By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville baseball team battled the 7A Central leading Catholic Rockets to the bitter end on Saturday in an Arkansas Activities Association benefit game at Dupree Park. But the end was still bitter for the Red Devils, as the Rockets got two runs in the seventh inning and won 7-6.
“We played well,” Jacksonville coach Larry Burrows said. “We walked too many though. If we had pitched a hair better things would’ve been different.”
Jacksonville’s pitching walked seven. Four of the players that walked scored. The first three Rocket runs all followed walks.
Catholic’s leadoff hitter walked in the first inning and later scored. The first two Rocket batters to step to the plate in the second inning walked and scored.
The bats came alive in the third inning as Catholic got two doubles and a single to score two more runs and stretch its lead to 5-1.
Jacksonville freshman Derek St. Clair started and threw the first four and one-third innings. He has been solid most of the season, but struggled on Saturday.
“That’s going to happen,” Burrows said. “He’s pitched really well for us all year long. He just didn’t have it this time. He’ll be back. He’s a good pitcher.”
The Red Devils cut Catholic’s lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the third and tied the game in the bottom of the fourth.
Burrows put sophomore Blake Perry on the mound with one out in the fifth inning and the Red Devil defense turned a double play to get out of a jam. Catholic threatened again in the sixth inning, but another double play thwarted the Rocket rally.
The score remained 5-5 until the top of the seventh when Catholic put two runs on the board to take a 7-5 lead. Jacksonville got one back in the bottom of the seventh and had the tying run on first base when the game ended.
“I was pleased with how we competed,” Burrows said. “Catholic’s been in the 7A semifinals the last four years in a row. They have a really strong program. That’s why we play them at this time every year. We want to see some strong pitching before the tournament.”
Jacksonville and Catholic also wanted to avoid a long hiatus between games. Most teams play their AAA benefit games before their first official game. Jacksonville and Catholic began scheduling theirs at this time of year when the AAA reduced the number of non-tournament games allowed from 24 to 22.
“It left everybody with a big gap somewhere in their schedule,” Burrows said. “If we didn’t have this one scheduled for this week, we’d have gone a whole week without a game.”
Jacksonville centerfielder D’Vone McClure scored three runs off 1 for 3 hitting with an RBI. Shortstop Jesse Harbin went 1 for 3 with a sacrifice fly and two RBIs. Tanner Burks got one hit and scored two runs.
The Red Devils (6-6, 12-14) hosted a doubleheader against West Memphis on Tuesday to close out regular-season play. Jacksonville has already qualified for the state tournament, but needs a sweep in that series to get a five seed. Losing either game drops the Devils to the six seed, the same bottom seed they had last year when they won the state championship.”
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
SPORTS STORY >> Late surge has Bears peaking at right time
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Sam Persson is not surprised that his Sylvan Hills Bears have managed a complete season turnaround.
The sixth-year head coach has had young groups before during his tenure, and this young group has followed a similar path as clubs before them. The Bears followed a successful runner-up finish in the local River City Rivalry Cup tournament with two vital 5A Southeast Conference wins last week to put themselves back in the hunt for a top playoff seed.
Sylvan Hills avenged an earlier conference loss to Mills University Studies by shutting out the Comets in a 6-0 shutout on the road Tuesday before closing the week with another impressive outing against Little Rock Parkview in a 3-1 victory on Friday.
“I just knew coming in that we were going to have to integrate a lot of inexperienced players into our lineup,” Persson said. “And a lot of times, you’ve got to take it on the chin some early on, but you have to see if the guys are going to be able to get up from that. They’re getting better and continue to work hard in practice.”
Senior forward Jeremiah Persson led the way offensively in both games, scoring two goals against Mills and two more in the victory over Parkview.
Following Persson in the Mills win was a host of Bears, including defender Eddie Higgins. Sophomores Chace Pieper and Kylan Wade also added a goal each, and freshman Anthony Miller set the final margin with a late goal.
“We always felt like we didn’t deserve to lose the first game,” Sam Persson said. “We had chances and didn’t finish, but we’re finishing a whole lot better. Defensively, we’re denying opponents and keeping them in front more.”
Senior midfielder Alec Nance added the other goal against Parkview, as Sylvan Hills controlled possession throughout against the Patriots and capitalized on longer possessions late in the match.
“They had a lot of feet on defense,” Persson said. “We tried to get behind their defense, but once we saw how many feet they had, we went to more of a passing game. It was a very physical game, and we had all the chances. It mainly happened on their side of the field.”
The wins improved the Bears to 8-12 overall and 3-3 in the 5A Southeast Conference. It also marks wins in four of the last five games for Sylvan Hills going back to their performance in the River City tourney.
“I told the kids the day after that it may have been the best thing to happen for us,” Persson said of the championship game against Maumelle. “It let us see how hard you have to play to beat a good team, and it was good for me as a coach to be able to point out that no matter how good you play, you can’t make mistakes against a good team. It was a good learning experience.”
The Lady Bears team continued their unbeaten run in the 5A Southeast Conference with victories over both Mills and Parkview.
Sylvan Hills hosted North Pulaski last night and will finish up league play at Monticello on Friday.
Leader sportswriter
Sam Persson is not surprised that his Sylvan Hills Bears have managed a complete season turnaround.
The sixth-year head coach has had young groups before during his tenure, and this young group has followed a similar path as clubs before them. The Bears followed a successful runner-up finish in the local River City Rivalry Cup tournament with two vital 5A Southeast Conference wins last week to put themselves back in the hunt for a top playoff seed.
Sylvan Hills avenged an earlier conference loss to Mills University Studies by shutting out the Comets in a 6-0 shutout on the road Tuesday before closing the week with another impressive outing against Little Rock Parkview in a 3-1 victory on Friday.
“I just knew coming in that we were going to have to integrate a lot of inexperienced players into our lineup,” Persson said. “And a lot of times, you’ve got to take it on the chin some early on, but you have to see if the guys are going to be able to get up from that. They’re getting better and continue to work hard in practice.”
Senior forward Jeremiah Persson led the way offensively in both games, scoring two goals against Mills and two more in the victory over Parkview.
Following Persson in the Mills win was a host of Bears, including defender Eddie Higgins. Sophomores Chace Pieper and Kylan Wade also added a goal each, and freshman Anthony Miller set the final margin with a late goal.
“We always felt like we didn’t deserve to lose the first game,” Sam Persson said. “We had chances and didn’t finish, but we’re finishing a whole lot better. Defensively, we’re denying opponents and keeping them in front more.”
Senior midfielder Alec Nance added the other goal against Parkview, as Sylvan Hills controlled possession throughout against the Patriots and capitalized on longer possessions late in the match.
“They had a lot of feet on defense,” Persson said. “We tried to get behind their defense, but once we saw how many feet they had, we went to more of a passing game. It was a very physical game, and we had all the chances. It mainly happened on their side of the field.”
The wins improved the Bears to 8-12 overall and 3-3 in the 5A Southeast Conference. It also marks wins in four of the last five games for Sylvan Hills going back to their performance in the River City tourney.
“I told the kids the day after that it may have been the best thing to happen for us,” Persson said of the championship game against Maumelle. “It let us see how hard you have to play to beat a good team, and it was good for me as a coach to be able to point out that no matter how good you play, you can’t make mistakes against a good team. It was a good learning experience.”
The Lady Bears team continued their unbeaten run in the 5A Southeast Conference with victories over both Mills and Parkview.
Sylvan Hills hosted North Pulaski last night and will finish up league play at Monticello on Friday.
SPORTS STORY >> Bison win district on slam
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Carlisle sophomore Deron Ricks got a two-out grand slam in the sixth inning and junior relief pitcher Chris Hart held off a furious McCrory charge in the seventh to lift the Bison to an 8-7 victory Saturday at McCrory and earn the No. 1 seed in the regional tournament this weekend in Poyen.
“We had guys make plays,” Carlisle coach B.J. Greene said. “We made a few mistakes that a good team is going to capitalize on, and McCrory is a good team. But we got base hits and outs when we had to have them.”
It was a shaky beginning for the Bison. The Jaguars took the early lead, scoring two runs in the first and another in the second to go up 3-0.Carlisle committed an error on the first pitch of the game and ace pitcher Trey Wilson walked the next batter. The third batter doubled to score both runs.
“It wasn’t our best start, but Trey’s a good pitcher and he settled down and threw a great game,” Greene said.
Wilson struck out two in the second inning, but not until a another run scored. Wilson walked the leadoff hitter, who stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice grounder. He then scored by sneaking in after a slow throw back to the mound.
“That was just laziness on our part,” Greene said. “We have to be better than that.”
The score stayed 3-0 until Carlisle finally got some offense going in the bottom of the fourth inning and tied the game.
Ricks singled and moved into scoring position on a passed ball. Dylan Brazeal then doubled to drive the run in. Hayden Hoover singled to score Brazeal and Hart singled to score Hoover.
No one scored in the fifth inning and McCrory took a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth with a solo home run. Then came Carlisle’s big inning.
The Bison got five runs, all with two outs, to take an 8-4 lead.
Hoover singled to start things off. Hart walked and Tommy Inman got a base hit to load the bases. Trey Wilson then popped up for the second out of the inning. Deric Herring was hit by a pitch to drive in Hoover and tie the game.
Ricks then worked the count full. With runners on the move, Ricks slammed the 3-2 pitch over the fence in left field.
The celebration didn’t last. Carlisle still had to get three outs and McCrory had some fight left in it.
Wilson walked the Jaguar leadoff hitter in the seventh.
“I went to the mound and told him if that guy gets to second I’m taking you out,” Greene said. “He pitched a great game but that’s what I had to do.”
Wilson got the next batter to hit a grounder to third base that should’ve been a double play ball, but the Bison failed to get the runner at first.
Wilson walked the next batter and Greene put Hart on the mound. The first batter he faced hit a hard line drive that bounced over the left-field fence for a two-RBI ground-rule double that made it 8-6.
Hart responded by striking out the next batter. A blooper to shallow centerfield scored the runner at second to make it 8-7 with two outs and a runner on second base. Hart got the next batter to pop up to second base to seal the victory.
“It’s been a long year,” Greene said. “I think we’re playing alright. Can I say we’re playing our best baseball right now? No. Honestly I think we played our best in the middle of the season, and that kind of scares me.”
Carlisle is facing a familiar foe in the first round of regional. Last year, fourth-seeded Magnet Cove knocked top seed Carlisle out of the regional in the first round and ruined the Bison’s bid for a state-tournament appearance. This year, Carlisle faces that same Magnet Cove team.
“They were second in their conference and got beat early at district,” Greene said. “They have two lefties that can throw it around 83-84 miles per hour. Left-handed, that’s hard to hit. I’ve told them that this time of year, you’re going to have to score runs to win ball games.”
The Bison’s impressive record of 23-5 would be little consolation for another early exit.
“We’ve made mention of that,” Greene said. “Are you going to be that team that has great seasons, but when it counts don’t do anything? I feel very confident about this whole tournament. We have more pitching than anyone in this region, but we have to get past the first round for that to matter.”
Leader sports editor
Carlisle sophomore Deron Ricks got a two-out grand slam in the sixth inning and junior relief pitcher Chris Hart held off a furious McCrory charge in the seventh to lift the Bison to an 8-7 victory Saturday at McCrory and earn the No. 1 seed in the regional tournament this weekend in Poyen.
“We had guys make plays,” Carlisle coach B.J. Greene said. “We made a few mistakes that a good team is going to capitalize on, and McCrory is a good team. But we got base hits and outs when we had to have them.”
It was a shaky beginning for the Bison. The Jaguars took the early lead, scoring two runs in the first and another in the second to go up 3-0.Carlisle committed an error on the first pitch of the game and ace pitcher Trey Wilson walked the next batter. The third batter doubled to score both runs.
“It wasn’t our best start, but Trey’s a good pitcher and he settled down and threw a great game,” Greene said.
Wilson struck out two in the second inning, but not until a another run scored. Wilson walked the leadoff hitter, who stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice grounder. He then scored by sneaking in after a slow throw back to the mound.
“That was just laziness on our part,” Greene said. “We have to be better than that.”
The score stayed 3-0 until Carlisle finally got some offense going in the bottom of the fourth inning and tied the game.
Ricks singled and moved into scoring position on a passed ball. Dylan Brazeal then doubled to drive the run in. Hayden Hoover singled to score Brazeal and Hart singled to score Hoover.
No one scored in the fifth inning and McCrory took a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth with a solo home run. Then came Carlisle’s big inning.
The Bison got five runs, all with two outs, to take an 8-4 lead.
Hoover singled to start things off. Hart walked and Tommy Inman got a base hit to load the bases. Trey Wilson then popped up for the second out of the inning. Deric Herring was hit by a pitch to drive in Hoover and tie the game.
Ricks then worked the count full. With runners on the move, Ricks slammed the 3-2 pitch over the fence in left field.
The celebration didn’t last. Carlisle still had to get three outs and McCrory had some fight left in it.
Wilson walked the Jaguar leadoff hitter in the seventh.
“I went to the mound and told him if that guy gets to second I’m taking you out,” Greene said. “He pitched a great game but that’s what I had to do.”
Wilson got the next batter to hit a grounder to third base that should’ve been a double play ball, but the Bison failed to get the runner at first.
Wilson walked the next batter and Greene put Hart on the mound. The first batter he faced hit a hard line drive that bounced over the left-field fence for a two-RBI ground-rule double that made it 8-6.
Hart responded by striking out the next batter. A blooper to shallow centerfield scored the runner at second to make it 8-7 with two outs and a runner on second base. Hart got the next batter to pop up to second base to seal the victory.
“It’s been a long year,” Greene said. “I think we’re playing alright. Can I say we’re playing our best baseball right now? No. Honestly I think we played our best in the middle of the season, and that kind of scares me.”
Carlisle is facing a familiar foe in the first round of regional. Last year, fourth-seeded Magnet Cove knocked top seed Carlisle out of the regional in the first round and ruined the Bison’s bid for a state-tournament appearance. This year, Carlisle faces that same Magnet Cove team.
“They were second in their conference and got beat early at district,” Greene said. “They have two lefties that can throw it around 83-84 miles per hour. Left-handed, that’s hard to hit. I’ve told them that this time of year, you’re going to have to score runs to win ball games.”
The Bison’s impressive record of 23-5 would be little consolation for another early exit.
“We’ve made mention of that,” Greene said. “Are you going to be that team that has great seasons, but when it counts don’t do anything? I feel very confident about this whole tournament. We have more pitching than anyone in this region, but we have to get past the first round for that to matter.”
SPORTS STORY >> Cabot ladies win Central
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Lady Panthers brought home the 7A Central Conference championship from last Thursday’s district meet at Scott Field in Little Rock, with 12 qualifying for the upcoming 7A state meet in Rogers tomorrow.
The Lady Panthers scored 158 total points to take top honors, with Bryant finishing second with 131.5 points and North Little Rock in third with 101.5 points.
On the boys’ side, the Panthers finished fifth with 80.5 points, but qualified 14 people, including two groups of relay teams.
“This is kind of a reward for working hard all season,” Cabot coach Leon White said. “For everybody who gets to go to the state meet, it’s an honor to get there, and then they’re still competing for a chance to go to the Meet of Champs.”
Senior and University of Nevada signee EmKay Myers continued her successful outdoor season by qualifying for four separate events. Myers is currently second in the state to Rogers junior Maggie Montoya for fast times in the 800 and 1,600-meter events, and easily swept the long distance events at the Central Conference meet. She also holds all of Cabot’s school records in distance events.
Myers won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:25.12, while junior Marlene Sheehan qualified for state in the event by finishing fifth with a time of 2:34.30.
Myers continued her domination by winning the 1,600-meter event, edging Bryant’s Hannah Raney with a time of 5:29.04. Sheehan and sophomore Allison Sinning also qualified for state in the event, finishing third and fourth respectively.
Myers swept the long-distance events by winning the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:36.71, which gave her a more comfortable cushion to Raney with a 12:01.39. Sinning finished a strong third with a 12:11.64, more than a minute ahead of fourth place teammate Sheehan with a 13:15.21. Junior Meagan Duncan was the next Lady Panther to qualify for state with a time of 13:28.53, good for a fifth-place finish.
Senior Sabrina Antimo won the high jump with a height of 5-10, and also took top honors in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.57. She added another victory in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.83, and picked up her fourth win of the meet in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.75.
That qualified Antimo for five events including the 4x400 relay.
“We probably won’t make her do all that,” White said. “I’m going to guess that she will probably want to do the 100 and 200, and we’re probably going to try and do the high jump, and maybe come back and finish up with the mile relay. We’ll probably take the open 400 out so it won’t be such a hard day on her.”
Junior Haley Buford finished fifth in the discus throw with a distance of 90-7, and also qualified for state in the shot put by finishing sixth with a distance of 29-7. Teammate Carlee Wright just missed qualifying, finishing seventh with a distance of 29-3.
Cabot dominated the pole-vault event with Lady Panthers claiming the top four spots. Senior Julia Gairhan won the event with a height of 9-6, followed by senior Haley Troutman, sophomore Anna Applegate and senior Katie Qualls.
The Lady Panthers backed their strong individual performances with impressive showings in the relay events. The team of Applegate, Antimo, Rachael Hall and Courtney Briswalter took sixth-place in the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:25.38 to grab the final state qualifying spot. In the 4x800 relay, it was the team of Sheehan, Duncan, Sinning and Myers taking the overall win with a time of 10:07.28 to give Cabot a clean sweep of all long distance events.
“It’s our bread and butter,” White said of long-distance events. “We try real hard every year to have a good cross-country team, and that team carries over into track. So it’s kind of the nucleus of the team.”
Sophomore Jordan Burke was the strongest Panther in the sprint events, finishing fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.14.
Senior Forrest Lair took second place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:01.88, while junior Scott Foltz led a strong contingent of Cabot runners in the 1,600-meter event with a third-place run of 4:35.28. Teammate Clay Killingworth was one spot behind Foltz while senior Caleb DeLaPaz grabbed the final qualifying spot in sixth place. Foltz also took fourth place in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:33.55, just ahead of junior teammate Alex Simpson in sixth place with a time of 10:37.23.
Junior Tyler Gilbertson finished fourth in the discus throw with a distance of 129-10, and sophomore Heath Pledger also qualified in the event with a sixth-place throw of 125-0.5. Pledger and teammate Alec Ramirez added their names to the list of qualified discus throwers with a fourth-place finish for Ramirez after a throw of 46-3.5 and a fifth-place for Pledger.
Junior Jesse King added another state qualifying spot in field events with a tie for fifth-place in the pole vault, reaching an even 11 feet along with D.J. Alven of Conway.
Cabot’s chances of qualifying for all three relays events fell just short when a mishap with the baton in the 4x400-meter event relegated them to an eighth-place finish, but the team of DeLaPaz, Simpson, Lair and Foltz came up big in the 4x800 by winning the event with a time of 8:21.61.
Chris Henry, Jordan Burke, Max Carroll and Zach Launius also qualified for state together in the 4x100 relay by finishing fourth with a time of 43.63.
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Lady Panthers brought home the 7A Central Conference championship from last Thursday’s district meet at Scott Field in Little Rock, with 12 qualifying for the upcoming 7A state meet in Rogers tomorrow.
The Lady Panthers scored 158 total points to take top honors, with Bryant finishing second with 131.5 points and North Little Rock in third with 101.5 points.
On the boys’ side, the Panthers finished fifth with 80.5 points, but qualified 14 people, including two groups of relay teams.
“This is kind of a reward for working hard all season,” Cabot coach Leon White said. “For everybody who gets to go to the state meet, it’s an honor to get there, and then they’re still competing for a chance to go to the Meet of Champs.”
Senior and University of Nevada signee EmKay Myers continued her successful outdoor season by qualifying for four separate events. Myers is currently second in the state to Rogers junior Maggie Montoya for fast times in the 800 and 1,600-meter events, and easily swept the long distance events at the Central Conference meet. She also holds all of Cabot’s school records in distance events.
Myers won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:25.12, while junior Marlene Sheehan qualified for state in the event by finishing fifth with a time of 2:34.30.
Myers continued her domination by winning the 1,600-meter event, edging Bryant’s Hannah Raney with a time of 5:29.04. Sheehan and sophomore Allison Sinning also qualified for state in the event, finishing third and fourth respectively.
Myers swept the long-distance events by winning the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:36.71, which gave her a more comfortable cushion to Raney with a 12:01.39. Sinning finished a strong third with a 12:11.64, more than a minute ahead of fourth place teammate Sheehan with a 13:15.21. Junior Meagan Duncan was the next Lady Panther to qualify for state with a time of 13:28.53, good for a fifth-place finish.
Senior Sabrina Antimo won the high jump with a height of 5-10, and also took top honors in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.57. She added another victory in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.83, and picked up her fourth win of the meet in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.75.
That qualified Antimo for five events including the 4x400 relay.
“We probably won’t make her do all that,” White said. “I’m going to guess that she will probably want to do the 100 and 200, and we’re probably going to try and do the high jump, and maybe come back and finish up with the mile relay. We’ll probably take the open 400 out so it won’t be such a hard day on her.”
Junior Haley Buford finished fifth in the discus throw with a distance of 90-7, and also qualified for state in the shot put by finishing sixth with a distance of 29-7. Teammate Carlee Wright just missed qualifying, finishing seventh with a distance of 29-3.
Cabot dominated the pole-vault event with Lady Panthers claiming the top four spots. Senior Julia Gairhan won the event with a height of 9-6, followed by senior Haley Troutman, sophomore Anna Applegate and senior Katie Qualls.
The Lady Panthers backed their strong individual performances with impressive showings in the relay events. The team of Applegate, Antimo, Rachael Hall and Courtney Briswalter took sixth-place in the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:25.38 to grab the final state qualifying spot. In the 4x800 relay, it was the team of Sheehan, Duncan, Sinning and Myers taking the overall win with a time of 10:07.28 to give Cabot a clean sweep of all long distance events.
“It’s our bread and butter,” White said of long-distance events. “We try real hard every year to have a good cross-country team, and that team carries over into track. So it’s kind of the nucleus of the team.”
Sophomore Jordan Burke was the strongest Panther in the sprint events, finishing fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.14.
Senior Forrest Lair took second place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:01.88, while junior Scott Foltz led a strong contingent of Cabot runners in the 1,600-meter event with a third-place run of 4:35.28. Teammate Clay Killingworth was one spot behind Foltz while senior Caleb DeLaPaz grabbed the final qualifying spot in sixth place. Foltz also took fourth place in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:33.55, just ahead of junior teammate Alex Simpson in sixth place with a time of 10:37.23.
Junior Tyler Gilbertson finished fourth in the discus throw with a distance of 129-10, and sophomore Heath Pledger also qualified in the event with a sixth-place throw of 125-0.5. Pledger and teammate Alec Ramirez added their names to the list of qualified discus throwers with a fourth-place finish for Ramirez after a throw of 46-3.5 and a fifth-place for Pledger.
Junior Jesse King added another state qualifying spot in field events with a tie for fifth-place in the pole vault, reaching an even 11 feet along with D.J. Alven of Conway.
Cabot’s chances of qualifying for all three relays events fell just short when a mishap with the baton in the 4x400-meter event relegated them to an eighth-place finish, but the team of DeLaPaz, Simpson, Lair and Foltz came up big in the 4x800 by winning the event with a time of 8:21.61.
Chris Henry, Jordan Burke, Max Carroll and Zach Launius also qualified for state together in the 4x100 relay by finishing fourth with a time of 43.63.
Monday, April 30, 2012
SPORTS >> Close one goes way of Rockets
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Cabot matched league-leading Little Rock Catholic blow for blow through regulation until the Rockets pulled out a 7-5 victory in overtime at Panther Stadium on Thursday.
The Panthers (8-7, 5-6) stayed in contention throughout regulation with two goals from freshman Evan Wilson, and stayed with the 7A Central Conference front runners through three rounds of a penalty kick shootout.
The Rockets went a perfect 5 for 5 in the shootout period while the Panthers missed one attempt when junior Blakelin Devore’s strike went just wide.
Catholic struck first with a shot from straight ahead in the 19th minute. Wilson tied the game with just over a minute left in the first half when he took over possession just inside of midfield and went straight in to the Rockets goalkeeper with a perfect strike up the middle to make it 1-1.
That score held up until the 10:56 mark of the second half when the Rockets scored on a blocked penalty kick that was followed by a successful header that gave the lead back to the visitors. Wilson struck again when he followed a long kick from the left side by David Roberts in the 37th minute.
The loss was not a result of lack of effort from senior forward Eric Silva, who was injured twice in the first half but continued on. Silva played the entire second half and came close to finding the goal on a couple of occasions.
Silva led the way during Cabot’s 5-0 shutout victory over North Little Rock last Friday. Silva scored three goals and had assists on both of the other goals.
Silva scored two early goals in the first half and assisted on a goal by Reed Harrell to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Cabot got off to a slow start in the second half until Devore caught the Wildcats off guard with a quick throw in to Silva, who was open in the box. Silva got the ball to a charging Wilson, who took it in for the score. Silva set the final margin and completed his hat trick moments later with a header into the corner following a perfect cross by Devore.
“I thought we played quite well at times,” Cabot coach Steve Porter said. “We really possessed the ball well at times and for the most part kept North Little Rock pressed back deep into their half of the field. I’m hoping that this result will help give us the energy and confidence we need to finish the season strong and prepare us for the state tournament.”
The win completed a season sweep over the Wildcats. Cabot won the first meeting between the two teams in similar fashion with a 5-1 result.
“Compared to our last meeting, this was a much improved performance,” Porter said. “We kept a clean sheet and we controlled the game much better.”
As the 7A state tournament at Fort Smith quickly approaches, there is good news for Cabot with the anticipated return of injured sophomore standout Trevor Reed. There is also still an outside chance that the Panthers could secure a first-round bye for the tournament depending on how the final week of games play out across the 7A Central.
Cabot will play at Little Rock Central on Tuesday.
Leader sportswriter
Cabot matched league-leading Little Rock Catholic blow for blow through regulation until the Rockets pulled out a 7-5 victory in overtime at Panther Stadium on Thursday.
The Panthers (8-7, 5-6) stayed in contention throughout regulation with two goals from freshman Evan Wilson, and stayed with the 7A Central Conference front runners through three rounds of a penalty kick shootout.
The Rockets went a perfect 5 for 5 in the shootout period while the Panthers missed one attempt when junior Blakelin Devore’s strike went just wide.
Catholic struck first with a shot from straight ahead in the 19th minute. Wilson tied the game with just over a minute left in the first half when he took over possession just inside of midfield and went straight in to the Rockets goalkeeper with a perfect strike up the middle to make it 1-1.
That score held up until the 10:56 mark of the second half when the Rockets scored on a blocked penalty kick that was followed by a successful header that gave the lead back to the visitors. Wilson struck again when he followed a long kick from the left side by David Roberts in the 37th minute.
The loss was not a result of lack of effort from senior forward Eric Silva, who was injured twice in the first half but continued on. Silva played the entire second half and came close to finding the goal on a couple of occasions.
Silva led the way during Cabot’s 5-0 shutout victory over North Little Rock last Friday. Silva scored three goals and had assists on both of the other goals.
Silva scored two early goals in the first half and assisted on a goal by Reed Harrell to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Cabot got off to a slow start in the second half until Devore caught the Wildcats off guard with a quick throw in to Silva, who was open in the box. Silva got the ball to a charging Wilson, who took it in for the score. Silva set the final margin and completed his hat trick moments later with a header into the corner following a perfect cross by Devore.
“I thought we played quite well at times,” Cabot coach Steve Porter said. “We really possessed the ball well at times and for the most part kept North Little Rock pressed back deep into their half of the field. I’m hoping that this result will help give us the energy and confidence we need to finish the season strong and prepare us for the state tournament.”
The win completed a season sweep over the Wildcats. Cabot won the first meeting between the two teams in similar fashion with a 5-1 result.
“Compared to our last meeting, this was a much improved performance,” Porter said. “We kept a clean sheet and we controlled the game much better.”
As the 7A state tournament at Fort Smith quickly approaches, there is good news for Cabot with the anticipated return of injured sophomore standout Trevor Reed. There is also still an outside chance that the Panthers could secure a first-round bye for the tournament depending on how the final week of games play out across the 7A Central.
Cabot will play at Little Rock Central on Tuesday.
SPORTS >> Hillside sweeps White Hall
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Sylvan Hills got a pair of huge road wins Thursday at previously unbeaten White Hall. The Bears entered the twin bill tied with Watson Chapel for second place, but left tied for first after handing the Bulldogs defeats of 1-0 and 5-3.
Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton has stressed all season that playing mistake-free baseball is a key for his team’s success. On Thursday the Bears committed just one error in the two games combined.
“I was very pleased with the defense,” Tipton said. “We made some key defensive plays in both games. We’re not hitting as a team like we need to, but we got some big hits at key times so it was a good night overall.”
Conner Eller pitched a complete-game three hitter in game one. He struck out nine Bulldogs en route to the victory. The Bears got just four hits and scored the game’s only run in the second inning.
Leadoff hitter Brandon Baoni walked and stole second base. J.D. Miller then doubled to drive him home and give Eller all the cushion he would need for the next six innings.
Miller also made a big defensive play when he threw a runner out from right field who was trying to advance to third base. That throw was only a precursor to an even bigger play by Miller in game two.
Sylvan Hills scored four runs in the first inning of the nightcap to take control early. Baoni walked to start things off. Eller, game two starting pitcher Dylan Boone, Lance Hunter and David Carrasquillo each got base hits to start the game and run the White Hall starting pitcher off the mound.
After three runs had scored, Miller hit into a fielder’s choice that left him and Baoni at first and third. Tipton called for a double steal and the base running duo executed it perfectly to get another run across the plate.
Sylvan Hills added a run in the third on an error. Baoni was on second with two outs and Miller at bat. Miller struck out swinging at a pitch in the dirt and headed for first base. The throw from the catcher hit Miller and Baoni scored.
White Hall got all three of its runs in the fifth inning. Two were the result of the one error the Bears committed all night.
White Hall was threatening again in the seventh when Miller made another huge play in the outfield. With one out and a runner at second, White Hall got a base hit to right field. The runner rounded third and Miller came up throwing. His throw was on target and got the runner at the plate.
“It was a rocket,” Tipton said. “It was one of the best throws I’ve seen and it was a huge play. If he scores it’s 5-4 with one out and maybe a runner on second. Instead it was 5-3 with two outs and a runner on first.”
Carrasquillo got the next batter to groundout to shortstop to end the game. The Bears can earn at least a share of the 5A Southeast championship with a sweep of Monticello next week, but they’ll need some help for an outright championship or a No. 1 seed in the state tournament.
Watson Chapel holds the tiebreaker over Sylvan Hills, so the Bears need White Hall to take at least one of two from Chapel next week.
Leader sports editor
Sylvan Hills got a pair of huge road wins Thursday at previously unbeaten White Hall. The Bears entered the twin bill tied with Watson Chapel for second place, but left tied for first after handing the Bulldogs defeats of 1-0 and 5-3.
Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton has stressed all season that playing mistake-free baseball is a key for his team’s success. On Thursday the Bears committed just one error in the two games combined.
“I was very pleased with the defense,” Tipton said. “We made some key defensive plays in both games. We’re not hitting as a team like we need to, but we got some big hits at key times so it was a good night overall.”
Conner Eller pitched a complete-game three hitter in game one. He struck out nine Bulldogs en route to the victory. The Bears got just four hits and scored the game’s only run in the second inning.
Leadoff hitter Brandon Baoni walked and stole second base. J.D. Miller then doubled to drive him home and give Eller all the cushion he would need for the next six innings.
Miller also made a big defensive play when he threw a runner out from right field who was trying to advance to third base. That throw was only a precursor to an even bigger play by Miller in game two.
Sylvan Hills scored four runs in the first inning of the nightcap to take control early. Baoni walked to start things off. Eller, game two starting pitcher Dylan Boone, Lance Hunter and David Carrasquillo each got base hits to start the game and run the White Hall starting pitcher off the mound.
After three runs had scored, Miller hit into a fielder’s choice that left him and Baoni at first and third. Tipton called for a double steal and the base running duo executed it perfectly to get another run across the plate.
Sylvan Hills added a run in the third on an error. Baoni was on second with two outs and Miller at bat. Miller struck out swinging at a pitch in the dirt and headed for first base. The throw from the catcher hit Miller and Baoni scored.
White Hall got all three of its runs in the fifth inning. Two were the result of the one error the Bears committed all night.
White Hall was threatening again in the seventh when Miller made another huge play in the outfield. With one out and a runner at second, White Hall got a base hit to right field. The runner rounded third and Miller came up throwing. His throw was on target and got the runner at the plate.
“It was a rocket,” Tipton said. “It was one of the best throws I’ve seen and it was a huge play. If he scores it’s 5-4 with one out and maybe a runner on second. Instead it was 5-3 with two outs and a runner on first.”
Carrasquillo got the next batter to groundout to shortstop to end the game. The Bears can earn at least a share of the 5A Southeast championship with a sweep of Monticello next week, but they’ll need some help for an outright championship or a No. 1 seed in the state tournament.
Watson Chapel holds the tiebreaker over Sylvan Hills, so the Bears need White Hall to take at least one of two from Chapel next week.
SPORTS >> Lady Bears stay perfect, beat Monticello
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Lady Bears softball team is still perfect in conference play after beating Monticello 10-6 and 5-2 in a 5A Southeast doubleheader Thursday at the Sherwood Sports Complex.
Monticello (18-6, 8-4) provided a lot of help for Sylvan Hills (17-5, 10-0) early in game one as the Lady Billies walked seven batters in the first two innings, and committed seven errors.
Conversely, Sylvan Hills pitchers Tyra Williams and Michelle Sorenson combine to strike out eight, walk zero, while the defense made no mistakes.
“Well, we got off to a sluggish start,” said Sylvan Hills coach Jeff Johnson. “I didn’t like that.
We finally came together towards the later innings. We did what we needed to do by stringing together a couple of hits.”
Sylvan Hills had plenty of opportunities to score in the opening inning of the first game, but only managed one run.
The Lady Bears started connecting at the plate in the second inning, scoring three runs, but Monticello put two runs on the board their next at bat to cut the Lady Bears’ lead to two.
The Lady Bears scored one run in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Monticello kept it close, adding three runs during the stretch.
In the top of the seventh, Sylvan Hills added two more runs to push its lead to 10-5, its biggest lead of the day. Monticello was able to score with two outs in the final inning, but Sylvan Hills lead was too much to overcome. Sorenson and Williams led Sylvan Hills at the plate in game one as each went 3 for 4.
Monticello got off to a much better start in game two and led 2-1 after two innings. The lead didn’t last long. Sylvan Hills got back on top with a two-run home run from Tranice Hayes that sailed over the fence in left field.
It was the second home run of the day for Hayes, who hit a solo shot to straight center in game one.
Errors came back to haunt Monticello in the fourth inning of game two as Williams hit a fly ball to left center that was dropped by the centerfielder.
Williams was able to hustle her way to second on the drop. Two batters later, Hayes hit a hard grounder to third, but the throw to first was off. Williams was able to round third and score on the passed ball to give the Lady Bears a two-run cushion.
Hayes later advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jordie Flippo hit a line drive to right field that sent Hayes home to give Sylvan Hills the 5-2 lead. Williams started both games, but pitched all seven innings of game two and struck out four while not giving up a single walk.
“Both pitchers came in and did what they needed to do,” Johnson said. “I was about to make a third change at pitcher, but Tyra, she came back in the second game and she was on a roll.
When she got hot, I told my other pitcher that we’re going to go with the hot hand. As long as she’s hot we’re going to stay with her, and she finished strong.”
Hayes, Alex Tessman and Darrin Flippo led Sylvan Hills with two hits apiece in game two.
Sylvan Hills will host White Hall Tuesday in a doubleheader that will decide the 5A Southeast Conference champion.
Leader sportswriter
The Lady Bears softball team is still perfect in conference play after beating Monticello 10-6 and 5-2 in a 5A Southeast doubleheader Thursday at the Sherwood Sports Complex.
Monticello (18-6, 8-4) provided a lot of help for Sylvan Hills (17-5, 10-0) early in game one as the Lady Billies walked seven batters in the first two innings, and committed seven errors.
Conversely, Sylvan Hills pitchers Tyra Williams and Michelle Sorenson combine to strike out eight, walk zero, while the defense made no mistakes.
“Well, we got off to a sluggish start,” said Sylvan Hills coach Jeff Johnson. “I didn’t like that.
We finally came together towards the later innings. We did what we needed to do by stringing together a couple of hits.”
Sylvan Hills had plenty of opportunities to score in the opening inning of the first game, but only managed one run.
The Lady Bears started connecting at the plate in the second inning, scoring three runs, but Monticello put two runs on the board their next at bat to cut the Lady Bears’ lead to two.
The Lady Bears scored one run in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Monticello kept it close, adding three runs during the stretch.
In the top of the seventh, Sylvan Hills added two more runs to push its lead to 10-5, its biggest lead of the day. Monticello was able to score with two outs in the final inning, but Sylvan Hills lead was too much to overcome. Sorenson and Williams led Sylvan Hills at the plate in game one as each went 3 for 4.
Monticello got off to a much better start in game two and led 2-1 after two innings. The lead didn’t last long. Sylvan Hills got back on top with a two-run home run from Tranice Hayes that sailed over the fence in left field.
It was the second home run of the day for Hayes, who hit a solo shot to straight center in game one.
Errors came back to haunt Monticello in the fourth inning of game two as Williams hit a fly ball to left center that was dropped by the centerfielder.
Williams was able to hustle her way to second on the drop. Two batters later, Hayes hit a hard grounder to third, but the throw to first was off. Williams was able to round third and score on the passed ball to give the Lady Bears a two-run cushion.
Hayes later advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jordie Flippo hit a line drive to right field that sent Hayes home to give Sylvan Hills the 5-2 lead. Williams started both games, but pitched all seven innings of game two and struck out four while not giving up a single walk.
“Both pitchers came in and did what they needed to do,” Johnson said. “I was about to make a third change at pitcher, but Tyra, she came back in the second game and she was on a roll.
When she got hot, I told my other pitcher that we’re going to go with the hot hand. As long as she’s hot we’re going to stay with her, and she finished strong.”
Hayes, Alex Tessman and Darrin Flippo led Sylvan Hills with two hits apiece in game two.
Sylvan Hills will host White Hall Tuesday in a doubleheader that will decide the 5A Southeast Conference champion.
SPORTS >> Jacksonville tramples Parkview at Kanis
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
Despite a slow start in the first game of a 6A East Conference doubleheader, Jacksonville dominated Little Rock Parkview in both games, winning 14-2 and 12-0 Wednesday at Kanis Park in Little Rock.
Jacksonville scored in the top of the first of game one, but managed to do so without a single base hit. Parkview provided a lot of help for the Red Devils in the opening inning as the Patriots committed three critical errors that allowed senior Jesse Harbin to score Jacksonville’s first run of the game.
Parkview (6-16, 0-12) gave Jacksonville (12-14, 6-6) another gift in the top of the third when Greg Jones hit a two-out blooper to second base, but the second baseman dropped the routine fly ball, allowing University of Arkansas signee D’Vone McClure to score from second to give the Red Devils a 2-0 lead.
Harbin got the start on the mound in game one, and did nice job of keeping Parkview at bay until the Red Devils settled into the game. By the top of the fourth, Jacksonville found its groove offensively and scored five runs in the inning. The Devils added three more in the fifth.
“The second game we played ok, the first game, not very good,” said Jacksonville coach Larry Burrows. “They (Parkview) gave us a chance by dropping some balls that should have been caught, but not our best effort in the first game.”
Parkview scored its first run in the fourth after Cole Jenkins hit a hard double down the third baseline that allowed J.T. Ward to score from second.
In the fifth, the Patriots had runners on first and third with one out when Harbin caught Michael Fitzpatrick trying to steal second.
During the rundown attempt between first and second base, Alex Butler took off for home and scored Parkview’s final run.
Jacksonville added four more runs in the top of the sixth to make the score 14-2. In the bottom half of the inning, Harbin struck out Joseph Scott to give the Red Devils the win. Harbin pitched all six innings, striking out nine while walking three.
McClure, Harbin, and Court-land McDonald all went 2 for 4 in game one, while David Williams, Derek St. Clair, and Jones had a hit apiece.
Jacksonville wasted little time putting Parkview away in game two, ending this one in five innings. The Red Devils scored three runs in the first, and eight in the second to jump out to a quick 11-0 lead.
Harbin scored the final run for the Red Devils in the bottom of the third after McDonald hit an infield single between third and short and beat out the throw to first.
The throw to first was late, and off the mark as the ball got past the first baseman, allowing Harbin to score with ease to set the final margin.
“The second game I thought we got focused,” Burrows said. “We executed a lot of good things and played good defense. Other than two third-called strikes with a runner in scoring position in the middle innings, and me messing up on one call, I thought we played pretty good in the second game.”
James Tucker picked up the win in game two, pitching all five innings and striking out two. McClure went 3 for 4 at the plate in game two and McDonald went 2 for 3. St. Clair, Tanner Burks, and Ragan Jones each had a base hit.
Jacksonville hosts Little Rock Catholic in a benefit game today at Dupree Park, and will play its final home game on Tuesday.
Leader sportswriter
Despite a slow start in the first game of a 6A East Conference doubleheader, Jacksonville dominated Little Rock Parkview in both games, winning 14-2 and 12-0 Wednesday at Kanis Park in Little Rock.
Jacksonville scored in the top of the first of game one, but managed to do so without a single base hit. Parkview provided a lot of help for the Red Devils in the opening inning as the Patriots committed three critical errors that allowed senior Jesse Harbin to score Jacksonville’s first run of the game.
Parkview (6-16, 0-12) gave Jacksonville (12-14, 6-6) another gift in the top of the third when Greg Jones hit a two-out blooper to second base, but the second baseman dropped the routine fly ball, allowing University of Arkansas signee D’Vone McClure to score from second to give the Red Devils a 2-0 lead.
Harbin got the start on the mound in game one, and did nice job of keeping Parkview at bay until the Red Devils settled into the game. By the top of the fourth, Jacksonville found its groove offensively and scored five runs in the inning. The Devils added three more in the fifth.
“The second game we played ok, the first game, not very good,” said Jacksonville coach Larry Burrows. “They (Parkview) gave us a chance by dropping some balls that should have been caught, but not our best effort in the first game.”
Parkview scored its first run in the fourth after Cole Jenkins hit a hard double down the third baseline that allowed J.T. Ward to score from second.
In the fifth, the Patriots had runners on first and third with one out when Harbin caught Michael Fitzpatrick trying to steal second.
During the rundown attempt between first and second base, Alex Butler took off for home and scored Parkview’s final run.
Jacksonville added four more runs in the top of the sixth to make the score 14-2. In the bottom half of the inning, Harbin struck out Joseph Scott to give the Red Devils the win. Harbin pitched all six innings, striking out nine while walking three.
McClure, Harbin, and Court-land McDonald all went 2 for 4 in game one, while David Williams, Derek St. Clair, and Jones had a hit apiece.
Jacksonville wasted little time putting Parkview away in game two, ending this one in five innings. The Red Devils scored three runs in the first, and eight in the second to jump out to a quick 11-0 lead.
Harbin scored the final run for the Red Devils in the bottom of the third after McDonald hit an infield single between third and short and beat out the throw to first.
The throw to first was late, and off the mark as the ball got past the first baseman, allowing Harbin to score with ease to set the final margin.
“The second game I thought we got focused,” Burrows said. “We executed a lot of good things and played good defense. Other than two third-called strikes with a runner in scoring position in the middle innings, and me messing up on one call, I thought we played pretty good in the second game.”
James Tucker picked up the win in game two, pitching all five innings and striking out two. McClure went 3 for 4 at the plate in game two and McDonald went 2 for 3. St. Clair, Tanner Burks, and Ragan Jones each had a base hit.
Jacksonville hosts Little Rock Catholic in a benefit game today at Dupree Park, and will play its final home game on Tuesday.
TOP STORY >> Sherwood gets report on growth
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The world of economic development is often hush-hush because nothing is guaranteed until all the contracts are signed.
Sherwood’s economic-development director Kelly Coughlin found that out right before making her first quarterly report to the city council Monday night.
“We are always working on things,” she said, “and thought we had something locked in and ready to announce, but they backed out at the last minute.”
Coughlin, 39, still can’t talk about it because the deal, in some form, could come back up.
Coughlin, of Cabot, has been on the job since the end of January when the city and the chamber entered into an agreement to let the chamber hire someone to pursue business growth for the city. Part of the agreement was that the council receive at least quarterly updates.
In her 10-minute presentation Monday, Coughlin told the council what she and the chamber were “bragging about” in hopes of bringing in new business and industry.
She said she was showcasing Sherwood “as a culturally rich city with a strong sense of identity.”
Coughlin also said the chamber was working on nominating Sherwood as Volunteer Community of the Year, working and extending the Arkansas River Trails through Sherwood, working on creating a Thursday night farmers market through the summer and working on getting a separate school district.
She was also working diligently to market and brand Sherwood. “We have a winning park system, high quality amenities and the safest neighborhoods, all while keeping our small-town character and history,” she said, adding that the chamber and her department are marketing the city’s “public involvement and civic leadership that values economical, ecological and social stewardship.”
Leader staff writer
The world of economic development is often hush-hush because nothing is guaranteed until all the contracts are signed.
Sherwood’s economic-development director Kelly Coughlin found that out right before making her first quarterly report to the city council Monday night.
“We are always working on things,” she said, “and thought we had something locked in and ready to announce, but they backed out at the last minute.”
Coughlin, 39, still can’t talk about it because the deal, in some form, could come back up.
Coughlin, of Cabot, has been on the job since the end of January when the city and the chamber entered into an agreement to let the chamber hire someone to pursue business growth for the city. Part of the agreement was that the council receive at least quarterly updates.
In her 10-minute presentation Monday, Coughlin told the council what she and the chamber were “bragging about” in hopes of bringing in new business and industry.
She said she was showcasing Sherwood “as a culturally rich city with a strong sense of identity.”
Coughlin also said the chamber was working on nominating Sherwood as Volunteer Community of the Year, working and extending the Arkansas River Trails through Sherwood, working on creating a Thursday night farmers market through the summer and working on getting a separate school district.
She was also working diligently to market and brand Sherwood. “We have a winning park system, high quality amenities and the safest neighborhoods, all while keeping our small-town character and history,” she said, adding that the chamber and her department are marketing the city’s “public involvement and civic leadership that values economical, ecological and social stewardship.”
TOP STORY >> 50 years after start, hospital still strong
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
North Metro Medical Center’s new slogan is “50 years, 350 people proud,” CEO Jay Quebedeaux told the crowd gathered Thursday to celebrate the hospital’s 50th anniversary.
The hospital, once city-owned but now owned by Allegiance Health Management of Louisiana, opened its doors on Jan. 24, 1962, with 30 beds and 15 bassinets, according to a proclamation read by Mayor Gary Fletcher.
Quebedeaux said, “We tried to sum up what we felt the hospital was about and what we thought our people were about. We’ve been here for 50 years and our staff is extremely dedicated to taking care of people and extremely proud of what they’ve accomplished over the 50 years.
We look to be here for a long time. The staff really goes the extra mile to take care of Jacksonville and Cabot people. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s not every day a hospital turns 50 years, and we’re extremely proud to be here. I want to thank all the employees. I feel like we have the most dedicated staff out there and people have really worked to not only to get this sale done, but to also really ensure our future and to really take care of our patients. It’s only because of you guys we’ve been here 50 years. We certainly won’t make another 50 without you,” he said.
He also thanked the community and auxiliary for their support.
“It’s not very often you get a community hospital that a town will support and keep around for 50 years, so it’s a great honor to have that. (The auxiliary is) a huge part of what we do here. They’re a huge part of our customer service, and I don’t think we’d have been here 50 years without those guys,” Quebedeaux said before passing the podium to speakers Mike Wilson, Dr. Paul Valentin-Stone and Joan Zumwalt.
Wilson, chairman of the board that governs the nonprofit hospital, also thanked the employees and auxiliary forces.
“You all are the ones who make this hospital work. Patients and the community are very well aware that the good things that happen here are a result of your work. It’s not lost on any of us, particularly those of us who have been patients here like me for a time or two,” he said.
Wilson also acknowledged the gift of the property that was donated to the city by Raymond Rebsamen for the hospital, which bore his name until a few years ago.
Rebsamen is deceased. His son, one of his two children, passed away recently, Wilson said.
The board invited Rebsamen’s daughter to attend the ceremony, but she was recently hospitalized and couldn’t make it, Wilson said.
Wilson said she and her daughter wished everyone well.
He said he talked to Rebsamen’s son a few years ago.
“He and his sister were in agreement with us to change the name of the hospital in order to make it more competitive with our friends and neighbors, White County, Springhill, St. Vincent’s in Sherwood. They understood that we had to make changes in order to be more competitive in this community,” Wilson said.
Valentin-Stone, one of the longest-practicing physicians still on staff at North Metro, said he came to Jacksonville in 1983 with the Air Force. After a two-year tour in 1985, he had to decide whether to return to Puerto Rico or stay here.
He said it was the members of this community that convinced him to stay. “They meant the most to me. They convinced me to stay, and it wasn’t a very hard decision. I couldn’t have asked for a better place. This community has welcomed me and my family with open arms. My grandson was born here. I was a patient here as well once,” he said.
“My son had surgery here. We are part of this family known as Rebsamen and North Metro, a wonderful place to receive your medical care. I hear that every day in my office. Patients like the fact that it is a small institution. They’re referred to as patients, not numbers. They feel that the care is just as good as anywhere else in the state and I second that.”
Joan Zumwalt organized the hospital’s auxiliary in 1965. She recalled the good old days.
“The candy stripers are not with us anymore, but we had fun organizing the candy stripers, who were the young teenage girls who helped us after school and in the summertime. We had fundraisers to have money to buy our uniforms, our jackets and shoes. Mostly I remember the spaghetti suppers and style shows. We didn’t have the gentleman either,” she said, as she thanks one male auxiliary member seated in the front row at the ceremony.
Zumwalt said her youngest daughter was born at the hospital. “I feel very close to this institution,” she said.
State Sen. Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot) also read a statement at the ceremony.
He said, “My dad was living in Sheridan a few years ago and we were blessed enough to be able to come up here. (The hospital did) a wonderful job of giving us a little rest and of giving him the care he needed as an Alzheimer’s patient. So, I’m very thankful for this facility.
“About five years ago I received a call. A consultant was hired. They asked us about 100 questions and to give them honest feedback. I’m proud to say today a lot of those things were listened to and there were a few changes made along the way. It’s made it a great institution. It truly is a landmark in Jacksonville, Ark., to have this facility here.”
Williams read, “The physicians, staff and volunteers can take pride in its phenomenal growth, new cutting-edge procedures and treatments, latest technology, expansions and renovations of facilities that have established it as one of the best medical centers in the state. In addition to utilizing state-of-the-art equipment in the sleep center, laboratory and medical imaging departments, North Metro Medical Center recently opened new surgical and medical inpatient units and implemented the newest digital mammogram technology in order to better serve patients with their individual needs. The members of the Arkansas Senate wish to join Sen. Eddie Joe Williams in congratulating North Metro Medical Center on its 50th anniversary of service as a vital member of the Jacksonville community and well deserved reputation for excellence in the health care field.”
The mayor read a proclamation declaring Thursday as North Metro Medical Center Day, which included highlights of the hospital’s past 50 years.
Leader staff writer
North Metro Medical Center’s new slogan is “50 years, 350 people proud,” CEO Jay Quebedeaux told the crowd gathered Thursday to celebrate the hospital’s 50th anniversary.
The hospital, once city-owned but now owned by Allegiance Health Management of Louisiana, opened its doors on Jan. 24, 1962, with 30 beds and 15 bassinets, according to a proclamation read by Mayor Gary Fletcher.
Quebedeaux said, “We tried to sum up what we felt the hospital was about and what we thought our people were about. We’ve been here for 50 years and our staff is extremely dedicated to taking care of people and extremely proud of what they’ve accomplished over the 50 years.
We look to be here for a long time. The staff really goes the extra mile to take care of Jacksonville and Cabot people. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s not every day a hospital turns 50 years, and we’re extremely proud to be here. I want to thank all the employees. I feel like we have the most dedicated staff out there and people have really worked to not only to get this sale done, but to also really ensure our future and to really take care of our patients. It’s only because of you guys we’ve been here 50 years. We certainly won’t make another 50 without you,” he said.
He also thanked the community and auxiliary for their support.
“It’s not very often you get a community hospital that a town will support and keep around for 50 years, so it’s a great honor to have that. (The auxiliary is) a huge part of what we do here. They’re a huge part of our customer service, and I don’t think we’d have been here 50 years without those guys,” Quebedeaux said before passing the podium to speakers Mike Wilson, Dr. Paul Valentin-Stone and Joan Zumwalt.
Wilson, chairman of the board that governs the nonprofit hospital, also thanked the employees and auxiliary forces.
“You all are the ones who make this hospital work. Patients and the community are very well aware that the good things that happen here are a result of your work. It’s not lost on any of us, particularly those of us who have been patients here like me for a time or two,” he said.
Wilson also acknowledged the gift of the property that was donated to the city by Raymond Rebsamen for the hospital, which bore his name until a few years ago.
Rebsamen is deceased. His son, one of his two children, passed away recently, Wilson said.
The board invited Rebsamen’s daughter to attend the ceremony, but she was recently hospitalized and couldn’t make it, Wilson said.
Wilson said she and her daughter wished everyone well.
He said he talked to Rebsamen’s son a few years ago.
“He and his sister were in agreement with us to change the name of the hospital in order to make it more competitive with our friends and neighbors, White County, Springhill, St. Vincent’s in Sherwood. They understood that we had to make changes in order to be more competitive in this community,” Wilson said.
Valentin-Stone, one of the longest-practicing physicians still on staff at North Metro, said he came to Jacksonville in 1983 with the Air Force. After a two-year tour in 1985, he had to decide whether to return to Puerto Rico or stay here.
He said it was the members of this community that convinced him to stay. “They meant the most to me. They convinced me to stay, and it wasn’t a very hard decision. I couldn’t have asked for a better place. This community has welcomed me and my family with open arms. My grandson was born here. I was a patient here as well once,” he said.
“My son had surgery here. We are part of this family known as Rebsamen and North Metro, a wonderful place to receive your medical care. I hear that every day in my office. Patients like the fact that it is a small institution. They’re referred to as patients, not numbers. They feel that the care is just as good as anywhere else in the state and I second that.”
Joan Zumwalt organized the hospital’s auxiliary in 1965. She recalled the good old days.
“The candy stripers are not with us anymore, but we had fun organizing the candy stripers, who were the young teenage girls who helped us after school and in the summertime. We had fundraisers to have money to buy our uniforms, our jackets and shoes. Mostly I remember the spaghetti suppers and style shows. We didn’t have the gentleman either,” she said, as she thanks one male auxiliary member seated in the front row at the ceremony.
Zumwalt said her youngest daughter was born at the hospital. “I feel very close to this institution,” she said.
State Sen. Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot) also read a statement at the ceremony.
He said, “My dad was living in Sheridan a few years ago and we were blessed enough to be able to come up here. (The hospital did) a wonderful job of giving us a little rest and of giving him the care he needed as an Alzheimer’s patient. So, I’m very thankful for this facility.
“About five years ago I received a call. A consultant was hired. They asked us about 100 questions and to give them honest feedback. I’m proud to say today a lot of those things were listened to and there were a few changes made along the way. It’s made it a great institution. It truly is a landmark in Jacksonville, Ark., to have this facility here.”
Williams read, “The physicians, staff and volunteers can take pride in its phenomenal growth, new cutting-edge procedures and treatments, latest technology, expansions and renovations of facilities that have established it as one of the best medical centers in the state. In addition to utilizing state-of-the-art equipment in the sleep center, laboratory and medical imaging departments, North Metro Medical Center recently opened new surgical and medical inpatient units and implemented the newest digital mammogram technology in order to better serve patients with their individual needs. The members of the Arkansas Senate wish to join Sen. Eddie Joe Williams in congratulating North Metro Medical Center on its 50th anniversary of service as a vital member of the Jacksonville community and well deserved reputation for excellence in the health care field.”
The mayor read a proclamation declaring Thursday as North Metro Medical Center Day, which included highlights of the hospital’s past 50 years.
TOP STORY >> First Electric celebrates longevity
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
A longtime First Electric Cooperative member — who won her first electric stove at the power company’s 1954 annual meeting in Perryville — was hoping to get lucky again at its 75th anniversary Thursday when a drawing for a $75 bill credit was held.
Jean Crow said the cooperative has been lighting her home for nearly 60 years, since she and her husband moved in 1953 from Mabelvale into her home near First Electric’s Jacksonville office at 1000 S. J.P. Wright Loop Road.
She’ll be 90 in September.
“One of my neighbors at the time worked for the co-op,” she said. “I think that’s a wonderful thing, all eight different bills automatically get deducted (from my bank account). That saves you a lot of postage. It saves everybody time and money.”
She remembers going to the annual meetings, which “had a carnival effect.” They had things for kids to ride. Eat all the hot dogs you could, tents.”
A big change over the years, she said, was “the fancier buildings.”
She said, “I appreciate getting those checks” — the capital credits that are profits First Electric returns to its members every year. The first time, she said, “I was surprised. I was hoping they’d send one every year. I don’t remember (how much it was). It seems like one time it was like over $100. But it seemed like most of the time it was in the $70s or $80s.”
New technology was emphasized in a film on First Electric’s history and several representatives with the cooperative commented on its growth at the reception.
Tonya Everhart, vice president of marketing and communications, said, “It’s the technological advancements that have allowed us to grow and evolve from a small, rural electric cooperative into the 31st largest cooperative in the United States today.”
Robert Hill, board of directors chairman, said, “Whenever this thing was started back in 1937, they probably started with maybe a thousand bucks. We’re looking at a $417 million institution now. The unique thing about being a co-op is we return profits back to the members. Over the period of years since 1937, we’ve returned back to its members over $25 million in profits.”
President and chief executive officer Don Crabbe, who has worked at electric co-ops for 36 years, said, “The greatest thing is to have the love of God in your heart, but the next greatest thing is to have electricity in your home. Those words were spoken by a farmer out of Tennessee over 70 years ago. That’s the kind of passion people had that didn’t have electricity. We want to continue that type of passion with our service in all that we provide you today. We are definitely owned by those we serve. We have no reason to exist except to serve.
“When we have the ice storms, we have the tornadoes, we have the catastrophic events that occur, that’s when our folks in the field really step up,” he said. “We will have to go through times where we’ll have to beg them or actually go out and get them to bring them out of the field because they don’t want to leave someone without power. It’s that kind of passion of service in all that our employee group has that we believe makes us different from other providers,” Crabbe added.
First Electric was incorporated April 26, 1937, as the first electric cooperative in Arkansas under the federal Rural Electrification Act that was signed the year before by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was one of Roosevelt’s New Deal stimulus programs designed to improve the lives of farmers suffering economically from the Great Depression, floods and droughts.
Della Fraser, one of the co-op’s first members, couldn’t make it to Thursday’s event, but in the video, she shared her experience transitioning from studying by the light of a kerosene lamp to that of a bulb.
“It was so bright. It was so pretty. It was so wonderful,” she said.
Ernie Stark, a former lineman, described how linemen would use a quarter-stick of dynamite, “shooting that dirt out of that hole” used to set a pole and straightening that pole with four 15-foot pipes and a back hoe.
The narrator said, according to the 1950 census, more than 76 percent of Arkansas farmers had electric service when fewer than 10 percent in the nation had power in the 1930s.
Lois Ann Bryant helped First Electric members use electric appliances from 1969 to 1974. She talked in the video about the invention of the microwave oven.
“It just had sort of a dangerous connotation at that time. I think safety was something they were wondering about. Some people were afraid the food might not be safe. That was something we had to overcome,” she said.
Rick Jones started working on outages for the company in 1978, before a dispatch system was set up. He explained how the phonebook had the names of all the employees who did that and people had to call until they reached the person who was on duty. When Jones was sent out, his wife took the calls and he had to call her to make sure there were no other outages in the area so he wouldn’t have to make two trips.
First Electric constructed its first substation in Perry County in 1964.
Riceland Electric in Stuttgart became part of First Electric in 1991 and Riceland’s office became another district office of the Jacksonville co-op.
After the film, Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher signed a proclamation establishing Thursday as First Electric Cooperative day and a $7,500 check was presented to Alderman Reedie Ray for the co-op’s Operation Round-Up.
Operation Round-Up is a member-supported program that funds donations to nonprofits and scholarships for high school seniors. Members who participate allow their bills to be rounded up to the nearest dollar.
Ray said that money is put into an escrow account for three months and then distributed.
Leader staff writer
A longtime First Electric Cooperative member — who won her first electric stove at the power company’s 1954 annual meeting in Perryville — was hoping to get lucky again at its 75th anniversary Thursday when a drawing for a $75 bill credit was held.
Jean Crow said the cooperative has been lighting her home for nearly 60 years, since she and her husband moved in 1953 from Mabelvale into her home near First Electric’s Jacksonville office at 1000 S. J.P. Wright Loop Road.
She’ll be 90 in September.
“One of my neighbors at the time worked for the co-op,” she said. “I think that’s a wonderful thing, all eight different bills automatically get deducted (from my bank account). That saves you a lot of postage. It saves everybody time and money.”
She remembers going to the annual meetings, which “had a carnival effect.” They had things for kids to ride. Eat all the hot dogs you could, tents.”
A big change over the years, she said, was “the fancier buildings.”
She said, “I appreciate getting those checks” — the capital credits that are profits First Electric returns to its members every year. The first time, she said, “I was surprised. I was hoping they’d send one every year. I don’t remember (how much it was). It seems like one time it was like over $100. But it seemed like most of the time it was in the $70s or $80s.”
New technology was emphasized in a film on First Electric’s history and several representatives with the cooperative commented on its growth at the reception.
Tonya Everhart, vice president of marketing and communications, said, “It’s the technological advancements that have allowed us to grow and evolve from a small, rural electric cooperative into the 31st largest cooperative in the United States today.”
Robert Hill, board of directors chairman, said, “Whenever this thing was started back in 1937, they probably started with maybe a thousand bucks. We’re looking at a $417 million institution now. The unique thing about being a co-op is we return profits back to the members. Over the period of years since 1937, we’ve returned back to its members over $25 million in profits.”
President and chief executive officer Don Crabbe, who has worked at electric co-ops for 36 years, said, “The greatest thing is to have the love of God in your heart, but the next greatest thing is to have electricity in your home. Those words were spoken by a farmer out of Tennessee over 70 years ago. That’s the kind of passion people had that didn’t have electricity. We want to continue that type of passion with our service in all that we provide you today. We are definitely owned by those we serve. We have no reason to exist except to serve.
“When we have the ice storms, we have the tornadoes, we have the catastrophic events that occur, that’s when our folks in the field really step up,” he said. “We will have to go through times where we’ll have to beg them or actually go out and get them to bring them out of the field because they don’t want to leave someone without power. It’s that kind of passion of service in all that our employee group has that we believe makes us different from other providers,” Crabbe added.
First Electric was incorporated April 26, 1937, as the first electric cooperative in Arkansas under the federal Rural Electrification Act that was signed the year before by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was one of Roosevelt’s New Deal stimulus programs designed to improve the lives of farmers suffering economically from the Great Depression, floods and droughts.
Della Fraser, one of the co-op’s first members, couldn’t make it to Thursday’s event, but in the video, she shared her experience transitioning from studying by the light of a kerosene lamp to that of a bulb.
“It was so bright. It was so pretty. It was so wonderful,” she said.
Ernie Stark, a former lineman, described how linemen would use a quarter-stick of dynamite, “shooting that dirt out of that hole” used to set a pole and straightening that pole with four 15-foot pipes and a back hoe.
The narrator said, according to the 1950 census, more than 76 percent of Arkansas farmers had electric service when fewer than 10 percent in the nation had power in the 1930s.
Lois Ann Bryant helped First Electric members use electric appliances from 1969 to 1974. She talked in the video about the invention of the microwave oven.
“It just had sort of a dangerous connotation at that time. I think safety was something they were wondering about. Some people were afraid the food might not be safe. That was something we had to overcome,” she said.
Rick Jones started working on outages for the company in 1978, before a dispatch system was set up. He explained how the phonebook had the names of all the employees who did that and people had to call until they reached the person who was on duty. When Jones was sent out, his wife took the calls and he had to call her to make sure there were no other outages in the area so he wouldn’t have to make two trips.
First Electric constructed its first substation in Perry County in 1964.
Riceland Electric in Stuttgart became part of First Electric in 1991 and Riceland’s office became another district office of the Jacksonville co-op.
After the film, Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher signed a proclamation establishing Thursday as First Electric Cooperative day and a $7,500 check was presented to Alderman Reedie Ray for the co-op’s Operation Round-Up.
Operation Round-Up is a member-supported program that funds donations to nonprofits and scholarships for high school seniors. Members who participate allow their bills to be rounded up to the nearest dollar.
Ray said that money is put into an escrow account for three months and then distributed.
TOP STORY >> Not anti-union, Guess declares
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Despite allegations, Superintendent Jerry Guess claims he and state Education Com-missioner Tom Kimbrell never set out to break the Pulaski County Special School District’s unions.
Had the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and Pulaski Association of Support Staff been more cooperative, they’d likely still be representing most of the district’s 3,500 employees, Guess said in an exclusive interview with The Leader.
“I will help you survive if you will work with me,” Guess said he told the unions.
But they were trying to stanch the hemorrhaging with the proverbial bandage and seemed to doubt the extent of the crisis.
Guess recalled Thursday that Bill Goff came to his office with news one afternoon last summer, just after he had signed a requisition for about $2 million worth of new textbooks.
“You’re out of money,” Goff, then state Education Department assistant commissioner for fiscal and administrative services, told him. Guess then rushed out of his office to stop the requisition.
On April 20, Kimbrell instructed Guess to cease recognition of the unions as bargaining agents for the teachers and support staff and to recognize instead two newly formed personnel policy committees.
For the unions to question the validity and potential fatality of the district’s declining legal-fund balance is either disingenuous or shows a real lack of understanding, Guess said.
He said he wished the unions had an accountant working with them.
“When I was hired, nobody even knew that the descending balance had occurred. I was hired thinking it was a procedural problem. Not until (financial consultant) Don (Stewart) scratched his head in late July or August and said, “You know what, I think we got a cash flow problem....He calls Bill (Goff) and says I think we need to be looking at this.”
Guess disputed union allegations that the declining legal-fund-balance issue that gave the district a second helping of fiscal distress was a ginned-up excuse to pry the lid off the union contracts and strip away 40 years of gains for district employees, though that may be the consequence.
FINANCIAL WOES REAL
“This is not a nebulous issue, this is an accountant’s issue,” he said. “The legislative auditors were here six months working downstairs.”
Guess said that when he be-came superintendent, his two goals were to get PCSSD out of fiscal distress and to get unitary status, that is, resolve the 20-year-old desegregation agreement.
Those remain his goals, but the difficulty of achieving the first one has grown in magnitude.
Guess, as former superintendent of Camden Fairview School District, may have been uniquely qualified to help the district achieve unitary status and also escape from fiscal distress.
Because the district was already in fiscal distress, Kimbrell had dissolved the school board, fired new Superintendent Charles Hopson and hired Guess to straighten out the mess.
Following two months of intermittent negotiations and mediation between district administrators and the unions, Kimbrell told Guess to implement his fiscal distress recovery plan.
The unions have promised to challenge their disenfranchisement in court.
Union leaders have questioned the authority of administrators or the state to void their legal contract.
“The Lakeview decision said education is the responsibility of the state,” Guess said.
Takeover of a district by the state is essentially a bankruptcy and contracts are frequently terminated under such conditions, he said.
The district started the 2010-2011 school year with about $9 million in funds, but ended the year with $4 million—a decline of $5.5 million, he said.
Without a $15 million one-time desegregation windfall this school year, the district would have been on track to end the year about $3 million in debt.
Guess said he would have had to lay off employees during the school year. Instead, the district will end the year with about $12 million.
Without the sweeping changes, the district’s expenses would have exceeded anticipated revenues by $32 million by the end of the 2016-2017 school year, he said.
The unions and the district already had agreed on $7 million worth of cuts with a goal of about $11 million.
The unions were willing to reopen parts of their contracts dealing with salary and benefits, but Guess said a much more comprehensive reorganization of policies is required.
Over the years, these two unions had won concessions, codified as board policies and put in their contracts, which employees of other districts do not enjoy, and some of them are more expensive than they might seem, Guess said.
Professional-growth benefits, generally given for college-level work, if at all, have been available to PCSSD teachers for “softball” classes. Guess himself received a professional-growth credit for his bound, inch-thick dissertation “Desegregation Through Consolidation: A Qualitative Study of the Formation of the Camden Fairview Public School District.”
A PCSSD teacher can receive the identical credit—which currently translates into increased pay—for taking a class like “Our World One Picture Book at a Time,” or “Understanding Why Women Backstab, Betray and Trash Talk Each Other” and How to Heal,” Guess said.
RAISES PHASED OUT
Guess, a former teacher of the year, says that without charging the district for all the extras, he was yearbook sponsor, filmed football games for the coaches, drove a bus at times, produced a student literary book and many other things.
But PCSSD teachers want pay for lunchroom and playground duty and for school meetings in excess of one hour a month.
As for having accrued leave–used for any purpose–instead of sick leave, Guess said he didn’t think teachers, staff or administrators should be taking time off during school hours unless they are sick.
As part of the package of changes Guess will implement, the district will phase out over three years the 4 percent increase on the salary schedule that teachers receive for professional-growth classes based on district classes—a net annual savings of about $2.8 million, according to the revised fiscal distress improvement plan Kimbrell instructed Guess to implement.
OTHER CHANGES
Other changes to the contracts negotiated by the unions include:
– Phasing out professional- growth contracts for certified personnel will save $1.2 million a year and for classified personnel another $344,000.
– The district will save about $377,000 a year by not paying teachers for most of the non-instructional duties they are currently paid for.
– By eliminating attendance incentive pay for all employees, the district saves about $103,000.
– The district gives back $154,000 by adding unused sick leave pay to support staff so it matches the benefit to certified personnel.
– Eliminating bereavement leave will save another estimated $30,000 a year.
– Elimination of severance pay will save about $805,000 annually and changing accrued leave to sick leave as defined by state law will save about $219,000.
– By having to pay for fewer substitute teachers’ salaries and benefits, the district is expected to save about $2 million.
Guess says elimination of other powers garnered by the unions over the years will also cut expenses. For instance, teachers can no longer demand evaluation by someone other than their principal.
“That required a memorandum of understanding,” he said.
Officials expect to save $775,000 a year by cutting the teachers contract by two days to 190 days. That’s about a 1.1 percent cut.
PACT president Marty Nix said cuts were inequitable and had proposed cutting the district’s year-round employees—including principals and central office staff—also to 190 days.
Guess also took issue with the union contention that he earns $260,000, more than the vice president of the United States. “I make $215,000,” he said, before benefits.
Leader senior staff writer
Despite allegations, Superintendent Jerry Guess claims he and state Education Com-missioner Tom Kimbrell never set out to break the Pulaski County Special School District’s unions.
Had the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and Pulaski Association of Support Staff been more cooperative, they’d likely still be representing most of the district’s 3,500 employees, Guess said in an exclusive interview with The Leader.
“I will help you survive if you will work with me,” Guess said he told the unions.
But they were trying to stanch the hemorrhaging with the proverbial bandage and seemed to doubt the extent of the crisis.
Guess recalled Thursday that Bill Goff came to his office with news one afternoon last summer, just after he had signed a requisition for about $2 million worth of new textbooks.
“You’re out of money,” Goff, then state Education Department assistant commissioner for fiscal and administrative services, told him. Guess then rushed out of his office to stop the requisition.
On April 20, Kimbrell instructed Guess to cease recognition of the unions as bargaining agents for the teachers and support staff and to recognize instead two newly formed personnel policy committees.
For the unions to question the validity and potential fatality of the district’s declining legal-fund balance is either disingenuous or shows a real lack of understanding, Guess said.
He said he wished the unions had an accountant working with them.
“When I was hired, nobody even knew that the descending balance had occurred. I was hired thinking it was a procedural problem. Not until (financial consultant) Don (Stewart) scratched his head in late July or August and said, “You know what, I think we got a cash flow problem....He calls Bill (Goff) and says I think we need to be looking at this.”
Guess disputed union allegations that the declining legal-fund-balance issue that gave the district a second helping of fiscal distress was a ginned-up excuse to pry the lid off the union contracts and strip away 40 years of gains for district employees, though that may be the consequence.
FINANCIAL WOES REAL
“This is not a nebulous issue, this is an accountant’s issue,” he said. “The legislative auditors were here six months working downstairs.”
Guess said that when he be-came superintendent, his two goals were to get PCSSD out of fiscal distress and to get unitary status, that is, resolve the 20-year-old desegregation agreement.
Those remain his goals, but the difficulty of achieving the first one has grown in magnitude.
Guess, as former superintendent of Camden Fairview School District, may have been uniquely qualified to help the district achieve unitary status and also escape from fiscal distress.
Because the district was already in fiscal distress, Kimbrell had dissolved the school board, fired new Superintendent Charles Hopson and hired Guess to straighten out the mess.
Following two months of intermittent negotiations and mediation between district administrators and the unions, Kimbrell told Guess to implement his fiscal distress recovery plan.
The unions have promised to challenge their disenfranchisement in court.
Union leaders have questioned the authority of administrators or the state to void their legal contract.
“The Lakeview decision said education is the responsibility of the state,” Guess said.
Takeover of a district by the state is essentially a bankruptcy and contracts are frequently terminated under such conditions, he said.
The district started the 2010-2011 school year with about $9 million in funds, but ended the year with $4 million—a decline of $5.5 million, he said.
Without a $15 million one-time desegregation windfall this school year, the district would have been on track to end the year about $3 million in debt.
Guess said he would have had to lay off employees during the school year. Instead, the district will end the year with about $12 million.
Without the sweeping changes, the district’s expenses would have exceeded anticipated revenues by $32 million by the end of the 2016-2017 school year, he said.
The unions and the district already had agreed on $7 million worth of cuts with a goal of about $11 million.
The unions were willing to reopen parts of their contracts dealing with salary and benefits, but Guess said a much more comprehensive reorganization of policies is required.
Over the years, these two unions had won concessions, codified as board policies and put in their contracts, which employees of other districts do not enjoy, and some of them are more expensive than they might seem, Guess said.
Professional-growth benefits, generally given for college-level work, if at all, have been available to PCSSD teachers for “softball” classes. Guess himself received a professional-growth credit for his bound, inch-thick dissertation “Desegregation Through Consolidation: A Qualitative Study of the Formation of the Camden Fairview Public School District.”
A PCSSD teacher can receive the identical credit—which currently translates into increased pay—for taking a class like “Our World One Picture Book at a Time,” or “Understanding Why Women Backstab, Betray and Trash Talk Each Other” and How to Heal,” Guess said.
RAISES PHASED OUT
Guess, a former teacher of the year, says that without charging the district for all the extras, he was yearbook sponsor, filmed football games for the coaches, drove a bus at times, produced a student literary book and many other things.
But PCSSD teachers want pay for lunchroom and playground duty and for school meetings in excess of one hour a month.
As for having accrued leave–used for any purpose–instead of sick leave, Guess said he didn’t think teachers, staff or administrators should be taking time off during school hours unless they are sick.
As part of the package of changes Guess will implement, the district will phase out over three years the 4 percent increase on the salary schedule that teachers receive for professional-growth classes based on district classes—a net annual savings of about $2.8 million, according to the revised fiscal distress improvement plan Kimbrell instructed Guess to implement.
OTHER CHANGES
Other changes to the contracts negotiated by the unions include:
– Phasing out professional- growth contracts for certified personnel will save $1.2 million a year and for classified personnel another $344,000.
– The district will save about $377,000 a year by not paying teachers for most of the non-instructional duties they are currently paid for.
– By eliminating attendance incentive pay for all employees, the district saves about $103,000.
– The district gives back $154,000 by adding unused sick leave pay to support staff so it matches the benefit to certified personnel.
– Eliminating bereavement leave will save another estimated $30,000 a year.
– Elimination of severance pay will save about $805,000 annually and changing accrued leave to sick leave as defined by state law will save about $219,000.
– By having to pay for fewer substitute teachers’ salaries and benefits, the district is expected to save about $2 million.
Guess says elimination of other powers garnered by the unions over the years will also cut expenses. For instance, teachers can no longer demand evaluation by someone other than their principal.
“That required a memorandum of understanding,” he said.
Officials expect to save $775,000 a year by cutting the teachers contract by two days to 190 days. That’s about a 1.1 percent cut.
PACT president Marty Nix said cuts were inequitable and had proposed cutting the district’s year-round employees—including principals and central office staff—also to 190 days.
Guess also took issue with the union contention that he earns $260,000, more than the vice president of the United States. “I make $215,000,” he said, before benefits.
EDITORIAL >> Trophy returns
Little Rock Air Force Base and central Arkansas continue to win recognition from Air Mobility Command for outstanding community relations.
The air base and its community council have won the prestigious 2011 Abilene Trophy, the Air Mobility Command’s Community Support Award.
According to the Air Force, the Abilene Trophy is presented annually to a civilian community for outstanding support to a nearby AMC base and the winner is determined by a selection group of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee in Texas with final approval by AMC.
This is the second time in three years that Team Little Rock has won the coveted award, which is well deserved. After all, Air Force officials have said for decades that LRAFB enjoys the best community support in the nation. Latest examples include Jacksonville voters approving a penny sales tax for the Joint Education Center in front of the air base, which opened last year and was built in partnership with the Pentagon for $14.6 million.
The Flightline Academy also opened last year with support from Hunt Development Group and Pinnacle Management, the developers of private housing on base, which gave $600,000, along with $200,000 from the Wilson family.
The community has also given thousands of dollars in support of the air rodeo last year at McChord Air Force Base, Wash., where the 314th Airlift Wing was declared world champions.
“This award says it all — we have the world’s best community support,” said Col. Thomas Crimmins, 19th Airlift Wing vice commander. We couldn’t agree more.
The air base and its community council have won the prestigious 2011 Abilene Trophy, the Air Mobility Command’s Community Support Award.
According to the Air Force, the Abilene Trophy is presented annually to a civilian community for outstanding support to a nearby AMC base and the winner is determined by a selection group of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee in Texas with final approval by AMC.
This is the second time in three years that Team Little Rock has won the coveted award, which is well deserved. After all, Air Force officials have said for decades that LRAFB enjoys the best community support in the nation. Latest examples include Jacksonville voters approving a penny sales tax for the Joint Education Center in front of the air base, which opened last year and was built in partnership with the Pentagon for $14.6 million.
The Flightline Academy also opened last year with support from Hunt Development Group and Pinnacle Management, the developers of private housing on base, which gave $600,000, along with $200,000 from the Wilson family.
The community has also given thousands of dollars in support of the air rodeo last year at McChord Air Force Base, Wash., where the 314th Airlift Wing was declared world champions.
“This award says it all — we have the world’s best community support,” said Col. Thomas Crimmins, 19th Airlift Wing vice commander. We couldn’t agree more.
EDITORIAL >> Teachers, district split
Getting rid of the unions in the Pulaski County Special School District may not be the panacea the state’s education commissioner and others make it out to be. All it does is kick the problem down the road about two or three years.
Superintendent Jerry Guess told The Leader yesterday the district had no choice but to dismiss the unions because they refused to acknowledge the district’s financial problems. But the state commissioner, Dr. Tom Kimbrell of Cabot, is anti-union and has shown that at all of his stops up to the state’s top job. It’s interesting that he got rid of the unions—a school board action—behind closed doors.
Is ignoring the unions best for the district or just something Kimbrell has wanted to do for a long time? When he was named the superintendent for the North Little Rock School District, the president of the North Little Rock Classroom Teachers’ Association voiced opposition to Kimbrell’s selection based on his anti-union bias. It was clear the North Little Rock job was just a stepping stone for Kimbrell, who didn’t leave a cadre of teacher friends when he left his superintendent’s position in Paragould for North Little Rock.
The first concerns patrons of the Pulaski County Special School District should have with the state takeover is when are decisions made by Kimbrell the state commissioner and when are decisions made by Kimbrell the one-man school board? Shouldn’t all school board actions be made in an open forum?
Guess has said the unions wouldn’t budge and wouldn’t negotiate. The union, in paperwork submitted to Kimbrell, made it clear that Guess and district officials walked out of meetings and wouldn’t listen. The truth lies somewhere between.
The two sides did shave about $7 million from the district’s budget by working together, and most of that came from the teachers’ side. Those cuts resulted in a net pay cut of hundreds of dollars for many teachers and few cuts to the administrative side.
The unions reached a point where they wouldn’t bend any more and reminded the district of the desegregation money (about $20 million) coming in and there was no need to scrape for every dime yet. Both Kimbrell and Guess don’t want to look at that money, which will come in until the Legislature deals with it in the next session. Stopping those funds cold has already been thrown out in court.
The district continues to show why the unions were needed in the first place—a lack of transparency and trust. It’s been the district’s problem for more than 20 years. What Kimbrell should have done, since he closed his door to begin with, was to bring both sides in and show them the “Board of Education.”
The unions will sue, but will mostly likely lose, because in Arkansas, school boards can close their eyes and say, “Union, you don’t exist,” and poof—the union is gone. No reason required. The question legally will be: Can it be done in a closed forum as Kimbrell did?
But if the unions lose the suit, they will bide their time until the district is released from state control and candidates run for school board. The unions will back their candidates with a vengeance and the union-backed board will reinstate the union, as we’ve seen before.
If Kimbrell thinks the unions are a burden, a roadblock and thorn now, just wait.
The district would have been better off with a continued marriage, albeit rocky most of the time, rather than the ugly divorce it now has, which will affect the kids for years to come.
Superintendent Jerry Guess told The Leader yesterday the district had no choice but to dismiss the unions because they refused to acknowledge the district’s financial problems. But the state commissioner, Dr. Tom Kimbrell of Cabot, is anti-union and has shown that at all of his stops up to the state’s top job. It’s interesting that he got rid of the unions—a school board action—behind closed doors.
Is ignoring the unions best for the district or just something Kimbrell has wanted to do for a long time? When he was named the superintendent for the North Little Rock School District, the president of the North Little Rock Classroom Teachers’ Association voiced opposition to Kimbrell’s selection based on his anti-union bias. It was clear the North Little Rock job was just a stepping stone for Kimbrell, who didn’t leave a cadre of teacher friends when he left his superintendent’s position in Paragould for North Little Rock.
The first concerns patrons of the Pulaski County Special School District should have with the state takeover is when are decisions made by Kimbrell the state commissioner and when are decisions made by Kimbrell the one-man school board? Shouldn’t all school board actions be made in an open forum?
Guess has said the unions wouldn’t budge and wouldn’t negotiate. The union, in paperwork submitted to Kimbrell, made it clear that Guess and district officials walked out of meetings and wouldn’t listen. The truth lies somewhere between.
The two sides did shave about $7 million from the district’s budget by working together, and most of that came from the teachers’ side. Those cuts resulted in a net pay cut of hundreds of dollars for many teachers and few cuts to the administrative side.
The unions reached a point where they wouldn’t bend any more and reminded the district of the desegregation money (about $20 million) coming in and there was no need to scrape for every dime yet. Both Kimbrell and Guess don’t want to look at that money, which will come in until the Legislature deals with it in the next session. Stopping those funds cold has already been thrown out in court.
The district continues to show why the unions were needed in the first place—a lack of transparency and trust. It’s been the district’s problem for more than 20 years. What Kimbrell should have done, since he closed his door to begin with, was to bring both sides in and show them the “Board of Education.”
The unions will sue, but will mostly likely lose, because in Arkansas, school boards can close their eyes and say, “Union, you don’t exist,” and poof—the union is gone. No reason required. The question legally will be: Can it be done in a closed forum as Kimbrell did?
But if the unions lose the suit, they will bide their time until the district is released from state control and candidates run for school board. The unions will back their candidates with a vengeance and the union-backed board will reinstate the union, as we’ve seen before.
If Kimbrell thinks the unions are a burden, a roadblock and thorn now, just wait.
The district would have been better off with a continued marriage, albeit rocky most of the time, rather than the ugly divorce it now has, which will affect the kids for years to come.
EVENTS >> 4-28-12
16th ANNUAL SHERWOOD MAYOR'S PRAYER BREAKFAST
The 16th annual Sherwood Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast is set for 7 a.m. Tuesday. The serving line will open at 6:45 a.m. The cost is $8 per person. The event is for business and community leaders, pastors and staff members, lay people and others from all faiths.
Mayor Virginia Hillman encourages everyone to attend and be a part of what everyone can do — pray.
Make reservations by calling Stacey Galloway at the mayor’s office at 501-835-6620 or Sylvan Hills Community Church, 501-835-1612.
The fundraiser helps purchase vision-screening devices for Cabot schools, provides eyeglasses and surgeries to Cabot-area residents, as well as provides diabetes education and environmental projects, according to Lion Jackie Jones.
SPONSORS SOUGHT FOR LRAFB SPORTS DAY ON MAY 18
The Little Rock Air Base Fitness Center Sports Day is set for Friday, May 18. The event, open to everyone in the base community, celebrates health and fitness with nonstop activities. Area businesses are sought to sponsor Sports Day.
For details about sponsorship, call 501-987-8945.
CEMETERY ASSOCIATIONS WILL HOLD EVENTS THIS WEEK
The Concord Cemetery Association will hold its annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Family Life Center at Concord United Methodist Church. People who own lots in the cemetery are invited.
Anyone who owns lots or who have family buried in the cemetery are encouraged to contribute to its maintenance and upkeep. Contributions should be mailed to the Concord Cemetery Association, c/o Karol DePriest, 436 Furlow Loop, Lonoke, Ark., 72086.
– The Bayou Meto Cemetery Association will hold its annual decoration event from 9 to 5 p.m. next Saturday and Sunday. The cemetery is at North First Street in Jacksonville.
Donations may be mailed to the Bayou Meto Cemetery Association, Attn: Larry Wilson, P.O. Box 827, Jacksonville, Ark., 72076.
JACKSONVILLE SERTOMA CLUB CELEBRATES 100 YEARS
Jacksonville Sertoma Club will mark its national organization’s 100th anniversary at noon next Wednesday at the Dupree Park pavilion. Lunch will be served.
Jacksonville Sertoma Club was chartered on Feb. 26, 1954. The Sertoma Club is the second oldest civic-service club in Jacksonville and is a leader in youth and family recreation projects. For more information, call Kristen Kennon at 501-982-4171.
JHS CLASS OF 1952's 60-YEAR REUNION SATURDAY
The Jacksonville High School Class of 1952 will hold its 60-year reunion from 2 to 5 p.m. next Saturday at The Hook, 1801 Hwy. 161 in Jacksonville. For more information, call Doris Justice Gray at 501-982-8930 or Blanche Jordan Holland at 501-835-1652.
WILDMAN WILSON AT BEEBE BANQUET ON MAY 24
Tickets are available for the Beebe Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards banquet Thursday, May 24. The dinner will be held in the Arkansas State University Student Center.
Tickets can be purchased at the following banks: Regions, First Security, Centennial and Simmons. Tickets are also available at BCC Freight Haulers and the chamber office. Steve “Wildman” Wilson of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will speak. The silent auction will begin at 6 p.m., and the auction at 7 p.m.
Awards will be given to the citizen of the year and educator of the year. A lifetime-achievement award will also be presented.
EL PASO FISH FRY FRIDAY BENEFITS PARKS, PLAYGROUND
The annual El Paso community fish fry will be held at 6 p.m. Friday in the community center. Donations to benefit the town’s parks and playground will be accepted at the door.
WARD SENIOR CITIZENS POTLUCK LUNCH THURSDAY
Ward senior citizens will begin holding a potluck lunch every week at noon on Thursdays in the Ward City Complex cafeteria.
Bring a favorite dish and $1, and enjoy dominoes and other games after lunch.
The 16th annual Sherwood Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast is set for 7 a.m. Tuesday. The serving line will open at 6:45 a.m. The cost is $8 per person. The event is for business and community leaders, pastors and staff members, lay people and others from all faiths.
Mayor Virginia Hillman encourages everyone to attend and be a part of what everyone can do — pray.
Make reservations by calling Stacey Galloway at the mayor’s office at 501-835-6620 or Sylvan Hills Community Church, 501-835-1612.
The fundraiser helps purchase vision-screening devices for Cabot schools, provides eyeglasses and surgeries to Cabot-area residents, as well as provides diabetes education and environmental projects, according to Lion Jackie Jones.
SPONSORS SOUGHT FOR LRAFB SPORTS DAY ON MAY 18
The Little Rock Air Base Fitness Center Sports Day is set for Friday, May 18. The event, open to everyone in the base community, celebrates health and fitness with nonstop activities. Area businesses are sought to sponsor Sports Day.
For details about sponsorship, call 501-987-8945.
CEMETERY ASSOCIATIONS WILL HOLD EVENTS THIS WEEK
The Concord Cemetery Association will hold its annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Family Life Center at Concord United Methodist Church. People who own lots in the cemetery are invited.
Anyone who owns lots or who have family buried in the cemetery are encouraged to contribute to its maintenance and upkeep. Contributions should be mailed to the Concord Cemetery Association, c/o Karol DePriest, 436 Furlow Loop, Lonoke, Ark., 72086.
– The Bayou Meto Cemetery Association will hold its annual decoration event from 9 to 5 p.m. next Saturday and Sunday. The cemetery is at North First Street in Jacksonville.
Donations may be mailed to the Bayou Meto Cemetery Association, Attn: Larry Wilson, P.O. Box 827, Jacksonville, Ark., 72076.
JACKSONVILLE SERTOMA CLUB CELEBRATES 100 YEARS
Jacksonville Sertoma Club will mark its national organization’s 100th anniversary at noon next Wednesday at the Dupree Park pavilion. Lunch will be served.
Jacksonville Sertoma Club was chartered on Feb. 26, 1954. The Sertoma Club is the second oldest civic-service club in Jacksonville and is a leader in youth and family recreation projects. For more information, call Kristen Kennon at 501-982-4171.
JHS CLASS OF 1952's 60-YEAR REUNION SATURDAY
The Jacksonville High School Class of 1952 will hold its 60-year reunion from 2 to 5 p.m. next Saturday at The Hook, 1801 Hwy. 161 in Jacksonville. For more information, call Doris Justice Gray at 501-982-8930 or Blanche Jordan Holland at 501-835-1652.
WILDMAN WILSON AT BEEBE BANQUET ON MAY 24
Tickets are available for the Beebe Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards banquet Thursday, May 24. The dinner will be held in the Arkansas State University Student Center.
Tickets can be purchased at the following banks: Regions, First Security, Centennial and Simmons. Tickets are also available at BCC Freight Haulers and the chamber office. Steve “Wildman” Wilson of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will speak. The silent auction will begin at 6 p.m., and the auction at 7 p.m.
Awards will be given to the citizen of the year and educator of the year. A lifetime-achievement award will also be presented.
EL PASO FISH FRY FRIDAY BENEFITS PARKS, PLAYGROUND
The annual El Paso community fish fry will be held at 6 p.m. Friday in the community center. Donations to benefit the town’s parks and playground will be accepted at the door.
WARD SENIOR CITIZENS POTLUCK LUNCH THURSDAY
Ward senior citizens will begin holding a potluck lunch every week at noon on Thursdays in the Ward City Complex cafeteria.
Bring a favorite dish and $1, and enjoy dominoes and other games after lunch.
OBITUARIES >> 4-28-12
GURSTAL GRAVES
Gurstal Rvada Graves, 87, of Ward passed away April 23.
She was born March 18, 1925, in Cromwell, Okla., to the late Odie and Mary Keenom Skaggs.
She was a homemaker and a member of the Remnant Pentecostal Church in Austin.
In addition to her parents, Mrs. Graves was preceded in death by her husband, Frank Graves, son Frank Graves Jr., and four brothers.
She is survived by her daughter, Brenda Johnson, and her husband Jerry of Beebe; her son, Gary Graves, and his wife Linda of Ward; two grandchildren, Gary Graves Jr. and his wife Julia, and Steven Paul Graves and his wife Tracy; three great-grandchildren, Joshua, Austin and Jimmy Graves, and four siblings, James Lee Skaggs of Prescott, Ariz., Billy Joe Skaggs, Odie Skaggs and Louise Stokes, all of Phoenix, Ariz., and Betty Coy of Hartshorne, Okla.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Lighthouse Pentecostal Church in Beebe. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 1 at the church, with Pastor John Scheel officiating. Interment will follow at 1 p.m. at Arkansas State Veteran’s Cemetery in North Little Rock.
Arrangements are by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
ZEDA SHEARER
Zeda Leona Shearer, 88, of Austin changed her residence from Earth to Heaven on April 25.
She was born Aug. 3, 1923, in Brumett and was a member of the Assembly of God Church.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Ernest Gregory, and second husband, Rev. Preston Shearer; her parents, Rob and Barbara Herring; son Clifton Eugene Gregory; stepson Danny Shearer and eight siblings.
Left to cherish her memory are her children, Bill Gregory and his wife Marilyn of Austin, Cliff Gregory and his wife Mary of Jacksonville, and Lenora Shearer of Cabot; three stepchildren, Dathel Balch and her husband Bob of Clewiston, Fla., Maradean Jarrett of Searcy, and Janet Matlock and her husband Donnie of Fort Smith; 14 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, and a host of friends.
The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 28 at Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home. Pastor Happy Caldwell and Pastor David Harper will officiate. Interment will be at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Cabot.
The family thanks the staff of Cabot Nursing and Rehabilitation and Arkansas Hospice for their exceptional care of Mrs. Shearer.
GUY SPENCE
Guy D. Spence, 90, of Ward, passed away April 27.
He was born Feb. 22, 1922, in Arkansas to the late Earl A. and Cynthia Spence.
He was also preceded in death by wife Fern Stevenson Spence; another wife, Emma Jean Smith Spence; brother Milburn Spence; sisters, Dorothy Cates and Willie Ann Spence; a grandson, Rodney Spence; a great-grandson, Seth Allen McMurtry, and stepson Lindy Smith.
He is survived by children, Mike Spence and his wife Sharon of Austin, Doris Raymond of Sherwood, Janice Duncan and her husband Frank of Quitman, Deborah Hodges and her husband Loyd and Terry McMurtry and her husband Harold of Austin; stepchildren, Harold Smith, Diane Mayhair and Donna Callison and her husband Larry, all of Cabot; siblings, Earl K. Spence and his wife Alice, James Lon Spence and his wife Marilyn, Jerry Spence and his wife Pearl and Joyce White and his her husband T.C.; eight grandchildren, James McMurtry, Shawn Raymond, Randy Raymond, Keith Duncan, Tina Griffin, Angela Cooper, Dawn Lewis and Holly Hodges, 16 great-grandchildren, seven step grandchildren, 15 step-great-grandchildren and one step-great-great-grandchild.
Visitation will be at 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday, April 30 at Christ Worship Center in Cabot.
Interment will be at Concord Cemetery.
Arrangements are by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
GENEVA WILSON
Geneva Baldwin-Wilson, 74, died April 26.
She is survived by her husband, Tim Wilson; daughter Virginia Baldwin; son Tim Wilson Jr.; one brother, Bill Allen; two sisters, Shirley Henry and Linda Gerski, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Boyd Funeral Home.
The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Monday, April 30 at Boyd Funeral Home in Lonoke with interment at Brownsville Cemetery.
Arrangements are by Boyd Funeral Home.
OLA WILLEMS
Ola Mae Willems, 87, of Beebe passed away April 25 in Beebe. She was born Nov. 24, 1924.
She was preceded in death by her parents, a daughter and a son. She is survived by four grandchildren, Michael McDonald and his wife Terri of Cabot, Ricky McDonald of North Little Rock, Barry McDonald of Texas and Joseph McDonald of Arkansas; three great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
Interment was at Evans Cemetery. Arrangements were by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
DONNA KENNEDY
Donna Kennedy, 42, of Searcy was born June 28, 1969, in Beebe to Robert Hughin and Norma Sue Bevill Vincent, and she died April 20.
Donna is survived by three children, Erica Brooks and her husband Aaron of Searcy, Megan Smith and husband Jonathan of Searcy, and Scott Clause of Bald Knob; her mother, Norma Sue Vincent, of McRae and her husband David Kennedy of McRae; a brother, Martin Vincent, of Beebe; two sisters, Rebecca Goodman of Searcy and Julie Shelby of McRae, six nieces, three nephews, one nephew-in-law, two great-nieces and one great-nephew.
Donna was preceded in death by her father, Robert Hughin Vincent; two brothers, David Charles Vincent and Jordan Ross Vincent.
The funeral was April 27, with burial in Antioch Cemetery.
RONNIE COLBERT SR.
Ronnie Colbert Sr., 70, of Ward passed away April 22.
He was born Feb. 10, 1942, to the late R.L. and Armilee Colbert in Booneville.
He was also preceded in death by his stepmother, Bernice Colbert; brother Wayne Colbert, and sister-in-law “Duck.”
He is survived by his wife, Rita Colbert, of Ward; four children, James Harley Colbert and his wife Susan of Rachel, W.V., Ronnie Colbert Jr. and his wife Maria of Ward, Terry Lynn Colbert and his wife Melinda and Timothy Ray Colbert and his wife Angela, both of Austin; two stepchildren, James Edward Millsap of Antioch and Steven Thomas Millsap and his wife Annette of Ward; two brothers, Jerrie Powell Colbert of Little Rock and Demilee Colbert of Ward, 19 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren, along with many other family members and friends.
The funeral was April 25 at Antioch Cemetery.
Arrangements were by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
Gurstal Rvada Graves, 87, of Ward passed away April 23.
She was born March 18, 1925, in Cromwell, Okla., to the late Odie and Mary Keenom Skaggs.
She was a homemaker and a member of the Remnant Pentecostal Church in Austin.
In addition to her parents, Mrs. Graves was preceded in death by her husband, Frank Graves, son Frank Graves Jr., and four brothers.
She is survived by her daughter, Brenda Johnson, and her husband Jerry of Beebe; her son, Gary Graves, and his wife Linda of Ward; two grandchildren, Gary Graves Jr. and his wife Julia, and Steven Paul Graves and his wife Tracy; three great-grandchildren, Joshua, Austin and Jimmy Graves, and four siblings, James Lee Skaggs of Prescott, Ariz., Billy Joe Skaggs, Odie Skaggs and Louise Stokes, all of Phoenix, Ariz., and Betty Coy of Hartshorne, Okla.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Lighthouse Pentecostal Church in Beebe. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 1 at the church, with Pastor John Scheel officiating. Interment will follow at 1 p.m. at Arkansas State Veteran’s Cemetery in North Little Rock.
Arrangements are by Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home.
ZEDA SHEARER
Zeda Leona Shearer, 88, of Austin changed her residence from Earth to Heaven on April 25.
She was born Aug. 3, 1923, in Brumett and was a member of the Assembly of God Church.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Ernest Gregory, and second husband, Rev. Preston Shearer; her parents, Rob and Barbara Herring; son Clifton Eugene Gregory; stepson Danny Shearer and eight siblings.
Left to cherish her memory are her children, Bill Gregory and his wife Marilyn of Austin, Cliff Gregory and his wife Mary of Jacksonville, and Lenora Shearer of Cabot; three stepchildren, Dathel Balch and her husband Bob of Clewiston, Fla., Maradean Jarrett of Searcy, and Janet Matlock and her husband Donnie of Fort Smith; 14 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, and a host of friends.
The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 28 at Moore’s Cabot Funeral Home. Pastor Happy Caldwell and Pastor David Harper will officiate. Interment will be at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Cabot.
The family thanks the staff of Cabot Nursing and Rehabilitation and Arkansas Hospice for their exceptional care of Mrs. Shearer.
GUY SPENCE
Guy D. Spence, 90, of Ward, passed away April 27.
He was born Feb. 22, 1922, in Arkansas to the late Earl A. and Cynthia Spence.
He was also preceded in death by wife Fern Stevenson Spence; another wife, Emma Jean Smith Spence; brother Milburn Spence; sisters, Dorothy Cates and Willie Ann Spence; a grandson, Rodney Spence; a great-grandson, Seth Allen McMurtry, and stepson Lindy Smith.
He is survived by children, Mike Spence and his wife Sharon of Austin, Doris Raymond of Sherwood, Janice Duncan and her husband Frank of Quitman, Deborah Hodges and her husband Loyd and Terry McMurtry and her husband Harold of Austin; stepchildren, Harold Smith, Diane Mayhair and Donna Callison and her husband Larry, all of Cabot; siblings, Earl K. Spence and his wife Alice, James Lon Spence and his wife Marilyn, Jerry Spence and his wife Pearl and Joyce White and his her husband T.C.; eight grandchildren, James McMurtry, Shawn Raymond, Randy Raymond, Keith Duncan, Tina Griffin, Angela Cooper, Dawn Lewis and Holly Hodges, 16 great-grandchildren, seven step grandchildren, 15 step-great-grandchildren and one step-great-great-grandchild.
Visitation will be at 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday, April 30 at Christ Worship Center in Cabot.
Interment will be at Concord Cemetery.
Arrangements are by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
GENEVA WILSON
Geneva Baldwin-Wilson, 74, died April 26.
She is survived by her husband, Tim Wilson; daughter Virginia Baldwin; son Tim Wilson Jr.; one brother, Bill Allen; two sisters, Shirley Henry and Linda Gerski, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Boyd Funeral Home.
The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Monday, April 30 at Boyd Funeral Home in Lonoke with interment at Brownsville Cemetery.
Arrangements are by Boyd Funeral Home.
OLA WILLEMS
Ola Mae Willems, 87, of Beebe passed away April 25 in Beebe. She was born Nov. 24, 1924.
She was preceded in death by her parents, a daughter and a son. She is survived by four grandchildren, Michael McDonald and his wife Terri of Cabot, Ricky McDonald of North Little Rock, Barry McDonald of Texas and Joseph McDonald of Arkansas; three great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
Interment was at Evans Cemetery. Arrangements were by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
DONNA KENNEDY
Donna Kennedy, 42, of Searcy was born June 28, 1969, in Beebe to Robert Hughin and Norma Sue Bevill Vincent, and she died April 20.
Donna is survived by three children, Erica Brooks and her husband Aaron of Searcy, Megan Smith and husband Jonathan of Searcy, and Scott Clause of Bald Knob; her mother, Norma Sue Vincent, of McRae and her husband David Kennedy of McRae; a brother, Martin Vincent, of Beebe; two sisters, Rebecca Goodman of Searcy and Julie Shelby of McRae, six nieces, three nephews, one nephew-in-law, two great-nieces and one great-nephew.
Donna was preceded in death by her father, Robert Hughin Vincent; two brothers, David Charles Vincent and Jordan Ross Vincent.
The funeral was April 27, with burial in Antioch Cemetery.
RONNIE COLBERT SR.
Ronnie Colbert Sr., 70, of Ward passed away April 22.
He was born Feb. 10, 1942, to the late R.L. and Armilee Colbert in Booneville.
He was also preceded in death by his stepmother, Bernice Colbert; brother Wayne Colbert, and sister-in-law “Duck.”
He is survived by his wife, Rita Colbert, of Ward; four children, James Harley Colbert and his wife Susan of Rachel, W.V., Ronnie Colbert Jr. and his wife Maria of Ward, Terry Lynn Colbert and his wife Melinda and Timothy Ray Colbert and his wife Angela, both of Austin; two stepchildren, James Edward Millsap of Antioch and Steven Thomas Millsap and his wife Annette of Ward; two brothers, Jerrie Powell Colbert of Little Rock and Demilee Colbert of Ward, 19 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren, along with many other family members and friends.
The funeral was April 25 at Antioch Cemetery.
Arrangements were by Thomas Funeral Service in Cabot.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
EDITORIAL >> Anniversaries worth noting
We salute First Electric Cooperative, which this week, along with North Metro Medical Center, celebrates a significant anniversary.
For First Electric Cooperative, which is marking 75 years of rural electrification and the progress which followed, the occasion requires mention of its huge contribution to the area’s development. The cooperative’s expansive efforts to provide electricity to much of our community’s rural confines cannot be measured without noting its contribution to almost all aspects of local life from simple family living, to farming, schools and industrial and commercial enterprises. The cooperative’s expansion of electrical services led to commercial and residential development of central Arkansas counties, including north Pulaski, White, Lonoke and Prairie.
The cooperative should also be praised for sustaining the notion of “cooperative” and for giving back a significant portion of its profits each year not only to its shareholders but also to worthy institutions within its service area with its Operation Round-Up made possible by customers who round up their payment to the nearest dollar. Among those recipients that have received community grants over the years are the Boys and Girls Club of Jacksonville, Fishnet Missions, Cabot Community Alliance, Antioch Fire Department, Ward Public Library, CS&Z Volunteer Fire Department and the Little Rock Air Force Base Historical Society.
First Electric also distributes capital credits each year to the cooperatives’ members or customers. This year’s refund came to nearly $4 million and represented the members’ share of the remaining revenue after the cost of operation.
The cooperative’s response in emergencies is also commendable. Local emergencies, such as storm-related power outages, are dealt with as quickly as possible and the cooperative also responds to storm-related outages outside its local area. Of memory are the cooperative’s response to Hurricane Katrina related outages in south Mississippi and Louisiana and to the more recent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma and Missouri, not to mention last year’s devastating storm in Joplin, Mo.
Notification to the public in local outages is timely, and officials are always responsive out of normal working hours.
Where would central Arkansas be without the cooperative? That’s a question we can only ponder.
North Metro Medical Center, on the other hand, celebrating its 50th anniversary, is an institution that once thrived as a city-owned hospital when there were few hospitals within a four-county area. That changed and so did North Metro’s balance sheet.
Its recent acquisition by Allegiance Health Systems and its promise to deliver up-to-date, quality health care could be a trailblazer in reviving Jacksonville’s economic development.
North Metro Medical Center was originally named Rebsamen Medical Center and was founded by Kenneth Pat Wilson, who formed a board of prominent businessmen to run a city-owned hospital. It was the visionary Wilson who led the group that worked to secure land for Little Rock Air Force Base 60 years ago. They knew the area would grow as a result and that quality health care would be a priority for military families and the community. As the landscape for health care changed running a hospital became a rigorous proposition, which most cities are no longer prepared to manage.
Allegiance’s acquisition of the hospital seems to be a good fit for the area and along with nearby Jacksonville Medical Clinic, will provide the type of care the community needs, quality emergency, medical, surgical and cardiac care, rehabilitation facilities and top-notch diagnostic capabilities. A recent partnership with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Hospital for expert radiological imaging diagnosis can only bode well for the future, providing oversight by the experts.
North Metro is also becoming known for its wound-healing center, a state-of-the-art sleep center, laboratory and medical imaging departments, inpatient geriatric psychiatry, orthopedic surgery, a new surgical inpatient and medical inpatient units in addition to recently reopened cardiac-catheterization and interventional-radiology labs.
The Leader is also marking a significant anniversary of 25 years serving four counties in needed news and advertising services. Local news is all important today and about the only place to find serious news about local government, crime and events is right here in your local newspaper.
The Leader has striven for 25 years to provide our local readers with news they need to understand their communities, schools and businesses.The Leader has also striven to provide advertising that satisfies the needs of our communities’ residents from groceries to pharmaceuticals to vehicles and car care. We know that a well-rounded newspaper not only satisfies the need for local news but also for local products and where to find the best prices.
A recent study by the PEW institute on journalism pointed out that most adults receive their local news, serious news, from their local newspapers.
Help us to continue to provide you with the local news, advertising and commentary you need.
Congratulations to all concerned.
For First Electric Cooperative, which is marking 75 years of rural electrification and the progress which followed, the occasion requires mention of its huge contribution to the area’s development. The cooperative’s expansive efforts to provide electricity to much of our community’s rural confines cannot be measured without noting its contribution to almost all aspects of local life from simple family living, to farming, schools and industrial and commercial enterprises. The cooperative’s expansion of electrical services led to commercial and residential development of central Arkansas counties, including north Pulaski, White, Lonoke and Prairie.
The cooperative should also be praised for sustaining the notion of “cooperative” and for giving back a significant portion of its profits each year not only to its shareholders but also to worthy institutions within its service area with its Operation Round-Up made possible by customers who round up their payment to the nearest dollar. Among those recipients that have received community grants over the years are the Boys and Girls Club of Jacksonville, Fishnet Missions, Cabot Community Alliance, Antioch Fire Department, Ward Public Library, CS&Z Volunteer Fire Department and the Little Rock Air Force Base Historical Society.
First Electric also distributes capital credits each year to the cooperatives’ members or customers. This year’s refund came to nearly $4 million and represented the members’ share of the remaining revenue after the cost of operation.
The cooperative’s response in emergencies is also commendable. Local emergencies, such as storm-related power outages, are dealt with as quickly as possible and the cooperative also responds to storm-related outages outside its local area. Of memory are the cooperative’s response to Hurricane Katrina related outages in south Mississippi and Louisiana and to the more recent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma and Missouri, not to mention last year’s devastating storm in Joplin, Mo.
Notification to the public in local outages is timely, and officials are always responsive out of normal working hours.
Where would central Arkansas be without the cooperative? That’s a question we can only ponder.
North Metro Medical Center, on the other hand, celebrating its 50th anniversary, is an institution that once thrived as a city-owned hospital when there were few hospitals within a four-county area. That changed and so did North Metro’s balance sheet.
Its recent acquisition by Allegiance Health Systems and its promise to deliver up-to-date, quality health care could be a trailblazer in reviving Jacksonville’s economic development.
North Metro Medical Center was originally named Rebsamen Medical Center and was founded by Kenneth Pat Wilson, who formed a board of prominent businessmen to run a city-owned hospital. It was the visionary Wilson who led the group that worked to secure land for Little Rock Air Force Base 60 years ago. They knew the area would grow as a result and that quality health care would be a priority for military families and the community. As the landscape for health care changed running a hospital became a rigorous proposition, which most cities are no longer prepared to manage.
Allegiance’s acquisition of the hospital seems to be a good fit for the area and along with nearby Jacksonville Medical Clinic, will provide the type of care the community needs, quality emergency, medical, surgical and cardiac care, rehabilitation facilities and top-notch diagnostic capabilities. A recent partnership with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Hospital for expert radiological imaging diagnosis can only bode well for the future, providing oversight by the experts.
North Metro is also becoming known for its wound-healing center, a state-of-the-art sleep center, laboratory and medical imaging departments, inpatient geriatric psychiatry, orthopedic surgery, a new surgical inpatient and medical inpatient units in addition to recently reopened cardiac-catheterization and interventional-radiology labs.
The Leader is also marking a significant anniversary of 25 years serving four counties in needed news and advertising services. Local news is all important today and about the only place to find serious news about local government, crime and events is right here in your local newspaper.
The Leader has striven for 25 years to provide our local readers with news they need to understand their communities, schools and businesses.The Leader has also striven to provide advertising that satisfies the needs of our communities’ residents from groceries to pharmaceuticals to vehicles and car care. We know that a well-rounded newspaper not only satisfies the need for local news but also for local products and where to find the best prices.
A recent study by the PEW institute on journalism pointed out that most adults receive their local news, serious news, from their local newspapers.
Help us to continue to provide you with the local news, advertising and commentary you need.
Congratulations to all concerned.
TOP STORY >> 75th anniversary for First Electric
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
First Electric Cooperative, the first nonprofit power utility in the state, will celebrate 75 years of tremendous growth from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday in its Jacksonville community room at 1000 S. J.P. Wright Loop Road.
The nonprofit was incorporated on April 26, 1937, as the first electric cooperative in Arkansas under the Rural Electrification Act. There are now 17 cooperatives in the state.
The first power lines began operating on April 15, 1938, near Jacksonville.
First Electric started out with three employees and 150 customers.
Now, it caters to more than 88,000 active accounts in 17 central and southeast Arkansas counties.
First Electric employs more than 225 people, said Tonya Everhart, vice president of marketing and communications.
Full-service offices are located in Jacksonville, Benton, Heber Springs, Perryville and Stuttgart.
According to the company’s website, most of First Electric’s customers, about 21,300, live in Saline County.
Lonoke County comes in second with approximately 19,250.
About 12,500 live in Pulaski and about 7,100 are in White County.
But customers aren’t customers. They are members.
Everhart explained that at the end of each year, members are sent whatever money First Electric gets that isn’t needed for operating expenditures. That budget is based on an average over several previous years.
The money that is returned to members is called capital credits. A check is mailed if the money the member is getting back is more than $20.
If the amount is less than that, members get a credit on their bills.
At Thursday’s event, there will be a drawing for a $75 bill credit at each of the five offices. Members can register to win that.
Anyone who attends can watch a short film on the organization’s history, a look at memorabilia, comments by President/CEO Don Crabbe and Chairman Robert Hill, a proclamation by Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher, posting of the colors by the Cabot High School Air Force Junior ROTC and a musical performance by REAL Entertaining.
First Electric has experienced many transitions since the ‘30s.
Everhart said, “You’re going to get a different response from everyone in the organization — depending on what their job is and what their task is — about what has been the biggest improvement or changes in our organization. You can go from everything where somebody in accounting might say it’s the computers that came about that significantly changed how they do their job. Because there is a lady in our accounting department that has been here since the 70s and she remembers when they had the mainframes. They had one large computer that would take care of that. Today, everyone has the personal computer they work from.
“For the servicemen, or for the lineman, it might be that they went from setting a pole by hand to now to having a digger truck and everything they have to have to do their job.
“Or for the marketing department, we work with the (Arkansas Electric Cooperative Association) to produce our statewide magazine. We found these old plates. We went from printing plates to doing everything digital.
“Or that we went from having meter readers go out to read all of our meters to going to the digital readers. The information is sent back to our system so we don’t have to send the meter readers out. It’s more accurate. It makes us more efficient.
“With cooperatives it’s about doing our job as efficiently and effectively as possible because with the cooperative, at the end of the day, it’s about the capital credits we turn back to our members.
The one thing that has remained the same over the 75 years is our commitment to our membership. We are service-driven, not profit driven.”
Everhart said First Electric will continue to provide the same, reliable, affordable service to its members for the next 75 years.
“How it may be provided to them may be different. Will it be through coal, or natural gas or renewable energy source? Whatever it may be we want to do what’s best for our membership,” she said.
Leader staff writer
First Electric Cooperative, the first nonprofit power utility in the state, will celebrate 75 years of tremendous growth from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday in its Jacksonville community room at 1000 S. J.P. Wright Loop Road.
The nonprofit was incorporated on April 26, 1937, as the first electric cooperative in Arkansas under the Rural Electrification Act. There are now 17 cooperatives in the state.
The first power lines began operating on April 15, 1938, near Jacksonville.
First Electric started out with three employees and 150 customers.
Now, it caters to more than 88,000 active accounts in 17 central and southeast Arkansas counties.
First Electric employs more than 225 people, said Tonya Everhart, vice president of marketing and communications.
Full-service offices are located in Jacksonville, Benton, Heber Springs, Perryville and Stuttgart.
According to the company’s website, most of First Electric’s customers, about 21,300, live in Saline County.
Lonoke County comes in second with approximately 19,250.
About 12,500 live in Pulaski and about 7,100 are in White County.
But customers aren’t customers. They are members.
Everhart explained that at the end of each year, members are sent whatever money First Electric gets that isn’t needed for operating expenditures. That budget is based on an average over several previous years.
The money that is returned to members is called capital credits. A check is mailed if the money the member is getting back is more than $20.
If the amount is less than that, members get a credit on their bills.
At Thursday’s event, there will be a drawing for a $75 bill credit at each of the five offices. Members can register to win that.
Anyone who attends can watch a short film on the organization’s history, a look at memorabilia, comments by President/CEO Don Crabbe and Chairman Robert Hill, a proclamation by Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher, posting of the colors by the Cabot High School Air Force Junior ROTC and a musical performance by REAL Entertaining.
First Electric has experienced many transitions since the ‘30s.
Everhart said, “You’re going to get a different response from everyone in the organization — depending on what their job is and what their task is — about what has been the biggest improvement or changes in our organization. You can go from everything where somebody in accounting might say it’s the computers that came about that significantly changed how they do their job. Because there is a lady in our accounting department that has been here since the 70s and she remembers when they had the mainframes. They had one large computer that would take care of that. Today, everyone has the personal computer they work from.
“For the servicemen, or for the lineman, it might be that they went from setting a pole by hand to now to having a digger truck and everything they have to have to do their job.
“Or for the marketing department, we work with the (Arkansas Electric Cooperative Association) to produce our statewide magazine. We found these old plates. We went from printing plates to doing everything digital.
“Or that we went from having meter readers go out to read all of our meters to going to the digital readers. The information is sent back to our system so we don’t have to send the meter readers out. It’s more accurate. It makes us more efficient.
“With cooperatives it’s about doing our job as efficiently and effectively as possible because with the cooperative, at the end of the day, it’s about the capital credits we turn back to our members.
The one thing that has remained the same over the 75 years is our commitment to our membership. We are service-driven, not profit driven.”
Everhart said First Electric will continue to provide the same, reliable, affordable service to its members for the next 75 years.
“How it may be provided to them may be different. Will it be through coal, or natural gas or renewable energy source? Whatever it may be we want to do what’s best for our membership,” she said.
TOP STORY >> Cabot Strawberry Festival this weekend
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
The 10th annual Cabot Strawberry Festival will kick off Thursday and run through Saturday at the Veterans Park Community Center.
The event, sponsored by the Junior Auxiliary of Cabot, has many activities for youngsters and adults. Admission is free.
“The Junior Auxiliary of Cabot is excited to host the 10th annual Strawberry Festival. We plan for another great year of family fun with local strawberries and activities for all ages. Come support the children in the Cabot community at the Cabot Strawberry Festival,” publicity chairwoman Tiffany Duhamel said.
All proceeds from the festival help support many projects the Junior Auxiliary holds throughout the year to help the children in the Cabot community, Duhamel said.
The carnival will be open for rides from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. Thrill seekers will need to purchase tickets at the festival for the rides. Carnival tickets are $3 each and each ride is 1 ticket. A book of 10 tickets is $25. Armbands are $20 for unlimited rides from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
The festival will have up to 34 vendors offering a variety of goods. Farmers will be selling freshly picked Cabot-grown strawberries. The junior auxiliary will be selling strawberry jam for $6, strawberry shortcakes for $3 and Strawberry Festival T-shirts for $12.
Vendor hours are 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Friday night’s entertainment will have karate and dance demonstrations. Miss Cabot Bailey Moses will perform a jazz dance. Bailey Stracener will sing country songs, Emily Freeman and Jade Gibbs will sing together, Miss Central Arkansas Erin Larsen will sing, leading up to a performance by Exit 111 from 8 to 10 p.m. outside.
The Miss Strawberry Festival pageant will start at 9 a.m. Saturday. Registration form can be downloaded at www.cabotstrawberryfestival.com.
Gymnastics and dance teams will perform throughout the day.
Admission to the Berry Patch children’s area is $5. Youngsters can jump around in two bounce houses or visit animals at a petting zoo. The Mommie Magic Clown will perform magic tricks and making balloon animals from 9 a.m. to noon.
The Home Depot will be at the festival in the morning with children craft projects. Austin Police Department K-9 officer Keith Stiles will be with police dog Lord Edward at 2 p.m.
Leader staff writer
The 10th annual Cabot Strawberry Festival will kick off Thursday and run through Saturday at the Veterans Park Community Center.
The event, sponsored by the Junior Auxiliary of Cabot, has many activities for youngsters and adults. Admission is free.
“The Junior Auxiliary of Cabot is excited to host the 10th annual Strawberry Festival. We plan for another great year of family fun with local strawberries and activities for all ages. Come support the children in the Cabot community at the Cabot Strawberry Festival,” publicity chairwoman Tiffany Duhamel said.
All proceeds from the festival help support many projects the Junior Auxiliary holds throughout the year to help the children in the Cabot community, Duhamel said.
The carnival will be open for rides from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. Thrill seekers will need to purchase tickets at the festival for the rides. Carnival tickets are $3 each and each ride is 1 ticket. A book of 10 tickets is $25. Armbands are $20 for unlimited rides from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
The festival will have up to 34 vendors offering a variety of goods. Farmers will be selling freshly picked Cabot-grown strawberries. The junior auxiliary will be selling strawberry jam for $6, strawberry shortcakes for $3 and Strawberry Festival T-shirts for $12.
Vendor hours are 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Friday night’s entertainment will have karate and dance demonstrations. Miss Cabot Bailey Moses will perform a jazz dance. Bailey Stracener will sing country songs, Emily Freeman and Jade Gibbs will sing together, Miss Central Arkansas Erin Larsen will sing, leading up to a performance by Exit 111 from 8 to 10 p.m. outside.
The Miss Strawberry Festival pageant will start at 9 a.m. Saturday. Registration form can be downloaded at www.cabotstrawberryfestival.com.
Gymnastics and dance teams will perform throughout the day.
Admission to the Berry Patch children’s area is $5. Youngsters can jump around in two bounce houses or visit animals at a petting zoo. The Mommie Magic Clown will perform magic tricks and making balloon animals from 9 a.m. to noon.
The Home Depot will be at the festival in the morning with children craft projects. Austin Police Department K-9 officer Keith Stiles will be with police dog Lord Edward at 2 p.m.
TOP STORY >> PCSSD unions try to survive amid turmoil
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Alleging that the state Education Department and the Pulaski County Special School District are intent upon illegally dismantling 40 years worth of teacher and support staff gains, the district’s two unions are fighting for their lives after losing their certification last week.
But the unions say they won’t strike now, according to Marty Nix, president of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers.
“We want to put fears to rest,” Nix said. “There won’t be a strike. We want to finish the year on a good note.”
Nix said negotiators for PACT and for the Pulaski Association of Support Staff entered budget talks with the district believing that both sides were interested in bringing the budget under control.
But it soon became apparent, she said, that the state and the district wanted to use the declining legal fund balance to pry open the entire contract and throw out most of the gains that two of the most powerful unions in the state had made on behalf of their members.
Nix said the declining-legal-fund-balance fiscal-distress designation was just the lever officials needed.
The district has been overturned in court in the past when attempting to run off the unions, she pointed out.
The next stop is Pulaski County Circuit Court, where the unions will challenge Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell’s instructions late Friday to Superintendent Jerry Guess to cease recognition of the unions as the bargaining agents.
Kimbrell told Guess to implement the sweeping cuts and changes in Guess’ proposal, even changes in conflict with the existing union contract set to expire in 2015.
Current contract would be honored only through the end of this school year. Pay cuts will go into effect in the fall.
The state has designated the district as being in fiscal distress twice in the last year — once for financial mismanagement, once for having a declining legal fund balance. The district and the state say PCSSD will be $32 million in the red by the end of the 2016-2017 school year unless dramatic cuts are made.
Guess has said that without a onetime windfall property tax infusion of about $15 million this year, the district would have finished $3 million in the hole.
“They want to reopen the contracts and put what they want in it,” said Emry Chesterfield, president of the Pulaski Association of Support Staff.
Nix and Chesterfield were given a unanimous vote of approval by union members at Monday’s emergency meeting.
“Morale is low, but we’re taking a conservative approach,” said Jacksonville High School math teacher Teressia Phillips as she left the meeting.
“We worked our behinds off in good faith,” Nix said. “I don’t think there was reciprocation at all.”
Nix calls it an “alleged” budget deficit and denies administrators’ claims that employee pay and benefits are at the root of the problem.
She says she’ll never apologize for fighting to get a good salary and benefits for employees.
“Did those gains contributed to a declining legal fund balance?” she asked. “No.”
She said that several years ago, teachers agreed to a three-year pay freeze, contributing to a $21 million legal fund balance, and that it’s not the union’s fault that the school board frittered the money away.
“This is the second year in a row we’ve agreed to a zero percent pay raise,” Nix said.
Clayton Blackstock, lawyer for the two unions, said Tuesday he hadn’t met with the union representatives since the emergency meeting and couldn’t say what kind of relief would be sought, on what grounds or when.
But promptly, Nix said.
VICE PRESIDENTIAL SALARY
Kimbrell hired Guess at $261,547 a year — an amount that union members like to note is more than the vice president of the United States makes.
They say the district has more than 50 administrators making more than $100,000 a year and another 90 or so making more than the teacher’s average salary of $61,856.
But while teachers are losing two paid days a year and pay for other nonteaching duties, “not a dime” is coming from the salary or benefits of those 140 employees,” according to the unions.
NEW TERMS FOR TEACHERS
On Monday, PCSSD teachers were delivered letters in which Guess informed them they would not be rehired under the terms of the old contract, but would be renewed on different terms and conditions including:
Reduction of teacher salary schedule by two days.
Elimination of bus duty payments.
Elimination of payments for supervision 30 minutes before breakfast tutoring.
Leader senior staff writer
Alleging that the state Education Department and the Pulaski County Special School District are intent upon illegally dismantling 40 years worth of teacher and support staff gains, the district’s two unions are fighting for their lives after losing their certification last week.
But the unions say they won’t strike now, according to Marty Nix, president of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers.
“We want to put fears to rest,” Nix said. “There won’t be a strike. We want to finish the year on a good note.”
Nix said negotiators for PACT and for the Pulaski Association of Support Staff entered budget talks with the district believing that both sides were interested in bringing the budget under control.
But it soon became apparent, she said, that the state and the district wanted to use the declining legal fund balance to pry open the entire contract and throw out most of the gains that two of the most powerful unions in the state had made on behalf of their members.
Nix said the declining-legal-fund-balance fiscal-distress designation was just the lever officials needed.
The district has been overturned in court in the past when attempting to run off the unions, she pointed out.
The next stop is Pulaski County Circuit Court, where the unions will challenge Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell’s instructions late Friday to Superintendent Jerry Guess to cease recognition of the unions as the bargaining agents.
Kimbrell told Guess to implement the sweeping cuts and changes in Guess’ proposal, even changes in conflict with the existing union contract set to expire in 2015.
Current contract would be honored only through the end of this school year. Pay cuts will go into effect in the fall.
The state has designated the district as being in fiscal distress twice in the last year — once for financial mismanagement, once for having a declining legal fund balance. The district and the state say PCSSD will be $32 million in the red by the end of the 2016-2017 school year unless dramatic cuts are made.
Guess has said that without a onetime windfall property tax infusion of about $15 million this year, the district would have finished $3 million in the hole.
“They want to reopen the contracts and put what they want in it,” said Emry Chesterfield, president of the Pulaski Association of Support Staff.
Nix and Chesterfield were given a unanimous vote of approval by union members at Monday’s emergency meeting.
“Morale is low, but we’re taking a conservative approach,” said Jacksonville High School math teacher Teressia Phillips as she left the meeting.
“We worked our behinds off in good faith,” Nix said. “I don’t think there was reciprocation at all.”
Nix calls it an “alleged” budget deficit and denies administrators’ claims that employee pay and benefits are at the root of the problem.
She says she’ll never apologize for fighting to get a good salary and benefits for employees.
“Did those gains contributed to a declining legal fund balance?” she asked. “No.”
She said that several years ago, teachers agreed to a three-year pay freeze, contributing to a $21 million legal fund balance, and that it’s not the union’s fault that the school board frittered the money away.
“This is the second year in a row we’ve agreed to a zero percent pay raise,” Nix said.
Clayton Blackstock, lawyer for the two unions, said Tuesday he hadn’t met with the union representatives since the emergency meeting and couldn’t say what kind of relief would be sought, on what grounds or when.
But promptly, Nix said.
VICE PRESIDENTIAL SALARY
Kimbrell hired Guess at $261,547 a year — an amount that union members like to note is more than the vice president of the United States makes.
They say the district has more than 50 administrators making more than $100,000 a year and another 90 or so making more than the teacher’s average salary of $61,856.
But while teachers are losing two paid days a year and pay for other nonteaching duties, “not a dime” is coming from the salary or benefits of those 140 employees,” according to the unions.
NEW TERMS FOR TEACHERS
On Monday, PCSSD teachers were delivered letters in which Guess informed them they would not be rehired under the terms of the old contract, but would be renewed on different terms and conditions including:
Reduction of teacher salary schedule by two days.
Elimination of bus duty payments.
Elimination of payments for supervision 30 minutes before breakfast tutoring.
Elimination of compensation for lunch/recess duty for certified personnel.
Elimination of annual attendance incentive pay.
Elimination of one bereavement leave day
Phasing out 4 percent compensation for profession growth contracts.
Elimination of severance pay.
Changing “accrued” leave to “sick leave and reducing such leave by two days per year.
n Implementation of the new policies proposed by the Certified Personnel Policies Committee, effective July 1.
Both Guess and Kiimbrell say they have the authority to abrogate the existing contract, but so far, neither has cited specific authority.
The state does have the authority to fire a superintendent and dissolve a school board, Nix said Monday night, but, “we know our contract is binding, even in a right-to-work state.”
State law requires a personnel policy committee to represent teachers and another for classified personnel unless they are represented by unions, and employees and administrators already have formed those committees to replace the unions.
The unions have challenged those personnel policy committees in court, saying they were improperly constituted.
The state fired first-year superintendent Charles Hopson and dissolved the local school board, and Kimbrell, stepping in as a one-man board, hired Guess, a respected administrator, to clean up the mess.
Guess said the district needed to cut $11 million from its budget for next school year, and he and the unions were in agreement on about $7 million worth of cuts. Nix said the unions offered not only concessions but a plan to cut the rest, but after months of negotiating and mediation, district administrators were unsatisfied.
Among projected savings from some of the changes, Guess said retiring teachers were paid $800,000 in severance pay last year, have accrued leave in lieu of sick leave, which costs the district about $500,000 a year, and a liberal professional growth compensation policy that essentially pays teachers for lax, self-taught classes instead of the more rigorous post graduate courses required in virtually all other school districts.
Elimination of annual attendance incentive pay.
Elimination of one bereavement leave day
Phasing out 4 percent compensation for profession growth contracts.
Elimination of severance pay.
Changing “accrued” leave to “sick leave and reducing such leave by two days per year.
n Implementation of the new policies proposed by the Certified Personnel Policies Committee, effective July 1.
Both Guess and Kiimbrell say they have the authority to abrogate the existing contract, but so far, neither has cited specific authority.
The state does have the authority to fire a superintendent and dissolve a school board, Nix said Monday night, but, “we know our contract is binding, even in a right-to-work state.”
State law requires a personnel policy committee to represent teachers and another for classified personnel unless they are represented by unions, and employees and administrators already have formed those committees to replace the unions.
The unions have challenged those personnel policy committees in court, saying they were improperly constituted.
The state fired first-year superintendent Charles Hopson and dissolved the local school board, and Kimbrell, stepping in as a one-man board, hired Guess, a respected administrator, to clean up the mess.
Guess said the district needed to cut $11 million from its budget for next school year, and he and the unions were in agreement on about $7 million worth of cuts. Nix said the unions offered not only concessions but a plan to cut the rest, but after months of negotiating and mediation, district administrators were unsatisfied.
Among projected savings from some of the changes, Guess said retiring teachers were paid $800,000 in severance pay last year, have accrued leave in lieu of sick leave, which costs the district about $500,000 a year, and a liberal professional growth compensation policy that essentially pays teachers for lax, self-taught classes instead of the more rigorous post graduate courses required in virtually all other school districts.
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