moseley said his team suffered the effects of the schedule.
“They were tired even yesterday and I made it as light a practice as I could,” he said. “We really didn’t have much of a chance to prepare for (Conway Christian) because we played Friday, Monday and Tuesday. We worked on some things but we didn’t execute the things we worked on for the box-and-one.
“We did all the things we had to do to get back in it in the second half, but we had too big a hole and they hit their free throws.”
Carmyn Sharp led Abundant Life with 13 points and eight rebounds while Sydney Venus added 12 points. Sharp scored nine points and pulled down eight rebounds. The Lady Owls finished 11 of 38 from the field but missed all seven of their three-point attempts. They were 23 of 33 at the line.
The Lady Eagles made eight three-pointers and knocked down 12 of 25 free throws.
AL BOYS 80,
CONWAY CHRISTIAN 42
It was stat padders night for the Abundant Life boys, or would have been had Owl head coach Tim Ballard not substituted so freely and so often. Thirteen Owls scored in a game in which they scored 31 points in the first quarter.
Dane Lottner, Garrett South-erland and Dustin Keathley tied for high score honors with 12.
The Owls snagged 20 steals in the high-octane affair, while turning it over only six times themselves.
Often, they didn’t hold on to the ball long enough to turn it over, getting easy baskets inside or launching quick threes. Abundant Life shot over 50 percent (30 of 58) despite making only 7 of 26 three-pointers.
Christian used some on-target long-range shooting of its own to stay close early, making four threes in the first quarter. But after falling behind 16-13 Abundant Life launched a furious 23-3 run, aided by seven straight points by George Herring to put it out of reach. The Owls led 53-28 at the half.
Herring and Mike Stramiello added nine points each, while Cameron Slayton had eight. Terrell Ghant scored four points and dished out four assists.
The Owls finished the 5-2A North regular season unblemised at 12-0, 25-7 overall. They’ll take on Kirby on Friday and will open district play in the semifinals at St. Joe’s on Feb. 20.
Leader sports editor
It may have been a contest between two Christian schools, but no one was willing to turn the other cheek on Thursday night at Abundant Life gym.
In a game in which more bodies than shots fell, Conway Christian barely outmuscled Abundant Life to hold on for a 52-45 victory in the final 2-5A North regular season game. A total of 47 fouls were called and another 20 might have been. The teams combined to shoot 58 free throws.
“That was just a battle,” said Abundant Life coach Justin Moseley. “We showed a lot of heart hanging in there after we got in foul trouble. It’s hard to explain just how physical that was.”
In a sign of what was to come, a Conway Christian Lady Eagle was stitched up in the early going after busting open her chin on a tangle on the floor. The Lady Eagles employed a box-and-one on Lady Owl leading scorer Hannah Pastor, and to good effect. Pastor finished with 11 points, but spent most of the second and third quarters on the bench in foul trouble.
The loss pretty much guaranteed the Lady Owls a four seed at the district tournament at Conway St. Joe’s in two weeks as they finished 7-5 in league play and dropped to 22-11 overall.
Abundant Life was able to make only one field goal in the first half, but 15-of-16 free-throw shooting kept them within shouting distance at 27-17. The Lady Owls got few good looks in the half with Pastor being bottled up or on the bench, and launched a series of off-balance shots in traffic.
“We had a lot of frustrations,” Moseley said. “Maybe we didn’t get some calls we wanted to get or some scores we wanted to get, and then we were fouling out of frustration.”
Despite a 1-of-15 shooting performance in the first half, the Owls began to get back in it in the third period, when they made seven of their 11 field goals on the night. Making 7 of 10 shots in the quarter, the Lady Owls drew as close as they would get when Brittney Sharp’s lay-up with 45 seconds left whittled the lead to 38-34.
But Christian Demhertog, a thorn in Abundant Life’s side all night, hit her third three of the night to extend the lead to seven to start the final period. Conway Christian hit 9 of 12 free throws down the stretch to hold on and finish league play at 10-2.
It was the fourth game since Friday for the Lady Owls, and Moseley said his team suffered the effects of the schedule.
“They were tired even yesterday and I made it as light a practice as I could,” he said. “We really didn’t have much of a chance to prepare for (Conway Christian) because we played Friday, Monday and Tuesday. We worked on some things but we didn’t execute the things we worked on for the box-and-one.
“We did all the things we had to do to get back in it in the second half, but we had too big a hole and they hit their free throws.”
Carmyn Sharp led Abundant Life with 13 points and eight rebounds while Sydney Venus added 12 points. Sharp scored nine points and pulled down eight rebounds. The Lady Owls finished 11 of 38 from the field but missed all seven of their three-point attempts. They were 23 of 33 at the line.
The Lady Eagles made eight three-pointers and knocked down 12 of 25 free throws.
AL BOYS 80,
CONWAY CHRISTIAN 42
It was stat padders night for the Abundant Life boys, or would have been had Owl head coach Tim Ballard not substituted so freely and so often. Thirteen Owls scored in a game in which they scored 31 points in the first quarter.
Dane Lottner, Garrett South-erland and Dustin Keathley tied for high score honors with 12.
The Owls snagged 20 steals in the high-octane affair, while turning it over only six times themselves.
Often, they didn’t hold on to the ball long enough to turn it over, getting easy baskets inside or launching quick threes. Abundant Life shot over 50 percent (30 of 58) despite making only 7 of 26 three-pointers.
Christian used some on-target long-range shooting of its own to stay close early, making four threes in the first quarter. But after falling behind 16-13 Abundant Life launched a furious 23-3 run, aided by seven straight points by George Herring to put it out of reach. The Owls led 53-28 at the half.
Herring and Mike Stramiello added nine points each, while Cameron Slayton had eight. Terrell Ghant scored four points and dished out four assists.
The Owls finished the 5-2A North regular season unblemised at 12-0, 25-7 overall. They’ll take on Kirby on Friday and will open district play in the semifinals at St. Joe’s on Feb. 20.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
TOP STORY>>Toddler perishes in Lonoke trailer fire
A mobile-home fire claimed the life of a toddler in Lonoke County on Sunday.
The Lonoke Sheriff’s Office received a report of a trailer on fire around 4:30 a.m. at 6424 Mt. Tabor Road, near the intersection of South Oak Grove Road.
One man, two women and a 5-month-old baby were able to escape the mobile home alive. A 3-year-old boy died in the blaze.
One of the women was the victim’s mother. She and the other woman were burned on their wrists and hands.
The victim’s mother is a friend of the family and was staying at the home with her child.
“If anyone would like to help with monetary donations, contact the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department,” the infant’s uncle Mike Jackson said.
The Lonoke Sheriff’s Department, the Tri-Community Fire Department and the Butlerville Fire Department responded to the fire.
The victim’s body was taken to the Arkansas State Crime Lab.
The cause of the fire was still undetermined Tuesday and the incident is under investigation.
According to the boy’s grandmother, there were smoke alarms inside the home. She lives next door to the now-destroyed trailer.
Lt. Jim Kulesa, spokesman for the Lonoke County Sheriff’s office, said the family is too upset over the loss to talk with investigators now, so they have not yet been interviewed about the cause of the fire and where the victim was at the time the blaze erupted.
Kulesa said that it is a possibility that the fire started in the kitchen, but the cause has not yet been determined. The family declined press interviews.
The Lonoke Sheriff’s Office received a report of a trailer on fire around 4:30 a.m. at 6424 Mt. Tabor Road, near the intersection of South Oak Grove Road.
One man, two women and a 5-month-old baby were able to escape the mobile home alive. A 3-year-old boy died in the blaze.
One of the women was the victim’s mother. She and the other woman were burned on their wrists and hands.
The victim’s mother is a friend of the family and was staying at the home with her child.
“If anyone would like to help with monetary donations, contact the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department,” the infant’s uncle Mike Jackson said.
The Lonoke Sheriff’s Department, the Tri-Community Fire Department and the Butlerville Fire Department responded to the fire.
The victim’s body was taken to the Arkansas State Crime Lab.
The cause of the fire was still undetermined Tuesday and the incident is under investigation.
According to the boy’s grandmother, there were smoke alarms inside the home. She lives next door to the now-destroyed trailer.
Lt. Jim Kulesa, spokesman for the Lonoke County Sheriff’s office, said the family is too upset over the loss to talk with investigators now, so they have not yet been interviewed about the cause of the fire and where the victim was at the time the blaze erupted.
Kulesa said that it is a possibility that the fire started in the kitchen, but the cause has not yet been determined. The family declined press interviews.
EDITORIAL>>Fallback plan on tobacco tax
You probably have been following the battle over the hearts and minds of the small band of Republicans in the Arkansas General Assembly. Tobacco companies and conservatives have mounted a grassroots campaign to dissuade the Republicans — eight in the Senate and 27 in the House of Representatives — from voting for the 56-cent-a-pack cigarette tax and higher taxes on smokeless tobacco. Republicans are supposed to send letters, emails and phone calls to the lawmakers and to generate pressure from county Republican chairmen, reminding the legislators that Republicans are supposed to be against taxes and more government.
Dick Armey, the former Republican leader of the U. S. House of Representatives and now a shill for the cigarette makers, was at the Capitol yesterday to deliver the message. The health group supporting the tobacco taxes tried to get Armey to debate a Little Rock physician on the tax while he was in town, but Armey demurred. Armey’s job is to travel the country to defeat tobacco taxes that state governments are contemplating, and he’s not going to share the microphone with do-gooders.
Though only roughly a fourth of the legislature, the Republicans find themselves in a powerful position. If they stick together, they can defeat the tax and the statewide trauma network and other medical programs that the tax would fund. Republicans are more than enough to defeat the tax in the House and one short in the Senate because the excise tax requires a three-fourths vote of each body.
One Republican in the House has signed on as a sponsor of the bill. A former executive director of the state Republican Party came out of the closet over the weekend as a supporter of the tax, but his motives looked a little suspicious because he lobbies for a hospital that would benefit indirectly from the tax.
The tobacco taxes and health programs look like an uphill climb despite the celebrated prowess of Governor Beebe in getting legislation passed and the strong support of the leaders of both houses. A few of the 28 Democratic senators and 73 Democratic representatives are holdouts, too. A few ran on no-tax platforms.
A majority ought to rule on all matters that do not affect individual rights, and that includes taxes. It will be a shame if 70 percent of a conservative legislature sees the need for a strong health policy but cannot achieve it.
There is an easy remedy, as we have suggested. Change the tax from an excise tax to a sales tax on the wholesale or retail value of the product. That would change the threshold from three-fourths to a simple majority and also insure a more stable revenue stream. When the tobacco companies raised prices to offset the loss of sales to smokers who kick the expensive habit or who die, the sales tax would keep the state’s revenue stream flowing. They should have the bill in reserve.
Dick Armey, the former Republican leader of the U. S. House of Representatives and now a shill for the cigarette makers, was at the Capitol yesterday to deliver the message. The health group supporting the tobacco taxes tried to get Armey to debate a Little Rock physician on the tax while he was in town, but Armey demurred. Armey’s job is to travel the country to defeat tobacco taxes that state governments are contemplating, and he’s not going to share the microphone with do-gooders.
Though only roughly a fourth of the legislature, the Republicans find themselves in a powerful position. If they stick together, they can defeat the tax and the statewide trauma network and other medical programs that the tax would fund. Republicans are more than enough to defeat the tax in the House and one short in the Senate because the excise tax requires a three-fourths vote of each body.
One Republican in the House has signed on as a sponsor of the bill. A former executive director of the state Republican Party came out of the closet over the weekend as a supporter of the tax, but his motives looked a little suspicious because he lobbies for a hospital that would benefit indirectly from the tax.
The tobacco taxes and health programs look like an uphill climb despite the celebrated prowess of Governor Beebe in getting legislation passed and the strong support of the leaders of both houses. A few of the 28 Democratic senators and 73 Democratic representatives are holdouts, too. A few ran on no-tax platforms.
A majority ought to rule on all matters that do not affect individual rights, and that includes taxes. It will be a shame if 70 percent of a conservative legislature sees the need for a strong health policy but cannot achieve it.
There is an easy remedy, as we have suggested. Change the tax from an excise tax to a sales tax on the wholesale or retail value of the product. That would change the threshold from three-fourths to a simple majority and also insure a more stable revenue stream. When the tobacco companies raised prices to offset the loss of sales to smokers who kick the expensive habit or who die, the sales tax would keep the state’s revenue stream flowing. They should have the bill in reserve.
EDITORIAL>>Regulating behavior
Our libertarian impulses are triggered each time lawmakers want to criminalize innocent private behavior like not fastening seatbelts or driving while text messaging. Usually, the authors of such bills are conservative Republicans who otherwise talk about smaller and less intrusive government.
Usually we wind up seeing their point. So it is with the sponsors of bills that would outlaw electronic messaging by teenage drivers, who are involved in an extraordinary number of car wrecks. Rep. Allen Kerr of Little Rock, the sponsor of one of the bills that passed the House of Representatives, said making it unlawful to drive while using cell phones for people under the age of 18 would reduce traffic accidents and insurance rates. It would require drivers to use hands-free technology in their vehicles until they are 20 years old. Sen. Kim Hendren of Gravette has a similar but lighter bill in the Senate.
The light punishments in all the bills and the innocent nature of the misdeeds will not insure full compliance, but we have no doubt that it would help. Innocent is not harmless.
The question is, why restrict the law to teenagers? If you are going to make reckless behavior illegal, it ought to be illegal for adults as well.
Sen. Hendren and Rep. Ray Kidd of Jonesboro have introduced bills that would require drivers of any age to use hands-free technology when using wireless devices and would impose light penalties for violations. A Jonesboro physician offered some compelling testimony for the bills. His 27-year-old son committed suicide in December after agonizing for months over his role in the death of another young man. He was text messaging when his car struck the other’s. If it had been illegal, the doctor knew that his son would not have been messaging while he was at the wheel.
Yes, we know where this is headed: the nanny state, where a wise and righteous government regulates risky private behavior for your own good. What’s next: fines for eating Twinkies and Sugar Puffs?
But there is a line to be drawn. The state has a compelling interest in regulating private behavior that puts everyone else in harm’s way and imposes a high social cost. Wireless technology has created just such an instance.
Usually we wind up seeing their point. So it is with the sponsors of bills that would outlaw electronic messaging by teenage drivers, who are involved in an extraordinary number of car wrecks. Rep. Allen Kerr of Little Rock, the sponsor of one of the bills that passed the House of Representatives, said making it unlawful to drive while using cell phones for people under the age of 18 would reduce traffic accidents and insurance rates. It would require drivers to use hands-free technology in their vehicles until they are 20 years old. Sen. Kim Hendren of Gravette has a similar but lighter bill in the Senate.
The light punishments in all the bills and the innocent nature of the misdeeds will not insure full compliance, but we have no doubt that it would help. Innocent is not harmless.
The question is, why restrict the law to teenagers? If you are going to make reckless behavior illegal, it ought to be illegal for adults as well.
Sen. Hendren and Rep. Ray Kidd of Jonesboro have introduced bills that would require drivers of any age to use hands-free technology when using wireless devices and would impose light penalties for violations. A Jonesboro physician offered some compelling testimony for the bills. His 27-year-old son committed suicide in December after agonizing for months over his role in the death of another young man. He was text messaging when his car struck the other’s. If it had been illegal, the doctor knew that his son would not have been messaging while he was at the wheel.
Yes, we know where this is headed: the nanny state, where a wise and righteous government regulates risky private behavior for your own good. What’s next: fines for eating Twinkies and Sugar Puffs?
But there is a line to be drawn. The state has a compelling interest in regulating private behavior that puts everyone else in harm’s way and imposes a high social cost. Wireless technology has created just such an instance.
TOP STORY>>Legislators see a close tax vote
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Despite an appearance at the state Capitol on Tuesday by anti-tax crusader Dick Armey, the former U.S. House Majority Leader, Democrats in the Arkansas House of Representatives predict they will have the votes they need to fund a trauma center and other health program with a new 56-cent-a-pack cigarette tax increase.
Rep. Greg Reep, D-Warren, House sponsor, says he aims to present his bill today in the House Rules Committee, and with a favorable vote, it could go to the full House on Thursday.
On a strictly partisan count, Democrats would fall three votes shy of the 75 votes they need to pass the bill.
The tax will generate an estimated $88 million a year and an equal amount in federal matching funds.
It would update emergency rooms across Arkansas, help fund 59 community health centers, insure more children and open a satellite campus of UAMS in northwest Arkansas.
Gov. Mike Beebe and Speaker Robbie Wills have been working hard to round up the votes they need, says state Rep. Jane English, R-North Pulaski County, who op-poses the tax.
“But there is a strong bunch of people who have said no from the start,” English said.
She said Armey asked, “Is this good public policy?”
She disputed the characterization of Armey as a cigarette industry lobbyist, saying he came as an opponent of raising taxes and growing government.
Rep. Davy Carter, R-Cabot, also spoke at the morning rally.
“I think it’s going to be a very close vote,” Carter said.
“I hope our message convinces those on the fence. I suspect (it will pass or fail) by two or three votes,” Carter said. “The Speaker says he’s got 70 yeses.”
He said Armey was “an impressive guy. He’s been around for a long time.”
Carter is sponsoring a bill that would require random testing of those receiving benefits from the state Department of Human Services. Lonoke County has had problems with meth labs for many years.
Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jackson-ville, says the governor’s cigarette tax proposal seems to be gaining momentum.
He says the governor has proposed an impressive health initiative that includes not only the trauma center, but rural health care centers and help for rural fire departments.
Perry said he will vote for the cigarette and tobacco tax if that’s the only way to fund the governor’s proposal.
“I got my $575 million highway bill today,” said Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle. He and co-sponsor Sen. John Paul Capps, D-Searcy, successfully guided the governor’s bill to unanimous approval in the Senate.
The bill allows the governor to ask voters in 2011, 2013 or 2015 to approve the sale of a bond issue, the proceeds of which would be dedicated to repair and maintain the state highway system.
If the bond issue passes, then “we will not have to draw funds from the secondary road highway fund to be used on the interstate highway system,” according to Glover’s talking points.
No new taxes are required. The bonds would be retired by proceeds from a four-cent-a-gallon diesel tax. The authority to put the bond issues before voters expires in 2015.
Leader senior staff writer
Despite an appearance at the state Capitol on Tuesday by anti-tax crusader Dick Armey, the former U.S. House Majority Leader, Democrats in the Arkansas House of Representatives predict they will have the votes they need to fund a trauma center and other health program with a new 56-cent-a-pack cigarette tax increase.
Rep. Greg Reep, D-Warren, House sponsor, says he aims to present his bill today in the House Rules Committee, and with a favorable vote, it could go to the full House on Thursday.
On a strictly partisan count, Democrats would fall three votes shy of the 75 votes they need to pass the bill.
The tax will generate an estimated $88 million a year and an equal amount in federal matching funds.
It would update emergency rooms across Arkansas, help fund 59 community health centers, insure more children and open a satellite campus of UAMS in northwest Arkansas.
Gov. Mike Beebe and Speaker Robbie Wills have been working hard to round up the votes they need, says state Rep. Jane English, R-North Pulaski County, who op-poses the tax.
“But there is a strong bunch of people who have said no from the start,” English said.
She said Armey asked, “Is this good public policy?”
She disputed the characterization of Armey as a cigarette industry lobbyist, saying he came as an opponent of raising taxes and growing government.
Rep. Davy Carter, R-Cabot, also spoke at the morning rally.
“I think it’s going to be a very close vote,” Carter said.
“I hope our message convinces those on the fence. I suspect (it will pass or fail) by two or three votes,” Carter said. “The Speaker says he’s got 70 yeses.”
He said Armey was “an impressive guy. He’s been around for a long time.”
Carter is sponsoring a bill that would require random testing of those receiving benefits from the state Department of Human Services. Lonoke County has had problems with meth labs for many years.
Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jackson-ville, says the governor’s cigarette tax proposal seems to be gaining momentum.
He says the governor has proposed an impressive health initiative that includes not only the trauma center, but rural health care centers and help for rural fire departments.
Perry said he will vote for the cigarette and tobacco tax if that’s the only way to fund the governor’s proposal.
“I got my $575 million highway bill today,” said Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle. He and co-sponsor Sen. John Paul Capps, D-Searcy, successfully guided the governor’s bill to unanimous approval in the Senate.
The bill allows the governor to ask voters in 2011, 2013 or 2015 to approve the sale of a bond issue, the proceeds of which would be dedicated to repair and maintain the state highway system.
If the bond issue passes, then “we will not have to draw funds from the secondary road highway fund to be used on the interstate highway system,” according to Glover’s talking points.
No new taxes are required. The bonds would be retired by proceeds from a four-cent-a-gallon diesel tax. The authority to put the bond issues before voters expires in 2015.
TOP STORY>>Projects wait for stimulus funding
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
The widening of Graham Road, of Brockington Road and Cabot ramp improvements at the Hwy. 67/167-Hwy. 5 interchange all stand to benefit from passage of the economic stimulus package, according to Jim McKenzie, executive director of Metroplan.
Everything is speculation right now. One expert told Metroplan that predicting the amount of money that will be available in the final package was like trying to call the final score of a basketball game at halftime.
McKenzie likened it to a kaleidoscope with many moving parts, where a small change can alter the picture.
“We’ll know more by Presidents Day,” McKenzie said.
At the moment, Metroplan staff think Arkansas will receive about $372 million for highways, of which about $12.7 million could go to central Arkansas.
In the House version of the stimulus bill, about $30 billion will go to the nation’s highways.
One stimulus scenario would use the new money to widen Brockington Road, Cabot ramp improvements, a rail-grade separation in Salem near Benton and a Pike Avenue roundabout in North Little Rock.
That would free up about $6.2 million in Surface Transportation Program funds previous committed to those projects.
That money could be used to fund the Graham Road widening at Jacksonville, the Military Road project at Benton, and additional funding for the south loop project south of Little Rock.
Those jobs are “on a list of projects closest to ready to enable us to capture all the funds available,” McKenzie said. The stimulus package will set limits on how quickly the projects must start. That and the total amount of money available will help define which projects can be funded.
“We want to leverage the stimulus money,” he said.
The big-ticket items in central Arkansas, like the North Belt Freeway and the I-430/I-630 interchange, are nowhere near shovel ready and thus not eligible for any stimulus money at this point, McKenzie said.
It could all be a moot point if Congress doesn’t also fund the federal highway trust fund.
Transportation Weekly reported that the House bill would apportion the money among the states using the same distribution formula used for the regular fiscal year 2008 highway appropriation.
Fifty-five percent of that money would be allocated to the state highway departments of transportation, with the balance, 45 percent, subdivided in the same fashion as the surface transportation program.
That 45 percent would be divided with 62.5 percent of it allocated to individual areas within a state by population with the 37.5 percent remaining at the discretion of state departments of transportation.
Leader senior staff writer
The widening of Graham Road, of Brockington Road and Cabot ramp improvements at the Hwy. 67/167-Hwy. 5 interchange all stand to benefit from passage of the economic stimulus package, according to Jim McKenzie, executive director of Metroplan.
Everything is speculation right now. One expert told Metroplan that predicting the amount of money that will be available in the final package was like trying to call the final score of a basketball game at halftime.
McKenzie likened it to a kaleidoscope with many moving parts, where a small change can alter the picture.
“We’ll know more by Presidents Day,” McKenzie said.
At the moment, Metroplan staff think Arkansas will receive about $372 million for highways, of which about $12.7 million could go to central Arkansas.
In the House version of the stimulus bill, about $30 billion will go to the nation’s highways.
One stimulus scenario would use the new money to widen Brockington Road, Cabot ramp improvements, a rail-grade separation in Salem near Benton and a Pike Avenue roundabout in North Little Rock.
That would free up about $6.2 million in Surface Transportation Program funds previous committed to those projects.
That money could be used to fund the Graham Road widening at Jacksonville, the Military Road project at Benton, and additional funding for the south loop project south of Little Rock.
Those jobs are “on a list of projects closest to ready to enable us to capture all the funds available,” McKenzie said. The stimulus package will set limits on how quickly the projects must start. That and the total amount of money available will help define which projects can be funded.
“We want to leverage the stimulus money,” he said.
The big-ticket items in central Arkansas, like the North Belt Freeway and the I-430/I-630 interchange, are nowhere near shovel ready and thus not eligible for any stimulus money at this point, McKenzie said.
It could all be a moot point if Congress doesn’t also fund the federal highway trust fund.
Transportation Weekly reported that the House bill would apportion the money among the states using the same distribution formula used for the regular fiscal year 2008 highway appropriation.
Fifty-five percent of that money would be allocated to the state highway departments of transportation, with the balance, 45 percent, subdivided in the same fashion as the surface transportation program.
That 45 percent would be divided with 62.5 percent of it allocated to individual areas within a state by population with the 37.5 percent remaining at the discretion of state departments of transportation.
TOP STORY>>Jacksonville to pick new mayor May 12
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The residents of Jacksonville will elect a new mayor on May 12, unless the city council changes the date at its meeting Thursday night.
After more than 22 years of running the city, Mayor Tommy Swaim announced in mid-January that he was resigning as of July 1, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
On Thursday, the council will approve the ordinance setting up a special election to replace Swaim. The winner of that election will serve out the remainder of Swaim’s current term to Dec. 31, 2010, and have the right to run for the office again.
According to the proposed ordinance, the filing period will run from Feb. 10 through noon March 12. All necessary paperwork must be filed with the Pulaski County clerk.
So far four people—Aldermen Kenny Elliot and Gary Fletcher, businessman Tommy Dupree and Randy (Doc) Rhodd of Motorcycle Ministries — have announced that they plan to seek Swaim’s seat.
If none of the candidates have a majority of the vote (50 percent, plus one vote), there will be a run-off on June 2 between the two candidates receiving the most votes.
The ordinance states that the “duly elected candidate, shall, upon proper certification, take the oath and office of the mayor on or about July 1.”
Swaim, who is in his 23rd year as mayor, said family played a major role in his decision. He told the council in January that he missed a lot of his children’s activities while mayor and didn’t want to do the same with his grandchildren.
“It was a hard decision to make, but the right one,” he said. “I’m comfortable with leaving. The city’s in good financial shape and has good employees.”
Also on the council agenda:
– The council will schedule a public hearing date to get input about raising water rates by at least one percent.
– Aldermen will decide whether or not to waive competitive bidding in the purchase of fire gear.
– The council will discuss and establish maintenance priorities to prevent structures from being condemned.
– Alderman Reedie Ray will be appointed to the city’s advertising and promotion commission, replacing Alderman Marshall Smith, who recently resigned after serving as the commission chairman for about four years.
Leader staff writer
The residents of Jacksonville will elect a new mayor on May 12, unless the city council changes the date at its meeting Thursday night.
After more than 22 years of running the city, Mayor Tommy Swaim announced in mid-January that he was resigning as of July 1, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
On Thursday, the council will approve the ordinance setting up a special election to replace Swaim. The winner of that election will serve out the remainder of Swaim’s current term to Dec. 31, 2010, and have the right to run for the office again.
According to the proposed ordinance, the filing period will run from Feb. 10 through noon March 12. All necessary paperwork must be filed with the Pulaski County clerk.
So far four people—Aldermen Kenny Elliot and Gary Fletcher, businessman Tommy Dupree and Randy (Doc) Rhodd of Motorcycle Ministries — have announced that they plan to seek Swaim’s seat.
If none of the candidates have a majority of the vote (50 percent, plus one vote), there will be a run-off on June 2 between the two candidates receiving the most votes.
The ordinance states that the “duly elected candidate, shall, upon proper certification, take the oath and office of the mayor on or about July 1.”
Swaim, who is in his 23rd year as mayor, said family played a major role in his decision. He told the council in January that he missed a lot of his children’s activities while mayor and didn’t want to do the same with his grandchildren.
“It was a hard decision to make, but the right one,” he said. “I’m comfortable with leaving. The city’s in good financial shape and has good employees.”
Also on the council agenda:
– The council will schedule a public hearing date to get input about raising water rates by at least one percent.
– Aldermen will decide whether or not to waive competitive bidding in the purchase of fire gear.
– The council will discuss and establish maintenance priorities to prevent structures from being condemned.
– Alderman Reedie Ray will be appointed to the city’s advertising and promotion commission, replacing Alderman Marshall Smith, who recently resigned after serving as the commission chairman for about four years.
TOP STORY>>Cabot upbeat on growth
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
The economic development committee of the Cabot Chamber of Commerce met last week to talk about the state of the city considering the economic downturn and concluded that
all things considered, Cabot is in good shape.
To make that conclusion more official, the committee will conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), said Mark Eisold, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church and one of 12 members of the chamber’s board of directors. But he said there is little doubt that Cabot’s strength is its schools and that’s not likely to change. So even in a recession, Cabot should continue to prosper.
“Cabot is strong and we’re stable,” Eisold said. “Our stability is not based on industry. Our industry is education.
“I’m not saying Cabot is recession proof,” he said, adding that it is ironic that not having industry seemed like a disadvantage in the past. But now, it could be viewed as an advantage.
“We’re solidly based in education and we’ve got decades backing that up,” he said.
When the SWOT analysis is completed within two months, the economic-development committee will be in a better position to make plans for the future, he said.
Although it is generally believed that Cabot does not attract industry in part because it does not have the necessary infrastructure, the city’s growing population continues to attract new businesses to the area.
The area considered to have the most potential for commercial growth is Hwy. 5, but much of the area is outside Cabot city limits and its water is supplied by North Pulaski Water Users Association. The water lines are too small for adequate fire protection and there is no city sewer.
To make the potential for commercial growth a reality, the Cabot Water and Wastewater Commission is negotiating with North Pulaski Water to buy its territory in Lonoke County, Tim Joyner, general manager of Cabot WaterWorks, said Friday.
The negotiations will include getting an appraisal of the value of the pipes in the ground and the value of the revenue from the customers in the area.
“We’ll work with North Pulaski about what they’re willing to sell us,” Joyner said. “Ideally, we would like everything in Lonoke County. We expect a lot of commercial development in the area.”
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Wil-liams, who is also a member of the economic-development committee, said he agrees that the city is stable because of the schools.
He agrees that Hwy. 5 will be the next commercial growth area if Cabot WaterWorks is successful in obtaining the territory controlled by North Pulaski Water. With good fire protection, water and sewer, the area could be a great benefit to the city in the future, he said.
Leader staff writer
The economic development committee of the Cabot Chamber of Commerce met last week to talk about the state of the city considering the economic downturn and concluded that
all things considered, Cabot is in good shape.
To make that conclusion more official, the committee will conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), said Mark Eisold, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church and one of 12 members of the chamber’s board of directors. But he said there is little doubt that Cabot’s strength is its schools and that’s not likely to change. So even in a recession, Cabot should continue to prosper.
“Cabot is strong and we’re stable,” Eisold said. “Our stability is not based on industry. Our industry is education.
“I’m not saying Cabot is recession proof,” he said, adding that it is ironic that not having industry seemed like a disadvantage in the past. But now, it could be viewed as an advantage.
“We’re solidly based in education and we’ve got decades backing that up,” he said.
When the SWOT analysis is completed within two months, the economic-development committee will be in a better position to make plans for the future, he said.
Although it is generally believed that Cabot does not attract industry in part because it does not have the necessary infrastructure, the city’s growing population continues to attract new businesses to the area.
The area considered to have the most potential for commercial growth is Hwy. 5, but much of the area is outside Cabot city limits and its water is supplied by North Pulaski Water Users Association. The water lines are too small for adequate fire protection and there is no city sewer.
To make the potential for commercial growth a reality, the Cabot Water and Wastewater Commission is negotiating with North Pulaski Water to buy its territory in Lonoke County, Tim Joyner, general manager of Cabot WaterWorks, said Friday.
The negotiations will include getting an appraisal of the value of the pipes in the ground and the value of the revenue from the customers in the area.
“We’ll work with North Pulaski about what they’re willing to sell us,” Joyner said. “Ideally, we would like everything in Lonoke County. We expect a lot of commercial development in the area.”
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Wil-liams, who is also a member of the economic-development committee, said he agrees that the city is stable because of the schools.
He agrees that Hwy. 5 will be the next commercial growth area if Cabot WaterWorks is successful in obtaining the territory controlled by North Pulaski Water. With good fire protection, water and sewer, the area could be a great benefit to the city in the future, he said.
TOP STORY>>Tobacco lobby sends Dr. Death from Texas
By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader editor-in-chief
Dick Armey of Texas, the former Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives who’s now a pitchman for Big Tobacco, came to Little Rock yesterday to lobby against raising the tax on tobacco.
Dr. Death has found a new calling after running his party off a cliff while he was in office.
He now heads an outfit called FreedomWorks, which is a front for the tobacco industry. Backers include an heir to the RJReynolds Tobacco fortune and UST, which makes smokeless tobacco.
This is an industry that kills off its customers. Nearly 5,000 Arkansans die from smoking-related deaths every year, or about $5 million a year in lost sales on the wholesale level. That’s why the tobacco companies oppose raising taxes — they need new smokers to replace the dead ones, but the industry has to keep prices low, or kids won’t pick up the habit.
It’s doubtful Armey, a former economics professor, can convince enough state legislators to kill the bill, which has the backing of Gov. Beebe. Do they want a Texan to lobby the legislature? No more than they would adopt the Longhorns as our new football mascot.
There’s one Arkansas lawmaker Armey will never convince to vote with the tobacco lobby. That’s Rep. Walls McCrary (D-Lonoke), whose parents died because of tobacco.
Like many legislators, he received a donation from a tobacco company during his campaign, but he sent the check back, McCrary said last week.
“When I was 29, my father died of lung cancer,” he told The Leader. “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.”
The bill will go before a House committee on Wednesday and could be voted on before the full House on Thursday. It needs a three-fourths majority for passage, but as many as 10 Republicans are said to be supporting the bill, which would raise $87.8 million.
Richard Beardon, the former executive director of the Arkansas Republican Party and now a lobbyist for a Memphis hospital, and Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, among other Republicans, threw their support behind the tax Monday, and others in his party will likely join them.
The tax would pay for trauma centers and other health-care programs.
The liquor industry should help establish the trauma centers with higher taxes on alcohol. Drunks cause most highway accidents, which require transportation to trauma centers. Higher taxes on gambling would also generate revenue for those programs.
Arkansas is following a national trend as state legislatures and Congress look for new revenues during hard times. Why not raise sin taxes on all aberrant behavior?
If passed, the tobacco tax would increase by 57 cents a pack to $1.15, or about the same as the national average. The national tax could go up another 56 cents a pack, bringing the cost of a pack of cigarettes to about $5, which sounds just about right.
The Mississippi House of Representatives recently raised the tax from 18 cents per pack to $1. The Senate approved a 49-cent increase, so they’ll hash out their differences and probably settle for 75 cents or more per pack.
The tobacco tax will reduce smoking and save thousands of lives, while increasing revenues because hardcore smokers cannot quit their addiction until they drop dead.
You raise the cigarette tax 10 percent, and almost as many people will kick the deadly habit. The cost of health care goes down, especially when hardcore smokers — with their heart and lung disease and a myriad of other problems — kick the bucket.
Dick Armey and the industry he represents want to hook kids by keeping taxes low. But people who’ve seen their loved ones die from cigarettes hope to discourage others from smoking by making it more expensive.
The tobacco industry is anti-life. Armey and his flunkies are the Pol Pots of American capitalism.
Leader editor-in-chief
Dick Armey of Texas, the former Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives who’s now a pitchman for Big Tobacco, came to Little Rock yesterday to lobby against raising the tax on tobacco.
Dr. Death has found a new calling after running his party off a cliff while he was in office.
He now heads an outfit called FreedomWorks, which is a front for the tobacco industry. Backers include an heir to the RJReynolds Tobacco fortune and UST, which makes smokeless tobacco.
This is an industry that kills off its customers. Nearly 5,000 Arkansans die from smoking-related deaths every year, or about $5 million a year in lost sales on the wholesale level. That’s why the tobacco companies oppose raising taxes — they need new smokers to replace the dead ones, but the industry has to keep prices low, or kids won’t pick up the habit.
It’s doubtful Armey, a former economics professor, can convince enough state legislators to kill the bill, which has the backing of Gov. Beebe. Do they want a Texan to lobby the legislature? No more than they would adopt the Longhorns as our new football mascot.
There’s one Arkansas lawmaker Armey will never convince to vote with the tobacco lobby. That’s Rep. Walls McCrary (D-Lonoke), whose parents died because of tobacco.
Like many legislators, he received a donation from a tobacco company during his campaign, but he sent the check back, McCrary said last week.
“When I was 29, my father died of lung cancer,” he told The Leader. “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.”
The bill will go before a House committee on Wednesday and could be voted on before the full House on Thursday. It needs a three-fourths majority for passage, but as many as 10 Republicans are said to be supporting the bill, which would raise $87.8 million.
Richard Beardon, the former executive director of the Arkansas Republican Party and now a lobbyist for a Memphis hospital, and Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, among other Republicans, threw their support behind the tax Monday, and others in his party will likely join them.
The tax would pay for trauma centers and other health-care programs.
The liquor industry should help establish the trauma centers with higher taxes on alcohol. Drunks cause most highway accidents, which require transportation to trauma centers. Higher taxes on gambling would also generate revenue for those programs.
Arkansas is following a national trend as state legislatures and Congress look for new revenues during hard times. Why not raise sin taxes on all aberrant behavior?
If passed, the tobacco tax would increase by 57 cents a pack to $1.15, or about the same as the national average. The national tax could go up another 56 cents a pack, bringing the cost of a pack of cigarettes to about $5, which sounds just about right.
The Mississippi House of Representatives recently raised the tax from 18 cents per pack to $1. The Senate approved a 49-cent increase, so they’ll hash out their differences and probably settle for 75 cents or more per pack.
The tobacco tax will reduce smoking and save thousands of lives, while increasing revenues because hardcore smokers cannot quit their addiction until they drop dead.
You raise the cigarette tax 10 percent, and almost as many people will kick the deadly habit. The cost of health care goes down, especially when hardcore smokers — with their heart and lung disease and a myriad of other problems — kick the bucket.
Dick Armey and the industry he represents want to hook kids by keeping taxes low. But people who’ve seen their loved ones die from cigarettes hope to discourage others from smoking by making it more expensive.
The tobacco industry is anti-life. Armey and his flunkies are the Pol Pots of American capitalism.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)