By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
High school football is, of course, a young man’s game.
So is high school football coaching, at least at North Pulaski.
Offensive coordinator Terrod Hatcher, 23, has been promoted to head coach, pending final approval by school officials, just in time for the start of the season. Practice begins Monday.
His promotion makes Hatcher one of the younger head coaches in Arkansas high school football.
“Well I thought it was an honor, to be honest with you, that people actually thought I was ready at this age to be a head coach,” Hatcher said. “I think I’m prepared.”
Hatcher transferred from Arkansas State to Arkansas Tech, where he graduated witha degree in mathematics.
He coached at Fuller Middle School before he was named offensive coordinator under former Falcons head coach Rick Russell, who moved to Jacksonville late last month to create the vacancy at North Pulaski.
“The coaching staff basically discussed it, that after coach Russell left so soon that it might be best if one of us got the job,” Hatcher said. “So that’s how I came about applying for it.”
Hatcher had been running the program, which right now is into its voluntary summer conditioning, since Russell departed on June 21.
Hatcher said he and the other assistants felt it was important for a staff member to get the head coaching job for the sake of continuity.
With that in mind, Hatcher wants to continue to build on what was seen as a solid offseason, spring practice and performance in the summer 7-on-7 games at Cabot.
“Actually we had been flowing right along, so we thought it would be better for the kids,” Hatcher said.
Hatcher admitted it was a tall order taking over, at short notice, a program now on its third coach in three years, has won four games the past six seasons and averaged 10.3 points a game in 2009. North Pulaski’s only victory last year was over Little Rock McClellan, 35-13.
“I agree that it’s going to be a challenge,” Hatcher said. “But like I told the board, the only way we will be able to change around the program is if we win. People won’t take us seriously and they won’t want to come to that school unless we win.”
With that in mind, Hatcher wants to continue plans to punch up the offense with elements of the Spread formation as part of multiple sets.
“We’re going to run multiple offenses,” Hatcher said. “We have a lot of talented skill positions but because we’re short on the line we have to put them in position to be successful.”
Hatcher thinks the Spread, run by returning junior quarterback Shyheim Barron, may help equalize the lack of size and depth on the line.
“Definitely,” Hatcher said. “We’ll try to be balanced but we will be spread. I think that will give us an advantage on the line.”
The Falcons lost 16 seniors from last year, but before Russell left he was touting the players’ improved size, strength and speed developed in offseason workouts.
Russell pronounced spring practice a success before departing, and the Falcons held their own with victories in the 7-on-7 league.
“We had such a good spring and such production in the spring we’re actually excited,” Hatcher said. “We’re thinking that stuff we learned in the spring, we’re just going to build on top of that.”
Hatcher still has to find an assistant to basically replace himself on the Falcons’ staff. With his background on offense, Hatcher will oversee the play calling, but he said he and the coaches would decide soon if they were going to hire an offensive or defensive assistant.
“Everybody’s going to have a position that they’re going to watch,” Hatcher said. “They will be my eyes and ears. I will be over the offense mostly but if there is something that needs done on defense I will take over that and make sure it gets done.
“We’re trying to look at what we have and what our strengths are.”
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
SPORTS>>Hatcher is taking charge of Falcons
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
High school football is, of course, a young man’s game.
So is high school football coaching, at least at North Pulaski.
Offensive coordinator Terrod Hatcher, 23, has been promoted to head coach, pending final approval by school officials, just in time for the start of the season. Practice begins Monday.
His promotion makes Hatcher one of the younger head coaches in Arkansas high school football.
“Well I thought it was an honor, to be honest with you, that people actually thought I was ready at this age to be a head coach,” Hatcher said. “I think I’m prepared.”
Hatcher transferred from Arkansas State to Arkansas Tech, where he graduated witha degree in mathematics.
He coached at Fuller Middle School before he was named offensive coordinator under former Falcons head coach Rick Russell, who moved to Jacksonville late last month to create the vacancy at North Pulaski.
“The coaching staff basically discussed it, that after coach Russell left so soon that it might be best if one of us got the job,” Hatcher said. “So that’s how I came about applying for it.”
Hatcher had been running the program, which right now is into its voluntary summer conditioning, since Russell departed on June 21.
Hatcher said he and the other assistants felt it was important for a staff member to get the head coaching job for the sake of continuity.
With that in mind, Hatcher wants to continue to build on what was seen as a solid offseason, spring practice and performance in the summer 7-on-7 games at Cabot.
“Actually we had been flowing right along, so we thought it would be better for the kids,” Hatcher said.
Hatcher admitted it was a tall order taking over, at short notice, a program now on its third coach in three years, has won four games the past six seasons and averaged 10.3 points a game in 2009. North Pulaski’s only victory last year was over Little Rock McClellan, 35-13.
“I agree that it’s going to be a challenge,” Hatcher said. “But like I told the board, the only way we will be able to change around the program is if we win. People won’t take us seriously and they won’t want to come to that school unless we win.”
With that in mind, Hatcher wants to continue plans to punch up the offense with elements of the Spread formation as part of multiple sets.
“We’re going to run multiple offenses,” Hatcher said. “We have a lot of talented skill positions but because we’re short on the line we have to put them in position to be successful.”
Hatcher thinks the Spread, run by returning junior quarterback Shyheim Barron, may help equalize the lack of size and depth on the line.
“Definitely,” Hatcher said. “We’ll try to be balanced but we will be spread. I think that will give us an advantage on the line.”
The Falcons lost 16 seniors from last year, but before Russell left he was touting the players’ improved size, strength and speed developed in offseason workouts.
Russell pronounced spring practice a success before departing, and the Falcons held their own with victories in the 7-on-7 league.
“We had such a good spring and such production in the spring we’re actually excited,” Hatcher said. “We’re thinking that stuff we learned in the spring, we’re just going to build on top of that.”
Hatcher still has to find an assistant to basically replace himself on the Falcons’ staff. With his background on offense, Hatcher will oversee the play calling, but he said he and the coaches would decide soon if they were going to hire an offensive or defensive assistant.
“Everybody’s going to have a position that they’re going to watch,” Hatcher said. “They will be my eyes and ears. I will be over the offense mostly but if there is something that needs done on defense I will take over that and make sure it gets done.
“We’re trying to look at what we have and what our strengths are.”
Leader sports editor
High school football is, of course, a young man’s game.
So is high school football coaching, at least at North Pulaski.
Offensive coordinator Terrod Hatcher, 23, has been promoted to head coach, pending final approval by school officials, just in time for the start of the season. Practice begins Monday.
His promotion makes Hatcher one of the younger head coaches in Arkansas high school football.
“Well I thought it was an honor, to be honest with you, that people actually thought I was ready at this age to be a head coach,” Hatcher said. “I think I’m prepared.”
Hatcher transferred from Arkansas State to Arkansas Tech, where he graduated witha degree in mathematics.
He coached at Fuller Middle School before he was named offensive coordinator under former Falcons head coach Rick Russell, who moved to Jacksonville late last month to create the vacancy at North Pulaski.
“The coaching staff basically discussed it, that after coach Russell left so soon that it might be best if one of us got the job,” Hatcher said. “So that’s how I came about applying for it.”
Hatcher had been running the program, which right now is into its voluntary summer conditioning, since Russell departed on June 21.
Hatcher said he and the other assistants felt it was important for a staff member to get the head coaching job for the sake of continuity.
With that in mind, Hatcher wants to continue to build on what was seen as a solid offseason, spring practice and performance in the summer 7-on-7 games at Cabot.
“Actually we had been flowing right along, so we thought it would be better for the kids,” Hatcher said.
Hatcher admitted it was a tall order taking over, at short notice, a program now on its third coach in three years, has won four games the past six seasons and averaged 10.3 points a game in 2009. North Pulaski’s only victory last year was over Little Rock McClellan, 35-13.
“I agree that it’s going to be a challenge,” Hatcher said. “But like I told the board, the only way we will be able to change around the program is if we win. People won’t take us seriously and they won’t want to come to that school unless we win.”
With that in mind, Hatcher wants to continue plans to punch up the offense with elements of the Spread formation as part of multiple sets.
“We’re going to run multiple offenses,” Hatcher said. “We have a lot of talented skill positions but because we’re short on the line we have to put them in position to be successful.”
Hatcher thinks the Spread, run by returning junior quarterback Shyheim Barron, may help equalize the lack of size and depth on the line.
“Definitely,” Hatcher said. “We’ll try to be balanced but we will be spread. I think that will give us an advantage on the line.”
The Falcons lost 16 seniors from last year, but before Russell left he was touting the players’ improved size, strength and speed developed in offseason workouts.
Russell pronounced spring practice a success before departing, and the Falcons held their own with victories in the 7-on-7 league.
“We had such a good spring and such production in the spring we’re actually excited,” Hatcher said. “We’re thinking that stuff we learned in the spring, we’re just going to build on top of that.”
Hatcher still has to find an assistant to basically replace himself on the Falcons’ staff. With his background on offense, Hatcher will oversee the play calling, but he said he and the coaches would decide soon if they were going to hire an offensive or defensive assistant.
“Everybody’s going to have a position that they’re going to watch,” Hatcher said. “They will be my eyes and ears. I will be over the offense mostly but if there is something that needs done on defense I will take over that and make sure it gets done.
“We’re trying to look at what we have and what our strengths are.”
SPORTS>>Bone holds his own during Scrapp
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Veteran modified driver Johnny Bone, Jr. added the Scrapp Fox Memorial to his long list of big-money race victories Friday.
Bone, of Pea Ridge, won both his heats to earn fast qualifier and led from flag to flag on a slicked over, one-groove racetrack at Beebe Speedway. Bone collected the $2,000 first-place payday over Bryant’s Casey Findley and Campbell, Mo., driver Robert Powers.
Bone proved to be the class of the field in the 12 rounds of heat races, winning the third heat over Patrick Linn and home-track favorite Randy Weaver before making his way to the front again in his invert heat.
That gave him the first starting spot for the feature, and with a track left with no grip after six classes and 39 total modifieds, Bone’s only challenge was keeping the car pointed in the rightdirection in a race marred by five cautions, including a seven-car pileup on lap four.
“I was trying to hug those tires,” Bone said. “Then I saw it getting a little blacker and blacker and I thought, ‘Well, it’s starting to rubber up,’ and I could feel it off of turn two over here when I came off the corner.
“Just a lucky day – started up front, and did what I needed to do. It was just right there on the bottom all night long, unfortunately.”
Findley and Powers had no choice but to play follow-the-leader with Bone on the inside, as did the rest of the field.
Linn, of Little Rock, was the only driver brave enough to try his luck on the outside, which proved unsuccessful. Linn started fifth but fell back to 10th shortly after the start.
Linn was able to make up two spots on a mid-race restart when he used the high line to get around Curtis Cook and Donnie Stringfellow, but that is where his success ended. Linn gave the two positions back and continued to slip until he pulled off the track with six laps to go and was scored 13th in the final rundown.
The pace slowed on lap four when Hector’s Dale Proctor got sideways coming out of turn two, leading to a six-car collision.
Chris Moore, David Payne, Tony Anglin, Jeff Davis, Travis Broach and Weaver all got a piece of the incident. Broach and Anglin got the worst of it and were done for the night while the rest tried to continue.
Weaver barely made it out of the pits in time for the restart, but was well off the pace. The four-time track champion made five more laps and quickly lost touch with the lead pack before parking on lap 10.
Moore, of Coldwater, Miss., could not repeat the success he enjoyed two months earlier in the USCS modified event at Beebe.
He won that night in dominant fashion, but had to make his way into a transfer spot in the consolation feature Friday just to get in the A-main.
Moore put his aggressive style on display to win the B-main after spinning in both of his heats, but ran into difficulty again in the feature. Moore was involved in the early pileup, and had contact with Beebe driver Todd Greer on lap 15.
That ended the night for Greer in the K1 car, while Moore tried to continue before pulling into the infield with eight laps remaining.
Positions one through 10 changed little from the start of the race until the end of the 30-lap feature. In fact, the top four remained the same the entire way with Bone, Findley, Powers and Arkadelphia’s Keith Craft.
North Little Rock veteran Mike Bowers managed to climb to fifth in front of Robert Baker after starting seventh. Baker settled in the sixth position in front of Blytheville’s Kenny Lovins and Cook.
Stringfellow, one of four drivers to compete in all eight Scrapp Fox events, finished ninth, while Bryant’s Joseph Long came from his 18th starting spot to complete the top 10.
Robert Davis of Searcy and Bald Knob veteran Wayne Brooks shared hard-charger honors. Davis started 21st and finished 11th while Brooks followed him to a 12th-place finish after starting shotgun in 22nd.
It was Bone’s 14th victory of the season in the white and orange No. 12 machine.
“I just travel all over the country,” Bone said. “Lucky, and got a good car. Like tonight, if I had started in the second row, I probably wasn’t going to win the race.
“Done what I needed to do in my heats to get qualified up on the pole, then I just needed to not make any mistakes.”
Leader sportswriter
Veteran modified driver Johnny Bone, Jr. added the Scrapp Fox Memorial to his long list of big-money race victories Friday.
Bone, of Pea Ridge, won both his heats to earn fast qualifier and led from flag to flag on a slicked over, one-groove racetrack at Beebe Speedway. Bone collected the $2,000 first-place payday over Bryant’s Casey Findley and Campbell, Mo., driver Robert Powers.
Bone proved to be the class of the field in the 12 rounds of heat races, winning the third heat over Patrick Linn and home-track favorite Randy Weaver before making his way to the front again in his invert heat.
That gave him the first starting spot for the feature, and with a track left with no grip after six classes and 39 total modifieds, Bone’s only challenge was keeping the car pointed in the rightdirection in a race marred by five cautions, including a seven-car pileup on lap four.
“I was trying to hug those tires,” Bone said. “Then I saw it getting a little blacker and blacker and I thought, ‘Well, it’s starting to rubber up,’ and I could feel it off of turn two over here when I came off the corner.
“Just a lucky day – started up front, and did what I needed to do. It was just right there on the bottom all night long, unfortunately.”
Findley and Powers had no choice but to play follow-the-leader with Bone on the inside, as did the rest of the field.
Linn, of Little Rock, was the only driver brave enough to try his luck on the outside, which proved unsuccessful. Linn started fifth but fell back to 10th shortly after the start.
Linn was able to make up two spots on a mid-race restart when he used the high line to get around Curtis Cook and Donnie Stringfellow, but that is where his success ended. Linn gave the two positions back and continued to slip until he pulled off the track with six laps to go and was scored 13th in the final rundown.
The pace slowed on lap four when Hector’s Dale Proctor got sideways coming out of turn two, leading to a six-car collision.
Chris Moore, David Payne, Tony Anglin, Jeff Davis, Travis Broach and Weaver all got a piece of the incident. Broach and Anglin got the worst of it and were done for the night while the rest tried to continue.
Weaver barely made it out of the pits in time for the restart, but was well off the pace. The four-time track champion made five more laps and quickly lost touch with the lead pack before parking on lap 10.
Moore, of Coldwater, Miss., could not repeat the success he enjoyed two months earlier in the USCS modified event at Beebe.
He won that night in dominant fashion, but had to make his way into a transfer spot in the consolation feature Friday just to get in the A-main.
Moore put his aggressive style on display to win the B-main after spinning in both of his heats, but ran into difficulty again in the feature. Moore was involved in the early pileup, and had contact with Beebe driver Todd Greer on lap 15.
That ended the night for Greer in the K1 car, while Moore tried to continue before pulling into the infield with eight laps remaining.
Positions one through 10 changed little from the start of the race until the end of the 30-lap feature. In fact, the top four remained the same the entire way with Bone, Findley, Powers and Arkadelphia’s Keith Craft.
North Little Rock veteran Mike Bowers managed to climb to fifth in front of Robert Baker after starting seventh. Baker settled in the sixth position in front of Blytheville’s Kenny Lovins and Cook.
Stringfellow, one of four drivers to compete in all eight Scrapp Fox events, finished ninth, while Bryant’s Joseph Long came from his 18th starting spot to complete the top 10.
Robert Davis of Searcy and Bald Knob veteran Wayne Brooks shared hard-charger honors. Davis started 21st and finished 11th while Brooks followed him to a 12th-place finish after starting shotgun in 22nd.
It was Bone’s 14th victory of the season in the white and orange No. 12 machine.
“I just travel all over the country,” Bone said. “Lucky, and got a good car. Like tonight, if I had started in the second row, I probably wasn’t going to win the race.
“Done what I needed to do in my heats to get qualified up on the pole, then I just needed to not make any mistakes.”
SPORTS>>Storms delay Cabot’s trip through state
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
The American Legion Senior State Tournament semifinal games were rained out at Burns Park on Monday and were rescheduled for Tuesday evening.
Cabot Centennial Bank, which suffered its first loss of the postseason to Texarkana on Sunday, was to face Benton in a rescheduled game at 5 p.m. at DeSalvo Stadium on Tuesday followed by Texarkana against Fayetteville at 8 p.m.
The winners will meet in the championship round at 5 p.m. today with a second game, if necessary in the double-elimination format, scheduled for 8 p.m.
If Tuesday’s schedule was rained out, all remaining games were to be played beginning at 1 p.m. today, tournament director Jerrell Howard said.
Cabot, under coach Jay Darr, took the Zone 3 district tournament without a loss to reach the state tournament. Cabot beat Benton in the state tournament opener and beat Fayetteville before falling to Texarkana, its first loss in seven postseason games.
Benton advanced to the semifinals through the losers bracket. A team is eliminated after two losses.
Leader sports editor
The American Legion Senior State Tournament semifinal games were rained out at Burns Park on Monday and were rescheduled for Tuesday evening.
Cabot Centennial Bank, which suffered its first loss of the postseason to Texarkana on Sunday, was to face Benton in a rescheduled game at 5 p.m. at DeSalvo Stadium on Tuesday followed by Texarkana against Fayetteville at 8 p.m.
The winners will meet in the championship round at 5 p.m. today with a second game, if necessary in the double-elimination format, scheduled for 8 p.m.
If Tuesday’s schedule was rained out, all remaining games were to be played beginning at 1 p.m. today, tournament director Jerrell Howard said.
Cabot, under coach Jay Darr, took the Zone 3 district tournament without a loss to reach the state tournament. Cabot beat Benton in the state tournament opener and beat Fayetteville before falling to Texarkana, its first loss in seven postseason games.
Benton advanced to the semifinals through the losers bracket. A team is eliminated after two losses.
SPORTS>>TRAINING CAMP Former Red Devil hopes to be on the field
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
They used to call it the “Taxi Squad.”
Defensive lineman Clinton McDonald would rather be on the team plane.
The Cincinnati Bengals and most of the rest of the NFL begin training camp today and McDonald, of Jacksonville, is hoping to make it off the Bengals’ practice squad, where he spent last season, and on to the active roster.
“Being practice squad and knowing I have a chance to play, that makes you feel like you’ve got to work harder,” said McDonald, who played college ball at Memphis and was drafted by the Bengals in the spring of 2009.
The “Taxi Squad” is a group of reserves who can join the active roster at short notice but do not travel with the team or dress out on game days. The term comes from the 1940s Cleveland Browns and coach Paul Brown, who kept a group of non-roster players whose salaries were paid by team owner Mickey McBride’s taxi company.
Things are plusher in the modern NFL.
McDonald, reporting to camp in Georgetown, Ky., today, gets to enjoy the Bengals’ modern facilities, training and dressing alongside the active players. But each Sunday last year he missed out on the thing he came to do — play ball.
“It makes you feel like, when you watch it on TV it’s like ‘Man I wish I was there. I want to be there on the field I want to dress,’
” McDonald said. “Even on the sideline at a home game you feel like ‘Man I want to be out there with the guys.’ ”
The Bengals took McDonald, an all-state linebacker at Jacksonville, in the seventh round of the draft, 249th overall, after he amassed 135 tackles and 11.5 career sacks as a defensive tackle at Memphis.
McDonald is still close to his alma mater Jacksonville, where he last played as a senior in 2004, and recently visited with the Red Devils to provide encouragement after his former defensive coach, Rick Russell, returned from North Pulaski to take over the program.
“I’m basically the example that it can happen to anybody,” McDonald said.
McDonald went almost immediately to the Bengals’ rookie/free agent mini-camp in Cincinnati after he was drafted.
“You think to yourself, ‘I’m here so it’s not a time to play around,’” McDonald said. “‘They’ve got me up here for a reason. It’s not a time to rest, it’s not a time to take anything for granted; learn all you can learn and show these guys why they’ve got you up here.’ ”
Though a late-round pick, McDonald, 6-2, 290 pounds, held his own in Bengals training camp and just missed making the cut.
Each team can keep up to eight players on the practice squad, outside the 53-man active roster. A practice-squad player earns $5,200 a week, works out with the team and cannot be on the practice squad if he has played nine regular season games or been on an active roster the entire year.
That last part sounds good to McDonald, who with hall of famer Dan Hampton is only Jacksonville’s second NFL draft pick. Red Devils Robert Thomas, Adrian Wilson and Chet Winters signed free-agent deals.
“Going on the same team as future hall of famers and looking at their locker rooms coming in. At first you’re in awe,” McDonald said. “But then again, something clicks in your mind telling you they came from a town just like you came from, they went to college just like you came from.
“And they’re here too and they’re making it, so there’s no reason not for you to make it.”
McDonald’s “welcome to the NFL” moments came during last year’s preseason, in the tunnels of the Super Dome in New Orleans, home of the Super Bowl champion Saints, and at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., home of the perennially contending New England Patriots.
“There’s no bands playing, there’s no booster club or anything like that,” McDonald said. “But seeing all the fans and all the support these people have for these teams, that’s when you feel like you’re in a professional setting.”
So far McDonald’s NFL career has consisted of butting heads with teammates and simulating opponents for the betterment of the Bengals’ active players.
“You are contributing. You’re making somebody better,” McDonald said.
McDonald said established stars like Carson Palmer, defensive lineman Tank Johnson and quirky receiver Chad Johnson — currently playing under the name Chad Ochocinco — have been welcoming and there is no divide between the standouts and the hopefuls like McDonald.
Now if McDonald can just join those guys on game days.
“Me just being me and growing up the way I grew up, I was thankful for God to still be there and have a job at the same time,” McDonald said of his practice-squad status. “I was kind of in awe and kind of disappointed I hadn’t just actually made the 53 and I wasn’t playing yet.”
Leader sports editor
They used to call it the “Taxi Squad.”
Defensive lineman Clinton McDonald would rather be on the team plane.
The Cincinnati Bengals and most of the rest of the NFL begin training camp today and McDonald, of Jacksonville, is hoping to make it off the Bengals’ practice squad, where he spent last season, and on to the active roster.
“Being practice squad and knowing I have a chance to play, that makes you feel like you’ve got to work harder,” said McDonald, who played college ball at Memphis and was drafted by the Bengals in the spring of 2009.
The “Taxi Squad” is a group of reserves who can join the active roster at short notice but do not travel with the team or dress out on game days. The term comes from the 1940s Cleveland Browns and coach Paul Brown, who kept a group of non-roster players whose salaries were paid by team owner Mickey McBride’s taxi company.
Things are plusher in the modern NFL.
McDonald, reporting to camp in Georgetown, Ky., today, gets to enjoy the Bengals’ modern facilities, training and dressing alongside the active players. But each Sunday last year he missed out on the thing he came to do — play ball.
“It makes you feel like, when you watch it on TV it’s like ‘Man I wish I was there. I want to be there on the field I want to dress,’
” McDonald said. “Even on the sideline at a home game you feel like ‘Man I want to be out there with the guys.’ ”
The Bengals took McDonald, an all-state linebacker at Jacksonville, in the seventh round of the draft, 249th overall, after he amassed 135 tackles and 11.5 career sacks as a defensive tackle at Memphis.
McDonald is still close to his alma mater Jacksonville, where he last played as a senior in 2004, and recently visited with the Red Devils to provide encouragement after his former defensive coach, Rick Russell, returned from North Pulaski to take over the program.
“I’m basically the example that it can happen to anybody,” McDonald said.
McDonald went almost immediately to the Bengals’ rookie/free agent mini-camp in Cincinnati after he was drafted.
“You think to yourself, ‘I’m here so it’s not a time to play around,’” McDonald said. “‘They’ve got me up here for a reason. It’s not a time to rest, it’s not a time to take anything for granted; learn all you can learn and show these guys why they’ve got you up here.’ ”
Though a late-round pick, McDonald, 6-2, 290 pounds, held his own in Bengals training camp and just missed making the cut.
Each team can keep up to eight players on the practice squad, outside the 53-man active roster. A practice-squad player earns $5,200 a week, works out with the team and cannot be on the practice squad if he has played nine regular season games or been on an active roster the entire year.
That last part sounds good to McDonald, who with hall of famer Dan Hampton is only Jacksonville’s second NFL draft pick. Red Devils Robert Thomas, Adrian Wilson and Chet Winters signed free-agent deals.
“Going on the same team as future hall of famers and looking at their locker rooms coming in. At first you’re in awe,” McDonald said. “But then again, something clicks in your mind telling you they came from a town just like you came from, they went to college just like you came from.
“And they’re here too and they’re making it, so there’s no reason not for you to make it.”
McDonald’s “welcome to the NFL” moments came during last year’s preseason, in the tunnels of the Super Dome in New Orleans, home of the Super Bowl champion Saints, and at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., home of the perennially contending New England Patriots.
“There’s no bands playing, there’s no booster club or anything like that,” McDonald said. “But seeing all the fans and all the support these people have for these teams, that’s when you feel like you’re in a professional setting.”
So far McDonald’s NFL career has consisted of butting heads with teammates and simulating opponents for the betterment of the Bengals’ active players.
“You are contributing. You’re making somebody better,” McDonald said.
McDonald said established stars like Carson Palmer, defensive lineman Tank Johnson and quirky receiver Chad Johnson — currently playing under the name Chad Ochocinco — have been welcoming and there is no divide between the standouts and the hopefuls like McDonald.
Now if McDonald can just join those guys on game days.
“Me just being me and growing up the way I grew up, I was thankful for God to still be there and have a job at the same time,” McDonald said of his practice-squad status. “I was kind of in awe and kind of disappointed I hadn’t just actually made the 53 and I wasn’t playing yet.”
Monday, July 26, 2010
TOP STORY>> Lost ’72 class ring found
IN SHORT: Maintenance worker at Cabot High makes surprise discovery in rafters.
By Joan McCoy
Leader staff writer
A class ring from Cabot High School, lost for almost four decades, has been returned to its owner.
A worker cleaning the beams at the high school gym to get the ceiling ready for painting found the 1972 class ring on July 12 and gave it to Jim Dalton, the assistant superintendent who is over construction in the district.
Dalton gave the information he had about the ring to Mike Polston, curator of the Cabot Schools Museum. Using a 1972 yearbook and the initials engraved in the ring, “JHW,” Polston narrowed the possible owners to two, Johnny Weatherly and Jack Wylie.
Since Wylie knew how the ring came to rest on the beam, he was deemed the owner and the ring was returned to him Wednesday.
Wylie said during a phone interview Thursday that he had worn the ring only about six months when he gave it to a high school girlfriend, who lost it in the gym while she was playing volleyball.
“In the midst of play, it came off her finger and she couldn’t find it anywhere,” Wylie said. “I suspected that was probably where it was, but the ceiling was 30 to 40 feet high.”
Wylie, a central office technician for CenturyLink, could not get away from work Wednesday, so his wife Toni, a former Cabot teacher, picked the ring up and posed for a picture with Dalton.
Now the ring, like most high school rings, is in a jewelry box.
“I won’t even fit on my pinky,” Wylie said.
But he said he is grateful that so many people went to so much trouble to return it.
“I’m very appreciative of the individual who returned it to Mr. Dalton and very appreciative of Mr. Dalton taking the trouble to make sure I got it back,” Wylie said.
By Joan McCoy
Leader staff writer
A class ring from Cabot High School, lost for almost four decades, has been returned to its owner.
A worker cleaning the beams at the high school gym to get the ceiling ready for painting found the 1972 class ring on July 12 and gave it to Jim Dalton, the assistant superintendent who is over construction in the district.
Dalton gave the information he had about the ring to Mike Polston, curator of the Cabot Schools Museum. Using a 1972 yearbook and the initials engraved in the ring, “JHW,” Polston narrowed the possible owners to two, Johnny Weatherly and Jack Wylie.
Since Wylie knew how the ring came to rest on the beam, he was deemed the owner and the ring was returned to him Wednesday.
Wylie said during a phone interview Thursday that he had worn the ring only about six months when he gave it to a high school girlfriend, who lost it in the gym while she was playing volleyball.
“In the midst of play, it came off her finger and she couldn’t find it anywhere,” Wylie said. “I suspected that was probably where it was, but the ceiling was 30 to 40 feet high.”
Wylie, a central office technician for CenturyLink, could not get away from work Wednesday, so his wife Toni, a former Cabot teacher, picked the ring up and posed for a picture with Dalton.
Now the ring, like most high school rings, is in a jewelry box.
“I won’t even fit on my pinky,” Wylie said.
But he said he is grateful that so many people went to so much trouble to return it.
“I’m very appreciative of the individual who returned it to Mr. Dalton and very appreciative of Mr. Dalton taking the trouble to make sure I got it back,” Wylie said.
Friday, July 23, 2010
EDITORIAL >>Benefits Extended
Whether you are a parent or the government, there is a time to be benevolent and a time to be tough. In the midst of the worst economic doldrums in 75 years, Congress decided this week that it was still time to be benevolent. Both the Senate and House of Representatives voted to extend unemployment benefits a while longer for 2.5 million Americans who lost their jobs in the 2008-’09 meltdown and haven’t been able to find new ones. Nearly 17,000 of them are in Arkansas, which has not been hit as hard as states with large manufacturing quotients.
It was the right thing to do, for both humanitarian and economic reasons. That is a lot of personal suffering, and the continued spending on food, utilities and mortgages is a small but important bootstrap for the economy, which still seems poised to plunge deeper from the precipice.
The unemployment extension sadly became a political rather than an economic or humanitarian issue. That was especially so in Arkansas, where every vote is now measured for its effect on the U.S. Senate race. Sen. Blanche Lincoln voted for the extension, along with most Democrats. Her opponent, Rep. John Boozman, voted against it, as always with the Republican leadership.
Republicans picked a fight over the unemployment extension on the hunch that people were madder about the federal budget deficit than they were concerned about those on the unemployment lines and their families. They may be right. They are looking over their shoulders at the tea-party movement, which stakes out the deficit as the overriding concern of the times.
Neither Lincoln nor Boozman wasted any time seeking an advantage from their votes. Lincoln said she did not believe the country should turn its back on Arkansas workers who had lost jobs through no fault of their own and are seeking jobs. She wanted Boozman to explain how he could turn his back on them.
Boozman embraced his party’s defense: If the government was going to spend $34 billion keeping food on the tables of the unemployed, it ought to cut the same amount from the rest of the stimulus program. That makes no economic sense. You help the currently unemployed by putting others out of work. In Arkansas, it would mean reducing help for medical care for the poor or halting aid that keeps highway workers, teachers and city policemen on the job.
Boozman said he was philosophically opposed to extending jobless benefits without countervailing cuts in spending elsewhere.
But he was not truthful. When it was a Republican president seeking to stimulate the economy by extending unemployment benefits, he always voted for it, once in 2002, twice in 2003 and twice in 2008. Those were the days when President George W. Bush, aided by a Congress of his own party, was building the massive deficits. Deficits became a big issue only when President Obama inherited them.
It may be time to recapitulate. In 2001, when Bush (and Boozman) took office, the United States was running a budget surplus of $86 billion — $236 billion if you added in the excess of Social Security tax receipts — and the year before Bush left office, surpluses had ended and the on-budget deficit had soared to $642 billion ($458 billion if you throw the Social Security surplus into the pot). Boozman was so unbothered by the deficits that he was voting unemployment extensions and boasting about helping the unfortunate.
The massive deficits are indeed a dilemma. Relieving suffering and giving the economy an injection run up the deficit. But that is temporary red ink, and although it will have to be repaid in the same way as the rest of the debt, the grave problem is the structural deficit, which arises from the tax-and-spend policies of the past decade, and the recession, which has reduced the government’s revenues by $500 billion a year. How can we revitalize the economy so that those revenues will be restored, and how can we eliminate the $600 billion-plus deficit produced by the rounds of tax cuts, two wars and a huge unfunded Medicare expansion during the Bush years? That is what ought to preoccupy Boozman, Lincoln, their parties and the president.
President Obama and his party seem as flummoxed as anyone about how to fix things. He has tried targeted tax cuts for businesses and working people and a modest stimulus program, and they have produced very modest results. But we know that the Republican plan will not work. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader who was in the state the other day raising money for Boozman, says the solution is big tax cuts for corporations and the investment class. Wednesday, he said there was no evidence that tax cuts reduced government revenues; rather, he said, they create jobs and produce more government revenue.
No evidence? He should look at the Treasury Department’s figures. When Bush and Congress (with the help of both Lincoln and Boozman) began to slash income taxes on high personal incomes and corporations, federal income tax receipts plummeted from $1.2 trillion in 2000 to $925 billion, and it took six years for revenues to reach even the 2000 level again. What clearer evidence could you expect? And during that period, fewer jobs were created than during any comparable period since World War II.
But we will not solve that problem now, or ever, by being penurious with the needy and a fragile economy.
It was the right thing to do, for both humanitarian and economic reasons. That is a lot of personal suffering, and the continued spending on food, utilities and mortgages is a small but important bootstrap for the economy, which still seems poised to plunge deeper from the precipice.
The unemployment extension sadly became a political rather than an economic or humanitarian issue. That was especially so in Arkansas, where every vote is now measured for its effect on the U.S. Senate race. Sen. Blanche Lincoln voted for the extension, along with most Democrats. Her opponent, Rep. John Boozman, voted against it, as always with the Republican leadership.
Republicans picked a fight over the unemployment extension on the hunch that people were madder about the federal budget deficit than they were concerned about those on the unemployment lines and their families. They may be right. They are looking over their shoulders at the tea-party movement, which stakes out the deficit as the overriding concern of the times.
Neither Lincoln nor Boozman wasted any time seeking an advantage from their votes. Lincoln said she did not believe the country should turn its back on Arkansas workers who had lost jobs through no fault of their own and are seeking jobs. She wanted Boozman to explain how he could turn his back on them.
Boozman embraced his party’s defense: If the government was going to spend $34 billion keeping food on the tables of the unemployed, it ought to cut the same amount from the rest of the stimulus program. That makes no economic sense. You help the currently unemployed by putting others out of work. In Arkansas, it would mean reducing help for medical care for the poor or halting aid that keeps highway workers, teachers and city policemen on the job.
Boozman said he was philosophically opposed to extending jobless benefits without countervailing cuts in spending elsewhere.
But he was not truthful. When it was a Republican president seeking to stimulate the economy by extending unemployment benefits, he always voted for it, once in 2002, twice in 2003 and twice in 2008. Those were the days when President George W. Bush, aided by a Congress of his own party, was building the massive deficits. Deficits became a big issue only when President Obama inherited them.
It may be time to recapitulate. In 2001, when Bush (and Boozman) took office, the United States was running a budget surplus of $86 billion — $236 billion if you added in the excess of Social Security tax receipts — and the year before Bush left office, surpluses had ended and the on-budget deficit had soared to $642 billion ($458 billion if you throw the Social Security surplus into the pot). Boozman was so unbothered by the deficits that he was voting unemployment extensions and boasting about helping the unfortunate.
The massive deficits are indeed a dilemma. Relieving suffering and giving the economy an injection run up the deficit. But that is temporary red ink, and although it will have to be repaid in the same way as the rest of the debt, the grave problem is the structural deficit, which arises from the tax-and-spend policies of the past decade, and the recession, which has reduced the government’s revenues by $500 billion a year. How can we revitalize the economy so that those revenues will be restored, and how can we eliminate the $600 billion-plus deficit produced by the rounds of tax cuts, two wars and a huge unfunded Medicare expansion during the Bush years? That is what ought to preoccupy Boozman, Lincoln, their parties and the president.
President Obama and his party seem as flummoxed as anyone about how to fix things. He has tried targeted tax cuts for businesses and working people and a modest stimulus program, and they have produced very modest results. But we know that the Republican plan will not work. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader who was in the state the other day raising money for Boozman, says the solution is big tax cuts for corporations and the investment class. Wednesday, he said there was no evidence that tax cuts reduced government revenues; rather, he said, they create jobs and produce more government revenue.
No evidence? He should look at the Treasury Department’s figures. When Bush and Congress (with the help of both Lincoln and Boozman) began to slash income taxes on high personal incomes and corporations, federal income tax receipts plummeted from $1.2 trillion in 2000 to $925 billion, and it took six years for revenues to reach even the 2000 level again. What clearer evidence could you expect? And during that period, fewer jobs were created than during any comparable period since World War II.
But we will not solve that problem now, or ever, by being penurious with the needy and a fragile economy.
TOP STORY > >Apartment complex approved
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
A new 23-building, 88-unit apartment complex at Loop and Military roads came closer to reality as the Jacksonville Planning Commission last week approved the landscaping and site plans and the preliminary plat.
The seven-acre project still must get its final plat approved, but all the issues about the apartments were worked out at last week’s commission meeting.
The apartment complex, called Courtyard Cottages, will include 22 four-plex buildings and a community-center building.
The main issue was street improvements.
Initially the city wanted the developer, Terry Burress, to make street improvements including curb-and-gutter work along Loop Road the length of the project.
The developer felt he was not responsible for the improvements because none of the units opened up to Military Road and cited numerous subdivisions that did not have to do the improvements.
The commission approved a compromise, having the developer do improvements between the entrances and exits to the complex.
Commissioner Susan Dollar said the commission needed to get together on the subject and be consistent on requiring street improvements.
“I hate to see us set a precedent,” Dollar said.
In other commission business:
Commissioners approved a request by Tommy Dodson to tear down an old home at 1516 S. Hwy. 161 that was grandfathered in many years ago when the highway property was rezoned commercial.
He plans to build a duplex on the property and needed commission approval since once a grandfathered structure is torn down, anything new is supposed to match the new rezoning, in this case commercial.
“This will be an improvement to the area,” said city Engineer Jay Whisker.
The commission approved a re-plat of a piece of property owned by Jim Durham, director of city administration.
In essence, the re-platting allows Durham to bring in a piece of neighboring land into his Red Fox Lane property all on one tax bill.
Durham said this is often done administratively and that commission approval wasn’t really necessary, but it was brought to them as part of the mayor’s transparency policy.
Leader staff writer
A new 23-building, 88-unit apartment complex at Loop and Military roads came closer to reality as the Jacksonville Planning Commission last week approved the landscaping and site plans and the preliminary plat.
The seven-acre project still must get its final plat approved, but all the issues about the apartments were worked out at last week’s commission meeting.
The apartment complex, called Courtyard Cottages, will include 22 four-plex buildings and a community-center building.
The main issue was street improvements.
Initially the city wanted the developer, Terry Burress, to make street improvements including curb-and-gutter work along Loop Road the length of the project.
The developer felt he was not responsible for the improvements because none of the units opened up to Military Road and cited numerous subdivisions that did not have to do the improvements.
The commission approved a compromise, having the developer do improvements between the entrances and exits to the complex.
Commissioner Susan Dollar said the commission needed to get together on the subject and be consistent on requiring street improvements.
“I hate to see us set a precedent,” Dollar said.
In other commission business:
Commissioners approved a request by Tommy Dodson to tear down an old home at 1516 S. Hwy. 161 that was grandfathered in many years ago when the highway property was rezoned commercial.
He plans to build a duplex on the property and needed commission approval since once a grandfathered structure is torn down, anything new is supposed to match the new rezoning, in this case commercial.
“This will be an improvement to the area,” said city Engineer Jay Whisker.
The commission approved a re-plat of a piece of property owned by Jim Durham, director of city administration.
In essence, the re-platting allows Durham to bring in a piece of neighboring land into his Red Fox Lane property all on one tax bill.
Durham said this is often done administratively and that commission approval wasn’t really necessary, but it was brought to them as part of the mayor’s transparency policy.
TOP STORY > >Apartment complex approved
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
A new 23-building, 88-unit apartment complex at Loop and Military roads came closer to reality as the Jacksonville Planning Commission last week approved the landscaping and site plans and the preliminary plat.
The seven-acre project still must get its final plat approved, but all the issues about the apartments were worked out at last week’s commission meeting.
The apartment complex, called Courtyard Cottages, will include 22 four-plex buildings and a community-center building.
The main issue was street improvements.
Initially the city wanted the developer, Terry Burress, to make street improvements including curb-and-gutter work along Loop Road the length of the project.
The developer felt he was not responsible for the improvements because none of the units opened up to Military Road and cited numerous subdivisions that did not have to do the improvements.
The commission approved a compromise, having the developer do improvements between the entrances and exits to the complex.
Commissioner Susan Dollar said the commission needed to get together on the subject and be consistent on requiring street improvements.
“I hate to see us set a precedent,” Dollar said.
In other commission business:
Commissioners approved a request by Tommy Dodson to tear down an old home at 1516 S. Hwy. 161 that was grandfathered in many years ago when the highway property was rezoned commercial.
He plans to build a duplex on the property and needed commission approval since once a grandfathered structure is torn down, anything new is supposed to match the new rezoning, in this case commercial.
“This will be an improvement to the area,” said city Engineer Jay Whisker.
The commission approved a re-plat of a piece of property owned by Jim Durham, director of city administration.
In essence, the re-platting allows Durham to bring in a piece of neighboring land into his Red Fox Lane property all on one tax bill.
Durham said this is often done administratively and that commission approval wasn’t really necessary, but it was brought to them as part of the mayor’s transparency policy.
Leader staff writer
A new 23-building, 88-unit apartment complex at Loop and Military roads came closer to reality as the Jacksonville Planning Commission last week approved the landscaping and site plans and the preliminary plat.
The seven-acre project still must get its final plat approved, but all the issues about the apartments were worked out at last week’s commission meeting.
The apartment complex, called Courtyard Cottages, will include 22 four-plex buildings and a community-center building.
The main issue was street improvements.
Initially the city wanted the developer, Terry Burress, to make street improvements including curb-and-gutter work along Loop Road the length of the project.
The developer felt he was not responsible for the improvements because none of the units opened up to Military Road and cited numerous subdivisions that did not have to do the improvements.
The commission approved a compromise, having the developer do improvements between the entrances and exits to the complex.
Commissioner Susan Dollar said the commission needed to get together on the subject and be consistent on requiring street improvements.
“I hate to see us set a precedent,” Dollar said.
In other commission business:
Commissioners approved a request by Tommy Dodson to tear down an old home at 1516 S. Hwy. 161 that was grandfathered in many years ago when the highway property was rezoned commercial.
He plans to build a duplex on the property and needed commission approval since once a grandfathered structure is torn down, anything new is supposed to match the new rezoning, in this case commercial.
“This will be an improvement to the area,” said city Engineer Jay Whisker.
The commission approved a re-plat of a piece of property owned by Jim Durham, director of city administration.
In essence, the re-platting allows Durham to bring in a piece of neighboring land into his Red Fox Lane property all on one tax bill.
Durham said this is often done administratively and that commission approval wasn’t really necessary, but it was brought to them as part of the mayor’s transparency policy.
TOP STORY > >Several candidates file for school races
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
With the filing period for the Sept. 21 school board elections closed, challengers seek to unseat two opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers who are up for re-election, while at school districts in Lonoke County and at Beebe, incumbents face no challenge.
That could change, because write-in candidates can file through noon Wednesday.
In Pulaski County Special School District, Zone 5 board member Danny Gilliland is being challenged by Tom Stuthard, and Zone 5 board member Charlie Wood faces a challenge from Gloria Lawrence.
Both incumbents are outspoken opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and have sought to bar the union from negotiating teacher contracts.
Lawrence, a longtime district teacher and PACT member, said she retired last year and was moved to run by the board’s efforts to decertify the union as the teachers negotiating agent.
Stuthard doesn’t have a listed telephone number, but a PACT-friendly website describes him as a postal worker, retired Air Force and married to a Sylvan Hills math teacher.
In the Cabot School District, incumbent Wendell J. Msall Jr. is without opposition for his Position 4 seat.
Mark Russell has filed for the Position 3 seat he currently holds.
Although the standard term length is five years, Russell is running for a two-year term. Last year, he replaced Brooks Nash who died and now he has to run for election to complete the last two years of Nash’s term.
In Beebe, Lucy Mahoney has filed for re-election to her Position 4 seat.
In Lonoke, Chris James filed for the Zone 2 seat he currently holds. Darrell Park has filed for re-election in Zone 3.
Despite redrawing Zone 4, no one filed for the seat held by Kevin McKenzie, who can’t run for re-election because he now lives in Zone 2.
However, if no one runs for the position, McKenzie can continue to serve. That’s been the case for the past year.
In Carlisle, Cliff Schafer is running unopposed in Zone 7 and Bryan Oliger will run unopposed for the Zone 1, Position 1 seat.
In England, Linda Solee Tucker will run unopposed in Zone 2.
Leader senior staff writer
With the filing period for the Sept. 21 school board elections closed, challengers seek to unseat two opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers who are up for re-election, while at school districts in Lonoke County and at Beebe, incumbents face no challenge.
That could change, because write-in candidates can file through noon Wednesday.
In Pulaski County Special School District, Zone 5 board member Danny Gilliland is being challenged by Tom Stuthard, and Zone 5 board member Charlie Wood faces a challenge from Gloria Lawrence.
Both incumbents are outspoken opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and have sought to bar the union from negotiating teacher contracts.
Lawrence, a longtime district teacher and PACT member, said she retired last year and was moved to run by the board’s efforts to decertify the union as the teachers negotiating agent.
Stuthard doesn’t have a listed telephone number, but a PACT-friendly website describes him as a postal worker, retired Air Force and married to a Sylvan Hills math teacher.
In the Cabot School District, incumbent Wendell J. Msall Jr. is without opposition for his Position 4 seat.
Mark Russell has filed for the Position 3 seat he currently holds.
Although the standard term length is five years, Russell is running for a two-year term. Last year, he replaced Brooks Nash who died and now he has to run for election to complete the last two years of Nash’s term.
In Beebe, Lucy Mahoney has filed for re-election to her Position 4 seat.
In Lonoke, Chris James filed for the Zone 2 seat he currently holds. Darrell Park has filed for re-election in Zone 3.
Despite redrawing Zone 4, no one filed for the seat held by Kevin McKenzie, who can’t run for re-election because he now lives in Zone 2.
However, if no one runs for the position, McKenzie can continue to serve. That’s been the case for the past year.
In Carlisle, Cliff Schafer is running unopposed in Zone 7 and Bryan Oliger will run unopposed for the Zone 1, Position 1 seat.
In England, Linda Solee Tucker will run unopposed in Zone 2.
TOP STORY > >Several candidates file for school races
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
With the filing period for the Sept. 21 school board elections closed, challengers seek to unseat two opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers who are up for re-election, while at school districts in Lonoke County and at Beebe, incumbents face no challenge.
That could change, because write-in candidates can file through noon Wednesday.
In Pulaski County Special School District, Zone 5 board member Danny Gilliland is being challenged by Tom Stuthard, and Zone 5 board member Charlie Wood faces a challenge from Gloria Lawrence.
Both incumbents are outspoken opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and have sought to bar the union from negotiating teacher contracts.
Lawrence, a longtime district teacher and PACT member, said she retired last year and was moved to run by the board’s efforts to decertify the union as the teachers negotiating agent.
Stuthard doesn’t have a listed telephone number, but a PACT-friendly website describes him as a postal worker, retired Air Force and married to a Sylvan Hills math teacher.
In the Cabot School District, incumbent Wendell J. Msall Jr. is without opposition for his Position 4 seat.
Mark Russell has filed for the Position 3 seat he currently holds.
Although the standard term length is five years, Russell is running for a two-year term. Last year, he replaced Brooks Nash who died and now he has to run for election to complete the last two years of Nash’s term.
In Beebe, Lucy Mahoney has filed for re-election to her Position 4 seat.
In Lonoke, Chris James filed for the Zone 2 seat he currently holds. Darrell Park has filed for re-election in Zone 3.
Despite redrawing Zone 4, no one filed for the seat held by Kevin McKenzie, who can’t run for re-election because he now lives in Zone 2.
However, if no one runs for the position, McKenzie can continue to serve. That’s been the case for the past year.
In Carlisle, Cliff Schafer is running unopposed in Zone 7 and Bryan Oliger will run unopposed for the Zone 1, Position 1 seat.
In England, Linda Solee Tucker will run unopposed in Zone 2.
Leader senior staff writer
With the filing period for the Sept. 21 school board elections closed, challengers seek to unseat two opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers who are up for re-election, while at school districts in Lonoke County and at Beebe, incumbents face no challenge.
That could change, because write-in candidates can file through noon Wednesday.
In Pulaski County Special School District, Zone 5 board member Danny Gilliland is being challenged by Tom Stuthard, and Zone 5 board member Charlie Wood faces a challenge from Gloria Lawrence.
Both incumbents are outspoken opponents of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and have sought to bar the union from negotiating teacher contracts.
Lawrence, a longtime district teacher and PACT member, said she retired last year and was moved to run by the board’s efforts to decertify the union as the teachers negotiating agent.
Stuthard doesn’t have a listed telephone number, but a PACT-friendly website describes him as a postal worker, retired Air Force and married to a Sylvan Hills math teacher.
In the Cabot School District, incumbent Wendell J. Msall Jr. is without opposition for his Position 4 seat.
Mark Russell has filed for the Position 3 seat he currently holds.
Although the standard term length is five years, Russell is running for a two-year term. Last year, he replaced Brooks Nash who died and now he has to run for election to complete the last two years of Nash’s term.
In Beebe, Lucy Mahoney has filed for re-election to her Position 4 seat.
In Lonoke, Chris James filed for the Zone 2 seat he currently holds. Darrell Park has filed for re-election in Zone 3.
Despite redrawing Zone 4, no one filed for the seat held by Kevin McKenzie, who can’t run for re-election because he now lives in Zone 2.
However, if no one runs for the position, McKenzie can continue to serve. That’s been the case for the past year.
In Carlisle, Cliff Schafer is running unopposed in Zone 7 and Bryan Oliger will run unopposed for the Zone 1, Position 1 seat.
In England, Linda Solee Tucker will run unopposed in Zone 2.
TOP STORY > >Cabot ice-cream social is a big scoop!
By Jeffrey Smith
Leader staff writer
One of the coolest places to be on a hot Thursday afternoon was at the Cabot Chamber of Commerce’s after-hours ice cream social in the city council chambers.
The unofficial ice-cream tasters as well as the judges had a dozen homemade flavors to choose from.
Cabot Kiwanis Club made pina colada. The Junior Auxiliary of Cabot had strawberry cake and strawberry cheesecake. Lenders Title had pina colada and margarita. Cook Screen Printing had paved road, similar to rocky road ice cream, but with Oreo cookies.
The Cabot Fire Department had Red Hots cinnamon-candy ice cream. Spring Creek Health and Rehabilitation made grape. H and R Block had mint chocolate chip with chocolate dollar sign pieces. First Electric Cooperative had s’mores.
The city of Cabot had chocolate cheesecake and the Cabot mayor’s office had Buster Bars made with Oreo cookies, peanuts, ice cream and chocolate sauce.
Chamber director Billye Everett said, “It is a unique event. It is a lot of fun to sponsor. Our members are great to put so much effort into a successful event for other members of the chamber.”
The award for best decorated table went to the Junior Auxiliary of Cabot. The most unique ice-cream award went to the Cabot Fire Department with Red Hots cinnamon-candy ice cream.
Best overall ice cream award went to H and R Block’s mint chocolate-chip ice cream.
Pam Caple with H and R Block was excited about winning.
She said, “This is our first time getting involved with chamber activities and (we) look forward to participating in many more.”
Judging the myriad number of tasty and creative ice creams were Cabot Schools Superintendent Tony Thurman, Austin Mayor Bernie Chamberlain, Cabot Fire Chief Phil Robinson, Cabot Police Chief Jackie Davis, Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman, Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams and Cabot Chamber of Commerce vice president Teresa Durham.
They all said “yum” many times over.
Leader staff writer
One of the coolest places to be on a hot Thursday afternoon was at the Cabot Chamber of Commerce’s after-hours ice cream social in the city council chambers.
The unofficial ice-cream tasters as well as the judges had a dozen homemade flavors to choose from.
Cabot Kiwanis Club made pina colada. The Junior Auxiliary of Cabot had strawberry cake and strawberry cheesecake. Lenders Title had pina colada and margarita. Cook Screen Printing had paved road, similar to rocky road ice cream, but with Oreo cookies.
The Cabot Fire Department had Red Hots cinnamon-candy ice cream. Spring Creek Health and Rehabilitation made grape. H and R Block had mint chocolate chip with chocolate dollar sign pieces. First Electric Cooperative had s’mores.
The city of Cabot had chocolate cheesecake and the Cabot mayor’s office had Buster Bars made with Oreo cookies, peanuts, ice cream and chocolate sauce.
Chamber director Billye Everett said, “It is a unique event. It is a lot of fun to sponsor. Our members are great to put so much effort into a successful event for other members of the chamber.”
The award for best decorated table went to the Junior Auxiliary of Cabot. The most unique ice-cream award went to the Cabot Fire Department with Red Hots cinnamon-candy ice cream.
Best overall ice cream award went to H and R Block’s mint chocolate-chip ice cream.
Pam Caple with H and R Block was excited about winning.
She said, “This is our first time getting involved with chamber activities and (we) look forward to participating in many more.”
Judging the myriad number of tasty and creative ice creams were Cabot Schools Superintendent Tony Thurman, Austin Mayor Bernie Chamberlain, Cabot Fire Chief Phil Robinson, Cabot Police Chief Jackie Davis, Lonoke County Judge Charlie Troutman, Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams and Cabot Chamber of Commerce vice president Teresa Durham.
They all said “yum” many times over.
SPORTS>>Name game has winners, lots of losers
By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Jason King, the other half of The Leader’s crackerjack sports department, faithfully comes to work each Monday during the summer with updates from the Friday night action at Beebe Speedway.
I don’t know auto racing from Shinola, but I do know that it is a sport with some great nicknames. Trumann driver Kyle Beard for example, is known as “The Silent Assassin.”
Funny, that’s what we call Jason when he comes back from lunch at Taco Bell, but it does make those of us around here wonder why certain athletes have such evil-sounding nicknames.
It may be the physical, aggressive nature of sports and an overlay of testosterone that leads competitors to come up with names promising death and pain.
They called Arkansas’ own Corliss Williamson, now head basketball coach at Central Arkansas, “Big Nasty.” Oakland Raiders defensive back Fred Williamson went by “The Hammer,” and heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey was called “The Manassa Mauler.”
I don’t know about you, but I suddenly feel all warm and cozy inside.
I won’t even get into the wrestling names. Well, yes I will.
Before the Arkansas Travelers fell in love with midget wrestling as a pregame promotion they tried out the full-size variety at Ray Winder Field in 2000. One of the wrestlers was a guy who wore a cook’s whites and spoke with a French accent lifted directly from Monty Python who called himself “The Madd Chef.”
Why two ds? I don’t know. Maybe the Chef was extra mad or an underachiever in cooking school.
During his match he seized the ring microphone to berate the booing crowd.
“I’m warning you people for the last time — shut up!” The Madd Chef said.
Those Frenchmen are quite eloquent. Especially the ones from Saline County.
But of course pro wrestlers, who basically adopt an entire persona, a character, need to have names for their alter egos. Can you imagine Hulk Hogan going by his given name of Terry Bollea?
I personally wish Hogan had stuck with “Thunder Lips,” perhaps the greatest wrestling name of all, from his character in “Rocky III.”
That reminds me of this made-up wrestling quiz we invented at the office when I worked at the statewide daily:
Vlad the Impaler is about to wrestle Bob Johnson. Which one is making his wrestling debut and wearing plain trunks? And for extra credit, who will win?
That reminds me of another quiz:
Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Lt. Jones beam down to a hostile planet. Which one will be killed? And for extra credit, what color shirt will he be wearing?
But I digress. Now that the Travelers go exclusively with midget wrestling, they have a heavily tattooed, heavily pierced bad-guy character nicknamed “Puppet the Psycho Dwarf.”
Makes you feel like going to the petting zoo, doesn’t it?
“Why are there no nice nicknames?” said Jason, a little too plaintively for me. From now on he will be known as Jason “The Whiner” King.
Actually there have been a lot of nice nicknames in sports — “Sweetness,” “Magic,” “Air,” “Potpourri” — but for every “Splendid Splinter” there seems to be a “Human Rain Delay,” the name shared by former big league hitter Mike Hargrove and pitcher Steve
Trachsel because of their excruciatingly long plate and mound appearances.
I don’t think baseball could function without nicknames, and the greatest players get the best ones. “The Bambino,” “The Von Ryan Express,” “The Rocket,” “The Kid,” “the Iron Man,” “The Yankee Clipper,” “The Umbrella Stand.”
Even baseball players you never heard of get nicknames, though usually it’s just a take on someone’s birth name. Travelers Manager Bobby Magallanes is “Mags” and pitching coach Ken Patterson is “K.P.”
Frequently a baseball player gets a nickname because someone adds a Y to his name. In his brief, failed stint with the Travelers, legendary Pine Bluff athlete Basil Shabazz was “Shabby,” which also describes his batting average, and I recently heard Frisco
RoughRiders manager Steve “Boo” Buechele call infielder Matt Lawson “Matty.”
Those wacky baseball guys over at Dickey-Stephens Park even have a couple nicknames for me, but I’m getting tired of “Sir,” and “Hey you.”
I want something original and catchy, something that encapsulates both my winning personality and my stellar career. But you can’t demand a nickname; it has to be earned and it must come to you naturally, in the flow of the moment.
At least that’s what the guys in the press box — “Frenchy,” “Hambone” and “Lt. Dan” —keep telling me.
Leader sports editor
Jason King, the other half of The Leader’s crackerjack sports department, faithfully comes to work each Monday during the summer with updates from the Friday night action at Beebe Speedway.
I don’t know auto racing from Shinola, but I do know that it is a sport with some great nicknames. Trumann driver Kyle Beard for example, is known as “The Silent Assassin.”
Funny, that’s what we call Jason when he comes back from lunch at Taco Bell, but it does make those of us around here wonder why certain athletes have such evil-sounding nicknames.
It may be the physical, aggressive nature of sports and an overlay of testosterone that leads competitors to come up with names promising death and pain.
They called Arkansas’ own Corliss Williamson, now head basketball coach at Central Arkansas, “Big Nasty.” Oakland Raiders defensive back Fred Williamson went by “The Hammer,” and heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey was called “The Manassa Mauler.”
I don’t know about you, but I suddenly feel all warm and cozy inside.
I won’t even get into the wrestling names. Well, yes I will.
Before the Arkansas Travelers fell in love with midget wrestling as a pregame promotion they tried out the full-size variety at Ray Winder Field in 2000. One of the wrestlers was a guy who wore a cook’s whites and spoke with a French accent lifted directly from Monty Python who called himself “The Madd Chef.”
Why two ds? I don’t know. Maybe the Chef was extra mad or an underachiever in cooking school.
During his match he seized the ring microphone to berate the booing crowd.
“I’m warning you people for the last time — shut up!” The Madd Chef said.
Those Frenchmen are quite eloquent. Especially the ones from Saline County.
But of course pro wrestlers, who basically adopt an entire persona, a character, need to have names for their alter egos. Can you imagine Hulk Hogan going by his given name of Terry Bollea?
I personally wish Hogan had stuck with “Thunder Lips,” perhaps the greatest wrestling name of all, from his character in “Rocky III.”
That reminds me of this made-up wrestling quiz we invented at the office when I worked at the statewide daily:
Vlad the Impaler is about to wrestle Bob Johnson. Which one is making his wrestling debut and wearing plain trunks? And for extra credit, who will win?
That reminds me of another quiz:
Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Lt. Jones beam down to a hostile planet. Which one will be killed? And for extra credit, what color shirt will he be wearing?
But I digress. Now that the Travelers go exclusively with midget wrestling, they have a heavily tattooed, heavily pierced bad-guy character nicknamed “Puppet the Psycho Dwarf.”
Makes you feel like going to the petting zoo, doesn’t it?
“Why are there no nice nicknames?” said Jason, a little too plaintively for me. From now on he will be known as Jason “The Whiner” King.
Actually there have been a lot of nice nicknames in sports — “Sweetness,” “Magic,” “Air,” “Potpourri” — but for every “Splendid Splinter” there seems to be a “Human Rain Delay,” the name shared by former big league hitter Mike Hargrove and pitcher Steve
Trachsel because of their excruciatingly long plate and mound appearances.
I don’t think baseball could function without nicknames, and the greatest players get the best ones. “The Bambino,” “The Von Ryan Express,” “The Rocket,” “The Kid,” “the Iron Man,” “The Yankee Clipper,” “The Umbrella Stand.”
Even baseball players you never heard of get nicknames, though usually it’s just a take on someone’s birth name. Travelers Manager Bobby Magallanes is “Mags” and pitching coach Ken Patterson is “K.P.”
Frequently a baseball player gets a nickname because someone adds a Y to his name. In his brief, failed stint with the Travelers, legendary Pine Bluff athlete Basil Shabazz was “Shabby,” which also describes his batting average, and I recently heard Frisco
RoughRiders manager Steve “Boo” Buechele call infielder Matt Lawson “Matty.”
Those wacky baseball guys over at Dickey-Stephens Park even have a couple nicknames for me, but I’m getting tired of “Sir,” and “Hey you.”
I want something original and catchy, something that encapsulates both my winning personality and my stellar career. But you can’t demand a nickname; it has to be earned and it must come to you naturally, in the flow of the moment.
At least that’s what the guys in the press box — “Frenchy,” “Hambone” and “Lt. Dan” —keep telling me.
SPORTS>>Jacksonville taps Reeves to take over in volleyball
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
For the second time in as many weeks, Jacksonville has reached back into the past to fill a coaching need.
Former Jacksonville volleyball coach Melissa Reeves is returning to the program she led from 2006-07. Reeves, who has been in the Jacksonville teaching ranks, replaces Justine Rial, who stepped down after two seasons to focus on teaching.
“Honestly, I missed it,” Reeves said. “I missed the kids, and the opportunity came up. There are new, exciting things happening at the school and we have a new administration.
“We’re not going to look at the past, we’re looking to the future and all of the positives. We’ll just have to see; hopefully we’ll have a good mix.”
Earlier this month Jacksonville filled its football coaching job with former assistant Rick Russell.
Reeves took over for Phil Bradley in 2006 and led Jacksonville to the state tournament in both of her seasons. She also served as an assistant to girls varsity basketball coach Katrina Mimms during that time.
Reeves stepped down from volleyball after the 2007 season but remained on the teaching staff. The former Lady Red Devil Rial, fresh out of Williams Baptist College, took over in her first coaching job and also had a successful two-year run.
Rial announced in the spring she was stepping down as volleyball coach and assistant softball coach to pursue a master’s degree and national teaching certification.
Reeves dealt with unspecified health issues during her hiatus but said she is ready to return courtside.
The ninth-grade volleyball team also has a new coach in Tracy Duncan, who will be an assistant to Mimms in basketball and head coach of the girls varsity soccer program.
Duncan is from Dardanelle and comes to Jacksonville after three successful years at Cedarville High School, where she was head coach in girls basketball, track and both cross-country programs.
Duncan’s track and girls cross country teams finished third in the state meets last year and she is in her ninth year of coaching. Kendra Seauheaver will be Reeves’ assistant on the volleyball team.
Jacksonville still has to find an assistant for softball, but now has most of its coaching vacancies filled with school starting in August.
The freshman and varsity squads, and anyone interested in playing volleyball, will meet at the Jacksonville High School auxiliary gymnasium on Thursday from 8-11 a.m. The coaches are having a mandatory parents night at 6 p.m. on Aug. 5 in the fieldhouse.
Reeves has met with her players once and introduced herself, but said she still has to get acquainted with everyone after her two-year hiatus.
“I talked to all the girls,” Reeves said. “We have 20-plus for the varsity and about 12 or 13 on the ninth-grade team. When I talked to them, they all seemed pretty excited about the new things going on.”
Reeves has been part of nearly a decade of postseason appearances for the Lady Red Devils, though she has a higher regard for her 2007 team which earned a No. 3 seed in the 6A state tournament and reached the quarterfinal round before falling to eventual state champion Benton.
The 2006 team took a No. 6 seed and fell out in the first round.
“I don’t coach to lose,” Reeves said. “You know my philosophy is that I don’t want us to go to the state tournament because everyone gets to go, I want us to go because we deserve to be there.”
Leader sportswriter
For the second time in as many weeks, Jacksonville has reached back into the past to fill a coaching need.
Former Jacksonville volleyball coach Melissa Reeves is returning to the program she led from 2006-07. Reeves, who has been in the Jacksonville teaching ranks, replaces Justine Rial, who stepped down after two seasons to focus on teaching.
“Honestly, I missed it,” Reeves said. “I missed the kids, and the opportunity came up. There are new, exciting things happening at the school and we have a new administration.
“We’re not going to look at the past, we’re looking to the future and all of the positives. We’ll just have to see; hopefully we’ll have a good mix.”
Earlier this month Jacksonville filled its football coaching job with former assistant Rick Russell.
Reeves took over for Phil Bradley in 2006 and led Jacksonville to the state tournament in both of her seasons. She also served as an assistant to girls varsity basketball coach Katrina Mimms during that time.
Reeves stepped down from volleyball after the 2007 season but remained on the teaching staff. The former Lady Red Devil Rial, fresh out of Williams Baptist College, took over in her first coaching job and also had a successful two-year run.
Rial announced in the spring she was stepping down as volleyball coach and assistant softball coach to pursue a master’s degree and national teaching certification.
Reeves dealt with unspecified health issues during her hiatus but said she is ready to return courtside.
The ninth-grade volleyball team also has a new coach in Tracy Duncan, who will be an assistant to Mimms in basketball and head coach of the girls varsity soccer program.
Duncan is from Dardanelle and comes to Jacksonville after three successful years at Cedarville High School, where she was head coach in girls basketball, track and both cross-country programs.
Duncan’s track and girls cross country teams finished third in the state meets last year and she is in her ninth year of coaching. Kendra Seauheaver will be Reeves’ assistant on the volleyball team.
Jacksonville still has to find an assistant for softball, but now has most of its coaching vacancies filled with school starting in August.
The freshman and varsity squads, and anyone interested in playing volleyball, will meet at the Jacksonville High School auxiliary gymnasium on Thursday from 8-11 a.m. The coaches are having a mandatory parents night at 6 p.m. on Aug. 5 in the fieldhouse.
Reeves has met with her players once and introduced herself, but said she still has to get acquainted with everyone after her two-year hiatus.
“I talked to all the girls,” Reeves said. “We have 20-plus for the varsity and about 12 or 13 on the ninth-grade team. When I talked to them, they all seemed pretty excited about the new things going on.”
Reeves has been part of nearly a decade of postseason appearances for the Lady Red Devils, though she has a higher regard for her 2007 team which earned a No. 3 seed in the 6A state tournament and reached the quarterfinal round before falling to eventual state champion Benton.
The 2006 team took a No. 6 seed and fell out in the first round.
“I don’t coach to lose,” Reeves said. “You know my philosophy is that I don’t want us to go to the state tournament because everyone gets to go, I want us to go because we deserve to be there.”
SPORTS>>Cabot stops Benton in Legion first round
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Benton is a team notorious for comebacks, but Cabot Centennial Bank cut off the McClendon’s appliance team after two runs in the top of the ninth for a 10-7 victory in the first round of the American Legion senior state tournament at Vince De Salvo Stadium in Burns Park on Friday.
Cabot (23-11) got off to a fast start with three runs in the bottom of the first before breaking the game open with a four-run fourth to make it 7-3.
Centennial Bank pushed its lead to 9-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but starting pitcher Matt Evans finally wore out in the top of the eighth to bring Powell Bryant to the mound, and Benton adjusted quickly with four runs in the final two innings.
“That team is dangerous,” Cabot coach Jay Darr said. “We’ve played them twice, and they’re never out of it. They swing it well enough, and they always have good pitching. So it was a good one for the program.”
Evans walked Blake Childress and Joshua Creel to start the eighth, and Darr went to the mound but left Evans in. Evans then hit Brantley Abbott to load the bases with no outs, and this time, Darr brought in Bryant.
Childress and Creel scored on groundouts before Bryant struck out Steven Brooks to end Benton’s at-bat and leave a man stranded.
Benton cut further into the lead during its final at-bat when Austin Pfeiffer led off with a double to right and No. 9 hitter Austin Southworth hit a Bryant fastball over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
But Bryant refocused and struck out two of the last three he faces, while also inducing a popup to first, to lift Cabot into the winners bracket.
“Their No. 9, that’s the second home run he’s hit in the ninth inning of a ballgame two games in a row,” Darr said. “He’s legit, and their whole lineup is, so they showed a lot of fight to not give up in the end, and we had to bear down on the mound and make some pitches.”
Evans’ crowning moment on the mound came in the top of the fifth after Cabot’s three-run fourth. Benton loaded the bases with a walk, a double and a hit batter, but with two outs, Evans struck out Creel swinging to strand all three.
“Evans pitched through some innings where he had base runners,” Darr said. “He gave us a chance to win the ballgame in the end. I think we hit the ball consistently all game long. Their pitchers were in the zone, so that helped us out a little bit.”
Joe Bryant was 3 for 5 with a double, two RBI and two runs. Ty Steele was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI for Cabot.
Benton leadoff batter Garrett Parker put up the first run in the top of the first when he walked and scored on Pfeiffer’s single to right field. Pfeiffer tried to advance to second but was tagged out in a rundown.
Cabot responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Steele singled with one out, Matt Turner doubled and Steele scored on Matt Evans’ sacrifice fly to center. Tyler Erickson walked and Andrew Reynolds drove in Turner with a single to right and Cole Nicholson singled up the middle to drive in Erickson and make it 3-1.
Leader sportswriter
Benton is a team notorious for comebacks, but Cabot Centennial Bank cut off the McClendon’s appliance team after two runs in the top of the ninth for a 10-7 victory in the first round of the American Legion senior state tournament at Vince De Salvo Stadium in Burns Park on Friday.
Cabot (23-11) got off to a fast start with three runs in the bottom of the first before breaking the game open with a four-run fourth to make it 7-3.
Centennial Bank pushed its lead to 9-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but starting pitcher Matt Evans finally wore out in the top of the eighth to bring Powell Bryant to the mound, and Benton adjusted quickly with four runs in the final two innings.
“That team is dangerous,” Cabot coach Jay Darr said. “We’ve played them twice, and they’re never out of it. They swing it well enough, and they always have good pitching. So it was a good one for the program.”
Evans walked Blake Childress and Joshua Creel to start the eighth, and Darr went to the mound but left Evans in. Evans then hit Brantley Abbott to load the bases with no outs, and this time, Darr brought in Bryant.
Childress and Creel scored on groundouts before Bryant struck out Steven Brooks to end Benton’s at-bat and leave a man stranded.
Benton cut further into the lead during its final at-bat when Austin Pfeiffer led off with a double to right and No. 9 hitter Austin Southworth hit a Bryant fastball over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
But Bryant refocused and struck out two of the last three he faces, while also inducing a popup to first, to lift Cabot into the winners bracket.
“Their No. 9, that’s the second home run he’s hit in the ninth inning of a ballgame two games in a row,” Darr said. “He’s legit, and their whole lineup is, so they showed a lot of fight to not give up in the end, and we had to bear down on the mound and make some pitches.”
Evans’ crowning moment on the mound came in the top of the fifth after Cabot’s three-run fourth. Benton loaded the bases with a walk, a double and a hit batter, but with two outs, Evans struck out Creel swinging to strand all three.
“Evans pitched through some innings where he had base runners,” Darr said. “He gave us a chance to win the ballgame in the end. I think we hit the ball consistently all game long. Their pitchers were in the zone, so that helped us out a little bit.”
Joe Bryant was 3 for 5 with a double, two RBI and two runs. Ty Steele was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI for Cabot.
Benton leadoff batter Garrett Parker put up the first run in the top of the first when he walked and scored on Pfeiffer’s single to right field. Pfeiffer tried to advance to second but was tagged out in a rundown.
Cabot responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Steele singled with one out, Matt Turner doubled and Steele scored on Matt Evans’ sacrifice fly to center. Tyler Erickson walked and Andrew Reynolds drove in Turner with a single to right and Cole Nicholson singled up the middle to drive in Erickson and make it 3-1.
SPORTS>>Cabot stops Benton in Legion first round
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Benton is a team notorious for comebacks, but Cabot Centennial Bank cut off the McClendon’s appliance team after two runs in the top of the ninth for a 10-7 victory in the first round of the American Legion senior state tournament at Vince De Salvo Stadium in Burns Park on Friday.
Cabot (23-11) got off to a fast start with three runs in the bottom of the first before breaking the game open with a four-run fourth to make it 7-3.
Centennial Bank pushed its lead to 9-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but starting pitcher Matt Evans finally wore out in the top of the eighth to bring Powell Bryant to the mound, and Benton adjusted quickly with four runs in the final two innings.
“That team is dangerous,” Cabot coach Jay Darr said. “We’ve played them twice, and they’re never out of it. They swing it well enough, and they always have good pitching. So it was a good one for the program.”
Evans walked Blake Childress and Joshua Creel to start the eighth, and Darr went to the mound but left Evans in. Evans then hit Brantley Abbott to load the bases with no outs, and this time, Darr brought in Bryant.
Childress and Creel scored on groundouts before Bryant struck out Steven Brooks to end Benton’s at-bat and leave a man stranded.
Benton cut further into the lead during its final at-bat when Austin Pfeiffer led off with a double to right and No. 9 hitter Austin Southworth hit a Bryant fastball over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
But Bryant refocused and struck out two of the last three he faces, while also inducing a popup to first, to lift Cabot into the winners bracket.
“Their No. 9, that’s the second home run he’s hit in the ninth inning of a ballgame two games in a row,” Darr said. “He’s legit, and their whole lineup is, so they showed a lot of fight to not give up in the end, and we had to bear down on the mound and make some pitches.”
Evans’ crowning moment on the mound came in the top of the fifth after Cabot’s three-run fourth. Benton loaded the bases with a walk, a double and a hit batter, but with two outs, Evans struck out Creel swinging to strand all three.
“Evans pitched through some innings where he had base runners,” Darr said. “He gave us a chance to win the ballgame in the end. I think we hit the ball consistently all game long. Their pitchers were in the zone, so that helped us out a little bit.”
Joe Bryant was 3 for 5 with a double, two RBI and two runs. Ty Steele was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI for Cabot.
Benton leadoff batter Garrett Parker put up the first run in the top of the first when he walked and scored on Pfeiffer’s single to right field. Pfeiffer tried to advance to second but was tagged out in a rundown.
Cabot responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Steele singled with one out, Matt Turner doubled and Steele scored on Matt Evans’ sacrifice fly to center. Tyler Erickson walked and Andrew Reynolds drove in Turner with a single to right and Cole Nicholson singled up the middle to drive in Erickson and make it 3-1.
Leader sportswriter
Benton is a team notorious for comebacks, but Cabot Centennial Bank cut off the McClendon’s appliance team after two runs in the top of the ninth for a 10-7 victory in the first round of the American Legion senior state tournament at Vince De Salvo Stadium in Burns Park on Friday.
Cabot (23-11) got off to a fast start with three runs in the bottom of the first before breaking the game open with a four-run fourth to make it 7-3.
Centennial Bank pushed its lead to 9-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but starting pitcher Matt Evans finally wore out in the top of the eighth to bring Powell Bryant to the mound, and Benton adjusted quickly with four runs in the final two innings.
“That team is dangerous,” Cabot coach Jay Darr said. “We’ve played them twice, and they’re never out of it. They swing it well enough, and they always have good pitching. So it was a good one for the program.”
Evans walked Blake Childress and Joshua Creel to start the eighth, and Darr went to the mound but left Evans in. Evans then hit Brantley Abbott to load the bases with no outs, and this time, Darr brought in Bryant.
Childress and Creel scored on groundouts before Bryant struck out Steven Brooks to end Benton’s at-bat and leave a man stranded.
Benton cut further into the lead during its final at-bat when Austin Pfeiffer led off with a double to right and No. 9 hitter Austin Southworth hit a Bryant fastball over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
But Bryant refocused and struck out two of the last three he faces, while also inducing a popup to first, to lift Cabot into the winners bracket.
“Their No. 9, that’s the second home run he’s hit in the ninth inning of a ballgame two games in a row,” Darr said. “He’s legit, and their whole lineup is, so they showed a lot of fight to not give up in the end, and we had to bear down on the mound and make some pitches.”
Evans’ crowning moment on the mound came in the top of the fifth after Cabot’s three-run fourth. Benton loaded the bases with a walk, a double and a hit batter, but with two outs, Evans struck out Creel swinging to strand all three.
“Evans pitched through some innings where he had base runners,” Darr said. “He gave us a chance to win the ballgame in the end. I think we hit the ball consistently all game long. Their pitchers were in the zone, so that helped us out a little bit.”
Joe Bryant was 3 for 5 with a double, two RBI and two runs. Ty Steele was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI for Cabot.
Benton leadoff batter Garrett Parker put up the first run in the top of the first when he walked and scored on Pfeiffer’s single to right field. Pfeiffer tried to advance to second but was tagged out in a rundown.
Cabot responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Steele singled with one out, Matt Turner doubled and Steele scored on Matt Evans’ sacrifice fly to center. Tyler Erickson walked and Andrew Reynolds drove in Turner with a single to right and Cole Nicholson singled up the middle to drive in Erickson and make it 3-1.
SPORTS>>Local standout cruises to victory
RANDY BEAVER MEMORIAL JUNIOR GOLF TOURNAMENT
STORIES BY TODD TRAUB
Time may be running out on Hunter Smith in junior golf, but he made time stand still Wednesday.
In the next to last event of his junior career, Smith dominated his home course with a 10-stroke victory in the Randy Beaver Memorial ASGA Junior Golf Tournament at Cabot’s Rolling Hills Country Club.
Smith, of Cabot, shot a final-round 67 on the 18-hole, par-72 course. He matched his first-day 67 for an overall 134 and a clear victory over his closest pursuer Brik Brauberger, who shot a 144.
“I play it every day,” Smith said of Rolling Hills, the course that has been his home since he took up the game almost 15 years ago.
Smith, 17, an incoming senior at Cabot High School and the 2009 ASGA junior champion, showed his comfort level with shots like the one he hit approaching the green on the 380-yard No. 18.
Smith hit a sand wedge 100 yards and left himself a one-foot putt to birdie the par 4 hole.
“I birdied the last hole the last two days,” Smith said.
Whit Parker shot a 78-82—160 to win the boys 12-13 division and Peyton Herald shot an 80-76—156 to win the 14-15 age group.
It wasn’t all fun and games for Smith, despite his strong score. In Tuesday’s opening round he had to overcome a bogey on the 456-yard No. 3 hole and a double bogey on the 454-yard No. 12.
“Yesterday I had a double bogey and a bogey and today I thought I played a lot better than that,” Smith said Wednesday. “But I missed a few short putts. Still I’m pleased with 67s both days.”
No. 3 and 12 are par 4s, and the key for Smith was to do well on the par 5s like the 491-yard No. 2, with a slight dogleg to the left; the 507-yard No. 7; the 466-yard No. 11 and the 495-yard No. 16, with a ditch in front of the tee, a slight dogleg to the right and an out-of-bounds road behind the green.
With few other obstructions or hazards, Smith knew he had a chance to do well on the big holes if he kept the ball in the middle of the fairway.
“The par 5s, they’re real easy,” Smith said. “So I figured if I was going to stay in there and keep my lead, I had to birdie those holes so that helped me out a lot.”
It was the first year for the Randy Beaver Memorial, named after long-time club pro Randy Beaver, but it was another day at the office for Smith on the course he knows so well.
“I figured I had a little advantage over the field,” he said. “Kind of today I was just playing myself. The guys in my group got off to a slow start.”
Smith’s last ASGA junior event will be the stroke-play championship in Texarkana next week. He plans to focus on high school golf next year and, free from the state junior schedule, to try to qualify for as many out-of-state amateur events as he can.
“Because I wont be able to play juniors so I’ll just go play,” Smith said.
STORIES BY TODD TRAUB
Time may be running out on Hunter Smith in junior golf, but he made time stand still Wednesday.
In the next to last event of his junior career, Smith dominated his home course with a 10-stroke victory in the Randy Beaver Memorial ASGA Junior Golf Tournament at Cabot’s Rolling Hills Country Club.
Smith, of Cabot, shot a final-round 67 on the 18-hole, par-72 course. He matched his first-day 67 for an overall 134 and a clear victory over his closest pursuer Brik Brauberger, who shot a 144.
“I play it every day,” Smith said of Rolling Hills, the course that has been his home since he took up the game almost 15 years ago.
Smith, 17, an incoming senior at Cabot High School and the 2009 ASGA junior champion, showed his comfort level with shots like the one he hit approaching the green on the 380-yard No. 18.
Smith hit a sand wedge 100 yards and left himself a one-foot putt to birdie the par 4 hole.
“I birdied the last hole the last two days,” Smith said.
Whit Parker shot a 78-82—160 to win the boys 12-13 division and Peyton Herald shot an 80-76—156 to win the 14-15 age group.
It wasn’t all fun and games for Smith, despite his strong score. In Tuesday’s opening round he had to overcome a bogey on the 456-yard No. 3 hole and a double bogey on the 454-yard No. 12.
“Yesterday I had a double bogey and a bogey and today I thought I played a lot better than that,” Smith said Wednesday. “But I missed a few short putts. Still I’m pleased with 67s both days.”
No. 3 and 12 are par 4s, and the key for Smith was to do well on the par 5s like the 491-yard No. 2, with a slight dogleg to the left; the 507-yard No. 7; the 466-yard No. 11 and the 495-yard No. 16, with a ditch in front of the tee, a slight dogleg to the right and an out-of-bounds road behind the green.
With few other obstructions or hazards, Smith knew he had a chance to do well on the big holes if he kept the ball in the middle of the fairway.
“The par 5s, they’re real easy,” Smith said. “So I figured if I was going to stay in there and keep my lead, I had to birdie those holes so that helped me out a lot.”
It was the first year for the Randy Beaver Memorial, named after long-time club pro Randy Beaver, but it was another day at the office for Smith on the course he knows so well.
“I figured I had a little advantage over the field,” he said. “Kind of today I was just playing myself. The guys in my group got off to a slow start.”
Smith’s last ASGA junior event will be the stroke-play championship in Texarkana next week. He plans to focus on high school golf next year and, free from the state junior schedule, to try to qualify for as many out-of-state amateur events as he can.
“Because I wont be able to play juniors so I’ll just go play,” Smith said.
SPORTS>>Webb savors Rolling Hills visit
RANDY BEAVER MEMORIAL JUNIOR GOLF TOURNAMENT
STORIES BY TODD TRAUB
It was worth the trip for Katie Webb.
Webb ventured from Heber Springs to Cabot to win the girls division of the Randy Beaver Memorial ASGA Junior Golf Tournament at Rolling Hills Country Club in Cabot on Wednesday.
Webb, an incoming senior, shot a 69-72—141 in the two-day event on the 18-hole, par 72 course. She finished nine strokes ahead of Cabot’s Kaylee Benton.
“It was a lot of fun, I love playing with the girls I played with and I was just glad to play pretty good,” said Webb, who had Benton in her playing group.
The boys division had three age groups but the girls field included all players ages 13-17.
It was Webb’s first visit to Rolling Hills.
“I didn’t play a practice round,” she said. “I hadn’t ever played it before. I just kind of used my range-finder.”
Webb’s first-day 69 came despite a bogey on the 297-yard, par-5, No. 16 and she learned from her mistake on the second day.
“I hit it left and I had to take an unplayable,” Webb said Wednesday. “But today I hit a 3-wood and made par on it. Yesterday I made some really good putts and that kind of left me and today I played about the same and just didn’t make as many putts.”
Her first-day low score allowed Webb to relax on Wednesday and she was satisfied with shooting par.
“It was really nice to have a lead coming into the second day,” she said. “It took the pressure off. All I had to do today was just make par and not try to do anything special.”
Webb hit a 7-iron off the green to birdie the 137-yard, par-3, No. 6 — which features a lake hazard — on both days.
“When I was on the tee box, I just felt really comfortable with the club and it was really nice to have those birdies both days,” Webb said.
Benton shot a 76-74—150 for second and Madison Talley shot an 80-75—155 to finish third.
The tournament, in its first year, is named for long-time Rolling Hills club pro Randy Beaver.
STORIES BY TODD TRAUB
It was worth the trip for Katie Webb.
Webb ventured from Heber Springs to Cabot to win the girls division of the Randy Beaver Memorial ASGA Junior Golf Tournament at Rolling Hills Country Club in Cabot on Wednesday.
Webb, an incoming senior, shot a 69-72—141 in the two-day event on the 18-hole, par 72 course. She finished nine strokes ahead of Cabot’s Kaylee Benton.
“It was a lot of fun, I love playing with the girls I played with and I was just glad to play pretty good,” said Webb, who had Benton in her playing group.
The boys division had three age groups but the girls field included all players ages 13-17.
It was Webb’s first visit to Rolling Hills.
“I didn’t play a practice round,” she said. “I hadn’t ever played it before. I just kind of used my range-finder.”
Webb’s first-day 69 came despite a bogey on the 297-yard, par-5, No. 16 and she learned from her mistake on the second day.
“I hit it left and I had to take an unplayable,” Webb said Wednesday. “But today I hit a 3-wood and made par on it. Yesterday I made some really good putts and that kind of left me and today I played about the same and just didn’t make as many putts.”
Her first-day low score allowed Webb to relax on Wednesday and she was satisfied with shooting par.
“It was really nice to have a lead coming into the second day,” she said. “It took the pressure off. All I had to do today was just make par and not try to do anything special.”
Webb hit a 7-iron off the green to birdie the 137-yard, par-3, No. 6 — which features a lake hazard — on both days.
“When I was on the tee box, I just felt really comfortable with the club and it was really nice to have those birdies both days,” Webb said.
Benton shot a 76-74—150 for second and Madison Talley shot an 80-75—155 to finish third.
The tournament, in its first year, is named for long-time Rolling Hills club pro Randy Beaver.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
TOP STORY > >Otey ready for new job at Pentagon
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Col. Greg Otey, commander of Little Rock Air Force Base until the change-of-command ceremony, is headed to the Pentagon as senior Air Force planner to the Air Force chief of staff.
He will help form recommendations to the Air Force Chief of Staff, who will then meet with the other service chiefs and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to work out an overall position, he said.
Otey will work with two other colonels, two civilians and a lieutenant colonel to oversee those recommendations.
“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Otey said Tuesday, “but sad to leave Little Rock Air Force Base, the mission and the people here.”
Otey, who is commander of the base’s 19th Airlift Wing, will formally hand over the guidon and command at 10 a.m. Aug. 2 to Col. Michael Minihan.
Minihan is the vice commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California.
According to his Air Force biography, Minihan served as assistant to the commander for the combined efforts of all operations and support activities associated with the worldwide air mobility mission.
The C-5, KC-10, and C-17 assigned aircraft participate in air, land and aerial refueling operations, responding to Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed combat missions and supporting State Department-sponsored humanitarian-relief efforts worldwide.
Otey called the community—which was awarded the Abilene Trophy as the most supportive Air Mobility Command community in the country—“a community like none other.”
Otey was raised in Virginia, but in his 22-year Air Force career, this will be his first posting at the Pentagon.
“I tried to continue and lay the foundation of being a black knight, and we advanced that ball down the field.”
The 19th Airlift Wing is also known as the Black Knights.
Since he took command in January 2009, privatization of base housing finally got going in the right direction with new partners Hunt-Pinnacle.
“They are almost a year ahead of schedule,” Otey said.
The previous privatization effort, American Eagle, was a dismal failure, but Hunt-Pinnacle bought the housing contract.
“The Joint Education Center broke ground,” he said. “That’s huge.”
The new base exchange opened and Congress appropriated the money for a new security building.
“The (C-130) rodeo was a huge success for Team Little Rock and specifically for the 19th Airlift Wing. We consider this the best C-130 base in the world.”
During Otey’s command, the base had eight C-130s flying relief supplies and transporting soldiers to Haiti in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed or injured an estimated half-million Haitians and left an estimated 1 million homeless.
Between 15 percent and 20 percent of the wing is deployed at all times in Afghanistan or Iraq, Otey said.
The base continued its support of efforts for better school buildings and better education locally.
“That’s something that will continue,” he said, “so that military kids can get the right kind of education.
“My kid’s 15 and he’s never lived in the same place for over two years. We’re looking to make it better for all and at the same time help military kids,” Otey said.
Lisa Otey, the colonel’s wife, attended numerous Pulaski County Special School District meetings, with the intention of helping get better facilities and education for children of the military and also the community.
As for the Abilene Trophy, “I knew how good this community was,” said Otey. “It’s good to see such a deserving community recognized as the best community in the Air Mobility Command.”
He also praised the community, members of the base/community council in particular, with its support of the base’s rodeo team.
“They threw a huge sendoff breakfast,” he said. “They came to see us off and they were on the sidelines cheering.
“When we won, they threw us a celebration party.”
He said the community also has “Airpower Arkansas,” a subset of the community council, which “raises a tremendous amount of money in support of the Air Show.”
And no nod to the community would be complete without citing the people of Jacksonville for taxing themselves to help build the Joint Education Center, which provides college classes for both airmen and local residents.
“We know of no other place in the Air Force that this has been done,” he said.
They taxed themselves and raised $5 million for the $14 million Joint Education Center.
He spoke highly of his counterparts at the base, Col. C.K. Hyde, commander of the 314th Air Education Wing, and Col. James Summers, commander of the National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing.
‘They’ve been outstanding mission partners,” Otey said.
“It’s truly been an honor to be part of the Little Rock Air Force Base community and team. I am a blessed man.”
As for Minihan, his successor, Otey said, “You’re going to like him.”
Leader senior staff writer
Col. Greg Otey, commander of Little Rock Air Force Base until the change-of-command ceremony, is headed to the Pentagon as senior Air Force planner to the Air Force chief of staff.
He will help form recommendations to the Air Force Chief of Staff, who will then meet with the other service chiefs and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to work out an overall position, he said.
Otey will work with two other colonels, two civilians and a lieutenant colonel to oversee those recommendations.
“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Otey said Tuesday, “but sad to leave Little Rock Air Force Base, the mission and the people here.”
Otey, who is commander of the base’s 19th Airlift Wing, will formally hand over the guidon and command at 10 a.m. Aug. 2 to Col. Michael Minihan.
Minihan is the vice commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California.
According to his Air Force biography, Minihan served as assistant to the commander for the combined efforts of all operations and support activities associated with the worldwide air mobility mission.
The C-5, KC-10, and C-17 assigned aircraft participate in air, land and aerial refueling operations, responding to Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed combat missions and supporting State Department-sponsored humanitarian-relief efforts worldwide.
Otey called the community—which was awarded the Abilene Trophy as the most supportive Air Mobility Command community in the country—“a community like none other.”
Otey was raised in Virginia, but in his 22-year Air Force career, this will be his first posting at the Pentagon.
“I tried to continue and lay the foundation of being a black knight, and we advanced that ball down the field.”
The 19th Airlift Wing is also known as the Black Knights.
Since he took command in January 2009, privatization of base housing finally got going in the right direction with new partners Hunt-Pinnacle.
“They are almost a year ahead of schedule,” Otey said.
The previous privatization effort, American Eagle, was a dismal failure, but Hunt-Pinnacle bought the housing contract.
“The Joint Education Center broke ground,” he said. “That’s huge.”
The new base exchange opened and Congress appropriated the money for a new security building.
“The (C-130) rodeo was a huge success for Team Little Rock and specifically for the 19th Airlift Wing. We consider this the best C-130 base in the world.”
During Otey’s command, the base had eight C-130s flying relief supplies and transporting soldiers to Haiti in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed or injured an estimated half-million Haitians and left an estimated 1 million homeless.
Between 15 percent and 20 percent of the wing is deployed at all times in Afghanistan or Iraq, Otey said.
The base continued its support of efforts for better school buildings and better education locally.
“That’s something that will continue,” he said, “so that military kids can get the right kind of education.
“My kid’s 15 and he’s never lived in the same place for over two years. We’re looking to make it better for all and at the same time help military kids,” Otey said.
Lisa Otey, the colonel’s wife, attended numerous Pulaski County Special School District meetings, with the intention of helping get better facilities and education for children of the military and also the community.
As for the Abilene Trophy, “I knew how good this community was,” said Otey. “It’s good to see such a deserving community recognized as the best community in the Air Mobility Command.”
He also praised the community, members of the base/community council in particular, with its support of the base’s rodeo team.
“They threw a huge sendoff breakfast,” he said. “They came to see us off and they were on the sidelines cheering.
“When we won, they threw us a celebration party.”
He said the community also has “Airpower Arkansas,” a subset of the community council, which “raises a tremendous amount of money in support of the Air Show.”
And no nod to the community would be complete without citing the people of Jacksonville for taxing themselves to help build the Joint Education Center, which provides college classes for both airmen and local residents.
“We know of no other place in the Air Force that this has been done,” he said.
They taxed themselves and raised $5 million for the $14 million Joint Education Center.
He spoke highly of his counterparts at the base, Col. C.K. Hyde, commander of the 314th Air Education Wing, and Col. James Summers, commander of the National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing.
‘They’ve been outstanding mission partners,” Otey said.
“It’s truly been an honor to be part of the Little Rock Air Force Base community and team. I am a blessed man.”
As for Minihan, his successor, Otey said, “You’re going to like him.”
TOP STORY > >Otey ready for new job at Pentagon
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Col. Greg Otey, commander of Little Rock Air Force Base until the change-of-command ceremony, is headed to the Pentagon as senior Air Force planner to the Air Force chief of staff.
He will help form recommendations to the Air Force Chief of Staff, who will then meet with the other service chiefs and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to work out an overall position, he said.
Otey will work with two other colonels, two civilians and a lieutenant colonel to oversee those recommendations.
“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Otey said Tuesday, “but sad to leave Little Rock Air Force Base, the mission and the people here.”
Otey, who is commander of the base’s 19th Airlift Wing, will formally hand over the guidon and command at 10 a.m. Aug. 2 to Col. Michael Minihan.
Minihan is the vice commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California.
According to his Air Force biography, Minihan served as assistant to the commander for the combined efforts of all operations and support activities associated with the worldwide air mobility mission.
The C-5, KC-10, and C-17 assigned aircraft participate in air, land and aerial refueling operations, responding to Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed combat missions and supporting State Department-sponsored humanitarian-relief efforts worldwide.
Otey called the community—which was awarded the Abilene Trophy as the most supportive Air Mobility Command community in the country—“a community like none other.”
Otey was raised in Virginia, but in his 22-year Air Force career, this will be his first posting at the Pentagon.
“I tried to continue and lay the foundation of being a black knight, and we advanced that ball down the field.”
The 19th Airlift Wing is also known as the Black Knights.
Since he took command in January 2009, privatization of base housing finally got going in the right direction with new partners Hunt-Pinnacle.
“They are almost a year ahead of schedule,” Otey said.
The previous privatization effort, American Eagle, was a dismal failure, but Hunt-Pinnacle bought the housing contract.
“The Joint Education Center broke ground,” he said. “That’s huge.”
The new base exchange opened and Congress appropriated the money for a new security building.
“The (C-130) rodeo was a huge success for Team Little Rock and specifically for the 19th Airlift Wing. We consider this the best C-130 base in the world.”
During Otey’s command, the base had eight C-130s flying relief supplies and transporting soldiers to Haiti in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed or injured an estimated half-million Haitians and left an estimated 1 million homeless.
Between 15 percent and 20 percent of the wing is deployed at all times in Afghanistan or Iraq, Otey said.
The base continued its support of efforts for better school buildings and better education locally.
“That’s something that will continue,” he said, “so that military kids can get the right kind of education.
“My kid’s 15 and he’s never lived in the same place for over two years. We’re looking to make it better for all and at the same time help military kids,” Otey said.
Lisa Otey, the colonel’s wife, attended numerous Pulaski County Special School District meetings, with the intention of helping get better facilities and education for children of the military and also the community.
As for the Abilene Trophy, “I knew how good this community was,” said Otey. “It’s good to see such a deserving community recognized as the best community in the Air Mobility Command.”
He also praised the community, members of the base/community council in particular, with its support of the base’s rodeo team.
“They threw a huge sendoff breakfast,” he said. “They came to see us off and they were on the sidelines cheering.
“When we won, they threw us a celebration party.”
He said the community also has “Airpower Arkansas,” a subset of the community council, which “raises a tremendous amount of money in support of the Air Show.”
And no nod to the community would be complete without citing the people of Jacksonville for taxing themselves to help build the Joint Education Center, which provides college classes for both airmen and local residents.
“We know of no other place in the Air Force that this has been done,” he said.
They taxed themselves and raised $5 million for the $14 million Joint Education Center.
He spoke highly of his counterparts at the base, Col. C.K. Hyde, commander of the 314th Air Education Wing, and Col. James Summers, commander of the National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing.
‘They’ve been outstanding mission partners,” Otey said.
“It’s truly been an honor to be part of the Little Rock Air Force Base community and team. I am a blessed man.”
As for Minihan, his successor, Otey said, “You’re going to like him.”
Leader senior staff writer
Col. Greg Otey, commander of Little Rock Air Force Base until the change-of-command ceremony, is headed to the Pentagon as senior Air Force planner to the Air Force chief of staff.
He will help form recommendations to the Air Force Chief of Staff, who will then meet with the other service chiefs and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to work out an overall position, he said.
Otey will work with two other colonels, two civilians and a lieutenant colonel to oversee those recommendations.
“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Otey said Tuesday, “but sad to leave Little Rock Air Force Base, the mission and the people here.”
Otey, who is commander of the base’s 19th Airlift Wing, will formally hand over the guidon and command at 10 a.m. Aug. 2 to Col. Michael Minihan.
Minihan is the vice commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California.
According to his Air Force biography, Minihan served as assistant to the commander for the combined efforts of all operations and support activities associated with the worldwide air mobility mission.
The C-5, KC-10, and C-17 assigned aircraft participate in air, land and aerial refueling operations, responding to Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed combat missions and supporting State Department-sponsored humanitarian-relief efforts worldwide.
Otey called the community—which was awarded the Abilene Trophy as the most supportive Air Mobility Command community in the country—“a community like none other.”
Otey was raised in Virginia, but in his 22-year Air Force career, this will be his first posting at the Pentagon.
“I tried to continue and lay the foundation of being a black knight, and we advanced that ball down the field.”
The 19th Airlift Wing is also known as the Black Knights.
Since he took command in January 2009, privatization of base housing finally got going in the right direction with new partners Hunt-Pinnacle.
“They are almost a year ahead of schedule,” Otey said.
The previous privatization effort, American Eagle, was a dismal failure, but Hunt-Pinnacle bought the housing contract.
“The Joint Education Center broke ground,” he said. “That’s huge.”
The new base exchange opened and Congress appropriated the money for a new security building.
“The (C-130) rodeo was a huge success for Team Little Rock and specifically for the 19th Airlift Wing. We consider this the best C-130 base in the world.”
During Otey’s command, the base had eight C-130s flying relief supplies and transporting soldiers to Haiti in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed or injured an estimated half-million Haitians and left an estimated 1 million homeless.
Between 15 percent and 20 percent of the wing is deployed at all times in Afghanistan or Iraq, Otey said.
The base continued its support of efforts for better school buildings and better education locally.
“That’s something that will continue,” he said, “so that military kids can get the right kind of education.
“My kid’s 15 and he’s never lived in the same place for over two years. We’re looking to make it better for all and at the same time help military kids,” Otey said.
Lisa Otey, the colonel’s wife, attended numerous Pulaski County Special School District meetings, with the intention of helping get better facilities and education for children of the military and also the community.
As for the Abilene Trophy, “I knew how good this community was,” said Otey. “It’s good to see such a deserving community recognized as the best community in the Air Mobility Command.”
He also praised the community, members of the base/community council in particular, with its support of the base’s rodeo team.
“They threw a huge sendoff breakfast,” he said. “They came to see us off and they were on the sidelines cheering.
“When we won, they threw us a celebration party.”
He said the community also has “Airpower Arkansas,” a subset of the community council, which “raises a tremendous amount of money in support of the Air Show.”
And no nod to the community would be complete without citing the people of Jacksonville for taxing themselves to help build the Joint Education Center, which provides college classes for both airmen and local residents.
“We know of no other place in the Air Force that this has been done,” he said.
They taxed themselves and raised $5 million for the $14 million Joint Education Center.
He spoke highly of his counterparts at the base, Col. C.K. Hyde, commander of the 314th Air Education Wing, and Col. James Summers, commander of the National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing.
‘They’ve been outstanding mission partners,” Otey said.
“It’s truly been an honor to be part of the Little Rock Air Force Base community and team. I am a blessed man.”
As for Minihan, his successor, Otey said, “You’re going to like him.”
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