By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The clock indicated the game was over, but a Pine Bluff penalty kept hope alive for the Cabot Panthers on Friday. The Panthers turned that extra chance into a touchdown to beat the two-time defending Class 6A champions 28-27 in the season opener at Panther Stadium.
Trailing 27-21, Cabot’s Jarrod Barnes threw to the end zone from 14 yards out, and Pine Bluff’s Ronald Rockett knocked it down, seemingly giving Pine Bluff the victory. But a flag came out and pass interference was the call, giving the Panthers one final, untimed play. Even before the next snap, Pine Bluff jumped off sides, moving it even further to the 3-yard line.
Quarterback Jarrod Barnes then went right from the shotgun formation and leaped high into the air and over the goal line to tie the game at 27-27.
Mason Martin’s extra point sealed the victory for the Panthers.
“Jarrod’s a difference maker,” said Cabot coach Mike Malham. “We’ve never had one like him around here before. We were in the option but I knew he was going to keep it, and I wasn’t going to argue with him.”
Pine Bluff trailed 21-13 going into the fourth quarter, but scored twice, the second with just 1:17 left in the game. The Zebras tied the game with 8:24 remaining. Simeon Blair connected on a 7-yard fade pass left to Xavier Smith to make it 21-19, and then hit Jyrimee Thompson on a fade to the right side for the two-point conversion and tie.
Cabot failed on a fake punt with 6:02 left, and Pine Bluff took over on its own 43. As was the case most of the game, Blair scrambling was the Zebras best offensive play.
Cabot pressure forced him out of the pocket three times on the drive, and he picked up 52 total yards. Two of the scrambles converted fourth down attempts, including the second one, which resulted in a 14-yard touchdown run on fourth and 5.
But the Zebras missed the extra point, leaving Cabot with a chance for the win with just a touchdown and PAT.
Special teams got even worse when Pine Bluff tried to kick off. Three penalties moved the kick back to the 25-yard line, and Cabot started the game-winning drive on its own 24.
In the first half, Cabot scored on its opening drive of the game after a pair of mistakes cut short Pine Bluff’s first possession. An illegal block negated a big play and put the Zebras behind the chains. Two plays later they tried to punt, but a high snap resulted in a loss of 16 yards and Cabot took over on the Pine Bluff 39.
On the very first offensive play of the season, quarterback Jarrod Barnes went around the left end on an option keep and went 39 yards untouched for the score.
Mason Martin’s extra point made it 7-0 with 8:10 left in the first quarter.
The lead didn’t last long. Pine Bluff put together another good drive, converting a third and 9 along the way with a 10-yard run by quarterback Simeon Blair.
Two players later, Blair connected with Xavier Smith for 32 yards to the Cabot 27.
After another 10-yard run by Blair, he connected with Kamarea Wilkins for 13 yards on a wheel route for a touchdown with 4:34 left in the first quarter.
Cabot put together a long drive, but stalled inside the Pine Bluff 20-yard line. A 37-yard field-goal attempt was no good, and Pine Bluff took over on its own 20.
Blair kept the drive alive on the first set of downs by keeping for 7 yards on third and 5.
Two plays later. Blair’s legs kept a play alive when he was rushed out of the pocket by the Cabot pass rush. Blair stepped up in the pocket and then out to the right side line, and hit Xavier Smith for a 63-yard scoring strike. Justin Nabors blocked the extra point, leaving the Zebras with a 13-7 lead with 1:33 left in the first half.
That lead lasted precisely 12 seconds. Barnes took the ensuing kickoff at the 22-yard line, and raced up the middle for 78 yards and the score. The extra point was good, leaving Cabot with a 14-13 lead, which it took into the locker room at halftime.
Pine Bluff gained more yards than Cabot, 321 to 283. Blair accounted for 310 of the Zebras’ offense. He completed 17 of 27 passes for 174 yards and 3 touchdowns, and carried 15 times for 136 yards and one score.
Xavier Smith caught 11 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
Barnes led Cabot with 15 carries for 115 yards and two touchdowns, as well as the 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. He also completed 8 of 12 pass attempts for 107 yards.
Cabot (1-0) travels to El Dorado next Friday while Pine Bluff plays its home opener against crosstown rival Watson Chapel. El Dorado beat Camden-Fairview 34-7 on Friday.
Saturday, September 03, 2016
Friday, September 02, 2016
EDITORIAL >> Let’s insure all Americans
Another cascade of headlines last week, mostly on the predictable pages, foreshadowed the doom of Obamacare—the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—when a new president and Congress assemble in four and a half months.
Three of the insurance giants, Aetna, Humana and United Healthcare, announced that they probably would stop offering plans in Obamacare’s exchanges for many counties across the country after this year because they are losing money, which will reduce the competition in those exchanges. In order to get bigger and more profitable by saving $3.5 billion in duplicated costs, Aetna is trying to buy Humana, but President Obama’s Justice Department has been resisting it as anticompetitive merger that violates antitrust laws. We are sure that had nothing to do with Aetna’s threatened pullout from the president’s signature program.
So this must be the final blow for Obamacare, as the Arkansas Democrat Gazette predicted Thursday in the latest of scores of editorials condemning the 2010 healthcare law, this one labeled, “Kill the monster.”
Almost simultaneously, the paper carried front-page stories about the phenomenal success of Obamacare’s biggest feature, Medicaid expansion. More than 325,000 low-income working Arkansas families are now enrolled in Obamacare and are getting medical attention that they formerly could only get with the charity of the overflowing emergency rooms of big hospitals. But Republican lawmakers, opponents of Obamacare, saw that as the forerunner of ruin. When the state must start paying a small fraction of the premiums for medical insurance for those people, the legislators said, it will just about bankrupt the state treasury.
No one dared to speak up at the legislative meeting where the mourning occurred to remind the legislators that their own conservative business consultants, whom they paid handsomely, had given them hard figures showing that the more p eople signed up, the better off the state would be. And not just the poor policyholders but also the state treasury and the taxpayers. Owing to the vast infusion of federal dollars into the state, their cumulative fiscal impact and the collection of state insurance premium taxes for all those policies, the state treasury will be flusher for many years than it would be if Obamacare had never become law. Rep. Joe Farrer (R-Austin), a former critic, now says Medicaid expansion is working fine in Arkansas.
But the pullout of three big insurers in many U.S. counties is a big, big concern, and has been since the law’s implementation three years ago. Too many very sick people and too few young healthy people have bought policies on the exchanges. About 20 million Americans who weren’t insured in 2010 when the law passed are now insured, but almost that many more have so far chosen not to be covered, primarily because good health policies are still expensive even when the government offers assistance for families whose earnings are below 400 percent of the federal poverty line.
The truth is that Obamacare is not going away, whoever is elected president. Donald Trump says he would ask Congress to repeal Obamacare immediately, but he also says he will replace it with something that would cover every single American. What that would be —Medicare for all or something else—he has never said, but you can be sure that it would be far costlier to the taxpayers than Obamacare or else a giant addition to the national debt.
The insurance industry warned about the shortcomings in the new law when it was enacted. It said the taxes on those who remained uninsured were way too low to encourage young and healthy people to buy plans, that the diminishing subsidies for people based on their incomes were still too low to persuade low-income families to enroll, and that it should tackle the exorbitant costs of many drugs, which were driving up the insurers’ costs for chronically sick people.
Originally, the problem was that, owing to the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whose vote enabled the Senate to block a filibuster, Congress had to enact the weaker Senate version rather than the better researched and written version by the House of Representatives. The House had better subsidies for lower incomes, simple subsidies rather than the complicated tax credits of the Senate bill, more realistic penalties, and provision for a government-run plan that would compete with commercial insurers.
Ordinarily, big programs like health insurance require almost annual tinkering. Social Security had to be amended almost yearly to work out the kinks and omissions and still needs it. Congress amends Medicare and its funding mechanisms regularly, no matter which party is in control.
The last two insurance reforms before Obamacare, the introduction of Medicare Advantage plans in the 1990s and the Medicare drug program in 2004 were on a death spiral like opponents say Obamacare is on, but Congress came back—under Republican leadership no less—and added federal expenditures to make the plans workable and extremely profitable for the insurers.
But partisanship had become so fierce by Obama’s election that no amending has been possible. The House of Representatives has voted many times to repeal Obamacare but will not permit even a comma change to the act.
One hopes that may change in 2017, though who would bet on it? Hillary Clinton laid out a comprehensive set of changes to the law that she would try to enact—changes in the schedule of premium subsidies, perhaps more strenuous penalties, and a public option to compete with Blue Cross and the others to hold the premiums down.
Congress could do what both it and the president opted not do in 2010, which was to place some mandates on the pharmaceuticals’ profiteering on life-saving drugs, like the $94,500 a year that the company holding the patent for vital hepatitis C medicine charges a family. An insurer with many such patients is going to see its profits go down. Big insurance companies need to tend to their exorbitant salaries and administrative costs, like the insurance startup Oscar, which thrives on the exchange.
Even a President Trump will not cancel insurance for 20 million Americans, after saying he would guarantee it for everyone. The name Obamacare may disappear, which would be merciful, but no one should be either hopeful or scared that the great progress of that act of Congress will disappear. — Ernie Dumas
Three of the insurance giants, Aetna, Humana and United Healthcare, announced that they probably would stop offering plans in Obamacare’s exchanges for many counties across the country after this year because they are losing money, which will reduce the competition in those exchanges. In order to get bigger and more profitable by saving $3.5 billion in duplicated costs, Aetna is trying to buy Humana, but President Obama’s Justice Department has been resisting it as anticompetitive merger that violates antitrust laws. We are sure that had nothing to do with Aetna’s threatened pullout from the president’s signature program.
So this must be the final blow for Obamacare, as the Arkansas Democrat Gazette predicted Thursday in the latest of scores of editorials condemning the 2010 healthcare law, this one labeled, “Kill the monster.”
Almost simultaneously, the paper carried front-page stories about the phenomenal success of Obamacare’s biggest feature, Medicaid expansion. More than 325,000 low-income working Arkansas families are now enrolled in Obamacare and are getting medical attention that they formerly could only get with the charity of the overflowing emergency rooms of big hospitals. But Republican lawmakers, opponents of Obamacare, saw that as the forerunner of ruin. When the state must start paying a small fraction of the premiums for medical insurance for those people, the legislators said, it will just about bankrupt the state treasury.
No one dared to speak up at the legislative meeting where the mourning occurred to remind the legislators that their own conservative business consultants, whom they paid handsomely, had given them hard figures showing that the more p eople signed up, the better off the state would be. And not just the poor policyholders but also the state treasury and the taxpayers. Owing to the vast infusion of federal dollars into the state, their cumulative fiscal impact and the collection of state insurance premium taxes for all those policies, the state treasury will be flusher for many years than it would be if Obamacare had never become law. Rep. Joe Farrer (R-Austin), a former critic, now says Medicaid expansion is working fine in Arkansas.
But the pullout of three big insurers in many U.S. counties is a big, big concern, and has been since the law’s implementation three years ago. Too many very sick people and too few young healthy people have bought policies on the exchanges. About 20 million Americans who weren’t insured in 2010 when the law passed are now insured, but almost that many more have so far chosen not to be covered, primarily because good health policies are still expensive even when the government offers assistance for families whose earnings are below 400 percent of the federal poverty line.
The truth is that Obamacare is not going away, whoever is elected president. Donald Trump says he would ask Congress to repeal Obamacare immediately, but he also says he will replace it with something that would cover every single American. What that would be —Medicare for all or something else—he has never said, but you can be sure that it would be far costlier to the taxpayers than Obamacare or else a giant addition to the national debt.
The insurance industry warned about the shortcomings in the new law when it was enacted. It said the taxes on those who remained uninsured were way too low to encourage young and healthy people to buy plans, that the diminishing subsidies for people based on their incomes were still too low to persuade low-income families to enroll, and that it should tackle the exorbitant costs of many drugs, which were driving up the insurers’ costs for chronically sick people.
Originally, the problem was that, owing to the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whose vote enabled the Senate to block a filibuster, Congress had to enact the weaker Senate version rather than the better researched and written version by the House of Representatives. The House had better subsidies for lower incomes, simple subsidies rather than the complicated tax credits of the Senate bill, more realistic penalties, and provision for a government-run plan that would compete with commercial insurers.
Ordinarily, big programs like health insurance require almost annual tinkering. Social Security had to be amended almost yearly to work out the kinks and omissions and still needs it. Congress amends Medicare and its funding mechanisms regularly, no matter which party is in control.
The last two insurance reforms before Obamacare, the introduction of Medicare Advantage plans in the 1990s and the Medicare drug program in 2004 were on a death spiral like opponents say Obamacare is on, but Congress came back—under Republican leadership no less—and added federal expenditures to make the plans workable and extremely profitable for the insurers.
But partisanship had become so fierce by Obama’s election that no amending has been possible. The House of Representatives has voted many times to repeal Obamacare but will not permit even a comma change to the act.
One hopes that may change in 2017, though who would bet on it? Hillary Clinton laid out a comprehensive set of changes to the law that she would try to enact—changes in the schedule of premium subsidies, perhaps more strenuous penalties, and a public option to compete with Blue Cross and the others to hold the premiums down.
Congress could do what both it and the president opted not do in 2010, which was to place some mandates on the pharmaceuticals’ profiteering on life-saving drugs, like the $94,500 a year that the company holding the patent for vital hepatitis C medicine charges a family. An insurer with many such patients is going to see its profits go down. Big insurance companies need to tend to their exorbitant salaries and administrative costs, like the insurance startup Oscar, which thrives on the exchange.
Even a President Trump will not cancel insurance for 20 million Americans, after saying he would guarantee it for everyone. The name Obamacare may disappear, which would be merciful, but no one should be either hopeful or scared that the great progress of that act of Congress will disappear. — Ernie Dumas
TOP STORY >> Mushrush kept eye on spending
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Former Jacksonville Finance Director Paul Wayne Mushrush, 71, died Wednesday night after collapsing at his home.
For many, it was a shock as he was at Walmart just that afternoon where he ran into former Mayor Tommy Swaim, and they spent an enjoyable amount of time chatting about government. It was Swaim who hired Mushrush to become the city’s finance director.
He retired from that position in 2011, but still came by city hall to visit and was called in to review the city’s financials from time to time.
“He was a walking encyclopedia,” said Mayor Gary Fletcher. “You can never replace someone like that.”
Many joked that Mushrush was a sesquipedalian, a user of long words, and it was a term he endeared. Nikki Wilmoth, with the finance department, said Mushrush loved to find and use enigmatic words.
Cheryl Erkel, who was promoted to finance director when Mushrush retired, added, “Every day we would find a new uncommon word and work it into conversation and even his financial reports just make other stop and think.”
Under his watch, the city’s budget grew from $4 million to about $20 million and his department won the international Certificate of Excellence award every year in a row since 1997, one of the longest streaks in the nation.
Wilmoth said Mushrush was a wonderful person and a great boss. “He was well respected, and I was blessed to have worked under his leadership,” Willmoth said.
Erkel said all the employees in the financial department looked to Mushrush as a “father figure. We were his second family. He was a great man and a very good mentor.”
She added that even after his retirement he would help if needed. “He never gave us the answer, that wasn’t his leadership style, but he directed us to it.”
Tonja Gilbert, accounting services assistant with the finance department, said, “He was a brilliant man with a lot of neat life adventure stories. He truly loved his family. He was a good mentor. He will be missed more than words can describe. I am so blessed to have known him.”
Debbie Jernigan, accounts payable specialist, said, “Paul was such an inspiration to work with at city hall. His knowledge and dedication as finance director earned him many awards and designations. But what amazed me most about Paul was his overwhelming love and devotion to his wife Karin, daughter Sam and his grandchildren. They were always his first priority.
“I also remember listening to stories about his ‘escapades’ with his brother Grant, and Paul laughing like a mischievous little boy! ‘Good times,’ he would say. Paul’s legacy will always be a part of our office.”
Mushrush began working for Jacksonville in 1988 and became the finance director in 1992.
He was a longtime member of the Arkansas Government Finance Officers Association. Mushrush was elected secretary/treasurer in 1998 and became president in 1999 (skipping first and second vice president positions). He received the Arkansas Government Finance Officer of the Year award in 2003.
He was active in Jacksonville’s Historical Society, which promotes the Reed’s Bridge Civil War Battlefield. He was also involved in the Jacksonville Education Foundation, which helped create the new Jacksonville school district.
Mushrush was born on Aug. 14, 1945, in Stuebenville, Ohio.
He is survived by Karin Dooley Mushrush, his wife of 37 years; his daughter, Samantha Jones and her husband Bruce of Jacksonville; two grandchildren, Cadence Jones and Brooks Jones, and one brother, Grant Mushrush, of California.
A celebration of his life will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. Monday at A Natural State Funeral Service, 2620 W. Main St.
Additional arrangements are pending.
Leader staff writer
Former Jacksonville Finance Director Paul Wayne Mushrush, 71, died Wednesday night after collapsing at his home.
For many, it was a shock as he was at Walmart just that afternoon where he ran into former Mayor Tommy Swaim, and they spent an enjoyable amount of time chatting about government. It was Swaim who hired Mushrush to become the city’s finance director.
He retired from that position in 2011, but still came by city hall to visit and was called in to review the city’s financials from time to time.
“He was a walking encyclopedia,” said Mayor Gary Fletcher. “You can never replace someone like that.”
Many joked that Mushrush was a sesquipedalian, a user of long words, and it was a term he endeared. Nikki Wilmoth, with the finance department, said Mushrush loved to find and use enigmatic words.
Cheryl Erkel, who was promoted to finance director when Mushrush retired, added, “Every day we would find a new uncommon word and work it into conversation and even his financial reports just make other stop and think.”
Under his watch, the city’s budget grew from $4 million to about $20 million and his department won the international Certificate of Excellence award every year in a row since 1997, one of the longest streaks in the nation.
Wilmoth said Mushrush was a wonderful person and a great boss. “He was well respected, and I was blessed to have worked under his leadership,” Willmoth said.
Erkel said all the employees in the financial department looked to Mushrush as a “father figure. We were his second family. He was a great man and a very good mentor.”
She added that even after his retirement he would help if needed. “He never gave us the answer, that wasn’t his leadership style, but he directed us to it.”
Tonja Gilbert, accounting services assistant with the finance department, said, “He was a brilliant man with a lot of neat life adventure stories. He truly loved his family. He was a good mentor. He will be missed more than words can describe. I am so blessed to have known him.”
Debbie Jernigan, accounts payable specialist, said, “Paul was such an inspiration to work with at city hall. His knowledge and dedication as finance director earned him many awards and designations. But what amazed me most about Paul was his overwhelming love and devotion to his wife Karin, daughter Sam and his grandchildren. They were always his first priority.
“I also remember listening to stories about his ‘escapades’ with his brother Grant, and Paul laughing like a mischievous little boy! ‘Good times,’ he would say. Paul’s legacy will always be a part of our office.”
Mushrush began working for Jacksonville in 1988 and became the finance director in 1992.
He was a longtime member of the Arkansas Government Finance Officers Association. Mushrush was elected secretary/treasurer in 1998 and became president in 1999 (skipping first and second vice president positions). He received the Arkansas Government Finance Officer of the Year award in 2003.
He was active in Jacksonville’s Historical Society, which promotes the Reed’s Bridge Civil War Battlefield. He was also involved in the Jacksonville Education Foundation, which helped create the new Jacksonville school district.
Mushrush was born on Aug. 14, 1945, in Stuebenville, Ohio.
He is survived by Karin Dooley Mushrush, his wife of 37 years; his daughter, Samantha Jones and her husband Bruce of Jacksonville; two grandchildren, Cadence Jones and Brooks Jones, and one brother, Grant Mushrush, of California.
A celebration of his life will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. Monday at A Natural State Funeral Service, 2620 W. Main St.
Additional arrangements are pending.
TOP STORY >> Annual FestiVille coming up soon
By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
FestiVille in Jacksonville is less than a month away and organizers are working to finalize the music headliners. They are also seeking more crafts and merchant vendors.
“We are looking forward to it. It is exciting with new activities and events,” festival organizer Dana Rozenski said.
FestiVille is a two-day family-friendly festival held at Dupree Park on Friday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct.1 Admission and parking are free.
The fun begins on Thurs-day, Sept. 29 with a carnivalamily night with a $20 armband for the rides.
On Friday, Festiville will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The evening will have vendors and entertainment. Bingo games will be free for the public to play for prizes. A new activity for the festival this year is hot air balloon rides.
Entertainment on Friday includes performances by Lighthouse Charter School and Arkansas Platinum Diamondettes dance group.
Movies in the park will happen at 7 p.m. with the showing of “Zootopia.”
On Saturday Festiville continues from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Arkansas Street Machines will host a car show. There will be a 5K run, a volleyball tournament, a climbing rock wall, a children’s area with inflatables, a petting zoo and pony rides and a Senior Centers of Arkansas bean bag baseball tournament.
The park will be smoking with the Grill in the Ville barbecue contest sanctioned by the Memphis Barbecue Network.
Rozenski said they are accepting teams for the barbecue cookoff.
“There will be something for everyone, kids, adults, teens and families,” Rozenski said.
Saturday’s entertainment includes the Community Theater of Jacksonville. Performances by Huff-N-Puff, Dance FX, Limelight Performances Academy, Sharon’s, Miss Teen Greater Jacksonville and Miss Greater Jacksonville, The Jacksonville High School vocal jazz ensemble and the New Livin’ quartet.
Food vendors serving festival goers include Beals BBQ with barbecue sandwiches, dinners, chicken wings, nachos; Boss Hog with barbecue and Kona Ice with sno-cones. Reggae Flavas will be serving Jamaican cuisine; jerk chicken and waffles, gumbo and desserts.
W and M Concession will feature fried fair food favorites from funnel cakes to cheese sticks, corn dogs and nachos.
Leader staff writer
FestiVille in Jacksonville is less than a month away and organizers are working to finalize the music headliners. They are also seeking more crafts and merchant vendors.
“We are looking forward to it. It is exciting with new activities and events,” festival organizer Dana Rozenski said.
FestiVille is a two-day family-friendly festival held at Dupree Park on Friday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct.1 Admission and parking are free.
The fun begins on Thurs-day, Sept. 29 with a carnivalamily night with a $20 armband for the rides.
On Friday, Festiville will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The evening will have vendors and entertainment. Bingo games will be free for the public to play for prizes. A new activity for the festival this year is hot air balloon rides.
Entertainment on Friday includes performances by Lighthouse Charter School and Arkansas Platinum Diamondettes dance group.
Movies in the park will happen at 7 p.m. with the showing of “Zootopia.”
On Saturday Festiville continues from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Arkansas Street Machines will host a car show. There will be a 5K run, a volleyball tournament, a climbing rock wall, a children’s area with inflatables, a petting zoo and pony rides and a Senior Centers of Arkansas bean bag baseball tournament.
The park will be smoking with the Grill in the Ville barbecue contest sanctioned by the Memphis Barbecue Network.
Rozenski said they are accepting teams for the barbecue cookoff.
“There will be something for everyone, kids, adults, teens and families,” Rozenski said.
Saturday’s entertainment includes the Community Theater of Jacksonville. Performances by Huff-N-Puff, Dance FX, Limelight Performances Academy, Sharon’s, Miss Teen Greater Jacksonville and Miss Greater Jacksonville, The Jacksonville High School vocal jazz ensemble and the New Livin’ quartet.
Food vendors serving festival goers include Beals BBQ with barbecue sandwiches, dinners, chicken wings, nachos; Boss Hog with barbecue and Kona Ice with sno-cones. Reggae Flavas will be serving Jamaican cuisine; jerk chicken and waffles, gumbo and desserts.
W and M Concession will feature fried fair food favorites from funnel cakes to cheese sticks, corn dogs and nachos.
TOP STORY >> Issue 3 is seen helping Lonoke
By DEBORAH HORN
Leader staff writer
“Somewhere between here and Little Rock” would be the perfect spot for a big auto plant or another large industry, Randy Zook told about 35 Lonoke Chamber of Commerce members who had gathered for Thursday’s regular meeting.
Zook, Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Industries of Arkansas president and CEO, was talking about the potential economic benefits of Issue 3.
It will appear on the Tuesday, Nov. 8 general election ballot.
He said his organization is in favor of it, which allows the state to possibly attract more and larger industries by “removing the limitation on the principal amount of General Obligation Bond that may be issued under Amendment 82.”
In other words, bonds currently issued by the state are limited to 5 percent of its total revenue and this would remove that cap, he said.
Basically, he said it would give the state a fighting chance when it came to attracting large industries like the Toyota plant at Blue Springs, Miss.
“We weren’t equipped to complete,” he said. At one point, the state tried to entice Toyota to consider Arkansas as a location in the late 2000s.
Issue 3 is also known as Jobs for Arkansas.
“It would allow the state and local governments to step up to the plate,” Zook said.
State Rep. Camille Bennett (D-Lonoke), who was at the meeting, said, “I agree with everything Randy said. Ourstate has a great opportunity for economic development.”
She said the state is ideally situated in the country’s center with easy assess to interstate, rail, air and river transport.
However, she said, “The state has to be cautious when issuing bonds. Only 6 percent of our (Arkansas tax) income comes from corporations, so it needs to be a great enough return to impact our bottom line,” Bennett said.
Chamber co-director Adam Starks said, “It’s a cause I believe. It has its negatives and positives, but the positives outweigh the negatives.”
Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert said, “There is a problem that needs to be resolved,” but at this point, he said he has not studied the matter and isn’t ready to endorse or reject it.
There’s also something in Issue 3 for local municipalities.
Cities could hire chambers of commerce for services related to economic development, and through bonds approved by local voters, cities would be allowed to borrow money for economic development, Zook said.
Chamber co-director Bill Ryker said, “Zook did a good job of explaining Issue 3,” and he supports all aspects of it.
“I feel like it would be a win-win situation for all communities, and I don’t think it put smaller communities at a disadvantage,” Ryker said.
The measure could help Lonoke better attract potential employers.
Starks said the Lonoke Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors will meet next week, possibly Wednesday, to decide whether to support or reject Issue 3.
OTHER BALLOT ISSUES
Zook also talked about other issues that would be appearing on the ballot. His organization had no position on Issue 1, which would extend elected county official terms from two to four years.
Bennett, who was part of the House’s State Agency Committee that brought the issue to the House floor, strongly supports it and said, “I think it’s a great idea.”
However, Zook’s association supports Issue 2, which would extend the Arkansas governor’s power beyond the state’s boundaries, meaning he would retain his authority even when out of state.
Prior to modern communication, Zook said this limitation was needed but often misused by certain individuals who suddenly took control of the state, but Arkansas needs to update this amendment.
“It’s long overdue,” he said.
His association opposes Issue 4, an amendment that limits lawyers’ contingency fees and non-economic damages in medical laws; and Issue 6 and 7, both designed to legalize medical marijuana.
They take no stand on Issue 5 that allows casinos in Boone, Miller and Washington counties.
Starks introduced Lt. Col. Walter (Wally) Lesinski, chamber liaison from the Little Rock Air Force Base.
The next Lonoke chamber luncheon will be at noon Thursday, Oct. 6.
9/11 CEREMONY
Lonoke will host a 9/11 ceremony in memory of the 2,996 people who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
In honor of the 15th anniversary, the city will hold a 9/11 ceremony at noon at Memorial Flag Plaza, adjacent to the Lonoke Chamber of Commerce at 102 Front St.
It will include the Lonoke High School Band, members of the Lonoke Junior Army ROTC, the Little Rock Air Force Base Honor Guard, Lt. Col. Walter Lesinski will attend and David Hixson, assistant band director at Lonoke Middle School, will play taps.
KICKSTART LONOKE ONLINE SURVEY
KickStart Lonoke has launched a key phase in the process of developing a strategic five-year action plan for Lonoke.
Lonoke’s residents are encouraged to take their online survey. Their voices are crucial in an effort to identify the top priorities for economic growth so please take a moment to fill out the survey, said organizer Ryan Biles.
An online community survey is available at https://kickstartlonoke.wordpress.com/…/lonoke-launches-co…/.
ENGLAND TO OFFER NEW GENRE
Deborah Swayne Moore, Lonoke County Library System director, said the William F. Foster Public Library at England will be offering its patrons a new sub-genre of books called Steampunk.
Basically, it’s the Victorian period meets science fiction, Moore said.
The machinery highlighted in the book is more often powered by steam than by modern technologies.
Steampunk has also influenced fashion, and Moore said, in the spirit of the genre, the England branch will be hosting a Steampunk-themed teen dress-up event around Halloween. She encourages all Steampunk fans to stay tuned for more information about the upcoming event.
Leader staff writer
“Somewhere between here and Little Rock” would be the perfect spot for a big auto plant or another large industry, Randy Zook told about 35 Lonoke Chamber of Commerce members who had gathered for Thursday’s regular meeting.
Zook, Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Industries of Arkansas president and CEO, was talking about the potential economic benefits of Issue 3.
It will appear on the Tuesday, Nov. 8 general election ballot.
He said his organization is in favor of it, which allows the state to possibly attract more and larger industries by “removing the limitation on the principal amount of General Obligation Bond that may be issued under Amendment 82.”
In other words, bonds currently issued by the state are limited to 5 percent of its total revenue and this would remove that cap, he said.
Basically, he said it would give the state a fighting chance when it came to attracting large industries like the Toyota plant at Blue Springs, Miss.
“We weren’t equipped to complete,” he said. At one point, the state tried to entice Toyota to consider Arkansas as a location in the late 2000s.
Issue 3 is also known as Jobs for Arkansas.
“It would allow the state and local governments to step up to the plate,” Zook said.
State Rep. Camille Bennett (D-Lonoke), who was at the meeting, said, “I agree with everything Randy said. Ourstate has a great opportunity for economic development.”
She said the state is ideally situated in the country’s center with easy assess to interstate, rail, air and river transport.
However, she said, “The state has to be cautious when issuing bonds. Only 6 percent of our (Arkansas tax) income comes from corporations, so it needs to be a great enough return to impact our bottom line,” Bennett said.
Chamber co-director Adam Starks said, “It’s a cause I believe. It has its negatives and positives, but the positives outweigh the negatives.”
Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert said, “There is a problem that needs to be resolved,” but at this point, he said he has not studied the matter and isn’t ready to endorse or reject it.
There’s also something in Issue 3 for local municipalities.
Cities could hire chambers of commerce for services related to economic development, and through bonds approved by local voters, cities would be allowed to borrow money for economic development, Zook said.
Chamber co-director Bill Ryker said, “Zook did a good job of explaining Issue 3,” and he supports all aspects of it.
“I feel like it would be a win-win situation for all communities, and I don’t think it put smaller communities at a disadvantage,” Ryker said.
The measure could help Lonoke better attract potential employers.
Starks said the Lonoke Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors will meet next week, possibly Wednesday, to decide whether to support or reject Issue 3.
OTHER BALLOT ISSUES
Zook also talked about other issues that would be appearing on the ballot. His organization had no position on Issue 1, which would extend elected county official terms from two to four years.
Bennett, who was part of the House’s State Agency Committee that brought the issue to the House floor, strongly supports it and said, “I think it’s a great idea.”
However, Zook’s association supports Issue 2, which would extend the Arkansas governor’s power beyond the state’s boundaries, meaning he would retain his authority even when out of state.
Prior to modern communication, Zook said this limitation was needed but often misused by certain individuals who suddenly took control of the state, but Arkansas needs to update this amendment.
“It’s long overdue,” he said.
His association opposes Issue 4, an amendment that limits lawyers’ contingency fees and non-economic damages in medical laws; and Issue 6 and 7, both designed to legalize medical marijuana.
They take no stand on Issue 5 that allows casinos in Boone, Miller and Washington counties.
Starks introduced Lt. Col. Walter (Wally) Lesinski, chamber liaison from the Little Rock Air Force Base.
The next Lonoke chamber luncheon will be at noon Thursday, Oct. 6.
9/11 CEREMONY
Lonoke will host a 9/11 ceremony in memory of the 2,996 people who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
In honor of the 15th anniversary, the city will hold a 9/11 ceremony at noon at Memorial Flag Plaza, adjacent to the Lonoke Chamber of Commerce at 102 Front St.
It will include the Lonoke High School Band, members of the Lonoke Junior Army ROTC, the Little Rock Air Force Base Honor Guard, Lt. Col. Walter Lesinski will attend and David Hixson, assistant band director at Lonoke Middle School, will play taps.
KICKSTART LONOKE ONLINE SURVEY
KickStart Lonoke has launched a key phase in the process of developing a strategic five-year action plan for Lonoke.
Lonoke’s residents are encouraged to take their online survey. Their voices are crucial in an effort to identify the top priorities for economic growth so please take a moment to fill out the survey, said organizer Ryan Biles.
An online community survey is available at https://kickstartlonoke.wordpress.com/…/lonoke-launches-co…/.
ENGLAND TO OFFER NEW GENRE
Deborah Swayne Moore, Lonoke County Library System director, said the William F. Foster Public Library at England will be offering its patrons a new sub-genre of books called Steampunk.
Basically, it’s the Victorian period meets science fiction, Moore said.
The machinery highlighted in the book is more often powered by steam than by modern technologies.
Steampunk has also influenced fashion, and Moore said, in the spirit of the genre, the England branch will be hosting a Steampunk-themed teen dress-up event around Halloween. She encourages all Steampunk fans to stay tuned for more information about the upcoming event.
Thursday, September 01, 2016
TOP STORY >> Police planning forums
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The Jacksonville and Lonoke police departments will hold meetings with residents Thursday, Sept. 8.
Jacksonville Police Chief Kenny Boyd said, “In light of all the issues nationwide with law enforcement, various communities and the judicial system, I felt it was time for us to have a ‘straight talk’ meeting between the department and citizens.”
That meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8 at the Jacksonville Community Center.
Lonoke Police Chief Patrick Mulligan has set a “meet and greet” gathering for 7 p.m. at the Lonoke Community Center.
For Mulligan, who has been on the job for six months, it will be a chance share his vision about the police department and the city. “I’ve spent a lot of time visiting church leaders about the community and this is the next step.”
For the Jacksonville meeting there will be a panel, including the police chief, the incoming district judge, one or more aldermen and a city police officer who works the streets and will field questions and comments from the public.
Boyd, in an effort to make the exchange as transparent and open as possible, asked The Leader to have one of its reporters moderate the event and compile the questions. The police department will have no control over the questions. “If it’s asked, someone on the panel will answer it,” the chief said.
Boyd said the idea of reaching out to the public came to him after one of the recent police shootings. “I had emails from two residents asking me what I was doing to prevent Jacksonville police from shooting black people. I told them come on in and talk to me. One did, and it was a very good conversation, and I want to extend that conversation.”
At the start of what the chief is calling the “straight talk” session, each panelist will introduce themselves, give residents some insight into their philosophy and then the moderator will start with the questions.
Residents can ask questions in three manners.
Either by emailing the questions or comments to The Leader at leadernews@arkansasleader.com, or they’ll have an opportunity to submit them to the moderator at the meeting or, if time permits, ask the question themselves from the audience.
“We just want the city to know what we are doing, what we are trying to do and what we want to do,” the Boyd said.
Both police chiefs said they have an open-door policy and want to give the communities as much transparency as possible.
Mulligan said he has already named a civilian group, dubbed the chief’s cabinet, to review any incidents of excessive use of force or shootings. “We are meeting once a month to keep them in the loop.”
Besides Lonoke’s Sept. 8 meet and greet, a picnic-style lunch saluting all first responders will be held from noon till 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2 at the Lonoke City Park. Sponsored by Gwatney Chevrolet, the luncheon will include plenty of hot dogs and hamburgers.
Leader staff writer
The Jacksonville and Lonoke police departments will hold meetings with residents Thursday, Sept. 8.
Jacksonville Police Chief Kenny Boyd said, “In light of all the issues nationwide with law enforcement, various communities and the judicial system, I felt it was time for us to have a ‘straight talk’ meeting between the department and citizens.”
That meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8 at the Jacksonville Community Center.
Lonoke Police Chief Patrick Mulligan has set a “meet and greet” gathering for 7 p.m. at the Lonoke Community Center.
For Mulligan, who has been on the job for six months, it will be a chance share his vision about the police department and the city. “I’ve spent a lot of time visiting church leaders about the community and this is the next step.”
For the Jacksonville meeting there will be a panel, including the police chief, the incoming district judge, one or more aldermen and a city police officer who works the streets and will field questions and comments from the public.
Boyd, in an effort to make the exchange as transparent and open as possible, asked The Leader to have one of its reporters moderate the event and compile the questions. The police department will have no control over the questions. “If it’s asked, someone on the panel will answer it,” the chief said.
Boyd said the idea of reaching out to the public came to him after one of the recent police shootings. “I had emails from two residents asking me what I was doing to prevent Jacksonville police from shooting black people. I told them come on in and talk to me. One did, and it was a very good conversation, and I want to extend that conversation.”
At the start of what the chief is calling the “straight talk” session, each panelist will introduce themselves, give residents some insight into their philosophy and then the moderator will start with the questions.
Residents can ask questions in three manners.
Either by emailing the questions or comments to The Leader at leadernews@arkansasleader.com, or they’ll have an opportunity to submit them to the moderator at the meeting or, if time permits, ask the question themselves from the audience.
“We just want the city to know what we are doing, what we are trying to do and what we want to do,” the Boyd said.
Both police chiefs said they have an open-door policy and want to give the communities as much transparency as possible.
Mulligan said he has already named a civilian group, dubbed the chief’s cabinet, to review any incidents of excessive use of force or shootings. “We are meeting once a month to keep them in the loop.”
Besides Lonoke’s Sept. 8 meet and greet, a picnic-style lunch saluting all first responders will be held from noon till 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2 at the Lonoke City Park. Sponsored by Gwatney Chevrolet, the luncheon will include plenty of hot dogs and hamburgers.
FEATURE STORY >> A different breed
By DEBORAH HORN
Leader staff writer
A chorus of barking dogs greets all visitors long before entering the Jacksonville Animal Shelter on Redmond Road. It’s endless and loud, laughs Hedy Wuelling, the shelter’s manager. It’s her usual qualifier that immediately follows every “Hello.”
Wuelling is dressed in a dark blue department-issued jumpsuit, making her tall, lean frame appear even more so, topped off with a sparkle in her eye that rarely fades.
And even though she’s a professional caterer, an accomplished furniture maker and enjoys needlepoint, she loves to talk about the animals and the shelter. These days, she says she has little time to pursue outside interests, so the conversation quickly circles back to the animals.
Her boss, Jimmy Oakley, Jacksonville’s public works director, says, “I’m lucky to have her, so is the city. She’s ethical, driven, has a passion for the animals and does a superb job. She always goes above and beyond. She’s super woman.”
Twelve-year dispatch employee Kerrie Henderson is fond of Wuelling and says, “I wouldn’t have another boss. I don’t think anyone else would care as much about the animals as she does.”
Behind the shelter’s foyer, receptionist desk and a few offices are rows of cages. The cats are separated from the dogs and the short timers from the pit bulls. Gentle or not, a Jacksonville ordinance prohibits adoption of this breed by individuals. There are at least 11 waiting for a permanent shelter designed to house pits to take them in and another two are part of court cases, but meanwhile it takes money to feed and care for these dogs.
The pits take up a sizable portion of the shelter’s 32 cages so this meant that earlier in the week, as a large number of strays came in, the shelter was starting to experience overcrowding, but the word went out and Wuelling says, “We did really great this week. We took in 28 dogs and adopted out 27.”
Along with pit bulls, black dogs—even playful and family-friendly labs and pure breeds—are hard to place in homes.
“People just don’t want them,” she says. It’s so common in the animal rescue business that they call it, “Black Dog Syndrome.”
Black animals don’t photograph well and perhaps seem older than their lighter counterpart and most people want younger ones, Wuelling says. Black cats are usually passed over as well.
But that doesn’t mean Wuelling and her crew will put a healthy animal down; instead they post pictures on their website, hoping to find the animal a home.
“It might take a little longer,” she says. Again, costing the shelter extra money.
MOVEMENT TO NO-KILL
The city’s animal shelter is unique among many in Arkansas and Wuelling has a goal, she wants to make it a no-kill shelter, but that’s expensive.
Still, since taking over in 2008, she has drastically reduced the annual number of animals euthanized. It used to be that a dog or cat only stayed at a shelter for a few days, and if an owner didn’t show up or if it wasn’t adopted quickly, the animal was put down.
She also became a U.S. citizen in 2008.
As a reminder of the old days, the kill ovens are still standing behind the shelter but are no longer operational.
Since Wuelling has taken over the shelter, the numbers of dogs killed dropped from more than 650 a year to about 150. The number of cats euthanized also dropped.
For the first five months of this year, zero animals were put down, Wuelling says.
“We’ve made changes little by little,” she says.
So far, she managed to make it a “low-kill” shelter that reflects a growing trend of a more humane treatment of animals, she says. As well, people are willing to adopt mixed breeds, and people from northern states where there are fewer animals for adoption are eager to take in southern animals.
“We working hard to become a no-kill shelter,” then Wuelling adds, “If you want something, you can make it possible.”
And like her dad, Henk De Jong, says, “Just do it.”
So she is.
HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS
Wuelling’s work and her philosophy are the reasons Christine Henderson of Jacksonville, no relation to Kerrie Henderson, is volunteering her time, talent and money to the animal shelter.
Prior to setting up and operating the Jacksonville Friends of the Animals Facebook page, a support organization, she sat on the Pulaski County Humane Society Board of Directors. So far, the Friends website has attracted nearly 10,000 fans.
Christine Henderson also photographs the animals who are up for adoption at the shelter in hopes of finding each a home.
Often the animal is gone the day after it appears on their webpage.
The Friends’ page replaced Pet Angels in 2014, and the nonprofit raises money to help purchase meds and pay vet bills.
They’ve manage to raise about $40,000 a year, that mainly goes to pay vet bills, Henderson says.
“It takes an entire community to have a no-kill shelter,” Wuelling emphasizes.
Wuelling says with the Friends’ help, she’s able to be more frugal with the city’s money.
Their animal operating budget is about $250,000 and they’re often dealing with as many as 75 dogs and cats at a time.
She has three animal control officers, one kennel worker and one part-time weekend worker. The department has a facility and dog play area at 217 South Redmond Road, and three animal control vehicles.
Jack Henderson, who also donates his time and talents to the shelter, agrees with his wife, Christine Henderson, saying, “Hedy is wonderful and has a huge heart. She is devoted to the animals.”
They both respect what Wuelling has accomplished, says Christine Henderson.
So much so that they donated a mobile unit and generator to the shelter. It cost about $18,000 and allows staff to take their animals to various events. People get a chance to see the dogs and cats and adopt them without visiting the shelter.
When Daniel Dominguez, former Air Force, of Cabot signed up for classes at ASU Beebe, he was required to do community service as part of a class assignment so he decided to volunteer at the Jacksonville Animal Shelter.
“I’ve been here before and it’s clean, a lot cleaner than most other shelters…The dogs are treated well,” he explains while playing with a blonde lab named Marley.
Oakley says, “We have several volunteers who dig deep and help when needed…We appreciate them all.”
GROWING UP WITH DOGS
Wuelling grew up in Holland and her father bred and trained dogs, including German Shepherds for police units and dog shows around Europe.
“I watched lots of dogs compete.”
She, in turn raised, mastiffs.
“They appealed to me and they’re lovable,” Wuelling says about the dog breed made famous in movies like “Sandlot,” “Harry Potter,” and “Turner and Hooch.” Technically, Hooch was a French mastiff.
Like her father, she also competed, and when pressed, Wuelling says, “I did pretty well.
She also was a caterer before coming to the United States.
Both Wuelling and Henderson, who is originally from England, say that in Europe and the United Kingdom, dogs are treated like members of the family.
“They go on vacation,” Henderson says.
Wuelling adds, “They’re welcome in many restaurants.”
Getting rid of a pet is almost unheard of, Henderson says.
It’s different in the U.S., they both agree.
Her childhood and the culture she grew up in, influenced how she sees and treats animals, Wuelling says. That influences the decisions she makes at the shelter.
In 2002, Wuelling spent a few months in the United States but didn’t officially move to this country until late 2003. While visiting for the first time, she volunteered at the shelter and after moving to Arkansas, she went to work for Oakley in 2004.
He says, “She’s done wonders with the shelter and for the animals. I’m proud of her adoption rates and accomplishments.”
Wuelling says the shelter is a perfect fit for her, “I love it.”
Leader staff writer
A chorus of barking dogs greets all visitors long before entering the Jacksonville Animal Shelter on Redmond Road. It’s endless and loud, laughs Hedy Wuelling, the shelter’s manager. It’s her usual qualifier that immediately follows every “Hello.”
Wuelling is dressed in a dark blue department-issued jumpsuit, making her tall, lean frame appear even more so, topped off with a sparkle in her eye that rarely fades.
And even though she’s a professional caterer, an accomplished furniture maker and enjoys needlepoint, she loves to talk about the animals and the shelter. These days, she says she has little time to pursue outside interests, so the conversation quickly circles back to the animals.
Her boss, Jimmy Oakley, Jacksonville’s public works director, says, “I’m lucky to have her, so is the city. She’s ethical, driven, has a passion for the animals and does a superb job. She always goes above and beyond. She’s super woman.”
Twelve-year dispatch employee Kerrie Henderson is fond of Wuelling and says, “I wouldn’t have another boss. I don’t think anyone else would care as much about the animals as she does.”
Behind the shelter’s foyer, receptionist desk and a few offices are rows of cages. The cats are separated from the dogs and the short timers from the pit bulls. Gentle or not, a Jacksonville ordinance prohibits adoption of this breed by individuals. There are at least 11 waiting for a permanent shelter designed to house pits to take them in and another two are part of court cases, but meanwhile it takes money to feed and care for these dogs.
The pits take up a sizable portion of the shelter’s 32 cages so this meant that earlier in the week, as a large number of strays came in, the shelter was starting to experience overcrowding, but the word went out and Wuelling says, “We did really great this week. We took in 28 dogs and adopted out 27.”
Along with pit bulls, black dogs—even playful and family-friendly labs and pure breeds—are hard to place in homes.
“People just don’t want them,” she says. It’s so common in the animal rescue business that they call it, “Black Dog Syndrome.”
Black animals don’t photograph well and perhaps seem older than their lighter counterpart and most people want younger ones, Wuelling says. Black cats are usually passed over as well.
But that doesn’t mean Wuelling and her crew will put a healthy animal down; instead they post pictures on their website, hoping to find the animal a home.
“It might take a little longer,” she says. Again, costing the shelter extra money.
MOVEMENT TO NO-KILL
The city’s animal shelter is unique among many in Arkansas and Wuelling has a goal, she wants to make it a no-kill shelter, but that’s expensive.
Still, since taking over in 2008, she has drastically reduced the annual number of animals euthanized. It used to be that a dog or cat only stayed at a shelter for a few days, and if an owner didn’t show up or if it wasn’t adopted quickly, the animal was put down.
She also became a U.S. citizen in 2008.
As a reminder of the old days, the kill ovens are still standing behind the shelter but are no longer operational.
Since Wuelling has taken over the shelter, the numbers of dogs killed dropped from more than 650 a year to about 150. The number of cats euthanized also dropped.
For the first five months of this year, zero animals were put down, Wuelling says.
“We’ve made changes little by little,” she says.
So far, she managed to make it a “low-kill” shelter that reflects a growing trend of a more humane treatment of animals, she says. As well, people are willing to adopt mixed breeds, and people from northern states where there are fewer animals for adoption are eager to take in southern animals.
“We working hard to become a no-kill shelter,” then Wuelling adds, “If you want something, you can make it possible.”
And like her dad, Henk De Jong, says, “Just do it.”
So she is.
HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS
Wuelling’s work and her philosophy are the reasons Christine Henderson of Jacksonville, no relation to Kerrie Henderson, is volunteering her time, talent and money to the animal shelter.
Prior to setting up and operating the Jacksonville Friends of the Animals Facebook page, a support organization, she sat on the Pulaski County Humane Society Board of Directors. So far, the Friends website has attracted nearly 10,000 fans.
Christine Henderson also photographs the animals who are up for adoption at the shelter in hopes of finding each a home.
Often the animal is gone the day after it appears on their webpage.
The Friends’ page replaced Pet Angels in 2014, and the nonprofit raises money to help purchase meds and pay vet bills.
They’ve manage to raise about $40,000 a year, that mainly goes to pay vet bills, Henderson says.
“It takes an entire community to have a no-kill shelter,” Wuelling emphasizes.
Wuelling says with the Friends’ help, she’s able to be more frugal with the city’s money.
Their animal operating budget is about $250,000 and they’re often dealing with as many as 75 dogs and cats at a time.
She has three animal control officers, one kennel worker and one part-time weekend worker. The department has a facility and dog play area at 217 South Redmond Road, and three animal control vehicles.
Jack Henderson, who also donates his time and talents to the shelter, agrees with his wife, Christine Henderson, saying, “Hedy is wonderful and has a huge heart. She is devoted to the animals.”
They both respect what Wuelling has accomplished, says Christine Henderson.
So much so that they donated a mobile unit and generator to the shelter. It cost about $18,000 and allows staff to take their animals to various events. People get a chance to see the dogs and cats and adopt them without visiting the shelter.
When Daniel Dominguez, former Air Force, of Cabot signed up for classes at ASU Beebe, he was required to do community service as part of a class assignment so he decided to volunteer at the Jacksonville Animal Shelter.
“I’ve been here before and it’s clean, a lot cleaner than most other shelters…The dogs are treated well,” he explains while playing with a blonde lab named Marley.
Oakley says, “We have several volunteers who dig deep and help when needed…We appreciate them all.”
GROWING UP WITH DOGS
Wuelling grew up in Holland and her father bred and trained dogs, including German Shepherds for police units and dog shows around Europe.
“I watched lots of dogs compete.”
She, in turn raised, mastiffs.
“They appealed to me and they’re lovable,” Wuelling says about the dog breed made famous in movies like “Sandlot,” “Harry Potter,” and “Turner and Hooch.” Technically, Hooch was a French mastiff.
Like her father, she also competed, and when pressed, Wuelling says, “I did pretty well.
She also was a caterer before coming to the United States.
Both Wuelling and Henderson, who is originally from England, say that in Europe and the United Kingdom, dogs are treated like members of the family.
“They go on vacation,” Henderson says.
Wuelling adds, “They’re welcome in many restaurants.”
Getting rid of a pet is almost unheard of, Henderson says.
It’s different in the U.S., they both agree.
Her childhood and the culture she grew up in, influenced how she sees and treats animals, Wuelling says. That influences the decisions she makes at the shelter.
In 2002, Wuelling spent a few months in the United States but didn’t officially move to this country until late 2003. While visiting for the first time, she volunteered at the shelter and after moving to Arkansas, she went to work for Oakley in 2004.
He says, “She’s done wonders with the shelter and for the animals. I’m proud of her adoption rates and accomplishments.”
Wuelling says the shelter is a perfect fit for her, “I love it.”
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
SPORTS STORY >> Distractions abound for Arkansas opener
By NATE ALLEN
Special to The Leader
FAYETTEVILLE – As Arkansas season-openers fare on Razorback fans’ attention spans, Saturday’s 3 p.m. clash with Louisiana Tech of Conference USA at Reynolds Razorback Stadium fits somewhere between last year’s opener with Texas-El Paso and the 2014 season opener with Auburn.
That’s probably true for the Razorback coaches, too, though of course, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema isn’t doing his motivational job should he admit that publicly.
“I get the question, but from our point of view you’ve got to take it all the same,” Bielema said.
Perhaps most should, but most don’t. Including any SEC coach kicking off the season with an SEC opponent.
Louisiana Tech’s Bulldogs, with a rich tradition that includes eventual Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Hall of Fame quarterback become long time NFL TV analyst Terry Bradshaw, and coming off a 9-4 season, certainly evoke respect way beyond the UTEP Miners program that Arkansas routed 48-13 last September at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
However, in SEC vernacular, Louisiana Tech ain’t Auburn.
The timing and place couldn’t have been worse for Bielema the first and only time Arkansas has opened the season on the road against an SEC team. The then second-year Bielema had gone 3-9 overall and 0-8 in the SEC when he took his 2014 Hogs into Auburn, Ala. The Tigers of Gus Malzahn, the Arkansas native, formerRazorbacks offensive coordinator and Shiloh Christian and Springdale state champion high school coach in Arkansas, had gone 12-2 as the 2013 SEC champion and national runner-up.
Shattering in the second half a 21-21 first half, Auburn romped, 45-21 that sultry Aug. 30 night. Given that Bielema’s Hogs finished by surging to 7-6 as Auburn fizzled to 8-5 that season, Arkansas fans had cause to ponder the what-ifs, had that game been scheduled for November rather than August.
“Auburn was unique because it was on the road,” Bielema said last week. “That was the SEC Network (debut) and we were the guinea pig that year, I think. We weren’t quite where we needed to be and the SEC just kind of slotted us where they needed us to go. But as we’ve gained a little bit of clout, hopefully that’s helped us in our scheduling and everything else.”
With tongue in cheek, Bielema, at last week’s Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club, remarked Arkansas didn’t help itself by scheduling attachments to this Saturday’s season-opener.
Skip Holtz, a former Fayetteville High student, coaches Louisiana Tech.
His dad, Lou Holtz, went 60-21-2 coaching the Razorbacks from 1977-83, including an epic 31-6 Orange Bowl rout over prohibitively favored Oklahoma. After a Friday night banquet inducting him among eight Razorback legends into the UA’s Sports Hall of Honor, Lou and his fellow Hall of Honor inductees also will be honored Saturday during the game in which his son coaches the opponent.
“I don’t know why they did this,” Bielema told the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown at Mermaid’s restaurant in Fayetteville. “But the Razorback Foundation decided to honor his father the day that we have him here as a coach. They’ll probably have three buses of Holtzes here. I’m sure they’re great people, but I don’t need them.”
For the record, Bielema was joking as he was with another story alleging his wife, Jen’s, fondness for Holtz’s quips as an ESPN college football analyst.
“My wife has a little crush on Lou Holtz,” Bielema said.
So Bielema made note of that one summer when the Bielemas together met Holtz and other ESPN celebrities at the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Ct.
“I said to him, ‘my wife has kind of had a crush on you,” Bielema said, using Holtz’s famous lisp while quoting Holtz’s reply.
“Oh, you don’t shay,” Bielema said quoting Holtz.
Actually, Bielema has great respect for Lou Holtz, a college Hall of Famer most notably for his success at Notre Dame and Arkansas. He also has a great rapport with Skip Holtz.
“I know Skip very well,” Bielema said, noting not only his own experiences, but also that of Arkansas linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves.
Hargreaves assisted Holtz’s defense at East Carolina and South Florida.
“I have been around him on several occasions,” Bielema said. “Vernon has spent a lot of time with him. They’re going to come in here with the intention to knock out a SEC football team and we gotta prepare that type of answer.”
While Arkansas fans undoubtedly peek ahead to visiting the Big 12’s nationally 13th-ranked TCU Horned Frogs on Sept. 10 in Fort Worth, the Razorbacks have the glaring reminder of last year’s upset loss at Little Rock to Toledo in the season’s second game as a grim reminder of consequences of putting the game after ahead of the one you are playing.
Special to The Leader
FAYETTEVILLE – As Arkansas season-openers fare on Razorback fans’ attention spans, Saturday’s 3 p.m. clash with Louisiana Tech of Conference USA at Reynolds Razorback Stadium fits somewhere between last year’s opener with Texas-El Paso and the 2014 season opener with Auburn.
That’s probably true for the Razorback coaches, too, though of course, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema isn’t doing his motivational job should he admit that publicly.
“I get the question, but from our point of view you’ve got to take it all the same,” Bielema said.
Perhaps most should, but most don’t. Including any SEC coach kicking off the season with an SEC opponent.
Louisiana Tech’s Bulldogs, with a rich tradition that includes eventual Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Hall of Fame quarterback become long time NFL TV analyst Terry Bradshaw, and coming off a 9-4 season, certainly evoke respect way beyond the UTEP Miners program that Arkansas routed 48-13 last September at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
However, in SEC vernacular, Louisiana Tech ain’t Auburn.
The timing and place couldn’t have been worse for Bielema the first and only time Arkansas has opened the season on the road against an SEC team. The then second-year Bielema had gone 3-9 overall and 0-8 in the SEC when he took his 2014 Hogs into Auburn, Ala. The Tigers of Gus Malzahn, the Arkansas native, formerRazorbacks offensive coordinator and Shiloh Christian and Springdale state champion high school coach in Arkansas, had gone 12-2 as the 2013 SEC champion and national runner-up.
Shattering in the second half a 21-21 first half, Auburn romped, 45-21 that sultry Aug. 30 night. Given that Bielema’s Hogs finished by surging to 7-6 as Auburn fizzled to 8-5 that season, Arkansas fans had cause to ponder the what-ifs, had that game been scheduled for November rather than August.
“Auburn was unique because it was on the road,” Bielema said last week. “That was the SEC Network (debut) and we were the guinea pig that year, I think. We weren’t quite where we needed to be and the SEC just kind of slotted us where they needed us to go. But as we’ve gained a little bit of clout, hopefully that’s helped us in our scheduling and everything else.”
With tongue in cheek, Bielema, at last week’s Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club, remarked Arkansas didn’t help itself by scheduling attachments to this Saturday’s season-opener.
Skip Holtz, a former Fayetteville High student, coaches Louisiana Tech.
His dad, Lou Holtz, went 60-21-2 coaching the Razorbacks from 1977-83, including an epic 31-6 Orange Bowl rout over prohibitively favored Oklahoma. After a Friday night banquet inducting him among eight Razorback legends into the UA’s Sports Hall of Honor, Lou and his fellow Hall of Honor inductees also will be honored Saturday during the game in which his son coaches the opponent.
“I don’t know why they did this,” Bielema told the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown at Mermaid’s restaurant in Fayetteville. “But the Razorback Foundation decided to honor his father the day that we have him here as a coach. They’ll probably have three buses of Holtzes here. I’m sure they’re great people, but I don’t need them.”
For the record, Bielema was joking as he was with another story alleging his wife, Jen’s, fondness for Holtz’s quips as an ESPN college football analyst.
“My wife has a little crush on Lou Holtz,” Bielema said.
So Bielema made note of that one summer when the Bielemas together met Holtz and other ESPN celebrities at the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Ct.
“I said to him, ‘my wife has kind of had a crush on you,” Bielema said, using Holtz’s famous lisp while quoting Holtz’s reply.
“Oh, you don’t shay,” Bielema said quoting Holtz.
Actually, Bielema has great respect for Lou Holtz, a college Hall of Famer most notably for his success at Notre Dame and Arkansas. He also has a great rapport with Skip Holtz.
“I know Skip very well,” Bielema said, noting not only his own experiences, but also that of Arkansas linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves.
Hargreaves assisted Holtz’s defense at East Carolina and South Florida.
“I have been around him on several occasions,” Bielema said. “Vernon has spent a lot of time with him. They’re going to come in here with the intention to knock out a SEC football team and we gotta prepare that type of answer.”
While Arkansas fans undoubtedly peek ahead to visiting the Big 12’s nationally 13th-ranked TCU Horned Frogs on Sept. 10 in Fort Worth, the Razorbacks have the glaring reminder of last year’s upset loss at Little Rock to Toledo in the season’s second game as a grim reminder of consequences of putting the game after ahead of the one you are playing.
SPORTS STORY >> Jackrabbits and Bison rekindling old rivalry
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Only about eight miles of Hwy. 70 separate Lonoke and Carlisle, but it’s been 26 years since the two schools have faced off on the gridiron. That all changes Friday when the Bison invade the Rabbits’ meadow at Abraham Stadium.
The last time these two teams met in 1990, Carlisle won 16-6.
There are some interesting connections in Friday’s game at LHS as well. Carlisle’s new coach, Mark Uhiren, is a Carlisle graduate and former head coach at Lonoke, and Lonoke head coach Doug Bost was one of his assistants. Jackrabbit assistant coach Jack Keith was Carlisle’s head coach last season.
The 2A Bison will be underdogs to their Class 4A hosts, but old rivalries are often unpredictable. It might be two small towns, but it will be one packed stadium on Friday.
CABOT vs. PINE BLUFF
The Cabot football team has a major test coming Friday when the two-time defending Class 6A state champion Pine Bluff Zebras enter Panther Stadium.
Pine Bluff only has six returning starters from last year’s championship team, but has benefited this offseason from transfers.
Likely the two biggest pieces of the Zebra offense this year are both transfers. Pine Bluffscrimmaged against Parkview and dominated. The two offensive leaders were both transfers. Quarterback Simeon Blair moved over from nearby Dollarway High School to PBHS, and running back Dalvin Smith (5-foot-10, 230 pounds) moved back to Pine Bluff after spending last season at Lufkin, Texas.
There’s also returning tailback Keshawn Whaley (6-1, 220) who carried for 299 yards last year.
“That quarterback is pretty good and that running back is a load,” said Cabot coach Mike Malham. “I think our defense has a chance to be pretty good, and we’re going to find out pretty quick how far along we are. Those backs are big and they have some speed. They pretty much stayed in the spread against Parkview, so they’ve changed some things from last year. But they’re going to be good – athletes all over the field.”
JACKSONVILLE vs. MILLS
Jacksonville will officially take the field as the Titans for the first time in school history when it hosts the Mills Comets on Friday. Jacksonville didn’t look as good as coaches had hoped when it played Mena last Monday in a preseason scrimmage game. The Titans failed to score, but did have some success moving the football, and the defense held the Bearcats to just one touchdown.
“I felt really bad that night, but not as bad when I watched film the next day,” said Jacksonville coach Barry Hickingbotham. “We scored one touchdown and got it called back. We had some success, but we had too many mistakes. We’d get something going and get a penalty or miss a snap or something that would get us behind the chains. We’re not an offense made for third and 12. Not many are. We have to be next to perfect in our execution, and that was the first time out there for a lot of those guys.”
Mills has gone from a tightly packed Wing-T offense to a wider alignment, but not exactly the spread. In their scrimmage against Hall, the Comets ran some Double Wing, and at other times removed the tight ends and were in more of a Flexbone formation. Whatever they’re lined up in, the goal is usually to create opportunities for big and bruising fullback Brandon Bunting. He ran for more than 1,000 yards last year, including a 6-yard per carry average against McClellan, which had the best defense in the 5A-Central last season.
“Coach (Patrick) Russell says he could be the best one he’s ever had,” Hickingbotham said of Bunting. “He’s about 230 and he’s a Hoss.
The Titans and Comets kick off the game and season at 7:00 p.m. at Jan Crow Stadium.
BEEBE AT GREENBRIER
Beebe opens the season with Greenbrier for the 15th consecutive season. The Panthers did not look very good when they were drubbed 42-14 in one half of play in their preseason scrimmage with Sylvan Hills, but Beebe coach John Shannon isn’t basing any projections of Greenbrier’s prowess on that outing.
“One thing I know is that Greenbrier has always been one of the better prepared teams we’ve played each year,” said Shannon. “I know coach Tribble wasn’t satisfied with how they played in that scrimmage, and they’ve gone to work to correct those mistakes. They’re well coached and they’re coming to play.”
Shannon’s squad had a better outing in its scrimmage, although the competition level wasn’t quite the same. Beebe’s starting lineup handled defending Class 3A champion Harding Academy pretty easily most of the time, although the Wildcats did hit a couple of long passes.
And although they played well last Tuesday, Beebe’s considerable youth is still a question mark going into a regular-season road game.
“I was pleased with our sophomores in the scrimmage, but Friday night in a real game, 5A competition on the road, will be something they haven’t experienced before. So it’ll be interesting to see how they handle that.”
SYLVAN HILLS vs. CATHOLIC
Sylvan Hills hosts 7A Catholic. The Rockets scrimmaged against neighboring Hall High, and didn’t produce much offense. They did keep the Warriors from scoring, but Bear coach Jim Withrow isn’t basing much off of what he saw in that game.
“They only scored one touchdown, but I think they were playing a lot of people,” said Withrow. “They have a couple of pretty quick backs and they’re quarterback looked pretty good, but they really didn’t do much. I think we have to focus on just doing what we have to do.”
Much has been made about the Bears surprising rout of Greenbrier in the scrimmage, and Withrow was just as surprised as anyone else, and very pleased. But he wasn’t so pleased with the team’s performance later in the week in the annual Blue-White intrasqaud scrimmage. He did feel better, though, after Monday’s practice.
“I didn’t think we played that well in our Blue-White,” Withrow said. “I think some of that, at least I’m hoping, was just being tired of practice and wanting to play someone else. We came back and had a good practice on Monday, so I don’t want to put too much into Friday. It’s going to be a big challenge, going against a 7A team in the first game, so I think we’ll come out ready to play.”
Leader sports editor
Only about eight miles of Hwy. 70 separate Lonoke and Carlisle, but it’s been 26 years since the two schools have faced off on the gridiron. That all changes Friday when the Bison invade the Rabbits’ meadow at Abraham Stadium.
The last time these two teams met in 1990, Carlisle won 16-6.
There are some interesting connections in Friday’s game at LHS as well. Carlisle’s new coach, Mark Uhiren, is a Carlisle graduate and former head coach at Lonoke, and Lonoke head coach Doug Bost was one of his assistants. Jackrabbit assistant coach Jack Keith was Carlisle’s head coach last season.
The 2A Bison will be underdogs to their Class 4A hosts, but old rivalries are often unpredictable. It might be two small towns, but it will be one packed stadium on Friday.
CABOT vs. PINE BLUFF
The Cabot football team has a major test coming Friday when the two-time defending Class 6A state champion Pine Bluff Zebras enter Panther Stadium.
Pine Bluff only has six returning starters from last year’s championship team, but has benefited this offseason from transfers.
Likely the two biggest pieces of the Zebra offense this year are both transfers. Pine Bluffscrimmaged against Parkview and dominated. The two offensive leaders were both transfers. Quarterback Simeon Blair moved over from nearby Dollarway High School to PBHS, and running back Dalvin Smith (5-foot-10, 230 pounds) moved back to Pine Bluff after spending last season at Lufkin, Texas.
There’s also returning tailback Keshawn Whaley (6-1, 220) who carried for 299 yards last year.
“That quarterback is pretty good and that running back is a load,” said Cabot coach Mike Malham. “I think our defense has a chance to be pretty good, and we’re going to find out pretty quick how far along we are. Those backs are big and they have some speed. They pretty much stayed in the spread against Parkview, so they’ve changed some things from last year. But they’re going to be good – athletes all over the field.”
JACKSONVILLE vs. MILLS
Jacksonville will officially take the field as the Titans for the first time in school history when it hosts the Mills Comets on Friday. Jacksonville didn’t look as good as coaches had hoped when it played Mena last Monday in a preseason scrimmage game. The Titans failed to score, but did have some success moving the football, and the defense held the Bearcats to just one touchdown.
“I felt really bad that night, but not as bad when I watched film the next day,” said Jacksonville coach Barry Hickingbotham. “We scored one touchdown and got it called back. We had some success, but we had too many mistakes. We’d get something going and get a penalty or miss a snap or something that would get us behind the chains. We’re not an offense made for third and 12. Not many are. We have to be next to perfect in our execution, and that was the first time out there for a lot of those guys.”
Mills has gone from a tightly packed Wing-T offense to a wider alignment, but not exactly the spread. In their scrimmage against Hall, the Comets ran some Double Wing, and at other times removed the tight ends and were in more of a Flexbone formation. Whatever they’re lined up in, the goal is usually to create opportunities for big and bruising fullback Brandon Bunting. He ran for more than 1,000 yards last year, including a 6-yard per carry average against McClellan, which had the best defense in the 5A-Central last season.
“Coach (Patrick) Russell says he could be the best one he’s ever had,” Hickingbotham said of Bunting. “He’s about 230 and he’s a Hoss.
The Titans and Comets kick off the game and season at 7:00 p.m. at Jan Crow Stadium.
BEEBE AT GREENBRIER
Beebe opens the season with Greenbrier for the 15th consecutive season. The Panthers did not look very good when they were drubbed 42-14 in one half of play in their preseason scrimmage with Sylvan Hills, but Beebe coach John Shannon isn’t basing any projections of Greenbrier’s prowess on that outing.
“One thing I know is that Greenbrier has always been one of the better prepared teams we’ve played each year,” said Shannon. “I know coach Tribble wasn’t satisfied with how they played in that scrimmage, and they’ve gone to work to correct those mistakes. They’re well coached and they’re coming to play.”
Shannon’s squad had a better outing in its scrimmage, although the competition level wasn’t quite the same. Beebe’s starting lineup handled defending Class 3A champion Harding Academy pretty easily most of the time, although the Wildcats did hit a couple of long passes.
And although they played well last Tuesday, Beebe’s considerable youth is still a question mark going into a regular-season road game.
“I was pleased with our sophomores in the scrimmage, but Friday night in a real game, 5A competition on the road, will be something they haven’t experienced before. So it’ll be interesting to see how they handle that.”
SYLVAN HILLS vs. CATHOLIC
Sylvan Hills hosts 7A Catholic. The Rockets scrimmaged against neighboring Hall High, and didn’t produce much offense. They did keep the Warriors from scoring, but Bear coach Jim Withrow isn’t basing much off of what he saw in that game.
“They only scored one touchdown, but I think they were playing a lot of people,” said Withrow. “They have a couple of pretty quick backs and they’re quarterback looked pretty good, but they really didn’t do much. I think we have to focus on just doing what we have to do.”
Much has been made about the Bears surprising rout of Greenbrier in the scrimmage, and Withrow was just as surprised as anyone else, and very pleased. But he wasn’t so pleased with the team’s performance later in the week in the annual Blue-White intrasqaud scrimmage. He did feel better, though, after Monday’s practice.
“I didn’t think we played that well in our Blue-White,” Withrow said. “I think some of that, at least I’m hoping, was just being tired of practice and wanting to play someone else. We came back and had a good practice on Monday, so I don’t want to put too much into Friday. It’s going to be a big challenge, going against a 7A team in the first game, so I think we’ll come out ready to play.”
SPORTS STORY >> Cabot second at Spikefest
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Opening week of the season was roller coaster ride for the Cabot volleyball team, but the Lady Panthers ended it with a terrific performance on Saturday. Cabot won six-straight matches to advance to the championship game of the Spikefest Tournament, where it lost a hard-fought match to defending tournament and Class 5A state champion Valley View.
Spikefest is the premier mid-season tournament in central Arkansas, and Saturday was the first time for Cabot to advance to the championship round.
“We played great Saturday,” said Cabot coach Kham Chanthaphasouk. “Passing was good. The setters did a really good job of pushing the ball out towards the antennas, and the hitters finished for us.”
Saturday’s 6-1 performance came just two days after a disappointing and shocking 3-0 loss to Batesville at home, which followed a 3-1 win over Benton on Tuesday in the season opener.
“We didn’t play well in the jamboree we went to (in preseason) then we did a lot better against Benton,” Chanthaphasouk said. “Then against Batesville, we just weren’t very good at all. We didn’t do hardly anything right. We really had a serious team meeting after that match. So I’m pleased with how they responded to that. Saturday was great. They did the things we’ve been asking them to do and working on.”
The tournament format was best 2 of 3, and Valley View won the championship match 25-22 and 25-19, but not without a struggle. Cabot led 22-21 in game one before Valley View called timeout and then scored four-straight points for the win.
Cabot played from behind most of game two, but the head coach thinks fatigue was a likely factor in the late fade.
“There’s no doubt we were exhausted,” Chanthaphasouk said. “We played a very close and intense match with Benton in the semifinals. Valley View had been finished for about 45 minutes, while we had to turn right around and play them as soon as we beat Benton. All of a sudden in game two against Valley View, we were slow to our spots and not getting in position again, but I think the exhaustion was part of that.”
Cabot opened the tournament by winning three games in pool play, all in straight sets. The Lady Panthers beat Morrilton 25-14 and 25-12 to start the tournament. Texarkana, Texas was dispatched 25-20 and 25-14, and Cabot beat Wynne 25-21 and 25-9.
That put Cabot in the Gold bracket, the upper echelon of three levels of bracket play. There it met Van Buren in the first round, and suffered its first minor letdown in game two. After hammering the Pointers 25-14 in game one, Cabot dropped game two 25-23. That forced a race to 15 in game three, where Cabot again won easily, 15-8.
One of the tournament’s most dramatic moments came in game two of Cabot’s semifinal win over Bryant. The Lady Panthers won game one 25-20, but Bryant had a 24-18 lead and six set points in game two when Chanthaphasouk called timeout.
After the break, Cabot got a sideout, and Kaelee Simmons served seven-consecutive points, including two aces and a service winner for the 26-24 Cabot victory.
That put the Lady Panthers into a rematch with their namesakes in the semifinal, and Benton looked much better than in its match at Cabot the previous Tuesday.
“I really didn’t think they played that well when we played them at our gym,” Chanthaphasouk said of Benton. “They were much more fundamentally sound on Saturday, and we had to be very good to beat them.”
Every game was by the minimum two-point margin. Benton won game one 25-23 and Cabot reversed that in game two. Cabot then took game three 15-13.
In the championship game, besides his team being tired, Chanthaphasouk said Valley View’s defense was a big key.
“Their defensive specialists were outstanding,” said the Cabot coach. “I think our hitting is as good as anybody’s. Maddie Brown is one of the best in the state. She and Taylor Bell were doing a great job the whole tournament. But they were digging everything. It’s just a very good team.”
Valley View beat tournament host Mount St. Mary to get into the championship game, and that’s who Cabot (7-2) will face in the conference opener on Thursday at Panther Arena.
“They’re very good to have gone as far as they did in the tournament,” Chanthaphasouk said. “We played them in team camps over the summer and they were always very competitive matches.”
Leader sports editor
Opening week of the season was roller coaster ride for the Cabot volleyball team, but the Lady Panthers ended it with a terrific performance on Saturday. Cabot won six-straight matches to advance to the championship game of the Spikefest Tournament, where it lost a hard-fought match to defending tournament and Class 5A state champion Valley View.
Spikefest is the premier mid-season tournament in central Arkansas, and Saturday was the first time for Cabot to advance to the championship round.
“We played great Saturday,” said Cabot coach Kham Chanthaphasouk. “Passing was good. The setters did a really good job of pushing the ball out towards the antennas, and the hitters finished for us.”
Saturday’s 6-1 performance came just two days after a disappointing and shocking 3-0 loss to Batesville at home, which followed a 3-1 win over Benton on Tuesday in the season opener.
“We didn’t play well in the jamboree we went to (in preseason) then we did a lot better against Benton,” Chanthaphasouk said. “Then against Batesville, we just weren’t very good at all. We didn’t do hardly anything right. We really had a serious team meeting after that match. So I’m pleased with how they responded to that. Saturday was great. They did the things we’ve been asking them to do and working on.”
The tournament format was best 2 of 3, and Valley View won the championship match 25-22 and 25-19, but not without a struggle. Cabot led 22-21 in game one before Valley View called timeout and then scored four-straight points for the win.
Cabot played from behind most of game two, but the head coach thinks fatigue was a likely factor in the late fade.
“There’s no doubt we were exhausted,” Chanthaphasouk said. “We played a very close and intense match with Benton in the semifinals. Valley View had been finished for about 45 minutes, while we had to turn right around and play them as soon as we beat Benton. All of a sudden in game two against Valley View, we were slow to our spots and not getting in position again, but I think the exhaustion was part of that.”
Cabot opened the tournament by winning three games in pool play, all in straight sets. The Lady Panthers beat Morrilton 25-14 and 25-12 to start the tournament. Texarkana, Texas was dispatched 25-20 and 25-14, and Cabot beat Wynne 25-21 and 25-9.
That put Cabot in the Gold bracket, the upper echelon of three levels of bracket play. There it met Van Buren in the first round, and suffered its first minor letdown in game two. After hammering the Pointers 25-14 in game one, Cabot dropped game two 25-23. That forced a race to 15 in game three, where Cabot again won easily, 15-8.
One of the tournament’s most dramatic moments came in game two of Cabot’s semifinal win over Bryant. The Lady Panthers won game one 25-20, but Bryant had a 24-18 lead and six set points in game two when Chanthaphasouk called timeout.
After the break, Cabot got a sideout, and Kaelee Simmons served seven-consecutive points, including two aces and a service winner for the 26-24 Cabot victory.
That put the Lady Panthers into a rematch with their namesakes in the semifinal, and Benton looked much better than in its match at Cabot the previous Tuesday.
“I really didn’t think they played that well when we played them at our gym,” Chanthaphasouk said of Benton. “They were much more fundamentally sound on Saturday, and we had to be very good to beat them.”
Every game was by the minimum two-point margin. Benton won game one 25-23 and Cabot reversed that in game two. Cabot then took game three 15-13.
In the championship game, besides his team being tired, Chanthaphasouk said Valley View’s defense was a big key.
“Their defensive specialists were outstanding,” said the Cabot coach. “I think our hitting is as good as anybody’s. Maddie Brown is one of the best in the state. She and Taylor Bell were doing a great job the whole tournament. But they were digging everything. It’s just a very good team.”
Valley View beat tournament host Mount St. Mary to get into the championship game, and that’s who Cabot (7-2) will face in the conference opener on Thursday at Panther Arena.
“They’re very good to have gone as far as they did in the tournament,” Chanthaphasouk said. “We played them in team camps over the summer and they were always very competitive matches.”
EDITORIAL >> Amendment challenged
Initiative elections are hallowed but dangerous exercises in the Arkansas democracy because voters must make monumental decisions inside a voting booth based upon little knowledge and often confusing and purposely cloudy descriptions of a proposed law written by an anonymous sponsor.
An abundance of such proposed laws will confront voters in November, including the so-called “nursing home amendment,” which will appear as Issue No. 4. The Arkansas Supreme Court may strike it from the ballot because the ballot title—a short summary of the proposal that a voter will see on the ballot—is confusing and omits big changes that the proposal would make if it is ratified and becomes a part of the Arkansas Constitution.
A group formed by the Arkansas Bar Association and a couple of citizen plaintiffs filed suit in the Arkansas Supreme Court Monday asking the court to remove Issue 4 from the ballot because a voter could not cast an informed vote based solely upon the ballot’s description. The suit lists seven pages of major changes in the law on collecting damages for harm done to people by nursing homes and other medical providers that are not made clear in the ballot title. The amendment would protect all kinds of medical providers from damage claims, from psychologists and physical therapists to veterinarians, although the ballot title doesn’t say so.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who received $70,000 from nursing home magnate Michael Morton in her 2014 campaign, declared the ballot title last spring to be perfectly fit. She will defend it before the Supreme Court. Morton so far is the largest funder of the campaign to ratify the amendment, which will make it much harder for people to sue nursing homes and other health providers and sharply limit the money they could get if they sued and won. The nursing home industry, and primarily Morton, who owns about 70 homes, is bankrolling the campaign to the tune of about $330,000 so far. Nursing homes have been doing extremely well financially since Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Morton benefactor, passed a special tax for nursing homes in 2001.
Morton will be familiar to many as the financier behind the bribes to Circuit Judge Mike Maggio of Conway, which got the judge removed from the bench and convicted in federal court. Maggio admitted reducing from $5.2 million to $1 million a jury’s judgment against Morton’s nursing homes for abuse and neglect that led to the death of an elderly woman. Former state Republican Chairman Gilbert Baker of Conway arranged a series of checks from Morton to Republican Maggio’s campaign for the Court of Appeals before he slashed the jury’s verdict. Maggio first pleaded guilty to bribery and as the sentencing approached he tried to change his plea.
Someone might argue that Issue No. 4 offers the benefit of removing the incentive to bribe judges in damage suits, because the legislature will limit damages to $250,000, no matter how horrible the abuse or prolonged the suffering.
The campaign for the amendment will be aimed at greedy trial lawyers, who take the cases of poor families whose loved ones suffered abuse in a nursing home or perhaps a hospital. Trial lawyers are not popular. Under the amendment, no one could pay a lawyer more than a third of whatever judgment she or he gets. Lawyers typically take such cases on a contingency basis—they are paid a portion of the judgment only if they win—because a dead person’s family typically cannot pay them.
The Arkansas Constitution since 1874 has said that everyone is entitled to a remedy for any wrong committed against them and it prohibits the legislature from ever putting a limit on the damages that a jury can award someone for harm. But the legislature passed such a “tort reform” law anyway in 2003 and Gov. Huckabee signed it. They expected the Supreme Court to find a way to just overlook the prohibition. It didn’t, in two separate cases, in 2009 and 2011, so Issue No. 4 just removes those protections from the Constitution forever. Although you would not know it from the ballot title, the amendment strips the Supreme Court of most its traditional powers to set the rules and standards for civil damage claims and hands them to the legislature. The sponsor, and perhaps the author, of the amendment is Daniel Greenberg, a Little Rock lawyer and son of Paul Greenberg, a columnist and former editorial chief of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, which has praised the amendment.
If the Supreme Court allows the amendment to stay on the ballot and the votes to be counted, arm yourself. The full amendment and the ballot title are easily found on the Internet. Find and study them. The amendment is longer than whole articles of the Constitution. You, your family or your neighbors may one day find yourselves on one side or the other of a tort. Don’t rely on the big ads attacking trial lawyers or the ads on the other side either.
An abundance of such proposed laws will confront voters in November, including the so-called “nursing home amendment,” which will appear as Issue No. 4. The Arkansas Supreme Court may strike it from the ballot because the ballot title—a short summary of the proposal that a voter will see on the ballot—is confusing and omits big changes that the proposal would make if it is ratified and becomes a part of the Arkansas Constitution.
A group formed by the Arkansas Bar Association and a couple of citizen plaintiffs filed suit in the Arkansas Supreme Court Monday asking the court to remove Issue 4 from the ballot because a voter could not cast an informed vote based solely upon the ballot’s description. The suit lists seven pages of major changes in the law on collecting damages for harm done to people by nursing homes and other medical providers that are not made clear in the ballot title. The amendment would protect all kinds of medical providers from damage claims, from psychologists and physical therapists to veterinarians, although the ballot title doesn’t say so.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who received $70,000 from nursing home magnate Michael Morton in her 2014 campaign, declared the ballot title last spring to be perfectly fit. She will defend it before the Supreme Court. Morton so far is the largest funder of the campaign to ratify the amendment, which will make it much harder for people to sue nursing homes and other health providers and sharply limit the money they could get if they sued and won. The nursing home industry, and primarily Morton, who owns about 70 homes, is bankrolling the campaign to the tune of about $330,000 so far. Nursing homes have been doing extremely well financially since Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Morton benefactor, passed a special tax for nursing homes in 2001.
Morton will be familiar to many as the financier behind the bribes to Circuit Judge Mike Maggio of Conway, which got the judge removed from the bench and convicted in federal court. Maggio admitted reducing from $5.2 million to $1 million a jury’s judgment against Morton’s nursing homes for abuse and neglect that led to the death of an elderly woman. Former state Republican Chairman Gilbert Baker of Conway arranged a series of checks from Morton to Republican Maggio’s campaign for the Court of Appeals before he slashed the jury’s verdict. Maggio first pleaded guilty to bribery and as the sentencing approached he tried to change his plea.
Someone might argue that Issue No. 4 offers the benefit of removing the incentive to bribe judges in damage suits, because the legislature will limit damages to $250,000, no matter how horrible the abuse or prolonged the suffering.
The campaign for the amendment will be aimed at greedy trial lawyers, who take the cases of poor families whose loved ones suffered abuse in a nursing home or perhaps a hospital. Trial lawyers are not popular. Under the amendment, no one could pay a lawyer more than a third of whatever judgment she or he gets. Lawyers typically take such cases on a contingency basis—they are paid a portion of the judgment only if they win—because a dead person’s family typically cannot pay them.
The Arkansas Constitution since 1874 has said that everyone is entitled to a remedy for any wrong committed against them and it prohibits the legislature from ever putting a limit on the damages that a jury can award someone for harm. But the legislature passed such a “tort reform” law anyway in 2003 and Gov. Huckabee signed it. They expected the Supreme Court to find a way to just overlook the prohibition. It didn’t, in two separate cases, in 2009 and 2011, so Issue No. 4 just removes those protections from the Constitution forever. Although you would not know it from the ballot title, the amendment strips the Supreme Court of most its traditional powers to set the rules and standards for civil damage claims and hands them to the legislature. The sponsor, and perhaps the author, of the amendment is Daniel Greenberg, a Little Rock lawyer and son of Paul Greenberg, a columnist and former editorial chief of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, which has praised the amendment.
If the Supreme Court allows the amendment to stay on the ballot and the votes to be counted, arm yourself. The full amendment and the ballot title are easily found on the Internet. Find and study them. The amendment is longer than whole articles of the Constitution. You, your family or your neighbors may one day find yourselves on one side or the other of a tort. Don’t rely on the big ads attacking trial lawyers or the ads on the other side either.
TOP STORY >> Pokémon Go can lead to prison
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Plenty of years ago, I invested in packs of Pokémon cards and placed them in my safe behind the Elvis Presley picture, perpendicular to my shotgun, underneath the Bible, in hopes that my daughter could make a pretty penny with them on eBay or Craigslist.
But now I fear Pokémon Go may send me to prison.
You see, there are placards posted at a public facility in Jacksonville (city hall) decrying “no loitering, no parking in the driveway,” all because of Pokémon’s persistent popularity with the public, but perhaps not with pompous public officials.
What Pokémon has done is made me a criminal, a petty one at best, but still a criminal, as I always park along the curb in the driveway when I go to city hall, leaving the marked spaces for those with more pressing problems.
I can already see where this is going.
First, it will be the police, although, polite, still penning a citation citing that pertinent placard policy I have violated by parking in the driveway.
Next, because of the onslaught of parking violators, my case will get pushed to Sherwood District Court, where the penalty will be a petite fine. With my head plopped low, I pen the court a personal check and leave.
Only to find the SWAT team plummeting my home the next day because the check, like a ping-pong ball, bounced. The police pile on the chains, proclaiming its proper protocol and off to the hot-check court I go where my paltry sum for parking, even though it wasn’t for Pokémon, becomes piles and piles of fines and plenty of days in prison with a cellmate named Pops.
Of course, this putrid scene could be avoided by the city embracing the Pokémon phenomenon and inviting players in. Don’t we do that with illegal immigrants, terrorists and mothers-in-law? Why not Pokémon players?
Replace the present placards with pretty purple positive ones that welcome Pokémon players and politely tell them, on the placard, to park and play in the back.
Perfect!
Phish, posh, it parallels with preposterous poor planning of the past.
So, let’s pooh, pooh that idea as it might upset a persnickety panel of pompous, pious punks. That panel possibly may decry political prejudice toward Pokémon players based on their peculiarity and that perk is protected under penalty of the law like those mattress tags.
It’s not pure fantasy or perjury, I pray – it’s the principal principle of pride.
Perhaps methinks too much of this plight or plenty more prescription pills need to be procreated.
Putting it plainly, please pick on perps, not Pokémon players.
Leader staff writer
Plenty of years ago, I invested in packs of Pokémon cards and placed them in my safe behind the Elvis Presley picture, perpendicular to my shotgun, underneath the Bible, in hopes that my daughter could make a pretty penny with them on eBay or Craigslist.
But now I fear Pokémon Go may send me to prison.
You see, there are placards posted at a public facility in Jacksonville (city hall) decrying “no loitering, no parking in the driveway,” all because of Pokémon’s persistent popularity with the public, but perhaps not with pompous public officials.
What Pokémon has done is made me a criminal, a petty one at best, but still a criminal, as I always park along the curb in the driveway when I go to city hall, leaving the marked spaces for those with more pressing problems.
I can already see where this is going.
First, it will be the police, although, polite, still penning a citation citing that pertinent placard policy I have violated by parking in the driveway.
Next, because of the onslaught of parking violators, my case will get pushed to Sherwood District Court, where the penalty will be a petite fine. With my head plopped low, I pen the court a personal check and leave.
Only to find the SWAT team plummeting my home the next day because the check, like a ping-pong ball, bounced. The police pile on the chains, proclaiming its proper protocol and off to the hot-check court I go where my paltry sum for parking, even though it wasn’t for Pokémon, becomes piles and piles of fines and plenty of days in prison with a cellmate named Pops.
Of course, this putrid scene could be avoided by the city embracing the Pokémon phenomenon and inviting players in. Don’t we do that with illegal immigrants, terrorists and mothers-in-law? Why not Pokémon players?
Replace the present placards with pretty purple positive ones that welcome Pokémon players and politely tell them, on the placard, to park and play in the back.
Perfect!
Phish, posh, it parallels with preposterous poor planning of the past.
So, let’s pooh, pooh that idea as it might upset a persnickety panel of pompous, pious punks. That panel possibly may decry political prejudice toward Pokémon players based on their peculiarity and that perk is protected under penalty of the law like those mattress tags.
It’s not pure fantasy or perjury, I pray – it’s the principal principle of pride.
Perhaps methinks too much of this plight or plenty more prescription pills need to be procreated.
Putting it plainly, please pick on perps, not Pokémon players.
TOP STORY >> Community choir hits high note
By DEBORAH HORN
Leader staff writer
“The sopranos are like sprinkles on top,” chorus director Chris Cross told a group of 15 people who had gathered at the First Church of the Nazarene on JP Wright Loop Road on Sunday afternoon.
It was the third meeting of the newly formed Jacksonville Community Chorus.
Then he instructed members of the chorus who carried the low notes, or the bass section, to start in “3, 4, 1.”
Next he turned to the altos, telling them to sing, “Awake, awake,” and finally he had the sopranos add their special sprinkle of high notes.
The group was practicing a few lines from “The Awakening,” written by Joseph M. Martin and commissioned as an anthem for the 20th anniversary of the Texas Choral Directors Association.
Cross is an associate pastor at Christ Church of Central Arkansas at Maumelle and has been a high school music teacher at Jacksonville High School for five years. He said, “‘The Awakening’ is a good unifying piece. Music can change the world and bring people together.”
The Jacksonville Community Chorus, along with the Jacksonville High School choir, will be performing this piece as a tribute to the 15th anniversary of 9/11 at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11 at Jacksonville Middle School at 718 Harris Road.
The concert is free and open to the public.
“The Awakening” is a fitting piece for the occasion, Cross said.
CREATING A COMMUNITY
The song is also symbolic of the community choir’s edicts. Cross said one of the goals is to bring diverse members of the Jacksonville and surrounding areas together.
He said the choir welcomes everyone.
Sandra Sansing, who is helping organize the chorus, said, “We would love to have a large group. Members must be 12 years old, and mature enough and disciplined enough to make all rehearsals. They must be serious about working with music.”
For Elisha Claiborn, a sixth grader at Sylvan Hills Middle School who is singing with the soprano section, it’s a chance to sing with a real choir.
“I enjoy singing. This will make me a better singer,” and she adds, “Mr. Cross has a wonderful reputation.”
Jacksonville High School junior Yuseff Taylor was sitting next to Bob Bishop, both were singing in the bass section.
Yusseff said, “I’m pretty excited about the choir.”
Bishop has made all three rehearsals so far and said he enjoys “just being able to come together and singing.”
Collin Trice, a senior at North Little Rock High School, was also thrilled with the opportunity, saying, “Just being here and singing is great.”
Criss said it’s a great way for teenagers to sing without the academic demands often placed on kids at school, and they learn by singing with more seasoned, experienced performers.
It’s about developing talent and building relationships, Cross added.
He said, often younger kids can bring an extraordinarily youthful sound to a choir, and asked, “How many times do kids not have a chance to interact with adults (other than their parents and grandparents). That’s really cool when it happens.”
DREAMING A DREAM
Once “The Awakening” performance is done, Cross said the community choir will not put away their songbook. Instead, Cross said, “We have plans to strengthen the structure.”
Sansing said the idea for a chorus had its seed at a Red Devils Choir reunion that was held in May.
About 150 people showed up for the event and that sparked the desire to sing outside the church, she said.
Cross said, “It started as a conversation. It is a people generated, people created grassroots effort.”
He said many people feel artistic talent is mainly south of the Arkansas River, but he wants to prove that assumption wrong.
He said he believes in the community chorus and points to the success of the River City Men’s Chorus that was founded in 2002.
The Little Rock group, now about 35 members strong, has performed in a variety of settings, including St. Peter’s Basicllica at the Vatican in Rome and the Clinton Presidential Center in downtown Little Rock, as well as in Berlin, Prague and Vienna.
With practice, dedication and talent, Jacksonville’s chorus could become as well-known as the River City Men’s Chorus.
For now, the Jacksonville Community Chorus plans to stay closer to home but is entertaining the notion of singing at FestiVille or maybe putting on a holiday show, Sansing said.
For more information about the Jacksonville Community Chorus, call Sandra Sansing at 501-791-6272 or go to Community In Unity Through Chorus Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Community-In-Unity-Chorus-176417819448030/.
Leader staff writer
“The sopranos are like sprinkles on top,” chorus director Chris Cross told a group of 15 people who had gathered at the First Church of the Nazarene on JP Wright Loop Road on Sunday afternoon.
It was the third meeting of the newly formed Jacksonville Community Chorus.
Then he instructed members of the chorus who carried the low notes, or the bass section, to start in “3, 4, 1.”
Next he turned to the altos, telling them to sing, “Awake, awake,” and finally he had the sopranos add their special sprinkle of high notes.
The group was practicing a few lines from “The Awakening,” written by Joseph M. Martin and commissioned as an anthem for the 20th anniversary of the Texas Choral Directors Association.
Cross is an associate pastor at Christ Church of Central Arkansas at Maumelle and has been a high school music teacher at Jacksonville High School for five years. He said, “‘The Awakening’ is a good unifying piece. Music can change the world and bring people together.”
The Jacksonville Community Chorus, along with the Jacksonville High School choir, will be performing this piece as a tribute to the 15th anniversary of 9/11 at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11 at Jacksonville Middle School at 718 Harris Road.
The concert is free and open to the public.
“The Awakening” is a fitting piece for the occasion, Cross said.
CREATING A COMMUNITY
The song is also symbolic of the community choir’s edicts. Cross said one of the goals is to bring diverse members of the Jacksonville and surrounding areas together.
He said the choir welcomes everyone.
Sandra Sansing, who is helping organize the chorus, said, “We would love to have a large group. Members must be 12 years old, and mature enough and disciplined enough to make all rehearsals. They must be serious about working with music.”
For Elisha Claiborn, a sixth grader at Sylvan Hills Middle School who is singing with the soprano section, it’s a chance to sing with a real choir.
“I enjoy singing. This will make me a better singer,” and she adds, “Mr. Cross has a wonderful reputation.”
Jacksonville High School junior Yuseff Taylor was sitting next to Bob Bishop, both were singing in the bass section.
Yusseff said, “I’m pretty excited about the choir.”
Bishop has made all three rehearsals so far and said he enjoys “just being able to come together and singing.”
Collin Trice, a senior at North Little Rock High School, was also thrilled with the opportunity, saying, “Just being here and singing is great.”
Criss said it’s a great way for teenagers to sing without the academic demands often placed on kids at school, and they learn by singing with more seasoned, experienced performers.
It’s about developing talent and building relationships, Cross added.
He said, often younger kids can bring an extraordinarily youthful sound to a choir, and asked, “How many times do kids not have a chance to interact with adults (other than their parents and grandparents). That’s really cool when it happens.”
DREAMING A DREAM
Once “The Awakening” performance is done, Cross said the community choir will not put away their songbook. Instead, Cross said, “We have plans to strengthen the structure.”
Sansing said the idea for a chorus had its seed at a Red Devils Choir reunion that was held in May.
About 150 people showed up for the event and that sparked the desire to sing outside the church, she said.
Cross said, “It started as a conversation. It is a people generated, people created grassroots effort.”
He said many people feel artistic talent is mainly south of the Arkansas River, but he wants to prove that assumption wrong.
He said he believes in the community chorus and points to the success of the River City Men’s Chorus that was founded in 2002.
The Little Rock group, now about 35 members strong, has performed in a variety of settings, including St. Peter’s Basicllica at the Vatican in Rome and the Clinton Presidential Center in downtown Little Rock, as well as in Berlin, Prague and Vienna.
With practice, dedication and talent, Jacksonville’s chorus could become as well-known as the River City Men’s Chorus.
For now, the Jacksonville Community Chorus plans to stay closer to home but is entertaining the notion of singing at FestiVille or maybe putting on a holiday show, Sansing said.
For more information about the Jacksonville Community Chorus, call Sandra Sansing at 501-791-6272 or go to Community In Unity Through Chorus Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Community-In-Unity-Chorus-176417819448030/.
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