SPORTS TROY >> Bossier City, Devils steal ‘Show’case

By RAY BENTON

Leader sports editor

One pair of teams was slated to highlight the Hardwood Classic Showcase, a different pair stole the show. Chicago’s Orr Academy High School and Houston’s Trent Internationale were the two big names featured in the first-ever event at Jacksonville High School last Friday and Saturday. They met each other on Friday night and didn’t disappoint. Orr Academy rallied from 15 points down in the second half to win 76-74. The big surprise came on the second night when Bossier City, La., dominated Trent Internationale 66-42, and the Jacksonville Red Devils outlasted Orr Academy 72-62.

Here’s a brief recap of all games not involving Jacksonville.

FRIDAY

Orr Academy 76
Trent Internationale 74

When Orr Academy, which features one of the nation’s best sophomores in TaQuayne Greer, took on Trent Internationale, a team whose lineup fits its name, the game fit its billing.

The Phoenix feature a lineup bigger than most college teams. The school is an actual basketball academy and plays a nationwide schedule, outside of any Texas affiliation. T.I. started three 6-foot-9 players including senior Xavier Dupree, who is signed with Arkansas State, Ahmed Hamdy of Iran and junior Justin Hollins.

But it was Trent Int-ernationale guard Qua Doster, who came to the Texas school via Saginaw, Mich., who drew the most attention. Doster dropped in 31 points in a dazzling display of slashing and shooting prowess. But it wasn’t enough for the win. T.I. led nearly the entire game, but Orr tied it at 74 with 11 seconds remaining when Jamal McDowell got his seventh steal and dished to Amani Ousley for a two-handed slam.

The Phoenix called timeout to set up its last shot, but it never materialized. McDowell got his eighth steal when he harassed Kalim Doster into his seventh turnover of the game with six seconds left.

McDowell then took the inbounds pass, penetrated to the middle of the lane, dished to Marlon Jones, whose jumper from six feet bounced a few times, rested on the rim for what seemed like minutes, then slowly rolled into the basket, giving the Spartans a 76-74 win. Each team entered the game with only one loss this season. Each team’s loss came to Prime Prep Academy, the controversial start-up school in Dallas co-founded by former Dallas Cowboy Deion Sanders.

Prime Prep school recently withdrew from the Texas high-school athletics governing body and decided to play a nationwide schedule because it was ruled that four of its players, who are all DI signees and played at Grace Academy last year, were ineligible after transferring from another school in August shortly after Sanders hired their coach at Grace.

Each team left with one more loss after Saturday.

Camden Fairview 79
El Dorado 70

The tournament began with a more local flavor. Camden-Fairview (4-4) defeated El Dorado 79-70 in the third meeting between the two teams. Previous games saw El Dorado win the season opener for both teams 72-70. Earlier this month, Fairview responded with a 73-71 win. This one wasn’t as close.

The Wildcats led by one point after the first quarter, but the Cardinals took a 30-27 lead into halftime. Fairview stretched the lead to 12 after three quarters and El Dorado never got within seven in the fourth quarter. Fairview’s Jamarcheon Smith led all scorers with 24 points.

Bossier City 75
LR McClellan 46

The Bearkats (11-2) led this game 34-31 at halftime, but put on a defensive masterpiece in the third quarter. McClellan committed 15 turnovers in the third quarter alone, and did not score until only 10 seconds remained in the period. And that was on two technical free throws after Bossier City’s Rashad Owens slammed the ball on the floor.

The Bearkats scored the first 23 points of the quarter for a 57-31 lead before the two free throws and subsequent buzzer beater made it 57-35 going into the fourth. Bossier City invoked the mercy rule at 74-44 with 2:18 remaining. Tevin Robertson led all scorers with 19 points while Demonta Wills scored 16 and Owens 13. Davion Givens led McClellan (3-6) with 10 points.

SATURDAY

Bossier City 66
Trent Internationale 42

This game was a late change. T.I. was originally scheduled to play Putnam City West at 7 p.m., but Arkansas Razorback assistant coach T.J. Cleveland wanted another look at Qua Doster after his 31-point performance on Friday. At his request the schedule was changed for T.I. to play at 4 p.m. It didn’t work out well for the Phoenix or Doster.

The two guard from Michigan managed just nine points and wasn’t as aggressive as the night before.

For the second time in the tournament, The Bearkats turned a close game at halftime into a rout in the second half. Bossier City’s 6-7 point guard Rashad Owens made things difficult for Doster, who stands 6-3.

Bossier City was the one team in the showcase that somewhat matched up with T.I.’s size, having Owens and 6-7 post player Tevin Robertson to battle inside with the Phoenix big men.

Robertson and Devonta Hall led the Bearkats with 16 points each. Guard Deorvian Robinson added 12 and Owens scored 11.

McClellan 77
El Dorado 63

McClellan, which has played a brutal schedule so far, rebounded nicely from the disastrous second half the previous day. The Lions’ quickness caused problems for the Wildcats (2-7) the entire game. Guards Chris Early and Tyrin Hollis led the way in scoring. Early scored 21 and Hollis 20.

Putnam City West 75
Camden Fairview 43

Much like McClellan, the Patriots (3-5) have played a very difficult schedule, and finally showed some benefits with a crushing defeat of the Cardinals. After struggling against Jacksonville, Omega Harris showed why he’s Oklahoma’s No. 1 junior prospect, scoring 25 points from all over the floor, and adding eight rebounds and six assists to his ledger.

SPORTS STORY >> Cabot title tops list of 2012 highs

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

The first half of 2012 had plenty for local sports fans to cheer about as two of our area basketball teams made school history with their first-ever state-championship victories in early March, while two local baseball teams made it all the way to Baum Stadium in Fayetteville for the finals before having to settle for runners up. Throw in the unexpected meltdown of the Jacksonville boys basketball team in the 6A state semifinals, and that gives us the top five local sports stories for winter/spring 2012.

If you live in Cabot, the Lady Panthers’ 51-41 victory over Fort Smith Northside in the 7A state championship game ranks at the top, but everyone closer to Sherwood would argue that the Sylvan Hills Bears’ 59-54 victory over Mills University Studies in the finals should hold the top spot. Both marked school firsts, and both featured players who became the biggest college recruits in the history of their programs with Archie Goodwin and Melissa Wolff, giving us no choice but to call it a tie for the top spot.

1. (tie) Cabot ladies beat Northside for 7A crown. The 2011-12 basketball season was a year to remember at Cabot High School for a number of reasons, including the unprecedented success of the Lady Panthers team under coach Carla Crowder. It started with the opening of the new Panther Arena early last December, as the Lady Panthers won their own Pre-Holiday tournament as well as all of their 7A/6A Central Conference games in the new facility, and also played hosts for the 7A state tournament in early March.

Cabot took the No. 1 seed out of the Central Conference and received a first-round bye. The Lady Panthers picked up Springdale Har-Ber as their first-round opponent, and easily disposed of the Lady Wildcats to set up a semifinal showdown with a talented Little Rock Hall team, led by junior guard Tyler Scaife.

There were plenty of underlying story lines during the tournament, from the final appearance at home for seniors Wolff, Sydney Wacker and Laci Boyett to a made-over coach Crowder, who abandoned her familiar spectacles and curly hair for a contemporary look during her team’s historic postseason run.

There was also the story of junior Lauren Morris, a dedicated player who started out in the Lady Panthers’ junior-high program only to face endless knee injuries before being told she would have to give up basketball for good. Morris was able to enter the Har-Ber game during the final minute, and again at the end of the championship game as the student section chanted her name.

The semifinal game against Hall proved to be one of the most competitive all season, as the two teams battled to a tie in regulation before the Lady Panthers finally pulled out a 57-55 victory in overtime.

That set the stage for a finals game against Northside on Saturday, March 10 with a 2:30 p.m. tipoff time at Summit Arena. Wolff, who signed with the University of Arkansas before the start of the season, earned MVP with a game-high 22 points and 15 rebounds while classmate Boyett also went out on a strong note with 10 points.

1. (tie) Sylvan Hills beats Mills for 5A boys crown. The Bears came up a game short the previous year, but 2012 proved to be historic for longtime coach Kevin Davis and team as current University of Kentucky freshman Archie Goodwin led Sylvan Hills with 27 points and seven rebounds.

The Bears and Comets were also league rivals in the 5A Southeast Conference, while many of the players from both teams also knew each other from AAU summer basketball.

It made for a rivalry that was friendly at times and perhaps not so friendly at other times, but it undoubtedly made for a closely-matched series of games, with the Bears pulling out wins in both conference matchups before downing the Comets one more time when it counted most on March 10.

Goodwin will undoubtedly go down as the biggest thing to ever come through the Bears’ basketball program, and all of his starting teammates have also found their way to the next level.

Point guard Dion Patton is now a freshman at Arkansas Tech, post player Devin Pearson is at Northark Community College, combo guard Larry Ziegler now plays for Mid South Community College and Daylon Jones is a freshman guard at Hardin-Simmons University in Texas.

“I don’t think there were many revelations so much as they knew when it was over what they had accomplished,” Davis said in a recent interview. “The first state championship in school history and 28 straight conference games without a loss. That probably says enough.”

3. Lonoke baseball reaches 4A state finals. The Jackrabbits football team captured a state title in 1994 and the basketball ’Rabbits went all the way in 2008, and 2012 held promise for the Diamond Rabs until a defensively-strong Shiloh Christian team shut them out 4-0 in the state championship game.

Still, it was a great run for Lonoke under coach Darrick Lowery, and with every player from that team returning with the exception of seniors Lane Moore and Hayden Hambrick, the ’Rabbits could land themselves at the top of the 2013 list next year with a 4A state baseball title.

4. Carlisle baseball reaches 2A state finals. Local sports enthusiasts still talk about the Bison’s 14-2 loss to Woodlawn in the 2A title game back on May 19, but unfortunately for the wrong reason.

The game will forever live in infamy due to an unprecedented display of bad sportsmanship from Bison senior Hayden Hoover in the bottom of the fourth inning after he was called out for an illegally batted ball. It marred what had otherwise been a historic run for Carlisle under sixth-year coach B.J. Greene, who was trying to leave the program on an up note after securing the head-coaching job at Heber Springs for the 2012-13 school year.

The pregame started with a brief ceremony for Bison graduates Hoover, Deric Herring, Tommy Inman, Trey Wilson and Will Smith, who received their diplomas from athletic director Scott Waymire in front of the third-base line.

Woodlawn took a 5-2 lead after two innings, and went on another big run in the top of the fourth to go up 10-2. Dylan Brazeal walked to start the bottom of the fourth and Austin Reed grounded out to bring up Hoover, who sent a line drive to shallow center before umpire Steve Powell ruled him out for stepping out of the batters box.

5. Jacksonville Red Devils lose to Jonesboro in 6A semifinals. The Red Devils went into the 6A semifinal matchup against East conference rival Jonesboro on March 3 with the confidence of having beaten the Golden Hurricane six consecutive times, and jumped out to a lead of almost 20 points again before falling apart in the second half. That led to a series of events Jonesboro fans have since nicknamed “The Run.”

The Hurricane outscored Jacksonville 42-10 during that time on their way to a 63-42 victory, setting up a championship game between Jonesboro and Little Rock Parkview, two teams Jacksonville went 4-0 against combined in East Conference play. The Patriots eventually went on to win the title with a 69-65 victory over Jonesboro in double overtime.

SPORTS STORY >> Lady Badgers fall to LRCA

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Scoring was too concentrated for Beebe as visiting Little Rock Christian took a 59-53 victory over the Lady Badgers at Badger Sports Arena on Friday.

Senior guard Jamie Jackson led Beebe with 30 points while junior guard Kalela Miller added 23 points to make up all of the Lady Badgers’ points. The Lady Warriors also had two players finish in double figures with 22 points for Annalea Rhodas and 13 points for Alexus Thomas, but it was points off the bench for LRCA that made the difference.

“We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Lady Badgers coach Greg Richey said. “We had opportunities. First half, we didn’t play very good, got ourselves down by nine at halftime. We should have been better than that. We came out and let them shove us around, outrebound us, and we just didn’t play. We were digging ourselves out of a hole the rest of the way.

“We didn’t step up and make shots when we needed to, and we didn’t defend when we needed to defend.”

Christian outscored Beebe 14-8 in the second quarter and took a 30-21 lead at the half. The Lady Badgers (6-5) showed signs of making things close again early in the third quarter with a 6-0 run to begin the second half. That made it 30-27, but the Lady Warriors did not let the margin get any closer until Miller tied the game at 42 with a three-point basket at the 1:09 mark.

Rebounding was another big factor as the Lady Warriors controlled the boards on both sides. Beebe had few second-chance opportunities, and was not able to capitalize on the few it did manage to see.

“The strange thing about it is, we’ve only been outrebounded one time this year,” Richey said. “Fort Smith Southside, that was the only time we’ve been outrebounded this year. Then, we come in tonight against a team I felt was comparable in size to us, and we don’t rebound. It just seemed like we didn’t show up the first half.”

The Lady Badgers had open shots that simply didn’t fall for the most part in the second half, including three-point attempts by seniors Sydney Gunter and Whitney Emison. Junior Madison Richey also tried a number of midrange jumpers that were just off the mark, and Christian capitalized with strong defensive rebounding from Thomas and Molli Pugl.

“I thought they had open shots,” Richey said. “They’ve just got to knock them down. I told them after the game that we’re a good team, we just didn’t have a very good shooting night tonight. We make a lot of those shots in practice, and it looks like it would transfer to the game, but it didn’t tonight.”

The game was a setback for Beebe, but Jackson’s 30 points, eight rebounds and five steals came on a night when she was being evaluated by college scouts.

“She’s getting a lot of looks,” Richey said. “There was a coach here tonight from Northwestern Oklahoma, and he’s very high on her. He thinks she has a tremendous upside and will be a good college player. They’ll be back, it’s just what does Jamie want to do?”

The Lady Badgers will open tournament play in the Beebe Holiday Classic with a first-round game against Pulaski Robinson on Thursday.

SPORTS STORY >> Big run in third leads to Hillside victory

By GRAHAM POWELL 
Leader sportswriter

Sylvan Hills held a four-point lead over Vilonia after two quarters of play, but a big second half for the Bears helped catapult them to a 66-48 win in Friday’s nonconference matchup at Sherwood.

The Bears trailed the majority of the first quarter, but five straight points by DeMonte Davidson off the bench put Sylvan Hills up 14-11 after one. In the second quarter, Delsin Parker scored seven points to help give the Bears a seven-point lead as the first half wound down. But a buzzer-beating three pointer by Vilonia’s Jacob Greer cut Sylvan Hills’ lead to 26-22 at the break.

Vilonia tied the score at 26-26 with a 4-0 scoring run at the start of the third, but Sylvan Hills responded with a 12-2 run to take a 38-28 lead with 3:15 to go in the quarter. The Bears kept their foot on the accelerator offensively for the remainder of the quarter, and held a 12-point lead by the start of the fourth, which was pleasing to see in the eyes of head coach Kevin Davis.

“I’m very proud of my team, because I thought from the standpoint of the overall game, the effort was really there on the white team,” said Davis, referring to the Bears’ home uniforms. “There were times we might have had a missed layup, might have had an errant pass. Things happen, but the effort was there.

“And we didn’t have to go as deep down the bench as we normally have to go, because I thought the ones that were bringing the effort were able to sustain what they were doing. You have to reward that. When the kids are playing that hard for you, you have to continue to reward that.”

Ronnie Hinton scored 16 of his team-high 19 points in the second half for Sylvan Hills. Seven of Hinton’s points came in the final eight minutes. The Bears held a double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter, steadily increasing their lead as the game winded down.

Darius James gave the home team an 18-point lead after making the back end of a two-shot foul with 12.4 seconds remaining. James’ free throw was the final point of the game as Vilonia (4-6) failed to score on its last possession.

It was a solid win for Sylvan Hills (3-4), a team that is full of youth and inexperience. Davis hopes his team can build off of the win, and continue to get better by the time 5A Central play tips off on Jan. 4.

“We just need to keep playing,” Davis said when asked what the team could improve on moving forward. “This is a young team, and that’s another thing I’m especially proud of in addition to the effort, which is the concentration we showed in trying to execute our game plan that we do. And that is only going to take time and reps, because we’re a young team.

“So you really have to applaud them for staying with it, being focused, concentration and bringing effort all in the same night. We just need to keep playing and hopefully they’ll keep building and getting better as we go.”

The Bears edged the Eagles 28-26 on the boards, and committed seven fewer turnovers than Vilonia’s 19. Sylvan Hills shot 70.5 percent from the free-throw line, bettering Vilonia’s 57.1 percent. Neither team shot exceptional from three-point range, but the Bears made 30.7 percent of their shots beyond the arc compared to the Eagles’ 25 percent.

Other than Hinton, two other Bears finished in double figures scoring-wise. Parker finished with 11 points and Davidson scored 10. David Johnson scored nine points and also grabbed six rebounds. Vilonia’s Cameron Wilkins led all scorers with 21 points.

Sylvan Hills will travel to Mountain Home tomorrow for a tournament and will play the host team at 8:30 p.m.

SPORTS STORY >> Devils get two big-time wins

By RAY BENTON 
Leader sports editor

The Jacksonville Red Devils shined on a big stage on Friday and Saturday. The stage was familiar, but the platform of hosting the Hardwood Classic Showcase and taking on two of the best teams from Oklahoma and Illinois made the two victories a huge accomplishment.

On Friday, Jacksonville beat Putnam City West 51-46. The Patriots are one of the premier teams from Oklahoma City, and features 6-foot-4 junior guard Omega Harris, rated by OKhoops.com as Oklahoma’s number one prospect of 2014. They also feature two of that state’s top 20 sophomore prospects in small forward Tyson Jolly and guard Steve Stallings. Even with that lineup, what Jacksonville pulled off the next day was even more impressive.

The Red Devils upset Chicago’s Orr Academy 72-62, a day after Orr came from 15 points behind in the fourth quarter to beat Trent Internationale 76-74.

Orr entered the game with a 6-1 record and it’s only loss coming to the controversial start-up school Prime Prep Academy in Dallas. Prime Prep was co-founded by former Dallas Cowboy Deion Sanders, and in this, it’s first year of existence, features a starting lineup complete with major Division I signees, all five transfers from other Texas schools.

Saturday’s game was fast-paced when it could be, but was mired by the whistle. A total of 48 fouls were called, 29 against the visitors. Orr coach Louis Adams Jr. expressed his distaste for the officiating many times during the game, but didn’t use it as an excuse afterwards.

“We just underestimated these guys,” Adams said of Jacksonville. “We beat that international team the night before and the schedule we’ve played, I don’t think my guys came out ready tonight. They came out ready to play. They’re very quick and they hustle. They out-hustled us tonight.”

Jacksonville’s Reggie Barnes hit a three pointer to start the fourth quarter and gave the Red Devils their biggest lead of the game at 53-30. From there, the Spartans turned up the defensive pressure and almost made its second huge comeback of the showcase.

“We made them go small but when they did, it hurt us,” Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner said. “Those guys are quick and relentless and we don’t have the ball handlers. If we can’t get it to J-Mac (Justin McCleary), we’re going to have trouble against that kind of pressure.”

That was Orr’s game plan in the fourth quarter. The Spartans tried to deny McCleary the ball and attacked with multiple defenders once it went to someone else. The result was 15 Jacksonville turnovers in the fourth quarter. Orr put together a huge run after Barnes’ three, spurred largely by Jamal McDowell’s five steals and the offense of Louis Adams III. With 2:11 remaining, McDowell got a steal and dish to Adams for a two-handed dunk that completed a 28-13 run and made it 66-58.

Orr (6-2) immediately got another steal and threw it inside to Amani Ousley, who missed his dunk. Jacksonville got a run out to Brandon Brockman who hit a layup to make it a 10-point game with 1:55 left.

Orr cut it to eight points two more times, but had to begin fouling and Jacksonville made its free throws.

The Red Devils were 11 of 16 from the line in the fourth quarter and 25 of 37 for the game. Orr hit 18 of 28 free throws.

Joyner gave his two starting post players credit for setting the tone of the game in the first half and leading his team to the big lead.

“Brandon Brockman and Khaleel Hart are the two unsung heroes of this game,” Joyner said. “Their big men dominated the night before and I told them we needed them to be aggressive. Put a body on them, push them off the block and don’t let them catch it down low. They went out there and did it and that’s what helped us win. They stood a lot taller than them, but my guys worked their butts off down there.”

Marlon Jones and Tyquane Greer (Chicago’s No. 1 rated sophomore) combined for 43 points the night before with Jones scoring 23. Against Jacksonville, Greer scored 12, but Jones just two.

“We knew they were big and were going to go inside,” Brockman said. “We just had to box out and play hard. We had to try to force them outside.”

“We’re nowhere near as tall as them so we had to box them way out and keep them away from the goal before they even caught it,” added Hart.

Another key statistic in the game was Jacksonville’s 39-19 rebounding advantage. Hart and Sergio Berkley led the way with seven each. McCleary had six, Brockman five, Aaron Smith and Kevin Richardson four apiece.

Adams Jr. noticed the difference between the two teams’ effort on the boards.
“They rebounded as a team and we stood and watched,” Adams said. “There’s no reason for a disparity like that except that one team was playing hard for four quarters and one team wasn’t.”

Smith led the Red Devils (7-3) in scoring with 17 points. Berkley added 11 and McCleary 10. Adams III scored nearly half his team’s points with 29, including 18 in the fourth quarter.

JACKSONVILLE VS PUTNAM CITY WEST

In the previous game against Putnam City West, the game was much slower, but still in Jacksonville’s control most of the way.

The Patriots have also played a national schedule so far and entered the tournament with a record of 2-4. They found the going no easier against the Red Devils. Jacksonville spent the early part of the first and second quarters stretching out double digit leads, only to see PCW come back to make it close at quarter’s end. Jacksonville led just 23-20 at halftime, and stretched it out to 11 again in the third quarter. The lead was down to 36-29 by the end of the third.

Omega Harris hit a three pointer with 5:20 left in the game to make it 40-37, and although the final margin was only five, the Patriots were never closer than that after Hart answered Harris’ three with a layup at the other end.

“They played good defense and made scoring difficult,” Joyner said of PCW.

The Red Devils did not enjoy a rebounding advantage against the Patriots. The team from Oklahoma City bested Jacksonville 37-24 on the boards.

The Red Devils were 15 of 26 from the free-throw line while the Patriots were 18 of 25. Smith and Hart each scored 12 points to lead Jacksonville while Harris led PCW with 11.

EDITORIAL >> McDaniel and Asa

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel had raised more than $1 million this fall for a race for governor that is nearly two years away, but he may need much, much more. Forced by legal proceedings in Hot Springs, McDaniel had to reveal that he had been running around on his second wife.

So wherever politics is discussed this week, the question is whether his campaign was doomed before it really began or whether the political climate and the culture have so changed the past 20 years that McDaniel’s confessed philandering will be no more than a minor setback to his burning ambition. This is, after all, the home of Bill Clinton, the most admired politician in America and still revered in his home state, where his first known dalliances outside his marriage occurred.

It will depend, we imagine, on whether the scandal is behind him now or there is more to be revealed. The circumstances already are sordid enough. Having been married only briefly after the breakup of his first marriage, McDaniel in 2010 met Andrea Davis, a flamboyant Hot Springs lawyer, and soon afterward began a brief “inappropriate interaction,” as he described it, with her. They were on opposite sides in a big school lawsuit, he defending the state school-choice law and she representing parents who were fighting it because the law kept their children from transferring to schools where there were fewer blacks. The state ethics committee that monitors the conduct of lawyers may be forced to decide whether McDaniel was obligated by law to disclose his unusual “interaction” with the opposing counsel. To say the least, it is bothersome. (He lost the case.)

Davis has been in a high-profile battle with a female circuit judge in Garland County, who ordered her to wear a surgical mask during a trial because of her coughing and another time told her to go home and don more discreet clothing because her blouse revealed so much cleavage that it was disturbing inmates who were brought into the courtroom. Davis modeled the offending blouse and a surgical mask for a photographer for the Arkansas Times and told the paper’s reporter: “I admit I have boobs and I like them, but I was not wearing a damn sparkly halter top in the courtroom.”

Rumors of the McDaniels-Davis affair began to circulate this month after Davis’ estranged husband filed motions in a custody dispute asking her to admit that she had an affair with McDaniel in 2011 or 2012 and she dodged the question by saying it was none of the court’s business and was just harassment.

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette’s article about McDaniel’s admission last week carried a photograph of a disheveled Davis being led away from her house in handcuffs after police were called to investigate the murder of a young man in her driveway. She apparently had called the police and was kneeling beside the body when the police arrived. No charges have been filed and the police say they still have no suspect.

Such flamboyance does not serve the attorney general’s keen interest in public forgetfulness. A run-of-the-mill affair might soon be dismissed by voters, most of whom have witnessed similar problems in their families or among friends.

Affairs have rarely been politically fatal if you say you are sorry and have been in prayer about it. Just south of us, Louisiana voters quickly forgave and re-elected U. S. Sen. David Vitter, a right-wing “family values” Republican after his name showed up on the telephone list of a famous Washington, D. C., madam as a regular client of her prostitutes. Like McDaniel and so many others, Vitter said he was very sorry and that he had prayed fervently about it and been forgiven.

A Republican official said McDaniel’s affair would be an issue in the governor’s race in 2014, but only one of many. You can already hear the commercials, “If his wives couldn’t trust him, why should you?”

Much depends on his opponent. McDaniel is the only announced candidate, but Asa Hutchinson is expected to announce again next month for the Republican nomination. Hutchinson, a former congressman, has been beaten for the U. S. Senate, attorney general and governor, but he is likely to be the Republican nominee. Polls show Hutchinson and McDaniel neck and neck two years out. Hutchinson, meanwhile, will head the National Rifle Association’s program to arm school officials and volunteers against violent intruders. So help us.

McDaniel’s extramarital affair might be a delicate issue for Hutchinson, whose family has been scandalized by the same behavior, over and over.

Brother Tim, the senior U. S. senator at the time, was having an affair with an aide when he was sitting in judgment of Clinton during his impeachment trial in the Senate for dalliances with Monica Lewinsky. Hutchinson voted to convict the president. Tim divorced his wife and married the woman, but he was beaten in his next election, in 2002.

Asa’s nephew, state Sen. Jim Hendren, admitted to an affair in 2001 when he was running for Congress in the Third District to succeed Asa on a platform to “reverse the decline in moral values.”

Earlier this year, another of Asa’s nephews, state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (Tim’s son), had his mistress arrested at his condominium when she beat him up with a preserved alligator head after he had thrown her down and busted her lip. They had met while she was a waitress at a pizza restaurant and he put her up in a condo and gave her living money. His marriage broke up over such stuff.

Something tells us Hutchinson won’t make much of the Davis matter. Too bad, in a way. They are two boring politicians otherwise.

TOP STORY >> County officials get final goodbye

By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer

Between redistricting, retirement, advancement and simply being voted out of office, Lonoke County will lose 11 of its elected officials on Dec. 31, so County Judge Doug Erwin had certificates of appreciation for all of them during the quorum court meeting Thursday night.

JP Sonny Moery, who chose not to run after 10 years when redistricting placed him in opposition to JP Roger Lynch, got the only genuine standing ovation.

“If all the JPs were like Sonny Moery, we wouldn’t have any problems,” Erwin said.

JP Joe Farrer, whose close watch over the budget for the past two years has put him at odds with many, feigned surprise that no one would clap for him unless he asked. He got the only chuckle. Farrer is the new state representative for the new House Dist. 44.

“Joe was always been consistent,” Erwin said. “He’ll vote his conscience and stand his ground.”

JP Alexis Malham, who decided not to run for reelection, was at home with her husband, Cabot High School football coach Mike Malham. She was said to be recovering from shoulder surgery.

“The one thing you could say about Alexis: You didn’t have to wonder what she was thinking,” Erwin said. “That’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing.”

JP Jannette Minton, also retiring, was also absent for the last meeting of the year for unknown reasons.

JP Barry Weathers decided not to run after he learned that if he did, it would be againsthis best friend, JP Tim Lemons. The two were on vacation together with their wives when they learned that redistricting would pit them against one another if both chose to run.

Justice of the Peace Claude Irvin was appointed to the position by Gov. Mike Beebe after JP Mark Edwards took a job out of state. Erwin said he had been an asset to the quorum court.

Retiring County Sheriff Jim Roberson couldn’t make it because his cows were out and he had to get them back in the fence.

Treasurer Karol DePriest, County Clerk Dawn Porterfield and Circuit Clerk Denise Brown were voted out of office. Erwin thanked them for their service.

Circuit Judge Phillip Whiteaker was elected to the Court of Appeals. Whiteaker was there for the entire meeting and listened to discussion about funding for the district courts located in cities across the county.

The quorum court has cut funding to most courts to half the salary of the judge and one clerk. Whiteaker joked that it had been said by some that he wasn’t much of a judge. But he wanted them to know that he wasn’t that half of a judge they had been talking about.

Longtime Coroner Sherry Stracener is retiring. She introduced Mark Thomas who ran unopposed as her replacement. Stracener promised that with Thomas on the job, no one would notice she was gone.

However JP Larry Odom said after all the presentations were over that the county would miss Stracener.

She was there when his dad died so he knew from experience how well she did her job.

“She’s been a dandy for the county. We’re going to miss her,” Odom said.

TOP STORY >> City is investing in infrastructure

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Jacksonville is planning $14.4 million in capital improvements next year in addition to the $24.5 million operations budget approved last week by the city council.

The plan lists projects nearly completed, in the works or on the books for future development. The listing includes $9.2 million in infrastructure construction improvements, $4.4 million in equipment replacement and $882,494 in drainage improvements.

Mayor Gary Fletcher, in the report, stated that “these infrastructure activities are considered essential elements of growth.”

Just because a project is listed in the comprehensive plan doesn’t mean that it has been funded yet.

The plan lists $352,874 that the city has from selling off portions of the old Franklin Electric property, which was donated to the city for $1. This money is earmarked for “fostering commercial and industrial development that directly impact our local job market, especially along Redmond Road and General Samuels,” according to the report.

The plan lists the public sports shooting range at a cost of $3.5 million. The council was informed Thursday that the cost should be about $3 million at this point. This project is a joint venture with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Foundation to build a trap, skeet and 3D archery shooting complex which will be operated by the city’s parks and recreation department.

According to the plan, the estimated economic impact from the range is expected to hit $8 million a year.

The plan also lists widening Main Street at a cost of $2 million. The project is in the design stage and that contract will run $96,000 and is in the budget. Plans call for Main Street to be widened to four lanes from Redmond Road to Harris Road and the dangerous “S” straighten out and the bridge improved.

The Oneida extension is also listed as a $2 million project. The design contract is $144,056 and is in the budget. Plans call for a bridge to be built across the Bayou Meto at the end of Oneida Road with a road continuing on through to Main Street.

Improvements at Main Street and Harris Road are slated to run $500,000. Current plans call for a roundabout to slow and control the traffic and protect students at a nearby bus stop.

Another $500,000 is slated for improvements at General Samuels and Harris roads, again, to protect students and school buses. Another roundabout is planned to help maintain a safe flow of traffic through the intersection.

Other projects listed in the comprehensive plan include:
Replacing and updating all the city’s emergency 911 communications systems at a cost of $2.5 million to meet a federally mandated deadline to convert to digital equipment. Those cities that don’t could suffer delays and blackouts in communication and have a tough time finding replacement parts for older systems.

The city is covering the cost through a no-interest 60 month loan from Motorola. The first payment of $87,000 is due in January, and then the city must pay $602,000 per year on the loan for the next four years.

The city still has $1.8 million out in construction bonds for the $4 million library which opened in 2009.

A $1 million sanitation loan for the purchase of truck and equipment needed when the city switched to automated services in 2011. To pay for needed items the city got a 60-month loan at 3 percent interest.

A $3.1 million, 60-month loan at 2.25 percent to construct a safe room and complete the public safety building.

TOP STORY >> New district would get more aid

By SARAH CAMPBELL 
Leader staff writer

An independent Jacksonville school district would spend more money per student than Cabot if the area’s 35-year effort to split from the Pulaski County Special School District is successful, according to Daniel Gray of the Jacksonville/North Pulaski Education Corps.

Gray spoke to the Jacksonville Lions Club at its meeting last week at the Bar-B-Que Shack on Hwy. 161.

Not only will an independent school district get a larger portion of state funds based on the wealth-index formula, declining enrollment figures mean fewer students will get a larger piece of the pie, according to Gray.

He said a new feasibility study about whether the city should form its own school district is “95 percent” complete.

“All the numbers look good,” Gray noted.

He said the Education Corps would hold a public meeting in February or March, after the report is finished.

The next step in the process is to ask U.S. District Judge Price Mar-shall, who is presiding over the decades-old desegregation case, to approve Jacksonville to hold an election in which voters would decide whether to separate from PCSSD.

Gray predicted that most residents would agree to split from the fiscally distressed PCSSD.

He added that the Education Corps also plans to ask the judge to clarify the rules for gathering the 4,000 signatures needed to put the measure on a ballot.

He said, based on the projected wealth-index formula, the state would contribute 55 percent – $55 million of a $100 million building project — toward repairing or constructing new facilities for a stand-alone district in Jacksonville.

The state only has to give 3 percent to PCSSD for construction because it has pockets, such as Maumelle, where residents earn higher incomes.

Gray said, over the last decade and excluding recent improvements, Jacksonville and north Pulaski schools have received 3 percent of PCSSD’s capital investments while having about 33 percent of the students in the district.

He added that declining enrollment has been an issue over that same time period.

“Ten, 11, or 12 years ago, we were about the same number of kids in our schools (as Cabot). They’ve grown. We’ve declined. We chose Cabot because it’s the nearest. That’s where people migrate to, move to when they go,” Gray said.

He said state law requires that a new independent school district have at least 4,000 students and several proponents were worried about that.

But the Jacksonville and North Pulaski areas had an enrollment of more than 4,500 students this year, Gray said.

The state took over the fiscally distressed PCSSD in June 2011. The school board was disbanded and the superintendent was fired.

In April, PCSSD’s lawyers asked the federal judge presiding over the desegregation case to create a separate Jacksonville district. The motion was in response to the state attorney general’s March petition requesting that the state be relieved of its obligation to provide about $70 million a year in desegregation funding.

The PCSSD lawyers said dividing the 17,000-student, 760-square-mile district would help it achieve unitary status in order to be released from court supervision and get out of fiscal distress.

Gray explained, “For the first time since 1978, Jacksonville/North Pulaski citizens, the Pulaski County Special School District, the Arkansas Department of Education all agree that a new school district should be formed. This is the first time we’ve all been on the same page.”

An election is one of the four ways an independent school district can be established.

Gray told the Lions Club, “The Education Corps is here to pick the ball up, revitalize and try to capture the momentum. This time we’re trying to communicate better with the public. The best thing you can do is to go to our website and sign up for our newsletter.”

The website is www.ourowndistrict.com.

Gray said PCSSD officials recently requested that the district be declared unitary, but the judge said no. He told them he couldn’t make a ruling until a hearing is held.

That hearing could happen in August or September, Gray said.

He said teachers’ salaries in an independent school district would have to be competitive, but wouldn’t confirm or deny whether the school board that will be elected would increase the pay for teachers in the new district.

Gray didn’t say whether he would run for the board, but he joked about his campaign for the PCSSD school board. Gray ran for the office just weeks before the state takeover.

Gray began his presentation to the Lions Club with a history of the area’s effort to get it own school district.

He said it all started with a 1978 feasibility study.

In 2001, Pat Bond, a state representative at the time, sponsored House Bill 1882. The bill became Act 1673. The law outlines the steps necessary for the creation of a new school district. After that, an executive committee was formed and an updated feasibility study was done.

The committee approved a plan for the district boundaries that it felt minimized disruption in attendance zones, decreased transportation costs, maintained racial balance and had natural boundaries.

A petition signed by 10 percent of the voters in the proposed district was completed. More than 4,000 validated signatures supporting the effort to separate from PCSSD were collected.

The petition, signatures, the study and a map of the boundaries were submitted to the state Board of Education and the Attorney General’s office.

An election date was set for Sept. 16, 2003.

PCSSD filed a lawsuit to halt the election. The judge, Bill Wilson, ruled that a more extensive study on a state level was necessary.

Wilson’s decision was appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis and the appeal was denied.

A third study was completed in 2006. A fourth study was completed in 2008.

Gray said all four studies found that Jacksonville could financially support its own district and should separate from PCSSD.

In 2008, the PCSSD school board voted unanimously to give Jacksonville and North Pulaski an independent district.

Negotiations with Sher-wood, which doesn’t want the new district to include any schools within its city limits, wrapped up in 2009. Northwood Middle School and Cato Elementary were removed from the boundaries that had been suggested previously.

Immediately after approving the new boundaries in 2009, the school board voted 4-3 to suspend negotiations with Jacksonville and North Pulaski until the federal court declares PCSSD unitary.

Gray said, “This move was viewed by many as a punitive step for efforts to hinder their bond issue of $80 million. Over $100 million was used to build those two facilities. That is Maumelle High School and Sylvan Hills Middle School.” A new district won’t take on that debt when it detaches, he said.

SPORTS STORY >> You really can enjoy season’s merriment

By RAY BENTON 
Leader sports editor

Have a Merry Christmas. That’s a common salutation that comes around about this time of year. In this rare case of a not-so sports related piece, it’s also a suggestion to actually do so. To the modern western man or woman, Christmas time is the annual propagation of some nebulous of good will that somehow permeates our souls. It can, for a short time, warm our hearts to consider such an idea. It doesn’t last because we know it’s not true.

Christmas is, among many other things, the fusing together of the two great big ideas of mankind, Paganism and Christianity. Christmas is the one holiday steeped in both Christian truths and a pagan ritual that is still plying a roaring trade in our streets today.

G.K. Chesterton made the brilliant observation that, “Pag-anism was the biggest thing in the world. Christianity was bigger, and everything since has been comparatively small.”

One thing those two great big ideas had in common was their affinity for ritual. So when this essay begins with “have a merry Christmas”, it means to take part in some of these rituals. It probably seems like a silly idea to one who’s never considered it, but the rest of this piece hopes to make a strong case for doing so.

Christianity replaced paganism in the western hemisphere, but not all at once. It infused some of the happier pieces of pagan rituals with the new rituals of a then brand-new Christendom. The very date of the celebration of Jesus’ birth was chosen to coincide with established pagan rituals surrounding the winter solstice and the Yule festival. There Pagans held some fascinating ideas that couldn’t have been more Christian apart from the incarnation.

The harvest festival is the best example. The early church created All Saints Day on Nov. 1 to coincide with this annual pagan spectacle. The day before that became known as All Hallows Eve, which we now call Halloween.

The delightful truth of the pagan festival that touched the nature of things was this. They recognized that there was something meaningful and mysterious about the death of living things (the harvest, i.e. grain, vegetable or animal) giving nourishment to other living things throughout the harshest season of the year.

Christ came and gave that beautiful mystery an eternal verification.

Ritual in our radically auto-nomous society is a foreign concept, though it’s design is to bring joy, which is sorely missed. Ritual, by its very nature means coming together with others for a common purpose. Pagans and early Christians were much better at it than modern man. That’s why they really enjoyed the merriment that we sometimes, if we can find the time, will make a feeble attempt to force.

Even the ritual of the daily offices of the early church (still practiced by liturgical churches), though a solitary activity, is steeped in community by the fixed time of day. Worshipers can be sure, though they are alone; they are a small part of a grand spiritual event at that moment.

Coming together has sadly become unnecessary. Combine our desire, nay, our force of culture, to be our own masters, with our self-sufficiency enhancing technology, then isolation reigns and community wanes.

This phenomenon is just as pervasive within the Church as outside of it. Every one of the schisms in church history has involved the jettisoning of some dogma or ritual. What’s left is a bunch of churches just as autonomous and separated as the secular society they claim to reject. It all adds up to a loss of joy and merriment.

What’s needed is an em-brace of the old meaning of Christmas and the old practices of enjoying it, not just for the survival of the Church in the future, but also for the merriment of man in the present. Take away the virgin birth and you do some strange wrong to sellers of spiked eggnog, not to mention the buyers.

So hang some mistletoe and kiss people for walking underneath it. Make some plum pudding then raise your spoons and shout when it’s set aflame. Sing to strangers.

Also, light a solitary candle to symbolize the star of Bethlehem. Light many candles to symbolize the light of the Logos whose birth we recognize. Go to a midnight Christmas Eve service or at the very least, go to your knees in your home. You not only will feel a mysterious and satisfying connection to your fellow man, you’ll feel one to your ancestors, pagan and Christian alike. You may feel one to Him who fulfilled the partial truths ritualized by the pagans, and is the source of true good will.

And you will experience a Merry Christmas.

SPORTS STORY >> Bison charge past Palestine-Wheatley

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter

The Carlisle Bison got back into the winning column in a big way Thursday, beating fellow 2A-6 Conference-member Palestine-Wheatley 60-28 at Bison Arena.

Palestine-Wheatley has won only one game this season, but it came against Marvell, the same team that beat Carlisle 78-73 last week at Bison Arena. The Bison had an off night against the Mustangs, and didn’t play their best defense in the losing effort. Against the Patriots, Carlisle was more than ready.

“We said the keys for today is we want defensive energy, we wanted to share the ball, we wanted to dominate on possessions, and we wanted to have fun,” said Carlisle coach William Rountree. “And, you know, we lost a couple of games here in the last 10 days which we don’t think we should’ve lost. But we did, and the kids played good tonight.”

Palestine-Wheatley (1-9, 1-5) scored the first four points of the game. Senior point guard Chris Hart scored the first points for the Bison (4-3, 3-3) with an and-one play at the 5:48 mark, which cut the Patriots’ lead to 4-3. But it wasn’t long after that Carlisle committed its third turnover on a travel by junior post player Deron Ricks as he brought the ball up court.

Rountree called timeout after the turnover, and afterwards, the Bison began forcing turnovers instead of committing them. Carlisle finished the quarter with a 13-3 scoring run, and its press defense was highly-effective in the turnaround. The Bison forced nine Patriot turnovers in the quarter, and 32 for the game.

Palestine-Wheatley committed 14 of those turnovers in the second quarter, which helped Carlisle increase its lead to 34-13 by halftime. The Bison upped the margin in the third quarter by outscoring the Patriots 17-3 to take a comfortable 51-16 lead by the start of the fourth.

Chris Clayvon Edwards had a big third quarter for the Bison off the bench. Edwards, a senior post player, scored just three points in the quarter, but snagged six rebounds, had one steal, an assist and one block.

“He had a good second half,” Rountree said of Edwards. “He’s got a chance to be a nice player. He was big down the stretch for us. We have to have him. That’s the thing with us. You look out there and see who starts. It doesn’t really matter. We’re going to play nine or 10 every time.”

The sportsmanship rule was invoked at the start of the fourth quarter as Carlisle led by 35 points. The Bison starters sat the majority of the fourth, and Palestine-Wheatley outscored Carlisle 12-9 down the stretch to set the final score. It was a solid bounce-back performance for Carlisle, who hopes to carry the momentum from the win into its annual Bison Holiday Hoops tournament, which begins Dec. 27 and lasts through Dec. 29.

“I just thought we had outstanding effort overall,” Rountree said. “We put good pressure on the ball, got some easies, we moved the ball around well. And really, everybody that played, played good. So, you know, we have a chance to be a pretty good team. We’re 4-3 going into the break, and we’ve showed flashes of being a good team.”

Austin Reed led the Bison with 15 points. Dathan Hill scored 13. Edwards finished a board shy of a double-double as he scored 10 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had four blocks. Hart finished with eight points, six assists and four steals. Justice Bryant had six points, and Braden Reed scored four. The Bison will play Bradford in the opening round of its holiday tournament at 8 p.m. on Dec. 27.

SPORT STORY >> Carlisle girls barely tested by PW ladies

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter

The Carlisle ladies were dominant from start to finish as they beat Palestine-Wheatley 44-8 in a 2A-6 Conference matchup on Thursday at Bison Arena.

As soon as the opening tipoff got underway, it was clear who the better team was on the floor. Callie Hillman, Faith Walker and Breanna Young led the Lady Bison to a 20-0 lead after a quarter of play.

The Lady Bison led 27-0 before the Lady Patriots put points on the board. With 3:57 to play in the first half, Kelsey Lamb hit a midrange jumper to give Palestine-Wheatley (1-9, 1-5) its first two points. Bethany Thweat scored again for the Lady Patriots with 49 seconds to go in the half, but Carlisle (8-4, 5-1) added two more baskets before the break to lead 31-4 at halftime.

“Everybody got a chance to play and everybody got some minutes,” said Lady Bison coach Jonathan Buffalo after the game. “I saw some good things out of those that don’t always get a chance to play. I saw where they improved from practice. We realize sometimes there’s going to be games like that. We just get in and do what we have to, and we get out without getting anybody hurt.”

With the game out of hand, the clock ran continuously throughout the second half. The Lady Bison outscored the Lady Patriots 11-0 in the third quarter to increase their lead to 42-4 by the start of the fourth.

The Carlisle reserves saw plenty of playing time in the second half, but could only manage two points in the final quarter.

Palestine-Wheatley scored four points in the fourth, including the final bucket of the game. Thweat hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer to set the final score.

“There were times we played good defense,” Buffalo said, “especially early in the first half. We switched out of the man and got in the zone. But we still have some things we need to work on. Defensively we need to work on moving our feet a little better. Offensively we need to shoot the ball from the outside a little bit better than we’ve been shooting it. It wasn’t a factor tonight, because we got every shot that we wanted to get.”

Buffalo wants to see his team make those adjustments in the annual Bison Holiday Hoops tournament, which will feature some stiff competition. The tournament tips off Dec. 27 and will last through Dec. 29.

“We have our tournament coming up on the 27th, playing Bradford in the first round of that,” Buffalo said. “Bradford’s a much-improved basketball team. They’re better than they have been the last couple of years. So there’s not going to be an easy game. I could look at (the bracket) and say there are eight teams in that tournament that’s going to have a chance to win it.”

Against Palestine-Wheatley, as the scoreboard indicated, Carlisle led every statistical category. The Lady Bison out-rebounded the Lady Patriots 39-15, and committed 14 turnovers to Palestine-Wheatley’s 27. Eight of Carlisle’s turnovers came in the final quarter with the starters on the bench.

Carlisle made 40 percent if its free throws, and 20 percent of its three pointers. Palestine-Wheatley was 0 for 12 from the three-point line, and had zero attempts at the free-throw line.

Hillman led the way for the Lady Bison with 12 points. Ten of Hillman’s points came in the first quarter. Young scored 11. Thweat scored four of Palestine-Wheatley’s eight points.

The Lady Bison’s game against Bradford in the opening round of the Bison Holiday Hoops tournament will tip off at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 27.

SPORTS STORY >> JHS program earning great rep

By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor

Jacksonville High School has developed into one of the premier boys’ basketball programs in the state, and head coach Vic Joyner plays the key role in cultivating the reputation JHS basketball has.

The evidence of that can be found at the next level. There are currently more than a dozen former Red Devils playing college basketball, including five at the Division I level.

Raheem Appleby is a sophomore at Louisiana Tech. He earned a starting job as a freshman and was the team’s second-leading scorer. This year is the leading scorer, averaging 18 points per game with a season high of 34.

A trio of former Red Devils play for former Razorback and NBA world champion Corliss Williamson at UCA. LaQuentin Miles is in his second year with the Bears and leads the team in minutes played per game. He is second on the team in scoring at 13.9 points per game. DeShone McClure is also a junior, playing his first year for the Bears after two years in junior college. McClure averages 8.4 points per game. Tirrell Brown is a freshman post player who is already playing 13 minutes and averaging three points and five rebounds.

Demetrius Harris took the longest road to DI hoops. He played junior college ball at Mineral Area Community College in Park Hill, Mo. before signing with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee last season. Harris is starting as a senior, averaging 8.1 points and five rebounds per game. He also has a team-high 11 blocks this season.

Besides Brown, three other Red Devils off last year’s team alone are playing college ball below the DI level. Dustin House was only averaging three points per game for Williams Baptist, but recently broke out and scored 27 in his last outing for the Eagles.

What’s the key to the steady success of Jacksonville’s program and the success of its players once they leave? Joyner says it is, in part, the demanding program that he, the administration and other coaches run.

“You have to have character and discipline to stay in this program,” Joyner said. “We don’t keep anyone on the team who isn’t focused on their future and being a good teammate. We don’t put up with a bunch of problems on the practice floor, the classroom or even outside of school. If you don’t show improvement from year to year, you get cut. By that I mean if you’re working at it you will get better. The ones that get cut are the ones who aren’t putting in the effort.”

Like any high-school coach, Joyner deals with student/athletes who let grades fall and lose their eligibility. He’s not a one-strike coach. Though it has borne out that those who lose their eligibility and come back, many times aren’t on the team by their senior year.

“I don’t really have to cut guys because they know the standards to be in this program,” Joyner said. “The ones who don’t want to meet those standards weed themselves out. What’s left are the high-character guys.”

Jacksonville currently has a cumulative team grade point average of 2.9. It’s the second year in a row the team has just barely missed a 3.0 cumulative average, which Joyner says is the goal for his squad.

“That starts in middle school and goes all the way up,” Joyner said. “Coach (Brandon) Weems has done a great job of getting kids ready for what we do on the court and what we demand off the court. Coach (Tirrell Sr.) Brown keeps that going, and the kids get to us already having a basic knowledge of what we expect and what we’re doing on the court.”

Joyner says college coaches tell him that players coming from his program are ahead of most freshmen in knowledge of the game and physical development.

“That’s why you see so many of them playing so much as freshmen,” Joyner said. “They can always get stronger. We hit the weight room but most young men’s bodies are going to fully mature in their college years.”

Joyner also spends a lot of time gathering, making copies and sending film of his players to colleges. He has more than 1,200 college coaches’ phone numbers in his phone. It’s even to the point where some college coaches are calling him sight unseen to see if he has a player that might fit a need.

Joyner, though, says the credit for his program’s reputation still should go to the players.

“I don’t give the guys the ability they have to get there, and I don’t give them the discipline and character it takes to make it,” Joyner said. “They have to possess that on their own. I’m going to do everything I possibly can to help them, but they have to perform and do it. Like I said, the bad ones weed themselves out. The ones left are people this community can be proud of. I’m proud of everyone of my kids who stuck with it through their senior year, because it’s not easy to do.”

SPORTS STORY >> Inner drive lifts a quiet competitor

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

The old saying that talk is cheap but hard work is expensive certainly applies to Cabot senior Ally Van Enk.

Van Enk may have a quiet demeanor , but her inner drive has propelled her to a starting role with the Lady Panthers under longtime coach Carla Crowder. That’s not to say she hasn’t had much playing time up until this point, as she was a strong contributor last season during Cabot’s 27-5 run that included a 7A Central Conference title and the school’s first-ever basketball state championship.

It was a team loaded with premier talent, including a major NCAA Division I college recruit. There was so much depth for the Lady Panthers heading into the 2011-12 season that Van Enk, who would have easily been a starter at most other schools, was relegated to a sixth-man role.

It was a history-making season for Cabot all the way around with the opening of the new Panther Arena for the 2011-12 season. The Lady Panthers went undefeated in their new digs last year, including a thrilling overtime victory over Little Rock Hall in the state semifinals.

Cabot faced Fort Smith Northside in the championship on March 10 at Summit Arena in Hot Springs. The Lady Grizzlies came into the game with only one loss, but Cabot prevailed 51-41 to win the title. The starting five took few breaks during the course of the game, which meant Van Enk saw only two minutes of playing time.

“Nerves,” Van Enk said of the week leading up to the championship game. “Every-body was nervous, everybody was excited, but we all had to be on our A game. Everybody knew we could do it, we just had to make it happen.”

Some high-level players might have grown frustrated with limited playing time like the situation Van Enk faced last year, but her team-first approach made her an effective role player for Crowder.

“I knew my role in practice,” Van Enk said. “I didn’t mind not getting as much playing time, I knew I was helping the team.”

The Lady Panthers lost three starters to graduation in the spring, but for Van Enk, along with fellow senior starters Elliot Taylor, Jaylin Bridges and Abbey Allgood, the fight to defend the 7A state crown is just beginning.

“I feel a little more pressure as a starter,” Van Enk said. “Everyone is looking up to you. I feel comfortable being a leader. Coach pushes everybody to be a leader and push everybody else. Seniors are expected to be leaders, but then everyone themselves strive to be leaders.”

Her full first name is Alexandra, though she is known by all her friends and teammates as Ally. Van Enk, who is a 4.0 GPA student academically, is the oldest of three children for Justin and Erica Van Enk, and said her only real hobby outside of basketball is spending time with friends.

“We have a lot of team bonding,” Van Enk said. “We spend a lot of time together. Of course, we practice a lot too. Everybody’s really good friends, we all like to hang out with each other.”

Van Enk is eyeing Arkansas State University in Jonesboro as a potential college once she graduates this spring. To date, there have been no offers to play college basketball, but she said she would be open for offers.

“She’s a great person,” Crowder said. “Good student, and excellent player. Ally can do whatever Ally wants to do. She’s got that much ability. She’s probably the most athletic person on the team, and her level of expectation is high from me.

“She does a really good job for us. She’s able to rebound and hit the boards really hard.”

Crowder said Van Enk’s contributions on the court have been important for Cabot, but the example she sets off the court is vital for the younger players.

“I think she’s starting to be a leader,” Crowder said. “She’s kind of quiet and shy, but I think she’s starting to do a better job and be a good leader for us on and off the court. She’s really a good kid and makes good choices off the court, and I’m really proud of her for that.”

The Lady Panthers are off to Texas to play in a holiday tournament in the Dallas area before 7A/6A East Conference play starts up during the first week of 2013. It will be the final run playing high-school basketball for Van Enk, who said she would rather be remembered as a strong team player as opposed to any individual accomplishments.

“It’s been great,” Van Enk said. “I’ve loved everybody I’ve played with. I’ve gotten along with them well. They’ve pushed me, I’ve learned to push them as well. I guess I’ve just had a good chemistry with everybody.”

EDITORIAL >> Seniors will fall first

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner are far from an agreement on taxing and spending to avoid the overhyped fiscal cliff in 10 days. Boehner couldn’t even convince his hardliners to support his so-called Plan B, which called for modest tax increases for millionaires, so he pulled his proposal Thursday night.

From the vague reports of a possible deal at month’s end, it would hit Arkansans plenty hard enough. God save us from something worse. It would alter the inflation index for Social Security to cut the pensions of Arkansas’ 650,000 retirees and disabled by roughly 3 percent over 10 years. Medicare would take a far bigger hit, and the question seems to be whether providers like hospitals, home healthcare services and physician specialists will bear most of the sacrifice as the president insists or the patients absorb it as the Republicans insist. Farm support, which agriculture says is the lifeblood of the east Arkansas economy, almost certainly will be slashed drastically. So will economic development and infrastructure aid for airports, highways and streets.

The fiscal cliff and the “debt crisis,” which are the reasons for cliffhanging negotiations between the leaders of the two parties, are manufactured emergencies. The large deficits and big debt growth since 2008 are the products mostly of the financial crisis of that year and the lingering economic malaise, which has sapped revenues and expanded relief payments like unemployment, food stamps and Medicaid.

Those were added to the structural deficit of $600 billion a year from the Bush tax cuts and a near quadrupling of military spending in the Bush years. Restoration of pre-recession economic growth and of the Clinton-era tax rates on the highest incomes (3,000 or fewer in Arkansas), along with a reduction in military outlays as the Afghan war withers away will bring the deficit down to the level of Ronald Reagan’s first year. The deficit has already come down by almost $400 billion since its peak in the last Bush budget and this year will be well below the dreaded trillion-dollar stage.

But the political crisis is as real as the fiscal emergency is not, and the president must deal with the reality of it. There must be large spending cuts or else the House majority will take the country over the cliff and probably into another recession, and those cuts must hurt ordinary Americans and not merely the rich, defense contractors and prosperous business.

Social Security should have been off the table because it is solvent for another 25 years and with a simple adjustment in the income limit subject to old-age and disability taxes it would be solvent far into the unseen future. But Obama, apparently sensing the reality of his predicament, reportedly agreed to try to persuade his party to accept a weaker inflation formula long suggested by Republicans.

Instead of using the consumer-price index (CPI) as the basis of annual inflation adjustments in pensions, Social Security would use a “chained CPI,” which calculates a lower inflation impact on the elderly on the theory that old and disabled people will not stop buying products and services when their prices go up but merely find cheaper ones—Kroger green beans rather than Del Monte—thus justifying a smaller pension than the inflation rate calls for.

Others, like the American Association for Retired Persons, say the CPI already eats away at the pension’s purchasing power because, even with Medicare, the elderly and disabled spend more of their income on medical services and drugs than do other people. Medical inflation is higher than everything.

Democrats will rebel at Obama’s cave-in, but he probably can bring enough of them along to get the deed done. For sure, Republicans in the House will stick together to see that the aged and infirm take a good solid hit. All of Arkansas’ GOP delegation is on board.

Health-care spending across the board—not merely Medicare, Medicaid and VA—is the chief driving force for domestic deficits and the declining spending power of most Americans, but Medicare must take steps to slow its spending growth. Obama has said again that raising the eligibility to 67 or higher is not an option. That would be not only intolerable but also irrational. The Medicare savings would simply be shifted to the rest of the health-care economy, including employer and individual insurance and the government. While longevity has improved the past 50 years, the point of fatigue for most of the labor force has not lengthened.

As for how the real Medicare cuts are made, let us hope that our delegates tell their party leaders—none of them are in the leadership ranks themselves and never will be—to stand with the recipients who have paid their old-age health insurance. That’s all we can hope for.

TOP STORY >> Slight chance of snow

By RICK KRON 
Leader staff writer

With the Midwest recovering from an onslaught of heavy snows, what are the chances that it will be a white Christmas this year in Arkansas?

Weather statisticians give us a three percent chance of receiving up to an inch of snow — better odds than we’ve seen in the past few years.

Current weather models do show that parts of the state will get at least a dusting of snow. But it will come after midnight on Christmas and won’t count as a white Christmas. That storm, still forming way out west, could come in early though and surprise us with some white stuff.

On average, it happens about every 14 years.

Right now, the National Weather Service is calling for Christmas Day weather to be cold and cloudy with a chance of rain. Highs are expected to be in the high 40s to low 50s with a 30 percent chance of precipitation. A chance of light snow enters the picture after midnight as precipitation chances increase to 40 percent.

The greatest probabilities for a white Christmas are across the northern U.S. and in mountainous areas. Assuming a “white Christmas” is having at least one inch of snow on the ground on Dec. 25, the chances are 60 percent or better over an area including much of the northern Rockies, the northern Great Plains, the Great Lakes area and most of New England.

The chances are less than 20 percent over most of the southern third of the country.

According to Little Rock Air Force Base weather records, it has snowed in Jacksonville on Christmas just twice since 1956. The area was hit with an inch in 1975 and saw just a trace in 2009. In 1983, it snowed on the 19th and on the 27th, but the ground was clear on Christmas Day.

National Weather Service records show that central Arkansas saw Christmas snow in 1887, 1914, 1918, 1935 and 1939, with no accumulation.

In 1962, more than an inch of snow fell on Christmas Eve day, but it mostly melted during the night, leaving just a few patches for Christmas revelers to see.

In 1897, an inch of snow fell Christmas morning, but it was mostly gone by that evening. The same thing happened in 1913 when 1.5 inches of snow fell all through the night and into the morning, but a sunny afternoon of 40 degrees melted most of it away by the end of Christmas Day.

In 1926, Christmas morning started off with sleet that changed over to snow. About 2.5 inches dropped by mid-afternoon.

In 1963, four inches of snow was on the ground Christmas Day, the remains of a 9.8-inch snowstorm that hit the area on Dec. 22.

In 1975, snow came in on Christmas afternoon and piled up two inches on hilly areas and places with higher elevations, but most of central Arkansas saw a rain/snow mix that didn’t stick around long.

In 1983, there was about an inch of ice and snow on the ground Christmas Day, the remains of a storm that blew in earlier that week.

More than two inches of snow hit the area Dec.22-23, 1990, and some of it remained as a Christmas gift.

In 2004, about three inches of snow fell in the area on Dec. 22, and most of it was still on the ground come Christmas. In 2009, a trace of snowflakes flittered to the ground Christmas Day.

If it usually doesn’t snow much on Christmas Day here, when does it snow?

The earliest it has ever snowed in central Arkansas, according to the weather service, is the end of October (Oct. 28, 1925) and the latest snow has come in April (April 19, 1983).

The heaviest snows tend to hit from mid January to late February.

TOP STORY >> Grand opening for subdivision

By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday in Jacksonville to mark the completion of The Meadows subdivision, a housing project with 55 single-family rental homes.

The subdivision is near Cloverdale Road off Hwy. 161.

The $9.8 million project was completed in five months after a groundbreaking in July.

One of the new tenants is Shuntia Woods, a single mom with three boys who moved from Little Rock. She works at Arkansas Children’s Hospital as an operating-room medical assistant.

“It is just beautiful, a blessing to start a new year and a new house,” Woods said.

Mayor Gary Fletcher said just as a ribbon in sports signifies the finish line, Wednesday’s ceremony is the beginning of something bigger — the building of lives.

“I’m excited that lives are going to change,” Fletcher said.

Jacksonville Housing Authority chairman Mike Wilkinson said, “This is a fulfillment of a vision. Tax-credit public housing is something we wanted to try.”

Alice Rufus, the Little Rock Department of Housing and Urban Development field office director, said, “I’m grateful public housing has changed its face.”

She said people making low incomes don’t have to live in substandard housing. Public housing is no longer three, four, or five-story buildings.

“People can be proud of where the live. They are not living in a project but a community,” Rufus said.

Monthly rent for the 55 homes is between $307 and $960. Thirty of the homes have project-based vouchers for rental assistance, 11 have tax credits for higher incomes and 14 are at market rate.

Eight of the 55 homes are four-bedroom, while the rest are three-bedroom. Four homes were designed for handicapped accessibility. All houses have single step entrances.

The homes average 1,300 square feet. They have attached two-car garages, two bathrooms and a back patio.

The houses are carpeted except for the kitchens and bathrooms, which have vinyl floors.

The kitchens have a full sets of appliances. Each room has a ceiling fan.

To get the subdivision started, First Arkansas Bank president Larry Wilson provided a pre-development loan so the authority could purchase land for the houses in the Meadows subdivision.

The authority received an award of affordable housing tax credits, HOME funds and community development block grant funds from the Arkansas Housing Development Financing Authority and a permanent loan from mortgage lender Prudential Huntoon Paige, a national company.

The development was also made possible by Alliant Capital Group, an equity partner that purchased the affordable housing tax credits.

SE Clark and Associates, Inc. was the developer. Q. Steve Ficklin and Associates was the consultant and Guest Reddick Architects was the designer.

The PDC Corporation, a private real estate and management firm, oversees the development.

Individuals interested in one of the new homes can call PDC at 666-9629.

TOP STORY >> Young girl asks Santa for a very special gift

By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader editor

(This is a reprint of a previous Christmas column.)

When my friend Jack Sallee was with the Jaycees in Fayetteville, they’d put an ad in the paper at Christmastime saying that for $2 you could have Santa come to your place.

There’d be a group of Santas going out every night, and Sallee was among them.

“Each Santa went to about 10 homes a night,” Sallee says. “Each Santa had a driver. Mine was named Larry Nixon. He was a big fellow, and I would tell the kids Larry was driving me around town.”

Usually nothing out of the ordinary happened. Kids gotto tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas, and Santa gave them lots of candy, and everybody went to bed happy.

But then something different did happen. Sallee says, “One night we had two houses left to go. We drove around for a while, and when we found one, it was a one-room house. We went inside, and the house had a dirt floor and hardly any furnishings.”

A young girl was there with her mother. They were as poor as they could be: They had nothing — or very little.

The two Jaycees, college educated and professionals who had seen dozens of nice homes, couldn’t believe what they had walked into.

“There were two cots to sleep on and a table and a chair,” Sallee says. “The house had a potbellied stove. She had one of those small Styrofoam ice chests. So needless to say, I was taken aback because I didn’t think people still lived like that. This was inside the Fayetteville city limits.

“The girl was seven or eight years old,” Sallee continues, “and she had long hair and blue eyes. She wore a nightgown that looked like a man’s T-shirt her mother had cut off. She was flabbergasted that Santa Claus would actually visit her.”

He says, “For a Christmas tree, her mother had brought in a branch and put it on the table.”

Her mother had found her a present — a ball wrapped in tissue paper. Sallee wondered what else this poor girl would ask for.

“In the homes we had seen,” he continues, “the children would tell us what they wanted by reciting the toy sections in stores they’d been to.”

But that wasn’t what the girl wanted.

“The girl sat on my lap and looked at me seriously,” Sallee recalls. “She said, ‘Santa, the only thing I want is for Daddy to come home.’

“I looked at my driver, this big, burly guy, and he had to walk outside because tears were streaming down his face,” Sallee says.

“The mother turned her back to us, and I just turned my head away from her,” he adds. “I was just stunned and moved and speechless. I wanted to hold the little girl and tell her everything was going to be all right, but there was nothing you could do. You felt helpless. She never asked for a toy or clothes.

“I said there are some things Santa Claus can’t do,” Sallee adds, “but Santa Claus would try. I gave her all the candy I had.

“It’s an experience you’ll never forget,” he says. “It will haunt you for the rest of your life.”

Sallee remembers that little girl around this time of the year. He wonders what happened to her father.

Maybe this Christmas he will be home, and, who knows, they’ll have a nice place to live in. You can’t lose hope.

EDITORIAL >> At last minute, please shop local

Most of us have finished our holiday shopping and are ready to settle down to a cup of soothing tea. But there will always be last-minute stragglers, those who wake suddenly in the wee hours remembering who was left off that carefully prepared list. For you, The Leader has some last-minute nearby shopping suggestions. No mall traffic for these last-minute shoppers.

Last-minute auto buyers should head to Orr in Searcy and Excel Ford in Cabot for a gift that will be a big hit.

Oliver’s Antiques in Jacksonville has lots of stocking stuffers and a nice selection of quilts from hand-quilted antiques to some gently used that can be thrown casually over a couch, according to proprietress Sherry Oliver.

June’s Hallmark in Cabot has lots of last-minute specials, ornaments, wrapping paper and decorative items. June’s will have an extravagant Day After Christmas Sale next Wednesday. Be there.

At Cabot’s Merle Norman, Camille Stout has that wonderful scent Tussy and is running last-minute daily specials.

For the men in your life, Whit Davis in Cabot and Jacksonville has pocket knives, leather gloves, flashlights and power tools. A gent’s paradise.

And speaking of power tools, Ronald Wallace of Gravel Ridge Small Engine has a full line of chainsaws and chains in addition to outdoor equipment. “A sharp tool is a safe tool,” he says.

Hero’s Clothing and Skateboards on Main Street in Cabot has priced all hoodies at $35 and all shoes at $40.

Don’t forget Grandma’s Collectibles in Cabot for the collector in your life for treasured older objects and good condition depression glassware at low, low prices.

For a last-minute piece of furniture, visit the friendly folks at Crafton’s Furniture, who will deliver for free.

Furniture Store in Cabot will help you select just the right piece at half-off storewide.

Legacy Jewelry has diamond studs starting at $125. And Farmers in Cabot has 15 percent off on boots, clothing and toys.

Lastly, consider a relaxing professional massage at Mind Over Matter. Shop till you drop.

— Eileen Feldman

EDITORIAL >> Give COPS more funds

Their names are as beautiful as their faces: Ana, Avielle, Benjamin, Charlotte, Caroline, Catherine, Chase, Daniel, Dylan, Grace, Emilie, James, Jack, Jane, Jessica, Josephine, Madeleine, Noah, Olivia, Robie.

These are the young victims of last week’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where 20 first-graders were gunned down by a madman, along with their principal and five other staff members.

Gun-control advocates are once again demanding legislation to ban assault weapons like those used in the massacre. There is a chance that pro-gun Democrats and moderate Republicans might join forces to enact sensible legislation to restrict access by these psychopaths whose victims number several dozen a year. Even the National Rifle Association might go along this time. An announcement will be made later this week

But there will be more mass murders, even with strict gun controls. Sociopaths will get their hands on guns even if they are restricted through background checks and waiting periods. The weapons used in the most recent mass shootings — those in Connecticut and Oregon — were stolen. Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who murdered the children and their teachers in Newtown, Conn., stole the weapons from his mother before he killed her and drove to the school and butchered the first graders and the staff and then killed himself.

President Obama and Congress might not agree on gun-control legislation anytime soon, but there’s a good chance a $1 billion community-policing program first passed during the Clinton administration will be revived next year as parents demand assurances that their children will be safe in school.

President Clinton’s Community Oriented Policing Services program — or COPS for short — was popular with law-enforcement agencies when it was introduced in the 1990s, providing local police departments extra money to beef up patrols. But funding has dwindled to almost nothing over the years: Congress did approve $1 billion in 2009 as part of President Obama’s stimulus program, but funding fell to $316 million last year and $200 million this year, far less than what the President wanted. Nothing’s been appropriated for next year, although Obama has asked for $300 million.

Requests for more federal funds are coming in from police departments across the country, especially in areas that had mass shootings in recent years, from Connecticut to Virginia, from Colorado to Wisconsin, from Idaho to Oregon and in too many places in between.

Congress, which is as unpopular as ever as it faces down the so-called fiscal cliff, could rebuild its credibility by restoring full funding for COPS and improve safety in our communities. Congress would then honor the young victims of the Sandy Hook massacre and those who were killed before them.

But let’s exclude overzealous Paragould cops, who would stop anyone who goes outside. Show them a copy of the Constitution instead.