SPORTS>>For record, ASU taking a whipping

By todd traub

Leader sports editor

My parents always liked to speak in euphemisms.

No one they knew ever died; they always “passed away.” They never knew any old people either, just “older” people, and my Dad never lost his temper when the lawn mower broke, he just got “a little excited.”

So it is that Arkansas State is not forfeiting anything after submitting its summary disposition report to the NCAA Committee on Infractions. The university is simply “voiding victories,” for allowing improperly certified athletes to participate during some of the school’s most successful recent seasons.

A little background — more than two years ago, Arkansas State discovered possible violations pertaining to whether athletes in multiple sports were meeting NCAA progress-toward-degree requirements.

It was apparently a case of human error on the certification side of the house, and the school reported itself to the NCAA on Aug. 25, 2008. The ensuing investigation revealed 31 athletes in six sports were improperly certified.

The upshot, as Arkansas State revealed Monday, is a series of university-imposed penalties that includes a $43,500 fine, a two-year probationary period, a reduction of one scholarship each in football and men’s basketball for the next two seasons and the aforementioned “voiding” of victories in football, baseball, men’s basketball and women’s soccer dating to 2005.

I don’t know how “voiding,” in this case, differs from “forfeiting” and it could just simply be someone’s choice of words. As usual, Arkansas State is not commenting further.

Either way, Arkansas State has to give up four football victories from 2005, when it went 6-5 and won a share of the Sun Belt championship and reached its first and only NCAA Division I-A bowl game. The school is voiding six victories from 2006, when it went 6-6.

That has to be a bitter pill for outgoing coach Steve Roberts, who resigned at the end of the season and now sees his best years at Arkansas State tarnished as he heads out the door.

The basketball team is voiding 15 victories from 2006-07, Dickey Nutt’s last good season when the team was 18-15 and reached the final of the Sun Belt Tournament. Basketball voided all 12 victories from 2005-06.

Baseball loses three victories from 2006-07 and soccer gives up five from 2005-06.

Every coach from these stricken teams is gone now, not that they had anything to do with the improper certification. The NCAA agrees there was no intentional effort to deceive or cheat on the university’s part, and remember Arkansas State voluntarily proposed these rather harsh punishments.

What a tough holiday season for the Red Wolves huh?

Unlike in other states, where there is room for more than one major college program in the population’s heart, Arkansas State always seems to find itself behind the eight-ball when trying to pull itself up to the level of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

This latest misadventure doesn’t help.

While things are looking up in Hogland — a BCS bowl for the first time and a contract extension to keep program-jumping coach Bobby Petrino from jumping elsewhere — this is a bleak period for Arkansas State.

The Red Wolves are starting over with a new football coach as Hugh Freeze was promoted from offensive coordinator to replace Roberts. The basketball team showed promise last year under coach John Brady, but the Wolves, in Brady’s third season, have gotten off to an uncertain, 3-6 start.

I covered Arkansas State for close to 10 years while with the statewide daily and I know the athletic program is run by decent people who would not willfully cheat. I also know that as bad as things get, Arkansas State has a way of rolling up its sleeves and going to work.

The football program that was losing regularly to NCAA Division I-AA teams now expects to win at least six and be bowl eligible every year. The basketball team that reached the NCAA Tournament under Nutt in 1999 got as close as it has in a few years under Brady with 17 victories last season, including a first-round Sun Belt Tournament victory over the rival UALR Trojans.

I’ve been critical of Arkansas State in this space in the past, both for how it handled Roberts’ contract extension, or lack of one, and the way it brings down the cone of silence when trouble exactly like this takes place, and I don’t intend to be a Pollyana now.

But hey, Red Wolves, maybe the worst is behind you. You knew this was coming and now it’s over and the past, though revised, is the past.

At least you didn’t get the NCAA’s death penalty.

Sorry, I meant “passing away” penalty.

SPORTS>>Youthful Falcons learning by doing

By JASON KING

Leader sportswriter

North Pulaski’s week of practice leading up to next week’s Red Devil Classic can be summed up with one word — defense.

The Falcons are coming off a 1-2 showing in the Wampus Cat Invitational, are 2-5 overall and have come close in many of their losses. They traveled across town Friday to play local rival Jacksonville in the same gym where next week’s annual holiday tournament will be played.

“The guy who did our schedule put some tough ones on there; we’re going to have to have a talk with that guy,” North Pulaski coach Raymond Cooper said, referring to himself. “There’s some good and some bad in it. It’s good in that playing good teams exposes every weakness you have.

“When you’re winning, those weaknesses don’t show up as much, and they turn into bad habits. Every thing is pretty well exposed for us; now we’re in the process of trying to eliminate them.”

The Falcons returned from the Conway tourney and hit the practice court. But shooting and ball-handling drills were nowhere to be seen.

“We honed in on defense,” Cooper said. “We spent the whole week on defense. We didn’t even discuss offense until [Friday]. You win games by getting stops, and we have given up way too many easy baskets because we were out of position.

“There’s 20 things I could list off the top of my head, and we’ve gone down the list one by one trying to improve on them.”

The Christmas break includes another run of tournament games in which the aim is improvement. The Falcons will follow the Red Devil Classic with a tournament in Poplar Bluff, Mo., beginning on Dec. 27.

“It’s hard to get kids focused, especially during that time, but one thing they will show up for is games,” Cooper said. “We’ll play six games over the Christmas break, so hopefully we’ll have some growth. We’re very young, and the transition has been an adjustment for us.”

Senior forward Bryan Colson is the only returning starter from last year’s team, and only one of two players with significant playing time along with junior guard Shyheim Barron.

“That’s been the struggle,” Cooper said. “The other guys still don’t see the importance of attention to detail. It’s like all those little parts to a car. If your carburetor doesn’t work, and your radiator doesn’t work, it doesn’t even matter what kind of engine you have.”

Little Rock McClellan, another familiar opponent, awaits in the first round of the Red Devil Classic. The Falcons and Crimson Lions were conference rivals the past two seasons, with McClellan claiming the 5A-Southeast crown in 2009 and North Pulaski winning it the next year. The teams, though no longer in the same conference, have already split two games this season with North Pulaski winning 71-56 at home before falling in overtime in the rematch at McClellan.

“We’re getting to know each other pretty well,” Cooper said. “We’ve pretty well become rivals. It’s always a good test when we play them, but there are a lot of good teams with different styles in this tournament like Catholic and Little Rock Christian.

“We’re trying to get conference ready. Our record may look kind of rough now, but January starts a brand-new season.”

SPORTS>>Lonoke girls look for lift in league

By JASON KING

Leader sportswriter

Victories and losses mean more to the Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits now that 2-4A Conference play has started, but improvement in every game is still top priority.

The Lady Jackrabbits are 7-4, 1-1 after falling 46-44 to Southside Batesville on Monday. It was Lonoke’s first conference loss since February 2009.

“We’re still in the process of putting everything together,” Lady Jackrabbits coach Nathan Morris said. “We go into every practice trying to get better.”

Lonoke got off to a good start with a 58-39 conference rout of Newport on Dec. 7 thanks to senior guard Cara Neighbors’ 17-point performance that led all scorers.

Patrice Smith was the surprise of the game, though. Smith made four three-pointers and finished with 13 points.

“We were able to get a few shots to drop,” Morris said. “In the second half, we made shots when we were given opportunities, we were also able to get to the line as well.”

Smith’s outside shooting was the difference in an earlier victory at Riverview when she hit the winning three-pointer just before the buzzer.

The home loss to Southside Batesville went to the wire, as the Lady Southerners led 21-16 at halftime before the Lady Jackrabbits outscored them 14-8 in the third quarter.

“It was a game of runs,” Morris said. “The last run was them.”

The Lady Jackrabbits were down by two with eight seconds to play when a shot on an inbound play fell short, as did two putback attempts.

Neighbors led with 17 points and Emily Howell scored 13.

Neighbors, averaging close to 20 points and 6.8 rebounds a game, is the only returning starter this year. Howell, Smith and Artice Morris all got significant playing time off the bench last season and are beginning to grow into their starting roles, Morris said.

“Every kid has done something to step up their game,” Morris said. “We even got better out of the loss to Southside; every game, we come out in better shape.”

Stuttgart was projected to be one of the tougher teams this season, but disciplinary issues have led to setbacks. Morris said Heber Springs, Cave City and Southside Batesville will be among the strongest contenders, and hopes his team will fall somewhere in the mix.

“I think you’re going to see a wide-open race,” Morris said. “We’ve seen teams get on a roll in the past, and it could be the same way again this year. A couple of teams get on a good roll before regional tournament time.”

SPORTS>>Donated game helping needy

By todd traub

Leader sports editor

It’s an economic indicator that doesn’t get the same publicity as jobless rates or consumer-confidence indexes.

But at the Cabot Meat Market, where proprietors Cindy and Greg McNerlin help process wild game for the Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry program, it is clear times have been tough.

Cindy McNerlin said donations of deer to the popular program, supported by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, are down this holiday season even as she has seen an “overwhelming” increase in business.

“Donations have not been as much because with the economy, everyone is trying to fill up their freezers,” McNerlin said.

Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry is a non profit, 501C organization that began in 2000. Entering the current deer season, AHFH had provided approximately 1 million meals to those who are in need.

The McNerlins’ business is one of the close to 60 processors in Arkansas participating in the program.

Cabot Meat Market processed 1,600-2,000 pounds of donated deer meat last year, and while this year’s estimate is off that pace so far, McNerlin said she thought donations were beginning to pick up as the modern-gun deer season entered its final weekend.

“We have been starting to see a little more,” she said on a brisk Friday morning as she, Greg and a squad of employees scurried about preparing food for delivery.

AHFH president Ronnie Ritter said that, statewide, donations were steady and should match last year’s 34 tons.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag this year,” Ritter said. “Some processors are up this year and some are down. I think we’re going to be at or above what we did last year. Maybe a little bit more because I added a few processors early in the season.”

Ritter said he wouldn’t know exact numbers until the program received its end of season counts, which depend as much on hunting success as they do the generosity of hunters.

“Hunting, you never know,” Ritter said. “I’ve hunted most all my life and you go out, the weather’s good and you don’t harvest a deer.”

AHFH does not distribute the donated meat but works through close to 110 food pantries, churches and other distribution agencies in the state.

“Whatever we can find in their county,” Ritter said.

Cindy McNerlin, who has participated in the program for five years, said many of this year’s donated meat requests are coming from churches like First Baptist in Cabot.

“I’ve had a lot of them this year,” she said. “A lot of churches. They’re in desperate need.”

Hunters can donate all or part of their harvested deer at the Cabot Meat Market or other participating processors. McNerlin said the meat is processed into one-pound portions for ease of distribution and meal preparation.

In recent years, processors have also been given approval to give away unclaimed meat in whatever form it is prepared. McNerlin estimated between 30-40 people each year fail to pick up their deer steaks, sausage or other goodies, and in the past the food just went to waste.

“That’s just sickening, all this meat is getting thrown away,” McNerlin said.

Ritter said the unclaimed meat donations are restricted to the year of the most recent hunt because of health concerns. A hunter with a freezer full of old meat cannot simply give it to the AHFH to empty out his freezer.

“It’s too much of a risk,” Ritter said.

Ritter said deer hunters have embraced the program for a number of reasons.

“In most parts of the state you can harvest up to five deer,” Ritter said. “And that’s more than they want to eat.”

Plus, Ritter said, many hunters are sportsmen who hunt for pleasure and need to do something with their game. AHFH gives such sportsmen a worthwhile outlet.

The program also benefits from the September-October, urban hunts used to control deer populations. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission issues additional doe tags, and in some areas it is mandatory that the first doe harvested be donated to AHFH.

“We typically get a lot of those deer,” said Ritter, who estimated urban hunts provided 140 deer to the program last year.

The modern-gun deer hunting season ends Sunday, though there are a few specialty hunts left on the calendar. To find a local processor or get information on donating, hunters can visit the AHFH website arkansashunters.org.

SPORTS>>Jacksonville defends home in tournament

By Jason king

Leader sportswriter

This year, the Red Devil Classic basketball tournament will have a full bracket on the boys side. After two years of featuring only Jacksonville and Little Rock Catholic, six teams will take part.

The host Red Devils, fresh off their tournament victory in Conway’s Wampus Cat Invitational last weekend, will face Brinkley in the first round Monday night.

The tournament has been moved up one week. In prior years it has been held the week after Christmas but will be played Monday through Wednesday this year.

Red Devils coach Victor Joyner said he is happy to see a full bracket once again, but his feelings were not hurt in the old system when Jacksonville played Catholic two consecutive days.

“It was wonderful,” Joyner said. “We got to play a quality team twice in a row. It wasn’t a complete vacation, but it felt like one. But that’s why we moved it up earlier, to get more teams, and everybody gets three games.”

This year’s tournament features Jacksonville, Catholic, Little Rock Christian, Little Rock McClellan, North Pulaski and Brinkley.

Joyner said the tough competition in the Wampus Cat Invitational and the upcoming Red Devil Classic will be a benefit for Jacksonville once it starts play in the 6A-East Conference.

“That’s the whole purpose,” Joyner said. “Everyone knows how tough our conference is — it’s tough every single night. Every night, it’s a playoff atmosphere. We can’t play enough quality teams before conference starts up.”

The Red Devil Classic was one of the few holiday tournaments in the area until recent years. But other tournaments began to emerge to sap potential participants in the classic, something that also happened to Joyner when he coached across town at North Pulaski.

“A couple of teams bowed out because a lot of new tournaments popped up,” Joyner said. “Some of the schools that were coming to our tournaments found someplace a little bit closer. That’s kind of what happened when I started putting on tournaments over at North Pulaski.

“No one was doing them at that time, then, all of a sudden, teams were doing tournaments at that same time, and it became a struggle to find teams.”

The Red Devils were 7-0 entering Friday’s non-conference game with North Pulaski. It was to be Jacksonville’s last before opening tournament play Monday.

“They’ve been playing hard and practicing hard since Labor Day,” Joyner said of his players. “They just work hard. We had a bunch of guys come back who had some playing time last year. Not everyone, but we had a big majority of our core back.

“They needed some more experience, and a lot of them got it over the summer playing AAU.”

Joyner credits the team’s even-keeled attitude for much of the early success.

“They are one of the easiest teams to coach I’ve had,” Joyner said. “They’re just quiet guys. Like Raheem Appleby, he’s their leader, and he’s a quiet guy, and the rest are kind of like that too.

“You tell them something once or twice, and they’re going to do it the way you want it done.”

EDITORIAL >>PSC moves on efficiency

We don’t get many chances to compliment the state Public Service Commission, which regulates Arkansas’ investor-owned utilities and cooperatives, but today we give the commissioners a medium-sized salute.

The last time we took notice of them, the commissioners—two of the three, at least—had bollixed the big Hempstead County coal-fired power plant case by giving a combine headed by Southwestern Electric Power Co. (Swepco) a permit to build the big generating plant in the pristine wilderness of Hempstead County without much proof that it was needed, any regard for its environmental consequences or weighing cleaner sources of power. The commissioners let the project get so far along that even the state’s unanimous appellate courts and a federal judge could not stop it.

But last week, the commission ended a 33-year drought and ordered the electric and gas utilities to take steps to improve efficiency and conservation of power and move the state toward cleaner alternative sources of energy. We say drought because the legislature in 1977, when the nation was reeling under the Arab oil embargo, ordered the PSC to direct the utilities toward conservation and renewable energy sources. The PSC never got around to doing it until now.

The commission established energy-efficiency standards that will help the utilities and their customers save energy and thus save money and the environment. Immediately, Entergy and the other electric-power producers will have to take steps to lower their power sales—by one-fourth of one percent in 2011, by half of one percent in 2012 and three-fourths of one percent in 2013. They can do that in many ways—for example, by helping their customers weatherize their homes and businesses and convert to more efficient appliances and equipment—and the state will remove the disincentives for doing that. Utilities will be able to recover the costs of taking those steps and reducing their sales on the front end without having to resort to rate filing. The incentive for power companies in the past was to build new generating plants because the cost would go into the rate base and the company could get a return on the investment through higher rates.

The commissioners issued a sustainable-energy action guide for the future and 10 separate orders to set the state on a course to take advantage of new energy technology, convert the power grid to natural-gas and electric cars and meet tougher conservation standards.

The cynic in us must point out that the efficiency standards—a quarter of a percentage point reduction in kilowatt sales per year—are well below what many other states have done. California acted 35 years ago and has kept its per-capita power usage flat for 30 years, a period of furious economic and population growth (before the great economic collapse of two years ago). But for Arkansas even this is a giant step—doing anything is a giant step. And it is more than any other Southern state is doing.

All of this may sound a little familiar to people in this neighborhood. Wally Nixon of Jacksonville has pushed for conservation and alternative energy solutions for 35 years, as an attorney for the attorney general and the old Public Service Commission, a consultant for Entergy Corp. and lately for the new and (we hope) reinvigorated Public Service Commission. The big industrial power users tried this fall to force Nixon and the Public Service Commission chairman, Paul Suskie, off the case by contending that they had a conflict of interest, given Nixon’s long work and crusade for efficiency. It’s wrong, you see, to have anyone who is knowledgeable and public spirited influencing the commission’s wisdom.

The big industries like Riceland Foods didn’t want to be told they had to conserve energy. Indeed, the commission last week let them opt out of the mandatory conservation goals, but they must all have a plan and prove that they met it.

The nation now is doing little in the face of the climate and energy crisis. With the help of Arkansas’ delegation—all except Rep. Vic Snyder—Congress last year defeated a comprehensive energy act that was supposed to push the country into renewable and cleaner energy and wean it from the foreign oil cartel. But our little commission stepped up to do a small part in our corner of the globe. It deserves our compliments for a change.

TOP STORY > >Delegation visits air base

By GARRICK FELDMAN

Leader executive editor

Arkansas’ newest senator and congressmen toured Little Rock Air Force Base on Monday and affirmed their commitment to help the base carry out its missions.

Sen.-elect John Boozman (R-Ark.), who is now the Third District congressman, and Rick Crawford and Tim Griffin, two Republicans who will represent the First and Second District, respectively, attended a luncheon of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council. They also toured the base with Col. Mike Minihan, the commander of the 19th Airlift Wing, and other base officials.

Minihan noted some $60 million in improvements spent recently on the base. Boozman said supporting the base is one of his priorities.

The incoming senator and congressmen are expected to make regular visits to the base, as did their predecessors, including outgoing Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.), who serves on the Armed Services Committee.

In an interview with The Leader, Griffin said one of his priorities in Congress will be to repeal the new health law and balance the budget with several spending cuts such as ending pensions for all incoming members of Congress like himself.

Griffin said he would introduce legislation to eliminate all pensions for future members of Congress. Not only would that save the government money, but it would spur term limits since there would be less of an incentive to stay in Congress for a long time, he said.

Pensions are calculated according to length of service. Ending pensions “helps to address the problem of term limits,” he added.

Griffin, a former interim U.S. attorney, said he supports extending the Bush-era tax cuts for all incomes.

“We must maintain the current tax rates so that families and job creators won’t be burdened with higher taxes, especially in this challenging economic climate,” he said.

He hailed Monday’s ruling by a federal judge invalidating the mandate requiring all Americans to buy health insurance.

“It doesn’t necessarily surprise me,” he said of the ruling. “This is just the first step in addressing problems with the health law. I’ve been very specific about my opposition to the health-care law. I will work to repeal the law.”

The approach to health-care reform should have started with “we must do no harm. We violated that rule,” he insisted.

He said, “Health reform was a big part of my campaign. But this particular law is not what we need. It doesn’t control costs. It creates new entitlements that we cannot afford. They failed to address the biggest problem — costs.”

“We need market-based solutions,” Griffin continued “We need interstate competition. We need tort reform.”

He said it was a mistake to raise health-care costs by increasing government spending and adding more programs.

Griffin said businesses are in limbo since they don’t know what regulations are in the new law.

“I’ve had numerous business folks say to me we’ve set so much aside for health care, and now there will be more,” Griffin said.

In addition to cutting government regulation, he wants to reduce spending, even if it’s only symbolic. “But it’s a start,” he said.

“We must do with less,” he added. “Every cut matters and would demonstrate we’re willing to make sacrifices. We’re in a dire situation.

“Congress has no credibility on spending,” he said. “We don’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem. This will be the focus of what I’ll do in Congress.”

Griffin said he is optimistic for now. He believes “we have a window of opportunity.”