By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Beebe’s former code-enforcement officer was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with felony theft for allegedly keeping more than $2,500 in city inspection fees that he collected in the last three years he worked for the city.
Allen Ridings, 66, was fired in June 2006 after state auditors, acting on a tip from another city official, found that receipts for utility-permit inspection had not been turned into the city clerk.
Sources say Ridings, who also ran an inspection business that was independent of the city, would often ask builders for two checks, one for the city and one for him.
If convicted of the Class B felony, Ridings could face punishment of five to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.
The auditor turned in this report about Ridings: “Utility-permit, inspection fee receipts of $3,370 were not properly remitted to the city treasurer for the period January 1, 2004 through June 19, 2006. Former Code Enforcement Officer Allen Ridings was responsible for collecting and remitting permit fees to the city treasurer. Also, Mr. Ridings stated he improperly destroyed permit records evidencing receipt of city revenue prior to September 2005.
“The city reimbursed Mr. Ridings $8,282 for personal vehicle mileage documented by expense claims reporting 19,870 consecutive city-related business miles driven without any allowance for personal and commuting miles, during the period January 1, 2004 through June 19, 2006. Mr. Ridings was unable to determine the correct mileage for which he should have been reimbursed for conducting city business.
“Internal controls relating to inspection fees and mileage reimbursements should be strengthened.
“We recommend the city seek reimbursement for the undeposited inspection fees and for non-business mileage reimbursements improperly received by Mr. Ridings.
“City management has re-sponded that policies and procedures have been implemented to strengthen internal controls relating to inspection fees and mileage reimbursements.”
Mayor Mike Roberts-on, who was on the city council when Ridings was fired, said Thursday that the investigation that led to the felony charge against Ridings did not include the money the city paid him for mileage because former Mayor Donald Ward had signed off on the payment.
Robertson asked Ward late in 2006 when the audit report came out if the mileage problem had been resolved and Ward responded that city employees now must turn in odometer readings to collect for mileage.
Beebe Police Chief Don Inns said Det. Wendell Gines with the Arkansas State Police conducted the investigation that led to Prosecutor Chris Raff filing charges against Ridings.
Inns said he arrested Ridings and took him to the county jail where he was booked and then bonded out for $2,500. Currently, no court date has been set.
Monday, July 09, 2007
TOP STORY >>Council has votes to assess new tax
IN SHORT: Residents of Jacksonville will have a chance to speak at a meeting July 16.
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Even though the idea of a proposed two-cent tax on prepared foods was on the Jacksonville City Council agenda just for discussion Thursday night, it was clear that it had enough support to pass.
The levy, also known as a hamburger tax, would bring in $550,000 annually, which would be added to the $88,000 the city’s advertising and promotion commission already receives through a two-cent hotel tax.
But with no ordinance drawn up, the council decided to meet with the advertising and promotion commission on July 16 to lock in how the money will be spent before the council votes on the tax at its July 19 meeting. “We don’t want this to look like we have a pool of money that we are divvying up among friends and favorite projects,” explained Alderman Gary Fletcher.
Aldermen Bob Stroud, Avis Twitty, Bill Howard and Reedie Ray were ready to approve the tax Thursday night.
“We’ve got to get going on this if we want to see growth,” said Ray.
“I’m tired of seeing headlines saying we have stagnant growth and that Sherwood and Cabot are going to pass us by,” Twitty said.
“You all go out to eat to the north and the south of us and you don’t even notice that they have a two-cent tax on foods. You just pay the bill,” Stroud told the council.
Under a current budget proposal from the advertising and promotion commission, the commission has suggested that it use half the income, or $275,000, for professional promotion and marketing campaigns to bring people to Jacksonville and its attractions.
“Some people, even inside the city, don’t know about the Splash Zone and other attractions we have here,” explained Alderman Marshall Smith, who is also the chairman of the advertising and promotion commission.
About 30 percent of the tax, or $163,000, will be given to the city’s parks and recreation department to be used for park improvements and operations.
The Jacksonville Museum of Military History will get $22,000 of the new money to help get the necessary permission to display static aircraft and to help toward maintenance of the C-130 display.
The commission has earmarked $20,000 for the patriotic spectacular show to increase its promotion of the activity and allow for a bigger fireworks show. Rain put a damper on much of the show this year.
The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield group will get $12,000 to buy Civil War displays and make other improvements to the site to bring in tourists.
Wing Ding will get $10,000 to help bring in a big-name entertainer to the festival, helping to bring in more tourists.
The commission will set aside $30,000 of the tax for projects, requests and ideas that come up during the year that are not already budgeted. Another $18,000 will be used to help pay for the staff to coordinate and collect the tax data, staff training and educating businesses and the public on what types of items are taxable.
John Hartwick, a chamber of commerce board member, said the group was not against the tax, but wanted the city and residents to take time to fully understand the implications of the tax and exactly how the money is going to be spent.
Alderman Terry Sansing also felt the city was moving too quickly on the idea. “We need to take our time and sell this to the people just like we sold the tax for the community center and the library and other projects.”
Sansing also didn’t like the timing. “The state just cut three cents off the grocery tax and here we are wanting to add two cents on to prepared foods,” he said.
Alderman Kenny Elliott and others suggested holding a public hearing on the tax. But Mayor Swaim pointed out the commission had been discussing the tax plan for the past nine months and very few residents voiced concerns.
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Even though the idea of a proposed two-cent tax on prepared foods was on the Jacksonville City Council agenda just for discussion Thursday night, it was clear that it had enough support to pass.
The levy, also known as a hamburger tax, would bring in $550,000 annually, which would be added to the $88,000 the city’s advertising and promotion commission already receives through a two-cent hotel tax.
But with no ordinance drawn up, the council decided to meet with the advertising and promotion commission on July 16 to lock in how the money will be spent before the council votes on the tax at its July 19 meeting. “We don’t want this to look like we have a pool of money that we are divvying up among friends and favorite projects,” explained Alderman Gary Fletcher.
Aldermen Bob Stroud, Avis Twitty, Bill Howard and Reedie Ray were ready to approve the tax Thursday night.
“We’ve got to get going on this if we want to see growth,” said Ray.
“I’m tired of seeing headlines saying we have stagnant growth and that Sherwood and Cabot are going to pass us by,” Twitty said.
“You all go out to eat to the north and the south of us and you don’t even notice that they have a two-cent tax on foods. You just pay the bill,” Stroud told the council.
Under a current budget proposal from the advertising and promotion commission, the commission has suggested that it use half the income, or $275,000, for professional promotion and marketing campaigns to bring people to Jacksonville and its attractions.
“Some people, even inside the city, don’t know about the Splash Zone and other attractions we have here,” explained Alderman Marshall Smith, who is also the chairman of the advertising and promotion commission.
About 30 percent of the tax, or $163,000, will be given to the city’s parks and recreation department to be used for park improvements and operations.
The Jacksonville Museum of Military History will get $22,000 of the new money to help get the necessary permission to display static aircraft and to help toward maintenance of the C-130 display.
The commission has earmarked $20,000 for the patriotic spectacular show to increase its promotion of the activity and allow for a bigger fireworks show. Rain put a damper on much of the show this year.
The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield group will get $12,000 to buy Civil War displays and make other improvements to the site to bring in tourists.
Wing Ding will get $10,000 to help bring in a big-name entertainer to the festival, helping to bring in more tourists.
The commission will set aside $30,000 of the tax for projects, requests and ideas that come up during the year that are not already budgeted. Another $18,000 will be used to help pay for the staff to coordinate and collect the tax data, staff training and educating businesses and the public on what types of items are taxable.
John Hartwick, a chamber of commerce board member, said the group was not against the tax, but wanted the city and residents to take time to fully understand the implications of the tax and exactly how the money is going to be spent.
Alderman Terry Sansing also felt the city was moving too quickly on the idea. “We need to take our time and sell this to the people just like we sold the tax for the community center and the library and other projects.”
Sansing also didn’t like the timing. “The state just cut three cents off the grocery tax and here we are wanting to add two cents on to prepared foods,” he said.
Alderman Kenny Elliott and others suggested holding a public hearing on the tax. But Mayor Swaim pointed out the commission had been discussing the tax plan for the past nine months and very few residents voiced concerns.
TOP STORY >>Students in area do well on tests
IN SHORT: Scores on state benchmark tests continue to improve in math and literacy.
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
State benchmark exams taken by students in April in grades three through eight show students are improving in math and literacy.
Cabot, Beebe, Lonoke and Searcy continue to do better than the state averages, while Pulaski County Special School District lags behind.
The statewide tests are used to determine which schools are doing well and which ones need improvement.
The exams test to see if students are performing on grade level. Students can score either advanced, proficient, basic or below basic on the exams. Federal laws require all students to be either advanced (above grade level) or proficient (grade level) by the end of the 2013-2014 school year.
Third through sixth graders scored better in math than in literacy. Seventh graders were about even, while eighth graders turned in a better performance in literacy than in math.
Third graders did the best of the groups in math with 74 percent of them statewide scoring proficient or advanced. Eighth graders had the best scores in the state in literacy with 63 percent of them scoring proficient or advanced.
Searcy third graders beat the state average by 17 percentage points, with 91 percent of them scoring well. Cabot had 86 percent make the cut, while Beebe had 80 percent of its third graders score proficient or advanced.
“We are making sure and steady progress with student achievement in the state,” said Dr. Ken James, commissioner of education. “The trend toward higher scores on our state tests is proof that higher expectations and accountability lead to positive results.
About two-thirds of PCSSD third graders scored proficient or advanced in math.
Top literacy scores in third grade include Sidney Deener Elementary in Searcy (84 percent), 79 percent at Cabot’s Eastside Elementary and 76 percent at Magness Creek.
At the fourth-grade level, Searcy’s Westside had 90 percent of its fourth graders proficient or advanced in math and 89 percent in literacy. Magness Creek also had 90 percent proficient or advanced in math and Arnold Drive on Little Rock Air Force had 87 percent proficiency or better in math.
Top fifth-grade scores in the area belong to Arnold Drive Elementary with 81 percent proficiency in math and 89 percent in literacy. At Cabot Middle School South, 78 percent hit the mark in math and literacy.
At the sixth-grade level, 84 percent of the students in Searcy and Cabot scored proficient or advanced in math.
Third grade
At the state level, 74 percent of third graders scored proficient or advanced in math and 59 percent did the same in literacy.
At Beebe Intermediate, 80 percent of the third graders scored proficient or advanced in math, 59 percent did the same in literacy.
In Searcy at Sidney Deener Elementary, 91 percent of the third graders were proficient or advanced in math and 84 percent did the same in literacy. At McRae Elementary, 89 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 73 percent in literacy, while at Westside Elementary, 93 percent were proficient or advanced in math and 75 percent did the same in literacy.
In Lonoke, 78 percent of the third graders made the grade in math, but just 46 percent were proficient or advanced in literacy.
In Cabot, 86 percent of the third graders across the district scored proficient or advanced in math and 73 percent did the same in literacy. At Eastside Elementary, 93 percent of the third graders made the grade in math and 79 percent did the same in literacy. At Central, 86 percent of the students were proficient or advanced in math and 72 percent did the same in literacy. At Westside, 78 percent scored well in math and 66 percent in literacy. At Southside, 84 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 71 percent did the same in literacy. Northside had 79 percent proficient or higher in math and 77 percent in literacy. Ward Central had 81 percent score well in math and 62 percent do the same in literacy. At Magness Creek, 93 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 76 percent did the same in literacy.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, 66 percent of the third graders scored proficient or higher in math and 53 percent did the same in literacy.
Third graders at Bayou Meto (84 percent), Clinton (78 percent), Tolleson (73 percent), Sherwood Elementary (76 percent), Sylvan Hills Elementary (86 percent), Arnold Drive (84 percent) and Oakbrooke (67 percent) beat the district average in math. But Warren Dupree (53 percent), Harris (26 percent), Jacksonville Elementary (49 percent), Cato (62 percent), Pinewood (64 percent), and Murrell Taylor (37 percent) fell below the district average in math.
In literacy, the district average was 55 percent proficient or advanced. Doing better than that were Bayou Meto (58 percent), Clinton (64 percent), Warren Dupree (63 percent), Sherwood (66 percent), Sylvan Hills (58 percent), Cato (58 percent), and Oakbrooke (63 percent).
Falling below the district average were Harris (49 percent), Jacksonville (47 percent), Pinewood (47 percent), Arnold Drive (42 percent), and Murrell Taylor (51 percent).
Fourth grade
Statewide, 65 percent of fourth graders were proficient or better in math and 59 percent did so in literacy.
At Beebe Intermediate, 81 percent of the fourth graders scored proficient or advanced in math, 73 percent did the same in literacy.
In Searcy at Sidney Deener Elementary, 78 percent of the fourth graders were proficient or advanced in math and 65 percent did the same in literacy. At McRae Elementary, 77 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 69 percent in literacy, while at Westside Elementary, 90 percent were proficient or advanced in math and 89 percent did the same in literacy.
In Lonoke, 62 percent of the fourth graders made the grade in math and 56 percent were proficient or advanced in literacy.
In Cabot, 78 percent of the third-graders across the district scored proficient or advanced in math and 67 percent did the same in literacy. At Eastside Elementary, 84 percent of the fourth graders made the grade in math and 75 percent did the same in literacy. At Central, 65 percent of the fourth graders were proficient or advanced in literacy and 59 percent did the same in literacy. At Westside, 75 percent scored well in math and 70 percent in literacy. At Southside, 86 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 71 percent did the same in literacy. Northside had 76 percent proficient or higher in math and 68 percent in literacy. Ward Central had 63 percent score well in math and 58 percent do the same in literacy. At Magness Creek, 90 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 68 percent did the same in literacy.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, 59 percent of the fourth graders scored proficient or higher in math.
Fourth graders at Bayou Meto (79 percent), Clinton (67 percent), Sherwood Elementary (78 percent), Cato (62 percent), Pinewood (61 percent), Murrell Taylor (62 percent) and Arnold Drive (87 percent) beat the district average in math.
Tolleson tied with the district average at 59 percent.
But Sylvan Hills Elementary (55 percent), Oakbrooke (53 percent), Warren Dupree (51 percent), Harris (13 percent) and Jacksonville Elementary (38 percent) fell below the district average in math.In literacy, the district average was 54 percent proficient or advanced.
Doing better than that were Bayou Meto (74 percent), Clinton (60 percent), Sherwood (72 percent), Cato (64 percent), Pinewood (64 percent) and Arnold Drive (79 percent).
Falling below the district average were Warren Dupree (46 percent), Sylvan Hills (39 percent) Oakbrooke (49 percent), Harris (17 percent), Jacksonville (42 percent) and Murrell Taylor (45 percent).
Fifth grade
At the fifth-grade level across the state, 61 percent of the students score proficient or better in math and 59 percent did the same in literacy.
At Beebe Middle, 64 percent of the fifth graders scored proficient or advanced in math, 65 percent did the same in literacy.
In Searcy at Southwest Middle School, 73 percent of the fifth graders were proficient or advanced in math and 76 percent did the same in literacy.
In Lonoke, 52 percent of the fifth graders made the grade in math and 54 percent were proficient or advanced in literacy.
In Cabot, 76 percent of the fifth graders across the district scored proficient or advanced in math and 71 percent did the same in literacy. At Cabot Middle School South, 78 percent of the fifth graders made the grade in math and 78 percent did the same in literacy. At Cabot Middle School North, 74 percent of the fifth graders were proficient or advanced in math and 65 percent did the same in literacy.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, 56 percent of the fifth graders scored proficient or higher in math.
Fifth graders at Bayou Meto (76 percent), Clinton (59 percent), Tolleson (61 percent), Sherwood Elementary (59 percent), Arnold Drive (81 percent), Pinewood (65 percent) and Oakbrooke (65 percent) beat the district average in math.
But Sylvan Hills (49 percent), Warren Dupree (34 percent), Harris (48 percent), Jacksonville Elementary (35 percent), Cato (53 percent), and Murrell Taylor (49 percent) fell below the district average in math.
In literacy, the district average was 58 percent proficient or advanced.
Doing better than that were Arnold Drive (89 percent), Bayou Meto (75 percent), Clinton (65 percent), Cato (63 percent), Pinewood (68 percent) and Oakbrooke (67 percent).
Falling below the district average were Warren Dupree (35 percent), Sherwood (54 percent), Sylvan Hills (51 percent), Harris (48 percent), Jacksonville (41 percent) and Murrell Taylor (44 percent).
Sixth grade
Across the state, 68 percent of the sixth graders scored proficient or better in math and 60 percent did likewise on the literacy portion of the test.
At Beebe Middle School, 70 percent of the sixth graders scored proficient or advanced in math, 70 percent did the same in literacy.
In Searcy, 84 percent of the sixth graders were proficient or advanced in math and 80 percent did the same in literacy.
In Lonoke, 73 percent of the sixth graders made the grade in math, but just 51 percent were proficient or advanced in literacy.
In Cabot, 84 percent of the sixth graders across the district scored proficient or advanced in math and 72 percent did the same in literacy.
At Cabot Middle School South, 84 percent of the sixth graders made the grade in math and 75 percent did the same in literacy.
At Cabot Middle School North, 84 percent of the students were proficient or advanced in math and 69 percent did the same in literacy.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, 55 percent of the sixth graders scored proficient or higher in math and 50 percent did the same in literacy.
Sixth graders at the girls’ campus of the Jacksonville Middle School fell below the averages with 43 percent making the grade in math and 37 percent in literacy. On the boys campus only 38 percent of the sixth graders scored proficient or advanced in math and just 28 percent made the cut in literacy.
At Sylvan Hills Middle School, 52 percent scored proficient or advanced in math, and 53 percent did the same in literacy.
At Northwood Middle School, 66 percent made the grade in math and 59 percent did the same in literacy.
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
State benchmark exams taken by students in April in grades three through eight show students are improving in math and literacy.
Cabot, Beebe, Lonoke and Searcy continue to do better than the state averages, while Pulaski County Special School District lags behind.
The statewide tests are used to determine which schools are doing well and which ones need improvement.
The exams test to see if students are performing on grade level. Students can score either advanced, proficient, basic or below basic on the exams. Federal laws require all students to be either advanced (above grade level) or proficient (grade level) by the end of the 2013-2014 school year.
Third through sixth graders scored better in math than in literacy. Seventh graders were about even, while eighth graders turned in a better performance in literacy than in math.
Third graders did the best of the groups in math with 74 percent of them statewide scoring proficient or advanced. Eighth graders had the best scores in the state in literacy with 63 percent of them scoring proficient or advanced.
Searcy third graders beat the state average by 17 percentage points, with 91 percent of them scoring well. Cabot had 86 percent make the cut, while Beebe had 80 percent of its third graders score proficient or advanced.
“We are making sure and steady progress with student achievement in the state,” said Dr. Ken James, commissioner of education. “The trend toward higher scores on our state tests is proof that higher expectations and accountability lead to positive results.
About two-thirds of PCSSD third graders scored proficient or advanced in math.
Top literacy scores in third grade include Sidney Deener Elementary in Searcy (84 percent), 79 percent at Cabot’s Eastside Elementary and 76 percent at Magness Creek.
At the fourth-grade level, Searcy’s Westside had 90 percent of its fourth graders proficient or advanced in math and 89 percent in literacy. Magness Creek also had 90 percent proficient or advanced in math and Arnold Drive on Little Rock Air Force had 87 percent proficiency or better in math.
Top fifth-grade scores in the area belong to Arnold Drive Elementary with 81 percent proficiency in math and 89 percent in literacy. At Cabot Middle School South, 78 percent hit the mark in math and literacy.
At the sixth-grade level, 84 percent of the students in Searcy and Cabot scored proficient or advanced in math.
Third grade
At the state level, 74 percent of third graders scored proficient or advanced in math and 59 percent did the same in literacy.
At Beebe Intermediate, 80 percent of the third graders scored proficient or advanced in math, 59 percent did the same in literacy.
In Searcy at Sidney Deener Elementary, 91 percent of the third graders were proficient or advanced in math and 84 percent did the same in literacy. At McRae Elementary, 89 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 73 percent in literacy, while at Westside Elementary, 93 percent were proficient or advanced in math and 75 percent did the same in literacy.
In Lonoke, 78 percent of the third graders made the grade in math, but just 46 percent were proficient or advanced in literacy.
In Cabot, 86 percent of the third graders across the district scored proficient or advanced in math and 73 percent did the same in literacy. At Eastside Elementary, 93 percent of the third graders made the grade in math and 79 percent did the same in literacy. At Central, 86 percent of the students were proficient or advanced in math and 72 percent did the same in literacy. At Westside, 78 percent scored well in math and 66 percent in literacy. At Southside, 84 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 71 percent did the same in literacy. Northside had 79 percent proficient or higher in math and 77 percent in literacy. Ward Central had 81 percent score well in math and 62 percent do the same in literacy. At Magness Creek, 93 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 76 percent did the same in literacy.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, 66 percent of the third graders scored proficient or higher in math and 53 percent did the same in literacy.
Third graders at Bayou Meto (84 percent), Clinton (78 percent), Tolleson (73 percent), Sherwood Elementary (76 percent), Sylvan Hills Elementary (86 percent), Arnold Drive (84 percent) and Oakbrooke (67 percent) beat the district average in math. But Warren Dupree (53 percent), Harris (26 percent), Jacksonville Elementary (49 percent), Cato (62 percent), Pinewood (64 percent), and Murrell Taylor (37 percent) fell below the district average in math.
In literacy, the district average was 55 percent proficient or advanced. Doing better than that were Bayou Meto (58 percent), Clinton (64 percent), Warren Dupree (63 percent), Sherwood (66 percent), Sylvan Hills (58 percent), Cato (58 percent), and Oakbrooke (63 percent).
Falling below the district average were Harris (49 percent), Jacksonville (47 percent), Pinewood (47 percent), Arnold Drive (42 percent), and Murrell Taylor (51 percent).
Fourth grade
Statewide, 65 percent of fourth graders were proficient or better in math and 59 percent did so in literacy.
At Beebe Intermediate, 81 percent of the fourth graders scored proficient or advanced in math, 73 percent did the same in literacy.
In Searcy at Sidney Deener Elementary, 78 percent of the fourth graders were proficient or advanced in math and 65 percent did the same in literacy. At McRae Elementary, 77 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 69 percent in literacy, while at Westside Elementary, 90 percent were proficient or advanced in math and 89 percent did the same in literacy.
In Lonoke, 62 percent of the fourth graders made the grade in math and 56 percent were proficient or advanced in literacy.
In Cabot, 78 percent of the third-graders across the district scored proficient or advanced in math and 67 percent did the same in literacy. At Eastside Elementary, 84 percent of the fourth graders made the grade in math and 75 percent did the same in literacy. At Central, 65 percent of the fourth graders were proficient or advanced in literacy and 59 percent did the same in literacy. At Westside, 75 percent scored well in math and 70 percent in literacy. At Southside, 86 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 71 percent did the same in literacy. Northside had 76 percent proficient or higher in math and 68 percent in literacy. Ward Central had 63 percent score well in math and 58 percent do the same in literacy. At Magness Creek, 90 percent scored proficient or advanced in math and 68 percent did the same in literacy.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, 59 percent of the fourth graders scored proficient or higher in math.
Fourth graders at Bayou Meto (79 percent), Clinton (67 percent), Sherwood Elementary (78 percent), Cato (62 percent), Pinewood (61 percent), Murrell Taylor (62 percent) and Arnold Drive (87 percent) beat the district average in math.
Tolleson tied with the district average at 59 percent.
But Sylvan Hills Elementary (55 percent), Oakbrooke (53 percent), Warren Dupree (51 percent), Harris (13 percent) and Jacksonville Elementary (38 percent) fell below the district average in math.In literacy, the district average was 54 percent proficient or advanced.
Doing better than that were Bayou Meto (74 percent), Clinton (60 percent), Sherwood (72 percent), Cato (64 percent), Pinewood (64 percent) and Arnold Drive (79 percent).
Falling below the district average were Warren Dupree (46 percent), Sylvan Hills (39 percent) Oakbrooke (49 percent), Harris (17 percent), Jacksonville (42 percent) and Murrell Taylor (45 percent).
Fifth grade
At the fifth-grade level across the state, 61 percent of the students score proficient or better in math and 59 percent did the same in literacy.
At Beebe Middle, 64 percent of the fifth graders scored proficient or advanced in math, 65 percent did the same in literacy.
In Searcy at Southwest Middle School, 73 percent of the fifth graders were proficient or advanced in math and 76 percent did the same in literacy.
In Lonoke, 52 percent of the fifth graders made the grade in math and 54 percent were proficient or advanced in literacy.
In Cabot, 76 percent of the fifth graders across the district scored proficient or advanced in math and 71 percent did the same in literacy. At Cabot Middle School South, 78 percent of the fifth graders made the grade in math and 78 percent did the same in literacy. At Cabot Middle School North, 74 percent of the fifth graders were proficient or advanced in math and 65 percent did the same in literacy.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, 56 percent of the fifth graders scored proficient or higher in math.
Fifth graders at Bayou Meto (76 percent), Clinton (59 percent), Tolleson (61 percent), Sherwood Elementary (59 percent), Arnold Drive (81 percent), Pinewood (65 percent) and Oakbrooke (65 percent) beat the district average in math.
But Sylvan Hills (49 percent), Warren Dupree (34 percent), Harris (48 percent), Jacksonville Elementary (35 percent), Cato (53 percent), and Murrell Taylor (49 percent) fell below the district average in math.
In literacy, the district average was 58 percent proficient or advanced.
Doing better than that were Arnold Drive (89 percent), Bayou Meto (75 percent), Clinton (65 percent), Cato (63 percent), Pinewood (68 percent) and Oakbrooke (67 percent).
Falling below the district average were Warren Dupree (35 percent), Sherwood (54 percent), Sylvan Hills (51 percent), Harris (48 percent), Jacksonville (41 percent) and Murrell Taylor (44 percent).
Sixth grade
Across the state, 68 percent of the sixth graders scored proficient or better in math and 60 percent did likewise on the literacy portion of the test.
At Beebe Middle School, 70 percent of the sixth graders scored proficient or advanced in math, 70 percent did the same in literacy.
In Searcy, 84 percent of the sixth graders were proficient or advanced in math and 80 percent did the same in literacy.
In Lonoke, 73 percent of the sixth graders made the grade in math, but just 51 percent were proficient or advanced in literacy.
In Cabot, 84 percent of the sixth graders across the district scored proficient or advanced in math and 72 percent did the same in literacy.
At Cabot Middle School South, 84 percent of the sixth graders made the grade in math and 75 percent did the same in literacy.
At Cabot Middle School North, 84 percent of the students were proficient or advanced in math and 69 percent did the same in literacy.
In the Pulaski County Special School District, 55 percent of the sixth graders scored proficient or higher in math and 50 percent did the same in literacy.
Sixth graders at the girls’ campus of the Jacksonville Middle School fell below the averages with 43 percent making the grade in math and 37 percent in literacy. On the boys campus only 38 percent of the sixth graders scored proficient or advanced in math and just 28 percent made the cut in literacy.
At Sylvan Hills Middle School, 52 percent scored proficient or advanced in math, and 53 percent did the same in literacy.
At Northwood Middle School, 66 percent made the grade in math and 59 percent did the same in literacy.
TOP STORY >>Sherwood votes Tuesday
IN SHORT: Four of five candidates turn in required campaign contribution reports, and the information shows that interim Mayor Bill Harmon has collected and spent the most money.
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Four of the five Sherwood mayoral candidates have filed their required campaign-expense reports and Bill Harmon is leading the pack in contributions and expenses.
Harmon and City Clerk Vir-ginia Hillman both filed their reports on Tuesday, the deadline day, while Richard Devine and Doris Anderson were a day late with their reports.
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As of Friday, Victor Sierra had not filed his campaign’s report.
Candidates filing late are subject to a letter of caution or warning and fines. “The guidelines suggest fines of $50 for reports filed one to three days late,” according to Graham Sloan with the state’s ethics commission.
“These reports are important,” Sloan said, “as it gives voters one last chance to look at the candidates.”
The special election to fill the unexpired term of Mayor Dan Stedman is Tuesday at eight polling sites open across Sherwood.
According to the reports, Harmon has received $32,995 in contributions and has spent $26,456 on his campaign through Monday, leaving him with a balance of $6,538.
Anderson was next with campaign contributions totaling $12,170 and expenses of $12,389, leaving her about $220 in the red. Hillman reported monetary contributions of $5,300, expenses of $3,991, and a balance of $1,524.
Devine’s report didn’t list contributions, expenses or a balance in the general summary portion of the report. But the report does show that he has received $1,500 in nonmoney contributions and has spent $9,909.
Harmon’s report shows that he has received $1,975 in “in kind” or nonmonetary contributions, including $127 worth of ball caps from Jim Davis, a $618 printing discount from Twin City Printing, a $100 screen-printing discount from Jess Woods and Bette Bright, another $112 screen- printing discount from the T-Shirt Shop and $1,000 worth of personal services from Cinergi, a company run by former Alderman Tom Brooks.
Harmon’s expenses include $10,316 on advertising (excluding radio, television and newspaper), $2,435 on office supplies, $4,506 on postage and about the same amount on direct mail.
He’s also paid out $3,206 on consultant fees, $900 on polls and $506 to Patti Clark who is listed as a campaign worker.
Of the 66 contributors listed in the campaign report, 34 have Sherwood addresses.
Only contributors of more than $50 are required to be listed.
Among the contributors are Cinergi, with a donation of $2,000; Byron McKimmey, a realtor who just had land annexed into Sherwood, donated $500; Larry Vassar, Alderman Becki Vassar’s husband, donated $500; Bob Franks, recently appointed to the Public Facilities Board, along with his wife donated $200; Bob Dawson, also just appointed to the Public Facilities Board, donated $300; and Metropolitan Realty and Development, which just had land annexed into Sherwood instead of Jacksonville, donated $1,000.
Other major contributors, according to the report, were JBBS, a company in North Little Rock, donated $1,000; Sherwood Holding Co., donated $1,000; Billy Molden donated $500; Steve Deere donated $500; Mike Marlar with Marlar Engineering donated $2,000; F and O Investments in North Little Rock donated $500; car dealer Frank Fletcher donated $2,000; Mattie Lainhart donated $2,000; Statewide Outdoor Advertising of North Little Rock donated $1,000; Randy Wiggins Co. of North Little Rock donated $500; Lila and Andrew Collins, owners of Cypress Properties, donated $1,000; Jake Van Pelt donated $500; Bobbie Hindman donated $500; Mary Harmon donated $2,000, and Raintight Roofing of North Little Rock donated $500.
Car dealer James Ray Arrington donated $1,500; Jeffrey Brantley of Jacksonville donated $500; $500 came from the James and Jean Greene Living Trust; Billy Hall with Ivy Hall Wrecker donated $500;Trimek Properties of Magnolia donated $1,000; Kathy Davis of Greenbriar donated $500; R&L Properties of Little Rock donated $500, and The Pong Man in North Little Rock donated $800.
According to Ander-son’s report, she’s used $9,260 of her own money to finance her campaign. She has received $150 worth of T-shirts from Custom Creations in North Little Rock.
Eleven of Anderson’s 25 listed contributors have Sher-wood addresses. Among her largest contributors were homebuilder Jack Wilson at $300; Paul Minton at $250; Julann Carney at $250 and Randy Wiggins, who also gave to the Harmon campaign, donated $100.
In her report, Hillman lists a $400 printing donation from Richard Moore and $85 printing donation from Harmon Trophy.
She lists 17 contributors of more than $50 and 11 of those are from Sherwood.
Among her contributors are Money Tree Loans at $1,000; Harold Fortson of Jacksonville gave $500; Louella Fortson of Jacksonville, donated $250; Dr. James and Barbara Sims donated $250; and Paul Minton, who also contributed to Anderson’s campaign, donated $250.
Hillman has also used $1,000 of her own money in the campaign.
She has spent $2,828 on political signs and $1,154 in direct mail.
Devine’s report shows $1,500 in non-monetary contributions, including $1,200 from a Little Rock company and $300 worth of T-shirts from Tom Reynolds.
Devine’s report shows no contributions over $50. Expenses include $4,200 with Custom Creations for cards, pencils and signs and $5,206 to Image Printing for campaign postcards.
There will be eight voting sites opened Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The sites are Sylvan Hills United Methodist Church, Brockington Road Church of the Nazarene, Sylvan Hills Community Church, the Jack Evans Senior Citizens Center, First Baptist Church of Sherwood, Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Church, Indianhead Lake Baptist Church and the Sherwood Youth Center.
Residents can call the Pulaski County clerk’s office at 340-8683 or go to www.pulaskiclerk.com to verify their polling site.
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Four of the five Sherwood mayoral candidates have filed their required campaign-expense reports and Bill Harmon is leading the pack in contributions and expenses.
Harmon and City Clerk Vir-ginia Hillman both filed their reports on Tuesday, the deadline day, while Richard Devine and Doris Anderson were a day late with their reports.
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As of Friday, Victor Sierra had not filed his campaign’s report.
Candidates filing late are subject to a letter of caution or warning and fines. “The guidelines suggest fines of $50 for reports filed one to three days late,” according to Graham Sloan with the state’s ethics commission.
“These reports are important,” Sloan said, “as it gives voters one last chance to look at the candidates.”
The special election to fill the unexpired term of Mayor Dan Stedman is Tuesday at eight polling sites open across Sherwood.
According to the reports, Harmon has received $32,995 in contributions and has spent $26,456 on his campaign through Monday, leaving him with a balance of $6,538.
Anderson was next with campaign contributions totaling $12,170 and expenses of $12,389, leaving her about $220 in the red. Hillman reported monetary contributions of $5,300, expenses of $3,991, and a balance of $1,524.
Devine’s report didn’t list contributions, expenses or a balance in the general summary portion of the report. But the report does show that he has received $1,500 in nonmoney contributions and has spent $9,909.
Harmon’s report shows that he has received $1,975 in “in kind” or nonmonetary contributions, including $127 worth of ball caps from Jim Davis, a $618 printing discount from Twin City Printing, a $100 screen-printing discount from Jess Woods and Bette Bright, another $112 screen- printing discount from the T-Shirt Shop and $1,000 worth of personal services from Cinergi, a company run by former Alderman Tom Brooks.
Harmon’s expenses include $10,316 on advertising (excluding radio, television and newspaper), $2,435 on office supplies, $4,506 on postage and about the same amount on direct mail.
He’s also paid out $3,206 on consultant fees, $900 on polls and $506 to Patti Clark who is listed as a campaign worker.
Of the 66 contributors listed in the campaign report, 34 have Sherwood addresses.
Only contributors of more than $50 are required to be listed.
Among the contributors are Cinergi, with a donation of $2,000; Byron McKimmey, a realtor who just had land annexed into Sherwood, donated $500; Larry Vassar, Alderman Becki Vassar’s husband, donated $500; Bob Franks, recently appointed to the Public Facilities Board, along with his wife donated $200; Bob Dawson, also just appointed to the Public Facilities Board, donated $300; and Metropolitan Realty and Development, which just had land annexed into Sherwood instead of Jacksonville, donated $1,000.
Other major contributors, according to the report, were JBBS, a company in North Little Rock, donated $1,000; Sherwood Holding Co., donated $1,000; Billy Molden donated $500; Steve Deere donated $500; Mike Marlar with Marlar Engineering donated $2,000; F and O Investments in North Little Rock donated $500; car dealer Frank Fletcher donated $2,000; Mattie Lainhart donated $2,000; Statewide Outdoor Advertising of North Little Rock donated $1,000; Randy Wiggins Co. of North Little Rock donated $500; Lila and Andrew Collins, owners of Cypress Properties, donated $1,000; Jake Van Pelt donated $500; Bobbie Hindman donated $500; Mary Harmon donated $2,000, and Raintight Roofing of North Little Rock donated $500.
Car dealer James Ray Arrington donated $1,500; Jeffrey Brantley of Jacksonville donated $500; $500 came from the James and Jean Greene Living Trust; Billy Hall with Ivy Hall Wrecker donated $500;Trimek Properties of Magnolia donated $1,000; Kathy Davis of Greenbriar donated $500; R&L Properties of Little Rock donated $500, and The Pong Man in North Little Rock donated $800.
According to Ander-son’s report, she’s used $9,260 of her own money to finance her campaign. She has received $150 worth of T-shirts from Custom Creations in North Little Rock.
Eleven of Anderson’s 25 listed contributors have Sher-wood addresses. Among her largest contributors were homebuilder Jack Wilson at $300; Paul Minton at $250; Julann Carney at $250 and Randy Wiggins, who also gave to the Harmon campaign, donated $100.
In her report, Hillman lists a $400 printing donation from Richard Moore and $85 printing donation from Harmon Trophy.
She lists 17 contributors of more than $50 and 11 of those are from Sherwood.
Among her contributors are Money Tree Loans at $1,000; Harold Fortson of Jacksonville gave $500; Louella Fortson of Jacksonville, donated $250; Dr. James and Barbara Sims donated $250; and Paul Minton, who also contributed to Anderson’s campaign, donated $250.
Hillman has also used $1,000 of her own money in the campaign.
She has spent $2,828 on political signs and $1,154 in direct mail.
Devine’s report shows $1,500 in non-monetary contributions, including $1,200 from a Little Rock company and $300 worth of T-shirts from Tom Reynolds.
Devine’s report shows no contributions over $50. Expenses include $4,200 with Custom Creations for cards, pencils and signs and $5,206 to Image Printing for campaign postcards.
There will be eight voting sites opened Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The sites are Sylvan Hills United Methodist Church, Brockington Road Church of the Nazarene, Sylvan Hills Community Church, the Jack Evans Senior Citizens Center, First Baptist Church of Sherwood, Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Church, Indianhead Lake Baptist Church and the Sherwood Youth Center.
Residents can call the Pulaski County clerk’s office at 340-8683 or go to www.pulaskiclerk.com to verify their polling site.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
TOP STORY >>Hamburger tax on agenda
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce wants the brakes put on a proposed two-cent tax on prepared foods, also known as a hamburger tax.
The city council will discuss the tax at its council meetin at 7 p.m. Thursday at city hall.
The new tax, which does not need to be voted on by residents, will bring in about $550,000 annually to be added to the $88,000 the city’s advertising and promotion commission already receives through a two-cent hotel tax.
Money generated from the new tax will give Jacksonville’s military museum a chance to bring in aircraft to display on the museum grounds, help bring in a big- name entertainer to the Wing Ding Festival and fire up the fireworks at the annual patriotic spectacular.
Alderman Marshall Smith, who chairs the advertising and promotion commission, says a number of aldermen are for the tax, but it will only be discussed at this upcoming meeting. “I don’t see us voting on it yet. Everyone needs to take a good look at it, before we put it in an ordinance,” he said.
That’s what the chamber wants, too.
Pat Bond, the chamber board president, said the group is not against the tax, but wants the city and residents to take time to fully understand the implications of the tax and exactly how the money is going to be spent.
The chamber board has passed a resolution stating that position and plans to present it at the city council meeting.
Based on figures provided by the state department of finance, the commission believes the two-cent tax will bring in $550,000 the first year.
The commission has suggested that it use half the income, or $275,000, for professional promotion and marketing campaigns to bring people to Jacksonville and its attractions.
About 30 percent of the tax, or $163,000, will be given to the city’s parks and recreation department to be used for park improvements and operations.
The Jacksonville Museum of Military History will get $22,000 of the new money to help get the necessary permission to display static aircraft and to help toward the purchase of an aircraft.
The commission has earmarked $20,000 for the patriotic spectacular show to increase its promotion of the event and allow for a bigger fireworks show.
The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield group will get $12,000 to buy Civil War displays and make other improvements to the site to bring in tourists.
Wing Ding will get $10,000 to help bring in a big-name entertainer to the festival, helping to bring in more tourists.
The commission will set aside $30,000 of the tax for projects, requests and ideas that come up during the year that are not already budgeted. Another $18,000 will be used for help pay for the staff to coordinate and collect the tax data, staff training and educating businesses and the public on what types of items are taxable.
“For example,” explained Paul Mushrush, the city’s finance director, “if you go into a store or restaurant and fill a to-go box with salad items from the salad bar that is not a prepared food item, but if you add utensils, then it becomes taxable.”
According to state law, a city can have up to a three-cent tax on prepared foods and up to a three-cent tax on hotel rooms to gain funds for marketing and promotion.
The council can approve up to a two-cent tax in either category without asking for a vote of the residents. A three-cent levy requires a public vote.
Leader staff writer
The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce wants the brakes put on a proposed two-cent tax on prepared foods, also known as a hamburger tax.
The city council will discuss the tax at its council meetin at 7 p.m. Thursday at city hall.
The new tax, which does not need to be voted on by residents, will bring in about $550,000 annually to be added to the $88,000 the city’s advertising and promotion commission already receives through a two-cent hotel tax.
Money generated from the new tax will give Jacksonville’s military museum a chance to bring in aircraft to display on the museum grounds, help bring in a big- name entertainer to the Wing Ding Festival and fire up the fireworks at the annual patriotic spectacular.
Alderman Marshall Smith, who chairs the advertising and promotion commission, says a number of aldermen are for the tax, but it will only be discussed at this upcoming meeting. “I don’t see us voting on it yet. Everyone needs to take a good look at it, before we put it in an ordinance,” he said.
That’s what the chamber wants, too.
Pat Bond, the chamber board president, said the group is not against the tax, but wants the city and residents to take time to fully understand the implications of the tax and exactly how the money is going to be spent.
The chamber board has passed a resolution stating that position and plans to present it at the city council meeting.
Based on figures provided by the state department of finance, the commission believes the two-cent tax will bring in $550,000 the first year.
The commission has suggested that it use half the income, or $275,000, for professional promotion and marketing campaigns to bring people to Jacksonville and its attractions.
About 30 percent of the tax, or $163,000, will be given to the city’s parks and recreation department to be used for park improvements and operations.
The Jacksonville Museum of Military History will get $22,000 of the new money to help get the necessary permission to display static aircraft and to help toward the purchase of an aircraft.
The commission has earmarked $20,000 for the patriotic spectacular show to increase its promotion of the event and allow for a bigger fireworks show.
The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield group will get $12,000 to buy Civil War displays and make other improvements to the site to bring in tourists.
Wing Ding will get $10,000 to help bring in a big-name entertainer to the festival, helping to bring in more tourists.
The commission will set aside $30,000 of the tax for projects, requests and ideas that come up during the year that are not already budgeted. Another $18,000 will be used for help pay for the staff to coordinate and collect the tax data, staff training and educating businesses and the public on what types of items are taxable.
“For example,” explained Paul Mushrush, the city’s finance director, “if you go into a store or restaurant and fill a to-go box with salad items from the salad bar that is not a prepared food item, but if you add utensils, then it becomes taxable.”
According to state law, a city can have up to a three-cent tax on prepared foods and up to a three-cent tax on hotel rooms to gain funds for marketing and promotion.
The council can approve up to a two-cent tax in either category without asking for a vote of the residents. A three-cent levy requires a public vote.
TOP STORY >>Highway funds could run dry for area cities
By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer
Unless Congress dramatically increases its highway funding or the next General Assembly authorizes regional groups to levy taxes and float highway bonds, drivers in central Arkansas are literally facing gridlock in an uncertain future, Jim McKenzie, executive director of Metroplan, told members of the Transportation Advisory Council last week.
The TAC is one of the bodies that must complete Metro 2035, a long-range transportation plan, by 2010.
The rules have changed — most of us just don’t know it yet, he said.
McKenzie said it would take time for central Arkansas residents to realize that it’s probably going to be up to them to pay for new roads and highways and to patch and improve the old ones.
Over the next 10 years, the state Highway and Transportation Department has identified about $19.1 billion worth of needs, but only about $4.1 billion in anticipated revenue.
Even if the new Democratic controlled Congress wanted to raise taxes for the nation’s highways, President Bush is unlikely to sign off on a new tax, according to McKenzie’s assessment. That means that by default, the responsibility for funding road and highway repairs and construction will revert to states and metropolitan areas, McKenzie said.
Except the handful that have already taken action, every metropolitan area and state in the nation will be facing similar problems, according to McKenzie, who as the immediate past vice president of the National Association of Metropolitan Plan-ning Organizations, should know. He was the group’s top professional planner.
McKenzie said that with the interstate system completed, the federal government might opt to turn existing gasoline tax revenues back to the states and wash their hands of it.
If the past is an indicator, Congress won’t raise taxes to keep pace with inflation or increased demand and congestion, so the burden shifts back to the states, he said, even if Congress never passes a law expressly saying so.
“The Highway Trust Fund is on the verge of bankruptcy,” he said. “Major funding (in Congress) is two years late, illusionary and inadequate.”
As for erosion of the dollar, he noted that in 1977, $100 million would widen to five lanes 143 miles of rural highway.
Today that same $100 million would widen about 17 miles.
The General Assembly already has authorized creation of regional mobility authorities, and Metroplan hopes to organize one this year including Pulaski, Lonoke, Faulkner and Saline counties, according to Richard Mcgee, Metroplan deputy director.
McKenzie says the best hope for additional highway funding might be a $2 billion, 10-year bond paid for by either a 5-cent increase in gasoline taxes, a half- percent sales tax increase or a combination.
Then as people in certain areas want bypasses or new highways or roads constructed, they could take proposals to the voters.
Four immediate uncertainties face Arkansas transportation planners as they approach three years of required work on a new 25-year transportation plan for Pulaski, Lonoke, Saline and Faulkner counties.
Uncertainties include:
Whether or not the current federal highway plan will be reauthorized
What the state highway program will pay for and include
Whether or not the next General Assembly will authorize the new regional mobility Authorities to tax sales or gas
And what road-building restrictions may be imposed upon central Arkansas, which seems likely to exceed allowable ozone levels this summer.
Leader staff writer
Unless Congress dramatically increases its highway funding or the next General Assembly authorizes regional groups to levy taxes and float highway bonds, drivers in central Arkansas are literally facing gridlock in an uncertain future, Jim McKenzie, executive director of Metroplan, told members of the Transportation Advisory Council last week.
The TAC is one of the bodies that must complete Metro 2035, a long-range transportation plan, by 2010.
The rules have changed — most of us just don’t know it yet, he said.
McKenzie said it would take time for central Arkansas residents to realize that it’s probably going to be up to them to pay for new roads and highways and to patch and improve the old ones.
Over the next 10 years, the state Highway and Transportation Department has identified about $19.1 billion worth of needs, but only about $4.1 billion in anticipated revenue.
Even if the new Democratic controlled Congress wanted to raise taxes for the nation’s highways, President Bush is unlikely to sign off on a new tax, according to McKenzie’s assessment. That means that by default, the responsibility for funding road and highway repairs and construction will revert to states and metropolitan areas, McKenzie said.
Except the handful that have already taken action, every metropolitan area and state in the nation will be facing similar problems, according to McKenzie, who as the immediate past vice president of the National Association of Metropolitan Plan-ning Organizations, should know. He was the group’s top professional planner.
McKenzie said that with the interstate system completed, the federal government might opt to turn existing gasoline tax revenues back to the states and wash their hands of it.
If the past is an indicator, Congress won’t raise taxes to keep pace with inflation or increased demand and congestion, so the burden shifts back to the states, he said, even if Congress never passes a law expressly saying so.
“The Highway Trust Fund is on the verge of bankruptcy,” he said. “Major funding (in Congress) is two years late, illusionary and inadequate.”
As for erosion of the dollar, he noted that in 1977, $100 million would widen to five lanes 143 miles of rural highway.
Today that same $100 million would widen about 17 miles.
The General Assembly already has authorized creation of regional mobility authorities, and Metroplan hopes to organize one this year including Pulaski, Lonoke, Faulkner and Saline counties, according to Richard Mcgee, Metroplan deputy director.
McKenzie says the best hope for additional highway funding might be a $2 billion, 10-year bond paid for by either a 5-cent increase in gasoline taxes, a half- percent sales tax increase or a combination.
Then as people in certain areas want bypasses or new highways or roads constructed, they could take proposals to the voters.
Four immediate uncertainties face Arkansas transportation planners as they approach three years of required work on a new 25-year transportation plan for Pulaski, Lonoke, Saline and Faulkner counties.
Uncertainties include:
Whether or not the current federal highway plan will be reauthorized
What the state highway program will pay for and include
Whether or not the next General Assembly will authorize the new regional mobility Authorities to tax sales or gas
And what road-building restrictions may be imposed upon central Arkansas, which seems likely to exceed allowable ozone levels this summer.
TOP STORY >>Beebe is reluctant to outlaw pit bulls
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The Beebe City Council did not ban pit bulls Monday night as expected.
Instead the council told the city attorney to draft an ordinance with a grandfather clause that would allow pit bull owners to keep the dogs that are licensed now.
Alderman Janice Petray, who reluctantly agreed that responsible dog owners shouldn’t have to give up their pets, pointed out when the council voted to send the ordinance back for revision that there are only four registered pit bulls in the city limits. So when the ordinance eventually passes, the others should have to go, she said.
Although Horace Taylor, the city’s animal control officer, estimates that there are at least 150 pit bulls in Beebe, fewer than 10 residents attended the meeting to protest passing an ordinance that would have given pit bull owners just 60 days to find new homes for their dogs.
Among the protesters were Randy and Teresa Turner, who have kept pit bulls as pets for more than a decade. The Turners said their eight-month-old pit bull puppy never leaves their home without one of them.
Randy Turner said his pit bulls are no more vicious than any other dogs.
“I know little dogs that will eat you up,” he said.
Jaxie Hepner, who runs the Beebe Humane Society, and Marsa Zakowski, who works with Taylor to find new homes for the dogs he picks up, also attended the meeting and spoke on behalf of pit bull owners who have licensed their dogs and care for them like family members.
In other business:
The council voted to give two small pieces of property beside a drainage ditch in the Kamak subdivision to the owners of the adjoining property. The city hasn’t maintained the property and it isn’t big enough to use for anything, Mayor Mike Robertson told the council.
A city-owned, two-acre pond that has been trouble for Kamak residents since it was dug could eventually be divvied up among the residents who surround it. The pond has always leaked and flooded the surrounding yards. It has now been drained and the mayor said it is being filled with dirt. After the fill dirt has stabilized, the council should consider donating it to the residents, he said.
“It might take us a little while to take care of it, but we’re going to work on it until we get it done,” the mayor said.
The council unanimously passed an ordinance requiring drug tests for city employees.
Leader staff writer
The Beebe City Council did not ban pit bulls Monday night as expected.
Instead the council told the city attorney to draft an ordinance with a grandfather clause that would allow pit bull owners to keep the dogs that are licensed now.
Alderman Janice Petray, who reluctantly agreed that responsible dog owners shouldn’t have to give up their pets, pointed out when the council voted to send the ordinance back for revision that there are only four registered pit bulls in the city limits. So when the ordinance eventually passes, the others should have to go, she said.
Although Horace Taylor, the city’s animal control officer, estimates that there are at least 150 pit bulls in Beebe, fewer than 10 residents attended the meeting to protest passing an ordinance that would have given pit bull owners just 60 days to find new homes for their dogs.
Among the protesters were Randy and Teresa Turner, who have kept pit bulls as pets for more than a decade. The Turners said their eight-month-old pit bull puppy never leaves their home without one of them.
Randy Turner said his pit bulls are no more vicious than any other dogs.
“I know little dogs that will eat you up,” he said.
Jaxie Hepner, who runs the Beebe Humane Society, and Marsa Zakowski, who works with Taylor to find new homes for the dogs he picks up, also attended the meeting and spoke on behalf of pit bull owners who have licensed their dogs and care for them like family members.
In other business:
The council voted to give two small pieces of property beside a drainage ditch in the Kamak subdivision to the owners of the adjoining property. The city hasn’t maintained the property and it isn’t big enough to use for anything, Mayor Mike Robertson told the council.
A city-owned, two-acre pond that has been trouble for Kamak residents since it was dug could eventually be divvied up among the residents who surround it. The pond has always leaked and flooded the surrounding yards. It has now been drained and the mayor said it is being filled with dirt. After the fill dirt has stabilized, the council should consider donating it to the residents, he said.
“It might take us a little while to take care of it, but we’re going to work on it until we get it done,” the mayor said.
The council unanimously passed an ordinance requiring drug tests for city employees.
FROM THE PUBLISHER >>Air strategy saving lives
Brig. Gen. (Select) Rowayne Schatz is in his office at the headquarters of the 314th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base, where he’s the commander, and he reaches for a dagger he’d brought back from Qatar a couple of years ago, when he was in charge of running airlifts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The dagger is a reward for a job well done back in the summer and fall of 2005, when Schatz helped devise a plan to phase out dangerous convoys on the ground and instead use cargo planes to deliver supplies and personnel, especially in Iraq, where trucks were blown up by roadside bombs almost every day.
“The chief of staff said we want to use our air assets to take as many trucks off the roads as we could,” Schatz recalled during an interview last week.
Schatz, who was deputy director of mobility forces based in Qatar, came up with a plan that virtually eliminated the convoys, substituting an armada of planes that the insurgents couldn’t easily attack.
The airlift has replaced more than 6,300 convoys in the last two years.
“We worked to maximize utilization of C-130s we had in theater,” Schatz explained. “We used to bring cargo to two locations, Baghdad and Balad. We expanded that to eight different airfields.”
In addition to the C130s, he said, “We worked to improve utilization of C-17s. We used commercial-type aircraft to fly supplies to Kuwait, Turkey and Kazakhstan. It was a more efficient, effective system.”
The airlift has been a huge undertaking. U.S. forces drop as many as 600 pallets a day and deliver some 300 passengers — soldiers, sailors, Marines and others — in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Schatz said.
“My job was to provide the best support for our troops, and help make Gen. Patreus successful,” the commander explained, referring to the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Schatz knows how to move supplies and people, which is why his next assignment was at U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., where he oversaw all land and sea transport worldwide before taking on his assignment as commander at LRAFB.
He’s been here before as commander of the 50th Airlift Squadron, which was named tops in Air Mobility Command.
While commanding the squadron, he’d overseen several innovative programs, such as “building adverse-weather delivery capability — we were the first in the Air Force,” Schatz said.
That advanced delivery system allows the release of pallets from the air even when crews cannot see the ground below.
That capability comes handy in Afghanistan and Iraq, where planes want to get in and out of a hot spot as quickly as possible and stay high in the air to avoid enemy fire.
It’s not easy moving thousands of people and pallets around the globe, but Schatz can’t think of doing anything else.
He said he acquired his work ethic from his middle-class family in California, where he grew up, and studied hard and later graduated from the Air Force Academy with honors.
He’s also been a Kennedy Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
“I didn’t come from a wealthy family,” he says. “I’m a believer if you apply yourself and work hard, you will be rewarded.”
Schatz succeeded Brig. Gen. Kip Self as wing commander here in May.
Self now commands the Air Force Expeditionary Center, Fort Dix, N.J., and has been promoted to major general. (See story this page.) Schatz himself is being promoted to brigadier general, but he’s not one to brag about his accomplishments.
“I’m primarily a C-130 pilot,” he says modestly, crediting the people who serve with him for his success.
“You don’t get here by yourself,” he says. “You have mentors, people who give you great advice, great co-workers. I’ve had fantastic people who’ve worked for me and made me look good.”
(This is the last of a three-part series of articles about Col. Schatz.)
The dagger is a reward for a job well done back in the summer and fall of 2005, when Schatz helped devise a plan to phase out dangerous convoys on the ground and instead use cargo planes to deliver supplies and personnel, especially in Iraq, where trucks were blown up by roadside bombs almost every day.
“The chief of staff said we want to use our air assets to take as many trucks off the roads as we could,” Schatz recalled during an interview last week.
Schatz, who was deputy director of mobility forces based in Qatar, came up with a plan that virtually eliminated the convoys, substituting an armada of planes that the insurgents couldn’t easily attack.
The airlift has replaced more than 6,300 convoys in the last two years.
“We worked to maximize utilization of C-130s we had in theater,” Schatz explained. “We used to bring cargo to two locations, Baghdad and Balad. We expanded that to eight different airfields.”
In addition to the C130s, he said, “We worked to improve utilization of C-17s. We used commercial-type aircraft to fly supplies to Kuwait, Turkey and Kazakhstan. It was a more efficient, effective system.”
The airlift has been a huge undertaking. U.S. forces drop as many as 600 pallets a day and deliver some 300 passengers — soldiers, sailors, Marines and others — in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Schatz said.
“My job was to provide the best support for our troops, and help make Gen. Patreus successful,” the commander explained, referring to the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Schatz knows how to move supplies and people, which is why his next assignment was at U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., where he oversaw all land and sea transport worldwide before taking on his assignment as commander at LRAFB.
He’s been here before as commander of the 50th Airlift Squadron, which was named tops in Air Mobility Command.
While commanding the squadron, he’d overseen several innovative programs, such as “building adverse-weather delivery capability — we were the first in the Air Force,” Schatz said.
That advanced delivery system allows the release of pallets from the air even when crews cannot see the ground below.
That capability comes handy in Afghanistan and Iraq, where planes want to get in and out of a hot spot as quickly as possible and stay high in the air to avoid enemy fire.
It’s not easy moving thousands of people and pallets around the globe, but Schatz can’t think of doing anything else.
He said he acquired his work ethic from his middle-class family in California, where he grew up, and studied hard and later graduated from the Air Force Academy with honors.
He’s also been a Kennedy Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
“I didn’t come from a wealthy family,” he says. “I’m a believer if you apply yourself and work hard, you will be rewarded.”
Schatz succeeded Brig. Gen. Kip Self as wing commander here in May.
Self now commands the Air Force Expeditionary Center, Fort Dix, N.J., and has been promoted to major general. (See story this page.) Schatz himself is being promoted to brigadier general, but he’s not one to brag about his accomplishments.
“I’m primarily a C-130 pilot,” he says modestly, crediting the people who serve with him for his success.
“You don’t get here by yourself,” he says. “You have mentors, people who give you great advice, great co-workers. I’ve had fantastic people who’ve worked for me and made me look good.”
(This is the last of a three-part series of articles about Col. Schatz.)
EDITORIALS>>America’s birthday
We have the vague sense, unsupported by research, that the Fourth of July is the American holiday that people still observe unashamedly for its original spirit and not for its commercial or political abstractions. This is the 231st birthday of our becoming an independent nation, one peculiarly dedicated to individual freedom.
Even the most crass and politicized fireworks demonstration evokes that eternal pride in the promises of freedom that were made in the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and then enumerated 15 years later in the Bill of Rights.
It is the promise and long-evolving guarantee of those unusual civil liberties — not democracy or capitalism or any of the other verities of western prosperity — that set us apart from the other nations of the earth in 1776 and still do in 2007. It is what makes the American celebration of national independence different from all others.
It is what moved Thomas Jefferson to have engraved on his tombstone not that he was the third president of the United States or the sponsor of the country’s great expansion, but that he was the author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty, which set out in more detail one of the central freedoms on which the country was founded.
Think what courage it took in 1776 to declare such freedom.
Jefferson’s signature was not appended to the end of the ringing denunciations of King George and the pronouncements of liberty that he wrote (he was miffed that the Continental Congress had “mutilated” his version), but his name had already settled on the British lists for treason two years earlier for writing and publishing the surly “Summary View of the Rights of British America,” in which he lectured the king: “Let not the name of George the third be a blot in the pages of history. The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”
He proceeded to enumerate the ways in which the king was dishonest and violated the natural rights of people in America.
The popular slogan in America was that people were enslaved by the crown, but Jefferson and the Congress avoided the term in the Declaration of Independence for the vaguer word “tyranny,” aware that the British were fond of pointing to our hypocrisy when we invoked the natural law of individual freedom and complained about being “enslaved.”
Jefferson was already conflicted about the hypocrisy, having asked the Virginia assembly to allow him to free his own slaves and getting locked out for his trouble.
All those wrongs enumerated 231 years ago and the rights formulated into the Constitution 15 years later have been a long time actually getting fixed. After 231 years, we are still, little by little, for one and then another group of people, making the rights envisioned by Jefferson and the Continental Congress real. Slavery, racial segregation, male suffrage — they were not the last wrongs vanquished by the evolving perfection of natural law.
Every generation discovers anew the fruits of bigotry. The battle now is over discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the beautiful system of American justice will soon resolve that, too.
Were he alive today, Jefferson might be troubled by contemporary excursions from the rights he envisioned and that were enshrined in the Bill of Rights. President Bush would not get a good grade.
But the Declaration of Independence also complained that King George was obstructing the “Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners” and preventing people from coming to American shores and becoming citizens as was their right under the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.”
On that score — who knows? — Jefferson might even compliment George W. Bush and Democratic senators (notably excepting Sen. Mark Pryor) for the immigration bill that perished last week.
But the men who meddled with Jefferson’s great screed and then signed it would no doubt agree that it has been a great run and would join the chorus, “Happy 231st.” And may there be many more and better.
Even the most crass and politicized fireworks demonstration evokes that eternal pride in the promises of freedom that were made in the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and then enumerated 15 years later in the Bill of Rights.
It is the promise and long-evolving guarantee of those unusual civil liberties — not democracy or capitalism or any of the other verities of western prosperity — that set us apart from the other nations of the earth in 1776 and still do in 2007. It is what makes the American celebration of national independence different from all others.
It is what moved Thomas Jefferson to have engraved on his tombstone not that he was the third president of the United States or the sponsor of the country’s great expansion, but that he was the author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty, which set out in more detail one of the central freedoms on which the country was founded.
Think what courage it took in 1776 to declare such freedom.
Jefferson’s signature was not appended to the end of the ringing denunciations of King George and the pronouncements of liberty that he wrote (he was miffed that the Continental Congress had “mutilated” his version), but his name had already settled on the British lists for treason two years earlier for writing and publishing the surly “Summary View of the Rights of British America,” in which he lectured the king: “Let not the name of George the third be a blot in the pages of history. The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”
He proceeded to enumerate the ways in which the king was dishonest and violated the natural rights of people in America.
The popular slogan in America was that people were enslaved by the crown, but Jefferson and the Congress avoided the term in the Declaration of Independence for the vaguer word “tyranny,” aware that the British were fond of pointing to our hypocrisy when we invoked the natural law of individual freedom and complained about being “enslaved.”
Jefferson was already conflicted about the hypocrisy, having asked the Virginia assembly to allow him to free his own slaves and getting locked out for his trouble.
All those wrongs enumerated 231 years ago and the rights formulated into the Constitution 15 years later have been a long time actually getting fixed. After 231 years, we are still, little by little, for one and then another group of people, making the rights envisioned by Jefferson and the Continental Congress real. Slavery, racial segregation, male suffrage — they were not the last wrongs vanquished by the evolving perfection of natural law.
Every generation discovers anew the fruits of bigotry. The battle now is over discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the beautiful system of American justice will soon resolve that, too.
Were he alive today, Jefferson might be troubled by contemporary excursions from the rights he envisioned and that were enshrined in the Bill of Rights. President Bush would not get a good grade.
But the Declaration of Independence also complained that King George was obstructing the “Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners” and preventing people from coming to American shores and becoming citizens as was their right under the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.”
On that score — who knows? — Jefferson might even compliment George W. Bush and Democratic senators (notably excepting Sen. Mark Pryor) for the immigration bill that perished last week.
But the men who meddled with Jefferson’s great screed and then signed it would no doubt agree that it has been a great run and would join the chorus, “Happy 231st.” And may there be many more and better.
TOP STORY >>New postal outlet
By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams went to Washington in April, in part to ask for a post office on the west side of town.
What he has been offered instead is a contract postal unit (CPU) that would be located in an existing business and offer most of the services of a regular post office.
Karen Davis, the mayor’s director of operations, said Monday that the U.S. Postal Service has informed the mayor in a letter that due to “facility guidelines and space requirements” Cabot doesn’t qualify for a post office at this time.
But with such a cryptic explanation, Davis says she doesn’t know what the problem is and neither does the mayor. So she has written to Cong. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, asking him to get more information.
“We want to know what we have to do to get it,” Davis said.
The current facility is frequently overcrowded and the parking lot is too small, she said.
The Postal Service is evaluating four area businesses as possible CPUs, she said. It is not known when one will be selected.
When the mayor was in Washington, he also spoke to Berry about a National Guard readiness center and money for a north interchange, two other large projects that he would like to see started while he is mayor.
Cabot is almost certain to get the $8 million readiness center if the city can provide the land, he told a group of AARP members last week. And Berry has promised $1 million for preliminary work on the north interchange.
Leader staff writer
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams went to Washington in April, in part to ask for a post office on the west side of town.
What he has been offered instead is a contract postal unit (CPU) that would be located in an existing business and offer most of the services of a regular post office.
Karen Davis, the mayor’s director of operations, said Monday that the U.S. Postal Service has informed the mayor in a letter that due to “facility guidelines and space requirements” Cabot doesn’t qualify for a post office at this time.
But with such a cryptic explanation, Davis says she doesn’t know what the problem is and neither does the mayor. So she has written to Cong. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, asking him to get more information.
“We want to know what we have to do to get it,” Davis said.
The current facility is frequently overcrowded and the parking lot is too small, she said.
The Postal Service is evaluating four area businesses as possible CPUs, she said. It is not known when one will be selected.
When the mayor was in Washington, he also spoke to Berry about a National Guard readiness center and money for a north interchange, two other large projects that he would like to see started while he is mayor.
Cabot is almost certain to get the $8 million readiness center if the city can provide the land, he told a group of AARP members last week. And Berry has promised $1 million for preliminary work on the north interchange.
TOP STORY >>Group looks into mailings
By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
A national watchdog group is looking into possible campaign violations by Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Church and other churches in Sherwood.
Cornerstone is among at least eight churches that have apparently mailed out postcards asking church members to support Bill Harmon’s campaign for mayor, and that support may be a violation of election laws and could put the churches’ nonprofit status in jeopardy.
Robert Boston, the assistant director of communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, said, “The key is if any church resources were used. If so, the church could lose its tax-exempt status.
“Did the church turn over its membership list to the campaign, or is this the action of a rogue member? That’s what needs to be determined,” Boston said.
“Most members have a church directory, and some could use them for nefarious purposes without the church knowing,” Boston added.
The Harmon campaign, using a membership mailing list provided by someone at Cornerstone, mailed a postcard to church members telling members that they should vote for Harmon. The postcard was signed by Scott Cromer, who is listed as an elder with the church.
A deacon with First Baptist Church has also signed similar postcards.
Early voting is currently ongoing in the special election to replace Mayor Dan Stedman, who resigned in April, citing health reasons. Harmon, the former mayor, has been serving as interim mayor.
The election is Tuesday, July 10 at eight polling sites across the city. Early voting can be done at the Jack Evans Senior Center or the Pulaski County Courthouse in Little Rock. More than 300 people have already cast their ballots.
Mayoral candidate Doris Anderson called the postcard mailings a direct violation of the law. “Churches are for praying, healing and religion. I don’t want my church telling me what my politics should be and who I should vote for. Do you?
“And what is a church doing giving out or selling its membership list to a third party?” Anderson wanted to know. “It would be a breach of my privacy if my church gave out my information,” she said.
All the cards signed by Cromer were mailed by the “Bill Harmon Campaign Committee, 7901 Hwy. 107.”
Anderson filed a complaint with the state board of election commissioners Monday and asked for special-election monitors to be posted at all Sherwood election sites since Cornerstone and most of the other churches involved are also polling sites.
“At the time I talked to the board, I knew of two churches, but now there appears to be at least eight churches,” she said.
The election board reviewed her request for certified-election monitors and said they were not necessary.
Ruth Baines, the board’s deputy director, wrote in a letter to Anderson, “Unless you can substantiate your allegation that poll workers have become compromised, no apparent violation of any election law under the investigative jurisdiction of the state board has occurred. There is no prohibition against poll workers supporting candidates so long as no electioneering occurs while serving in their official capacity as a poll worker. Therefore, it has been determined that the appointment of monitors is unnecessary at this time.
“As a candidate on the ballot, you are entitled to one authorized representative at each polling location during the election, including early voting to observe the election process,” Raines wrote.
According to state law, no candidate can campaign, in any shape or manner, within 100 feet of a polling site, and no campaign material can be posted inside the polling site.
Mike Haigh, a pastor with Cornerstone, said Tuesday that the church had no knowledge about the postcards.
“We don’t get involved with political issues. We may take a Biblical stance on an issue, but not a political one,” he said. “We certainly have not become involved in the mayor’s race.”
Haigh also said that Cromer recently gave up his elder status with the church.
The postcards signed by Cromer say, “Bill and Marvelle Harmon are strong Christians who raised their four children in Sherwood.”
The implication is that the other candidates are not strong Christians.
Anderson’s husband, Mike, is licensed to preach in the United Methodist ministry.
“We have six children and many of them are of different faiths, so we share our church time with them,” Doris Anderson said.
City Clerk Virginia Hillman, also running for mayor, said she is definitely a Christian and that she, her husband and daughter “are actively involved in the church.”
Candidate Victor Sierra said that he was also an active churchgoer and has been attending Central Baptist Church. “I don’t know if these postcards are illegal, but I don’t think it’s right to have churches involved like this,” he said.
Richard Devine, another candidate, said that he, too, was a Christian and attended church. “But is this really relevant?” he asked.
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations—that includes many churches—are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.
The IRS code says that violations could result in the loss of the organization’s tax-exempt status.
Intervention, according to the IRS, includes “distributing statements prepared by others that favor or oppose any candidate for public office.”
Susan Inman, head of the Pulaski County Election Commission, said her organization doesn’t have the authority to act on complaints like this, and said any action would have to be taken by the state board of elections or the ethics commission.
The postcard from Cornerstone also tells church members that Harmon was helpful in resolving a zoning problem the church had.
“Mayor Harmon worked with the church and the city council to resolve that issue in our favor. Now Mayor Harmon needs your help and support, and we would greatly appreciate you making the effort to get out and vote for him,” Cromer wrote.
The IRS says, to avoid possible conflicts with the campaign law, “organization leaders who speak or write in their individual capacity are encouraged to clearly indicate that their comments are personal and not intended to represent the views of the organization.”
But when Cromer addressed the signed postcards to “Dear Fellow CBF Member,” the implication was that the mailing was a church-sponsored event.
Leader staff writer
A national watchdog group is looking into possible campaign violations by Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Church and other churches in Sherwood.
Cornerstone is among at least eight churches that have apparently mailed out postcards asking church members to support Bill Harmon’s campaign for mayor, and that support may be a violation of election laws and could put the churches’ nonprofit status in jeopardy.
Robert Boston, the assistant director of communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, said, “The key is if any church resources were used. If so, the church could lose its tax-exempt status.
“Did the church turn over its membership list to the campaign, or is this the action of a rogue member? That’s what needs to be determined,” Boston said.
“Most members have a church directory, and some could use them for nefarious purposes without the church knowing,” Boston added.
The Harmon campaign, using a membership mailing list provided by someone at Cornerstone, mailed a postcard to church members telling members that they should vote for Harmon. The postcard was signed by Scott Cromer, who is listed as an elder with the church.
A deacon with First Baptist Church has also signed similar postcards.
Early voting is currently ongoing in the special election to replace Mayor Dan Stedman, who resigned in April, citing health reasons. Harmon, the former mayor, has been serving as interim mayor.
The election is Tuesday, July 10 at eight polling sites across the city. Early voting can be done at the Jack Evans Senior Center or the Pulaski County Courthouse in Little Rock. More than 300 people have already cast their ballots.
Mayoral candidate Doris Anderson called the postcard mailings a direct violation of the law. “Churches are for praying, healing and religion. I don’t want my church telling me what my politics should be and who I should vote for. Do you?
“And what is a church doing giving out or selling its membership list to a third party?” Anderson wanted to know. “It would be a breach of my privacy if my church gave out my information,” she said.
All the cards signed by Cromer were mailed by the “Bill Harmon Campaign Committee, 7901 Hwy. 107.”
Anderson filed a complaint with the state board of election commissioners Monday and asked for special-election monitors to be posted at all Sherwood election sites since Cornerstone and most of the other churches involved are also polling sites.
“At the time I talked to the board, I knew of two churches, but now there appears to be at least eight churches,” she said.
The election board reviewed her request for certified-election monitors and said they were not necessary.
Ruth Baines, the board’s deputy director, wrote in a letter to Anderson, “Unless you can substantiate your allegation that poll workers have become compromised, no apparent violation of any election law under the investigative jurisdiction of the state board has occurred. There is no prohibition against poll workers supporting candidates so long as no electioneering occurs while serving in their official capacity as a poll worker. Therefore, it has been determined that the appointment of monitors is unnecessary at this time.
“As a candidate on the ballot, you are entitled to one authorized representative at each polling location during the election, including early voting to observe the election process,” Raines wrote.
According to state law, no candidate can campaign, in any shape or manner, within 100 feet of a polling site, and no campaign material can be posted inside the polling site.
Mike Haigh, a pastor with Cornerstone, said Tuesday that the church had no knowledge about the postcards.
“We don’t get involved with political issues. We may take a Biblical stance on an issue, but not a political one,” he said. “We certainly have not become involved in the mayor’s race.”
Haigh also said that Cromer recently gave up his elder status with the church.
The postcards signed by Cromer say, “Bill and Marvelle Harmon are strong Christians who raised their four children in Sherwood.”
The implication is that the other candidates are not strong Christians.
Anderson’s husband, Mike, is licensed to preach in the United Methodist ministry.
“We have six children and many of them are of different faiths, so we share our church time with them,” Doris Anderson said.
City Clerk Virginia Hillman, also running for mayor, said she is definitely a Christian and that she, her husband and daughter “are actively involved in the church.”
Candidate Victor Sierra said that he was also an active churchgoer and has been attending Central Baptist Church. “I don’t know if these postcards are illegal, but I don’t think it’s right to have churches involved like this,” he said.
Richard Devine, another candidate, said that he, too, was a Christian and attended church. “But is this really relevant?” he asked.
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations—that includes many churches—are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.
The IRS code says that violations could result in the loss of the organization’s tax-exempt status.
Intervention, according to the IRS, includes “distributing statements prepared by others that favor or oppose any candidate for public office.”
Susan Inman, head of the Pulaski County Election Commission, said her organization doesn’t have the authority to act on complaints like this, and said any action would have to be taken by the state board of elections or the ethics commission.
The postcard from Cornerstone also tells church members that Harmon was helpful in resolving a zoning problem the church had.
“Mayor Harmon worked with the church and the city council to resolve that issue in our favor. Now Mayor Harmon needs your help and support, and we would greatly appreciate you making the effort to get out and vote for him,” Cromer wrote.
The IRS says, to avoid possible conflicts with the campaign law, “organization leaders who speak or write in their individual capacity are encouraged to clearly indicate that their comments are personal and not intended to represent the views of the organization.”
But when Cromer addressed the signed postcards to “Dear Fellow CBF Member,” the implication was that the mailing was a church-sponsored event.
SPORTS>>Sylvan Hills into state
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Sylvan Hills 15-year old Junior Babe Ruth team earned a spot in the state tournament by taking the runner-up trophy in district over the weekend in Cabot. Sylvan Hills lost twice to Maumelle in the event to take second place, and will play in the state tournament at El Dorado that begins July 13.
Sylvan Hills competed well with Maumelle in both encounters of the seventh inning. They trailed 4-1 in their first meeting when a 90-minute rain delay halted the game in the sixth. When the two teams returned, Maumelle scored 10 runs in the top of the seventh to set the final margin. In the championship game, the two teams scored two runs apiece in the first inning and stayed tied until Maumelle added two more in the fourth. The score remained 4-2 until the seventh, when Maumelle again piled on five runs to take the championship 9-2.
“We hit the ball all up and down the lineup until we played Maumelle,” Sylvan Hills coach Walt Delt said. “Their pitcher was throwing 3-2 curve balls for strikes, which is cruel at this level. He’s a good one.”
Delt’s All-Star team got some good pitching in the tournament as well. Greg Atchison threw six innings on Sunday and gave up just two earned runs while striking out eight Maumelle batters.
“He did an outstanding job for us,” Delt said. “He’s not our No. 1 starter and he did a great job of keeping a really good-hitting team off balance.”
Atchison was on the receiving end of pitches in the team’s two wins. Sylvan Hills beat Jacksonville 11-7 in the opening round, and toppled Lakewood 15-4 later in the tournament. Cameron Graves was on the mound to get the wins in both of those games.
“Cameron had a fantastic tournament,” Delt said.
Atchison also led the team offensively, collecting eight base hits in the tournament. Jonathan Delt reached six times on base hits, including a three-hit effort in the win over Lakewood.
Delt also singled out shortstop Cory Arnold and utility player Michael Lock for their offensive performances in the tournament.
“We had a lot of guys get a lot of base hits for us,” Delt said. “We just couldn’t produce like we needed against Maumelle.”
Sylvan Hills’ opponent isn’t yet certain, but it will open the state tournament at 11 a.m. Friday, July 13 in El Dorado
Leader sports editor
The Sylvan Hills 15-year old Junior Babe Ruth team earned a spot in the state tournament by taking the runner-up trophy in district over the weekend in Cabot. Sylvan Hills lost twice to Maumelle in the event to take second place, and will play in the state tournament at El Dorado that begins July 13.
Sylvan Hills competed well with Maumelle in both encounters of the seventh inning. They trailed 4-1 in their first meeting when a 90-minute rain delay halted the game in the sixth. When the two teams returned, Maumelle scored 10 runs in the top of the seventh to set the final margin. In the championship game, the two teams scored two runs apiece in the first inning and stayed tied until Maumelle added two more in the fourth. The score remained 4-2 until the seventh, when Maumelle again piled on five runs to take the championship 9-2.
“We hit the ball all up and down the lineup until we played Maumelle,” Sylvan Hills coach Walt Delt said. “Their pitcher was throwing 3-2 curve balls for strikes, which is cruel at this level. He’s a good one.”
Delt’s All-Star team got some good pitching in the tournament as well. Greg Atchison threw six innings on Sunday and gave up just two earned runs while striking out eight Maumelle batters.
“He did an outstanding job for us,” Delt said. “He’s not our No. 1 starter and he did a great job of keeping a really good-hitting team off balance.”
Atchison was on the receiving end of pitches in the team’s two wins. Sylvan Hills beat Jacksonville 11-7 in the opening round, and toppled Lakewood 15-4 later in the tournament. Cameron Graves was on the mound to get the wins in both of those games.
“Cameron had a fantastic tournament,” Delt said.
Atchison also led the team offensively, collecting eight base hits in the tournament. Jonathan Delt reached six times on base hits, including a three-hit effort in the win over Lakewood.
Delt also singled out shortstop Cory Arnold and utility player Michael Lock for their offensive performances in the tournament.
“We had a lot of guys get a lot of base hits for us,” Delt said. “We just couldn’t produce like we needed against Maumelle.”
Sylvan Hills’ opponent isn’t yet certain, but it will open the state tournament at 11 a.m. Friday, July 13 in El Dorado
SPORTS>>Cabot AAA splits two at Blytheville
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Cabot’s Class AAA American Legion team had very mixed results during a two-game stand at Blytheville on Saturday. Post 71 dropped the first game of the twin-bill in five innings during a miserable 13-0 performance, but recovered nicely to take the nightcap 6-2 without the benefit of head coach Andy Runyan’s input during the final three innings.
There was little for Cabot fans to write home about in the opener, in which Post 71 sent 11 Blytheville batters to the bag by either walks or hit-by-pitches. Cabot itself only ended up with four runners on base the entire contest off two hits and two walks.
The defensive performance overall left a little to be desired, as two Cabot errors helped an already-hot Blytheville team extend their already large lead into run-rule status by the end of the fifth inning.
The second game was much more closely contested, and definitely more heated.
“I got tossed in the fourth inning,” Runyan told the Leader. “I had what you could call a disagreement with the umpire over a strikeout. (Justin) Haas had a 3-1 count, and they called strike two on a marginal pitch. When he got called on the K, I debated the second strike with the umpire. Our assistant coach Chris Gross took the reigns from there and did a great job getting the win for us.”
Cabot’s first run would arrive in the second inning when Jeremy Wilson tripled to bring in Jackson Chism. Three more runs came one inning later in the third, when Ben Wainwright, Chism and Sean Clarkson all came away with RBIs to increase the lead to 4-1.
Despite leading most of the way in game two, Post 71 took the proper precautions to assure themselves the win with a pair of insurance runs in the top of the sixth inning. The two scores were almost gimmies by Blytheville, as Haas and Chad Bryant both received walks to reach base, and both runners would come in for their respective scores during passed balls at the plate.
Clarkson took the win at the mound for Cabot. Clarkson went the distance, giving up two runs while striking out four batters.
The split moved Cabot’s record to 8-9 on the season. Cabot was scheduled to host Searcy Monday night. With the number of strong teams remaining on the schedule, and Post 71’s already improved 2-1 zone record this season over last year’s winless effort, Runyan says his team is looking better by the day for the upcoming zone tournaments.
“We have definitely made progress in the last 12 months,” Runyan said. “We didn’t have a single zone win this time last year; we went 0-5. I feel a lot better about things this year for sure. We have a lot of good teams still left to play. Hopefully that will have us ready to play once tournament time rolls around.”
Leader sportswriter
Cabot’s Class AAA American Legion team had very mixed results during a two-game stand at Blytheville on Saturday. Post 71 dropped the first game of the twin-bill in five innings during a miserable 13-0 performance, but recovered nicely to take the nightcap 6-2 without the benefit of head coach Andy Runyan’s input during the final three innings.
There was little for Cabot fans to write home about in the opener, in which Post 71 sent 11 Blytheville batters to the bag by either walks or hit-by-pitches. Cabot itself only ended up with four runners on base the entire contest off two hits and two walks.
The defensive performance overall left a little to be desired, as two Cabot errors helped an already-hot Blytheville team extend their already large lead into run-rule status by the end of the fifth inning.
The second game was much more closely contested, and definitely more heated.
“I got tossed in the fourth inning,” Runyan told the Leader. “I had what you could call a disagreement with the umpire over a strikeout. (Justin) Haas had a 3-1 count, and they called strike two on a marginal pitch. When he got called on the K, I debated the second strike with the umpire. Our assistant coach Chris Gross took the reigns from there and did a great job getting the win for us.”
Cabot’s first run would arrive in the second inning when Jeremy Wilson tripled to bring in Jackson Chism. Three more runs came one inning later in the third, when Ben Wainwright, Chism and Sean Clarkson all came away with RBIs to increase the lead to 4-1.
Despite leading most of the way in game two, Post 71 took the proper precautions to assure themselves the win with a pair of insurance runs in the top of the sixth inning. The two scores were almost gimmies by Blytheville, as Haas and Chad Bryant both received walks to reach base, and both runners would come in for their respective scores during passed balls at the plate.
Clarkson took the win at the mound for Cabot. Clarkson went the distance, giving up two runs while striking out four batters.
The split moved Cabot’s record to 8-9 on the season. Cabot was scheduled to host Searcy Monday night. With the number of strong teams remaining on the schedule, and Post 71’s already improved 2-1 zone record this season over last year’s winless effort, Runyan says his team is looking better by the day for the upcoming zone tournaments.
“We have definitely made progress in the last 12 months,” Runyan said. “We didn’t have a single zone win this time last year; we went 0-5. I feel a lot better about things this year for sure. We have a lot of good teams still left to play. Hopefully that will have us ready to play once tournament time rolls around.”
SPORTS>>Title bid ends for Bruins in
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Sylvan Hills bounced back from a loss to Benton during the first day of pool play to win its next two games of the Fourth of July Classic American Legion baseball tournament at Dupree Park in Jacksonville over the weekend. The Bruins shut out Dunklin Co., Missouri, Saturday morning to set up a battle with familiar foe and host team Jacksonville for the pool A runner-up slot. Sylvan Hills would take the win over the Chevy boys 10-4.
The teams were familiar, but the locale was slightly different, as the two teams took to Shireman Field at Dupree Park instead of the usual Hickingbotham Field. Shireman Field, better known to locals as the North Pulaski field, was used for the Gwatney/SH showdown while the Chevy boys’ normal home field was in use by Sheridan and Paragould.
Besides battling each other, the two teams also faced a strong threat from Mother Nature during the Saturday afternoon contest. Most of the first five innings were played during a steady drizzle, with one solid outburst in the fourth inning that ended just quickly enough to avoid what seemed to be an unavoidable rain delay.
The wet stuff subsided, and the Bruins proceeded to send the tourney’s host packing after a strong opening day on Friday.
The first three innings were fairly uneventful, but once Sylvan Hills got going in the top of the fourth inning, they would steadily increase their advantage over Gwatney during the final half of the contest.
UALR signee Ross Bogard got things going for the Bruins in the fourth when he received a walk from starting Gwatney pitcher Jordan Payer to lead off the frame. Jarrett Boles followed that with a single grounder down the third base line. A single to shortstop by Grant Garlington loaded the bases for Sylvan Hills, followed by the first RBI of the game by Ryan Wood. Wood’s single down the left side scored Bogard and Boles, giving the Bruins the early advantage, 2-0.
Gwatney answered those two scores on the bottom side of the fourth. The Chevy boys scored their first run on a single by Caleb Mitchell, and Mitchell’s courtesy runner crossed the plate one batter later on an error during Seth Tomboli’s charge to first base after an infield hit.
That would tie the score at 2-2, but the game would not stay that way for long. The Bruins came back in the top of the fifth to regain control. Henderson State bound Taylor Roark led off the inning with a single grounder to left field, and advanced on two straight walks by Payer for Nathan Eller and Bogard. Roark then tagged up on a pop-up by Garlington to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead.
That would lead up to the biggest hit of the game for Sylvan Hills. Wood stepped up to the plate with one out and two one, and proceeded to blast Payer’s offering over the left field wall to take the game from closely contested to a healthy 6-2 lead for Sylvan Hills.
Wood’s homer did more than just give the Bruins a cushion; it also proceeded to take the wind out of what had up to that point been a spirited and competitive Jacksonville team. The Chevy Boys played hard up until the home run, but just appeared to be going through the motions from the bottom of the fifth on.
Casey Winstead relieved Payer at the mound to close out the fifth, but one more Bruins run managed to slip through before the end of the frame. Future ASU Indian Tony Pavan doubled right before Payer’s exit, and was driven in for the score off a single by Eller on Winstead’s first batter faced.
Sylvan Hills pitcher Joe Gardener gave up one hit in the bottom of the fifth to Blake Mattison on a hopper to left center, but Mattison and walk recipient Adam Ussery were left on the bag when the next three batters flew out.
The Bruins started the sixth inning out threatening once again, landing their first two batters of the frame on base with singles off of Winstead, but the Gwatney defense caught one of the few breaks in the late going, retiring the next three batters to thwart the runaway.
Little insurance was needed for the Bruins in the seventh inning, but they took it anyway. It wasn’t so much that their hitting was the best of the game, but four Gwatney errors in the top of the seventh kept the turn going much longer than either team intended.
Garlington led off the inning for Sylvan Hills by taking advantage of an error up the middle to reach, and scored on a fielder’s choice by Wood. Pavan was the next error recipient on a simple hit up the middle, and moved to second on a walk for Eller.
Both runners moved to third and second when balking was called on Winstead, and a big error at first for an attempted out against Chris Eastham scored both runners to give the Bruins a 10-2 lead.
Gwatney was able to do some level of damage control during their final chance in the bottom of the seventh inning. Gardener took the win for Sylvan Hills, but not after giving up a double to Mitchell that scored Eric Berry and Clayton Fenton to set the final score at 10-4.
Jacksonville looked like they would be a serious threat during Friday’s opener against Benton. Despite having a number of players absent due to work obligations during the early afternoon contest, the Chevy boys enjoyed one of their strongest defensive performances of the season backed by a two-hitter performance at the mound by Seth Tomboli.
They were not able to keep the momentum going for a Saturday morning game against Dunklin County, as the visitors from Missouri downed Jacksonville 15-5. The loss to Sylvan Hills would be the end of pool play for Gwatney, and consequentially the end of their stint in the tourney altogether.
The Bruins’ journey through the Classic was quite the opposite. Sylvan Hills’ defense struggled tremendously during a 13-11 loss to Benton during the opening game Thursday night, but bounced back to down Dunklin Friday afternoon in a 3-0 shutout. The win over Jacksonville on Saturday earned Sylvan Hills the runner-up out of Pool A, sending them into Sunday’s semifinals in a game against Paragould, who breezed though pool play undefeated with wins over North Little Rock, Sheridan and Little Rock Blue.
Benton was the first team to make it into the final game scheduled for Sunday evening.
Sylvan Hills held strong against Paragould, playing them to a 4-4 tie through four innings. Mother Nature would intervene, however, as a strong downpour would render Hickingbotham field useless, and Paragould would take the tournament title with their undefeated record during pool-bracket play.
In other Saturday games, Little Rock Blue defeated North Little Rock 3-2, Benton beat Dunklin County 11-5 and Paragould downed Sheridan 9-1.
Leader sportswriter
Sylvan Hills bounced back from a loss to Benton during the first day of pool play to win its next two games of the Fourth of July Classic American Legion baseball tournament at Dupree Park in Jacksonville over the weekend. The Bruins shut out Dunklin Co., Missouri, Saturday morning to set up a battle with familiar foe and host team Jacksonville for the pool A runner-up slot. Sylvan Hills would take the win over the Chevy boys 10-4.
The teams were familiar, but the locale was slightly different, as the two teams took to Shireman Field at Dupree Park instead of the usual Hickingbotham Field. Shireman Field, better known to locals as the North Pulaski field, was used for the Gwatney/SH showdown while the Chevy boys’ normal home field was in use by Sheridan and Paragould.
Besides battling each other, the two teams also faced a strong threat from Mother Nature during the Saturday afternoon contest. Most of the first five innings were played during a steady drizzle, with one solid outburst in the fourth inning that ended just quickly enough to avoid what seemed to be an unavoidable rain delay.
The wet stuff subsided, and the Bruins proceeded to send the tourney’s host packing after a strong opening day on Friday.
The first three innings were fairly uneventful, but once Sylvan Hills got going in the top of the fourth inning, they would steadily increase their advantage over Gwatney during the final half of the contest.
UALR signee Ross Bogard got things going for the Bruins in the fourth when he received a walk from starting Gwatney pitcher Jordan Payer to lead off the frame. Jarrett Boles followed that with a single grounder down the third base line. A single to shortstop by Grant Garlington loaded the bases for Sylvan Hills, followed by the first RBI of the game by Ryan Wood. Wood’s single down the left side scored Bogard and Boles, giving the Bruins the early advantage, 2-0.
Gwatney answered those two scores on the bottom side of the fourth. The Chevy boys scored their first run on a single by Caleb Mitchell, and Mitchell’s courtesy runner crossed the plate one batter later on an error during Seth Tomboli’s charge to first base after an infield hit.
That would tie the score at 2-2, but the game would not stay that way for long. The Bruins came back in the top of the fifth to regain control. Henderson State bound Taylor Roark led off the inning with a single grounder to left field, and advanced on two straight walks by Payer for Nathan Eller and Bogard. Roark then tagged up on a pop-up by Garlington to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead.
That would lead up to the biggest hit of the game for Sylvan Hills. Wood stepped up to the plate with one out and two one, and proceeded to blast Payer’s offering over the left field wall to take the game from closely contested to a healthy 6-2 lead for Sylvan Hills.
Wood’s homer did more than just give the Bruins a cushion; it also proceeded to take the wind out of what had up to that point been a spirited and competitive Jacksonville team. The Chevy Boys played hard up until the home run, but just appeared to be going through the motions from the bottom of the fifth on.
Casey Winstead relieved Payer at the mound to close out the fifth, but one more Bruins run managed to slip through before the end of the frame. Future ASU Indian Tony Pavan doubled right before Payer’s exit, and was driven in for the score off a single by Eller on Winstead’s first batter faced.
Sylvan Hills pitcher Joe Gardener gave up one hit in the bottom of the fifth to Blake Mattison on a hopper to left center, but Mattison and walk recipient Adam Ussery were left on the bag when the next three batters flew out.
The Bruins started the sixth inning out threatening once again, landing their first two batters of the frame on base with singles off of Winstead, but the Gwatney defense caught one of the few breaks in the late going, retiring the next three batters to thwart the runaway.
Little insurance was needed for the Bruins in the seventh inning, but they took it anyway. It wasn’t so much that their hitting was the best of the game, but four Gwatney errors in the top of the seventh kept the turn going much longer than either team intended.
Garlington led off the inning for Sylvan Hills by taking advantage of an error up the middle to reach, and scored on a fielder’s choice by Wood. Pavan was the next error recipient on a simple hit up the middle, and moved to second on a walk for Eller.
Both runners moved to third and second when balking was called on Winstead, and a big error at first for an attempted out against Chris Eastham scored both runners to give the Bruins a 10-2 lead.
Gwatney was able to do some level of damage control during their final chance in the bottom of the seventh inning. Gardener took the win for Sylvan Hills, but not after giving up a double to Mitchell that scored Eric Berry and Clayton Fenton to set the final score at 10-4.
Jacksonville looked like they would be a serious threat during Friday’s opener against Benton. Despite having a number of players absent due to work obligations during the early afternoon contest, the Chevy boys enjoyed one of their strongest defensive performances of the season backed by a two-hitter performance at the mound by Seth Tomboli.
They were not able to keep the momentum going for a Saturday morning game against Dunklin County, as the visitors from Missouri downed Jacksonville 15-5. The loss to Sylvan Hills would be the end of pool play for Gwatney, and consequentially the end of their stint in the tourney altogether.
The Bruins’ journey through the Classic was quite the opposite. Sylvan Hills’ defense struggled tremendously during a 13-11 loss to Benton during the opening game Thursday night, but bounced back to down Dunklin Friday afternoon in a 3-0 shutout. The win over Jacksonville on Saturday earned Sylvan Hills the runner-up out of Pool A, sending them into Sunday’s semifinals in a game against Paragould, who breezed though pool play undefeated with wins over North Little Rock, Sheridan and Little Rock Blue.
Benton was the first team to make it into the final game scheduled for Sunday evening.
Sylvan Hills held strong against Paragould, playing them to a 4-4 tie through four innings. Mother Nature would intervene, however, as a strong downpour would render Hickingbotham field useless, and Paragould would take the tournament title with their undefeated record during pool-bracket play.
In other Saturday games, Little Rock Blue defeated North Little Rock 3-2, Benton beat Dunklin County 11-5 and Paragould downed Sheridan 9-1.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
SPORTS >>Gwatney takes win in opener
IN SHORT: Jacksonville took a decisive win over Benton’s McClendon’s Appliance team.
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Even though four of their starters were not present, Gwatney Chevrolet took a huge win over Benton Friday afternoon in the opening round of their own Fourth of July Classic at Dupree Park, 4-1.
Starting pitcher Seth Tomboli did his part and then some in the contest, going all seven innings with only two hits allowed, along with four walks and ten strikeouts. For Tomboli, it was simply par for the course during a strong summer in which the Jacksonville High School junior has thrown a pair of one hitters earlier this month in both Class A and AAA, along with a relief performance last week at Sheridan where he struck out eight of the nine batters he faced.
“Today was great,” Tomboli said after the game. “We had four or five guys that were not here, so we had to try out some guys that had never been in some of those positions. I’ve had a few bad games this summer, but my teammates usually pull me out of it when things go wrong.”
Gwatney led the whole way, but a run by Zach Thomas off an error on a hit by Tomboli in the top of the seventh inning set the final score at 4-1, and proved to be more than enough insurance for Jacksonville.
Jacksonville had the rare opportunity to be the visitors at Dupree in the tournament format, leading off the game with a pair of runs. Blake Mattison led off for Gwatney hitting into a 5-3, but following batters Jason Regnas and Caleb Mitchell both took free trips to the bag on walks.
This set up the first score of the game. Thomas batted 1.000 for the game, including his first of four hits in the top of the first that scored Regnas for a 1-0 Jacksonville lead.
Tomboli followed that with a single into right field that brought home Mitchell. Eric Berry suffered a K on his first at-bat, and Daniel Henard popped one into right for the final out.
Tomboli showed his hand early on in the contest. Tyler Keene led off for Benton with a fly-out to center before Greg Noble received one of four walks allowed by Tomboli in the game. The Gwatney hurler recovered to strike out the next two batters, retiring the side with one runner left on.
Gwatney struck again in the second inning with a walk for Adam Ussery to start the inning, and a single for Terrell Brown to score Ussery for a 3-0 Jacksonville lead.
Although Benton has played rather sloppily during their first two games of the Fourth of July Classic defensively, its ability to turn the double play Friday was somewhat surprising.
Mattison’s second smack would be proof of that, as McClendon’s Appliance defense got a rare U4-3 double play to catch both Brown and Mattison for the first two outs of the second inning.
Regnas doubled after the turn-two, but an infield roller to second base would end Gwatney’s turn.
Tomboli’s weakest point in the game happened during the second and third innings. He walked the first two batters in the second inning before settling down with two strikeouts and a forced pop-up. The third inning started out shaky as well, with a fielding error at third allowing the only Benton score of the game on at first.
Keene was the runner at second when Matt Sample hit a blooper into shallow center. That would score Keene and put another runner at third, but another strikeout and pop-up to shortstop would slow Benton’s efforts.
Unbeknownst to Benton at the time, it would be their last opportunity to even put a man on for the better part of three innings. Stuart Snell led off for Benton in the bottom of the fourth inning, hitting to third for the first out. Tomboli then went on strikeout frenzy, retiring the next six batters with Ks.
He struck out the final two batters in the fourth inning, and backed that up with a three-up-three-down performance in the fifth. Another strikeout against Matt Sample to lead off the sixth would end the streak, as Austin Johnson then got the second and final hit of the game for Benton.
Johnson sent the ball into the far corner of left field on a hit that was close to going foul, but stayed in just enough to tarnish Tomboli’s good effort a little more. It would not turn out to be a factor in the game, however, as the infield worked Snell for the third out.
Another Gwatney run would score due to a Benton error in the top of the seventh. Thomas singled after an out from Mitchell, and Tomboli hit what appeared to be the second out of the inning, until Benton shortstop Seth Hobbs’ throw to first ended up about five feet too high. This would allow Thomas in for the score, setting the final margin at 4-1.
Benton was left with a lot of work to do and not much time to do it in the bottom of the seventh inning, but didn’t get any of it done. The Gwatney defense held strong until the very end, sending Benton out in order to secure the game.
Thomas led Jacksonville offensively, going 4 for 4 with two RBIs. Regnas was 1 for 2 with an RBI, and Brown was 1 for 3 with an RBI.
Tomboli took the win with two hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts. Jacksonville will play two games today beginning at 11:30 a.m. against Dunklin Co., Missouri.
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Even though four of their starters were not present, Gwatney Chevrolet took a huge win over Benton Friday afternoon in the opening round of their own Fourth of July Classic at Dupree Park, 4-1.
Starting pitcher Seth Tomboli did his part and then some in the contest, going all seven innings with only two hits allowed, along with four walks and ten strikeouts. For Tomboli, it was simply par for the course during a strong summer in which the Jacksonville High School junior has thrown a pair of one hitters earlier this month in both Class A and AAA, along with a relief performance last week at Sheridan where he struck out eight of the nine batters he faced.
“Today was great,” Tomboli said after the game. “We had four or five guys that were not here, so we had to try out some guys that had never been in some of those positions. I’ve had a few bad games this summer, but my teammates usually pull me out of it when things go wrong.”
Gwatney led the whole way, but a run by Zach Thomas off an error on a hit by Tomboli in the top of the seventh inning set the final score at 4-1, and proved to be more than enough insurance for Jacksonville.
Jacksonville had the rare opportunity to be the visitors at Dupree in the tournament format, leading off the game with a pair of runs. Blake Mattison led off for Gwatney hitting into a 5-3, but following batters Jason Regnas and Caleb Mitchell both took free trips to the bag on walks.
This set up the first score of the game. Thomas batted 1.000 for the game, including his first of four hits in the top of the first that scored Regnas for a 1-0 Jacksonville lead.
Tomboli followed that with a single into right field that brought home Mitchell. Eric Berry suffered a K on his first at-bat, and Daniel Henard popped one into right for the final out.
Tomboli showed his hand early on in the contest. Tyler Keene led off for Benton with a fly-out to center before Greg Noble received one of four walks allowed by Tomboli in the game. The Gwatney hurler recovered to strike out the next two batters, retiring the side with one runner left on.
Gwatney struck again in the second inning with a walk for Adam Ussery to start the inning, and a single for Terrell Brown to score Ussery for a 3-0 Jacksonville lead.
Although Benton has played rather sloppily during their first two games of the Fourth of July Classic defensively, its ability to turn the double play Friday was somewhat surprising.
Mattison’s second smack would be proof of that, as McClendon’s Appliance defense got a rare U4-3 double play to catch both Brown and Mattison for the first two outs of the second inning.
Regnas doubled after the turn-two, but an infield roller to second base would end Gwatney’s turn.
Tomboli’s weakest point in the game happened during the second and third innings. He walked the first two batters in the second inning before settling down with two strikeouts and a forced pop-up. The third inning started out shaky as well, with a fielding error at third allowing the only Benton score of the game on at first.
Keene was the runner at second when Matt Sample hit a blooper into shallow center. That would score Keene and put another runner at third, but another strikeout and pop-up to shortstop would slow Benton’s efforts.
Unbeknownst to Benton at the time, it would be their last opportunity to even put a man on for the better part of three innings. Stuart Snell led off for Benton in the bottom of the fourth inning, hitting to third for the first out. Tomboli then went on strikeout frenzy, retiring the next six batters with Ks.
He struck out the final two batters in the fourth inning, and backed that up with a three-up-three-down performance in the fifth. Another strikeout against Matt Sample to lead off the sixth would end the streak, as Austin Johnson then got the second and final hit of the game for Benton.
Johnson sent the ball into the far corner of left field on a hit that was close to going foul, but stayed in just enough to tarnish Tomboli’s good effort a little more. It would not turn out to be a factor in the game, however, as the infield worked Snell for the third out.
Another Gwatney run would score due to a Benton error in the top of the seventh. Thomas singled after an out from Mitchell, and Tomboli hit what appeared to be the second out of the inning, until Benton shortstop Seth Hobbs’ throw to first ended up about five feet too high. This would allow Thomas in for the score, setting the final margin at 4-1.
Benton was left with a lot of work to do and not much time to do it in the bottom of the seventh inning, but didn’t get any of it done. The Gwatney defense held strong until the very end, sending Benton out in order to secure the game.
Thomas led Jacksonville offensively, going 4 for 4 with two RBIs. Regnas was 1 for 2 with an RBI, and Brown was 1 for 3 with an RBI.
Tomboli took the win with two hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts. Jacksonville will play two games today beginning at 11:30 a.m. against Dunklin Co., Missouri.
SPORTS >>LR Red pounds out 18 at Dupree
IN SHORT: Continental Express trucked their way to a big win over Gwatney Chevrolet Tuesday.
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville bats sounded off for a couple of innings Tuesday night at Dupree Park against Little Rock-Continental Express. The trouble for Jacksonville is that Continental’s bats never shut up. The result was a three-hour, 18-10 marathon that dropped Gwatney’s record to 4-12 on the season.
LRCE, also known as Little Rock Red, scored seven runs in the top of the first inning to take a lead it would almost, but never relinquish.
Red’s leadoff and nine-hole hitters got home runs in the opening inning. Leadoff hitter Blake Frazier sent the game’s second pitch bouncing off the top of the wall in centerfield for a solo homer. Nine-hole batter Russell Goss put one in the street behind right field for two RBIs that capped the half-inning’s scoring.
Jacksonville answered with four runs in the bottom of the same frame. Leadoff singles by Blake Mattison and Jason Regnas put two runners on. Cameron Hood loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch. A passed ball scored Mattison from third, but cost Zach Thomas a grand slam. Thomas sent the next pitch out over the left field wall to make it 7-4 before the next three batters went down in order.
An RBI single by Luke Osborne scored Matt DeSalvo, who was hit by a pitch to make it 8-4, and Jacksonville cut the margin to one run on its next at bat.
Ricky Tomboli singled to lead off the second inning and Adam Ussery walked. Mattison’s ground ball advanced the runners and Regnas’ sac grounder scored Tomboli. Hood then walked with two outs and Thomas singled to score Ussery and drive in his fourth run of the game. Eric Berry then doubled into the gap in right-centerfield to score Hood and cut Little Rock’s lead to 8-7.
Jacksonville’s defense broke down a bit in the top of the third. Three base hits, three walks and two errors gave LRCE an 11-7 lead, but Jacksonville got it back to a one-run game in the bottom of the third.
They did so with two outs and without a base hit. Three walks and two Little Rock errors plated the runs after a groundout and strikeout started the inning. Ussery and Mattison drew walks and Regnas loaded the bases when he reached on an error at first base. Hood walked to drive in the first run. An error on a high, shallow pop up in left field off Thomas’ bat allowed Mattison and Regnas to score to make it 11-10.
The two teams put a temporary end to the run festival with a pitching change. Little Rock’s Clay Washington gave up just one hit the rest of the game, an infield single in the bottom of the seventh inning. Jacksonville’s Eric Berry shut Red’s bats down for three innings, but ran into some trouble in the seventh.
Little Rock got one run in the fourth off a walk, two sacrifice fly balls and a wild pitch, but Berry gave up just one base hit in his three-plus innings of work.
Two infield errors put two runners on to start the top of the final frame and jump-started another big rally. Berry walked the next two batters before being pulled with the bases loaded. Blake Frazier then got his second home run of the game, only this one didn’t just barely get out, and it wasn’t a solo shot. Frazier’s second home run was a grand slam that landed in the softball fields behind right field.
It wasn’t quite over. Little Rock got its fourth home run two batters later when Washington sent one out to left field to set the final margin.
Jacksonville began play in the Gwatney Chevrolet Fourth of July Classic yesterday at Dupree Park. They will play twice today, starting with Dunklin County Missouri at 11:30 a.m., and ending against Sylvan Hills at 4 p.m.
By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville bats sounded off for a couple of innings Tuesday night at Dupree Park against Little Rock-Continental Express. The trouble for Jacksonville is that Continental’s bats never shut up. The result was a three-hour, 18-10 marathon that dropped Gwatney’s record to 4-12 on the season.
LRCE, also known as Little Rock Red, scored seven runs in the top of the first inning to take a lead it would almost, but never relinquish.
Red’s leadoff and nine-hole hitters got home runs in the opening inning. Leadoff hitter Blake Frazier sent the game’s second pitch bouncing off the top of the wall in centerfield for a solo homer. Nine-hole batter Russell Goss put one in the street behind right field for two RBIs that capped the half-inning’s scoring.
Jacksonville answered with four runs in the bottom of the same frame. Leadoff singles by Blake Mattison and Jason Regnas put two runners on. Cameron Hood loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch. A passed ball scored Mattison from third, but cost Zach Thomas a grand slam. Thomas sent the next pitch out over the left field wall to make it 7-4 before the next three batters went down in order.
An RBI single by Luke Osborne scored Matt DeSalvo, who was hit by a pitch to make it 8-4, and Jacksonville cut the margin to one run on its next at bat.
Ricky Tomboli singled to lead off the second inning and Adam Ussery walked. Mattison’s ground ball advanced the runners and Regnas’ sac grounder scored Tomboli. Hood then walked with two outs and Thomas singled to score Ussery and drive in his fourth run of the game. Eric Berry then doubled into the gap in right-centerfield to score Hood and cut Little Rock’s lead to 8-7.
Jacksonville’s defense broke down a bit in the top of the third. Three base hits, three walks and two errors gave LRCE an 11-7 lead, but Jacksonville got it back to a one-run game in the bottom of the third.
They did so with two outs and without a base hit. Three walks and two Little Rock errors plated the runs after a groundout and strikeout started the inning. Ussery and Mattison drew walks and Regnas loaded the bases when he reached on an error at first base. Hood walked to drive in the first run. An error on a high, shallow pop up in left field off Thomas’ bat allowed Mattison and Regnas to score to make it 11-10.
The two teams put a temporary end to the run festival with a pitching change. Little Rock’s Clay Washington gave up just one hit the rest of the game, an infield single in the bottom of the seventh inning. Jacksonville’s Eric Berry shut Red’s bats down for three innings, but ran into some trouble in the seventh.
Little Rock got one run in the fourth off a walk, two sacrifice fly balls and a wild pitch, but Berry gave up just one base hit in his three-plus innings of work.
Two infield errors put two runners on to start the top of the final frame and jump-started another big rally. Berry walked the next two batters before being pulled with the bases loaded. Blake Frazier then got his second home run of the game, only this one didn’t just barely get out, and it wasn’t a solo shot. Frazier’s second home run was a grand slam that landed in the softball fields behind right field.
It wasn’t quite over. Little Rock got its fourth home run two batters later when Washington sent one out to left field to set the final margin.
Jacksonville began play in the Gwatney Chevrolet Fourth of July Classic yesterday at Dupree Park. They will play twice today, starting with Dunklin County Missouri at 11:30 a.m., and ending against Sylvan Hills at 4 p.m.
SPORTS >>Bruins fall in slugout
IN SHORT: The Sylvan Hills AAA team dropped its first-round matchup in the Fourth of July Classic at Dupree.
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Sylvan Hills kicked off the Fourth of July Classic at Dupree Park in Jacksonville against Benton McClendon’s Appliance Thursday evening, losing 13-11 in a game that can only be described as a slugfest.
The lead swapped hands five times in the seven-inning affair. The Bruins recovered from a grand-slam home run by Benton’s Nick Shoptaw in the bottom of the first inning to retake the lead in the top of the third inning.
Sylvan Hills stretched their lead to as much a five runs in the third, but Benton fought back to tie the game up at 9-9 heading into the fourth inning.
A two-run lead by the Bruins heading into the bottom of the sixth would not be enough. Benton answered with four runs during their turn in the sixth to take the lead for the final time.
The defensive sloppiness in the game would be apparent from the very start, with starting Benton pitcher Nathan Piel walking two out of the first three SH batters, and giving up a single to two-hole hitter Matt Rugger. Rugger would eventually be tagged out at third, but base-on-balls recipients Taylor Roark and Grant Garlington made it in off of hits by Jarrett Boles and Ryan Woods to give the Bruins an early 2-0 lead.
The lead was very short lived. The first three Benton batters reached with singles against SH starter Pavan to load the bases before cleanup hitter Shoptaw’s shot over the wall scored all of them.
The Bruins got one of those runs back in the second inning with a single from Garlington that scored Roark, who reached on a double. Garlington would be the tying run, but Joe Gardener hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the turn.
Pavan sent Benton three up and three down in the bottom of the second. It would be only one of two times in the game when such a defensive feat was accomplished.
The top of the third inning would be the Bruins’ strongest effort of the game. Trailing 4-3 to start their turn, Sylvan Hills went through the entire lineup for six runs in the frame.
Boles led off with a single, followed by a fielder’s-choice smack by Woods that landed Boles out at second. Nathan Eller advanced Woods with a single into left field for two on.
That set up one of the oddest plays witnessed all summer. With two on, Shane Graham stepped up to the plate, and was struck out. However, the ball got away from McClendon’s catcher Austin Johnson on the final pitch, and Graham scrambled to first.
The throw to first by Johnson tagged Graham in the shoulder, and bounced out of play behind the Benton dugout. This would score Woods to tie the game at 4-4.
Roark then walked to load the bases with one out, and Rugger sent in all three runners with a double into centerfield. Eller and Graham made it in with ease, but the throw to the plate from the outfield by Benton centerfielder Noble was strong, and Roark had to thwart the play at home with a slide in for the score.
Garlington followed that with the first of two SH home runs, sending in Rugger with a shot that not only cleared the fence, but also the Hickingbotham Field scoreboard that sits a good 15 feet over the wall.
Just as before, Benton did not allow the Bruins to hold on to the lead for very long, rallying in the bottom of the third to tie. Pavan was retired to centerfield during the inning in an even swap for Graham. Pavan gave up one run in the frame, and Graham gave up the other four on two hits and an error.
With the score tied at 9-9, the Bruins entered the top of the fourth inning determined to re- take control of the game.
They didn’t accomplish taking control, but did manage a run from Pavan off a hit by Chris Eastham to give them a 10-9 lead.
The Bruins appeared to have their defensive struggles under control in the bottom of the fourth. SH shortstop Rugger made a couple of great plays up the middle for two of the outs, with a strikeout by Graham in between.
Sylvan Hills loaded the bases again in the top of the fifth, but Benton was able to prevent a score.
Benton put two on in the bottom side, but two straight pop ups to second baseman Woods left the score at 10-9 heading into the sixth inning.
Seth Hobbs took to the mound for Benton in the top of the sixth to relieve starter Stuart Snell, but Hobbs would start out on very shaky ground.
Woods sent his very first offering over the left field wall for the second Sylvan Hills’ home run of the contest to increase the Bruins’ lead to 11-9.
Hobbs recovered to strikeout the last two Bruins batters to minimize the damage done from the bat of Woods.
Whatever consistency the Bruins defense found in the fifth was no longer with them in the bottom of the sixth inning. Graham looked reasonably strong on the mound for three innings considering the game’s tone, but his stamina faded quickly in the opening moments of the bottom half of the sixth inning.
Leadoff Tyler Keene doubled, and advanced when a strikeout on Greg Noble turned into a free trip to first courtesy of a passed ball. A walk for Shoptaw loaded the bases, and the first run would score when Graham hit Matt Sample with a pitch.
It would be Graham’s final offering, as Eastham was brought in to close out the game. Cash Taylor welcomed Eastham to the mound with a smack into right field that scored two runs, giving Benton their first lead of the game since the third inning.
McClendon added one more run before the end of their turn, leaving Sylvan Hills with one more chance to keep the highlight show going.
They put the tying run in position when Rugger singled and Gardner reached on an error, but Benton got the first out with a strikeout on Garlington, and turned another double play, this time a 1-4-3 on an infield hit by Ross Bogard to escape with the win.
Sylvan Hills will have two more chances to capture a win during this year’s edition of the annual Fourth of July Classic. They played yesterday against Dunklin County, and will take on host team Gwatney Chevrolet at 4 p.m. today.
By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Sylvan Hills kicked off the Fourth of July Classic at Dupree Park in Jacksonville against Benton McClendon’s Appliance Thursday evening, losing 13-11 in a game that can only be described as a slugfest.
The lead swapped hands five times in the seven-inning affair. The Bruins recovered from a grand-slam home run by Benton’s Nick Shoptaw in the bottom of the first inning to retake the lead in the top of the third inning.
Sylvan Hills stretched their lead to as much a five runs in the third, but Benton fought back to tie the game up at 9-9 heading into the fourth inning.
A two-run lead by the Bruins heading into the bottom of the sixth would not be enough. Benton answered with four runs during their turn in the sixth to take the lead for the final time.
The defensive sloppiness in the game would be apparent from the very start, with starting Benton pitcher Nathan Piel walking two out of the first three SH batters, and giving up a single to two-hole hitter Matt Rugger. Rugger would eventually be tagged out at third, but base-on-balls recipients Taylor Roark and Grant Garlington made it in off of hits by Jarrett Boles and Ryan Woods to give the Bruins an early 2-0 lead.
The lead was very short lived. The first three Benton batters reached with singles against SH starter Pavan to load the bases before cleanup hitter Shoptaw’s shot over the wall scored all of them.
The Bruins got one of those runs back in the second inning with a single from Garlington that scored Roark, who reached on a double. Garlington would be the tying run, but Joe Gardener hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the turn.
Pavan sent Benton three up and three down in the bottom of the second. It would be only one of two times in the game when such a defensive feat was accomplished.
The top of the third inning would be the Bruins’ strongest effort of the game. Trailing 4-3 to start their turn, Sylvan Hills went through the entire lineup for six runs in the frame.
Boles led off with a single, followed by a fielder’s-choice smack by Woods that landed Boles out at second. Nathan Eller advanced Woods with a single into left field for two on.
That set up one of the oddest plays witnessed all summer. With two on, Shane Graham stepped up to the plate, and was struck out. However, the ball got away from McClendon’s catcher Austin Johnson on the final pitch, and Graham scrambled to first.
The throw to first by Johnson tagged Graham in the shoulder, and bounced out of play behind the Benton dugout. This would score Woods to tie the game at 4-4.
Roark then walked to load the bases with one out, and Rugger sent in all three runners with a double into centerfield. Eller and Graham made it in with ease, but the throw to the plate from the outfield by Benton centerfielder Noble was strong, and Roark had to thwart the play at home with a slide in for the score.
Garlington followed that with the first of two SH home runs, sending in Rugger with a shot that not only cleared the fence, but also the Hickingbotham Field scoreboard that sits a good 15 feet over the wall.
Just as before, Benton did not allow the Bruins to hold on to the lead for very long, rallying in the bottom of the third to tie. Pavan was retired to centerfield during the inning in an even swap for Graham. Pavan gave up one run in the frame, and Graham gave up the other four on two hits and an error.
With the score tied at 9-9, the Bruins entered the top of the fourth inning determined to re- take control of the game.
They didn’t accomplish taking control, but did manage a run from Pavan off a hit by Chris Eastham to give them a 10-9 lead.
The Bruins appeared to have their defensive struggles under control in the bottom of the fourth. SH shortstop Rugger made a couple of great plays up the middle for two of the outs, with a strikeout by Graham in between.
Sylvan Hills loaded the bases again in the top of the fifth, but Benton was able to prevent a score.
Benton put two on in the bottom side, but two straight pop ups to second baseman Woods left the score at 10-9 heading into the sixth inning.
Seth Hobbs took to the mound for Benton in the top of the sixth to relieve starter Stuart Snell, but Hobbs would start out on very shaky ground.
Woods sent his very first offering over the left field wall for the second Sylvan Hills’ home run of the contest to increase the Bruins’ lead to 11-9.
Hobbs recovered to strikeout the last two Bruins batters to minimize the damage done from the bat of Woods.
Whatever consistency the Bruins defense found in the fifth was no longer with them in the bottom of the sixth inning. Graham looked reasonably strong on the mound for three innings considering the game’s tone, but his stamina faded quickly in the opening moments of the bottom half of the sixth inning.
Leadoff Tyler Keene doubled, and advanced when a strikeout on Greg Noble turned into a free trip to first courtesy of a passed ball. A walk for Shoptaw loaded the bases, and the first run would score when Graham hit Matt Sample with a pitch.
It would be Graham’s final offering, as Eastham was brought in to close out the game. Cash Taylor welcomed Eastham to the mound with a smack into right field that scored two runs, giving Benton their first lead of the game since the third inning.
McClendon added one more run before the end of their turn, leaving Sylvan Hills with one more chance to keep the highlight show going.
They put the tying run in position when Rugger singled and Gardner reached on an error, but Benton got the first out with a strikeout on Garlington, and turned another double play, this time a 1-4-3 on an infield hit by Ross Bogard to escape with the win.
Sylvan Hills will have two more chances to capture a win during this year’s edition of the annual Fourth of July Classic. They played yesterday against Dunklin County, and will take on host team Gwatney Chevrolet at 4 p.m. today.
EDITORIALS>>Don't rush 'burger tax'
People supposedly don’t notice the tax they pay when they go to a restaurant, which is one of the reasons a Jacksonville alderman is pushing to add a two-cent levy to prepared foods—and that adage may be correct.
The city is considering spending upwards of half-a-million dollars to bring in more tourists. But it will take an awful lot of visitors to recover that kind of an investment, so city fathers should examine the proposal very carefully before they act on it.
Jacksonville’s advertising and promotion commission, which often meets without notifying the media, in violation of the state’s Freedom of Information Act, is now on a charm offensive and wants the city to approve the two-cent tax—and no vote of the people is necessary—to generate every year about $275,000 for promotion and marketing of the city, and about another $163,000 to the parks and recreation department. The commission has slated $20,000 to increase promotion for the Fourth of July patriotic spectacular and allow for a bigger fireworks show.
The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield group will get $12,000 to buy Civil War displays and make other improvements to the site to bring in tourists.
The Jacksonville Museum of Military History will receive $22,000 of the new money to help get the necessary permission to display static aircraft and to help toward the purchase of an aircraft, while just $10,000 would go to the city’s annual Wing Ding festival.
The liberty show, museum and Civil War site already get a portion of the $88,000 the advertising and promotion commission is collecting through a hotel tax.
The commission will also set aside $30,000 of the tax for projects, requests and ideas that come up during the year that are not already budgeted.
Another $18,000 will be used to help pay for the staff to coordinate and collect the tax data, staff training and educating businesses and the public on what types of items are taxable.
The supporters of these projects, however worthwhile, could find private funds to promote the museum, battlefield and patriotic spectacular. Jacksonville has more pressing needs right now: It should spend money to erase urban blight, build better roads, replace crumbling schools, fill empty storefronts, not to mention work on raising its stagnant population count, which has hardly budged in 20 years.
The board of directors of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce has asked the city council to weigh all options before approving a hamburger tax. A full hearing next Thursday evening should bring out a large crowd at city hall. Let your views be heard.
The city is considering spending upwards of half-a-million dollars to bring in more tourists. But it will take an awful lot of visitors to recover that kind of an investment, so city fathers should examine the proposal very carefully before they act on it.
Jacksonville’s advertising and promotion commission, which often meets without notifying the media, in violation of the state’s Freedom of Information Act, is now on a charm offensive and wants the city to approve the two-cent tax—and no vote of the people is necessary—to generate every year about $275,000 for promotion and marketing of the city, and about another $163,000 to the parks and recreation department. The commission has slated $20,000 to increase promotion for the Fourth of July patriotic spectacular and allow for a bigger fireworks show.
The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield group will get $12,000 to buy Civil War displays and make other improvements to the site to bring in tourists.
The Jacksonville Museum of Military History will receive $22,000 of the new money to help get the necessary permission to display static aircraft and to help toward the purchase of an aircraft, while just $10,000 would go to the city’s annual Wing Ding festival.
The liberty show, museum and Civil War site already get a portion of the $88,000 the advertising and promotion commission is collecting through a hotel tax.
The commission will also set aside $30,000 of the tax for projects, requests and ideas that come up during the year that are not already budgeted.
Another $18,000 will be used to help pay for the staff to coordinate and collect the tax data, staff training and educating businesses and the public on what types of items are taxable.
The supporters of these projects, however worthwhile, could find private funds to promote the museum, battlefield and patriotic spectacular. Jacksonville has more pressing needs right now: It should spend money to erase urban blight, build better roads, replace crumbling schools, fill empty storefronts, not to mention work on raising its stagnant population count, which has hardly budged in 20 years.
The board of directors of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce has asked the city council to weigh all options before approving a hamburger tax. A full hearing next Thursday evening should bring out a large crowd at city hall. Let your views be heard.
EDITORIALS>>Release all emails now
Here’s a surprise: The Arkansas Supreme Court has temporarily put on hold a lower court decision ordering Pulaski County to release potentially embarrassing emails from a former employee accused of stealing public funds and romancing a woman who works for a vendor that does business with the county.
Before issuing a ruling, the justices want more details about the case, especially how the state’s Freedom of Information Act might or might not include private emails to and from county employees using public computers.
Pulaski Circuit Judge Mary Ann McGowan had it right when she first ruled on this case last week: She said the freedom of information law means what it says about letting the public see public records and that it applies to the county government.
It didn’t take Judge McGowan long to rule that the county did not have a leg to stand on when it refused to allow access to the emails of the county comptroller that were written while he was sitting at his government desk working on his government computer and the taxpayers were paying him.
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette had sued to get access to the emails after the former comptroller was arrested and charged with fraud in the misuse of county funds.
A few, or many, of the emails seemed to be correspondence with a woman with whom Ron Quillin, the former comptroller and director of administrative services for the county, was doing business. The two apparently had become lovers as well while they were doing the taxpayers’ business, and the email exchanges had gotten steamy. The county attorney said some were too graphic and too personal for a reporter to see. It turns out that Quillin also was trying to get the county attorney a state government job.
The Freedom of Information Act does not exempt material of a sexual nature from public access. We have had occasion in our suburban community, notably in Lonoke, to see how sex and the conduct of the public’s business can collide.
County Judge F. G. “Buddy” Villines ought to order the release of every shred of record connected with Quillin’s work instead of filing appeals of a ruling that he has little chance of overturning when the high court weighs all the facts.
Villines will not budge till the Supreme Court tells him to release all the emails. Here’s hoping the justices act quickly and side with the public’s right to know what goes on behind closed doors in public buildings.
Before issuing a ruling, the justices want more details about the case, especially how the state’s Freedom of Information Act might or might not include private emails to and from county employees using public computers.
Pulaski Circuit Judge Mary Ann McGowan had it right when she first ruled on this case last week: She said the freedom of information law means what it says about letting the public see public records and that it applies to the county government.
It didn’t take Judge McGowan long to rule that the county did not have a leg to stand on when it refused to allow access to the emails of the county comptroller that were written while he was sitting at his government desk working on his government computer and the taxpayers were paying him.
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette had sued to get access to the emails after the former comptroller was arrested and charged with fraud in the misuse of county funds.
A few, or many, of the emails seemed to be correspondence with a woman with whom Ron Quillin, the former comptroller and director of administrative services for the county, was doing business. The two apparently had become lovers as well while they were doing the taxpayers’ business, and the email exchanges had gotten steamy. The county attorney said some were too graphic and too personal for a reporter to see. It turns out that Quillin also was trying to get the county attorney a state government job.
The Freedom of Information Act does not exempt material of a sexual nature from public access. We have had occasion in our suburban community, notably in Lonoke, to see how sex and the conduct of the public’s business can collide.
County Judge F. G. “Buddy” Villines ought to order the release of every shred of record connected with Quillin’s work instead of filing appeals of a ruling that he has little chance of overturning when the high court weighs all the facts.
Villines will not budge till the Supreme Court tells him to release all the emails. Here’s hoping the justices act quickly and side with the public’s right to know what goes on behind closed doors in public buildings.
OBITUARIES >> 06-30-07
Thomas Miller
Thomas Wesley Miller, 87, of Beebe went to be with the Lord June 27. He was born July 8, 1919.
He was a veteran of the Second World War, where he earned two Bronze Stars. He was the director of Arkansas Veterans Affairs office in Little Rock for more than 10 years and was instrumental in establishing the Arkansas Veterans Home there.
He was also a volunteer at the VA Hospital for more than 20 years. He was an insurance and real estate agent at Jonesboro for over 25 years.
He was the state director of the 55 Alive driving program for senior adults. He was a member of the Scottish Rite since 1951, a 32nd Degree Mason, a member of American Legion for 60 years and served as state commander and was an officer in the UCT.
An active deacon in First Baptist Churches at Jonesboro, Hot Springs and Pulaski Heights Baptist at Little Rock, Tom was always faithful in bringing his family to church.
He was a member of Calvary Baptist at Little Rock, but recently, he attended First Baptist Church at Beebe with his son and daughter-in-law.
He loved being a greeter at church, loved gospel music, Sunday school and worship. He enjoyed helping other people and spent years at Lake Hamilton where he liked to cut firewood and give it away to friends and family.
He spent many days at Hot Springs, distributing food to needy people. He had a heart for service to others throughout his life.
The love of his life was his wife, Betty Anne, who passed away in November 1997, after 57 years of marriage. They enjoyed traveling together and had made trips to Russia, Europe, Israel and South America.
Nine brothers and sisters also preceded him in death.
He is survived by two sons, Tom B. Miller and his wife Debbie of Beebe and Wesley Miller and his wife Esperanza Palacio of Sebastopol, Calif.; five grandchildren, Faran Hearyman and her husband Marty, Liann Loftin and her husband Toby, twins Benjamin G. Penn and Veronica J. Penn, and Suzanna M. Bailis; three great-grandchildren, Zoe, Lily and Ellie; a sister, Margaret Womack of Jonesboro, and a brother, John E. Miller of Melbourne.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, July 1 at Westbrook Funeral Home, in Beebe. Funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Monday, July 2 at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial at 4:30 p.m. in Gray Cemetery in Sage.
Valrie Johnson
Valrie M. Johnson, 90, of Beebe, having led a long and wonderful life, has gone to rejoice her homecoming with her beloved family on June 27. She was born February 22, 1917, at El Paso. She was the daughter of Duncan D. and Linnie B. Blasingame Manning.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, James M. Johnson; four sisters, Eura, Florance, Lillie and Bonnie, and one brother, Harvey.
She is survived by three children, Martha Fagan and husband Bill of Beebe, Mary Wilson and husband Don of Austin, and James Johnson and wife Debbie of Heavener, Okla.; four grandsons, Tony and Mark Fagan, Donald and Justin Wilson, and granddaughter, Heather Trowbridge; six great-grandchildren, C.J. and Caleb Fagan, Winter Fagan, Jacob, Joshua, and Abigail Trowbridge; plus many nieces and nephews.
Thanks to Hospice for the tender care and wonderful support. A special thank you to caregivers, Barbara Cassio and Michelle Fagan.
Family received friends on Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. The funeral was Friday at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Rest Hills Memorial Park, Sherwood.
Memorials may be made to Baptist Health Hospice, 11900 Colonel Glenn Road, Suite 2000, Little Rock, Ark. 72210.
Bobby G. Miller
Bobby Gene Miller, 77, of Lonoke went to be with the Lord June 27. He was a member of Steel Bridge Baptist Church.
He was an Army veteran and a 50-year member of American Legion.
He was former owner of Lonoke Western Auto and was a member of Rolling Hills Country Club for many years.
He served on the board of the country club and president for two terms, and was an avid golfer.
He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers and two sisters.
Survivors include his wife, Jewell Houser Miller; a son, Todd and his wife Missy Miller of Lonoke; a brother, James Miller of Sherwood; a sister, Ann Mixon of Euless, Texas, and many other relatives and friends.
Graveside services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 30 at Lonoke Cemetery by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
Mattie Larkin
Mattie Irene Larkin, 90, of Jacksonville passed away June 27 in her home.
She was born Aug. 28, 1916 in Florence, Ala., to the late James and Mattie Austin Malone.
She was a homemaker and a member of the Eastern Star.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Melvin Larkin; a daughter, Joanetta Nichols; three brothers, Frank, James, and Tom Malone; and a sister, Florence Combs.
Survivors include three grandchildren, Kimala J. Forrest of Jacksonville, Rochone R. and wife Cathy Nichols of Arlington, Texas, Carletta I. Wilson and husband Jerry of Jacksonville, seven great-grandchildren; Aramy Forrest, Qualenta Forrest, Cortessa Wilson, Jerica Wilson, Jeremy Wilson, Ashley Nichols, and Adreanna Nichols; one great-great-grandchild, Areiya Goodman-Forrest; sister, Lillian Lyles of Jacksonville; brother, Billy Malone of Jacksonville, Fla., and numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 30 at Moore’s Funeral Home Chapel in Jacksonville. Burial will follow at Chapel Hill Memorial Park.
Matthew Spradlin
Matthew Aaron Spradlin, 20, of Beebe went to be with the Lord June 27.
He was born Aug. 26, 1986 at Searcy to David and Tonia Spradlin.
He was a 2005 honor graduate of Beebe High School. He attended ASU and graduated with an associates degree in May with plans to attend UALR in the fall.
He was a member of Stoney Point United Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Bob and Anna Caldwell of Floyd.
He is survived by his parents, David and Tonia; a sister, Laura Spradlin Bedwell and her husband, Michael Bedwell; his grandparents, Charles and Anna Spradlin of Beebe; and two nieces, Ashten and Chloe Bedwell of Vilonia, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Family received friends June 29 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe. Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 30 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe with burial in Stoney Point Cemetery.
Rickey Whitlock
Rickey Ray Whitlock, 46, of Beebe died June 27.
He worked in the oil field industry in Texas and also owned a detail shop at Beebe.
He was preceded in death by his father, Raymond Thomas Whitlock; a brother, Terry Lynn Whitlock; his grandparents, Raymond Max Whitlock and Charlie and Minnie James.
He is survived by a son, Ryan Whitlock of Cabot; a daughter, Cameron Jewett and her husband Randall and grandson, Landon of Sheridan; his mother, Martha Whitlock of Beebe; his grandmother, Flora Mae Whitlock of North Little Rock; three sisters, Denia Williams of Floyd, Ronda Vines of Cabot and Lyndi Whitlock of Beebe; special friends Vickie Sullivant of Grapevine and Steve and Arnold Richardson of North Little Rock and numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 30 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe with burial in New Floyd Cemetery.
Pauline Benton
Pauline G. Benton, 88, of Beebe died June 29. She was born Sept. 14, 1918, at McRae to the late Ernie and Emma Taylor Crisco.
Pauline’s joy in this world was attending church, her Home Extension Club activities, where she served as president, and quilting. She retired from Vickers Manufacturing in Searcy. She always gave of herself, always thinking of others first.
She was preceded in death by her beloved son, James Benton; brothers, Doyle and Jack Crisco; and sisters, Blanche Cook and Mary Alice Crisco, all of McRae.
She is survived by her husband of 71 years, Bernie Benton of Antioch; daughters, Marie Webb and husband Bill of White Buff, Texas, and Lynda Pickard of Ft. Smith; six grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; a brother, Emmett Crisco of McCrory, and a host of friends who loved her.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 30 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe. Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 1 at Antioch Church with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens in Beebe.
Riley Decker
Riley Sordis Decker, 74, of Cabot died June 26 at his home. He was born April 7, 1933 in Leachville to the late Cordis Elmer and Fannie Pauline Baker Decker.
He was preceded in death by a brother, Jerry Wayne Decker and two sisters, Mary Reeves and Ruby Harrell.
He is survived by two daughters, Linda Zigler of Cabot and Janice Bise of Jacksonville; five sons, Larry Decker and Terral Decker of Kentucky, Ronnie Decker of Austin, and Curtis Decker and Riley Decker, both of Heber Springs; three grandsons, Walter Decker of Kentucky, Chad Zigler of Cabot and Matthew Decker of Austin; three granddaughters, Stephanie Decker Madison of Kentucky, Christina Zigler of Cabot and Heather Decker of Austin; four great-grandsons, Adam Decker and William Decker of Kentucky, Dylan Jackson of Austin and Ian Gill of Austin; a great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Decker of Kentucky; three brothers, Gene Decker and Jim Decker of Michigan and Robin Decker of Manila; three sisters, Sue Lester of Manila, Lovie Woldring of Michigan and Brenda Bratton of Atkin; many nieces and nephews and lots of friends.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 30 at Moore’s Funeral Home in Jacksonville with Rev. Walter Decker officiating. Entombment will follow in Chapel Hill Mausoleum.
Jerry Thompson
Jerry Dean Thompson, 74, of Searcy died June 26 at Searcy. He was born Nov. 28, 1932, at Fairview.
He was a retired master electrician. He attended school at Fairview and graduated from Beebe High School where he played basketball. He was in the Air Force and was a Methodist.
Jerry was preceded in death by his parents, W. J. and Blanche Thompson; daughter, Kimberly Jackson and brothers, Billy J. and Harry Thompson.
Survivors include daughter, Monica and husband Reggie Neis of Belton, Texas; sons, Rodney and Bradley Thompson; sister, Sharron Clark of Lonoke; seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
Cremation arrangements were by Westbrook Funeral Home of Beebe. Memorials may be made to Hester Cemetery Fund, c/o Bill Hester, 1201 Commons Drive, Jacksonville, Ark. 72076.
Thomas Wesley Miller, 87, of Beebe went to be with the Lord June 27. He was born July 8, 1919.
He was a veteran of the Second World War, where he earned two Bronze Stars. He was the director of Arkansas Veterans Affairs office in Little Rock for more than 10 years and was instrumental in establishing the Arkansas Veterans Home there.
He was also a volunteer at the VA Hospital for more than 20 years. He was an insurance and real estate agent at Jonesboro for over 25 years.
He was the state director of the 55 Alive driving program for senior adults. He was a member of the Scottish Rite since 1951, a 32nd Degree Mason, a member of American Legion for 60 years and served as state commander and was an officer in the UCT.
An active deacon in First Baptist Churches at Jonesboro, Hot Springs and Pulaski Heights Baptist at Little Rock, Tom was always faithful in bringing his family to church.
He was a member of Calvary Baptist at Little Rock, but recently, he attended First Baptist Church at Beebe with his son and daughter-in-law.
He loved being a greeter at church, loved gospel music, Sunday school and worship. He enjoyed helping other people and spent years at Lake Hamilton where he liked to cut firewood and give it away to friends and family.
He spent many days at Hot Springs, distributing food to needy people. He had a heart for service to others throughout his life.
The love of his life was his wife, Betty Anne, who passed away in November 1997, after 57 years of marriage. They enjoyed traveling together and had made trips to Russia, Europe, Israel and South America.
Nine brothers and sisters also preceded him in death.
He is survived by two sons, Tom B. Miller and his wife Debbie of Beebe and Wesley Miller and his wife Esperanza Palacio of Sebastopol, Calif.; five grandchildren, Faran Hearyman and her husband Marty, Liann Loftin and her husband Toby, twins Benjamin G. Penn and Veronica J. Penn, and Suzanna M. Bailis; three great-grandchildren, Zoe, Lily and Ellie; a sister, Margaret Womack of Jonesboro, and a brother, John E. Miller of Melbourne.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, July 1 at Westbrook Funeral Home, in Beebe. Funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Monday, July 2 at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial at 4:30 p.m. in Gray Cemetery in Sage.
Valrie Johnson
Valrie M. Johnson, 90, of Beebe, having led a long and wonderful life, has gone to rejoice her homecoming with her beloved family on June 27. She was born February 22, 1917, at El Paso. She was the daughter of Duncan D. and Linnie B. Blasingame Manning.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, James M. Johnson; four sisters, Eura, Florance, Lillie and Bonnie, and one brother, Harvey.
She is survived by three children, Martha Fagan and husband Bill of Beebe, Mary Wilson and husband Don of Austin, and James Johnson and wife Debbie of Heavener, Okla.; four grandsons, Tony and Mark Fagan, Donald and Justin Wilson, and granddaughter, Heather Trowbridge; six great-grandchildren, C.J. and Caleb Fagan, Winter Fagan, Jacob, Joshua, and Abigail Trowbridge; plus many nieces and nephews.
Thanks to Hospice for the tender care and wonderful support. A special thank you to caregivers, Barbara Cassio and Michelle Fagan.
Family received friends on Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. The funeral was Friday at Westbrook Funeral Home with burial in Rest Hills Memorial Park, Sherwood.
Memorials may be made to Baptist Health Hospice, 11900 Colonel Glenn Road, Suite 2000, Little Rock, Ark. 72210.
Bobby G. Miller
Bobby Gene Miller, 77, of Lonoke went to be with the Lord June 27. He was a member of Steel Bridge Baptist Church.
He was an Army veteran and a 50-year member of American Legion.
He was former owner of Lonoke Western Auto and was a member of Rolling Hills Country Club for many years.
He served on the board of the country club and president for two terms, and was an avid golfer.
He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers and two sisters.
Survivors include his wife, Jewell Houser Miller; a son, Todd and his wife Missy Miller of Lonoke; a brother, James Miller of Sherwood; a sister, Ann Mixon of Euless, Texas, and many other relatives and friends.
Graveside services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 30 at Lonoke Cemetery by Boyd Funeral Home of Lonoke.
Mattie Larkin
Mattie Irene Larkin, 90, of Jacksonville passed away June 27 in her home.
She was born Aug. 28, 1916 in Florence, Ala., to the late James and Mattie Austin Malone.
She was a homemaker and a member of the Eastern Star.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Melvin Larkin; a daughter, Joanetta Nichols; three brothers, Frank, James, and Tom Malone; and a sister, Florence Combs.
Survivors include three grandchildren, Kimala J. Forrest of Jacksonville, Rochone R. and wife Cathy Nichols of Arlington, Texas, Carletta I. Wilson and husband Jerry of Jacksonville, seven great-grandchildren; Aramy Forrest, Qualenta Forrest, Cortessa Wilson, Jerica Wilson, Jeremy Wilson, Ashley Nichols, and Adreanna Nichols; one great-great-grandchild, Areiya Goodman-Forrest; sister, Lillian Lyles of Jacksonville; brother, Billy Malone of Jacksonville, Fla., and numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 30 at Moore’s Funeral Home Chapel in Jacksonville. Burial will follow at Chapel Hill Memorial Park.
Matthew Spradlin
Matthew Aaron Spradlin, 20, of Beebe went to be with the Lord June 27.
He was born Aug. 26, 1986 at Searcy to David and Tonia Spradlin.
He was a 2005 honor graduate of Beebe High School. He attended ASU and graduated with an associates degree in May with plans to attend UALR in the fall.
He was a member of Stoney Point United Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Bob and Anna Caldwell of Floyd.
He is survived by his parents, David and Tonia; a sister, Laura Spradlin Bedwell and her husband, Michael Bedwell; his grandparents, Charles and Anna Spradlin of Beebe; and two nieces, Ashten and Chloe Bedwell of Vilonia, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Family received friends June 29 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe. Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 30 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe with burial in Stoney Point Cemetery.
Rickey Whitlock
Rickey Ray Whitlock, 46, of Beebe died June 27.
He worked in the oil field industry in Texas and also owned a detail shop at Beebe.
He was preceded in death by his father, Raymond Thomas Whitlock; a brother, Terry Lynn Whitlock; his grandparents, Raymond Max Whitlock and Charlie and Minnie James.
He is survived by a son, Ryan Whitlock of Cabot; a daughter, Cameron Jewett and her husband Randall and grandson, Landon of Sheridan; his mother, Martha Whitlock of Beebe; his grandmother, Flora Mae Whitlock of North Little Rock; three sisters, Denia Williams of Floyd, Ronda Vines of Cabot and Lyndi Whitlock of Beebe; special friends Vickie Sullivant of Grapevine and Steve and Arnold Richardson of North Little Rock and numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 30 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe with burial in New Floyd Cemetery.
Pauline Benton
Pauline G. Benton, 88, of Beebe died June 29. She was born Sept. 14, 1918, at McRae to the late Ernie and Emma Taylor Crisco.
Pauline’s joy in this world was attending church, her Home Extension Club activities, where she served as president, and quilting. She retired from Vickers Manufacturing in Searcy. She always gave of herself, always thinking of others first.
She was preceded in death by her beloved son, James Benton; brothers, Doyle and Jack Crisco; and sisters, Blanche Cook and Mary Alice Crisco, all of McRae.
She is survived by her husband of 71 years, Bernie Benton of Antioch; daughters, Marie Webb and husband Bill of White Buff, Texas, and Lynda Pickard of Ft. Smith; six grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; a brother, Emmett Crisco of McCrory, and a host of friends who loved her.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 30 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe. Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 1 at Antioch Church with burial in Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens in Beebe.
Riley Decker
Riley Sordis Decker, 74, of Cabot died June 26 at his home. He was born April 7, 1933 in Leachville to the late Cordis Elmer and Fannie Pauline Baker Decker.
He was preceded in death by a brother, Jerry Wayne Decker and two sisters, Mary Reeves and Ruby Harrell.
He is survived by two daughters, Linda Zigler of Cabot and Janice Bise of Jacksonville; five sons, Larry Decker and Terral Decker of Kentucky, Ronnie Decker of Austin, and Curtis Decker and Riley Decker, both of Heber Springs; three grandsons, Walter Decker of Kentucky, Chad Zigler of Cabot and Matthew Decker of Austin; three granddaughters, Stephanie Decker Madison of Kentucky, Christina Zigler of Cabot and Heather Decker of Austin; four great-grandsons, Adam Decker and William Decker of Kentucky, Dylan Jackson of Austin and Ian Gill of Austin; a great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Decker of Kentucky; three brothers, Gene Decker and Jim Decker of Michigan and Robin Decker of Manila; three sisters, Sue Lester of Manila, Lovie Woldring of Michigan and Brenda Bratton of Atkin; many nieces and nephews and lots of friends.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 30 at Moore’s Funeral Home in Jacksonville with Rev. Walter Decker officiating. Entombment will follow in Chapel Hill Mausoleum.
Jerry Thompson
Jerry Dean Thompson, 74, of Searcy died June 26 at Searcy. He was born Nov. 28, 1932, at Fairview.
He was a retired master electrician. He attended school at Fairview and graduated from Beebe High School where he played basketball. He was in the Air Force and was a Methodist.
Jerry was preceded in death by his parents, W. J. and Blanche Thompson; daughter, Kimberly Jackson and brothers, Billy J. and Harry Thompson.
Survivors include daughter, Monica and husband Reggie Neis of Belton, Texas; sons, Rodney and Bradley Thompson; sister, Sharron Clark of Lonoke; seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
Cremation arrangements were by Westbrook Funeral Home of Beebe. Memorials may be made to Hester Cemetery Fund, c/o Bill Hester, 1201 Commons Drive, Jacksonville, Ark. 72076.
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