If you want to know what’s wrong with health care in the U.S., read an in-depth article in last Sunday’s New York Times. Much of the article is about a professor at the University of Central Arkansas who underwent an expensive procedure at the Arkansas Skin Cancer Center in Little Rock to remove a small cancerous spot on her cheek.
The story is online at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/health/patients-costs-skyrocket-specialists-incomes-soar.html.
Since the Little Rock newspaper ran about half of the article, readers missed the comments at the end from a UAMS dermatologist who questioned the need for such an expensive procedure.
Professor Kim Little, who teaches history at UCA, underwent an expensive Mohs surgical procedure that ran the cost up to more than $26,000. The operation involved a dermatologist, an anesthesiologist and an ophthalmologist who is also a plastic surgeon.
The UAMS doctor told the reporter the Mohs procedure was unnecessary and the operation should have been done for much less.
But when you’re told you have a cancerous spot on you cheek, who’s going to do comparison shopping?
Although Professor Little has insurance, she has a huge deductible and wasn’t happy about paying several thousand dollars for the operation out of her own pocket. She finally negotiated her portion of the bill down to about $4,500, which should have been the cost of the entire procedure.
Multiply Professor Little’s experience by several million and you can see why we spend an astonishing $2.7 trillion a year on healthcare.
As medical bills keep rising, it appears the Arkansas Legislature, rather than addressing the problem of high health-care costs, is determined to defund the state’s short experiment with the so-called private option, which insures thousands of Arkansans with the help of federal subsidies at no cost to taxpayers.
The state legislature last year narrowly ap-proved the private option, which was crafted by Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R-Searcy), House Speaker Davy Carter (R-Cabot) and others. It was a smart move that other states are emulating. The program is completely funded through Medicaid, which will cover all costs for the next several years and as much as 90 percent after that. Hundreds of millions of federal dollars will insure thousands of Arkansans. As a result, dozens of hospitals in our communities will stay open and will no longer have to write off billions of dollars in uncollected debt.
But legislators like Rep. Joe Farrer (R- Austin) hope to kill the private option, which will create a huge deficit in the state budget if they succeed. Thousands of Arkansans will lose their insurance and hospitals like North Metro Medical Center in Jacksonville, where Farrer is a physical therapist, could close. North Metro, like almost every hospital in Arkansas, depends on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. If Farrer gets his way, those funds will go to poor states like West Virginia and Kentucky, where hundreds of thousands of people are being insured for the first time.
When you’re in the legislature, people like Farrer are eligible for government insurance, but for less fortunate Arkansans, the private option is critical. Unfortunately, a two-thirds majority is needed to reapprove funding for the private option. That’s a high hurdle as more Republicans are leaning against it. One key Democrat, Sen. Paul Bookout of Jonesboro, who supported the private option, has been replaced by a Republican following Bookout’s resignation for ethics violations.
“The Arkansas private option has become a national model for states seeking flexibility under the Affordable Care Act,” Gov. Mike Beebe said in his radio address last Saturday. “It has already brought insurance coverage to more than 77,000 Arkansans, with tens of thousands more soon to qualify. It has attracted younger people to our insurance exchange, a necessity to keep insurance affordable in the future. The anticipated influx of federal funds will save an estimated $89 million for our state in the next fiscal year.”
“If the private option fails,” Beebe warned, “many Arkansans will lose their health care and tough cuts will need to be decided for other state services, as well.”
The governor, along with Speaker Carter and Sen. Dismang, cannot let that happen. Let’s hope they can persuade their colleagues to do the right thing. The private option will provide coverage for those who need it and keep our hospitals open, so Joe Farrer can continue working as a physical therapist and will never have to turn away a patient without insurance.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
TOP STORY >> Schools rewarded for improving
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
A total of about $425,000 has recently been awarded to 10 area schools for excellence in student performance, academic growth and graduation rates (for high schools).
The Cabot School District had five schools receive monetary awards. Searcy had four, and Beebe had one.
The Pulaski County Special School District had two schools honored, but the schools were south of the river.
Cabot Middle School North and its counterpart, Cabot Middle School South, were recognized for being in the top 10 percent of state schools in student performance and academic growth for the 2012-13 school year. Cabot North was awarded $77, 935, and Cabot South received $71,222.
Cabot’s Mountain Springs Elementary was also in the top 10 percent and received $39,083.
Two other Cabot schools finished in the top 20 percent for performance and academic growth. They were Cabot Junior High North, receiving $55,231, and Magness Creek Elementary, getting $16,326.
Cabot Superintendent Tony Thurman said, “We were very pleased with the news that our district will receive over $200,000 in incentive funding for performance and growth. We have teachers and students working very hard across our school system and the additional funds are validation of the good work that they are doing.
“The integration of technology into our schools is a priority. A challenging aspect of this exciting aspect of education is the associated costs with providing the devices for students to use in the classroom. We will use the funding to provide additional Chromebooks and charging stations for those schools earning the rewards.”
Searcy had two schools in the first tier (top 10 percent) and two schools in the second tier (top 20 percent).
Ahlf Junior High School and Westside elementary were in the top 10 percent, receiving, $57,262 and $41,867, respectively.
In the top 20 percent were McRae Elementary and Southwest Middle School. McRae received $20,403, and the middle school got $46,188.
Beebe Elementary School was in the top 20 percent and received $17,980.
The state awards schools the equivalent of $100 per student if the school is in the top 10 percent and $50 per student if it is in the top 20 percent.
According to Dr. Tom Kimbrell, the state’s education commissioner, the award-winning schools “were identified by assigning a percentile rank for the measures of each school’s performance, growth and graduation rate.” An average score was determined and those in the top two tiers were rewarded.
Overall, the state gave out about $7 million to more than 200 Arkansas schools.
The rewards program was established by Act 1429, sponsored by Sen. Johnny Key (R-Mountain Home) during the 2013 General Assembly.
State law requires that winning schools spend the reward money on personnel costs — like bonuses and contracted services to maintain and improve student performance — or supplies and materials for educational programs.
A committee that includes the principal, teacher and parent representatives will decide specifically how the funds will be spent.
Of the 206 state schools honored, 108 were in the top 10 percent and 98 fell between 10 and 20 percent.
Just 14 high schools were rewarded, along with 71 middle and junior high schools and 121 elementary schools.
On average, the reward schools are less poor and have a smaller minority population than the state. Just 47 percent of students in reward schools receive free-and-reduced lunch (state average 61 percent) and 23 percent are minority students (state average 36 percent).
Leader staff writer
A total of about $425,000 has recently been awarded to 10 area schools for excellence in student performance, academic growth and graduation rates (for high schools).
The Cabot School District had five schools receive monetary awards. Searcy had four, and Beebe had one.
The Pulaski County Special School District had two schools honored, but the schools were south of the river.
Cabot Middle School North and its counterpart, Cabot Middle School South, were recognized for being in the top 10 percent of state schools in student performance and academic growth for the 2012-13 school year. Cabot North was awarded $77, 935, and Cabot South received $71,222.
Cabot’s Mountain Springs Elementary was also in the top 10 percent and received $39,083.
Two other Cabot schools finished in the top 20 percent for performance and academic growth. They were Cabot Junior High North, receiving $55,231, and Magness Creek Elementary, getting $16,326.
Cabot Superintendent Tony Thurman said, “We were very pleased with the news that our district will receive over $200,000 in incentive funding for performance and growth. We have teachers and students working very hard across our school system and the additional funds are validation of the good work that they are doing.
“The integration of technology into our schools is a priority. A challenging aspect of this exciting aspect of education is the associated costs with providing the devices for students to use in the classroom. We will use the funding to provide additional Chromebooks and charging stations for those schools earning the rewards.”
Searcy had two schools in the first tier (top 10 percent) and two schools in the second tier (top 20 percent).
Ahlf Junior High School and Westside elementary were in the top 10 percent, receiving, $57,262 and $41,867, respectively.
In the top 20 percent were McRae Elementary and Southwest Middle School. McRae received $20,403, and the middle school got $46,188.
Beebe Elementary School was in the top 20 percent and received $17,980.
The state awards schools the equivalent of $100 per student if the school is in the top 10 percent and $50 per student if it is in the top 20 percent.
According to Dr. Tom Kimbrell, the state’s education commissioner, the award-winning schools “were identified by assigning a percentile rank for the measures of each school’s performance, growth and graduation rate.” An average score was determined and those in the top two tiers were rewarded.
Overall, the state gave out about $7 million to more than 200 Arkansas schools.
The rewards program was established by Act 1429, sponsored by Sen. Johnny Key (R-Mountain Home) during the 2013 General Assembly.
State law requires that winning schools spend the reward money on personnel costs — like bonuses and contracted services to maintain and improve student performance — or supplies and materials for educational programs.
A committee that includes the principal, teacher and parent representatives will decide specifically how the funds will be spent.
Of the 206 state schools honored, 108 were in the top 10 percent and 98 fell between 10 and 20 percent.
Just 14 high schools were rewarded, along with 71 middle and junior high schools and 121 elementary schools.
On average, the reward schools are less poor and have a smaller minority population than the state. Just 47 percent of students in reward schools receive free-and-reduced lunch (state average 61 percent) and 23 percent are minority students (state average 36 percent).
TOP STORY >> Nephew, senator uphold MLK legacy
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asked, “What are you doing to help others?” his nephew told a crowded gym Monday during the MLK community-empowerment summit and carnival at the Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club.
The nephew, Isaac Newton Farris Jr., said his aunt asked the holiday be changed to a day of service 10 years after Congress established it.
Farris explained that a day of service is what the civil rights activist would have wanted if he were alive today.
Farris continued, “When people talk about helping somebody, the first thing that comes to mind is money. Money is fine. I’m sure we could all use more of it.”
But he said money isn’t everything. Farris said helping others could be as simple as picking up a newspaper at the end of someone’s driveway and bringing it to them.
“It takes a certain mindset,” to serve others, Farris continued. He said, “The more you do, the more impact it has on your life.”
Farris told the audience he hoped that the day of service to honor his uncle would encourage people to spend two days, three days, seven days or even more time helping others.
To those in the audience who performed acts of service on Monday, Farris said, “You are an inspiration to the nation.”
Other highlights of the event included guest speaker state Sen. Linda Chesterfield (D-Little Rock) and a demonstration by Anderson’s Taekwondo Center.
Chesterfield pointed out that King advocated for education and the right to vote.
She also said he wanted people of every race to enjoy all of what America has to offer, which now includes affordable health care.
“It is not acceptable that women pay more for health insurance than men. The Affordable Health Care (Act) says that’s not going to happen anymore. It is unacceptable for people to go into bankruptcy because insurance companies have capped the amount that can be paid for catastrophic illnesses thus plunging too many people into bankruptcy because we have so many illnesses that cost so much money.”
Chesterfield also said it was unacceptable that poor people couldn’t afford preventive care and had to visit emergency rooms to see a doctor.
Then she criticized the new law requiring voters to have identification cards at the polls. She said IDs are OK for privileges like getting on a plane or buying alcohol. But voting is a right and everyone should have access to it, Chesterfield said.
She said less than 50 percent of this country’s population is registered to vote.
“I’m tired of people telling me ‘my vote doesn’t make a difference.’ I think if 51 percent of the people in this country voted it would make a difference,” the senator said.
Chesterfield emphasized the importance of vocational schools and job-training programs as important parts of the education system.
“We’ve got to provide opportunities for that and stop talking only about you’ve got to go to college. No, you’ve got to be career ready,” she said.
Chesterfield challenged the audience to be “culturally competent.” She also said, “I would dare you to get wisdom. I would dare you to get knowledge. I would dare you to get understanding. There is a challenge before each and every one of us to greatness. There is a challenge before each and every one of us to service.”
During the taekwondo de-monstration that preceded Chesterfield’s address, master Richard Anderson spoke of how his students — some raised in broken homes and others raised in loving homes — know right from wrong.
The students entered the gym chanting, “Just say no; don’t do drugs.”
Later, they told Anderson a person who cheats, steals, lies, takes drugs, abuses alcohol or wears baggy pants is “a low- down dirty dog.”
Anderson said the responsibility for keeping children on the straight and narrow falls to the older generation and their parents. “We’ve got to do a better job,” he told the crowd.
Anderson also shared the story of his instructor, Ricky Gaston, who became his student at age 12 and now has a 4-year-old son enrolled at the center.
Gaston was raised by his grandmother because his mother and father were absentee parents. In his neighborhood, the kids had no choice but to join a gang, Anderson said. One day, Gaston was so angry with his father that he and his brother threatened to kill their father.
Anderson said, “I grabbed them and pushed them up against the fence saying ‘that’s your father. You can’t do anything about that. You cannot be like him.”
Gaston’s son, Trey, chanted positive mantras while showing off his taekwondo moves at the event.
The Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, the Jacksonville chapter of the NAACP and the city sponsored the summit and carnival, which featured a petting zoo, horseback riding and vendors.
Jacksonville also celebrated the holiday with a citywide cleanup.
Leader staff writer
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asked, “What are you doing to help others?” his nephew told a crowded gym Monday during the MLK community-empowerment summit and carnival at the Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club.
The nephew, Isaac Newton Farris Jr., said his aunt asked the holiday be changed to a day of service 10 years after Congress established it.
Farris explained that a day of service is what the civil rights activist would have wanted if he were alive today.
Farris continued, “When people talk about helping somebody, the first thing that comes to mind is money. Money is fine. I’m sure we could all use more of it.”
But he said money isn’t everything. Farris said helping others could be as simple as picking up a newspaper at the end of someone’s driveway and bringing it to them.
“It takes a certain mindset,” to serve others, Farris continued. He said, “The more you do, the more impact it has on your life.”
Farris told the audience he hoped that the day of service to honor his uncle would encourage people to spend two days, three days, seven days or even more time helping others.
To those in the audience who performed acts of service on Monday, Farris said, “You are an inspiration to the nation.”
Other highlights of the event included guest speaker state Sen. Linda Chesterfield (D-Little Rock) and a demonstration by Anderson’s Taekwondo Center.
Chesterfield pointed out that King advocated for education and the right to vote.
She also said he wanted people of every race to enjoy all of what America has to offer, which now includes affordable health care.
“It is not acceptable that women pay more for health insurance than men. The Affordable Health Care (Act) says that’s not going to happen anymore. It is unacceptable for people to go into bankruptcy because insurance companies have capped the amount that can be paid for catastrophic illnesses thus plunging too many people into bankruptcy because we have so many illnesses that cost so much money.”
Chesterfield also said it was unacceptable that poor people couldn’t afford preventive care and had to visit emergency rooms to see a doctor.
Then she criticized the new law requiring voters to have identification cards at the polls. She said IDs are OK for privileges like getting on a plane or buying alcohol. But voting is a right and everyone should have access to it, Chesterfield said.
She said less than 50 percent of this country’s population is registered to vote.
“I’m tired of people telling me ‘my vote doesn’t make a difference.’ I think if 51 percent of the people in this country voted it would make a difference,” the senator said.
Chesterfield emphasized the importance of vocational schools and job-training programs as important parts of the education system.
“We’ve got to provide opportunities for that and stop talking only about you’ve got to go to college. No, you’ve got to be career ready,” she said.
Chesterfield challenged the audience to be “culturally competent.” She also said, “I would dare you to get wisdom. I would dare you to get knowledge. I would dare you to get understanding. There is a challenge before each and every one of us to greatness. There is a challenge before each and every one of us to service.”
During the taekwondo de-monstration that preceded Chesterfield’s address, master Richard Anderson spoke of how his students — some raised in broken homes and others raised in loving homes — know right from wrong.
The students entered the gym chanting, “Just say no; don’t do drugs.”
Later, they told Anderson a person who cheats, steals, lies, takes drugs, abuses alcohol or wears baggy pants is “a low- down dirty dog.”
Anderson said the responsibility for keeping children on the straight and narrow falls to the older generation and their parents. “We’ve got to do a better job,” he told the crowd.
Anderson also shared the story of his instructor, Ricky Gaston, who became his student at age 12 and now has a 4-year-old son enrolled at the center.
Gaston was raised by his grandmother because his mother and father were absentee parents. In his neighborhood, the kids had no choice but to join a gang, Anderson said. One day, Gaston was so angry with his father that he and his brother threatened to kill their father.
Anderson said, “I grabbed them and pushed them up against the fence saying ‘that’s your father. You can’t do anything about that. You cannot be like him.”
Gaston’s son, Trey, chanted positive mantras while showing off his taekwondo moves at the event.
The Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, the Jacksonville chapter of the NAACP and the city sponsored the summit and carnival, which featured a petting zoo, horseback riding and vendors.
Jacksonville also celebrated the holiday with a citywide cleanup.
TOP STORY >> NLR choice for VA site is not final
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
The Arkansas Veterans Commission voted 9-3 at a meeting Tuesday morning to recommend a golf course in North Little Rock near Fort Roots as the location for a proposed new veterans’ home.
A location in Searcy was the runner-up commissioners discussed during the meeting at the state capitol.
Two sites in Jacksonville were also finalists, but they “didn’t measure up” to the others, according to commission chairman Bob Schoenborn.
He also said, “I don’t think there is any doubt Jacksonville is veteran-friendly,” and many commissioners commented that the community has a great attitude. Commissioner Tom Thomas said, “You cannot ask for people to be more patriotic in that area, Jacksonville.”
Cissy Rucker, director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans’ Affairs, is tasked by the state Legislature to make the final choice of a site for the veterans’ home.
Remaining tight-lipped about the decision, she said after the meeting that all 20 sites the commissioners considered for the $23 million, 100-bed facility are still in the running.
Rucker also said she would select the site for the home within two weeks.
One of the Jacksonville sites is 30 acres of privately-owned farmland on Military Road and the other is a 20-acre site near Little Rock Air Force Base.
The Military Road site was at the bottom of a 45-degree slope and that may mean it floods, Schoenborn said.
The commissioners have previously voiced concern about the LRAFB site being in the flight path of C-130 aircraft and requiring the acquisition of an enhanced-use lease agreement with the Department of Defense.
Rucker said, “Every site has good. Every site has negative. You have to weigh them.”
Of the North Little Rock and Searcy proposals, she said, “I think they’re both good sites. It’s just going to come down to which site I think is best for the veterans.”
The director also told commissioners, “There is no time limit on this because we don’t know when we’re going to get the money…I’ve been over these proposals so many times I could recite them. When a decision is made, just know that it is not made lightly. It will be the best for Arkansas veterans.”
The money she was referring to is $14.5 million approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the project. The state legislature has voted to chip in the rest — $7.5 million.
Rucker said federal funds might not become available until the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The state veterans’ home, which will replace a Little Rock facility that closed for mismanagement several years ago, is 19th on a federal list of priorities.
The director explained that there is enough federal money appropriated this fiscal year to pay for 18 projects.
But, she continued, “It’s not bad news. It gives us some time to work on the design” and preparing for construction. Rucker said not getting the money this fiscal year is “not a total surprise.”
Her deputy director, Charles Johnson, added, “We’re well positioned.”
Rucker also said, if a project doesn’t work out or more money is appropriated, Arkansas could receive funds for the veterans home this fiscal year.
If the site Rucker chooses doesn’t work out for any reason, she will reconsider all 20 proposals. “This (process) has been transparent, clear and fair,” the director noted.
Schoenborn, the commission’s chairman, was optimistic about the federal funds. “It was the one department not affected by sequestration. It was one department that saw an increase in funds,” he said.
Four commissioners visited the two Jacksonville sites and the North Little Rock site on Jan. 13. They had previously visited Searcy’s site.
Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said after hearing about the commission’s vote Tuesday afternoon, “I’ll always believe that Jacksonville, when it comes to serving our military people, I can’t think of anyone who does it better. A lot of work went into putting that proposal in. It is what it is...It was out of our power to make it happen. We gave it our best shot.
“It’s not final. It certainly wasn’t a good start to getting to the final decision. It wasn’t very encouraging for the commission to not vote for (our sites),” he said.
Schoenborn said the North Little Rock golf course “looked good.” It is federally-owned land across from Fort Roots and near the veterans hospital in Little Rock.
The golf course also has a lake stocked with fish, commissioner Terry Williams Sr. pointed out.
Schoenborn said he is concerned about dealing with bureaucracy in transferring the lease on the North Little Rock site. If that holds up the process, the chairman said he would build on the Searcy site “in a heartbeat.”
Another reservation several commissioners have about the golf course is the amount of dirt work that might be needed to get the project shovel-ready.
Williams said the North Little Rock golf course offers “serenity.”
Commissioner Tom Thomas said that he is partial to Searcy’s site because he is from there, but that isn’t the only reason Searcy would be a good choice.
Thomas said, “This is the first time Arkansas will have a VA home built…What is the best way to take care of our veterans? What can you give them besides a site?”
He said Harding students who are studying several medical degrees offered by that university need internships to graduate. They could complete internships at the new home instead of traveling outside Searcy, Thomas said.
He also noted the Searcy Regional Economic Development Corp.’s offer to pay utilities for the veterans’ home for three years and the flat land at that site. There is an adjacent 15 acres the city said could eventually be offered if the home needed to expand.
Another commissioner questioned how far Searcy is from the VA hospital in Little Rock. According to Google Maps, Searcy is a 50.5-mile and 52-minute drive from Little Rock. A Greyhound bus to Little Rock stops in Searcy twice a week.
Williams added that, when the commissioners visited the two Jacksonville sites, the bus driver didn’t slow down at the Military Road location and the group couldn’t get through the LRAFB gate to look at all of the second site because the vehicle didn’t have the right insurance,
But, Williams said, “I like Jacksonville. I’m retired military…I love the area.”
Leader staff writer
The Arkansas Veterans Commission voted 9-3 at a meeting Tuesday morning to recommend a golf course in North Little Rock near Fort Roots as the location for a proposed new veterans’ home.
A location in Searcy was the runner-up commissioners discussed during the meeting at the state capitol.
Two sites in Jacksonville were also finalists, but they “didn’t measure up” to the others, according to commission chairman Bob Schoenborn.
He also said, “I don’t think there is any doubt Jacksonville is veteran-friendly,” and many commissioners commented that the community has a great attitude. Commissioner Tom Thomas said, “You cannot ask for people to be more patriotic in that area, Jacksonville.”
Cissy Rucker, director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans’ Affairs, is tasked by the state Legislature to make the final choice of a site for the veterans’ home.
Remaining tight-lipped about the decision, she said after the meeting that all 20 sites the commissioners considered for the $23 million, 100-bed facility are still in the running.
Rucker also said she would select the site for the home within two weeks.
One of the Jacksonville sites is 30 acres of privately-owned farmland on Military Road and the other is a 20-acre site near Little Rock Air Force Base.
The Military Road site was at the bottom of a 45-degree slope and that may mean it floods, Schoenborn said.
The commissioners have previously voiced concern about the LRAFB site being in the flight path of C-130 aircraft and requiring the acquisition of an enhanced-use lease agreement with the Department of Defense.
Rucker said, “Every site has good. Every site has negative. You have to weigh them.”
Of the North Little Rock and Searcy proposals, she said, “I think they’re both good sites. It’s just going to come down to which site I think is best for the veterans.”
The director also told commissioners, “There is no time limit on this because we don’t know when we’re going to get the money…I’ve been over these proposals so many times I could recite them. When a decision is made, just know that it is not made lightly. It will be the best for Arkansas veterans.”
The money she was referring to is $14.5 million approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the project. The state legislature has voted to chip in the rest — $7.5 million.
Rucker said federal funds might not become available until the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The state veterans’ home, which will replace a Little Rock facility that closed for mismanagement several years ago, is 19th on a federal list of priorities.
The director explained that there is enough federal money appropriated this fiscal year to pay for 18 projects.
But, she continued, “It’s not bad news. It gives us some time to work on the design” and preparing for construction. Rucker said not getting the money this fiscal year is “not a total surprise.”
Her deputy director, Charles Johnson, added, “We’re well positioned.”
Rucker also said, if a project doesn’t work out or more money is appropriated, Arkansas could receive funds for the veterans home this fiscal year.
If the site Rucker chooses doesn’t work out for any reason, she will reconsider all 20 proposals. “This (process) has been transparent, clear and fair,” the director noted.
Schoenborn, the commission’s chairman, was optimistic about the federal funds. “It was the one department not affected by sequestration. It was one department that saw an increase in funds,” he said.
Four commissioners visited the two Jacksonville sites and the North Little Rock site on Jan. 13. They had previously visited Searcy’s site.
Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said after hearing about the commission’s vote Tuesday afternoon, “I’ll always believe that Jacksonville, when it comes to serving our military people, I can’t think of anyone who does it better. A lot of work went into putting that proposal in. It is what it is...It was out of our power to make it happen. We gave it our best shot.
“It’s not final. It certainly wasn’t a good start to getting to the final decision. It wasn’t very encouraging for the commission to not vote for (our sites),” he said.
Schoenborn said the North Little Rock golf course “looked good.” It is federally-owned land across from Fort Roots and near the veterans hospital in Little Rock.
The golf course also has a lake stocked with fish, commissioner Terry Williams Sr. pointed out.
Schoenborn said he is concerned about dealing with bureaucracy in transferring the lease on the North Little Rock site. If that holds up the process, the chairman said he would build on the Searcy site “in a heartbeat.”
Another reservation several commissioners have about the golf course is the amount of dirt work that might be needed to get the project shovel-ready.
Williams said the North Little Rock golf course offers “serenity.”
Commissioner Tom Thomas said that he is partial to Searcy’s site because he is from there, but that isn’t the only reason Searcy would be a good choice.
Thomas said, “This is the first time Arkansas will have a VA home built…What is the best way to take care of our veterans? What can you give them besides a site?”
He said Harding students who are studying several medical degrees offered by that university need internships to graduate. They could complete internships at the new home instead of traveling outside Searcy, Thomas said.
He also noted the Searcy Regional Economic Development Corp.’s offer to pay utilities for the veterans’ home for three years and the flat land at that site. There is an adjacent 15 acres the city said could eventually be offered if the home needed to expand.
Another commissioner questioned how far Searcy is from the VA hospital in Little Rock. According to Google Maps, Searcy is a 50.5-mile and 52-minute drive from Little Rock. A Greyhound bus to Little Rock stops in Searcy twice a week.
Williams added that, when the commissioners visited the two Jacksonville sites, the bus driver didn’t slow down at the Military Road location and the group couldn’t get through the LRAFB gate to look at all of the second site because the vehicle didn’t have the right insurance,
But, Williams said, “I like Jacksonville. I’m retired military…I love the area.”
SPORTS STORY >> Panthers get first East win at Hangar
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers picked up their first conference win in three tries when they traveled to Mountain Home and beat the Bombers 49-30 Friday.
Cabot took control early with a 15-2 run to take a 17-4 lead in the first quarter. Senior Adolfo Iglesias came off the bench to spark the run, scoring seven points on the low block. Iglesias finished with a season-high 14 points, including 12 in the pivotal first half.
Iglesias converted a three-point play late in the second quarter to give the Panthers their biggest lead of the half at 25-10.
After going into halftime with a 27-13 lead, the margin grew to 20 points when the Panthers (10-5, 1-2) answered an opening bucket by the Bombers with an 8-0 run that made it 35-15. Mountain Home (5-9, 0-3) would get no closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
“We didn’t need to start 0-3,” said Cabot coach Jerry Bridges. “You never know going on the road, but I was really proud of my guys. We played like we cared. I didn’t feel like we played against Marion like you need to play. Friday night I thought we got back to playing hard, and we executed well.”
After an abysmal rebounding effort and getting into foul trouble against Marion last Tuesday, Bridges decided he had to sacrifice one thing in order to accomplish another.
He played Friday’s game almost exclusively in a matchup zone, instead of his preferred man defense.
“I just don’t think it’s a good rebounding defense for us,” Bridges said. “But it did keep us out of foul trouble and kept them off the free-throw line. And we didn’t rebound against Marion anyway. We had one defensive rebound in the whole first half in that game and played man the whole time. That’s what I mean about the effort. It just wasn’t there in that game and that was disappointing. We played like we cared at Mountain Home and hopefully we’ll keep doing that.”
Sophomore Garrett Rowe led Cabot with 16 points while Derek Curtis led Mountain Home with 13.
In a girls game where points were a premium, Mountain Home made the most of two runs that led to the Lady Bombers’ 26-22 win. After falling behind 15-8, Mountain Home scored the last five points of the second quarter and the first seven points of the third quarter before settling into a defensive struggle and prevailing.
The 12-0 run gave the home team a 20-15 lead with 5:20 left in the third quarter, and the two teams combined for just 13 more points the rest of the game.
Free throw shooting killed Cabot’s comeback attempt. The Lady Panthers missed 6 of 7 free-throw attempts in the third quarter after pulling to within 20-18.
Mountain Home’s Hannah Gaines finally hit a short jumper to make it 22-18 on the first possession of the fourth quarter. After that, neither team scored for more than six minutes. Cabot’s CoCo Calhoon finally broke the scoring drought when she converted a steal into a transition layup to make it 22-20 with 1:42 left in the game.
Cabot went with full-court pressure after the layup, and almost got another steal. But Mountain Home got the loose ball and found Gaines under the basket for an uncontested layup.
Mountain Home (4-11, 1-2) fouled Anna Sullivan with 10 seconds left, and for the first time in the game, a Lady Panther hit both free throws. Cabot fouled with six seconds left and Sydney Blevins made both foul shots to set the final margin.
Breelyn Arms led all scorers with seven points. Calhoon led Cabot (10-7, 1-2) with six.
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Panthers picked up their first conference win in three tries when they traveled to Mountain Home and beat the Bombers 49-30 Friday.
Cabot took control early with a 15-2 run to take a 17-4 lead in the first quarter. Senior Adolfo Iglesias came off the bench to spark the run, scoring seven points on the low block. Iglesias finished with a season-high 14 points, including 12 in the pivotal first half.
Iglesias converted a three-point play late in the second quarter to give the Panthers their biggest lead of the half at 25-10.
After going into halftime with a 27-13 lead, the margin grew to 20 points when the Panthers (10-5, 1-2) answered an opening bucket by the Bombers with an 8-0 run that made it 35-15. Mountain Home (5-9, 0-3) would get no closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
“We didn’t need to start 0-3,” said Cabot coach Jerry Bridges. “You never know going on the road, but I was really proud of my guys. We played like we cared. I didn’t feel like we played against Marion like you need to play. Friday night I thought we got back to playing hard, and we executed well.”
After an abysmal rebounding effort and getting into foul trouble against Marion last Tuesday, Bridges decided he had to sacrifice one thing in order to accomplish another.
He played Friday’s game almost exclusively in a matchup zone, instead of his preferred man defense.
“I just don’t think it’s a good rebounding defense for us,” Bridges said. “But it did keep us out of foul trouble and kept them off the free-throw line. And we didn’t rebound against Marion anyway. We had one defensive rebound in the whole first half in that game and played man the whole time. That’s what I mean about the effort. It just wasn’t there in that game and that was disappointing. We played like we cared at Mountain Home and hopefully we’ll keep doing that.”
Sophomore Garrett Rowe led Cabot with 16 points while Derek Curtis led Mountain Home with 13.
In a girls game where points were a premium, Mountain Home made the most of two runs that led to the Lady Bombers’ 26-22 win. After falling behind 15-8, Mountain Home scored the last five points of the second quarter and the first seven points of the third quarter before settling into a defensive struggle and prevailing.
The 12-0 run gave the home team a 20-15 lead with 5:20 left in the third quarter, and the two teams combined for just 13 more points the rest of the game.
Free throw shooting killed Cabot’s comeback attempt. The Lady Panthers missed 6 of 7 free-throw attempts in the third quarter after pulling to within 20-18.
Mountain Home’s Hannah Gaines finally hit a short jumper to make it 22-18 on the first possession of the fourth quarter. After that, neither team scored for more than six minutes. Cabot’s CoCo Calhoon finally broke the scoring drought when she converted a steal into a transition layup to make it 22-20 with 1:42 left in the game.
Cabot went with full-court pressure after the layup, and almost got another steal. But Mountain Home got the loose ball and found Gaines under the basket for an uncontested layup.
Mountain Home (4-11, 1-2) fouled Anna Sullivan with 10 seconds left, and for the first time in the game, a Lady Panther hit both free throws. Cabot fouled with six seconds left and Sydney Blevins made both foul shots to set the final margin.
Breelyn Arms led all scorers with seven points. Calhoon led Cabot (10-7, 1-2) with six.
SPORTS STORY >> Rebounding dooms Bears in double OT
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Sylvan Hills had several chances to put Little Rock Christian Academy away on Friday, and after two overtimes, wished they had capitalized on one of them. Instead, the Warriors hit shots at the buzzer to force one, and the a second overtime, and went on to a 60-58 victory over the Bears in Sherwood.
“This game comes down to rebounding,” said Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis. “It’s something I preached all week. That’s why you saw a smaller lineup tonight. The guys that crash the boards in practice got to play. But we didn’t bring it to the game at crucial times.”
Indeed, both of LRCA’s game-tying buzzer beaters came after offensive rebounds, and the Warriors won the rebounding battle 31-23 despite Sylvan Hills getting the last five redounds of the game, including four on the offensive end.
“If we just turn and get a body on someone and block out either time, this game is over,” Davis said. “But we just sort of became spectators and they kept playing to the buzzer. And we were in, man, so it’s not like there’s any reason we couldn’t find a body. We were in between them and the goal when those shots went up. We just didn’t do our job. There were some other things we could have and should have done a lot better on the offensive end, but ultimately this game comes down to rebounding.”
Little Rock Christian Academy overcame a five-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter after watching the Bears end the third period on a 7-0 run.
It’s something Sylvan Hills did repeatedly, but could never put the game away. Sylvan Hills’ pressure forced the Warriors to cough the ball up 26 times in the game, including 11 steals by the Bears.
But each run was followed by a scoring drought.
Sylvan Hills fell behind early when LRCA’s Alex Croom scored the first nine points of the game for the Warriors, who jumped out to a 9-3 lead. The Bears pulled to within 13-10 by the end of the period, then held LRCA to without a field goal until the 1:50 mark of the second period, taking a 24-19 lead into halftime.
But in the third quarter, the Bears didn’t score until 2:36 remained and Ronnie Hinton’s basket tied it at 27. Christian scored right after and that’s when the Bears’ 7-0 run began. They started the fourth quarter up 34-29. It grew to 38-31 with 5:20 left, but the Warriors went on a 10-2 run and took the lead at 41-40 on a layup by Croom with 2:21 left in regulation.
Neither team scored again until Sylvan Hills point guard Cordy Winston got a steal and hit a floater with 41 seconds remaining to put the Bears up 42-41. The Bears got another steal, but just as Winston was streaking into the passing lane for what would have been an open layup, Warrior coach Austin Trembley called timeout.
It didn’t help much, Hinton stole the ball after the inbound pass and was fouled with 25 seconds remaining. He made both free throws to give the Bears a 44-41 lead.
Warrior point guard Cole Hendrixon missed a three pointer with five seconds left, but forward Graham Tate got the rebound, kicked out to Croom, who let go of his shot just before the buzzer and drained it to tie the game at 44 and send it to overtime.
LRCA got the first lead of more than two points in overtime on a Hendrixon three pointer that made it 49-46 with 1:56 left.
Amani Armond answered for the Bears with 1:11 left. Croom then missed an uncontested layup with 38 seconds remaining and Hinton gave the Bears a 50-49 lead with 26 seconds remaining.
Hinton then got another big steal and was fouled. He made 1 of 2 foul shots with 19 seconds left for a two-point Bears’ lead.
After a timeout, Croom let fly a three-pointer with eight seconds left, but Cates again got the rebound and put it back in to force the second overtime.
The Bears led 56-53 with three minutes left in the second overtime on an Armond putback, but the Warriors scored the next seven points, five by Croom. His two free throws with 1:19 were the last points the Warriors would score, and all they needed.
Winston set the final margin with 1:00 to play after a Hinton miss and a Tre West rebound.
The Bears got what they needed after Winston’s bucket. Sylvan Hills fouled Peyton White, who missed the front end of a one-and-one and Sylvan Hills’ David Johnson got the rebound with 30 seconds left.
Winston missed with 18 seconds to go. West got the rebound but his putback was off the mark. Croom got that rebound, but he put the ball on the floor and got tied up, resulting in a jump ball that gave the Bears possession again with 12 seconds remaining.
Davis called timeout to set up a play for Hinton, but his squad didn’t run the play. Instead, Winston passed to Armond, who shot a three pointer from the top of the key and missed. West got another offensive board, but his putback also missed as time expired.
“We were inbounding it under the basket, and we were supposed to get the ball to Ronnie on the baseline,” Davis said. “He was just supposed to get it up there, just get the shot up. That’s a shot I’ve seen him make 1,000 times, and even if he missed, we had Amani on the low block for that backside rebound. We just didn’t run it. I can’t tell you why.”
Another factor contributing to the loss was that the Bears had their worst outside shooting night of the season. They made just 2 of 19 three-point attempts and shot 42 percent from the floor overall. The Warrriors hit 49 percent of their shots, including 17 of 31 two-pointers. They also made 8 of 9 free throws while Sylvan Hills hit 16 of 26.
Croom led all scorers with 29 points while Hendrixon added 11 for the Warrriors. Armond led the Bears with 21 while Hinton scored 11.
The Bears traveled to Pulaski Academy on Tuesday after Leader deadlines. Look for details of that game in Saturday’s edition of The Leader.
On Friday, they will make the short trip up Jacksonville Cutoff to take on archrival North Pulaski in what has become a crucial 5A-Central Conference game for both teams.
Leader sports editor
Sylvan Hills had several chances to put Little Rock Christian Academy away on Friday, and after two overtimes, wished they had capitalized on one of them. Instead, the Warriors hit shots at the buzzer to force one, and the a second overtime, and went on to a 60-58 victory over the Bears in Sherwood.
“This game comes down to rebounding,” said Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis. “It’s something I preached all week. That’s why you saw a smaller lineup tonight. The guys that crash the boards in practice got to play. But we didn’t bring it to the game at crucial times.”
Indeed, both of LRCA’s game-tying buzzer beaters came after offensive rebounds, and the Warriors won the rebounding battle 31-23 despite Sylvan Hills getting the last five redounds of the game, including four on the offensive end.
“If we just turn and get a body on someone and block out either time, this game is over,” Davis said. “But we just sort of became spectators and they kept playing to the buzzer. And we were in, man, so it’s not like there’s any reason we couldn’t find a body. We were in between them and the goal when those shots went up. We just didn’t do our job. There were some other things we could have and should have done a lot better on the offensive end, but ultimately this game comes down to rebounding.”
Little Rock Christian Academy overcame a five-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter after watching the Bears end the third period on a 7-0 run.
It’s something Sylvan Hills did repeatedly, but could never put the game away. Sylvan Hills’ pressure forced the Warriors to cough the ball up 26 times in the game, including 11 steals by the Bears.
But each run was followed by a scoring drought.
Sylvan Hills fell behind early when LRCA’s Alex Croom scored the first nine points of the game for the Warriors, who jumped out to a 9-3 lead. The Bears pulled to within 13-10 by the end of the period, then held LRCA to without a field goal until the 1:50 mark of the second period, taking a 24-19 lead into halftime.
But in the third quarter, the Bears didn’t score until 2:36 remained and Ronnie Hinton’s basket tied it at 27. Christian scored right after and that’s when the Bears’ 7-0 run began. They started the fourth quarter up 34-29. It grew to 38-31 with 5:20 left, but the Warriors went on a 10-2 run and took the lead at 41-40 on a layup by Croom with 2:21 left in regulation.
Neither team scored again until Sylvan Hills point guard Cordy Winston got a steal and hit a floater with 41 seconds remaining to put the Bears up 42-41. The Bears got another steal, but just as Winston was streaking into the passing lane for what would have been an open layup, Warrior coach Austin Trembley called timeout.
It didn’t help much, Hinton stole the ball after the inbound pass and was fouled with 25 seconds remaining. He made both free throws to give the Bears a 44-41 lead.
Warrior point guard Cole Hendrixon missed a three pointer with five seconds left, but forward Graham Tate got the rebound, kicked out to Croom, who let go of his shot just before the buzzer and drained it to tie the game at 44 and send it to overtime.
LRCA got the first lead of more than two points in overtime on a Hendrixon three pointer that made it 49-46 with 1:56 left.
Amani Armond answered for the Bears with 1:11 left. Croom then missed an uncontested layup with 38 seconds remaining and Hinton gave the Bears a 50-49 lead with 26 seconds remaining.
Hinton then got another big steal and was fouled. He made 1 of 2 foul shots with 19 seconds left for a two-point Bears’ lead.
After a timeout, Croom let fly a three-pointer with eight seconds left, but Cates again got the rebound and put it back in to force the second overtime.
The Bears led 56-53 with three minutes left in the second overtime on an Armond putback, but the Warriors scored the next seven points, five by Croom. His two free throws with 1:19 were the last points the Warriors would score, and all they needed.
Winston set the final margin with 1:00 to play after a Hinton miss and a Tre West rebound.
The Bears got what they needed after Winston’s bucket. Sylvan Hills fouled Peyton White, who missed the front end of a one-and-one and Sylvan Hills’ David Johnson got the rebound with 30 seconds left.
Winston missed with 18 seconds to go. West got the rebound but his putback was off the mark. Croom got that rebound, but he put the ball on the floor and got tied up, resulting in a jump ball that gave the Bears possession again with 12 seconds remaining.
Davis called timeout to set up a play for Hinton, but his squad didn’t run the play. Instead, Winston passed to Armond, who shot a three pointer from the top of the key and missed. West got another offensive board, but his putback also missed as time expired.
“We were inbounding it under the basket, and we were supposed to get the ball to Ronnie on the baseline,” Davis said. “He was just supposed to get it up there, just get the shot up. That’s a shot I’ve seen him make 1,000 times, and even if he missed, we had Amani on the low block for that backside rebound. We just didn’t run it. I can’t tell you why.”
Another factor contributing to the loss was that the Bears had their worst outside shooting night of the season. They made just 2 of 19 three-point attempts and shot 42 percent from the floor overall. The Warrriors hit 49 percent of their shots, including 17 of 31 two-pointers. They also made 8 of 9 free throws while Sylvan Hills hit 16 of 26.
Croom led all scorers with 29 points while Hendrixon added 11 for the Warrriors. Armond led the Bears with 21 while Hinton scored 11.
The Bears traveled to Pulaski Academy on Tuesday after Leader deadlines. Look for details of that game in Saturday’s edition of The Leader.
On Friday, they will make the short trip up Jacksonville Cutoff to take on archrival North Pulaski in what has become a crucial 5A-Central Conference game for both teams.
SPORTS STORY >> Jackrabbits' adjustments knock Heber off its perch
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The 4A-2 Conference is a mess in boys basketball, and Lonoke has played a huge role in making that mess. The Jackrabbits further cluttered the field by traveling to league-leading Heber Springs on Friday and knocking off the Panthers 52-40.
Brenton Bryant started in place of senior point guard Tykel Gray, who has been ill. The sophomore came through with two big shots to open each of the halves. After falling behind and going into the second quarter trailing 16-12, Lonoke outscored Heber 14-10 in the second quarter to send the game into halftime tied at 26.
That’s when adjustments took place, especially defensively.
“We didn’t really adjust defenses, we just adjusted how we played our man defense,” said Lonoke coach Dean Campbell. “It was really more of a re-focusing on what we had worked on in practice. Heber does a really good job with their motion offense. They get you to chasing and can pull you away from the ball. We had to rethink, are they just running us out of the play here? We did a much better job of staying in position and taking away easy baskets in the second quarter. We talk about those things all the time, but when you get in a game and start flying around, it’s sometimes easy to forget.”
The refocusing led to holding the high-scoring Panthers to just 14 points in the second half. Lonoke also gave up only 14 points in the paint and three offensive rebounds, something the Jackrabbits have struggled with this season.
“We definitely did a better job of taking care of the lane and forcing them to shoot jump shots,” Campbell said. “And rebounding has been an Achilles’ heel for us. But we only gave up four second-chance points. That’s important. That’s what got us beat in a couple of games. So you can see what taking care of that will do for you.”
The game’s results leaves Dollarway alone atop the conference standings at 5-1. The one loss was a 20-point loss to Heber Springs. Lonoke, Heber Springs and Newport are all 4-2 with the Greyhounds owning wins over the other two second-place teams. Newport’s losses were to Dollarway and Stuttgart.
“There’s no doubt everything is still up for grabs in this conference,” Campbell said. “It’s probably going to come down to the very last week the way things are shaking out so far.”
Senior post player Blake Mack led Lonoke with 19 points while Jamel Rankin added 12.
The Jackrabbits hosted Dollarway on Tuesday in another big matchup. Look for details of that game in Saturday’s edition of The Leader. They will travel to Clinton on Friday.
Leader sports editor
The 4A-2 Conference is a mess in boys basketball, and Lonoke has played a huge role in making that mess. The Jackrabbits further cluttered the field by traveling to league-leading Heber Springs on Friday and knocking off the Panthers 52-40.
Brenton Bryant started in place of senior point guard Tykel Gray, who has been ill. The sophomore came through with two big shots to open each of the halves. After falling behind and going into the second quarter trailing 16-12, Lonoke outscored Heber 14-10 in the second quarter to send the game into halftime tied at 26.
That’s when adjustments took place, especially defensively.
“We didn’t really adjust defenses, we just adjusted how we played our man defense,” said Lonoke coach Dean Campbell. “It was really more of a re-focusing on what we had worked on in practice. Heber does a really good job with their motion offense. They get you to chasing and can pull you away from the ball. We had to rethink, are they just running us out of the play here? We did a much better job of staying in position and taking away easy baskets in the second quarter. We talk about those things all the time, but when you get in a game and start flying around, it’s sometimes easy to forget.”
The refocusing led to holding the high-scoring Panthers to just 14 points in the second half. Lonoke also gave up only 14 points in the paint and three offensive rebounds, something the Jackrabbits have struggled with this season.
“We definitely did a better job of taking care of the lane and forcing them to shoot jump shots,” Campbell said. “And rebounding has been an Achilles’ heel for us. But we only gave up four second-chance points. That’s important. That’s what got us beat in a couple of games. So you can see what taking care of that will do for you.”
The game’s results leaves Dollarway alone atop the conference standings at 5-1. The one loss was a 20-point loss to Heber Springs. Lonoke, Heber Springs and Newport are all 4-2 with the Greyhounds owning wins over the other two second-place teams. Newport’s losses were to Dollarway and Stuttgart.
“There’s no doubt everything is still up for grabs in this conference,” Campbell said. “It’s probably going to come down to the very last week the way things are shaking out so far.”
Senior post player Blake Mack led Lonoke with 19 points while Jamel Rankin added 12.
The Jackrabbits hosted Dollarway on Tuesday in another big matchup. Look for details of that game in Saturday’s edition of The Leader. They will travel to Clinton on Friday.
SPORTS STORY >> McDonald, Seahawks headed for Super Bowl
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
In a season that began with the most disappointing moment of his career, Jacksonville native Clinton McDonald will finish it at the pinnacle of all football pursuits when the Seattle Seahawks nose tackle lines up across from Denver Broncos center Manny Ramirez in the 2014 Super Bowl on Feb. 2 in New Jersey.
McDonald and the Seattle Seahawks made a defensive stand in the end zone on Sunday to preserve a 23-17 victory over archrival San Francisco in the NFC Championship game. The season began with McDonald being released by the Seahawks just before the first week of the season, despite starting every preseason game and having his best game in the final week of preseason.
The New England Patriots showed some interest in picking up McDonald, but after a week-one win over Carolina, Seahawks general manager John Schneider called McDonald at his parents’ home in Jacksonville and asked him to return to the team.
That was on Thursday before Seattle hosted San Francisco for the first of three games against the 49ers this season. McDonald got the call on Thursday, flew back to Seattle on Friday, signed on Saturday and was on the field that Sunday.
Since then, he has turned in his best season as a professional since being drafted by Cincinnati in 2009.
He has recorded 36 tackles, third among defensive linemen on the team, and 5.5 sacks, also third on the team.
Already small for his position, McDonald has accomplished all this while 12 pounds lighter than he was last season. He makes up for his 285-pound frame with bullish strength and better quickness. Near the end of the regular season, Seattle coach Pete Carroll talked about McDonald’s improvement since returning to the team.
“He’s more active,” Carroll told Seahawks.com writer Clare Farnsworth. “He did lose some weight. He just seemed to be quicker and by far the best we’ve seen him. It just seemed like something happened. It’s like a light went on or the sense of urgency changed.”
McDonald becomes the second former Jacksonville Red Devil to play in the Super Bowl. Exactly 29 years and one week earlier, Dan Hampton played for and won a Super Bowl ring with the Chicago Bears, beating the New England Patriots 46-10 on Jan. 26, 1985. Hampton was also a defensive tackle and is now in the National Football League Hall of Fame.
McDonald was recruited out of Jacksonville High School as a linebacker and signed with Memphis University. He was moved to defensive end his freshman year by defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn, a move McDonald, at the time 245 pounds, didn’t like. He was moved to the interior of the line his sophomore year, though he was still only 255 pounds.
Displaying the work ethic that has made him an effective NFL linemen despite being so small, McDonald built himself into a professional-caliber player. He is one of the strongest players on the Seahawks squad, and his short stature, 6-foot-2, combined with his strength, makes him a strong pass rusher from the inside, though he has become an all-package player.
McDonald’s position in the Seahawks scheme isn’t one that’s necessarily supposed to put up big numbers. He has earned a reputation as a workhorse who makes teammates better.
“Clinton is a guy who is having a terrific year,” Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said in December. “He’s really provided some inside rush for us. The ability to have a guy who can push the pocket where the quarterback can’t step up, and now have the outside guys get him, that’s the dirty work.”
McDonald has also been active in his hometown since becoming a professional. He is a Gold level contributor to the Jacksonville High School Booster Club, and last year began a football camp for local youths called the Clinton McDonald Iron Sharpens Iron Youth Football Camp. The name for which he took from a verse of Scripture in the Book of Proverbs. The Seahawks and Broncos will kick off Super Bowl XLVIII at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2.
Leader sports editor
In a season that began with the most disappointing moment of his career, Jacksonville native Clinton McDonald will finish it at the pinnacle of all football pursuits when the Seattle Seahawks nose tackle lines up across from Denver Broncos center Manny Ramirez in the 2014 Super Bowl on Feb. 2 in New Jersey.
McDonald and the Seattle Seahawks made a defensive stand in the end zone on Sunday to preserve a 23-17 victory over archrival San Francisco in the NFC Championship game. The season began with McDonald being released by the Seahawks just before the first week of the season, despite starting every preseason game and having his best game in the final week of preseason.
The New England Patriots showed some interest in picking up McDonald, but after a week-one win over Carolina, Seahawks general manager John Schneider called McDonald at his parents’ home in Jacksonville and asked him to return to the team.
That was on Thursday before Seattle hosted San Francisco for the first of three games against the 49ers this season. McDonald got the call on Thursday, flew back to Seattle on Friday, signed on Saturday and was on the field that Sunday.
Since then, he has turned in his best season as a professional since being drafted by Cincinnati in 2009.
He has recorded 36 tackles, third among defensive linemen on the team, and 5.5 sacks, also third on the team.
Already small for his position, McDonald has accomplished all this while 12 pounds lighter than he was last season. He makes up for his 285-pound frame with bullish strength and better quickness. Near the end of the regular season, Seattle coach Pete Carroll talked about McDonald’s improvement since returning to the team.
“He’s more active,” Carroll told Seahawks.com writer Clare Farnsworth. “He did lose some weight. He just seemed to be quicker and by far the best we’ve seen him. It just seemed like something happened. It’s like a light went on or the sense of urgency changed.”
McDonald becomes the second former Jacksonville Red Devil to play in the Super Bowl. Exactly 29 years and one week earlier, Dan Hampton played for and won a Super Bowl ring with the Chicago Bears, beating the New England Patriots 46-10 on Jan. 26, 1985. Hampton was also a defensive tackle and is now in the National Football League Hall of Fame.
McDonald was recruited out of Jacksonville High School as a linebacker and signed with Memphis University. He was moved to defensive end his freshman year by defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn, a move McDonald, at the time 245 pounds, didn’t like. He was moved to the interior of the line his sophomore year, though he was still only 255 pounds.
Displaying the work ethic that has made him an effective NFL linemen despite being so small, McDonald built himself into a professional-caliber player. He is one of the strongest players on the Seahawks squad, and his short stature, 6-foot-2, combined with his strength, makes him a strong pass rusher from the inside, though he has become an all-package player.
McDonald’s position in the Seahawks scheme isn’t one that’s necessarily supposed to put up big numbers. He has earned a reputation as a workhorse who makes teammates better.
“Clinton is a guy who is having a terrific year,” Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said in December. “He’s really provided some inside rush for us. The ability to have a guy who can push the pocket where the quarterback can’t step up, and now have the outside guys get him, that’s the dirty work.”
McDonald has also been active in his hometown since becoming a professional. He is a Gold level contributor to the Jacksonville High School Booster Club, and last year began a football camp for local youths called the Clinton McDonald Iron Sharpens Iron Youth Football Camp. The name for which he took from a verse of Scripture in the Book of Proverbs. The Seahawks and Broncos will kick off Super Bowl XLVIII at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2.
SPORTS STORY >> Devils alone in first place
By ANN THARP
Special to The Leader
Both the Jacksonville Red Devils and the McClellan Lions were undefeated in conference play Friday night when the Lions played host to the Red Devils.
The game was close all the way, but Jacksonville (14-3, 4-0) prevailed for the 80-74 victory.
The score was tied at the end of the first quarter and McClellan (9-7, 3-1) led by two points at the end of the first half of play.
The third quarter was as close and as contested as well, with several calls that were questioned by Jacksonville head coach Victor Joyner. So strong were his objections, he received two technical fouls and had to leave the gym with 36 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Keith Hayes shot the four technical free throws and made two to give the Lions a 51-47 lead. However, the Red Devils came back to outscore McClellan 31-21 in the final quarter to secure the victory.
“The sequence of calls, there was a sequence of about four or five calls that went against us,” said Joyner. “It was the same in the first half. My kids had to go to the hole and take two hits and they go to the free throw line. My kids were fighting an uphill battle, but the kids kept playing. My kids did a great job under all that adversity. They kept playing. That’s the whole key. They persevered and they came through.
“They get after it. They want to speed you up,” Coach Joyner said of McClellan. “If you can’t play in the 70s and 80s you’re going to have trouble with them. We were able to rest guys and we have guys that can finish around the basket. We have some great finishers.”
Jacksonville’s Kanaan Jackson tied the game at eight in the first quarter with a dunk, and the quarter ended knotted at 12.
The Red Devils struggled early in the second quarter with McClellan’s full-court press, turning the ball over and allowing the Lions to build a 27-19 lead with 3:53 to go in the quarter.
Damarion Freeman sank two free throws to trim the lead to 27-23 with 2:53 left. LaQuawn Smith and Sergio Berkley added baskets to help the Red Devils pull to just a 32-30 deficit at the half.
McClellan scored the first five points of the second half to build the lead to 37-30. The lead grew to 41-32, but Jackson hit a two-point basket plus one free throw and then added two free throws to pull the Red Devils to within two points at 45-43. After the technical free throws, Jacksonville forced a five second call on the Lions, and Devin Campbell hit two free throws for a 51-49 Lion lead.
McClellan built a 57-51 lead in the fourth quarter before Tedrick Wolfe tied the game at 58-58 with two free throws for the Red Devils. Andre Jones hit a three-pointer to give the Lions a 61-58 lead, answered by Campbell’s three-pointer to tie the game at 61-61.
The game was then tied four times with neither team leading by more than two points until Jacksonville went ahead 74-70. Hayes hit two free throws for the Lions to cut the lead to 74-72, but Smith answered with two free throws to up the Red Devil advantage to 76-72 with 41 seconds to go in the game.
Jacksonville led 78-74 with 17 seconds left and scored at the buzzer to set the final score at 80-74.
Jacksonville had four players in double figures in scoring. Campbell led the Red Devils with 20 points, Jackson added 17, Wolfe had 12 points and Berkley 10 points.
Hayes had 19 points for McClellan and Jones added 18 points.
Special to The Leader
Both the Jacksonville Red Devils and the McClellan Lions were undefeated in conference play Friday night when the Lions played host to the Red Devils.
The game was close all the way, but Jacksonville (14-3, 4-0) prevailed for the 80-74 victory.
The score was tied at the end of the first quarter and McClellan (9-7, 3-1) led by two points at the end of the first half of play.
The third quarter was as close and as contested as well, with several calls that were questioned by Jacksonville head coach Victor Joyner. So strong were his objections, he received two technical fouls and had to leave the gym with 36 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Keith Hayes shot the four technical free throws and made two to give the Lions a 51-47 lead. However, the Red Devils came back to outscore McClellan 31-21 in the final quarter to secure the victory.
“The sequence of calls, there was a sequence of about four or five calls that went against us,” said Joyner. “It was the same in the first half. My kids had to go to the hole and take two hits and they go to the free throw line. My kids were fighting an uphill battle, but the kids kept playing. My kids did a great job under all that adversity. They kept playing. That’s the whole key. They persevered and they came through.
“They get after it. They want to speed you up,” Coach Joyner said of McClellan. “If you can’t play in the 70s and 80s you’re going to have trouble with them. We were able to rest guys and we have guys that can finish around the basket. We have some great finishers.”
Jacksonville’s Kanaan Jackson tied the game at eight in the first quarter with a dunk, and the quarter ended knotted at 12.
The Red Devils struggled early in the second quarter with McClellan’s full-court press, turning the ball over and allowing the Lions to build a 27-19 lead with 3:53 to go in the quarter.
Damarion Freeman sank two free throws to trim the lead to 27-23 with 2:53 left. LaQuawn Smith and Sergio Berkley added baskets to help the Red Devils pull to just a 32-30 deficit at the half.
McClellan scored the first five points of the second half to build the lead to 37-30. The lead grew to 41-32, but Jackson hit a two-point basket plus one free throw and then added two free throws to pull the Red Devils to within two points at 45-43. After the technical free throws, Jacksonville forced a five second call on the Lions, and Devin Campbell hit two free throws for a 51-49 Lion lead.
McClellan built a 57-51 lead in the fourth quarter before Tedrick Wolfe tied the game at 58-58 with two free throws for the Red Devils. Andre Jones hit a three-pointer to give the Lions a 61-58 lead, answered by Campbell’s three-pointer to tie the game at 61-61.
The game was then tied four times with neither team leading by more than two points until Jacksonville went ahead 74-70. Hayes hit two free throws for the Lions to cut the lead to 74-72, but Smith answered with two free throws to up the Red Devil advantage to 76-72 with 41 seconds to go in the game.
Jacksonville led 78-74 with 17 seconds left and scored at the buzzer to set the final score at 80-74.
Jacksonville had four players in double figures in scoring. Campbell led the Red Devils with 20 points, Jackson added 17, Wolfe had 12 points and Berkley 10 points.
Hayes had 19 points for McClellan and Jones added 18 points.
Monday, January 20, 2014
TOP STORY >> Award honors Myers' legacy
By JONATHAN FELDMAN
Leader editor
The family of the late Oliver W. (Dub) Myers has established a leadership award for students of Jacksonville, North Pulaski and Lighthouse high schools who are also members of the Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club.
Myers, who died in 2012 at the age of 82, was a brigadier general in the Arkansas National Guard who went on to have a long career in business in Jacksonville and was frequently involved with community service.
The $500 Dub Myers Emerging Leadership Award will help pay for school-related expenses like books, clothes, transportation, equipment or other fees. It is available on a competitive basis annually to students with a minimum grade point average of 2.5.
“Throughout his life, he was in service to his country and community in roles both formal and informal. He quietly made sure that children in the community had the supplies they needed to succeed in school and in life. He never forgot that, in his sophomore year in high school, people in his community recognized his leadership potential and helped him with resources he needed to succeed in high school, college and throughout his life,” according to a news release.
Born in Crowley’s Ridge, “Dub never forgot his modest roots and looked for ways to help others fulfill their potential based on merit and without prejudice. He proudly appointed the first African American officer to a command leadership position in the Arkansas National Guard, and he was the first to recommend a female officer for a command,” it continued.
“(He) was a leader, and he believed that every human being had potential but might need a little help. His motto was ‘don’t go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.’”
A selection committee — two Boys and Girls Club board members, the club’s director, a club volunteer and a member of the Myers family — will consider applicants’ grades, community involvement and extracurricular activities. The award will be presented at the club’s spring banquet.
Applications must include a letter of recommendation from a school faculty member and one from a community member or fellow student. They are available at the Boys and Girls Club, which is open from 1 until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Call 501-982-4316 for more information.
Leader editor
The family of the late Oliver W. (Dub) Myers has established a leadership award for students of Jacksonville, North Pulaski and Lighthouse high schools who are also members of the Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club.
Myers, who died in 2012 at the age of 82, was a brigadier general in the Arkansas National Guard who went on to have a long career in business in Jacksonville and was frequently involved with community service.
The $500 Dub Myers Emerging Leadership Award will help pay for school-related expenses like books, clothes, transportation, equipment or other fees. It is available on a competitive basis annually to students with a minimum grade point average of 2.5.
“Throughout his life, he was in service to his country and community in roles both formal and informal. He quietly made sure that children in the community had the supplies they needed to succeed in school and in life. He never forgot that, in his sophomore year in high school, people in his community recognized his leadership potential and helped him with resources he needed to succeed in high school, college and throughout his life,” according to a news release.
Born in Crowley’s Ridge, “Dub never forgot his modest roots and looked for ways to help others fulfill their potential based on merit and without prejudice. He proudly appointed the first African American officer to a command leadership position in the Arkansas National Guard, and he was the first to recommend a female officer for a command,” it continued.
“(He) was a leader, and he believed that every human being had potential but might need a little help. His motto was ‘don’t go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.’”
A selection committee — two Boys and Girls Club board members, the club’s director, a club volunteer and a member of the Myers family — will consider applicants’ grades, community involvement and extracurricular activities. The award will be presented at the club’s spring banquet.
Applications must include a letter of recommendation from a school faculty member and one from a community member or fellow student. They are available at the Boys and Girls Club, which is open from 1 until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Call 501-982-4316 for more information.
TOP STORY >> JP quits quorum court
By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
Lonoke County District 7 JP Adam Sims turned in his resignation during the Thursday night quorum court meeting, saying that he was unable to effectively represent the people of the Furlow area who elected him.
Lonoke County Judge Doug Erwin said after the meeting that the quorum court will declare a vacancy during the February meeting and supply Gov. Mike Beebe with a list of possible replacements, but the choice is the governor’s alone.
“Sometimes things happen that are beyond the control of anyone,” Sims read from a prepared statement. “This is one of those times. As we all know, I have not been well for over a year. I have missed many meetings and not been able to represent my district in the manner it needs to be represented.”
Sims was injured while working at a railroad shop in North Little Rock in November 2012. He’s had two surgeries so far to correct the damage that was done.
Sims, 45, was first elected in 1994 when he was 25 years old. He served two terms and was re-elected five years ago.
“There’s a lot more to this job when you’re in an unincorporated area than when you’re in the city,” Sims said during a later interview.
He counts among his successes a community park that he worked for as well as two day-long community gatherings.
Sims also successfully op-posed on the behalf of the people in his district a halfway house for women and the construction of a crematorium.
More recently, he has tried unsuccessfully to persuade the county judge to put more money toward beaver bounties to encourage year-round trapping.
“If I was well, I would have hung in there,” Sims said. “They come to you because they know you, and they expect you to get something done.”
But because of the pain and family responsibilities, his work in his district had suffered, Sims said, and it was better to resign.
“I wish you well and I wish your family well,” Erwin said when Sims finished reading Thursday night. Sims smiled in acknowledgement but told Erwin, “I’m still going to fight you on the beavers.”
COURT EXPENSES
In other business, quorum court members asked how much the county owes the cities of Lonoke and Carlisle.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has declined to reconsider its approval of a special circuit court judge’s ruling that the county must pay half of all expenses of the district courts in those cities and not just half the salaries of the judge and one clerk.
Geoff Thompson, the county’s attorney, said he couldn’t answer the question because the amounts had not yet been determined.
County Clerk Larry Clarke, responding to their question, said the budget would have to be amended to add the expenditure.
Since January 2012 — when the county stopped paying half of all expenses, saying the state law had changed and all that was required was half of two salaries — Carlisle has not taken any county money to help run its court. So the county is holding about $58,000 for that city.
Lonoke has taken the offered half salaries but said in an appeal to the state Supreme Court that the county owed almost $28,000 a year for half of all other expenses as allowed by a court order in 1991.
City leaders were called to a meeting with Erwin in late November 2011 to discuss the payments the county makes to cities to help run district courts, where the county’s misdemeanor cases are heard.
Erwin said then that, because there were so many different agreements and some were not in writing, it was impossible to understand how the cities were reimbursed for hearing county cases.
But, he said then, the new law said the county only had to pay for half the salaries of the two top employees and the county intended to follow the law. At that time, the Cabot District Court expected to get more than $159,000 from the county, but that amount was cut to about $60,000.
Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert attended the Thursday quorum court meeting. When asked if he also intended to file suit or otherwise pursue a larger reimbursement for the Cabot District Court, the mayor said, “No comment.”
Leader staff writer
Lonoke County District 7 JP Adam Sims turned in his resignation during the Thursday night quorum court meeting, saying that he was unable to effectively represent the people of the Furlow area who elected him.
Lonoke County Judge Doug Erwin said after the meeting that the quorum court will declare a vacancy during the February meeting and supply Gov. Mike Beebe with a list of possible replacements, but the choice is the governor’s alone.
“Sometimes things happen that are beyond the control of anyone,” Sims read from a prepared statement. “This is one of those times. As we all know, I have not been well for over a year. I have missed many meetings and not been able to represent my district in the manner it needs to be represented.”
Sims was injured while working at a railroad shop in North Little Rock in November 2012. He’s had two surgeries so far to correct the damage that was done.
Sims, 45, was first elected in 1994 when he was 25 years old. He served two terms and was re-elected five years ago.
“There’s a lot more to this job when you’re in an unincorporated area than when you’re in the city,” Sims said during a later interview.
He counts among his successes a community park that he worked for as well as two day-long community gatherings.
Sims also successfully op-posed on the behalf of the people in his district a halfway house for women and the construction of a crematorium.
More recently, he has tried unsuccessfully to persuade the county judge to put more money toward beaver bounties to encourage year-round trapping.
“If I was well, I would have hung in there,” Sims said. “They come to you because they know you, and they expect you to get something done.”
But because of the pain and family responsibilities, his work in his district had suffered, Sims said, and it was better to resign.
“I wish you well and I wish your family well,” Erwin said when Sims finished reading Thursday night. Sims smiled in acknowledgement but told Erwin, “I’m still going to fight you on the beavers.”
COURT EXPENSES
In other business, quorum court members asked how much the county owes the cities of Lonoke and Carlisle.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has declined to reconsider its approval of a special circuit court judge’s ruling that the county must pay half of all expenses of the district courts in those cities and not just half the salaries of the judge and one clerk.
Geoff Thompson, the county’s attorney, said he couldn’t answer the question because the amounts had not yet been determined.
County Clerk Larry Clarke, responding to their question, said the budget would have to be amended to add the expenditure.
Since January 2012 — when the county stopped paying half of all expenses, saying the state law had changed and all that was required was half of two salaries — Carlisle has not taken any county money to help run its court. So the county is holding about $58,000 for that city.
Lonoke has taken the offered half salaries but said in an appeal to the state Supreme Court that the county owed almost $28,000 a year for half of all other expenses as allowed by a court order in 1991.
City leaders were called to a meeting with Erwin in late November 2011 to discuss the payments the county makes to cities to help run district courts, where the county’s misdemeanor cases are heard.
Erwin said then that, because there were so many different agreements and some were not in writing, it was impossible to understand how the cities were reimbursed for hearing county cases.
But, he said then, the new law said the county only had to pay for half the salaries of the two top employees and the county intended to follow the law. At that time, the Cabot District Court expected to get more than $159,000 from the county, but that amount was cut to about $60,000.
Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert attended the Thursday quorum court meeting. When asked if he also intended to file suit or otherwise pursue a larger reimbursement for the Cabot District Court, the mayor said, “No comment.”
TOP STORY >> 'Our time is now,' mayor tells council
By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
“Our time is now,” Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said during his state of the city report, which was read at Thursday night’s city council meeting.
“There is a new day dawning for Jacksonville as we start 2014, but as we face the future, we also need to reflect on the past as the ground work to bring about this promising future,” he said.
A stand-alone, locally-controlled Jacksonville/north Pulaski school district and the largest trap- and skeet-shooting range in the state will greet that new day on a four-lane Graham Road.
Jacksonville could also see a new state veterans’ home and a vote on whether to allow alcohol-by-the-drink sales.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. approved a settlement in the 1989 desegregation case that also permits Jacksonville to break away from the Pulaski County Special School District.
Advocates have been working toward the detachment for more than 30 years. Fletcher said they have gone through “six feasibility studies, endless town-hall meetings, discussions, frustrations from the condition of facilities; lack of vision, control and professionalism; of school boards ignoring the needs of our city and its children.”
The next step in the detachment process is a September election — if approved by the state Board of Education — in which voters will decide whether they want their own school district.
About the election, Fletcher quipped, “By the way, that will be 34 weeks from Tuesday, if anybody’s counting.”
Another accomplishment looming on the horizon is the $3.5 million trap- and skeet-shooting range on Graham Road. A soft opening for the facility will be held within a week or two, officials say.
Fletcher added that the $3.6 million widening of Graham Road for one mile, which has been underway for two years, is nearing the finish line. “And what better timing as the state-of-the-art trap-shooting facility will be hosting shooting events this spring that will draw people from all over the country to this area,” the mayor said.
Fletcher also said the city’s proposed site for a new state veterans’ home is in the top three and a decision on where to locate the facility will be made soon.
Of the wet/dry petition, he said the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce has collected 1,471 or the 4,839 it needs to get the issue on a ballot.
Fletcher said, “It has the potential to level the playing field and make it easier to attract nice family restaurants on the national chain level. It is costing our city when our citizens go to another city to eat by using our local money to support another city’s tax base. The money needs to stay in our own hometown, financing city services and projects. I have maintained all along that no city has the potential that Jacksonville has, yet our hands are tied to do anything about it.”
The mayor recalled the “ups” of 2013 too, such as completion of the $6 million public-safety complex that houses the police department, police/fire training grounds, the 911 center and a FEMA safe room on Marshall Road; the passing of a state law that allowed Jacksonville and Sherwood to petition for a vote on whether to allow alcohol-by-the-drink sales, completion of the new Lighthouse Charter High School and the covering of a dangerous drainage ditch on Redmond Road.
Fletcher said the public safety building “brings about a more organized system and even carries over into a higher degree of professionalism due to the pride each (police officer) has.” And the nearby grounds mean firefighters and police officers don’t have to go elsewhere, including out of state, for training, he said.
The mayor also praised former Fire Chief John Vanderhoof, who retired after more than 40 years with the city and after taking Jacksonville from an better ISO rating of 2 from 3.
Fletcher said the new chief is local and set himself apart from other candidates with his “energy, frankness, vision and preparation to carry out his vision along with his qualifications and training.”
Alan Laughy, the assistant chief at the fire department on Little Rock Air Force Base, was hired to replace Vanderhoof.
The mayor added that the 911 center now participates in the statewide AWIN network. AWIN and the state maintain the transmitter site, which saves Jacksonville between $65,000 and $100,000 annually, Fletcher said.
One “down” Fletcher mentioned was the 14-week sequestration when civilian employees at Little Rock Air Force Base were furloughed one day per week, losing 20 percent of their pay. And, shortly after the furloughs ended, the 17-day government shutdown sent the same people and more workers home. The mayor said, “Let me say here that, with the challenges that do face our military, and I can tell you by knowing and observing the leadership of our base personnel, that they will adapt and come through stronger than going in.”
Despite trying economic times, “believing the public wants results, not excuses, we have trudged ahead plowing the fields with persistence and making the city and its potential known on a national level,” Fletcher continued.
About Jacksonville’s controversial contract with Rickey Hayes of Retail Attractions, an Oklahoma-based economic development firm, the mayor said, “As anyone with real estate experience knows, due to the high cost of investment and compounded by lack of raw developable commercial property, the wheels turn slow. But the good news is there is serious interest in Jacksonville and the market it has. We look forward in the very near future to several announcements.”
Hayes has been under contract with the city for several years. The only business he has been credited with recruiting to Jacksonville is Firehouse Subs, though they were in the process of opening several locations in Arkansas.
With its aging population, Fletcher continued, the financially-troubled North Metro Medical Center is more important than ever, he pointed out.
The mayor said, “The personal care and time they give each patient is unmatched by many of the much larger facilities. This hospital has been faithful to this community for over 50 years and was there for thousands of people in times of great need and made a difference. I call upon our city to be there for her as she works to make this transition to survive in a very difficult field in today’s environment, as her success is really our success.”
Fletcher also said, “I believe that cities that have a strong future will be those that focus on three areas. These areas are education, health care and economic development.”
The mayor thanked department heads, their staffs, council members and other officials for their hard work.
Of the council, Fletcher said, “I know quite a few of the 500 or so mayors around the state and we talk on a regular basis. It is so common to hear of intergovernmental fighting and bickering. In some cases, there is nothing short of just pure hatred that makes the people’s business suffer.
“I know sometimes a harmonious relationship of mutual respect and common focus and priorities becomes boring to some folks, but the byproduct of such relationships is strong progress and a healthy future,” the mayor said.
Leader staff writer
“Our time is now,” Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said during his state of the city report, which was read at Thursday night’s city council meeting.
“There is a new day dawning for Jacksonville as we start 2014, but as we face the future, we also need to reflect on the past as the ground work to bring about this promising future,” he said.
A stand-alone, locally-controlled Jacksonville/north Pulaski school district and the largest trap- and skeet-shooting range in the state will greet that new day on a four-lane Graham Road.
Jacksonville could also see a new state veterans’ home and a vote on whether to allow alcohol-by-the-drink sales.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. approved a settlement in the 1989 desegregation case that also permits Jacksonville to break away from the Pulaski County Special School District.
Advocates have been working toward the detachment for more than 30 years. Fletcher said they have gone through “six feasibility studies, endless town-hall meetings, discussions, frustrations from the condition of facilities; lack of vision, control and professionalism; of school boards ignoring the needs of our city and its children.”
The next step in the detachment process is a September election — if approved by the state Board of Education — in which voters will decide whether they want their own school district.
About the election, Fletcher quipped, “By the way, that will be 34 weeks from Tuesday, if anybody’s counting.”
Another accomplishment looming on the horizon is the $3.5 million trap- and skeet-shooting range on Graham Road. A soft opening for the facility will be held within a week or two, officials say.
Fletcher added that the $3.6 million widening of Graham Road for one mile, which has been underway for two years, is nearing the finish line. “And what better timing as the state-of-the-art trap-shooting facility will be hosting shooting events this spring that will draw people from all over the country to this area,” the mayor said.
Fletcher also said the city’s proposed site for a new state veterans’ home is in the top three and a decision on where to locate the facility will be made soon.
Of the wet/dry petition, he said the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce has collected 1,471 or the 4,839 it needs to get the issue on a ballot.
Fletcher said, “It has the potential to level the playing field and make it easier to attract nice family restaurants on the national chain level. It is costing our city when our citizens go to another city to eat by using our local money to support another city’s tax base. The money needs to stay in our own hometown, financing city services and projects. I have maintained all along that no city has the potential that Jacksonville has, yet our hands are tied to do anything about it.”
The mayor recalled the “ups” of 2013 too, such as completion of the $6 million public-safety complex that houses the police department, police/fire training grounds, the 911 center and a FEMA safe room on Marshall Road; the passing of a state law that allowed Jacksonville and Sherwood to petition for a vote on whether to allow alcohol-by-the-drink sales, completion of the new Lighthouse Charter High School and the covering of a dangerous drainage ditch on Redmond Road.
Fletcher said the public safety building “brings about a more organized system and even carries over into a higher degree of professionalism due to the pride each (police officer) has.” And the nearby grounds mean firefighters and police officers don’t have to go elsewhere, including out of state, for training, he said.
The mayor also praised former Fire Chief John Vanderhoof, who retired after more than 40 years with the city and after taking Jacksonville from an better ISO rating of 2 from 3.
Fletcher said the new chief is local and set himself apart from other candidates with his “energy, frankness, vision and preparation to carry out his vision along with his qualifications and training.”
Alan Laughy, the assistant chief at the fire department on Little Rock Air Force Base, was hired to replace Vanderhoof.
The mayor added that the 911 center now participates in the statewide AWIN network. AWIN and the state maintain the transmitter site, which saves Jacksonville between $65,000 and $100,000 annually, Fletcher said.
One “down” Fletcher mentioned was the 14-week sequestration when civilian employees at Little Rock Air Force Base were furloughed one day per week, losing 20 percent of their pay. And, shortly after the furloughs ended, the 17-day government shutdown sent the same people and more workers home. The mayor said, “Let me say here that, with the challenges that do face our military, and I can tell you by knowing and observing the leadership of our base personnel, that they will adapt and come through stronger than going in.”
Despite trying economic times, “believing the public wants results, not excuses, we have trudged ahead plowing the fields with persistence and making the city and its potential known on a national level,” Fletcher continued.
About Jacksonville’s controversial contract with Rickey Hayes of Retail Attractions, an Oklahoma-based economic development firm, the mayor said, “As anyone with real estate experience knows, due to the high cost of investment and compounded by lack of raw developable commercial property, the wheels turn slow. But the good news is there is serious interest in Jacksonville and the market it has. We look forward in the very near future to several announcements.”
Hayes has been under contract with the city for several years. The only business he has been credited with recruiting to Jacksonville is Firehouse Subs, though they were in the process of opening several locations in Arkansas.
With its aging population, Fletcher continued, the financially-troubled North Metro Medical Center is more important than ever, he pointed out.
The mayor said, “The personal care and time they give each patient is unmatched by many of the much larger facilities. This hospital has been faithful to this community for over 50 years and was there for thousands of people in times of great need and made a difference. I call upon our city to be there for her as she works to make this transition to survive in a very difficult field in today’s environment, as her success is really our success.”
Fletcher also said, “I believe that cities that have a strong future will be those that focus on three areas. These areas are education, health care and economic development.”
The mayor thanked department heads, their staffs, council members and other officials for their hard work.
Of the council, Fletcher said, “I know quite a few of the 500 or so mayors around the state and we talk on a regular basis. It is so common to hear of intergovernmental fighting and bickering. In some cases, there is nothing short of just pure hatred that makes the people’s business suffer.
“I know sometimes a harmonious relationship of mutual respect and common focus and priorities becomes boring to some folks, but the byproduct of such relationships is strong progress and a healthy future,” the mayor said.
EDITORIAL >> New district, new opening
On Sept. 16, almost exactly nine months from today — your typical gestation period, by the way — Jacksonville-area residents can deliver a newborn school district.
That’s if the proposed Jacksonville/north Pulaski County school district makes it to the annual school election ballot, and if voters living within the boundaries of that district approve the plan.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. — smart, friendly, good-humored and sartorially splendid in his bowtie and suspenders that he wore, or we imagined he wore — cleared the way for a new district when he accepted the desegregation agreement settlement. That settlement specifically approved by name Jacksonville’s pursuit of a new district.
That’s huge to the folks in this neighborhood, although Sherwood residents who also want their own district were left high and dry. They seemed resigned for now to denial of their intention to forge their own district from PCSSD as well.
Also huge in the settlement Marshall approved is language that limits the state’s financial obligation to desegregation of Pulaski County school districts to about $260 million over the next four school years. PCSSD would get about $80 million of that, although a new Jacksonville district would get a slice of it too.
All six parties with any known stake in the desegregation agreement agreed to the settlement, which was among the reasons Marshall said he felt comfortable approving it.
The six are the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts, the state Education Department, the Joshua Intervenors and the Knight Intervenors.
No one involved with the case can remember detachment — a chunk of an existing school district being broken off as a separate district — but about 1,300 words of state code prescribe the steps and requirements for creation of a school district by detaching territory from an existing one through either election or petition, how to initiate detachment and creation of a school district by detachment.
The law clearly states that detachment is only possible if it doesn’t interfere with desegregation efforts. Marshall was satisfied that a Jacksonville-area district would have little or no effect on the racial balance of PCSSD and that both districts would have sufficient money to operate and to continue desegregation efforts.
PCSSD and the Joshua Intervenors are cordially pursuing unitary status along a separate track that also runs through Marshall’s court.
We find this encouraging. PCSSD is currently in year three of fiscal distress and therefore under direct control of the state Education Department, with Commissioner Tom Kimbrell acting as the PCSSD board.
Little Rock and North Little Rock districts have both been declared unitary — that is desegregated — but PCSSD is still lacking in unitary status in several areas, including the expensive area of safe and updated school facilities.
Assuming a Jacksonville detachment, if it’s possible to assume such a thing after decades of false starts, promising developments and disappointments, the new district would carry with it all the desegregation deficiencies.
It seems likely, however, that the new district would not labor in fiscal distress under state control, but would get a fresh start.
Regardless of a Jacksonville detachment, PCSSD is likely to propose a millage increase of at least 5 mills, from the current rate of 40 mills.
Whatever the millage rate at the time of separation, the PCSSD rate would apply in a Jacksonville-area district until a new school board proposed a change and brought it to the voters.
That millage increase is necessary so the district can afford to build its way out of the decrepit and aging buildings housing its students here.
Currently, the North Little Rock rate is 48 mills and Little Rock’s rate is about 46 mills.
Many things will be necessary to bring detachment to a vote, but some, like a petition with sufficient signatures and a recent feasibility study, are already complete.
Then, with a “yes” vote, officials from PCSSD and Jacksonville/north Pulaski — with help from the state — will have to thrash out a thousand details about dividing money, debt, school buses and other assets.
If the negotiations become heated, let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
That’s if the proposed Jacksonville/north Pulaski County school district makes it to the annual school election ballot, and if voters living within the boundaries of that district approve the plan.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. — smart, friendly, good-humored and sartorially splendid in his bowtie and suspenders that he wore, or we imagined he wore — cleared the way for a new district when he accepted the desegregation agreement settlement. That settlement specifically approved by name Jacksonville’s pursuit of a new district.
That’s huge to the folks in this neighborhood, although Sherwood residents who also want their own district were left high and dry. They seemed resigned for now to denial of their intention to forge their own district from PCSSD as well.
Also huge in the settlement Marshall approved is language that limits the state’s financial obligation to desegregation of Pulaski County school districts to about $260 million over the next four school years. PCSSD would get about $80 million of that, although a new Jacksonville district would get a slice of it too.
All six parties with any known stake in the desegregation agreement agreed to the settlement, which was among the reasons Marshall said he felt comfortable approving it.
The six are the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts, the state Education Department, the Joshua Intervenors and the Knight Intervenors.
No one involved with the case can remember detachment — a chunk of an existing school district being broken off as a separate district — but about 1,300 words of state code prescribe the steps and requirements for creation of a school district by detaching territory from an existing one through either election or petition, how to initiate detachment and creation of a school district by detachment.
The law clearly states that detachment is only possible if it doesn’t interfere with desegregation efforts. Marshall was satisfied that a Jacksonville-area district would have little or no effect on the racial balance of PCSSD and that both districts would have sufficient money to operate and to continue desegregation efforts.
PCSSD and the Joshua Intervenors are cordially pursuing unitary status along a separate track that also runs through Marshall’s court.
We find this encouraging. PCSSD is currently in year three of fiscal distress and therefore under direct control of the state Education Department, with Commissioner Tom Kimbrell acting as the PCSSD board.
Little Rock and North Little Rock districts have both been declared unitary — that is desegregated — but PCSSD is still lacking in unitary status in several areas, including the expensive area of safe and updated school facilities.
Assuming a Jacksonville detachment, if it’s possible to assume such a thing after decades of false starts, promising developments and disappointments, the new district would carry with it all the desegregation deficiencies.
It seems likely, however, that the new district would not labor in fiscal distress under state control, but would get a fresh start.
Regardless of a Jacksonville detachment, PCSSD is likely to propose a millage increase of at least 5 mills, from the current rate of 40 mills.
Whatever the millage rate at the time of separation, the PCSSD rate would apply in a Jacksonville-area district until a new school board proposed a change and brought it to the voters.
That millage increase is necessary so the district can afford to build its way out of the decrepit and aging buildings housing its students here.
Currently, the North Little Rock rate is 48 mills and Little Rock’s rate is about 46 mills.
Many things will be necessary to bring detachment to a vote, but some, like a petition with sufficient signatures and a recent feasibility study, are already complete.
Then, with a “yes” vote, officials from PCSSD and Jacksonville/north Pulaski — with help from the state — will have to thrash out a thousand details about dividing money, debt, school buses and other assets.
If the negotiations become heated, let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
SPORTS STORY >> Panthers outpace Lady Pats
By ANN THARP
Special to The Leader
The Cabot Lady Panthers (10-6, 1-1) picked up their first win in the 7A/6A East on Tuesday night at home, defeating the Marion Lady Patriots (8-4, 1-1) 56-43.
The Lady Panthers outscored Marion 11-5 in the second quarter to lead 24-19 at the half and finished strong, outscoring the Lady Patriots 18-11 in the final quarter.
“The only thing better than 0-1 in conference is to be 1-1 in conference,” said Cabot assistant coach Charles Ruple. “Everyone is pretty even in the conference, I think. We started three sophomores, shook off a couple of minor injuries and played well. We had two girls in a lot of foul trouble and neither one fouled out. Anna Sullivan did a very good job. She was one away from a double double with nine rebounds and 22 points. Rachel Allgood played a really good game for us. Alyssa Hamilton had 11 rebounds along with six points and two blocked shots.”
The first quarter was evenly played with the score tied 9-9 with 3:02 to go, and the quarter ended 14-13 in favor of the visitors.
The Lady Panthers came out strong in the second quarter, holding Marion scoreless for the first seven minutes, but allowing the Lady Patriots five points in the final minute of the quarter. The third quarter was almost a repeat of quarter number one, but this time Cabot had the 14-13 edge with Sullivan leading the way with six points.
Cabot started the fourth quarter with a quick basket by Danielle McWilliams and led 40-32. Raven Morrow hit a three-point basket with 2:30 remaining in the game to pull Marion within three points at 44-41. Cabot answered with CoCo Calhoon sinking two free throws, Sullivan adding a basket and Sullivan with two free throws on the next possession to bring the lead back up to 50-41.
After the double bonus went into effect for the Lady Panthers, they closed out the game by hitting 6 of 10 free throws.
Dahlia Bell scored for the Lady Patriots with 6.5 seconds left to set the final score of 56-43.
Sullivan led Cabot with 22 points, Calhoun had 10 points, and McWilliams added nine points.
Special to The Leader
The Cabot Lady Panthers (10-6, 1-1) picked up their first win in the 7A/6A East on Tuesday night at home, defeating the Marion Lady Patriots (8-4, 1-1) 56-43.
The Lady Panthers outscored Marion 11-5 in the second quarter to lead 24-19 at the half and finished strong, outscoring the Lady Patriots 18-11 in the final quarter.
“The only thing better than 0-1 in conference is to be 1-1 in conference,” said Cabot assistant coach Charles Ruple. “Everyone is pretty even in the conference, I think. We started three sophomores, shook off a couple of minor injuries and played well. We had two girls in a lot of foul trouble and neither one fouled out. Anna Sullivan did a very good job. She was one away from a double double with nine rebounds and 22 points. Rachel Allgood played a really good game for us. Alyssa Hamilton had 11 rebounds along with six points and two blocked shots.”
The first quarter was evenly played with the score tied 9-9 with 3:02 to go, and the quarter ended 14-13 in favor of the visitors.
The Lady Panthers came out strong in the second quarter, holding Marion scoreless for the first seven minutes, but allowing the Lady Patriots five points in the final minute of the quarter. The third quarter was almost a repeat of quarter number one, but this time Cabot had the 14-13 edge with Sullivan leading the way with six points.
Cabot started the fourth quarter with a quick basket by Danielle McWilliams and led 40-32. Raven Morrow hit a three-point basket with 2:30 remaining in the game to pull Marion within three points at 44-41. Cabot answered with CoCo Calhoon sinking two free throws, Sullivan adding a basket and Sullivan with two free throws on the next possession to bring the lead back up to 50-41.
After the double bonus went into effect for the Lady Panthers, they closed out the game by hitting 6 of 10 free throws.
Dahlia Bell scored for the Lady Patriots with 6.5 seconds left to set the final score of 56-43.
Sullivan led Cabot with 22 points, Calhoun had 10 points, and McWilliams added nine points.
SPORTS STORY >> Lonoke pulls away from Marianna
By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
After a close first half of play in Tuesday’s 4A-2 Conference matchup at the Gina Cox Center, Lonoke separated itself in the second half by getting to the line and making all but one of its 14 free-throw attempts, which helped the Jackrabbits to a double-digit, 63-50 win over Marianna.
Both teams came out hot from the floor, making their first four shots from the field, which led to a 9-9 score. A three-pointer by point guard Jamel Rankin put the Jackrabbits up 12-11 with 3:35 remaining in the opening period.
Rankin’s three was followed by a Blake Mack free throw and a three-pointer from two-guard Darian Young, which put Lonoke up 16-11, but by the end of the quarter, Marianna got another basket to cut the deficit to 16-13.
The score remained tight throughout the second quarter as neither team could get any separation from the other on the scoreboard, and as a result, Lonoke narrowly led 30-28 at halftime. The Jackrabbits separated themselves in the third quarter.
Lonoke outscored the Trojans 17-6 in the third quarter to lead 47-34 at the start of the fourth. The Rabbits got their first double-digit lead of the game with 1:31 remaining in the period on a pair of free throws by Tykel Gray, which made the score 44-34.
With 41.2 seconds left in the period, Rankin set the third-quarter margin by making 3 of 3 free throws after being fouled hard on a baseline three-point attempt.
Lonoke made just 4 of 10 free throws in the first half, but in the second, the Jackrabbits made their first 11 attempts at the stripe, and finished the half 13 of 14 from the line for a stellar 93 percent.
“You’ve got to have stops and you’ve got to have possessions that result in points – somehow,” said Lonoke coach Dean Campbell. “Whether it’s a made bucket, at the free-throw line – you do all that work to get to the free-throw line and then you come up empty handed.
“There’s a ratio we look at as far as points per possession, and if you can crawl close to the one point per possession, you’re going to be pretty good. It kills you when you go a possession and you don’t come away with anything. We’ve talked about it, we’ve harped on it. For the season, we’re at 61 (percent) from the line and we probably finished pretty close to that for the game.”
Lonoke finished the game 17 of 24 from the stripe for 71 percent, bettering Marianna’s 3 of 9 showing at the line for 33 percent.
Both teams were efficient from the floor. The Rabbits finished 21 of 48 from the field for 44 percent. The Trojans were 20 of 39 from the floor for 51 percent.
The Jackrabbits (13-2, 3-2) made it a point to attack the basket throughout the second half, which led to their plentiful free-throw opportunities. Marianna (7-8, 2-2) had just six attempts from the stripe in the second half and made just two (33 percent).
Marianna cut the Lonoke lead to 10 at the start of the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, but Lonoke responded with a 12-4 run to gain its largest lead at 59-41 late in the game.
Campbell subbed for some of his starters as the game wound down, and Marianna was able to clean up the score as a result.
The Rabbits outrebounded the Trojans 24-20 for the game, and finished with two fewer turnovers than Marianna’s 17. Lonoke’s scoring was very balanced as well.
Mack and Rankin led all scorers with 14 points each. Mack had the most complete stat sheet as he finished with game highs in rebounds (eight) and steals (seven). Young scored 13 points for Lonoke. Gray had eight. Darrius McCall scored seven and sophomore Jawuan Bryant added six.
Marcus Cooper led Marianna with 12 points.
Lonoke played at Heber Springs last night after deadlines in a 4A-2 showdown with the Panthers.
Heber Springs entered last night’s game as the only undefeated team in conference play. Look for details of that game in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
The Jackrabbits have another big conference game Tuesday against Dollarway at home. Tuesday’s game will tip-off at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Leader sportswriter
After a close first half of play in Tuesday’s 4A-2 Conference matchup at the Gina Cox Center, Lonoke separated itself in the second half by getting to the line and making all but one of its 14 free-throw attempts, which helped the Jackrabbits to a double-digit, 63-50 win over Marianna.
Both teams came out hot from the floor, making their first four shots from the field, which led to a 9-9 score. A three-pointer by point guard Jamel Rankin put the Jackrabbits up 12-11 with 3:35 remaining in the opening period.
Rankin’s three was followed by a Blake Mack free throw and a three-pointer from two-guard Darian Young, which put Lonoke up 16-11, but by the end of the quarter, Marianna got another basket to cut the deficit to 16-13.
The score remained tight throughout the second quarter as neither team could get any separation from the other on the scoreboard, and as a result, Lonoke narrowly led 30-28 at halftime. The Jackrabbits separated themselves in the third quarter.
Lonoke outscored the Trojans 17-6 in the third quarter to lead 47-34 at the start of the fourth. The Rabbits got their first double-digit lead of the game with 1:31 remaining in the period on a pair of free throws by Tykel Gray, which made the score 44-34.
With 41.2 seconds left in the period, Rankin set the third-quarter margin by making 3 of 3 free throws after being fouled hard on a baseline three-point attempt.
Lonoke made just 4 of 10 free throws in the first half, but in the second, the Jackrabbits made their first 11 attempts at the stripe, and finished the half 13 of 14 from the line for a stellar 93 percent.
“You’ve got to have stops and you’ve got to have possessions that result in points – somehow,” said Lonoke coach Dean Campbell. “Whether it’s a made bucket, at the free-throw line – you do all that work to get to the free-throw line and then you come up empty handed.
“There’s a ratio we look at as far as points per possession, and if you can crawl close to the one point per possession, you’re going to be pretty good. It kills you when you go a possession and you don’t come away with anything. We’ve talked about it, we’ve harped on it. For the season, we’re at 61 (percent) from the line and we probably finished pretty close to that for the game.”
Lonoke finished the game 17 of 24 from the stripe for 71 percent, bettering Marianna’s 3 of 9 showing at the line for 33 percent.
Both teams were efficient from the floor. The Rabbits finished 21 of 48 from the field for 44 percent. The Trojans were 20 of 39 from the floor for 51 percent.
The Jackrabbits (13-2, 3-2) made it a point to attack the basket throughout the second half, which led to their plentiful free-throw opportunities. Marianna (7-8, 2-2) had just six attempts from the stripe in the second half and made just two (33 percent).
Marianna cut the Lonoke lead to 10 at the start of the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, but Lonoke responded with a 12-4 run to gain its largest lead at 59-41 late in the game.
Campbell subbed for some of his starters as the game wound down, and Marianna was able to clean up the score as a result.
The Rabbits outrebounded the Trojans 24-20 for the game, and finished with two fewer turnovers than Marianna’s 17. Lonoke’s scoring was very balanced as well.
Mack and Rankin led all scorers with 14 points each. Mack had the most complete stat sheet as he finished with game highs in rebounds (eight) and steals (seven). Young scored 13 points for Lonoke. Gray had eight. Darrius McCall scored seven and sophomore Jawuan Bryant added six.
Marcus Cooper led Marianna with 12 points.
Lonoke played at Heber Springs last night after deadlines in a 4A-2 showdown with the Panthers.
Heber Springs entered last night’s game as the only undefeated team in conference play. Look for details of that game in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
The Jackrabbits have another big conference game Tuesday against Dollarway at home. Tuesday’s game will tip-off at approximately 7:30 p.m.
SPORTS STORY >> Red Devils surge late, beat Falcons
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils are developing a habit of being in tight games through three quarters and winning handily. That’s what happened on Tuesday when the Red Devils turned a five-point game into a 16-point win, beating crosstown rival North Pulaski 66-50 at the Devil’s Den. Jacksonville, 13-3, 3-0, was also in a scrap with Little Rock Christian in its previous game before blowing out the Warriors by 33.
Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner welcomes the new trend. He watched his team struggle over and over in the second half earlier in the season; often blowing huge leads in the second half. But the head Red Devil still wasn’t entirely pleased with Tuesday’s performance.
“That was an ugly game,” said Joyner. “Both teams. I’m sure Roy (North Pulaski coach Roy Jackson) wasn’t very happy either. These kids won’t settle down and run their sets. We’ve got people too worried about their points, taking one dribble and shooting.”
If the action wasn’t adroit, it was exciting, especially in the first half. The archrivals went back and forth throughout the first two quarters. There were six ties and seven lead changes.
The visiting team went up 5-2 after Arren Scruggs hit a three pointer, but Jacksonville dominated on the glass and went on an 8-0 run, with seven points coming on second-chance opportunities. But North Pulaski answered right back with six straight to take an 11-10 lead with 3:38 remaining in the opening quarter. At that point, the Falcons were 5 for 5 shooting, but their inability to keep Jacksonville off the offensive glass kept the home team close early.
North Pulaski led 14-12 until freshman Tyree Appleby drained a three pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter with the game’s fourth lead change.
Jacksonville threatened to run away late in the second quarter. Sophomore guard LaQuawn Smith sparked a Jacksonville run with two steals that turned into points for the Red Devils. Smith also scored four points and had four rebounds in the second quarter as the Red Devils built a 30-22 lead.
North Pulaski, 8-6, 1-2, answered right back with eight in a row for the sixth and final tie of the first half. Another Scruggs three pointer, his third, finished the run and tied the score with 30 seconds left in the half. Jacksonville’s Sergio Berkley sent the home team into the locker room with the lead when he hit a three pointer at the buzzer.
North Pulaski’s RaShawn Langston quickly tied the game again with a three-point play to open the second half. Jacksonville post player Kanaan Jackson took over for a period from that point. Jackson and fellow post Tedrick Wolfe combined to score the next eight points of the game. North Pulaski closed to within 45-40 by the start of the fourth quarter, but could never tie or take the lead the rest of the way.
Jacksonville scored the first six points of the fourth quarter. Smith capped the run with a nifty spin move for an open layup that made it 51-40 and forced coach Jackson to call timeout 1:50 into the fourth quarter.
The margin was still at 11 points with 4:21 remaining when Roy Jackson was hit with a technical foul. Devin Campbell made both free throws and North Pulaski never got any closer the rest of the way.
The Red Devils put a stamp on the win with 56 seconds left when Damarion Freeman lobbed a pass to a soaring Wolfe for an alley-oop dunk.
“It really came down to rebounding and free throws,” Roy Jackson said. “They beat us on the boards. I think (Kanaan) Jackson had 12 points, and not once did he get the ball on the low block and turn and score. They all came on putbacks. We just didn’t do a good job there. And we didn’t hit free throws. We didn’t shoot nearly as many as they did, and we didn’t make the ones we got.
“But I was proud of my kids. That’s an emotional game and they played hard. They fought back a couple of times. Things just didn’t go our way.”
North Pulaski made just 4 of 13 free-throw attempts while Jacksonville hit 19 of 31. The Red Devils, however, made 11 of 13 in the fourth quarter to keep North Pulaski at bay. North Pulaski hit 21 of 57 shot attempts while Jacksonville went 22 of 60. The Red Devils outrebounded the Falcons 40-29. Kanaan Jackson finished with 18 rebounds to go with his 12 points. Wolfe and Berkley also scored 12 each while Smith led the Red Devils with 14.
Langston led all scorers with 21 points while Scruggs added 14.
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils are developing a habit of being in tight games through three quarters and winning handily. That’s what happened on Tuesday when the Red Devils turned a five-point game into a 16-point win, beating crosstown rival North Pulaski 66-50 at the Devil’s Den. Jacksonville, 13-3, 3-0, was also in a scrap with Little Rock Christian in its previous game before blowing out the Warriors by 33.
Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner welcomes the new trend. He watched his team struggle over and over in the second half earlier in the season; often blowing huge leads in the second half. But the head Red Devil still wasn’t entirely pleased with Tuesday’s performance.
“That was an ugly game,” said Joyner. “Both teams. I’m sure Roy (North Pulaski coach Roy Jackson) wasn’t very happy either. These kids won’t settle down and run their sets. We’ve got people too worried about their points, taking one dribble and shooting.”
If the action wasn’t adroit, it was exciting, especially in the first half. The archrivals went back and forth throughout the first two quarters. There were six ties and seven lead changes.
The visiting team went up 5-2 after Arren Scruggs hit a three pointer, but Jacksonville dominated on the glass and went on an 8-0 run, with seven points coming on second-chance opportunities. But North Pulaski answered right back with six straight to take an 11-10 lead with 3:38 remaining in the opening quarter. At that point, the Falcons were 5 for 5 shooting, but their inability to keep Jacksonville off the offensive glass kept the home team close early.
North Pulaski led 14-12 until freshman Tyree Appleby drained a three pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter with the game’s fourth lead change.
Jacksonville threatened to run away late in the second quarter. Sophomore guard LaQuawn Smith sparked a Jacksonville run with two steals that turned into points for the Red Devils. Smith also scored four points and had four rebounds in the second quarter as the Red Devils built a 30-22 lead.
North Pulaski, 8-6, 1-2, answered right back with eight in a row for the sixth and final tie of the first half. Another Scruggs three pointer, his third, finished the run and tied the score with 30 seconds left in the half. Jacksonville’s Sergio Berkley sent the home team into the locker room with the lead when he hit a three pointer at the buzzer.
North Pulaski’s RaShawn Langston quickly tied the game again with a three-point play to open the second half. Jacksonville post player Kanaan Jackson took over for a period from that point. Jackson and fellow post Tedrick Wolfe combined to score the next eight points of the game. North Pulaski closed to within 45-40 by the start of the fourth quarter, but could never tie or take the lead the rest of the way.
Jacksonville scored the first six points of the fourth quarter. Smith capped the run with a nifty spin move for an open layup that made it 51-40 and forced coach Jackson to call timeout 1:50 into the fourth quarter.
The margin was still at 11 points with 4:21 remaining when Roy Jackson was hit with a technical foul. Devin Campbell made both free throws and North Pulaski never got any closer the rest of the way.
The Red Devils put a stamp on the win with 56 seconds left when Damarion Freeman lobbed a pass to a soaring Wolfe for an alley-oop dunk.
“It really came down to rebounding and free throws,” Roy Jackson said. “They beat us on the boards. I think (Kanaan) Jackson had 12 points, and not once did he get the ball on the low block and turn and score. They all came on putbacks. We just didn’t do a good job there. And we didn’t hit free throws. We didn’t shoot nearly as many as they did, and we didn’t make the ones we got.
“But I was proud of my kids. That’s an emotional game and they played hard. They fought back a couple of times. Things just didn’t go our way.”
North Pulaski made just 4 of 13 free-throw attempts while Jacksonville hit 19 of 31. The Red Devils, however, made 11 of 13 in the fourth quarter to keep North Pulaski at bay. North Pulaski hit 21 of 57 shot attempts while Jacksonville went 22 of 60. The Red Devils outrebounded the Falcons 40-29. Kanaan Jackson finished with 18 rebounds to go with his 12 points. Wolfe and Berkley also scored 12 each while Smith led the Red Devils with 14.
Langston led all scorers with 21 points while Scruggs added 14.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
EDITORIAL >> Satisfaction in Jacksonville
Mick Jagger and Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. attended the London School of Economics about a quarter of a century apart and seem to have come away with different takes on satisfaction.
In 1969, the Rolling Stones released their classic rock song, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”
Marshall, by approving a proposed desegregation-agreement settlement, assured that all five major parties to that agreement before him in U.S. District Court got a large measure of satisfaction.
In the main, Marshall approved the settlement between the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County school districts, the attorney general’s office representing the state Board of Education and the Joshua Intervenors.
This settlement does not end efforts to finish desegregating PCSSD, but it clears away many other issues while recognizing that the district and the Joshua Intervenors have work to do in several areas before the district is finally unitary.
Among major components of the settlement were language which ends, following the 2016-2017 school year, more than $1 billion worth of desegregation funding, and which paves the way for Jacksonville-area voters to decide whether or not to break away from PCSSD and start their own school district.
It was not Marshall’s doing that the five sometimes adversaries came together with a hard-negotiated settlement, but he gets credit for recognizing the agreement as fair, reasonable and adequate, and for acting quickly to approve it.
Other aspects of the desegregation case have lingered months before other judges, but Monday morning Marshall held a hearing in which he heard from those objecting to parts of the settlement—no one said they wanted the settlement to fail—and heard opening remarks from attorneys for the parties.
In the afternoon, Marshall heard from a smattering of witnesses from the settlement signees. He recessed court at 3 p.m. and returned at 3:30 to bless the settlement and explain his decision.
Even those who had objected to the settlement expressed nothing but praise and appreciation for Marshall, who conducted himself with humor and humanity.
Chris Heller, representing Little Rock; John Walker, representing the Joshua Intervenors; Attorney Gen. Dustin McDaniel and Scott Richardson, representing the state; Steven Jones, representing North Little Rock, and Sam Jones and Allen Roberts, representing PCSSD sang in harmony on the issue of the global settlement, the heavy lifting and adversarial negotiating settled late last year.
The alternative to recognizing the settlement was a two-week legal battle sure to be expensive and disruptive.
Prior to court Monday and before donning his robe, Marshall came and mingled with the plain folks (well, OK, the lawyers and school officials) warmly greeting them, shaking hands and visiting.
Perhaps this is a Southern mannerism by a judge born in Memphis in 1963. Marshall is an Arkansas State graduate, holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and graduated from Harvard Law School.
Appointed by President Barack Obama, he became judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on May 6, 2010, succeeding Judge Bill Wilson. Marshall clerked for U.S. District Judge Richard Arnold, of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
This is a time of celebration for dozens of people who advanced the baton toward the finish line for a stand-alone Jacksonville district. Inevitably over the 30-year effort, some have died — most recently attorney Ben Rice, who worked tirelessly on behalf of Jacksonville. Rice passed away March 12, 2013.
“Will Bond’s legislation guided the process,” according to Patrick Wilson, attorney for the Jacksonville Foundation.
Wilson and Daniel Gray, spokesman for the Jacksonville Education Foundation, are among the latest to champion the cause. Before Bond, his mother, former state Rep. Pat Bond, worked on the district. Also Dr. Greg Bollen, Bishop James Bolden, Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher, former mayor Tommy Swaim. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Now it is incumbent upon the people of Jacksonville and north Pulaski County to advance the cause en masse — or at least by a simple voting majority. Twice. It appears that on Sept. 16, they will be given the opportunity to vote in favor of carving their own school district out of the sprawling PCSSD, and in the future they will have the opportunity to increase the school millage to support $100 million or more worth of long-overdue construction and improvements to area school building.
“The hard work is still before us,” Gray said. As Mick Jagger sang, “If you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need.”
In 1969, the Rolling Stones released their classic rock song, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”
Marshall, by approving a proposed desegregation-agreement settlement, assured that all five major parties to that agreement before him in U.S. District Court got a large measure of satisfaction.
In the main, Marshall approved the settlement between the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County school districts, the attorney general’s office representing the state Board of Education and the Joshua Intervenors.
This settlement does not end efforts to finish desegregating PCSSD, but it clears away many other issues while recognizing that the district and the Joshua Intervenors have work to do in several areas before the district is finally unitary.
Among major components of the settlement were language which ends, following the 2016-2017 school year, more than $1 billion worth of desegregation funding, and which paves the way for Jacksonville-area voters to decide whether or not to break away from PCSSD and start their own school district.
It was not Marshall’s doing that the five sometimes adversaries came together with a hard-negotiated settlement, but he gets credit for recognizing the agreement as fair, reasonable and adequate, and for acting quickly to approve it.
Other aspects of the desegregation case have lingered months before other judges, but Monday morning Marshall held a hearing in which he heard from those objecting to parts of the settlement—no one said they wanted the settlement to fail—and heard opening remarks from attorneys for the parties.
In the afternoon, Marshall heard from a smattering of witnesses from the settlement signees. He recessed court at 3 p.m. and returned at 3:30 to bless the settlement and explain his decision.
Even those who had objected to the settlement expressed nothing but praise and appreciation for Marshall, who conducted himself with humor and humanity.
Chris Heller, representing Little Rock; John Walker, representing the Joshua Intervenors; Attorney Gen. Dustin McDaniel and Scott Richardson, representing the state; Steven Jones, representing North Little Rock, and Sam Jones and Allen Roberts, representing PCSSD sang in harmony on the issue of the global settlement, the heavy lifting and adversarial negotiating settled late last year.
The alternative to recognizing the settlement was a two-week legal battle sure to be expensive and disruptive.
Prior to court Monday and before donning his robe, Marshall came and mingled with the plain folks (well, OK, the lawyers and school officials) warmly greeting them, shaking hands and visiting.
Perhaps this is a Southern mannerism by a judge born in Memphis in 1963. Marshall is an Arkansas State graduate, holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and graduated from Harvard Law School.
Appointed by President Barack Obama, he became judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on May 6, 2010, succeeding Judge Bill Wilson. Marshall clerked for U.S. District Judge Richard Arnold, of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
This is a time of celebration for dozens of people who advanced the baton toward the finish line for a stand-alone Jacksonville district. Inevitably over the 30-year effort, some have died — most recently attorney Ben Rice, who worked tirelessly on behalf of Jacksonville. Rice passed away March 12, 2013.
“Will Bond’s legislation guided the process,” according to Patrick Wilson, attorney for the Jacksonville Foundation.
Wilson and Daniel Gray, spokesman for the Jacksonville Education Foundation, are among the latest to champion the cause. Before Bond, his mother, former state Rep. Pat Bond, worked on the district. Also Dr. Greg Bollen, Bishop James Bolden, Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher, former mayor Tommy Swaim. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Now it is incumbent upon the people of Jacksonville and north Pulaski County to advance the cause en masse — or at least by a simple voting majority. Twice. It appears that on Sept. 16, they will be given the opportunity to vote in favor of carving their own school district out of the sprawling PCSSD, and in the future they will have the opportunity to increase the school millage to support $100 million or more worth of long-overdue construction and improvements to area school building.
“The hard work is still before us,” Gray said. As Mick Jagger sang, “If you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need.”
TOP STORY >> Beaver problems gnaw Lonoke County officials
By JONATHAN FELDMAN
Leader editor
Lonoke County officials remain divided over the price of bounties paid for beavers and whether the bounties are even effective in preventing roads from flooding and becoming damaged.
JP Adam Sims, who has received complaints from residents about floods blocking roads, recently revived the debate. He was so spurred to action that he even arranged for Leader staff writer Jeffrey Smith to join him on a plane ride to see the damage that beavers are causing in the Furlow community. Our reporter also went on a four-wheeler ride and slogged through the mini reservoirs the beavers built to get a close look at their dams, which back up water after a downpour.
It was the most impressive outing that any justice of the peace has arranged to explain his perspective to us in The Leader’s 27 years.
Sims says the bounty should be raised from $20 to $30 to entice trappers. He thinks, with a higher bounty, trappers will do their work even in summertime when they tend to avoid the snakes that are most active then.
On the other side is Lonoke County Judge Doug Erwin, who is known to watch the county’s budget like a shopkeeper minding the register. He rightly suspects that trappers are bringing in beavers from neighboring counties so they can collect more money. He also doubts that an additional $10 will get trappers out year-round.
After about six months of paying $30 per beaver, Erwin decided the benefits weren’t worth the extra money, so he reduced the fee. The program spends about $10,000 to $15,000 annually.
Beavers tend to flood roads in the Bland Chapel area and Lilly Road in northern Lonoke County, Ray Young Road near Carlisle, Young Road and Cypress Creek near South Kerr Road, several roads off North Kerr Road, the Snake Island area and Rayburn Road in the southeast part of the county and Lingo Road near Furlow, according to a road-maintenance manager.
But several roads that are near creeks or sloughs — a description of nearly all county roads — can be flooded by beavers, officials say.
The French traders who were the first Europeans to arrive in Arkansas during the 17th Century came here to find beaver pelts, a valuable commodity and bartering tool in its day.
Beavers thrived in the swamps here, which were drained beginning a couple of centuries ago to create some of the most fertile farmland in the world. And they’ve been busy ever since working to return it swamps.
By the end of the start of 20th Century beavers were nearly extinct in the state, but were successfully reintroduced in the 1920s. The French traders would be astonished to know that more than 300 years later, the tree-gnawing rodents still captivate us.
Here’s hoping that we’ll still be talking about these pesky critters centuries from now. But what can be done about them in the meantime?
Dynamiting dams, a method once used by the county, doesn’t work well because beavers can rebuild them very quickly, sometimes within a day or two. Other than trapping, the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture Research and Extension recommends a Clemson beaver pond leveler, which “works on the principle that the detection of water currents stimulates beaver to quickly plug the source of water drainage. The leveler consists of a perforated PVC pipe that is encased in heavy-gauge hog wire,” according to a report published by the extension service called “Beaver Damage Prevention and Control Methods,” which is available online.
The device can prevent extensive flooding, while actually retaining some of the ecological benefits that beaver ponds produce. (The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission credits beaver dams with creating perfect conditions for duck hunting, but officials understandably aren’t interested in having prime waterfowl habitats blocking access to county roads.)
The Clemson leveler “is placed upstream of a dam or blocked culvert in the deepest part of the stream or water flow. It is connected to non-perforated sections of PVC pipe, which are run through the dam or culvert to a water-control structure downstream. Because beavers do not detect flowing water as it drains, they do not block the pipe.
“The leveler works best in relatively flat terrain with short-term flooding. The leveler will not work where water volumes exceed the capacity of the pipe, such as periods of unusually high rainfall or where steep terrain may cause excessive flooding,” the report tactfully concludes, informing readers that it might not always work.
Another recommendation from the extension service is a three-log drain made of hardwood logs, which are placed perpendicular through the beaver dam. Two logs are laid on top of a board with the upstream ends slightly separated. The third log goes on top, forming a funnel.
Tips for landowners from the Forest Service sound even less hopeful: “Removal of dams, lodges, or both, is probably the most used, but least effective method of discouraging beavers. The usual response is a repaired dam or lodge by the following day….Live-trapping and relocating beavers is expensive. It is also difficult because another site that is not already inhabited is usually difficult to find. Some states have trapping programs, but these are generally small programs and should not be depended upon to solve a local landowner’s problems.”
In other words, landowners may have to pay a professional trapper more than the county does. A representative in the county’s Soil Conservation District office told us there are about 12 to 20 trappers active in the county at any given time.
To get paid, they must turn in the animal’s right front paw and part of the tail. There’s no limit to how many they can turn in for bounties. But even if a trapper can get 100 beavers in a year, that’s only $2,000 at the current rate. Trappers can sell the fur and carcass after getting the bounty. A buyer in North Little Rock told us he is paying $9 to $15 per beaver carcass, which means an additional $900 to $1,500 for a total of $3,500 in a year.
Good supplemental income, but only the most dedicated hobbyists would regularly risk snakebites to pursue that kind of money. And it’s unlikely that an extra $1,000 would make a significant difference and if it would really help to control flooding.
Placing gate covers on culverts that beavers frequently block is one preventative measure that county officials say they’ve had good results using. But the county needs to find a way to increase its number of trappers and have them target those problem areas instead of the catch-them-anywhere plan it uses now.
For beginner trappers, the Game and Fish Commission links to a free online U.S. Trapper Education Course on its website at http://www.agfc.com/hunting/Pages/HuntingTrapperEducation.aspx. The same site also includes a free trapper-education manual for Arkansas. The trapping permit, which can be obtained online, is free for Arkansas residents.
And for landowners, there is a nuisance wildlife registry that trappers use to find places to ply their trade. But only two Lonoke County residents — one in Cabot and one in England — have registered at http://www.ark.org/www.agfc.com/nuisance/index.php and both list beavers as the nuisance.
The underutilized registry aims to attract trappers to private property being damaged by furbearers. Trappers must get permission before going onto the owner’s property though. So just being on the registry isn’t an open invitation to trappers.
There’s more to the great outdoors than just hunting and fishing. It would be nice to see justices of the peace, and even the county judge, set some traps, perhaps even make a friendly competition of it and donate the bounties to charity.
The Clemson leveler and three-log drain will also be worth a try. But even then, the experts warn it’s impossible to catch them all.
Leader editor
Lonoke County officials remain divided over the price of bounties paid for beavers and whether the bounties are even effective in preventing roads from flooding and becoming damaged.
JP Adam Sims, who has received complaints from residents about floods blocking roads, recently revived the debate. He was so spurred to action that he even arranged for Leader staff writer Jeffrey Smith to join him on a plane ride to see the damage that beavers are causing in the Furlow community. Our reporter also went on a four-wheeler ride and slogged through the mini reservoirs the beavers built to get a close look at their dams, which back up water after a downpour.
It was the most impressive outing that any justice of the peace has arranged to explain his perspective to us in The Leader’s 27 years.
Sims says the bounty should be raised from $20 to $30 to entice trappers. He thinks, with a higher bounty, trappers will do their work even in summertime when they tend to avoid the snakes that are most active then.
On the other side is Lonoke County Judge Doug Erwin, who is known to watch the county’s budget like a shopkeeper minding the register. He rightly suspects that trappers are bringing in beavers from neighboring counties so they can collect more money. He also doubts that an additional $10 will get trappers out year-round.
After about six months of paying $30 per beaver, Erwin decided the benefits weren’t worth the extra money, so he reduced the fee. The program spends about $10,000 to $15,000 annually.
Beavers tend to flood roads in the Bland Chapel area and Lilly Road in northern Lonoke County, Ray Young Road near Carlisle, Young Road and Cypress Creek near South Kerr Road, several roads off North Kerr Road, the Snake Island area and Rayburn Road in the southeast part of the county and Lingo Road near Furlow, according to a road-maintenance manager.
But several roads that are near creeks or sloughs — a description of nearly all county roads — can be flooded by beavers, officials say.
The French traders who were the first Europeans to arrive in Arkansas during the 17th Century came here to find beaver pelts, a valuable commodity and bartering tool in its day.
Beavers thrived in the swamps here, which were drained beginning a couple of centuries ago to create some of the most fertile farmland in the world. And they’ve been busy ever since working to return it swamps.
By the end of the start of 20th Century beavers were nearly extinct in the state, but were successfully reintroduced in the 1920s. The French traders would be astonished to know that more than 300 years later, the tree-gnawing rodents still captivate us.
Here’s hoping that we’ll still be talking about these pesky critters centuries from now. But what can be done about them in the meantime?
Dynamiting dams, a method once used by the county, doesn’t work well because beavers can rebuild them very quickly, sometimes within a day or two. Other than trapping, the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture Research and Extension recommends a Clemson beaver pond leveler, which “works on the principle that the detection of water currents stimulates beaver to quickly plug the source of water drainage. The leveler consists of a perforated PVC pipe that is encased in heavy-gauge hog wire,” according to a report published by the extension service called “Beaver Damage Prevention and Control Methods,” which is available online.
The device can prevent extensive flooding, while actually retaining some of the ecological benefits that beaver ponds produce. (The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission credits beaver dams with creating perfect conditions for duck hunting, but officials understandably aren’t interested in having prime waterfowl habitats blocking access to county roads.)
The Clemson leveler “is placed upstream of a dam or blocked culvert in the deepest part of the stream or water flow. It is connected to non-perforated sections of PVC pipe, which are run through the dam or culvert to a water-control structure downstream. Because beavers do not detect flowing water as it drains, they do not block the pipe.
“The leveler works best in relatively flat terrain with short-term flooding. The leveler will not work where water volumes exceed the capacity of the pipe, such as periods of unusually high rainfall or where steep terrain may cause excessive flooding,” the report tactfully concludes, informing readers that it might not always work.
Another recommendation from the extension service is a three-log drain made of hardwood logs, which are placed perpendicular through the beaver dam. Two logs are laid on top of a board with the upstream ends slightly separated. The third log goes on top, forming a funnel.
Tips for landowners from the Forest Service sound even less hopeful: “Removal of dams, lodges, or both, is probably the most used, but least effective method of discouraging beavers. The usual response is a repaired dam or lodge by the following day….Live-trapping and relocating beavers is expensive. It is also difficult because another site that is not already inhabited is usually difficult to find. Some states have trapping programs, but these are generally small programs and should not be depended upon to solve a local landowner’s problems.”
In other words, landowners may have to pay a professional trapper more than the county does. A representative in the county’s Soil Conservation District office told us there are about 12 to 20 trappers active in the county at any given time.
To get paid, they must turn in the animal’s right front paw and part of the tail. There’s no limit to how many they can turn in for bounties. But even if a trapper can get 100 beavers in a year, that’s only $2,000 at the current rate. Trappers can sell the fur and carcass after getting the bounty. A buyer in North Little Rock told us he is paying $9 to $15 per beaver carcass, which means an additional $900 to $1,500 for a total of $3,500 in a year.
Good supplemental income, but only the most dedicated hobbyists would regularly risk snakebites to pursue that kind of money. And it’s unlikely that an extra $1,000 would make a significant difference and if it would really help to control flooding.
Placing gate covers on culverts that beavers frequently block is one preventative measure that county officials say they’ve had good results using. But the county needs to find a way to increase its number of trappers and have them target those problem areas instead of the catch-them-anywhere plan it uses now.
For beginner trappers, the Game and Fish Commission links to a free online U.S. Trapper Education Course on its website at http://www.agfc.com/hunting/Pages/HuntingTrapperEducation.aspx. The same site also includes a free trapper-education manual for Arkansas. The trapping permit, which can be obtained online, is free for Arkansas residents.
And for landowners, there is a nuisance wildlife registry that trappers use to find places to ply their trade. But only two Lonoke County residents — one in Cabot and one in England — have registered at http://www.ark.org/www.agfc.com/nuisance/index.php and both list beavers as the nuisance.
The underutilized registry aims to attract trappers to private property being damaged by furbearers. Trappers must get permission before going onto the owner’s property though. So just being on the registry isn’t an open invitation to trappers.
There’s more to the great outdoors than just hunting and fishing. It would be nice to see justices of the peace, and even the county judge, set some traps, perhaps even make a friendly competition of it and donate the bounties to charity.
The Clemson leveler and three-log drain will also be worth a try. But even then, the experts warn it’s impossible to catch them all.
TOP STORY >> Political stop in Lonoke
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Asa Hutchinson, a Republican candidate for governor, spoke about lowering taxes, building the economy and creating job opportunities for Arkansans during a meet-and-greet breakfast Tuesday at the Lone Oak Cafe in Lonoke.
“Lonoke County is very important to me in both the primary and general election,” the former congressman said.
He said the county has helped grow the Republican Party and is contributing to the state in leadership, legislative support and growth in the economy.
“Lonoke County is going to have a lot of growth in the future,” Hutchinson predicted. “We have a great opportunity to bring more industry here. The support of the agricultural community is critically important.
“While I was in Congress, I understood and supported Arkansas agriculture. The governor can do a lot to support that arena,” Hutchinson added.
He said there are three things that he believes are important in the agriculture arena: the appointment of a secretary of agriculture who understands commodities and row crops and the importance of marketing products overseas. The second is a governor to continue to push the Arkansas agriculture market overseas. The third is agriculture research and keeping up with the cutting edge of technology.
“In this race, I am passionate about economic growth in the state. That’s why I am running. I am a conservative and I believe in less regulation and lower taxes. The private sector is what drives our economy forward.
“I am pro-life. I believe in the Second Amendment. The (National Rifle Association) asked me to lead a national effort to protect the Second Amendment but to also address the challenge of school safety in our nation,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the polls show he is ahead of the leading Democratic candidate, Mike Ross, in the governor’s race. He said he is going to stay ahead, but it is a close race. Hutchinson said the polls show he is also ahead in the First Congressional District.
Hutchinson said even though he is from northwest Arkansas, he has a home in Little Rock. He said he spends a lot of time in central Arkansas with family and in eastern Arkansas duck hunting.
Hutchinson has two plans to help create jobs and build Arkansas’ future. One is a tax reduction and the other technology education.
He said looking at neighboring states, Arkansas is not growing as fast economically as the other states. One reason is the income tax rate is not competitive.
“We have a 7 percent state income tax. It is one of the highest in any state in the region,” he pointed out.
He said Texas and Tennessee are zero and others are 4 to 5 percent.
Hutchinson’s plan is to gradually reduce the state individual income tax from 7 percent to 6 and 5 percent. He plans to do that starting with the middle-income people who make $25,000 to $75,000.
“We are giving our tax cuts to the middle income. Down the road, I hope we can be competitive in the higher-income level. But you start with the people who are struggling, having a hard time making ends meet,” Hutchinson said.
He said for someone making $50,000 means they would have $300 more a year to spend. He said it would cost the state $100 million to do this. Hutchinson said the state has that money in surplus right now. He said it is $100 million that would go into the private sector instead of the public sector and government spending.
Hutchinson said he does not want to raise sales or property taxes. The state can lower the income tax using growth money gradually over time.
Hutchinson’s other plan for state growth is technology education.
He said the problem is that computer science is considered an elective, like a shop class, and not a core class, like math or science, so students are not taking computer science classes. Hutchinson said only one out of 10 high schools in America teach computer science. He believes there are about 10 schools in the state that teach computer science.
“I’m not talking about keyboarding or Microsoft Word. I’m talking about writing the foreign language of computer code and learning that in the schools. That needs to be taught. It is the language of the workplace in the future. Axiom needed 300 to 400 computer programmers and they could not find them. It is job opportunity that pays great wages,” Hutchinson said.
“Secondly, you create entrepreneurs who know how to write code and engage in engineering, sciences or date management. This is an opportunity for Arkansas to be in the forefront of a change nationally to meet the job requirements of the future,” Hutchinson said.
Lonoke Remington Arms plant manager Jim Grahlmann said he needs people who can run, operate and program computerized industrial machines.
“Those are our top paying jobs. I have trouble filling them now,” Grahlmann said.
He said those jobs are paying $25 to $30 an hour starting out.
Hutchinson said the laws are going to be changed to give math or science credits for computer science as an incentive for students to take computer classes.
He also wants computer science taught in every high school in the state. Hutchinson said it will cost less than $500,000 to retrain math and science teachers to teach computer coding in over two years.
“It is a small investment that gets a great return on those dollars,” Hutchinson said.
Cabot School Board member Ricky Hill asked Hutchinson if he sees further consolidation of schools in the state.
Hutchinson said the state requires school districts to have at least 350 students or they will be consolidated into another district.
He does not like the law. He wants to help the small schools that are performing academically and are financially sound. Hutchinson said if the school goes away, the community goes away.
Sen. Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot) said the England School District is struggling. Williams would like to see an incentive for either Lonoke or Cabot to do on-line courses for students in a smaller school.
“There may be five AP students in England that could turn on a TV and watch a class in Cabot that has the academics or teachers the England students’ need. We should be reward Cabot and England for doing that,” Williams said.
Williams said there are Cabot students who are taking shop classes in Lonoke that are not taught in Cabot.
“We need to figure out a system to reward those schools that are willing to share their assets with a fellow school district,” Williams said.
Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert asked Hutchinson his stance on the national common core school standards.
Hutchinson said he still believes students need to learn cursive writing and the multiplication tables.
“I want to make sure the local school districts have flexibility to make a decision on those things. That we don’t replace the traditional learning of cursive writing and the multiplication tables that are the foundation for education. I want to concentrate on basics. I want to make sure that every third grader is reading at grade level,” Hutchinson said.
Leader staff writer
Asa Hutchinson, a Republican candidate for governor, spoke about lowering taxes, building the economy and creating job opportunities for Arkansans during a meet-and-greet breakfast Tuesday at the Lone Oak Cafe in Lonoke.
“Lonoke County is very important to me in both the primary and general election,” the former congressman said.
He said the county has helped grow the Republican Party and is contributing to the state in leadership, legislative support and growth in the economy.
“Lonoke County is going to have a lot of growth in the future,” Hutchinson predicted. “We have a great opportunity to bring more industry here. The support of the agricultural community is critically important.
“While I was in Congress, I understood and supported Arkansas agriculture. The governor can do a lot to support that arena,” Hutchinson added.
He said there are three things that he believes are important in the agriculture arena: the appointment of a secretary of agriculture who understands commodities and row crops and the importance of marketing products overseas. The second is a governor to continue to push the Arkansas agriculture market overseas. The third is agriculture research and keeping up with the cutting edge of technology.
“In this race, I am passionate about economic growth in the state. That’s why I am running. I am a conservative and I believe in less regulation and lower taxes. The private sector is what drives our economy forward.
“I am pro-life. I believe in the Second Amendment. The (National Rifle Association) asked me to lead a national effort to protect the Second Amendment but to also address the challenge of school safety in our nation,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the polls show he is ahead of the leading Democratic candidate, Mike Ross, in the governor’s race. He said he is going to stay ahead, but it is a close race. Hutchinson said the polls show he is also ahead in the First Congressional District.
Hutchinson said even though he is from northwest Arkansas, he has a home in Little Rock. He said he spends a lot of time in central Arkansas with family and in eastern Arkansas duck hunting.
Hutchinson has two plans to help create jobs and build Arkansas’ future. One is a tax reduction and the other technology education.
He said looking at neighboring states, Arkansas is not growing as fast economically as the other states. One reason is the income tax rate is not competitive.
“We have a 7 percent state income tax. It is one of the highest in any state in the region,” he pointed out.
He said Texas and Tennessee are zero and others are 4 to 5 percent.
Hutchinson’s plan is to gradually reduce the state individual income tax from 7 percent to 6 and 5 percent. He plans to do that starting with the middle-income people who make $25,000 to $75,000.
“We are giving our tax cuts to the middle income. Down the road, I hope we can be competitive in the higher-income level. But you start with the people who are struggling, having a hard time making ends meet,” Hutchinson said.
He said for someone making $50,000 means they would have $300 more a year to spend. He said it would cost the state $100 million to do this. Hutchinson said the state has that money in surplus right now. He said it is $100 million that would go into the private sector instead of the public sector and government spending.
Hutchinson said he does not want to raise sales or property taxes. The state can lower the income tax using growth money gradually over time.
Hutchinson’s other plan for state growth is technology education.
He said the problem is that computer science is considered an elective, like a shop class, and not a core class, like math or science, so students are not taking computer science classes. Hutchinson said only one out of 10 high schools in America teach computer science. He believes there are about 10 schools in the state that teach computer science.
“I’m not talking about keyboarding or Microsoft Word. I’m talking about writing the foreign language of computer code and learning that in the schools. That needs to be taught. It is the language of the workplace in the future. Axiom needed 300 to 400 computer programmers and they could not find them. It is job opportunity that pays great wages,” Hutchinson said.
“Secondly, you create entrepreneurs who know how to write code and engage in engineering, sciences or date management. This is an opportunity for Arkansas to be in the forefront of a change nationally to meet the job requirements of the future,” Hutchinson said.
Lonoke Remington Arms plant manager Jim Grahlmann said he needs people who can run, operate and program computerized industrial machines.
“Those are our top paying jobs. I have trouble filling them now,” Grahlmann said.
He said those jobs are paying $25 to $30 an hour starting out.
Hutchinson said the laws are going to be changed to give math or science credits for computer science as an incentive for students to take computer classes.
He also wants computer science taught in every high school in the state. Hutchinson said it will cost less than $500,000 to retrain math and science teachers to teach computer coding in over two years.
“It is a small investment that gets a great return on those dollars,” Hutchinson said.
Cabot School Board member Ricky Hill asked Hutchinson if he sees further consolidation of schools in the state.
Hutchinson said the state requires school districts to have at least 350 students or they will be consolidated into another district.
He does not like the law. He wants to help the small schools that are performing academically and are financially sound. Hutchinson said if the school goes away, the community goes away.
Sen. Eddie Joe Williams (R-Cabot) said the England School District is struggling. Williams would like to see an incentive for either Lonoke or Cabot to do on-line courses for students in a smaller school.
“There may be five AP students in England that could turn on a TV and watch a class in Cabot that has the academics or teachers the England students’ need. We should be reward Cabot and England for doing that,” Williams said.
Williams said there are Cabot students who are taking shop classes in Lonoke that are not taught in Cabot.
“We need to figure out a system to reward those schools that are willing to share their assets with a fellow school district,” Williams said.
Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert asked Hutchinson his stance on the national common core school standards.
Hutchinson said he still believes students need to learn cursive writing and the multiplication tables.
“I want to make sure the local school districts have flexibility to make a decision on those things. That we don’t replace the traditional learning of cursive writing and the multiplication tables that are the foundation for education. I want to concentrate on basics. I want to make sure that every third grader is reading at grade level,” Hutchinson said.
TOP STORY >> School vote planned for September
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Come Sept. 16, formation of a Jacksonville/north Pulaski County school district is likely to be on the annual school-election ballot, with voters living within the boundaries of the proposed new district deciding the issue.
This is the closest local-school activists have gotten to that dream. (See editorial, p. 6A.)
The vote is possible following a Monday fairness hearing in which U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. overruled all objections and accepted the proposed desegregation settlement agreement crafted by officials and attorneys for the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts, the state Education Department and the Joshua Intervenors — black PCSSD students. The judge found that those making objections to the settlement lacked standing in the case — that is, they would not be harmed.
“It’s a great day for the kids in Jacksonville,” Daniel Gray, spokesman for the group seeking the new district there, said Monday after Marshall accepted the negotiated desegregation settlement agreement.
“Without a doubt, this is the closest we’ve been” to getting a new district, Gray said. “We’ve been close before, but there’s always something to derail us. Now the judge has removed some unknowns.
“Now we have to figure out the next steps,” Gray said. “We hope to go to the state Board of Education in February and ask them to set an election.
“We need to get a letter from the attorney general’s office,” Gray said, “but is that all we need or do we need to file something to get the judge’s (explicit) blessing?”
City administrator Jim Durham said, “This is the best news I’ve heard about this town, bar none.”
He said he hopes young people will move to Jacksonville once it has its own school district.
“I can see Jacksonville rivaling Cabot with our schools,” Durham said, “and a demand for new housing.”
Gray said a new district would probably need to raise the school millage, but said Jacksonville taxpayers have a history of stepping up to the plate when it comes to paying for improvements.
“Taxpayers would know the money won’t be used to build schools in Maumelle,” Gray said.
In explaining his reasons for approving and final izing the desegregation agreement settlement, the judge cited the way in which all parties worked together in unity and the relative lack of opposition to the agreement.
Marshall said he was satisfied, based on documentation and testimony, that approval of the settlement would not harm unitary efforts or leave any of the districts in a financial condition likely to harm those efforts or the ability to educate the students.
The settlement ends state financial support of the three districts in this sprawling desegregation case that has reached across the years. It also allows detachment — with voter approval — of a Jacksonville/north Pulaski County district from PCSSD.
Much to the displeasure of advocates for creation of a Sherwood district, the settlement explicitly prohibits formation of any other new districts until PCSSD has been declared unitary — that is desegregated.
Linda Remele and Beverly Williams of the Sherwood Education Foundation and Mayor Virginia Hillman spoke in opposition to the exclusion, but, they stressed, not in opposition to the overall settlement.
NOT DERAIL
The foundation “struggled with how to move forward because we do not want to derail the settlement agreement, but we must respond for the benefit of the students and communities in the proposed Sherwood school district,” Remele said.
They were objecting to an 11th-hour stipulation in the agreement that “the state will oppose the creation of any other school districts from PCSSD’s territory until PCSSD is declared fully unitary and is released from federal court supervision.”
The settlement ends desegregation payments from the state to North Little Rock, Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts after the 2017-18 school year. Currently, the state pays those districts about $65 million a year, payments that have totaled about $1.2 billion since they began, according to Deputy Attorney General Scott Richardson.
Others who objected included a resident who said he favored the settlement but wanted to make sure PCSSD would fix and repair Jacksonville-area schools even if the detachment didn’t take place.
There were also concerns about M-to-M transfers being phased out after current enrollees graduated from high school and about out-of-district magnet school enrollees being allowed only to finish the school they attend.
For instance, a student upon finishing an elementary magnet school could not apply for enrollment in a middle school magnet.
WIN-WIN
PCSSD Superintendent Jerry Guess, whom Marshall quoted or cited several times during his own remarks before approving the settlement, called a Jacksonville detachment “a win-win situation.”
Detachment would not negatively impact racial balance and desegregation efforts of PCSSD, but it would actually help the district to become unitary in the area of facilities, according to Guess. That’s because Jacksonville would qualify for more state aid to build and repair those schools than PCSSD would get for the same schools.
PCSSD is high on the state wealth index, meaning it would receive almost no state matching funds to build or fix schools.
Jacksonville is much lower on the index, and the state would contribute 50 percent to 60 percent of the cost for qualifying buildings.
That means a $90 million building program to bring area schools into the 21st Century would cost the new district only about $45 million, with the state picking up the rest of the balance.
PLANNING BEGINS
Gray said planning for the transition would begin even before the September election.
The 2014-15 school year would be transitional and Jacksonville/north Pulaski would be independent by the 2015-16 school year.
Assets and debt would have to be equitably divided between the two districts.
For instance, who gets which school buses and how many? How would teachers and staff be hired or divided? How much of the remaining desegregation money from the state would go to a new district?
The state would appoint a school board at first. Zones, which might approximate city council zones, would be created. Then school board elections could be held.
Gray said there would be meetings with architects and public meetings would be held before decisions were made on the development of a Jacksonville-area district.
He praised Marshall, saying the judge was timely and sensitive to the needs of the various parties.
“Everybody was a winner yesterday,” Gray said Tuesday.
FAIR, REASONABLE
In accordance with rule 23, Marshall said he found the settlement to be fair, reasonable and adequate.
While perseverance was not among the tests of rule 23, Marshall said he would be remiss in not noting the decades-long perseverance of those seeking a Jacksonville district.
Little Rock Air Force Base is open to making 20 acres available for a new elementary school to replace the decrepit Arnold Drive Elementary already on the base.
The base would also give the district use of another 300 acres if it wants to build a new high school campus north of the current North Pulaski High School.
WHATEVER IT TAKES
And Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said the city could make the old police building available for use as an administration building.
“I think we’re all unified,” he said. “Whatever it takes to get the job done.”
Fletcher, who was among community leaders on hand when Marshall made his ruling, said now money could go into the schoolhouse instead of the courthouse.
“For Jacksonville, it’s a way to get what everyone else had—newer and better facilities,” the mayor said.
Jacksonville has been stagnant over the past 20 years and its population declined by 46 people between 2010 and 2013.
He blamed the city’s stagnation on lack of local control over its schools and said that growth was on the horizon when the new district becomes a reality.
Marshall’s ruling did not directly affect PCSSD’s struggle toward unitary status, which is on a parallel track through Marshall’s court.
The Joshua Intervenors and PCSSD attorneys and officials are working to determine in which areas the district is not yet unitary and to resolve those issues.
Marshall has offered to appoint a judge magistrate to help mediate issues and plot a path forward.
Leader senior staff writer
Come Sept. 16, formation of a Jacksonville/north Pulaski County school district is likely to be on the annual school-election ballot, with voters living within the boundaries of the proposed new district deciding the issue.
This is the closest local-school activists have gotten to that dream. (See editorial, p. 6A.)
The vote is possible following a Monday fairness hearing in which U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. overruled all objections and accepted the proposed desegregation settlement agreement crafted by officials and attorneys for the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts, the state Education Department and the Joshua Intervenors — black PCSSD students. The judge found that those making objections to the settlement lacked standing in the case — that is, they would not be harmed.
“It’s a great day for the kids in Jacksonville,” Daniel Gray, spokesman for the group seeking the new district there, said Monday after Marshall accepted the negotiated desegregation settlement agreement.
“Without a doubt, this is the closest we’ve been” to getting a new district, Gray said. “We’ve been close before, but there’s always something to derail us. Now the judge has removed some unknowns.
“Now we have to figure out the next steps,” Gray said. “We hope to go to the state Board of Education in February and ask them to set an election.
“We need to get a letter from the attorney general’s office,” Gray said, “but is that all we need or do we need to file something to get the judge’s (explicit) blessing?”
City administrator Jim Durham said, “This is the best news I’ve heard about this town, bar none.”
He said he hopes young people will move to Jacksonville once it has its own school district.
“I can see Jacksonville rivaling Cabot with our schools,” Durham said, “and a demand for new housing.”
Gray said a new district would probably need to raise the school millage, but said Jacksonville taxpayers have a history of stepping up to the plate when it comes to paying for improvements.
“Taxpayers would know the money won’t be used to build schools in Maumelle,” Gray said.
In explaining his reasons for approving and final izing the desegregation agreement settlement, the judge cited the way in which all parties worked together in unity and the relative lack of opposition to the agreement.
Marshall said he was satisfied, based on documentation and testimony, that approval of the settlement would not harm unitary efforts or leave any of the districts in a financial condition likely to harm those efforts or the ability to educate the students.
The settlement ends state financial support of the three districts in this sprawling desegregation case that has reached across the years. It also allows detachment — with voter approval — of a Jacksonville/north Pulaski County district from PCSSD.
Much to the displeasure of advocates for creation of a Sherwood district, the settlement explicitly prohibits formation of any other new districts until PCSSD has been declared unitary — that is desegregated.
Linda Remele and Beverly Williams of the Sherwood Education Foundation and Mayor Virginia Hillman spoke in opposition to the exclusion, but, they stressed, not in opposition to the overall settlement.
NOT DERAIL
The foundation “struggled with how to move forward because we do not want to derail the settlement agreement, but we must respond for the benefit of the students and communities in the proposed Sherwood school district,” Remele said.
They were objecting to an 11th-hour stipulation in the agreement that “the state will oppose the creation of any other school districts from PCSSD’s territory until PCSSD is declared fully unitary and is released from federal court supervision.”
The settlement ends desegregation payments from the state to North Little Rock, Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts after the 2017-18 school year. Currently, the state pays those districts about $65 million a year, payments that have totaled about $1.2 billion since they began, according to Deputy Attorney General Scott Richardson.
Others who objected included a resident who said he favored the settlement but wanted to make sure PCSSD would fix and repair Jacksonville-area schools even if the detachment didn’t take place.
There were also concerns about M-to-M transfers being phased out after current enrollees graduated from high school and about out-of-district magnet school enrollees being allowed only to finish the school they attend.
For instance, a student upon finishing an elementary magnet school could not apply for enrollment in a middle school magnet.
WIN-WIN
PCSSD Superintendent Jerry Guess, whom Marshall quoted or cited several times during his own remarks before approving the settlement, called a Jacksonville detachment “a win-win situation.”
Detachment would not negatively impact racial balance and desegregation efforts of PCSSD, but it would actually help the district to become unitary in the area of facilities, according to Guess. That’s because Jacksonville would qualify for more state aid to build and repair those schools than PCSSD would get for the same schools.
PCSSD is high on the state wealth index, meaning it would receive almost no state matching funds to build or fix schools.
Jacksonville is much lower on the index, and the state would contribute 50 percent to 60 percent of the cost for qualifying buildings.
That means a $90 million building program to bring area schools into the 21st Century would cost the new district only about $45 million, with the state picking up the rest of the balance.
PLANNING BEGINS
Gray said planning for the transition would begin even before the September election.
The 2014-15 school year would be transitional and Jacksonville/north Pulaski would be independent by the 2015-16 school year.
Assets and debt would have to be equitably divided between the two districts.
For instance, who gets which school buses and how many? How would teachers and staff be hired or divided? How much of the remaining desegregation money from the state would go to a new district?
The state would appoint a school board at first. Zones, which might approximate city council zones, would be created. Then school board elections could be held.
Gray said there would be meetings with architects and public meetings would be held before decisions were made on the development of a Jacksonville-area district.
He praised Marshall, saying the judge was timely and sensitive to the needs of the various parties.
“Everybody was a winner yesterday,” Gray said Tuesday.
FAIR, REASONABLE
In accordance with rule 23, Marshall said he found the settlement to be fair, reasonable and adequate.
While perseverance was not among the tests of rule 23, Marshall said he would be remiss in not noting the decades-long perseverance of those seeking a Jacksonville district.
Little Rock Air Force Base is open to making 20 acres available for a new elementary school to replace the decrepit Arnold Drive Elementary already on the base.
The base would also give the district use of another 300 acres if it wants to build a new high school campus north of the current North Pulaski High School.
WHATEVER IT TAKES
And Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said the city could make the old police building available for use as an administration building.
“I think we’re all unified,” he said. “Whatever it takes to get the job done.”
Fletcher, who was among community leaders on hand when Marshall made his ruling, said now money could go into the schoolhouse instead of the courthouse.
“For Jacksonville, it’s a way to get what everyone else had—newer and better facilities,” the mayor said.
Jacksonville has been stagnant over the past 20 years and its population declined by 46 people between 2010 and 2013.
He blamed the city’s stagnation on lack of local control over its schools and said that growth was on the horizon when the new district becomes a reality.
Marshall’s ruling did not directly affect PCSSD’s struggle toward unitary status, which is on a parallel track through Marshall’s court.
The Joshua Intervenors and PCSSD attorneys and officials are working to determine in which areas the district is not yet unitary and to resolve those issues.
Marshall has offered to appoint a judge magistrate to help mediate issues and plot a path forward.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)